text:
In 2000 my mother-in-law retired and took my brother-in-law, sister-in-law, husband and me to Europe! It was a what we thought was a once in a lifetime trip but afterward we knew that we had to go back sometime. To plan the trip my mother-in-law established a few rules:
- pack only 1 bag
- she would do none of the planning but each of the 4 of us planned 3 days
- no complaining of others' choices
My brother-in-law's wife, Judy, gave her 3 days of planning to Eric so he planned 6 days while Keith and I each planned 3 days. We flew into Paris, France drove to the Normandy area, into Belgium and flew out from Frankfurt, Germany. We were gone a total of 13 days.
Our kids were 8 years old and probably because of my fear of heights I insisted that Keith and I fly in separate planes that way if something happened one parent would be alive. My family joked with me that I was simply increasing the likelihood that something would happen. Somehow it gave me comfort. So, on the flights we were in 2 groups. I was with Eric and Judy and Keith was with his Mom, Irene.
During the trip I kept a very simple journal in a 5×3 memo book. I've transcribed those entries here and have a few photos to accompany the entries. There are many more stories that each of us could share of the trip and many more photos than I have included here. Perhaps over time I will add more as will Keith.
Day one, May 10, 2000:
Hotel d'Alma room 62. We stayed on the very top floor. Irene in 32, Eric & Judy room 3 on the ground floor. The airplane rides were, thankfully, uneventful. The international flight was long. The plane is huge. We were served drinks & peanuts shortly after, we watched a 60 Minutes special; had dinner; did some duty free shopping; had a drink; watched Bicentennial Man with Robin Williams. Then we tried, though unsuccessfully, to sleep. From 9:30-11:00 it was dark outside. By 11:00 pm Oklahoma time the sun started rising since it was 6 am Paris time. From 11:00-1:00 Oklahoma time took forever. We were so tired of sitting. About 1 1/2 hours before landing we had breakfast. We were so thrilled to have something to do.
Yesterday we rode a shuttle to our hotel. It took 1 hour to get here but it really wasn't that far. The traffic was awful. Drivers here seem to drive where they want. The lines on the roads are meaningless. We drove through 3 circles where there are no traffic lines or lights. The cars go from the inner circle to turn down a road by just turning. The speed they travel is very slow and everyone doesn't seem upset by the tight driving.
Our hotel here is nice. All the hallways and rooms are small. It is not ADA compliant. The lady at the front is real nice and speaks English. She told me where to purchase stamps and mail the postcards. We mailed 6 postcards – Kelsey, Travis, Grammy, David & Mom, Snodgrass, Robert Bullard. With any luck they will arrive.
Last night we bought wine, cheese, glasses of diet coke, bread and sat in the porch at the hotel eating. About 6:oo pm we finally went to bed. Keith and I slept until 12:30 woke up & shared Paris as lovers do. We watched a fishing show and went back to sleep about 2:30. About 7:15 we got up. We had breakfast around the corner. The buildings are all very tight to one another. People walk into restaurants, order, stand and eat then leave. They have very small cups with coffee in it, I think.
Now we are sitting in the lobby hotel waiting for the shuttle to take us to the airport to get our rental car.
[Notes: Livarot – stinky cheese that we tried. La Marine, sauerkraut]
Saturday, May 13, 2000
We're in a small French town on the way to Bastogne, Belgium. We left this morning about 10:00 and its now 7:00. The trip should not have been that long but we took several wrong turns and visited a few places along the way.
While in the Normandy area we went to a museum in Caen about war. We also went to Utah and Omaha Beach to see D-Day sites. At Point du Hoc there are huge holes from shells. These holes were 8 or 10 feet deep probably.
We went to the military cemetery at Omaha Beach. Eric has a friend whose great uncle was buried in this area, James Mack. Eric and Judy purchased flowers for his grave. His grave had been moved from near Utah Beach to Omaha Beach. We were escorted by an employee to James Mack's plot where sand was rubbed on the name so we could read it. Then using remote control, the man had gun sounds and TAPS play. It was truly wonderful. He also took a Polaroid photo and gave it to us. That family will be so pleased.
All of these beaches have very few shells but tons of rounded rocks. I am taking some back.
The B&B we stayed in was built in 17th century for priests [note: Ferme de la Tourelle]. There was a church nearby that had been destroyed in a storm. It was fascinating. The old broken grave stones were there. Some had been broken into several pieces and were piled up in about 4 or 5 separate piles.
The towns there are very tight with high stones walls all around. Driving in large vehicles would be difficult. It looks very much like the movies of WW2 with the tanks and men running down a street.
There was lots of fog yesterday and most of today. It was chilly. About 2:00 we drove out of the foggy area. We stopped in a town and bought bread, cheese, pastries, wine, Coca Cola light then drove until we found a beautiful rest area where we had our picnic. Originally today we were going to go to Bruge but to reduce time in the car we're going to Bastogne.
This morning at the B&B near Omaha Beach a group of 2 Belgium couples was there and we had breakfast together. The 2 men spoke English so we were able to use him as a translator to learn more about the area. The night before a young Belgian man and his girlfriend came and they spoke English. We had a nice visit with him. Keith, Eric and Patrick had wine while Patrick told us about Belgium. Patrick now lives in Ireland.
The toilets here are different in every location. Sometimes they flush by pushing & button, pulling a button on the top. Sometimes they flush loudly and with gusto; sometimes they suction it out with water; sometimes you must squat. The men's restrooms are frequently open. Once they had water spraying on a wall with a drain and they were to pee on the wall. Frequently there is 1 bathroom with 2 or more areas for both men and women. One had urinals in an open area and then a stall. Whoever was there when the door opened would be seen. The sign did say children must be accompanied by an adult.
Today, while driving, we experienced the rudeness of the French. 1) we turned on the wrong light so the man pulled up beside us rolled his window down and yelled at us. Rolled his window up then down again and yelled some more. 2) Keith pulled into a parking lot the wrong way. The drivers were telling us we were going the wrong way but would not pause to allow us out.
[Note in Keith's handwriting La 'Maison Blanche, a restaurant with a star. Also the words 20 km St. Hubert. ]
May 15, 2000
Amberloupe, Belgium
We arrived yesterday afternoon. We drove to another Outhre about 15 minutes from here then discovered our error. This place is beautiful. We ate at a Hotel Le Moulin des Trois Points. We are the only guests here in fact the pub next door I asked if they have many American tourists, Allen, a man who speaks English, said "no, 1,2,3,4,5 (counting us)". Later Benny (Benoire) the owner, said the last American here was Patton. Benny's wife, Bridgette came to talk with us. She speaks a little English. We learned that the pub has been in Benny's family. Benny showed us his invitation to his friend's wedding on June 6 in Frsico, TX (near Dallas). He also showed us a photo of him 15 years ago jumping with a horse. Apparently, he was the Belgium champion and won lots of money.
The hotel owners have given us the key to the front door and complete access to the bar. They leave the hotel for long periods of time and we're the only guests still. Breakfast was good. The coffee wasn't as strong as the French coffee and we had a roll that was soft and heated with dark chocolate in it. Of course, throughout France bread is all good but it is cold and hard.
We need directions in Luxembourg so we stopped and Keith asked for help. After leaving the cafe a man followed and told Keith he overheard and he would escort us to the American cemetery since he still had 15 minutes before work (This was at 11:15 or so).
Everyone in France & Belgium seems to begin their day late. They close business in the afternoon then reopen. Dinner starts about 8:00pm and lasts 2 or 3 hours. When we ordered our meal at the pub yesterday it was 6:00 and the man asked if we wanted it at 8:00. Keith said no, now. So, they said "no problem". We started eating about 6:30 and finished about 9:15. Benny brought us a drink after our dessert and coffee. He said it was a surprise. He gave them to us. It was English coffee – even I like it but it was very strong with alcohol.
Right now I'm about 40 feet or so from Patton's grave sitting down waiting for the others to finish looking. Tonight we will stay in the same place. We have internet access – free – so I emailed Mom and the kids.
Yesterday, apparently, Keith and the others ordered beer in Benny's place and then realized we only had French francs and American dollars. Benny graciously allowed us to pay with a mixture of money.
May 16, 2000
Today we went to Bastogne. Keith, Eric and Irene went to a war museum while Judy and I shopped. I bought a Belgium doll for Kelsey, a wood car for Travis and a porcelain type figurine with candy. Later we all met and Eric and Judy decided to stay in Bastogne while Keith, Irene and I went on. We agreed to pick them up later.
We went to Houffalize, a beautiful little village that had a German tank. I took a picture of Keith on it. We were in this town during the lunch close down so we didn't stay long.
Next we came to another beautiful town La Roche. This town is in between two mountains. On the side of the mountain is the remains of a castle. Legend says the castle is haunted by a ghost (a woman killed there). Keith walked up but, due to time constraints, I stayed down.
I asked at information for lace and chocolates. One kind of the chocolate was there – the Leonidas, which are many varieties of chocolate. The other was a big bar that would only melt. The lace is a specialty only in Bruge, Brussels & Marche.
We had no time before the stores closed in the nearby Marche so we went to Malmedy to the American monument. There was a massacre of about 90 soldiers here by the Germans. They were prisoners of the German's .
May 17, 2000
We went to Marche, Belgium today where we visited a lace museum. It was in an old watch tower. The lace was beautiful — all different, elaborate, intricate designs. We all bought some lace in the tourist information center that was made by the local lace makers. I bought something for Mom and for myself. On Saturdays in a big local hotel across from the information center they have people making the lace with those wooding bobbins. Judy and I enjoyed the museum.
Next we drove back through La Roche and ate lunch at a Greek restaurant because they accept VISA and the banks were closed for lunch. Most stores open at 11:00 close for lunch from 12-2:00 open from 2-5. Dinner seems to be from 8-11:00. We then continued on to Germany.
Tonight we are in Cochem on the Mosel River. We're staying in Gaestezimmer Husgen. The rooms are big and sterile. The lady who works here speaks great English. Breakfast is included and we have assigned tables.
We managed to get here with my photocopies from the road atlas from the library. We ate at a restaurant called Noss. Eric, Judy and I ordered the sausage potatoes & sauerkraut plate. The sausages included blood sausage and liverwurst. I tried both not knowing what they were. The blood ones looked like cooked blood and tasted horrible. The liverwurst was bad but much better than the blood. Keith tasted the blood one and said it was horrible. Eric thought it tasted bad but ate it anyway. He said the goat cheese was much worse.
The scenery is beautiful. On the way back from the restaurant we walked on the sidewalk by the river. There is a castle on one side of the mountain. This castle looks in great condition.
We are in room 2 on the 2nd floor. Eric and Judy in 1 on the same floor. Irene's in room 15 on the 1st floor. She has a shower and a shared toilet.
[notes: K-D boat line 1 hour trip from St. Goar to Bach (round trip 18.80 dm) Rheinfels Castle – in St. Goar. Bacharach – best Rhine wines; Jost beer stein; factory outlet; walking tour; Fritz Bastian; liveliest place in town after dark. St. Goar – Rhine guidebooks under Hotel Montags fine steins 10% off. Rheinfels Castle]
May 18, 2000
We saw St. Goar where Castle Rheinfels is. This was quite interesting. We used our Rick Steves guidebook and noticed someone else using it too. It took about an hour to do that. Then we ate lunch at Market Hotel. Next we drove on to Bacharach. On our way out of Cochem we turned where the sign said but it was a bike route that was very close to the water and the walls got smaller and smaller. We got through but it was tight.
Bacharach is a very pretty town. We shopped for an hour before the stores closed. We bought a nice cuckoo clock and stein from Jost. We paid about $250.oo for it and are having it shipped home.
Lettie, the owner of the nice pension we're staying in, phoned the wine tasting place and asked if we could do that tonight. She said yes but she speaks no English. When we got there we said "Lettie" and the woman finally understood. For about $6.00 we tasted 6 sweet wines made here. We voted and the winner was Kerner Spatlese by Weingut Karl Heidrich (and I saved the label). A nice German man tried talking with us but not with much success. He did take a couple of photos of us.
After wine tasting we went to Kanentun restaurant. I had an absolutely wonderful mushroom soup. There was the Rick Steves tour group there. We visited them for a while and will be able to join them on a walking tour by a local man. Keith and I took a walk around the city looking at the castle lite up. The city is so clear and safe feeling.
While we were eating the waitress came over and told Irene that Lettie had phoned giving instructions on how to turn the heat on to a comfortable level. We wonder how she knew where we were. Our room here is a big one with a hallway with a twin bed and terrace. Also a good sized WC (water closet).
May 19, 2000
We were able to join a Rick Steves tour to hear Roff Jung's walking tour of Bacharach. It was very entertaining. Bacharach was once a very big and important place. Today there are about 1000 residence.
We drove on to Bad Wimpfen. This is a quite village with cobblestone streets. We ate at a Greek restaurant that was good. Outside the restaurant was a daughter of the Greek restaurant owner who was about 5. Keith and the little girl played a game for a while. The girl said something to Keith and he replied "I don't speak your language." She stopped and looked at him for a moment wondering what he was saying then she yelled something and smiled and started playing with him again.
The hotel is part of the wall leading to a castle. All houses in this area look pretty old.
Saturday, May 20, 2000
We had breakfast in Bad Wimpfen then drove about 1 hour to Rothenburg. We arrived about 10:30 am and shopped until 5:00. Keith and I went to the Crime and Punishment museum. That was about an hour and it was quite awful what they did to one another
There was a lot of tourists here – like Disneyland. I'd not like to be here in high season. I enjoyed myself shopping. I bought a schneeball and didn't think it was very good. The French Germans like their breads hard. As a matter of fact I got a small cut on my face when my bread cut my skin as I tore a piece off to eat.
We did the Night Watchman's tour at 8:00. The Watchman was entertaining and informative. Bacharach and Rothenburg have similar histories. They both had about 6000 people at their heyday. They both had tremendous loss during the plague and never regained the size. Rothenburg survived until the cannonball was invented and no walled city could survive. During the 30 years was Rothenburg surrendered and never regained its wealth. [Note: after this tour we wanted to go to a German pub called "Hell" but it was full and we were kicked out.]
I enjoyed the Christmas shop – spent an hour there. We're staying in the Hotel um tur just off the Market Square. It's very nice in the 2nd price range on the TI list.
Sunday, May 21, 2000
Rothenburg never sleeps. The clock chimes nearly every hour all night. People walk the streets all night. Then by 6:00 am the workers are moving bottles over the cobbled streets. Quite a noisy night. Our hotel was at least as old as 1830. We found in one of the guest rooms a listing of the owners of the place from 1830-1935. It was a fascinating place.
We left Rothenburg at 9:30 and arrived in the Frankfurt area by 11:20. The drive was all on the autobahn. We ate in Floreshein in the only place open that had a restroom and a restaurant. The restaurant, Apollon, was Greek. So 3 times we've eaten at Greek restaurant – twice by accident.
We finally found our Hotel Darmstaeder Hof in Kelsterbach, which is 5 minutes from the airport. By 2:30 we were unpacked and repacked for the trip home. The weather is chilly and wet. Since it's Sunday in a small town only 1 place is open. By 5:00 we went to the 1 place for coffee and dinner. Eric and Keith bought some beer glasses at the restaurant for 5 marks each. In the evening Judy, Eric, Irene and I visited Irene's room. Keith read in our room and went to sleep early.
I called Mom today to check in and see how Grammy was doing [note: she had hip replacement surgery]. I've lost track of time. All is well at home. Mom said the kids are having to get used to her parenting style. When she tells Travis to do something he apparently doesn't do it. He told her "Gramma Donna, you don't understand, we get 3 chances!" She said "Travis, you don't understand." Kelsey was upset because she got in trouble since her Thursday folder wasn't signed. Mom told Kelsey she doesn't know what a Thursday folder is. Kelsey began repeating its her Thursday folder. Mom finally said "if I ask you to get my 8-9 and you asked what it was and I yelled it at you again how would you feel?" Kelsey began crying.
I'm anxious to be home and see the kids. I've had a wonderful time. It's like a dream in many ways. Now I'm ready to wake-up from my dream and have my children in my arms and Keith by my side.


text:
From 9to5Toys.com:
Confirming our report from earlier this month, Target has revived its $199 iPad mini sale (Direct Link) this morning. At the time of posting it's available both online at Target.com and at Target retail locations. That's even $30 less than the retail price of top Android tablets Nexus 7 or Kindle HDX.
We've been told by a Target rep that quantities are limited and as such we highly recommend picking one up today. This deal is $100 better than retail and $20 less than Apple charges for a refurbished model. The non-Retina iPad mini features a 7.9-inch LED-backlit display, 10-hour battery life, and dual-core A5 chip.
Seperately, Staples is offering all WiFi-enabled iPad Airs (Space Gray or Silver) for $30 off (Direct link). Coupon code 79449 drops them another $100 yielding $369/$469/$569 on 16/32/64GB Wifi models.
As we've said before, these deals often sell out quick so if you are going to make a move, do so quickly.
Also, Apple is widely expected to update its iPads again in October but these prices are at or below what we expect current models to drop to so you are getting Apple's holiday prices today.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
May 4th, 2010
"Welcome to the Hollywood Walk of... oops!"
I'm a longtime copy editor, and I take the Metro to work. As a result, I made one person laugh hysterically today, and another almost vomit.
Let me explain.
As I emerged from the Hollywood and Vine Metro station this morning and headed for the CNN Los Angeles bureau, I noticed two workmen cleaning off the newest star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the 11:30 a.m. unveiling ceremony. It was for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, star of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" – and the first "Seinfeld" alum to receive a star on the Walk of Fame. I glanced at it as I walked by... then stopped, and peered more closely:
testing captions
"Um, excuse me," I said to the workmen, "but I'm pretty sure that star is missing an O. And a hyphen."
They were startled, and a little unsure what to do – after all, the ceremony was in four hours, and you can't just print up a new star at the local CopyMart. I snapped a pic with my BlackBerry, then hustled to work and called Ana Martinez-Holler, the press rep for the Hollywood Walk of Fame. "Are you sure?" she gasped, and then, understandably, she hurried off the phone.
A couple of hours later, Ana called me back. "Is everything okay?" I asked. "Well, I almost puked in my car, but otherwise, yeah," she replied. It turns out Louis-Dreyfus thought the mistake was hysterical, and wanted them to leave it, but they'd already chiseled out the "Luis" and put a temporary "Louis-" in its place for the unveiling. It wasn't shiny and perfect, but at least they got her name right.
Ana said they're going to give the "Luis" to Julia as a memento. I was kind of hoping for that souvenir, but at least I've played a small part in Walk of Fame history... and have a reason to smile every time I walk to and from the Metro station each day.
soundoff (204 Responses)
Post a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
About this blog
Our daily cheat-sheet for breaking celebrity news, Hollywood buzz and your pop-culture obsessions.


text:
Let me tell you about the worst thing I ever did to my son. When he was 4, I took him to a small basement apartment in a Manhattanbrownstone. I then paid a man to give my son an intelligence test.
The test was an attempt to deliver my son from the chaos of "normal" public school in my adopted hometown of Harlem into a gifted-and-talented program on the tony Upper West Side. My son performed pretty abominably. This did not shake me, as I was not very confident in how well I would have done had I been confronted at age 4 with an "intelligence test." Back then my interests were oatmeal cookies, picture books and the Fantastic Four cartoon, in no particular order. What did shake me, and echoes through the day, is the fact that I'd actually participated.
It was not simply the act of testing (I tested my way into gifted-and-talented as a third-grader) so much as the fact that you have to effectively pay for the chance of admission to a publicly subsidized school. There was a waiver offered for the poor, but the waiver involved grappling with paperwork and the vagaries of the largest department of education in the country. Later I learned that it was customary for parents, trying to get their kids into G&T;, to not only pay the fee but pay for test prep.
I consider taking my son to that test the "worst thing" I've done as a parent because it felt wrong before I did it. In my gut, I knew there was something disturbing about it, but I went anyway. I was a young parent. But I should have known better.
New York has since changed, and centralized its requirements, and districts are no longer allowed to enact such byzantine measures. But prepping 4-year-old children for testing still remains de rigueur among the fashionable classes of the city. The result has been a sudden ballooning of kindergartners eligible for G&T.; New York experienced a 22 percent increase last year, and more than half of the prospective kindergartners in the wealthy areas of Manhattan scored in the 90th percentile of the test. Perhaps brainpower truly accrues among the elite. Or perhaps, increasingly, the elite are finding ways to accrue power of a different kind.
The concentration of that particular species of power, a deep knowledge of how the machinery of social advancement works, is in part the subject of Chris Hayes' stunning polemic, "Twilight of The Elites." Hayes' book is the rare tome that originates from a political home (the left) and yet actually challenges assumptions that undergird the dominant logic in both political parties. This is not mealy-mouthed centrism. It is a substantive critique of the underlying logic of both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney -- the logic of meritocracy.
In Mr. Hayes' rendition, we like to tell ourselves that we live in a world where entrance of the elite is earned by sheer merit -- hard work and talent -- when invisible hands play a larger role in social advancement than we would like to admit. Mr. Hayes argues that a pure, self-replicating meritocracy is a myth that must always devolve into oligarchy. Thus, allegedly non-biased, objective, presumably meritocratic systems devolve into a test of who can afford prep materials.
The divide is not merely over what children attend what schools but over how the crimes of the powerless are so often more harshly punished then the crimes of the powerful. Mr. Hayes, comparing the relatively light sanctions doled out to those who brought us to the brink of financial collapse with how we punish drug users, notes the implicit contradiction and the trouble it visits upon our country: "We cannot have a just society that applies the principle of accountability to the powerless and the principle of forgiveness to the powerful. This is the America in which we currently reside."
One thing that makes the trappings of the American Dream so enticing is the fact that we all know people who defy the odds, whose lives stand in contrast to what the structural criticism of people like Mr. Hayes imply. My own father worked his way up out of gripping poverty and was ultimately able to send all of his children to college. I am the product of that investment, and last year I used it to pull my son out of public school and place him in a private institution. There, he will likely learn more about the levers behind America than I or his grandfather knew. Along the way I have tried to instill in him the idea that this knowledge has very little to do with intelligence or hard work. He has benefited from something more than his merits.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, a Baltimore native, is a writer and senior editor for The Atlantic and its website. His blog can be found at www.theatlantic.com/ta-nehisi-coates.


text:
The largest teachers union in Kansas plans to file a lawsuit after the July Fourth holiday challenging new education polices enacted this spring, including the elimination of guaranteed tenure in public schools.
Marcus Baltzell says Tuesday that attorneys for the Kansas National Education Association intended to file the lawsuit in Shawnee County District Court.
The union plans to contest the tenure issue and other provisions that were attached to a $129 million school funding bill by conservative Republicans and signed by Gov. Sam Brownback. The KNEA supported the funding increases in the bill, which were aimed at complying with a Kansas Supreme Court decision.
Other policies included loosening teacher licensing requirements and creating of a scholarship program for at-risk students funded by corporate donations in exchange for tax credits.


text:
Configures a database connection for the ADIdentity Service.
Set-AcctDBConnection [-DBConnection] <String> [-Force] [-LoggingId <Guid>] [-BearerToken <String>] [-TraceParent <String>] [-TraceState <String>] [-VirtualSiteId <String>] [-AdminAddress <String>] [<CommonParameters>]
Detailed Description¶
Specifies the database connection string for use by the currently selected Citrix ADIdentity Service instance.
The service saves the connection string and attempts to contact the specified database. If the database cannot initially be contacted the service retries the connection at intervals until connection with the database is successfully established.
It is not possible to set a new database connection string for the service if one is already set. The connection string must first be set to \$null. This action causes the service to reset and return to its idle state, at which point a new connection string can be set.
When a database connection string is successfully set for the service, a status of OK is returned by the cmdlet. If the database connection string is set to \$null, a DBUnconfigured status is returned.
A syntactically invalid connection string is not saved.
Only Windows authentication is supported within the connection string; a connection string containing SQL authentication credentials is always rejected as invalid.
The current service instance is that on the local machine, or that explicitly specified by the last usage of the -AdminAddress parameter to a ADIdentity SDK cmdlet.
Related Commands¶
|Pipeline Input
|Default Value
|Specifies the database connection string to be used by the ADIdentity Service. Passing in \$null will clear any existing database connection configured.
|If present, allows the local administrator to set the connection string to null when there are problems contacting the database or other services.
|Specifies the identifier of the high-level operation this cmdlet call forms a part of. Citrix Studio and Director typically create high-level operations. PowerShell scripts can also wrap a series of cmdlet calls in a high-level operation by way of the Start-LogHighLevelOperation and Stop-LogHighLevelOperation cmdlets.
|Specifies the bearer token assigned to the calling user
|Specifies the trace parent assigned for internal diagnostic tracing use
|Specifies the trace state assigned for internal diagnostic tracing use
|Specifies the virtual site the PowerShell snap-in will connect to.
|The address of a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops controller the PowerShell snap-in will connect to. You can provide this as a host name or an IP address.
|Localhost. Once a value is provided by any cmdlet, this value becomes the default.
Input Type¶
You cannot pipe input into this cmdlet.
Return Values¶
The Set-AcctDBConnection cmdlet returns an object describing the status of the ADIdentity Service together with extra diagnostics information.
ServiceStatus <string>
The status of the Machine Creation Service instance that adopted the connection string. Possible ServiceStatus values are:
The ADIdentity Service instance is configured with a valid database and service schema. The service is operational.
-- DBUnconfigured:
No database connection string is set for the ADIdentity Service instance.
-- DBRejectedConnection:
The database rejected the logon attempt from the ADIdentity Service. This may be because the service attempted to log on with invalid credentials or because a database has not been installed in the specified location.
-- InvalidDBConfigured:
The specified database does not exist, is not visible to the ADIdentity Service instance, or the service's schema within the database is invalid.
-- DBNotFound:
The specified database could not be located with the configured connection string.
-- DBNewerVersionThanService:
The version of the ADIdentity Service currently in use is newer than, and incompatible with, the version of the ADIdentity Service schema on the database. Upgrade the ADIdentity Service to a more recent version.
-- DBOlderVersionThanService:
The version of the ADIdentity Service schema on the database is newer than, and incompatible with, the version of the ADIdentity Service currently in use. Upgrade the database schema to a more recent version.
-- DBVersionChangeInProgress:
A database schema upgrade is in progress.
-- PendingFailure:
Connectivity between the ADIdentity Service instance and the database has been lost. This may be a transitory network error, but may indicate a loss of connectivity that requires administrator intervention.
-- Failed:
Connectivity between the ADIdentity Service instance and the database has been lost for an extended period of time, or has failed due to a configuration problem. The service instance cannot operate while its connection to the database is unavailable.
-- Unknown:
The status of the ADIdentity Service cannot be determined.
ExtraInfo <System.Collections.Generic.Dictionary[string, string]>
Dictionary providing extra diagnostics information for the database identified by the connection string. It contains at least the following keys, and their associated string values:
-- Server.Version:
Database server version number.
-- Server.IsClustered:
"True" if the database server is clustered; "False" otherwise.
-- Database.Status:
Status of the database. When operating normally, the value is "Normal".
-- Database.RecoveryModel:
Recovery model of the database (e.g. "Simple").
-- Database.LastBackupDate:
Date of the last backup of this database.
-- Database.IsReadCommittedSnapshotOn:
"True" if the READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT database option is enabled; "False" otherwise.
-- Database.Collation:
Collation order of the database (e.g. "Latin1_General_100_CI_AS_KS").
-- Database.IsMirroringEnabled:
"True" if the database is mirrored; "False" otherwise.
-- Database.AvailabilityGroupName:
The name of the availability group of which this database is a member.
Beware that the corresponding values are always strings. Therefore, to test Boolean values, you must use statements like
if (\$info["Server.IsClustered"] == "True")
instead of just
if (\$info["Server.IsClustered"])
If the command fails, the following errors can be returned.
Error Codes
The database connection string has an invalid format.
There was already a database connection configured. After a configuration is set, it can only be set to \$null.
You do not have permission to execute this command.
There was a problem communicating with the Citrix Delegated Administration Service.
The operation could not be performed because of a configuration logging error.
There was a problem communicating with the remote service.
An unexpected error occurred. For more details, see the Windows event logs on the controller or the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops logs.
Example 1¶
C:\PS>Set-AcctDBConnection "Server=dbserver\SQLEXPRESS;Database=XDDB;Trusted_Connection=True"

ServiceStatus ExtraInfo

------------- ---------

OK {...}
Configures the service instance to use a database called XDDB on an SQL Server Express database running on the machine called dbserver. Integrated Windows authentication is required.
Example 2¶
C:\PS>Set-AcctDBConnection -DBConnection $null

ServiceStatus ExtraInfo

-------------- ---------

DBUnconfigured {...}
Resets the service instance's database connection string. The service instance resets and returns to an idle state until a valid new database connection string is specified.
Example 3¶
c:\PS>Set-AcctDBConnection -DBConnection "Server=serverName\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog = databaseName; Integrated Security = True"

 OK

ServiceStatus ExtraInfo

------------- ---------

OK {...}
Configures a database connection string for the ADIdentity Service.
Example 4¶
c:\PS>Set-AcctDBConnection -DBConnection "Invalid Connection String"

 Invalid database connection string format.
Configures an invalid database connection string for the ADIdentity Service.


text:
You're you. You have your two hands and two feet and a camera. That's it. Can you climb up a freaking skyscraper without any protective gear, safety net, rope, and whatever else sane people use when they climb? This guy did.
The video does a really good job at capturing the squeamish fear cum adrenaline rush of the situation. He's apparently climbing the Red Gates Administrative Building, one of the seven Stalin Skyscrapers in Moscow. I'm going to throw up now. [The Awesomer]
And here are some people climbing a bridge in Moscow. Not sure what's up with Russia right now but it's great for their YouTube accounts.


text:
When I was in college, Starbucks was the devil. They were considered evil by the hippigensia that pervaded my university (which I love by the way) because they worked against the little guys at home and abroad. In the US they moved into areas and put independent coffee shops out of business, or at least made their lives harder. Overseas their lack of care in purchasing their beans meant laborers were mistreated. So, by extension, Starbucks was the devil.
Eventually the hatred died down as Starbucks worked on cleaning up their image by offering benefits to their employees at home and buying at least partially into the fair trade movement.
Now in 2008, Starbucks is trying to turn their flagging business around in an economy where folks are cutting the fat. And Starbucks is nearly all fat. As part of their plan to turn things around they've launched a new line of Coffee that hearkens back to their roots in Seattle's Pike Place. In addition to the throwback coffee, they've added a throwback design. But now the BBC is reporting that some Christians (belonging to a group calling themselves "the Resistance") are up in arms over the "new" Starbucks logo (see comparison at right) and are calling for a boycott of the Coffee giant. Excuse my lack of righteous indignation, but I like the new logo better. If you're going to use a representation of a mythological creature for your logo you ought to have the gumption to depict it in a similar way to the original. In this case, the Starbucks logo is reportedly based upon a "16th century Norse design" of a siren.
On a side note, I'm not sure it's entirely appropriate to talk about Norse in the 16th century–by then I would think the general term Scandinavian and the more specific Swedish, Danish, Norwegian etc… would be more apt. Be that as it may, this just strikes me as another example of how some Christians get hot under the collar over the stupidest stuff… all the while they are probably working frantically to come up with some pseudo-Christian Kitsch version of the logo to slap on the T-shirts they sell which are manufactured with love by tiny hands in third world countries by companies involved in the same conglomerates as some of the "Christian" publishing imprints owned by parent companies that in their other manifestations cater to all sorts of degenerate appetites… Global capitalism and all that…
Am I wrong? Should I really be offended by this? Parents, would you cover your children's eyes when passing this sign?
To paraphrase a commenter on another site, this is horrible… if we don't get rid of this logo all the Christian children (and husbands) are going to go straight down to the fish market and debauch themselves.
I guess Starbucks is the devil again…
And, for a very interesting history of the Starbucks Logo, check out this site.
Update: Anna made an interesting observation regarding the original 15th century version of the siren vs. a "reimagining" of the siren on a current Starbucks bag. Compare the picture above to this:
Notice anything interesting?
Doesn't it look like the mermaid had liposuction? I guess even mythical creatures aren't immune to cultural standards of beauty. I'll leave it to Anna to unpack this…


text:
Ascendo Coffee
san luis obispo coffee, san luis obispo coffee shop, cafe san luis obispo, specialty coffee San Luis Obispo, coffee store San Luis Obispo
Ascendo coffee is a San Luis Obispo coffee shop. We began with the idea of making the world a better place through our business. That idea remains at the core of our vision. We are truly humbled by all the beautiful relationships we have formed in our community.
We fell in love with roasting coffee in 2014, and haven't looked back. It is the cornerstone of our passion for coffee. We have spent many hours testing roast profiles and rebuilding and modifying our roasters. We are confident in our ability roast specialty coffee consistently well.
We moved from our small hole in the wall to a 2800 square foot building just two doors down from our shop in 2015. We did all the construction ourselves with the help of friends and family. It was an incredible and humble experience to build something from scratch with the help of the community that we helped create.
In 2017 we got a new name. Ascendo Coffee! Same people, same values, same coffee! Ascendo means "I rise" in latin. The whole of our journey can be described by rising from the very little we had at the beginning. We couldn't get up every morning without our coffee.
Business Name:
Ascendo Coffee
311 Higuera StSan Luis Obispo California 93401United States
About San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish: [san ˈlwis oˈβispo]; Spanish for 'St. Louis the Bishop'; Chumash: tiłhini) is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway between the San Francisco Bay Area in the north and Greater Los Angeles in the south. The population was 47,063 at the 2020 census.San Luis Obispo was founded by the Spanish in 1772, when Saint Junípero Serra established Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. The town grew steadily through the Mexican period before a rapid expansion of San Luis Obispo following the American Conquest of California.
Neighborhoods in San Luis Obispo, California
AVIVO TOWNHOMES, Administrative Office - Habitat for Humanity for San Luis Obispo County, Avila Ranch, Avila Senior Living at Downtown SLO, Bassi Ranch Homeowners Associates, Bishop Peak, Bishop Peak Foothill Trailhead, Canyon Hills San Luis Obispo, Chorro, Chumash Village, City of San Luis Obispo Parks and Recreation, Creekside Community, Cuesta Canyon Park, Downtown, Downtown SLO
Things to do in San Luis Obispo, California
Our Newest Profiles


text:
September TBR
It sure took me a while to post my TBR, didn't it? Why, you ask? I have two words for you. Summer .Vacation. For my toddler, of course. When does a mom ever get a vacation! Anyway, school starts in full swing next week. I'm going to miss her constant chatter, but honestly, I cannot wait for all that delicious me-time. Writing, here I come! But first, reading.


text:
SaviCorp Founder and CEO Receives Patent for Innovative Pollution Control System
SANTA ANA, Calif., Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- SaviCorp(R) (OTCPINK: SVMI)
SANTA ANA, Calif., Feb. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- SaviCorp(R) (OTCPINK: SVMI)
SaviCorp, pioneers in automotive technology innovations and products that reduce harmful emissions and improve fuel efficiency (including its flagship DynoValve(R)), today announced that the U.S. Patent Office has awarded patent no. 8,360,038 B2 ("Pollution Control System") to SaviCorp Founder and CEO Serge Monros for creating a system that systematically controls a PCV valve assembly which recycles engine fuel by-products, reduces emissions, improves engine performance, and extends engine life.
The application for the patent was filed in March of 2010 and the final patent was issued on January 29, 2013. The patent is one of many from Mr. Monros and underscores his and SaviCorp's commitment to saving the planet, one vehicle, and one fleet, at a time. To view the entire U.S. patent, please click here.
The patent abstract reads as follows:
"The pollution control system includes a PCV valve having an inlet and an outlet adapted to vent blow-by gas out from a combustion engine. A fluid regulator associated with the PCV valve selectively modulates engine vacuum pressure to adjustably increase or decrease a fluid flow rate of blow-by gas venting from the combustion engine. An integral oil trap fluidly coupled to the PCV valve condenses vaporized oil in the blow-by gas into a liquid for re-use in the combustion engine."
"This patent highlights SaviCorp's continued strategic focus on building and developing leading edge technology that dramatically revolutionizes current combustion engine performance," said Serge Monros, Founder, CEO, and CTO of SaviCorp. "The positive effects of cleaner air and increased fuel economy remain my personal passion and the company's focus as we strive to help save our environment for future generations to come. In that spirit, six new provisional applications geared toward such efficiencies have been filed with the U.S. Patent Office in the first two months of 2013 alone."
"With this season's fuel price escalating early across the country, and leading experts in the oil industry and the AAA expecting prices to rise through the spring, our company has redoubled its efforts to ensure that the DynoValve(R) and related systems are ever-faster getting into the hands (and vehicles) of our consumers," said Victor A. Chu, President of SaviCorp. "Serge continues to deliver highly effective tools that our sales and marketing teams can move into cars and fleets as we aim to strike back at the pump and at pollution nationwide."
For more information about SaviCorp and their signature DynoValve product, visit www.savicorp.com
DynoValve Saves Gas and Cuts Emissions Video - or www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuJwIxXqFhU
About SaviCorp
SaviCorp (savicorp.com) is an innovative automotive technology company that licenses, manufactures, distributes and services an array of patented technologies and products that reduce harmful emissions and improve fuel efficiency. The Company, an evolution of more than twenty years of automotive engine emissions testing, materials research and development, was formed to create, support and license our patented supplementary vehicle Emissions Reduction Technologies (ERT) to reduce emissions and improve efficiency. Using proprietary methods and processes, the Company's flagship DynoValve(R) system protects the environment, lessens an engine's carbon offsets, increases gas mileage, and improves engine performance resulting in dramatic savings in both fuel and oil.
Forward-Looking Statement Disclosure
Statements contained herein that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. Although we believe that the expectations and assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct. Some of these uncertainties include, without limitation, the company's ability to perform under existing contracts, to procure future contracts, to acquire certain assets, or to finalize funding for the purchase of certain assets. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous factors and uncertainties, including without limitation, successful implementation of our business strategy and competition, any of which may cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the statements. We undertake no obligation and do not intend to update, revise or otherwise publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of any unanticipated events. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will materialize. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from our forward-looking statements.
Rick Thomas(310) 595-5800
Jerry Jacobsen(323) 963-5708


text:
Smithsonian to host summer sleepovers for students
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON – A "Night at the Museum" will be a reality for students at the Smithsonian this summer.
The Smithsonian Associates will host Smithsonian Sleepovers at the National Museum of American History and National Museum of Natural History. The program is for children ages 8 to 12 and their chaperones.
The Smithsonian says they will explore the exhibit halls at night while solving a mystery through an interactive game and watching a film.
Smithsonian Sleepovers will be held at the American history museum May 9, June 20, July 18, Aug. 1 and Aug. 15. The natural history museum will host sleepovers May 17, June 14, June 28, July 12, July 26, Aug. 8 and Aug. 22.
Tickets are $135 per person or $120 for members.


text:
- High quality 3/8" (10 mm) thick ANSI certified clear tempered glass
- Model for opening Size: 57″ – 59″ in. W x 60 in. H
- Reversible for a right or left door opening installation
- Glass Panel(s): 30 1/2 in. each
- Specially designed rollers create a smooth, quiet gliding operation
- Water Spots Off – Protective Coating available. Cut cleaning time up to 90%
- Hardware in Chrome Finish or Brushed Nickel
- IMPORTANT! All measurements should be taken only AFTER walls are finished (tile, back walls, etc.)
- Professional installation recommended
Product Warranty: Limited Lifetime Warranty
- Modern rolling door and stationary panel configuration
- Easy installation for left or right entry
- Single roller with precision ball bearings for smooth operation
- Anodized aluminum hardware prevents rusting or corrosion
- Doorway width range: 57″-59″
- Free Shipping!
Leaves the Warehouse in just 5 business days
What is in the box?
(1) Stainless Steel Track 59″
(4) Sliding Glass Door Rollers
(2) Roller System Door Stoppers
(2) Wall to track Connectors
(2) Glass to Track Connectors
(1) Adjustable Door Floor Guide
(3) Wall to Glass Clamp
(1) Pull Handle
(2) Bottom Sliding Door Seal
(1) Translucent Bulb Seal
(2) Glass Panel(s): 30 1/2 in. each
|Product Type
|Glass Shower Door
|Door Opening
|Single sliding
|Hardware Material
|Stainless steel
|Door Installation
|Number of Doors
|Number of Panels
|Handle Included
|Yes (1)
|Handle Material
|Stainless steel
|Overall Width - Side to Side: Minimum
|Walk Through Width - Max
|Overall Product Weight
|130 lb.
|Overall Height - Top to Bottom
|Frame Type
|Glass Type
|High quality 3/8" (10 mm) thick ANSI certified clear tempered glass
|Country of Manufacture
|USA (Miami FL)
|Product Warranty
|Limited lifetime manufacturer warranty
|Assembly Required
|Tools Needed for Assembly
|Caulk, tape measure, pencil, screwdriver, drill bit, level, caulk gun, electric drill, hammer
|Installation Required
|Yes (Professional installation recommended)
No out of plumb adjustment
|Tools Needed for Installation
|Caulk, tape measure, pencil, screwdriver, drill bit, level, caulk gun, electric drill, hammer


text:
Washington (CNN) - Do-nothing Congresses need not apply: a majority of Americans want something done on the federal deficit this year, an opportunity lawmakers will have when they return from their vacation.
Seven of 10 surveyed in a new Pew Research and USA Today poll released Thursday said major legislation on the deficit is the most important issue on Congress' plate, topping immigration, gun legislation and other issues.
[twitter-follow screen_name='politicalticker']
The survey came out about a week before forced federal spending cuts are set to trigger automatically, slashing $85 billion in spending by federal agencies over the next seven months.
Americans are also opinionated on how deficit reduction should be achieved.
Three quarters - 76% - want a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, and 73% say the effort should include more spending cuts than tax increases. Two in 10 say only spending cuts should be included in a package. President Barack Obama describes his plan for spending cuts and tax increases as a balanced approach, while congressional Republicans say the economy cannot handle more tax increases. The poll showed 88% of Republicans said the solution should either be entirely or mostly through spending cuts.
Obama appears to have the upper edge in the court of public opinion. Should the spending cuts go into effect, 49% said Republicans in Congress would take the blame and 31% said the blame would rest with Obama.
A separate survey released by Bloomberg late Wednesday similarly found Republicans were more to blame than Obama for the dysfunction in Washington by a 43% to 34% margin. It showed Obama held a 55% approval rating, the same number shown in a CNN/ORC poll released before his inauguration to a second term.
While the March 1 deadline approaches fast, the Pew and USA Today poll says the public is largely unaware of the looming threat. Three in 10 know nothing of the forced spending cuts, 43% know a little of it and 27% know a lot about it.
If the deadline arrives without a deal, 49% said the cuts should be delayed and 40% said the cuts should go into effect. The Obama administration said this month the cuts to defense spending would be about 13% and to other programs, about 9%. Entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security are sheltered from the cuts.
Deficit reduction topped the list of key priorities, according to the poll, which showed only 51% saw immigration legislation as essential. Gun legislation was rated essential by 46%, though Democrats thought it more important – 71% - than did Republicans – 19% - by a wide margin.
On immigration, the Pew and USA today said their polling showed an increasing number of Americans favored both increasing enforcement and creating a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Forty-seven percent supported a proposal including both aspects, while a quarter of Americans favored strengthened enforcement alone. Another quarter wanted a path to citizenship alone.
The Bloomberg survey found 35% favored a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants without a criminal record who pay taxes, learn English and pay a fine. Eighteen percent said a path to citizenship or legal status should wait for improvements in border security.
The Pew and USA Today poll included 1,504 adults contacted by telephone between February 13-18 and had a sampling error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. The Bloomberg survey included 1,003 adults reached by phone between February 15 and 18, and had a sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 points.
I voted for Obama, but I have to say I haven't been too happy with his deficit reduction plan. While i'm not intrinsically opposed to more tax increases, I feel like that's all he's been pushing to address the deficit. Even if you want tax increases as part of a deficit reduction plan, Obama has to realize that to get out of the deficit is mainly going to be acheived through spending cuts because you can only gain so much revenue by increasing taxes.
GOP need to stop fighting one man and work for the American people.
Only 20% of Americans think that spending cuts alone is the proper approach to reducing the deficit. So who the heck is the GOP representing?
They are holding the country hostage over ideology. They seem willing to destroy the countries economy in order to make political points against Obama. And even when the poles show that most Americans are on to their game, they still seem determined to take the country instead of compromise.
Unfortunately, no one is surprise and their party before people tactics.
Duh! Who are you going to blame?! At which desk does the $ stop?! The constant excuses and the blame game must stop. Grandiose speeches and props WILL NOT improve the nation's situation.
Mr. President, GET SERIOUS! Lead, if not; get out of the way. There are numerous Democrats (excluding Senile Reed and Bobble Head Pelosi, Weiner wannabe Schultz, etc., etc.) and Republicans that are REALLY willing to tackle the nation's issues in a REAL partisan and grown up manner. You and your equally clueless/vindictive administration are preventing this efforts from going "FORWARD"!!!
OK, "Benders Forward", your turn!
The people is waiiting on congress an obama in making decisions about the federal cuts an about the jobs. The people knowing obama is not letting them down with their jobs.
There ard too many in Congress that are unwilling to let the majority rule. There needs to be thoughts of the country first because many too many are ideologues that only think their ideas are good and discount everyone else.


text:
New T68 Gen7 Paintball Gun
RAP4 is proud to introduce the next evolution of the award-winning T68 family of hyper-realistic paintball markers: the T68 Gen7. Boasting hot new features that are ready to rock your game, this all-metal marker brings the look, feel, and ergonomics of the M4 family of carbines to your team.
The T68 Gen7 incorporates a fully functional magazine-feed system in addition to accepting normal hoppers. The SplitFire dual-feed system allows you to use either a hopper or magazines independently, or together as you switch between them by rotating a simple collar. This allows you the flexibility of two different feed options, and the performance enhancement of carrying two different types of paint simultaneously for special missions and applications.
The array of T68 accessories allows for a world of configurations, including RIS, CQB, Special Ops, variations with an onboard hidden air source or a remote line, red dot sights, scopes, flashlights, grenade launchers...By changing the peripherals attached to your T68 Gen7 receiver, you can completely change the look and performance of your marker to reflect different roles and meet evolving challenges.
The T68 M4 is built around the internal Flexi-Air System that enables you to use either CO2 or compressed air from a tank within the stock, a remote line, or a full size air tank used as a stock. The T68 M4 is ideal for individuals who believe in tactical precision--where every shot counts, every ball eliminates an opponent, and the game is as real as you can get.
The T68 M4 has a removable carry handle with standard sights that are adjustable for elevation and windage. With the carry handle removed, the T68 M4 can take any standard scope, sight, or mount on the flattop rail. They have endless configurations, and are fully compatible with standard military specification attachments. The T68 M4 has an authentic charging handle just like a real assault rifle.
The new Gen7 has numerous internal and external upgrades, including a newly redesigned bolt and hammer, and many other parts that improve the T68 Series' overall power, range and accuracy. They shoot standard .68 caliber paintballs, and can deliver tactical accuracy at great range.
The T68 Gen7 features all-metal construction, while the bolt is made out of Delrin to prevent metal-to-metal wear and tear. Along with all these upgrades and improvements, the T68 Gen7 comes with a 5 year warranty from defects in manufacturing or material--one of the longest product warranties you'll find in the industry.
Key Features Include:
The T68 Series markers are designed for combat training, and are tough enough for years of service. They are designed to take punishment and provide ease of maintenance. Each and every part of the T68 can be removed and replaced, so you can keep your Gen7 fleet in constant use for training or as field markers. The versatility, wealth of accessories and easy-to-build configurations, and design simplicity make the T68 one of the best paintball markers available.
Military and law enforcement groups are already using T68 M4 markers for tactical training. They are perfect for room clearing and building entry training, and teaching CQB marksmanship and firearm safety. The T68 Gen7 markers are fabricated with weight, width and length comparable to authentic M16 / M4 style assault rifles, and the pistol grip is identical to that on an M4. This gives personnel a true-to-life feel, as if they are training with their duty gear.


text:
iPhone 6s/Plus goes on sale in 36 more countries today, with a further 6 tomorrow
Apple's rollout of the iPhone 6s/Plus beyond the dozen launch countries kicks off today, with customers in 36 more countries able to get their hands on the new devices. This follows Apple making SIM-free phones available in the USA.
The countries are Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Maldives, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.
Those in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates will have to wait until tomorrow, while there's a further week to go before sales open up in India, Malaysia and Turkey. Apple has promised that the new iPhones will be on sale in over 130 countries by the end of the year.
Apple sold more than 13 million iPhones in the opening weekend. If you're still on the fence, some recent pieces that may help are my iPhone 6s diary, a video of the best 3D Touch features, plus a comparison video and opinion piece on the 6s versus 6s Plus.


text:
And he's local!
Jim Walsh who's been writing about local music, since, well I've been reading about it, is reading some of his favorites Friday night in Excelsior at the 318 Music Cafe:
Jim Walsh: Songs and Stories
I've always wanted to do this. I'll read some of my fave columns and essays from over the years along with new material (all from a forthcoming collection), and play songs from my first two Mad Ripple CDS, "Sink and/or Swim" and "Her Tattoos Could Sail Ships," and several new tunes. Really looking forward to it. Come baptize yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka if you can…
If I weren't teaching, I'd be there. So, since I can't go, I'm going to play one of my favorites, right now — Hüsker Dü's Warehouse Songs and Stories on my record player.
Check out his writing at his City Pages blog archive or an excerpt from his book The Replacements: All Over but the Shouting.


text:
Old Henry 'Kennel Club' Monster Deal
Over the years, Old Henry has blossomed into a sales juggernaut, cult classic and hero to the humidors of cigar connoisseurs worldwide. Handmade in Nicaragua by legendary Cigar King - Jose 'Pepin' Garcia, Old Henry offers super-premium quality at everyday prices. Blended to perfection from the finest aged Nicaraguan tobaccos, these cigars showcase high-grade Corojo, Maduro, Connecticut and Sumatra wrappers. In terms of strength, these cigars run the spectrum from medium all the way up to full-bodied, while the flavors are trademark Pepin with varying degrees of spice accentuated by each wrapper varietal. This sampler is a certified award-winning Kennel Club assortment of 20 Old Henry cigars for just $4.99 apiece!
Sampler includes:
- 5 - Old Henry Toro (6 x 52)
- 5 - Old Henry Gold Label Churchill (7 x 48)
- 5 - Old Henry Maduro Toro (6 x 52)
- 5 - Old Henry Pure Breed Churchill (7 x 49)
Customers Buying This Also Buy:
Old Henry 'Best In Show' AssortmentBox of 8Only: $44.95
Pepin Garcia '94-96 Rated' All-Star Sampler16 CigarsOnly: $129.95
La Aroma de Cuba 'Best Sellers' AssortmentBox of 5Only: $49.99
Oliva Master Blends Monster Deal20 CigarsOnly: $79.95Reviews for Old Henry 'Kennel Club' Monster Deal4 Reviews


text: The year is 2007. It is the future. Earth has been ravaged by a nuclear war and new paths for peace must be found. A U.S. cyborg army may have found a solution: a powerful bioweapon on a distant island. A Mark IV Cyber Commando, Sergeant Rex Power Colt has been sent over to gather information and figure out what the hell is going on.


text:
There is no world or national organization that determines a clear-cut genre or category for each book written. In the United States, the Library of Congress assigns a combination of letters and numbers to each traditionally published book registered. This identifier determines where that book should be shelved in any library.
For a debut author, it is a recommended to write within a clearly articulated literary genre. You will need to categorize your novel for the purpose of querying agents and publishers, and most novels fair better on the market when they are specifically geared toward one literary genre or another.
See examples of genres and make a deep dive into sub-genres at Paul Carlson's blog post
Another great list can be found at Wickipedia.
Before sending out queries to publishers or agents, study carefully which genres they prefer!
If your book is available both, in print and as an e-book, you can choose four categories (two for print and two for digital) and see in which your book best fares.
Finding the best genre on Amazon is another topic: Readers have to FIND your book to buy it. There is a large list of possible categories to put your book in – the categories that best match your books based on their content. Study carefully each book that is competitive to yours and see in which categories the bestsellers among them are listed. Narrow down your list as much as possible. You can email Amazon's KDP and ask them to get your book into the proper categories, telling them the exact line, such as this:
Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Reference > Writing > Writing Skills
Now, let's look for example at NEVER SAY SORRY, a thriller that runs between corporate ethics, the law, medical treatments for cancer and hedge funds. http://bit.ly/Y6ABTa
In the e-Book category:
Thrillers (book's competition is 112,518, this is where it was initially posted)
Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers >Thrillers > Medical (competition is only 394)
Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers >Thrillers> Legal (competition is only 1.303)
The author can choose both categories for her e-book – medical and legal thriller. To leave the book under thriller only, compromises its ranking tremendously, almost killing the book.
Let us know about your experience with book genres.
If you enjoyed this blog post, please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog
(there are almost 600 of them : ) if you haven't already. Why not sign up to receive them
regularly by email? Just click on "Follow" in the upper line on each page – and then on
"LIKE" next to it. There is also the "SHARE" button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr
Follow on Twitter: @111publishing
And don't forget to spread the word on other social networking sites of your choice for other writers who might also enjoy this blog and find it useful. Thanks, Doris


text:
What A Night of Pool Hopping Looks Like in Toronto
Who needs expensive getaways when there's an escape just down the block?
Shortly after outdoor public pools close for the evening, the real action begins. On almost any given summer night in outdoor pools across the city, pool-hoppers start arriving no more than a half hour past midnight to get in on a very illegal, yet very appealing, late night pool party. A constant flow of people, of all ages and cultures, come and go throughout the night—more often than not until 4 a.m. or later, provided that the cops don't arrive to break up the festivities.
Last week, which saw some of the hottest daytime temperatures on record in the city, the influx of illegal swimmers coming to Toronto's public pools was also likely pushing records—though it's not as if anyone is keeping precise data on these kinds of things. Though Thursday night, when we tagged along with some pool hoppers at Christie Pits to see the party in action, we did overhear one police officer say that the number of departing swimmers was the largest he had ever seen at any Toronto pool, ever. (The photos that accompany this story were taken last week, from Thursday through Saturday night.) Luckily for the overwhelming number of trespassing swimmers, the collective discretion of the officers determined that so long as everyone left promptly, no fines would be issued and no arrests made. (This didn't really prevent pandemonium from breaking out among the rookie pool hoppers when some guy yelled "Shit! The cops are here!")
Hint to any people who might try pool hopping at some point: if the authorities show up, remember that you are in a giant cage with 10-foot walls. You are at the mercy of the officers, so your best bet is to get along with them in the most respectful and polite manner possible.
What might be the most compelling aspect of pool hopping, besides the unquestionable illicit fun, is the ad-hoc community which forms each night. Pool hopping isn't a scene. You won't get glaring looks for not wearing the right kind of clothes (or for not wearing any clothes at all), you're not expected to like a certain kind of band, or have a specific favourite beer, or belong to some particular subculture. There are simply no social barriers to participating in this illegal activity—though there are plenty of, well, actual barriers to participating.
Those physical barriers, in the form of 10-foot–high fences, are merely the introduction to the collaborative adventure that is pool-hopping. Few people scale the fences without the support of their friends who have come along with them, or the new friends that they make upon arrival. Typically everyone wants everyone else to have a good time, and the first step is getting everyone in.
You can easily tell who are the seasoned pool hoppers—the ones who thought well enough ahead to wear some kind of swimming attire, and were considerate enough to bring their alcohol in non-breakable plastic bottles and wine boxes. The veterans will also be the ones to explain to the rookies that they need to keep their voices and music down unless they are hoping for someone living close by to call in a noise complaint to the police. This veteran cast of characters includes, but is not limited to: free spirited (naked) hippie types, drunken frat boys hoping to get a glimpse of a nipple or two, show-boaters who risk severe personal injury to impress their friends and other pool hoppers, lovers who sit off to the side in the kiddie pool and make out, and buddies who lounge about smoking and drinking. All of them are just looking for some good-spirited fun in friendly company.
And really, how could you not have a good time when all of a sudden you find the chance to do everything you weren't allowed to do at the pool as a kid? Running on the deck, check. Multiple people going down the slide at once, check. Multiple people going up the slide at once? Swimming naked? Making out with your significant other? Checks on all accounts.


text:
Breast of Canada Calendar 2007:
Please Support Breast
The Breast of Times [story]
2007 Calendar deidcated to Christina Clara Tyson
2006 Calendar dedicated to Dr. Gabriele Helms
Three great reasons to own a Breast of Canada Calendar.
One. The Breast of Canada calendar is educational. Being proactive and self educated about your health is an important step to take. The 2008 calendar helps you take that step.
Two. The Breast of Canada calendar is about health. Maintaining and improving your health and cultivating a positive body image stimulates a higher quality of life.
Three. The Breast of Canada calendar raises profile and funds. Net proceeds for the 2008 edition will be directed to the Canadian Breast Cancer Network.
Sites that we recommend.
Discover our Menopause And You blog today and learn how to control your menopause symptoms.
Who's behind this project?
Breast of Canada is the grass roots, brain child of Guelph artist Sue Richards. She is delighted to be working with fine art photographer, Melanie Gillis, www.melaniegillis.com, and Gareth Lind, Graphic Designer. Writer Liz Armstrong also toils away, late into the night to make this project happen.
Special thanks to Avmor and Vanessa Turke for generously helping with start-up funds.
Key Sponsor
Topfree Equal Rights Association
Ottawa Folklore Centre
|Contact Sue Richards at infoATbreastofcanadaDOTcom
| Published by Art Jam / ©2004 Sue Richards
/ Photography ©2004 Melanie Gillis
Photo Contest Submissions Copyright ©2004 the photographers
2002 - 2007 Breast of Canada®


text:
Looking down the set of metal steps that leads from Upper Lorne Avenue in Chinatown to Primrose Avenue in the Lebreton Flats area, most of us would simply see a steep hill with a sheer rock face to the left. But creative thinkers Marc Dupuis and Amanda Crowther saw a challenging site just perfect for a cliff-side dwelling. Eric Darwin talks with Dupuis about how this spectacular four-storey house came to be.
This feature appears in the May 2012 print edition. Pick up the print edition on newsstands.
What attracted you to this site?
On the day I was checking out the site, there happened to be a utility vehicle working on Upper Lorne Avenue. I talked the crew into taking me up in the cherry picker. Here I was, 15 feet up and 15 feet out from the sidewalk, hanging over the edge of the escarpment. My eyes just popped out of my head when I saw the view.
This is a challenging site. Are you an experienced builder?
Actually, I'm an IT business analyst for the RCMP but I also operate Limestone Developments. My first fixer-upper was in 1996 — a semi on Lees Avenue. My second was a three-door row house on Lorne. As we gutted it, we discovered structural problems, so of necessity, I became a new house builder. Then I found this 23-by-50-foot lot.
Didn't this lot seem impossible to build on?
One side of the lot is 30 feet higher than the other. The south side is on Upper Lorne; the lower (north) side stands at the corner of Lorne and Primrose Avenue. The sidewalk between is a staircase with 45 steps. Behind us, the huge stone monastery looks like a medieval castle, and nearby is a nunnery straight out of Europe. The view to the north made us think we were in a high-rise condo. There is no other site like this in Ottawa. I had faith that engineers could make it work.
Who was your architect?
Linda Chapman designed the layout, with two floors below the Upper Lorne level and two floors above. We took her solution to the city and eventually got permission to build. Then we hired Jason Flynn to finish the floor plans and detail a house.
How did you build into the hill?
The stone cliff is quite fractured. We used a backhoe to dig out 100 tons of rock from the bottom of the site to make a level pad on which to pour the foundation. It was actually quite simple.
Simple? There must have been difficulties!
It's an unusual lot — it required unusual servicing. The city couldn't figure out which street was our address, which services we could access, what was the front or side of the lot. When in doubt, they sat on the permits. We had to keep calling in our engineers and architects to prove that the project was feasible. It took longer to get the permits than to do construction!
How about the contractors?
Everyone was scared of the site at first, but once they ran through the logistics of delivering materials to a rather conventionally built house, their confidence grew and prices returned to normal.
Surely your house is anything but conventional?
We employed technologies that are used elsewhere; the unusual came from putting them together in one house. The floors are all radiant hot-water heated from a tankless water heater. The first two floors are built of ICF — it's like assembling giant foam Lego blocks that are then pumped full of concrete. The house is super insulated and super cheap to heat or cool. The metal staircase runs four floors, behind glazed walls that look into the cliff face.
Surely no one else has a garage on the third floor?
We had street access only from Upper Lorne, which is our third floor. It's actually not hard to support a garage, so there is living space underneath it. In our case, it's our master bedroom and you'd never know the car was up above. I sleep just fine.
What were your "must-haves"?
Materials that complement the natural exposed cliff face and the adjacent monastery. We also knew we wanted an inverted floor plan with living areas at the top and bedrooms down below, to maximize the views. We were also sold on having a super-insulated house — energy efficiency pays us back forever. We wanted a flexible-use level (the ground floor) that could be rented out for income.
What were the big splurges?
The kitchen/dining area on the entry level had to make a great first impression. Frank Prendergast of Neoform delivered a showpiece kitchen.
When did you know the design was right?
It was mid-winter, bitterly cold, windy, and already dusk. The contractor had just laid the joists for the fourth floor. I walked out on them and, for the first time, could really savour the view.
What do the neighbours think?
Presumably the nuns and monks prayed for us. The street is busy with pedestrians, who often stop to comment. Ninety-five percent are positive and curious.


text:
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) Rex Ryan has provided plenty of memorable quotes during his four-plus years as coach of the New York Jets. This one, though, might have topped them all.
No, it wasn't a guarantee or bold prediction. In an attempt to clarify what he told his players at a team meeting earlier this week, Ryan offered this declaration Thursday to avoid some apparent confusion:
"I did not tell our players that they couldn't have sex," Ryan said. "I did not say that."
Newly acquired Josh Cribbs said Wednesday he could tell how much Ryan wants to beat New England, telling his players to put off doing chores around the house until next week.
"He was like, `Rest your legs and go home,"' Cribbs said. "Don't do anything for your wife. Say, `Baby, next week. I'm going to do it next week. I'm going to take out the trash next week. I'll take the kids to practice next week. But I've got to rest for this game."'
Some players mistakenly thought Ryan implied that sex was also on his banned "honey-do" list.
"Somebody misinterpreted the message apparently," Ryan said with a smile.
Rookie defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson told one newspaper Wednesday that Ryan's message to the team "most definitely" included sexual relations. On Thursday, Richardson said he was only kidding.
"It was a joke," Richardson said. "People take jokes seriously in the media, so let me be real right now. It was a joke. He wants us to know that the game is important. It's a rivalry game. It's a division game, and we have to win it."
As for his message of banning household duties until next week, Ryan said it didn't apply to him.
"No, of course not," he said, smiling. "I took out the trash and everything. I run things in my house. Remember that old comedian? I run the vacuum cleaner, the dishwasher, the lawnmower. You name it, I run everything."
NOTES: WRs Santonio Holmes (hamstring, foot) and Greg Salas (knee) didn't practice and aren't expected to play. At his weekly media availability, Holmes was asked about his health. "How am I feeling right now?" he asked. "Like you guys are interrupting my treatment time right now. That's how I'm feeling." When asked if he thought the 10-minute media session was taking away from his rehab, Holmes answered: "I was just on the rehab table when I had to get taken off the table to come to do interviews, so yes, I do." ... CBs Dee Milliner (hamstring) and Kyle Wilson (concussion) were limited, but both hope to play Sunday. Milliner, the team's top draft pick in April, has missed three straight games. Wilson practiced with a red no-contact jersey. ... Ryan called for a "green-out" for Sunday's game, asking fans to wear green. Fans will also receive green towels to wave at MetLife Stadium.
AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org


text:
Liz Ramanand, Loudwire / Ethan Miller, Getty Images If your name happens to be Rob Zombie , we suggest that you don't go around showing off anything expensive, because your current tour mate Marilyn Manson may make off with it. This may seem like an odd warning to offer, but in a recent interview Marilyn Manson told a bizarre story about nearly stealing $20,000 Rolex watches from musician John Mayer. During an interview with PhillyBurbs.com , Manson was referred to as "our last rock star," citing that bands no longer engage in the legendary debauchery of the past. The healthier lifestyle of modern musicians and lack of youthful rebellion was referred to as the "John Mayer-ization of rock," which prompted Manson to tell his personal John Mayer story. "I met him [Mayer] right after he got in trouble for saying the "n" word," begins Manson. "You don't want to say that word, even if you're black because you'll get your ass beat. He was shifty, cagey and weird. Mayer invited me up to his room and he proceeded to show me, out of his safe, his collection of Rolex watches; they're about $20,000 apiece. Why do you need a watch? I have an iPhone. I was contemplating going into the bathroom, putting whatever metal objects I had in my sock and just rolling him. When he would tell people, 'Marilyn Manson stole my watches,' who would believe him?" The answer to Manson's question is: EVERYBODY! Comparing this to rumors that were widely believed during the course of Manson's career, a few stolen watches are pretty minor. Such rumors include Manson having his two bottom ribs removed in order to perform auto-fellatio, that he was a hermaphrodite and that he was actually Josh Saviano from 'The Wonder Years.' Anyway, John Mayer … stop showing off your silly watches. [button href="http://loudwire.com/rob-zombie-marilyn-manson-reportedly-hurl-verbal-assaults-at-each-other-in-michigan/" title="Rob Zombie + Marilyn Manson Hurl Verbal Assaults at Each Other Onstage" align="center"]
Excerpt from:
Marilyn Manson Recalls Time He Nearly Stole John Mayer's $20,000 Rolex Watches


text:
This is the second volume of the three volume series by Allamah Al-Majlisi, titled Hayat al-Qulub (Life of the Hearts). This volume is a very detailed and comprehensive biography of Prophet Muhammad [s], starting with an account of his esteemed ancestry and ending with the events that transpired shortly after his death.
Important notice:
The Ahlul Bayt DILP team wishes to inform the reader of some important points regarding this digitized text, which represents the English translation of a work originally written in Farsi- Persian. Whereas no one can doubt the best intentions of the translator and the publishers in making this title accessible to an English speaking audience, the editing and digitization process of this book (carried out by the DILP Team) has revealed issues in the quality of translation. Based upon this fact, the DILP team has taken the liberty to make grammatical corrections to make the text more readable and less ambiguous; spelling mistakes and typographical errors have also been corrected and an attempt has been made to improve the highly non-standard use of transliteration of Arabic names and terms. The online text is not an exact reproduction of the original translation. Users wishing to see the translation as it was published should refer to printed copies available in bookshops. Those who understand are advised to refer directly to the original text. NOTE: Some narrations in this text may appear to be very hagiographical in nature. As a classic work (late 17th century) by a prominent Shi'ah traditionist (Allamah Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi II [d. 1110 AH /1699 CE]) it is still an important source of early Islamic history and the biography of prophets as recorded in Islamic texts. For the most part, this work makes an extremely interesting read written in a captivating, narrative style. Reports in this work that seem to be legends or myths may simply be symbolic and mystical (rather than mythical). It would therefore be a folly to always interpret such narrations literally. In cases where a narration appears to contradict a fundamental belief in Islam (such as the infallibility of a Prophet), the author/translator has alluded (via footnotes) that they may have crept into the work because of dissimulation (taqiyyah) or forgery.


text:
It's thanksgiving, let's have some fun in lantern-making!
This thing called Schwartz lantern initially came up in a talk some years ago, I vaguely remembered it as 'a cool example where the refining triangle approximation of a smooth surface fail to converge in area'. Anyways, it came up again recently as I was talking to some German postdoc working in 'discrete differential geometry'. As the example was mentioned, he took a napkin and started folding…and I just realized this lantern can actually be made with a piece of flat paper!
Given a compact, smooth surface (possibly with boundary) embedded in , we can approximate it by a PL surface with all vertices on the surface and having only triangular faces. (just like what's done in many computer graphic softwares nowadays).
Question: When the vertices of the faces gets denser and denser and the diameter of triangles converge to , does the area of the PL surface converge to the area of the surface?
Ok, to explain why I found this being a quite curious little question, let's prove a couple of trivial observations:
Trivial fact #1: The sequence of PL surfaces as described above does Hausdorff converge to the smooth surface.
Proof:Since our surface is smooth, as the diameter of the triangles converge to , the length of the geodesic between two vertices is roughly the length of the edge in the 1-skeleton of the PL surface. In particular, less than twice its length.
Now by compactness we have a positive injectivity radius, implying that for small enough length , the diameter (on the surface) of region enclosed by any loop of length most is controlled by (say it's which converge to as ). Now the diameter of the region is of course even smaller than its surface diameter.
In conclusion, when all triangles have small diameter (hence all its sides have length at most ), the geodesic triangle on the surface has parameter less than . So diameter of the geodesic triangle is no more than . Hence the surface is contained in the -neighbourhood of the vertex set.
Obviously the PL surface is also contained in this neighbourhood. Hence the Hausdorff distance is at most , which converges to .
Trivial fact #2: For curves in (in fact, or ), the length converges.
Proof: Well…what can I say…see any undergrad calculus book? (well, all we need is that smooth curves are rectifiable. Of course they are…
So from the above observations, does it kinda smell like the area would converge? (If you know the answer, you should pretend you don't and nod at this point :-P) Well, the fact is they don't have to converge! (otherwise why are we making counter-examples here?) Furthermore, this is first discovered by a super-cool dude – Schwartz! He even wrote a paper about it back in 1880.
How can this be possible? You might have already observed that with some simple curvature bounding, we can push the argument for trivial fact #1 to show that area of the curved surface is controlled above by the straight surface, The point being (perhaps to one's surprise) that the 'straight surface' can be a lot LARGER than the curved one!
So the example is a sequence of 'lanterns' converging to a standard cylinder (say of height and circumference both equal to ), i.e. PL surfaces with triangular faces, vertices on the cylinder, with smaller and smaller 'grids', and the sum of areas of the triangle blows up to infinity.
As shown above, if we have put points on the cylinder, points along the circumference and in the vertical direction (picture is not to scale); connected to form triangles in the above way.
Now all triangles are isosceles and identical. Doing some middle-school geometry shows that they have base length and height (this calculates the distance between the midpoint of the base to the cylinder surface).
Having triangles means the area of the PL surface is at least when large, . Hence the blows up to infinity.
Is this pretty cool? This lantern also have an interesting feature that, if we define 'curvature' on vertices to be the sum of angles attached to that vertex, (and of course the curvature on the edge between two flat faces shall be ), then all lanterns have curvature everywhere, just as in the smooth cylinder! i.e. it can be made by folding a single piece of flat paper.
Let's note that although the triangles are getting uniformly smaller, they do become 'thinner and thinner' in the example. In fact this is the only way it can go wrong, i.e. it can be shown that if we further require the triangles to have bounded eccentricity then the area does converge.
Add-on: I actually made the lantern! They are interesting to fold, aesthetically pleasing and even functional! (you'll see light flaring out in an interesting way)
Trying it out while one thinks about problems is highly amusing and recommended~
All one needs to do is:
Tips on folding:
1. Be sure to make all diagonal lines positive fold and horizontal lines negative.
2. Make the diagonals cross an even number of horizontals or else after you finish all diagonals, you'll end up with left and right-facing diagonals not crossing on the horizontal (i.e. you'll need to double the number of horizontals to make it work again)
3. After finishing all lines, it might be hard at first to make the whole thing 'fold up'. The trick being to make sure all 'crosses' are 'poped-out' on the whole surface. The final folding process does not work locally!
4. Although theoretically you can take an arbitrarily long strip of paper with unit width to make unit-sized lantern, but in order to not make a million folds and have super-sharp angles between the diagonal and horizontal; I recommend not being too aggressive on the length :-P (square-ish papers are good enough)
Have fun!~
A not-very-good picture of my lantern (larking light bulb…>.<)


text:
You are currently browsing the daily archive for February 9, 2007.
Good friends moved to Fairbanks in January; their first week there they faced -40 Fahrenheit. It's been a mild cold spell in New York, by contrast.
Below is a close up of what the cold does to the salty water of Arthur Kill over by Howland Hook the other day. Check out the Moran gallery.
BoatNerd has some great photos of tugs doing icebreaking duty on the freshwater Great Lakes. Scroll through his tug pictures in the photo galleries.
Meanwhile, here's more cold steaming in the Arthur Kill, ice on the portside of the K-Sea Maryland.
Oh . . . wimp that I am, my fingers froze while I had my gloves off to take these pictures.
All photos by Will Van Dorp.


text:
|Marge Simpson, Officer Marge (Marge)
|Release Info:
|Series 7 rel. 12/2001
|Item Code:
|Marge in her policewoman's uniform.
|Voiced By:
|Julie Kavner
|4 points - neck, left shoulder, right shoulder, waist
|billy club (small)
|clipboard (Off. Marge)
|Unique Phrases:
|Compatibility Ratio:
|23 / 39 environments
|Height & Weight:
|4.7" [11.94 cm], 2 oz. [56.7 g]
|Resistor Values:
|4.7k & 39k
|Asst. No:
|Stock No:
|0 43377 99236 3
Show Mark's Masterlist Info >>
|Date Stamp, Low:
|Date Stamp, High:
|Bubble Depth:
|Twist Ties (Count):
|Left Hand Position:
|Right Hand Position:
|Resistor Location:
|centered in both feet
|Resistor-Pack Color:
|Copyright Location:
|mid back
Price Guide Values (as of 12/11/2003)
|Low Book
|High Book
|Value Trend
"Now it's Marge's time to shine!" [Viva Ned Flanders]
"Now let's forget our troubles with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream!" [Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy]
"Would you like to come in for tea and marshmallow squares?" [Homer Goes to College]
"You might say the extra ingredient is salt!" [Lisa the Vegetarian]
"Oh my lord!" [Trash of the Titans]
"Oh, honey, I'm so proud of you! You got the highest grade in the class!" [Lisa Gets an "A"]
[Also: "I'm so proud of you!"]
"Why can't I be greedy, once in a while?" [E-I-E-I-(ANNOYED GRUNT)]
"You're a life-saver, Apu!" [I'm With Cupid]
"A night out is a night out." [Missionary: Impossible]
"Here you go, precious. Now, go off with your friends." [The PTA Disbands]
"Honey, you should listen to your heart, and not the voices in your head." [The Boy Who Knew Too Much]
"*MMMMOOOWW* This sounds awfully controversial." [Sideshow Bob Roberts]
"This could be a whole new beginning for Springfield." [$pringfield (or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)]
"Whatever happened to good, old-fashioned town pride?" [Lemon of Troy]
"I'm sure they didn't ditch you, honey. Maybe they went off to plan a surprise party for you." [Lard of the Dance]
"Can we get by on a pin-monkey's salary?" [And Maggie Makes Three]
"Maybe you could get someone with money to sponsor your team." [Team Homer]
"I can't believe it's come to this." [Trash of the Titans]
"You're being ridiculous." [Homer's Phobia]
"For once, we're gonna celebrate Christmas as a family!" [Miracle on Evergreen Terrace]
"Hey, kids! I made your favorite cookies!" [Miracle on Evergreen Terrace]
"Kids, you wanna go Christmas shopping?" [Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire]
"You will not be getting a tattoo for Christmas!" [Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire]
"I don't take bribes." [The Springfield Connection]
"You have the right to remain silent." [The Springfield Connection]
"Did you eat my whole pan of brownies?" [Bart's Inner Child]
"Homer, gimme my pepper spray!" [The Springfield Connection]
"I made a special cake for you to ruin; It's over there." [Lady Bouvier's Lover]
"What on Earth are you talking about?" [Bart the General]
"Taking an officer's cap is an arrestable offense!" [The Springfield Connection]
"I can't believe it's come to this!" [Trash of the Titans]
"What on Earth are you talking about?" [Homer's Phobia]
"Homer's my ... ball's name." [Jacques To Be Wild (aka Life on the Fast Lane)]
"I'm a married woman." [Jacques To Be Wild (aka Life on the Fast Lane)]
"Where do I throw this?" [Jacques To Be Wild (aka Life on the Fast Lane)]
"I think I'm allergic to seafood." [Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?]
"Mmm. What about the bread, does that have much fish in it?" [New Kid on the Block]
"A night out is a night out." [Missionary: Impossible]
"Assisting Mr. Burns could give your career a real shot-in-the-arm." [Homer the Smithers]
"Everybody please, be on your best behavior. Bart, no grifting!" [Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield]
"I thought it was so opulent! Like the Playboy Mansion, but non-sexual." [Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield]
"Where's all that liquor coming from?" [Burns, Baby Burns]
"You're being ridiculous." [Homer's Phobia]
"Are you boys through playing war? Then here's some cupcakes!" [Bart the General]
"A night out is a night out." [Missionary: Impossible]
"Ooh, it looks like everyone in Springfield showed up for this!"
"I must say, Mr. Burns is being awfully inconsiderate. Selfish, even!" [Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part One)]
Total Phrases (incl. duplicates): 52
- Install the Akbar Font
Your continued use of this site is considered an agreement with our current privacy and usage policies.
Copyright © 2001-2009, Simpsons Collector Sector. All rights reserved. "The Simpsons" is a registered trademark of 20th Century Fox Film Corp. and "World of Springfield" is a registered trademark of Playmates Toys -- this website is in no way affiliated with either company or any other company whose products or services are represented here.
Can't see the menu? Try the site without styles