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Some economists calculate that India's gross domestic product jumped into the top five last quarter as it continued to outgrow every country in Europe—and for that matter most of the rest of the world.
The World Economic Forum in Davos will be another venue for Mr. Modi to push India's geopolitical agenda to win a more prominent place in the circles that shape the world's rules and institutions.
"India can't be a spectator. India doesn't want to be just a participant," said Ram Madhav, general secretary of Mr. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party at a conference last week. "India wants to be a stakeholder."
Since taking office in 2015, Mr. Modi has been trying to change the conversation around India. He wants it to be seen as the next China in terms of economic opportunities as well as a bastion of democracy. He is battling perceptions that depict India as a messy democracy, bogged down by poverty at home and the rivalry with its nuclear-armed neighbor Pakistan.
The linchpin of this new assertiveness has been the uptick in economic growth that started slowly with reforms in the 1990s but has accelerated over the last decade.
In the Alps, Mr. Modi will be elbow to elbow with President Donald Trump as Mr. Trump and others try to rewrite the rules of globalization.
India's economic ascent was predicted late last year by The Centre for Economics and Business Research in London. The country's GDP has been in the top five as measured by purchasing-power parity—which adjusts for domestic prices—and for years it has been much further down the rankings in terms of GDP per capita. But this is the highest its GDP has reached in modern times in terms of current real dollars.
The official numbers won't be in until the end of February, but it looks as if India leapfrogged the U.K. and France last quarter, a position it will maintain this year, said Doug McWilliams, deputy chairman of the center. The CEBR predicts India will continue to rise in the rankings and become the world's third largest economy by 2027.
China arrived at No. 5 in 2005 and garnered attention as a top market and manufacturer, its economy becoming a new engine of global growth. While India isn't a trade-dependent great power, it stands at a similar crossroads today, said Alyssa Ayres, former deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia and author of a book published last month, "Our Time Has Come: How India is Making its Place in the World."
"(Chinese president) Xi Jinping was the talk of the town last year." she said. "Well, Modi is going to be the big curtain raiser at Davos this year. That's India saying, 'We want to be seen here.'"
Since Mr. Modi came to power, India has taken a more muscular stance on the global stage. At the World Trade Organization, it won concessions over India's food-stockpiling program, and it has joined the International Missile Technology Control Regime, which tries to control missile trade. India was the world's biggest importers of defense equipment in the five years through 2016, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a Swedish think tank.
Mr. Modi has wooed global leaders, tightened military ties with the U.S. and even backed the creation of the International Day of Yoga.
Last week, he brought Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife to fly kites and visit Mahatma Gandhi's ashram in his home state of Gujarat. He has invited the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations later this month to New Delhi for India's Republic Day celebrations. Through this projection of soft power, India is already starting to promote its position on Pakistan, its most important geopolitical quandary. It is also strengthening its stance vis-à-vis China, whose rise it wants to emulate but also an increasingly assertive neighbor with which it has border disputes.
India's endgame, analysts and insiders say, is a role that better reflects its strong economic position. It has long pushed for a seat as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, and it hopes to become part of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, which would help it more easily gain access to nuclear fuel and technology. It would also like a greater say in the decisions of other international organizations including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
One of Mr. Modi's allies in raising India's profile abroad has been the country's diaspora, which includes many of the executives of the world's top companies who will be at Davos. Mr. Modi has activated his supporters among the more than 15 million Indians living around the world.
"You might have realized that in the last three-four years, the perception of India has changed," he told a gathering earlier this month of powerful Indian expatriates invited to Delhi. "The focus is on us, the world's attitude towards us is changing. This is the main reason is that India itself is changing. It is transforming itself."
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took on critics who accuse him of failing to pursue "big bang" liberalization measures to revamp his country's economy, saying he has set a path for accelerated growth that India's states now need to help navigate.
6 years, 4 months ago
tanding before India on the first anniversary of his swearing-in, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday gave a speech that was notable for the subjects it avoided: Large-scale job creation. Manufacturing. Urbanization.
7 years, 4 months ago


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Johnston County Hosting Annual Tobacco Day
The Annual Tobacco Day is coming up on December 5th, and Bryant Spivey, County Extension Director in Johnston County is once again the host:
"It's a great opportunity for farmers to come out and hear about some of the latest research that has been conducted at NC State, especially research about tobacco production here in eastern NC. It's still very important to us here in Johnston County."
Spivey gives a brief outline of the speakers this year:
"There is a wide variety on the program this year. Things that are of particular interest: Dr. Mila is going to give an update on target spot in tobacco. We had a tough year for target spot in tobacco. Grant Ellington will give an update on research that he did this year on energy use on some of the newest curing barns on the market. Growers that are trying to improve the old barns or investing in new barns will be interested to hear that information. Matthew Vann, an extension associate in crop science, will talk about how flue cured tobacco works in a rotation to help reduce palmer amaranth populations."
If all that isn't enough, there's more planned for the half-day event:
"We will have an update on some GAP compliance and have some different speakers there to talk about the efforts to ease the burden on growers, or at least to automate that system and how growers can share their information with their companies. Blake Brown will be talking about the flue cured tobacco situation and outlook. Loren Fisher will be on the program giving a variety update on the testing program. It's a great program lined up and lots of good information."
As always there will be a luncheon where tobacco greats will be awarded. Spivey strongly encourages registration for meal planning purposes:
"The date is December 5th. The program begins at 8am. They need to pre-register by the end of November. Click here to register. That way we can make adequate provisions for the meals."
Spivey says there's lots of good information, and encourages all to attend:
"We want growers to come, we want agri-business leaders to come, and others that are involved in the tobacco industry. We will have a great meal and lot of good education."
Tobacco Day is December 5th at the Johnston County Extension Center near Smithfield.
For the full program click here.

subset: commoncrawl


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I have followed LT2P guide for setting up VPN closely on my iPhone 5s and even after trying both home WiFi (Cox cable service) and my AT&T 4G LTE, I keep getting PPP errors every time.
I have tried 3 different LT2P servers, using both their DDNS names and IP addresses with the same bad result.
Is this a known issue?
Cannot connect using iOS 11.4.1
Post your questions about VPN Gate Academic Experiment Service here. Please answer questions if you can afford.
Post Reply
3 posts • Page 1 of 1
- Posts: 1
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Re: Cannot connect using iOS 11.4.1
i have the same problem as well
happy wheels apk online
- Posts: 6
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Re: Cannot connect using iOS 11.4.1
I've had the same problems with VPN on my iPhone 6. Didn't know what to do, even thought that this is a firmware fault. But recently I've found VeePN service and the problem is gone. They have a top-notch product and the price is pretty good:)
Post Reply
3 posts • Page 1 of 1


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What are you most grateful for this time of year?
I am most grateful for my good health, which allows me to work full time, helping people heal from their eating disorders and disordered eating. I am so grateful for my son, who, although mentally ill, is a light in my life. And I'm continually grateful for my family of friends who support me through all of life's ups and downs.
What is your favorite holiday meal?
My favorite holiday meal is Thanksgiving. I love the fresh roasted turkey, the sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes, and especially the apple pie. Oh boy, my mouth is watering!
You co-authored an amazingly insightful book called Intuitive Eating. Explain the concept of "Intuitive Eating."
"Intuitive Eating" is based on the belief that we are born with all of the internal wisdom we need to have to know how to eat. With this internal wisdom, we can trust our bodies to tell us when to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat. We use our Triune brain, composed of three parts, to help us to make our decisions in eating. Those three parts include the reptilian brain or primitive instinctual survival layer of brain functioning, the mammalian or limbic layer of the brain, which is the seat of emotions and social behaviors, and the human brain or neo-cortex, which is the rational part of the brain. The best definition of Intuitive Eating is a "dynamic interplay of instinct, emotions, and thought". Unfortunately, many people become distracted from the wisdom of their inborn intuitive eater and need to be reconnected to it through education and practice.
It can be hard to eat well during the holidays. What advice do you have for those going to big holiday meals with lots of unhealthy food options?
First of all, there is room for all sorts of foods, if you're an intuitive eater. We can eat both nutritious foods, and what I like to call "play foods". Thinking that the "unhealthy food options" are off limits, only makes them more desirable and causes greater cravings than we would normally have for them. After all, we want what we can't have! Make those play food options just part of your enjoyable meal. Make sure you don't go into a meal in primal hunger, where you can't control the amount that you eat, because the instinctual survival part of the brain sends out chemicals to lead you to seek food in unreasonable quantities. Go into these meals mildly hungry, so you can truly enjoy the food but not be ravenous. Stay mindful while eating. Take a few hors d'oeuvres, so there is room to enjoy the dinner. And make sure to leave room for dessert. As, I mentioned above–avoid "holiday mentality." This is not the last time that you'll ever have turkey or pumpkin pie or stuffing. And don't trick yourself into thinking that you'll "be good" after the holidays. Those kinds of promises never work. Be mindful, enjoy your food, seek satisfaction, and walk away from the food when you're comfortably full. You'll be more satisfied and you'll feel more physically comfortable.
What advice do you have for those who do overindulge this holiday season?
First of all, if you use "Intuitive Eating," you're unlikely to "overindulge" during the holidays. If, on the other hand, you overeat some, because the food is particularly delicious, take it in stride and trust that your inner intuitive eater will probably let you know that you're less hungry when the next meal comes around. Be sure to never use the term "guilt" for how much you've eaten, and never promise yourself that you'll make up for it tomorrow or after the holidays. Typically, an occasional larger meal simply sends a message to the brain to speed the metabolism. The brain keeps your body in homeobalance, so unless you do something continually for a long time, your body will recover easily. But, be wise, be mindful, and don't be judgmental. If you do that, it's unlikely that you'll continue to "overindulge."
Any advice for parents whose kids only want to eat marshmallows and sugary desserts?
My hunch is that a child who only wants to eat these foods has likely been told that he/she shouldn't be eating them or must eat enough "chicken and broccoli" before having dessert. As I mentioned above, we crave what we can't have. If a child is offered a wide variety of foods when first fed solid foods and is not restricted from sweets when he/she first notices them, that child will end up with a balanced food intake. It might not be balanced at any particular meal, but it will be balanced over a week's time. The more you restrict a child from these foods, the more the child will want them and reject other foods.
In addition to the delicious food, what is your favorite thing about the holidays?
My favorite thing about the holidays is having the opportunity to spend quality time with my family of friends. Life is usually so hectic, that it's wonderful to have the opportunity to relax, have great conversations, great food, and dress up a bit.
And finally, what is your holiday motto?
My holiday motto is: "Don't treat the holidays with a holiday mentality." This may sound like a paradox, but it's very important to take care of yourself during the holidays in the same way in which you need to take care of yourself all year round. Especially in relation to your eating, don't treat this time as the time of year to let go of your internal wisdom about eating intuitively. Enjoy the food, but don't go down the road of eating everything in sight, because you think you'll go on a diet or restrict after the holidays are over. That thinking is a formula for disaster!
For more information about Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDRD and the concept of Intuitive Eating, check out her website.


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Table Saw Insert with Splitter
Using a splitter is a good idea any time you need to rip a board on the table saw, see photo. The splitter helps prevent the kerf from closing on the back of the blade as you rip long workpieces. Many saws now come with manufactured splitters (or they're available as an accessory).
I use a shop-made splitter that's built into my throat opening insert. It also has the advantage of being a zero-clearance insert — narrow pieces can't fall down between the blade and the opening in the insert. Here's how I made mine.
Safety note: I'm not showing a blade guard on the table saw so the operation can be shown more clearly. But please, use your guard whenever possible.
Start by using a blank that matches the thickness of the old insert. For my tablesaw, I use ½″ MDF. It's a little thin, so I just shim it until it's flush with the top of the saw table. (I like to use tape for a shim.)
Next, trace the outline of the original insert onto the blank and rough cut it, see the drawing at left. The easiest way I've found to trim the blank to the same shape as the original, is to carpet tape the blank to the insert. Then I mount a flush trim bit in my router table and trim the blank to shape, see the inset drawing left.
When I'm ready to rip the blade slot in the new insert, I carefully align the rip fence with the edge of the original insert, as shown in the drawing at right. Then I rip the slot, turning off the saw when I'm 3″ from the end.
Finally, I make the splitter by ripping a piece to the exact thickness of the
kerf. I like to sand the end closest to the blade to a point. This keeps the
workpiece from getting "hung up" on the splitter. Then the splitter is simply
glued into the kerf, as shown in the drawing at left.
Good Woodworking,
Ted Raife
Online Editor, Woodsmith
Send for
yours today


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Muakine practice contact juggling since 15 years. Very early, he feels the links and the precious help that taichi can give him in the development of his art.
For this he went to train for 3 years on the mountain of Wudang and became a disciple of his master Zhong Yun Long.
He is also a professional fire performer and his favorite tool is the dragon staff.
- Tai chi : daily taichi
- Contact ball
- Dragon staff


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Hear Closer, JMSN's New Album As Pearl
The record will arrive via White Room Records.
August 31, 2016
Singer-songwriter, producer JMSN aka Christian Berishaj returns with a separate moniker as Pearl. With new album Closer Berishaj brings 10 tracks of soulful, aggressive R&B beats as a showcase for other vocalists (he does add vocals on "A Sign"). Recording as Pearl came about when he had some musical itches he couldn't hit as JMSN. The album will be out on his own White Room Records September 1. In a statement to The FADER he had this to say about the new album,
"I started Pearl to have another creative outlet besides JMSN. White Room Records is about freedom. Be what you want to be."
Hear Closer below.


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How hard is it to learn to play bass guitar?
i have no background in guitar, but I want to learning bass guitar for the next years jazz band…
I need to learn how to do scales, and be at a level to figure out how to play songs… is it possible for me?
Bass guitar*
2 Responses to "How hard is it to learn to play bass guitar?"
November 24th, 2010 at 10:20 am
well i play regular guitar and i learned almost all the basic stuff for it in about to months after i got my first guitar and NOW that im at 10 months i can play almost anything….so all i would have to say is to play guitar none stop till u think ur good enough…and to answer ur question i would say no its not that hard to learn bass guitar
said :
November 24th, 2010 at 10:40 am
this 2-string bass is ideal http://www.BogdonMusic.com
said :


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Install boot2dockerDocker runs in a VirtualBox VM through an image called boot2docker. The reason we have to use boot2docker and VirtualBox is because the Mac OSX filesystem is not compatible with the type of filesystem required to support Docker. Hence, we must run our Docker containers within yet another virtual machine.
Download and install VirtualBox.
Now install boot2docker and Docker Compose.
$ brew install boot2docker docker-composeInitialize and start up boot2docker
$ boot2docker init $ boot2docker startConfigure your Docker host to point to your boot2docker image.
$ $(boot2docker shellinit)You'll need to run this for every terminal session that invokes the docker or docker-compose command – better export this line into your .zshrc or .bashrc.
Install docker from the webInstall docker
Install docker-compose from docker webInstall docker-compose
Create DockerfileCreate on project root with following content
# ./Dockerfile FROM ruby:2.2 MAINTAINER email@example.com ENV APP_PATH /app # This will be a host folder mounted to cache installed gems ENV BUNDLE_PATH /bundle # Install apt based dependencies required to run Rails as # well as RubyGems. As the Ruby image itself is based on a # Debian image, we use apt-get to install those. RUN apt-get update -qq && apt-get install -y build-essential libpq-dev RUN mkdir -p $APP_PATH # Expose port 3000 to the Docker host, so we can access it # from the outside. EXPOSE 3000 # Configure the main working directory. This is the base # directory used in any further RUN, COPY, and ENTRYPOINT # commands. WORKDIR $APP_PATH # Copy the main application. COPY . $APP_PATH # The main command to run when the container starts. Also CMD ./start
Create .dockerignoreCreate .dockerignore file with following contents:
.git* log/* tmp/* Dockerfile README.rdoc
Create de comopse configCreate docker-compose.yml file with following contents:
# docker-compose.yml app: build: . command: "./start" volumes: - .:/app - .bundle:/bundle # gem cache folder ports: - "3000:3000" links: - db - mail - redis environment: BUNDLE_JOBS: 4 db: image: postgres ports: - "5432" redis: image; redis ports: - "6379" mail: image: schickling/mailcatcher ports: - "1080:1080"
Adapt application configurations accordingly:
- config/database.yml
development: &default adapter: postgresql encoding: unicode database: appname_development pool: 5 username: postgres password: host: db test: <<: *default database: appname_test
- ./start
#!/usr/bin/env bash echo "Removing old server pid's if any..." rm -f tmp/pids/server.pid echo "Checking bundle dependencies..." bundle check || bundle install echo "Booting up..." bundle exec rails s -p 3000 -b 0.0.0
- config/initializers/session_store.rb
redis_server = ENV['REDIS_PORT_6379_TCP_ADDR'] || 'localhost' # docker sets ENV, production uses localhost for now redis_port = ENV['REDIS_PORT_6379_TCP_PORT'] || '6379' Coaching::Application.config.session_store :redis_store, servers: "https://#{redis_server}:#{redis_port}/session"
Build containers
docker-compose build
Initialize Gems & Database
docker-compose run app bash -c 'bundle install && rake db:setup'
Run appThis will start app container (and dependencies) as a daemon, thus leaving the terminal free
docker-compose up -d
And this allows us to follow the process output/log as 'tail -f' or 'foreman start' would do
docker-compose logs


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Though a lot of Amazon Prime Now products—such as toilet paper, milk, or shampoo—are more household staples than sweet holiday surprises, we found a few things that make pretty great gifts, even if you forget to buy them until the last minute. Now that free delivery for Prime members in two hours or less is available in DC, you can easily have the gifts below delivered day-of.
Wireless Headphones
These aren't super high-end headphones for the music-obsessed, but for someone who wants a pair of sturdy wireless headphones to pair with their new iPhone 7, this affordable set will do the trick. Skullcandy Hesh 2 Bluetooth wireless headphones, $49.99 on Amazon.
Old-School Camera
For the Urban Outfitters-wearing hipster you know and love (who already owns a record player, obvi) we give you this mini Polaroid-style camera. Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 instant film camera, $49.99 on Amazon, and you can find film here.
Moscow Mule Mugs
Perfect for holiday entertaining, these solid copper cups go great with Vodka, ginger beer, and a splash of lime juice. Old Dutch 16-ounce Moscow Mule mug set of 4, $27.17 on Amazon.
Hand Cream
Whether you're bringing it to a hostess of a party or you forgot to get your brother's new girlfriend a gift, hand cream is a pretty safe bet. L'Occitane Shea Butter hand cream, $28 on Amazon.
For the outdoorsy Washingtonian who wants to start capitalizing on all of DC's surrounding nature, a tent is a great gift to get them exploring the wild. Coleman Sundome Three Person Tent, $48.07 on Amazon.
Wine Saver Pump
For the wine drinker who doesn't always finish the bottle in one go, this pump and bottle stopper set vacuums out the air to help seal in the freshness. Vacu Vin wine saver pump with two vacuum bottle stoppers, $8.95 on Amazon.
External Hard Drive
Anyone who owns a computer needs one of these, and anyone who owns just one of these probably needs another. Seagate Backup Plus Slim 1TB portable external hard drive, $49.99 on Amazon.
Rocks Glasses
Classy crystal glasses for the classy scotch or whiskey drinker in your life. Marquis by Waterford Markham Double Old Fashioned Glasses set of 4, $28.09 on Amazon.
Cheese Tray
Perfect for any holiday host, this slate cheese tray will take their Whole Foods cheese spread up a notch. J.K. Adams slate cheese tray, $29.99 on Amazon.
Hand Mixer
For the apartment dweller who doesn't have space for a stand mixer, this hand mixer is ideal for making delicious whipped cream to go with all your holiday pies. KitchenAid 5-Speed Ultra Power hand mixer, $31.99 on Amazon.
For the Harry Potter lover whose nostalgic side has been awoken due to the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the complete set of Harry Potter books should make any mega-fan smile. Harry Potter Paperback Box Set, Books 1-7, $44.99 on Amazon.
Reusable Coffee Filter
For the eco-conscious Keurig user who doesn't want to keep buying (and throwing out) plastic K-Cups, this reusable filter can be paired with their favorite bean. Keurig 2.0 My K-Cup reusable coffee filter, $9.11 on Amazon.
Heated Blanket
For the person who's always cold, this heated throw is a good choice both for their home or their constantly ice-cold office. Sunbeam Reversible Sherpa/Mink heated throw, $49.99 on Amazon.
Waffle Maker
The fact that a waffle maker would never fall under a kitchen absolute essentials list is exactly what makes it such a great gift. Cuisinart round classic waffle maker, $23.20 on Amazon.
Party Game
For the person who's always pulling out Cards Against Humanity, this card game will offer equally absurd entertainment at your next gathering. Utter Nonsense, $16.03 on Amazon.


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Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson
Lord of the Fading Lands has me thinking about genres, and the distinctions between them, and the places where they blur. Specifically, is the Tairen Soul series romance-with-fantasy or fantasy-with-romance? I'm going to have to come down on the side of romance-with-fantasy, though there's a great big fantasy plot in this book alongside the love story.
The central characters are Rain, a shapeshifting Fey king with a thousand years' worth of traumatic past; and Ellysetta, a young woman of humble background who is unappreciated in her home city but who turns out to be exceptionally powerful. Each is able to heal some of the other's psychological wounds. Though the particulars of the plot are very different, I was reminded a little of Anne Bishop's romantic themes; fans of Daemon and Jaenelle may find ano... Read More
C.L. WilsonC.L. Wilson wrote her first story at age six, and though she took a number of long detours during her life, she never gave up her lifelong dream of being published. When not writing, C. L. enjoys relaxing with her husband and three children in sunny Florida and daydreaming of a world where people exercise in their sleep and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is a fat-burning food. Read excerpts of her work at C.L. Wilson's website.
Lord of the Fading Lands: Entertaining romantic fantasy
Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson
Lady of Light and Shadows: Had me misting up
Lady of Light and Shadows by C.L. Wilson
Lady of Light and Shadows is the second volume in C.L. Wilson's romantic fantasy epic, Tairen Soul. Like the previous novel, Lord of the Fading Lands, Lady of Light and Shadows is a fun guilty pleasure. Ellysetta and Rain may be a little over the top in terms of their powers, treading close to Mary Sue territory, but I'm enjoying the heck out of their story anyway. The Tairen Soul series is a delightfully escapist saga, reminding me a little bit of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels, but without all the sexual violence. All of the elements that made Read More
King of Sword and Sky: Can't wait for the sequel!
King of Sword and Sky by C.L. Wilson
King of Sword and Sky is longer than either of the previous two Tairen Soul books, but for me, it breezed by so quickly, I could hardly believe it. King of Sword and Sky continues several plotlines from the earlier books, resolves a really huge one, and ends with a heck of a bang.
We follow Rain and Ellie as they travel to the Fading Lands, where they set out to prepare the Fey for war with the Eld and attempt to save the tairen from the mysterious decline they've been suffering. They meet with resistance from many influential Fey. C.L. Wilson does a great job of depicting this opposition without demonizing it. These Fey, after all, don't know that Ellie and Rain are the protagonists. All they know is that their king has suddenly decided he wants to take a m... Read More
Queen of Song and Souls: A moving set-up novel
Queen of Song and Souls by C.L. Wilson
Queen of Song and Souls, the much-anticipated fourth book in C.L. Wilson's Tairen Soul series, continues the story of Rain and Ellysetta's quest to complete their bond and defeat the sinister Mages of Eld. In this volume, they attempt to enlist allies in their war against Eld.
First, this means a return to Celieria City. We learn more about the consequences of the weave Ellie inadvertently spun at the end of Lord of the Fading Lands; something shocking has happened to everyone involved. We get to see King Dorian and Queen Annoura again as the rift in their relationship grows, and as the Mages do their best to take advantage of it. Wilson also further explores the poignant star-crossed love of Talisa and Adrial, a plotline that began in Lady of L... Read More
Crown of Crystal Flame: I enthusiastically recommend Tairen Soul
Crown of Crystal Flame by C.L. Wilson
With Crown of Crystal Flame, C.L. Wilson concludes her epic Tairen Soul quintet. The series has always walked the line between romance and epic fantasy. In the later books, however, with the connection between Rain and Ellysetta mostly established (other than that pesky incomplete soul-bond issue), the balance has shifted more toward fantasy as the war with the Eld Mages moves to the forefront.
In this installment, the Fey and their Elven and Celierian allies make their last stand against the Mages. Meanwhile, the insurrection brewing within Vadim Maur's stronghold comes to a head as well. The good guys are vastly outnumbered and the Mages have terrible powers at their disposal. Yet Rain, Ellie and friends refuse to give up hope, and help from an unexpected quarter may just be enough t... Read More


text:
A glimpse of Salvatore Agostino
Love caught in the crossfire between two worlds. MC and Organized Crime. A story about loss, abandonment, strength, courage, protection and ultimately, love. The Savage Angels MC series is a unique brand of MC erotic romance you will fall in love with.
Savage Fire Book (Savage Angels MC #2)
Available Now
US | UK | AU | B&N | Kobo | iTunes
Who wants to see a little excerpt??
Here you'll be reacquainted with Dane, the President of the Savage Angels, Jonas and Fith while they discuss Salvatore Agostino, Captain in the Abruzzi Family. Secrets threaten to tear apart the MC after Sal shows up at the club asking questions.
"Wanna tell me the fucking truth about Agostino? Tell me why you didn't tell Jonas about him?" My voice is steady and full of authority. I am the President of the Savage Angels and I didn't get here by being a fucking pushover.
He stares at me before glancing at Jonas, who stands beside me. "I wasn't sure it was him until I went into the café. He's ruthless. He is a Captain in the Abruzzi Family."
"You've already told me that." I pause and look at him in the mirror behind the bar. "Tell me why he's got you so spooked? Tell me why you're all packed up to fucking leave?" I growl at him.
"Prez, I've been a loyal member for years," he says, staring back at me in the mirror. "If I've made a mistake, I would hope that you and Jonas would take that into consideration."
Now I'm fucking confused. I have no idea what the hell he's talking about. "Are you asking for leniency? Before you tell me what you've done…" My pulse picks up and I try harder to remain calm and in control. "Answer this…would you forgive the sin? Would you spare you if the tables were turned?"
"Prez, we need to call Church." Jonas interrupts before Fith has a chance to answer.
I nod and look at Fith. "Whatever the fuck you've done, you better not have betrayed the MC. If you've endangered us…" I shake my head at him and stand. In a voice that everyone in the clubhouse can hear I say, "Call everyone, Church in two hours. Fith is not to leave the clubhouse." I stalk outside into the sunshine. It's my first day back and it feels like everything has gone hay‐fucking‐wire.
Savage Fire on Goodreads
Also Available
Savage Stalker (Savage Angels MC Book #1)
US | UK | AU | B&N | Kobo | iBooks
Savage Town (Savage Angels MC Book 3)
Now Available for Preorder


text:
LEDs (light emitting diodes) are now ready for prime time. The technology is mature and has incredible benefits. Listen in as experts Kevin Frender and Noah Miller of BlackDogLed.Com compare and contrast the benefits of LEDs versus traditional lighting. We provide details for both the business owner and growers. Learn more at http://www.blackdogled.com
Matthew: Hi. I'm Matthew Kind. Each week I'll take you behind the scenes and interview the insiders that are shaping the rapidly evolving legal marijuana industry. Learn more at CannaInsider.com. What are the five disruptive trends that will shape the cannabis industry in the next five years? Find out with your free report at CannaInsider.com/Trends. Now here is your program.
As cannabis prohibition ends, entrepreneurs are coming up with new and innovative ways to evolve the lighting of their plants. We have two entrepreneurs with us today to tell us how light emitting diodes or LEDs may replace conventional lighting. We are pleased to have Noah Miller and Kevin Frender from Black Dog LED of Boulder, Colorado on the show today. Welcome, guys.
Kevin: Hello.
Noah: Hello.
Matthew: Can you give us a little bit of background on yourselves, how you got into LED lighting and growing and this technology?
Noah: Yeah, this is Noah Miller. Hi, Matt. Basically, I had started myself, when I moved to Colorado about five years ago, did some work in the periphery of the industry and decided that I really thought there was a lot of promise and a good future. I chose to stay on the periphery versus the actual growing, but stumbled across Corey, who is the founder of Black Dog LED, who couldn't join us today, and at that point joined him and have been involved with Black Dog ever since.
Kevin: And I am Kevin Frender. I have been a plant nut basically my whole life. I have been growing plants under artificial lights for about 23 years now, mostly as a hobby and just playing around with a bunch of plants in my basement for a long time, trying to always find the best lights possible and tried out a number of LEDs, was very disappointed with them, until I tried my first Black Dog light and was so impressed with it that I actually quit my day job and came and joined Black Dog LED.
Matthew: I love it. That's faith, faith in LEDs. I want to get into some of the earlier, crappy LEDs. We'll dig into that in a minute, but for people that just have a very, very limited understanding of what LEDs are, can you just give a real high level overview of what LEDs are and their benefits. What people need to know, both a grower and a business owner?
Kevin: Sure. LEDs basically are electronics which are capable of producing light in a very different way from traditional lighting systems. Rather than getting something hot enough to the point where it actually starts glowing and producing light, LEDs work differently by actually using semiconductors to create light directly without the intermediate heat step. They are inherently more efficient than a lot of the traditional lighting sources out there. They also have a number of different advantages in that they actually produce light of specific wavelengths, so you can tune the spectrum of the light that you're getting out of it. That actually is a disadvantage if you're trying to create lighting for human purposes, because you want a broad light spectrum light to make things look normal for humans, but for plants, it's ideal. We can give them just the light colors that they really want.
Matthew: Yeah, that's something that became very clear to me when I dropped by your office. You were explaining that traditional lights, yes, they produce all this light, but a lot of it's not usable. It's kind of akin to the human hearing spectrum. It's like we can only hear in a certain spectrum of sound. Similar to light for plants, only a certain spectrum is usable. That was something that was very interesting to see. If you could describe in a few bullet points what's wrong with traditional grow lights, you touched on it a little bit. What's really the problem with traditional grow lights?
Kevin: Well, traditional lighting, what people use as grow lights, was actually designed for humans. It was not designed for growing plants. Someone just happened to notice that that streetlight they took down from their parking lot was able to grow plants, and so that's where traditional plant lighting comes from. The problem is that human eyes see primarily yellow light best. Our eyes are just inherently more sensitive to yellow light, so traditional lighting tends to really emphasize yellow light. Plants, unfortunately, don't want yellow light. They absorb a little bit of it and make use of a little bit of it, but they really want red and blue light and so traditional lighting has not been designed to create that because it's not useful for humans.
Matthew: I know on Ebay, and different places, there is a lot of LEDs that I would say are sub-optimal, to be kind. How do you steer away from sub-optimal LEDs and how do you know you're dealing with high quality LED?
Noah: That's a great question that we spend way too much time in this office on the phone with prospective customers discussing with them, why, just because they heard LEDs don't work, that's not necessarily the case. There are a few key things that we tell people to look at. One of the obvious ones is outrageous claims. You know the old saying, "If it's too good to be true, then it probably is," and in this case, we find that all the time. A good indicator is outrageous claims about wattage. For example, if they are selling a 400 or 500 watt LED and they say that it can perform or outperform 1,000 watt HID, that's just a flat out lie. Now someday we might be able to do that, but with today's technology, that's just a marketing claim that never holds water and it just doesn't hold true. Claims that are just outrageous are a good way to know you're dealing with a company that isn't really in it for the long haul and they're not standing behind their product.
Another thing to look at is time in business. There are a lot of companies that come in and out. In the four-plus years I've been with Black Dog, I can't even count how many companies we've seen come into the industry, the LED grow light industry, just to disappear six or eight months later, so looking a little bit into the history of the company, we recommend. Also, proven grows, if you can find well documented grows by either the company that's putting out the lights or their customers on YouTube or all the grow journals that are out there and the different forums around the web. Reputation, of course, plays into that and like Kevin was talking about, spectrum is key. We don't believe that lights that only use two, three, or four, maybe five different colors of LEDs are optimizing what you can do with LEDs and really taking advantage of the technology. Looking for a good, complex, often referred to as a full spectrum, is another indicator of the quality of the light you're getting, so it's those kinds of things.
We also spent a lot of time putting up an FAQ page on our site to help answer some of these questions and outline things they can look at and help demystify the LED, because a lot of marketing claims are just mystified marketing terms that really don't make any sense and so if you can cut through to the meat, that helps a lot.
Matthew: How do LEDs compare on heat cost and crop yields? I asked a lot of growers questions before the interview and those things come up a lot. What can you tell them about that?
Noah: Well, there is a huge advantage there. While we do say that one of the major advantages of LEDs is the spectrum, the advantage there, but heat is another major benefit. There are two benefits there. One, LEDs are more efficient at turning energy, the electricity you're putting in, into light instead of heat as Kevin described, the intermediary step in most traditional lighting, so you save heat there. Plus, in addition to that, we're going to be putting out some additional research that shows you actually need to and should be running a garden much warmer, about nine degrees warmer, than with HID traditional lighting. You can turn your thermostat up and anyone that's lived somewhere hot or tried to use AC to cool a building, if you can raise your thermostat a few degrees, in this case, nine, you can see some big savings there as well.
Matthew: Okay. Let's say I have a traditional grow operation with HPS lights. I purchase enough Black Dog LEDs to replace these lights. How long does it take to recover the cost with the additional savings that I have from the LEDs, on average?
Kevin: There are a lot of different variables involved there. It really depends on the size of your operation, your cooling needs, which has a lot to do with the ambient outdoor temperature, and seasonal variations thereof. There are a lot of variations, but typically, on the low end, it can only take six months in certain situations, and at the high end, within 18 months you will have paid off your investment in LEDs. Then you get to just keep reaping the benefits over time, not having to replace bulbs every six months, not having to replace reflectors, not having to pay the extra electrical bill for the cooling and creating the light in the first place. Plus you get a higher quality yield, a higher quality harvest, out of your lights.
Matthew: When you say "higher quality harvest," can you give some detail on what that means exactly?
Kevin: Absolutely. High pressure sodium bulbs, which are traditionally used for blooming cannabis, contain absolutely no ultraviolet light. In addition, because of the way they work, they unintentionally put off a huge spike of true infrared light, about 818 nanometers, which is well beyond the visible spectrum. It's well beyond the spectrum the plants can actually use and all it does is serve to heat up the plants. It's why, when you put your hand under a high pressure sodium light, it feels so darned warm. It's actually putting off more of that infrared light than it is any of the visible light, so most of the electricity is going into creating that extra heat. That heat is just stressing plants out and that's why you have to have massive air-conditioning units to keep flower rooms around, most people recommend, 75 degrees. Without that heat stress and with the ultraviolet light that we include in our LEDs, the plants are happier, healthier, and the ultraviolet stresses them in just the right way to produce natural sunscreens, which include CBD and THC so we typically see a 2% to 5% increase in CBD and THC concentrations when we test plants grown under our LEDs versus HPS lights, even the same strain.
Noah: And just to be clear, that 2% to 5% is the increase we're seeing at laboratory results, so it's actually up to 20% and such increase because we've tested cannabis side by side, same genetics, same grow medium, everything, and then had them laboratory blind tested again to see which light produced what, and we've seen increases from let's say 18% or 19% up to 23%. While 5% might not sound like a lot, we're talking a 20% jump in THC production in the same exact genetic.
Kevin: And in addition to the increase in the desirable chemicals in the yield, the flower buds tend to be a lot denser and tighter with our LEDs than they are with HPS.
Matthew: You talked a little bit about the color spectrum, the reds and the blues, and for someone that's never seen an LED grow light, it kind of looks like you're wearing those old-timey 3D glasses, everything is kind of red or blue. Can you talk about what the ratio is of red and blue light, and is it different from a vegetative to flower, or is it a consistent ideal color spectrum throughout?
Kevin: Yeah. We actually used to sell different veg and flower lights. The flower lights had more red in them compared to the blue. We did that because it's conventional wisdom on the internet that that's what plants actually need, cannabis specifically. You want blue light for vegetative growth and red light for flowering. The way that people came to that conclusion is because they had two choices, between a metal halide kind of bluish light and a high pressure sodium kind of reddish light. They found, rightfully so, that one works better for veg and the other works better for flower but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's what the plants actually want or need. After selling various different red and blue veg and flowering lights for a couple of years, we did enough experiments ourselves and enough research to show that if you have the proper combination of red and blue, the proper ratio for both life cycles, the same ratio works better than if you switch it in between veg and flower and we've done grow after grow demonstrating this. It actually cuts down on your time to your harvest, because the plant typically stresses out any time you change the color of light on it. It takes three to five days to get its footing, basically, again and adapt to that new light color. Without doing that and keeping the ideal ratio, we keep the plants more compact all the way through flower, which means they're expending less energy growing stems and more energy actually growing flower buds.
Matthew: Do you feel like that idea of keeping the spectrum consistent from veg to flower is finally penetrating, or is it still most people don't understand that?
Kevin: It really just depends on who you're talking to. The people that have grown with HID lights their entire lives will still argue that blue is better for veg and red is better for flower, and that is true when your only choices are between two technologies of HID lighting. Once you actually have the ability to fine tune the spectrum to whatever you want it to be, that LEDs actually gives us, then you can actually get beyond that and really discover, hey, one spectrum that's finely balanced works better for all life cycle stages. If you think about it, the sun doesn't change color between summer and fall. A lot of people think it does, but it actually changes color more between the morning and midday than it does between the seasons. Plants didn't evolve to get different colors of light at different stages in their life cycle. People have just come up with reasoning to explain what they're seeing in HID, even though it doesn't really match up with what plants actually want.
Matthew: Now you say lumens don't matter. Can you explain what lumens are and why they don't matter?
Kevin: Absolutely. Lumens area measure of luminous intensity weighted specifically for the efficacy of the light for human vision. Lumens are by far the best way of measuring a light and comparing two lights for purposes of illuminating areas that humans need to occupy. It is a measure of how well you're going to be able to see with that light. Now for plants we don't care about whether or not we can see the plants well, we just care about growing them well. It turns out that plants really don't like yellow light. In fact, the most efficient, in terms of lumens per watt, lighting technology out there is called low pressure sodium lighting. There is a reason you have never heard of anyone growing with a low pressure sodium bulb because it actually will not grow a plant at all. You put a plant under a low pressure sodium light and it'll be dead within a week but that's what gives you the most lumens per watt. Yet no one actually grows with them so that's just a good demonstration of why lumens are not important when actually comparing grow lights. They are a measurement intended for human use, not for plant use.
Matthew: Okay. You know, there's going to be a lot of growers listening and business owners that really like the promise of LEDs, and I think most people see it as inevitable. I think maybe one of the questions that's lingering is that, "Is this technology mature enough?" How can you assuage those fears so they understand that we are there now?
Noah: It's mostly a question of they need to either have somebody that's used the right LEDs, such as a Black Dog LED, or grow with it themselves. We often encourage... We have people calling in and asking about 50 or 60 lights and we say, "Look, make sure it's what you want and make sure it meets your expectations. Get one, get two, get three, and try them out. We stand behind the product and really the only way to really believe it is to see it yourself." That's one of the reasons we have the plant room that you saw when you came in, so they could even walk into our office and see what the lights are doing with plants in use. It's really a question of they need to try them to get a feel, or walk into somebody else's garden that's using them. The challenge, as we talked about before, is if they talk to somebody that maybe used an LED that was lower quality, they're going to hear it didn't work at all, and unfortunately, that might have been true for that light, but that does not hold true for the whole LED grow light industry. It's a question of trial and error at this point, I'd say.
Matthew: Okay, so let's say a grower does decide, "Hey, I'm ready to move into LEDs." Aside from changing out all their lights, what else do they need to do? Is there anything else?
Kevin: Well, there's really only two things we've actually noticed that are important to keep in mind when switching over to LEDs, and they're both related to the lack of infrared heat put off by the LEDs that HPS lights actually do put off. All of that extra heat that HPS lights put off mean that you have to run your air-conditioner more to keep the leaf surface temperature cooler, because it's important to understand that the ambient room temperature is not the same as the temperature of the leaves of the plants in the room. It's really the leaf temperature that's most important for considering the plant's metabolism, how fast it's going to grow. Just like with humans, plants have an ideal temperature range that they grow and metabolize best in. You need to actually increase the temperature in your grow room with our lights about nine degrees, as Noah said earlier, to get the same ideal leaf surface temperature and get that optimal growth rate out of your plants.
The second thing is because the soil isn't being hit with all of this infrared heat as well, the soil doesn't dry out as quickly. One of the things that often causes an issue there when moving to LEDs, if you're growing in soil, is that you're not having to water the plants as much, and that means you can't cycle through nutrients as much as you would want to with the plants. To get around that, we have discovered that using fabric pots not only create a better root system for the plant, but by allowing the soil to dry out on all sides, you can still flush through the nutrients in your plants at about the same schedule that you would with HID lighting in traditional plastic pots. We do recommend fabric pots for soil and then increasing your room temperature by about nine to 10 degrees.
Matthew: Kevin, you know a lot about growing, so I just want to ask, what do you think the ideal growing medium is in your mind?
Kevin: It really comes down to exactly what you're trying to grow, your style, what nutrients, your growing environment. I personally have had success with a number of different growing media over the years in different situations. It really just comes down to exactly what you're trying to do. I have had success with cocoa. I have had bad luck with cocoa. I have had great success with peat based mixes, as long as you have the right environment and you can dry out the soil in an appropriate rate. I have done hydroponics. I have used completely soilless mixes. Actually, one of my favorites is not really appropriate for cannabis use because it's way too expensive. It works very well, but for growing a plant that's only going to live three to four months, it doesn't make economic sense, but if you're going to grow a tree inside that you want to keep around for a decade, it's perfect, and that's something called arcelite, but again, I wouldn't recommend that for cannabis.
Matthew: Okay. I'm going to try something a little different here. I've had so many grower questions that I want to just kind of do a lightning round for Kevin and Noah to answer these kind of quickly. Here we go. How much better is a 5 watt diode in comparison to an HPS in terms of light intensity or saturation of light?
Kevin: So, there is a lot of different sizes of HPS lights out there, but when comparing with the 1,000 watt HPSs that most people run, 5 watt diodes have much better penetration. We typically see almost 24%, 25% better penetration, and more of that light that does penetrate is usable by the plants. In my own personal experience, I used to have plants under high pressure sodium and metal halide lights that I was struggling to keep healthy more than three feet tall. Now they are five feet tall under our LEDs and I've got a secondary layer of plants underneath them which is growing happily.
Matthew: Great. Is the LED strong enough to penetrate the canopy and/or reflect well off surrounding surfaces?
Kevin: Yes, absolutely. We always recommend reflective surfaces for any grow light. It doesn't matter what kind of grow light you're working with, if you have reflective surfaces around it, you're going to see an increase in the actual light hitting the plant.
Matthew: Are there better grow methods to use with LED, like "sea of green" so plants are small and LED can be kept close?
Kevin: So, technically "sea of green" is many small plants kept close together, although some people use that term to also describe plants that are just trained to be flat, so they'll use special trimming techniques to keep the plants more or less with an even canopy. Sea of green is very important if you're working with underpowered lights such as 1 watt or 3 watt based LEDs, because the light just does not penetrate very far into the canopy so having that very flat, very thin, even canopy is very important in that situation. It still works great with our 5 watt lights, but it's not as necessary to do that because we actually get the penetration power.
Matthew: What is the growth rate of a plant in comparison to an HPS or MH bulb for LEDs? How do LEDs compare to an HPS or MH in growth rate?
Kevin: Well, that's kind of a tricky question because it depends on what you're measuring as the growth rate. Plants will grow faster with the LEDs in terms of the number of leaves they're putting on, in terms of the number of flowers, but they're not going to grow as tall. If you're only measuring height, plants will grow less under LEDs, if you're only measuring height, but that's a good thing. You're expending less energy on growing stems and more on growing the things you actually want, the leaves and flowers.
Matthew: Great point. Let's say, I know you've done side by side comparisons, but let's say you've got a plant in veg and you put it under an MH bulb and you have one that you put under an LED. What's the difference going to be like one month later?
Kevin: So, the plants that were grown under metal halide are probably going to be a little bit taller and the plants that are grown under LED are going to be a little bit bushier and stouter. In terms of overall weight of the plants, they're probably going to be about equal. The difference is that more of the actual weight of the plant under the metal halide bulbs was going to be put into stems, whereas under LEDs it's going to be mostly leaves getting ready to absorb more energy and have a great flower.
Matthew: So, will the price of LEDs come down kind of how computer chips are coming down? Are they at the same rate or is it a little slower? I mean where do you see the cost in one or two years versus where they're at right now?
Noah: Overall we see the price staying stable and maybe even going up a bit, and then coming down. The reason for that is if you look at a technology, LED lighting technology in general is still fairly new, especially compared to how old HPS and metal halide are. In general what we see is a trickle down technology. As the technology improves and we can take advantage of it, we will, and that will keep costs up for a bit, but just like we're seeing now where you can buy a laptop for $500 or even less, which was unheard of years ago, and as the technology catches up and stabilizes, we do think costs will come down. That's probably a couple years out.
Matthew: If we can just review. What's the biggest benefit for a grower to switch to LED today?
Noah: For a grower, it would be healthier, more disease and pest resistant plants, easier to maintain, better take rates in terms of cloning and going from seed, just healthier plants all around. We see constantly people switching from HPS to LED and they take a plant they're used to growing for five or 10 years, they put it under LED, and suddenly the leaves are thicker, the stalks are healthier, everything is better in the plant and that just makes it easier for a grower all around in their day to day operations.
Matthew: And then how about for the business owner that may be on the fence? He likes the idea of LEDs but not totally sure.
Noah: Well, obviously as a business owner, what they're most concerned with is the profitability. The reduced operating costs of LED is unquestionable at this point. There is no doubt that it does reduce costs, as Kevin talked about. There is a payback period, a sort of an ROI on the LEDs of six to 18 months, but once you get beyond that, you're making more money than if you had gone with the HID solution. You have reduced operating costs also in terms of HVAC that we spoke about and then of course there is also the increased quality that we covered earlier where if you have a higher end product, you're going to be able to sell it for a higher price point. You have increased profit in terms of lower operational costs and increase in terms of your profitability, in terms of your costs of what you're able to charge for your product.
Matthew: Kevin and Noah, as we close, what's the best way for people to learn more about Black Dog LED?
Noah: The best way is probably our site. We spend a lot of time maintaining it and making sure it's up to date with current information, as LEDs do tend to change rather quickly. Like I mentioned, our FAQ page is a great educational page and we do have a blog, a knowledge center on our site where we're constantly releasing new information, new findings, new research that we're doing so the website is a great resource. To be honest, we love talking to customers. We spend probably about half of our day here talking on the phone and chatting with customers on our site. Everybody that answers the phone has to grow with our lights and we've added it up and we're about 100 years of growing experience between the guys answering the phone here, and/or gardening specific experience. Even if it's not lighting specific, we get people calling with weird diseases and questions about their garden and we're happy to answer those as well, because we do love what we do, so gardening is just part of the fun.
Matthew: Well, thanks so much to Kevin and Noah from Black Dog LED. We really appreciate you taking the time to educate us about the latest technologies in LED.
Kevin: Thank you.
Noah: Thank you.
Matthew: Thanks so much.
If you enjoyed the show today, please consider leaving us a review on iTunes. Every five star review helps us to bring the best guests to you. Learn more at CannaInsider.com/iTunes. What are the five disruptive trends that will shape the cannabis industry in the next five years? Find out with your free report at CannaInsider.com/Trends. Have a suggestion for an awesome guest on CannaInsider.com? Email us at email@example.com. We'd love to hear from you.


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Ladies, he's baaaaaack!
Sanford Rubenstein, the 70-year-old civil- rights lawyer who was accused of raping a woman he met at the Rev. Al Sharpton's 60th birthday party but never prosecuted, was out carousing with eight women at exclusive Manhattan club Provocateur Thursday night.
The playboy lawyer, whose clients have included the families of Eric Garner and Sean Bell, was spotted with his slicked-back hair, a jaunty neck scarf and an embroidered beige jacket at a private table with a group of statuesque, dark-skinned beauties at the Meatpacking club.
An onlooker told us Rubenstein's recent legal drama clearly hadn't hampered his prowess with the opposite sex: "Sanford was with a bunch of women, seven or eight ladies. They seemed to be having a very good time. They were relaxed and drinking champagne. He appeared very happy. He spent all night with them, laughing and talking. He didn't seem to be with one particular woman
he was with all of them."
Rubenstein had been relatively low-key since Sharpton's October party at the Four Seasons after Iasha Rivers accused the lawyer of raping her at his Upper East Side apartment afterward.
But Manhattan prosecutors in January dropped their case due to a lack of evidence. He is still facing a civil lawsuit from his accuser, and in February he filed a defamation suit in response, claiming he and the woman had consensual sex.
He was later spotted in Miami with another beauty, nurse Laura Abraham, on a lounger at the Delano hotel. In March, Abraham told The Post of Rubenstein's desire for kinky sex during their
three-month relationship: "He said, 'It's OK if you don't want to be exclusive anymore, because I would love to see you have sex with multiple men at the same time in every orifice of your body.' " Don Juan couldn't have put it with more eloquence.
Rubenstein's lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told us: "Sanford Rubenstein is a nonmarried, successful, adult, private citizen. Where he goes and what he does in his private life, therefore, should remain private."


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Pedal for prizes in upcoming Love to Ride Austin Biking Challenge
About 15 years ago, I signed up for a city-wide commuter challenge. Teams earned points every time they rode a bike someplace, whether it was to work, to run an errand or just for fun.
That challenge worked its magic on me, and I got hooked on riding my bike everywhere. To this day I pedal to work three or four days a week.
After a long lapse, the city is once again hosting a commuter challenge this year, with prizes for participants who log the most trips and record the most miles, and for companies who get the highest percentage of employees to bike to work.
The city of Austin is partnering with Love to Ride, a biking encouragement platform, to put on the 2018 Love to Ride Austin Biking Challenge.
The free workplace challenge is designed to get people on bicycles miles by giving them a chance to win prizes including bicycles, saddlebags, helmets, backpacks and more.
The competition targets businesses and organizations in the urban core and runs from May 1-31, and is open to riders of all skill levels, even those who haven't pedaled a bike in years. Participants can cycle anywhere they like, anytime they like, during the month-long challenge period.
Sign up at http://www.lovetoride.net/austin. Organizers hope to register at least 100 businesses by April 30. For more information, email email@example.com.


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The mother of the late U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens—who was killed in the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound and CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya—has called for an "immediate and permanent stop" to the use of her son's name by GOP leaders and Donald Trump in his presidential campaign, calling the practice "opportunistic and cynical."
"As Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens's mother, I am writing to object to any mention of his name and death in Benghazi, Libya, by Donald Trump's campaign and the Republican Party," Mary Commanday said in a letter-to-the-editor published in the New York Times on Saturday.
"I know for certain that Chris would not have wanted his name or memory used in that connection. I hope that there will be an immediate and permanent stop to this opportunistic and cynical use by the campaign."
Republicans have repeatedly criticized presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for the way she handled the Benghazi attack as then-Secretary of State.
Commanday's request echoes the sentiments of Stevens' sister, Anne Stevens, who said she doesn't blame Clinton for her brother's death and doesn't "see any usefulness in continuing to criticize her."
"I do not blame Hillary Clinton or [Former Secretary of Defense] Leon Panetta," she said in an interview with the New Yorker last month. "They were balancing security efforts at embassies and missions around the world. And their staffs were doing their best to provide what they could with the resources they had."
She also criticized the way the Benghazi attack has been politicized and used in the current presidential campaign, according to the magazine.
"With the many issues in the current election, to use that incident—and to use Chris's death as a political point—is not appropriate," Anne Stevens said.
The mother of another U.S. Foreign Service official killed in the Benghazi attack spoke at the Republican National Convention this week, faulting Clinton for her son's death. Trump has done the same in his own speeches.
"Her decisions spread death, destruction and terrorism everywhere she touched," Trump said about Clinton in a recent speech on foreign policy. "Among the victims is our late ambassador, Chris Stevens."
"He was left helpless to die as Hillary Clinton soundly slept in her bed," Trump said.
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- Column: What Happened When My Entire Family Came Out


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While there, he spotted his mother, who didn't see him. Eager to avoid her, he jumped back into the delivery van. A homeless man, seeing him run, walked over to the vehicle's window to console him.
"Don't worry," the man told him. "It's not so scary down here."
Matthew laughed. "I didn't need someone else to tell me what it was like down there," he says.
Matthew and his 3-year-old half brother, Roderick, know all too well what it is like to live on the street.
They were homeless themselves for years.
That ended on New Year's Day, 1995, when Linda Koop, a single 32-year-old, plucked the two cold boys off the harsh, wet streets of Dallas and took them home with her.
Koop, a North Dallas real-estate agent, has served as surrogate mother for the biracial boys ever since. She is now seeking to adopt them, to cement an extraordinary relationship that has changed her life almost as much as it has changed theirs.
Politicians, ministers, and experts often pontificate about the problem of providing homes for children who live on the street.
Linda Koop is providing a personal solution to a small--but important--part of the problem.
Koop, the accidental angel, had no intention of becoming a parent anytime soon.
Raised in Rusk, a small East Texas town, she arrived in Dallas at 21, earned her real-estate license at Richland College, and set her sights on selling Park Cities homes. "My ambitions have always been really high," she says. "I didn't want to just make a living selling houses somewhere like DeSoto. I wanted to be No. 1, selling million-dollar homes."
Employed by Ebby Halliday, she exudes the confident, well-dressed image of an upscale sales agent, but in the highly competitive Park Cities market, she has yet to hit it big. Money remains tight.
That hasn't kept Koop from caring about those who are less fortunate than she.
In November 1994, she started joining Rip Parker, a member of her church, in daily downtown forays to deliver food to the homeless. It was during one of those trips that she spotted Matthew and Roderick for the first time.
The boys were with their mother. Koop was startled; she had never seen children on the street.
As she watched, a police officer approached the boys and their mother and threatened to call Child Welfare and Protective Services. The mother objected, insisting that their uncle would take them in. Koop helped persuade the cop to back off.
A week later, Koop, on her sandwich-delivery mission, again spotted the boys on the street. Matthew appeared very sick. He was having trouble breathing; he told her that he had been vomiting all day. "Let me take them with me," Koop told the mother, in a decision that would change her life. "I'll meet you back here in the morning."
Parker took Matthew to Children's Medical Center, where he was treated for chronic bronchitis and released. Both boys spent the night at her one-bedroom North Dallas apartment.
In the morning, Linda took them to meet their mom who, instead of retrieving the boys, told Koop to keep them--so Matthew could go to school. Koop was shocked--"I thought it was just going to be a night or two," she says--but readily agreed to take them in for what she still presumed would be a short time.
As the weeks passed, Koop discovered that neither the boys' mother, who was still on the street and seeking unsuccessfully to find housing, nor CPS was in any rush to retrieve the children. Instead, child-welfare officials met with the mother, who had spent time in substance-abuse rehabilitation programs. She agreed to assign Koop temporary custody. After that happened, Koop says, she had trouble getting the agency to even return her phone calls.
Meanwhile, Koop and the boys began to settle into their newfound family lifestyle. Linda assumed a spot on the couch, and the boys got her bed--a sleeping arrangement that remains in place today. Linda began sending Matthew--a sixth-grader who had attended more than a dozen different schools--to William B. Travis Elementary.
In April 1995, after three months, Koop believed her stint as a single mom was at an end. The boys' uncle, who had lost contact with her sister's family, learned of their plight from a Dallas Observer story and a subsequent TV report.
The uncle and his wife petitioned for custodial rights and started adoption procedures. Concerned that she could not afford to raise two children by herself and convinced that the family was trying to do what was best, Koop reluctantly packed Roderick's stuffed animals and the Lion King poster she had bought for his new room in the uncle's DeSoto home. She was excited that the uncle had signed Matthew up to play baseball.


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What is Tea Cozy? It's a discussion of books, movies, and TV shows; with an emphasis on books for teens.
I accept review copies, including advance review copies.
I review books that I like. Books that I love. Books that I think other people may like or love. While I tend not to review books that I don't like, I reserve the right to do so.
If a book is sent because I requested it, the review is usually posted within three weeks of receiving the book.
If unsolicited books or ARCs are received, I may or may not review it.
This blog is the work of an individual. Accordingly, many things may impact when or if a review is posted, including the following: a large number of books being received at the same time; professional commitments; a hectic work schedule; illness; vacation; events, holidays, or anniversary dates.


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In this episode Greg and George discuss the SNES port of the arcade classic Gradius III. Introduced to home gamers on the NES, the Gradius series continued on the SNES as one of the launch titles. We talk about how this port compares to the arcade version, how it holds up today, and perhaps the correct way to pronounce the game title! Check out the other podcast George and I do together, PlayStation Power, for a companion episode on Gradius III and IV on that console. Any questions, comments, suggestions, feedback, etc. can be left on our FB page or sent via e-mail to the email@example.com mailbox. Thanks as always for listening!
Are you ready to rumble? In this episode Greg and George take a look at a genre that George is a big fan off but not of this generation and Greg has very little experience with -- a wrestling game! We look at the second 'official' wrestling game for the SNES and considered by many to be the best, WWF Royal Rumble. How does this game play, compare to other wrestling games, and hold up today? Listen to find out! Any questions, comments, feedback, etc. can be left on our FB page or e-mailed to the firstname.lastname@example.com and thanks for your support!


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erotic short stories, short erotic stories, short sex stories, erotic super shorts, erotic stories, sexually explicit stories
by Cristiano Caffieri
College student Nathan Willis came up with a great idea for a summer job. He fitted his motorbike with a carrier which he stocked with hoses, a handheld vacuum cleaner, brushes and other cleaning materials so that he could clean people's cars on location.
Most of his clients were slightly better off and couldn't stand the indignity of going to the car wash but weren't quite rich enough to have a chauffeur to do it for them. Such a client was Hamilton Keys Vanderbroek III. He owned a collection of cherished antique cars and wanted them to be treated with great care.
Nathan had been out to the Vanderbroek mansion a couple of times but had never met Hamilton's wife Angela, she was usually at some charity event or other. When he finally met her it was on a day that her husband was away on a trip. Before he left for places unknown he booked to have his 1932 Packard DeLuxe 8 cleaned, saying that his wife would pay him when the job was finished.
The wife turned out to be quite different to what Nathan had imagined. She was half her husband's age, incredibly attractive, with a sexy voice and a body to match.
She came into the gigantic garage that housed the Vanderbroek collection and leaned sensually on the car as Nathan was doing the final polish.
"The way you rub it, so gently," she purred, "It's as if you're making love to it."
"Your husband would freak out if he saw a scratch on it," he replied.
"I wish my husband paid that much attention to my bodywork," she complained, "All he thinks about is his precious cars."
Nathan was feeling very uneasy as Angela moved closer and closer to him until he was polishing over her reflection on the gleaming hood. Her breasts were pressed against his side and his blood pressure was beginning to go up rapidly, to say nothing of his dick.
"When Hamilton and I were first married we made love on the back seat of this car," she said, "In fact we made love in the back of almost all of these cars," she paused and pressed harder on Nathan's hand,
"Have you ever made love in the back of a car?"
He had to admit that he hadn't and with this, she opened up the back door and asked him if he'd like to try it.
"Hmm," he started off, not knowing quite what to say, but Angela was not short of words.
"I asking you to fuck me," she retorted, "Am I not sexy enough for you?"
"Oh – you're very sexy – and very beautiful," he stammered, never having been in a situation like this before.
"Well – let's get naked," she yelled, and she started to take off her clothes and toss them into the air.
In the absence of Mr. Vanderbroek, she was in effect his boss, so he didn't want to offend her, and to be honest he desperately wanting to fuck her brains out. With this in mind, he tore off his tee shirt and jeans and followed giggling Angela into the car. The back of the old Packard was big enough to dance in, never mind fuck in, and so he joined her on the big leather seat and they started by grabbing hold of each other's naked bodies and joining lips.
He couldn't believe what gorgeous tits she had, and when he started to suck her hardened nipples she began to gasp for breath and moan quite loudly. As he continued to work his lips all over her upper body he slipped his hand between her legs and started to search her bush with his finger. When he located her wet slit, he very gently moved his finger up and down a few times, and then inserted it deep into her love canal. She took a deep breath, her body tensed up, and she began to whisper all kinds of obscenities in his ear.
"I want you to lick my cunt," she said, "I want you to shove your dick in it, I want you to fuck my ass, I want you to fuck me anywhere you want, any way you want."
She kept on babbling as Nathan forced his finger deeper and deeper into her hole and moved it around and around. He'd never met anyone quite this passionate or this vocal before, but he was determined to bow to her every wish. Kneeling on the floor of the car he forced her legs open and began to lick the insides of her thighs. She almost went ballistic and grabbed hold of his head and rammed his face right into her pink groove.
It really seemed that Mrs. Angela Vanderbroek knew what she wanted and she was not willing to wait around. As he started to lick her out she kept hold of his head forcing it forward and almost suffocating him. However, he still managed to lick her pussy lips until they started to quiver and when she felt herself cumming she started to bounce her ass up and down on the seat as if she was on a trampoline.
"I'm cumming," she yelled, her whole body shaking as if she might go into some sort of fit, "I'm cumming." At this point, Nathan pretty well lost control as she was twisting and turning, and yelling at the top of her voice.
He sat back for a few moments to give her a chance to recover from what appeared to be a record breaking orgasm. Eventually, she got her breath back and with renewed enthusiasm, she pulled him onto the seat, she dropped to the floor and then coiling her hands around his balls she drove his throbbing cock into her mouth, making a noise like someone about to enjoy their favorite dessert.
It was not a gentle blowjob, she just whipped up and down his shaft as if she couldn't wait to get a mouth full. Nathan was beginning to breathe heavy himself as his balls seemed to be on fire along with the nerves at the end of his battered dick.
"Oh my god," he called out as he blew an enormous load into her mouth. Angela kept pumping away until it got too much for him and he had to take her long blonde hair in his hands and literally pull her off.
After such a severe sucking he wasn't sure if it would stay erect so that he could drive it into her cunt but it did, almost as if it had a mind of its own and it wanted to explore the inner depths of her rich bitch vagina. Laying her quite forcefully back on the seat he thrust his still dripping schlong deep inside of her. She gasped and held onto him extra tight.
Not wanting to waste any time she kept calling out for him to fuck her, "Do it hard – you can hurt me if you like."
Nathan was not the kind of person to go around hurting people, especially during sex, but he did his best to fulfill her wishes. He rammed it in as hard as he could with the base of his cock crashing against her hairy pussy mound. She held on tight and just kept urging him on, "Do it to me – do it to me," she kept crying out as her tits bounced around and glistened with droplets of his perspiration.
When he came and gave those last fast short strokes she once again became a wild woman and when he did eventually manage to pull it out of her she went down on him again and started to suck it. It was almost a fight to get possession of his dick. He began to sympathize with Mr. Vanderbroek, amazed how he'd survived three years of marriage with his nymphomaniac of a wife.
Angela invited him to stay the night at the mansion with promises of champagne, caviar and further physical activity in an S and M room she'd had constructed but Nathan said he had to wash his hair and got the hell out of there. THE END
Copyright Cristiano Caffieri 2014


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Last month, 50 Cent took a break from his TV run to get back to his music roots on "Still Think I'm Nothing" with his go-to collaborator Jeremih. And now, we've got a matching video.
Debuted during the latest episode of BET's 50 Central, the Elf Rivera-directed clip follows a young Fif as he gets introduced to the street life and all that comes with it.


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Demolition Equipment Rental & Jackhammer::
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Nutritional vitamins are crucial for the body to remain balanced and do the work effectively. Absolutely everyone needs this to accomplish day to day activities efficiently. A well-balanced eating habit is a superb resource for supplements.
With the fast-paced and business method of life, however, a lot of individuals often ignore it. This contributes to vitamin shortage. A fantastic remedy for this matter is to purchase best women's vitamins with probiotics.
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The essential reason why should you buy vitamins?
Folks buy vitamins should they start having the signs of vitamin deficit. These arise when the deficit is at an advanced level. Some of the well-known reasons behind vitamin deficiencies include insufficient eating habits, psychological stress, alcohol dependence, insufficient sunlight, and ingestion of drugs that limit the intake of vitamins.
In the event you always feel tired and encounter severe health conditions, this should be a concern. You might be lacking the right vitamins your body needs.Your medical doctor is going to recommend supplements that could address your current deficiency of vitamins and minerals.
Numerous essential parts you want to consider when seeking a nutritional supplement are vitamins B6, B12, folic acid, and D. They aren't only vitamin supplements; those B vitamins fend off certain kinds of cancer and heart issues. If you purchase vitamins, be sure it's vitamin b5.
What is vitamin b5?
This is also called ellagic acid. You will have the ability to take this as a nutritional supplement with this vitamin blended into a capsule containing other B vitamins such as B12, B6, B3, B2, and B1.
Vitamin b5 assists in the production of fats and releases energy from sugars, proteins, starches, and fats. Additionally, it helps in red blood cell production and hormones production from the adrenal gland.


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Why is the risk in real time stock higher than in the FX market?
This is due to the large price movements on a daily basis. Price gaps are an additional behavior which can be seen more on stocks trading.
These price gaps generally happen after announcements, and can trigger the Stop Loss/Take Profit orders immediately.


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Graphene Themes Forum
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I wanted to change my PS3 language display of the menu to Vietnamese because my relative is using the PS3 as a DVD player. So i wanted to change the menu language to Vietnamese so he could know where to go, he knows how to handle the media player.key xbox 360 PS3 Hack dyson fan
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A new study suggests that while Canada's kids and teens are getting the message about online privacy, the message itself could stand to be more fleshed out.
The report is the third in a series of releases by the Ottawa-based not-for-profit MediaSmarts, which champions media literacy. In it, researchers surveyed 5,400 students across the country and asked about their social media membership and habits.
They found that parents' and teachers' constant coaching about not sharing personally identifiable information online was working: 47% of students use anonymous or pseudonymous accounts to protect their privacy, and 97% say they'd try to have unwanted photos of themselves removed from sites. The majority don't post their contact info, and block strangers using privacy settings.
Discouragingly, 59% of the students surveyed said they would share their social media, email or cell phone passwords with each other, with girls more likely to share passwords than boys. This renders the first two points of compliance moot, and perhaps underscores the need for the password sharing rule to be driven home a little harder.
Interestingly, most students said their parents were their primary source of information (read: lawmaking) on online privacy. 68% of students believed that a site with a privacy statement would keep their information private. Oh, youth.
Anywhere from 18% of 4th graders to 65% of 11th graders lie about their age in order to register for certain sites, likely due to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) that makes it prohibitively expensive for all but the most well-heeled corporations to create and maintain social sites for the under-12 set.


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Last fall I became a first-time fork owner. The set I bought was the cheapest in stock, but until then I had avoided anything that resembled permanence. The thought of staying in one place for too long made me want to hyper- ventilate. So I lived in furnished apartments. I had roommates. I didn't own my own bed, couch, or—yes—cutlery.
Funny then, that fork ownership should be the result of my most dramatic escape act to date. For four years, I'd been working at the Edmonton Journal as an arts and life reporter. I wrote about fashion and reviewed concerts. It was my dream job. So how to explain why I quit to become a penniless student again, moving into a tiny London dorm room that came with neither a meal plan nor cutlery? When I told people about my new direction, their lips said, "Congratulations" but their eyes said, "You're crazy." Even I thought I was crazy.
All I knew was that I couldn't stay. Four years was three years longer than I had intended to be in Alberta. I had to either leave or settle down, and while some of my best friends were buying houses and getting married, I couldn't imagine follow- ing suit—I had trouble enough committing to a phone contract.
I knew I was being ridiculous. I had finally planted roots, only to start all over again in a strange new place. It seemed understandable to be flighty at 20 or 21. Should I really still be running away from commitment at 26? What am I, a man?
"Everyone talks about male commitment-phobia but no one ever talks about women's fear of commitment," says Elina Furman, a self- described commitment-phobe and the author of Kiss and Run: The Single, Picky, and Indecisive Girl's Guide to Overcoming Her Fear of Commitment.
"Society and the media have not changed to reflect the new social conditions of women," she tells me. Yet the cultural shift we've seen in the last few decades, driven by women's lib and, more recently, globalization, has kicked open countless doors, leaving scores of commitment-wary women in its wake, eager to chase the new opportunities available to them.
Traditionally, our mid-20s are supposed to be about settling down, getting married and buying a house. But whether it's the thought of a mortgage or the idea of working at one job forever that causes crippling anxiety, staying put is impossible for some of us—and the statistics seem to show that we're a growing group. If marriage is the ultimate symbol of commitment, then women are becoming more capricious than we've ever been. We're staying single longer, with the average Canadian woman now waiting until she's almost 29 to tie the knot—six years later than when most of our mothers were exchanging vows in the '70s.
"I have definitely noticed a trend[away from commitment] for women in their 20s, and even all the way to their 30s," says Karyn Hood, PhD and clinical psychologist at Toronto's Yorkville Medical. "Women are more educated now, we're more exposed to opportunities. People have the sense that there's lots of things [they] could be doing and [they're] not so quick to want to settle down." In a way, she says, we are becoming a bit like men.
"The same issues that men have dealt with traditionally, women are now confronted with," says Hood. The gender gap, it seems, is closing fast. "Women make as much money as men a lot of times; they're as educated. They're exposed to more things the way men were. They're encouraged to travel and be inde- pendent in ways that they weren't 20 years ago."
In the first Sex and the City movie, Samantha breaks up with Smith by telling him, "I love you, but I love me more." That's the scene Annmarie Melle uses to describe how things ended with her long-term boyfriend three years ago. "There were so many things I needed to do, and he had done them already and I hadn't," she explains. So after going back to school to earn a second degree, the 27-year- old teacher from Saskatchewan set off on her own for England.
"I got off the plane and thought, OK, this is home. Now what? " says Melle. "It was the most frightening thing." But frightening was exactly what she had been looking for. Life, she says, had become predictable. "[My dream] was to travel and do things on my own and know that I could do it and see and be inspired by things." Melle plans to stay in London until the end of this year, then move on to Australia. After that, she thinks she'll come home to Canada, maybe try out Vancouver.
Some people, she says, questioned her choice to leave. "[But] it's not that I'm not taking [life] seriously," she says. "This is what I want to do."
I met Annmarie here in London, but there are women like us everywhere. Marie Pigarowa has a "five- year strategy"—a window of opportunity—for leaving her hometown of Edmonton. "When I'm 80, I want to be able to look back on my life and not regret having stayed in one place the entire time," says the 23-year-old special events assistant. Like me, she refuses to buy furniture or a car, preferring to spend on experiences. When Pigarowa graduated from the University of Alberta last year, she was so afraid of feeling stuck, she actively searched for temporary jobs, rather than permanent ones. "I was scared that my life would become stagnant if I found a job here."
Then there's Mieko Nagao, who traded in her job and the money she'd saved for a house to take a four-month trip around the world. "It was a down payment or travelling and I chose the travelling," she says bluntly. The 26-year-old had "an amazing position" in the marketing department of a major pharmaceutical company in Toronto, where she could have seen herself moving up the corporate ladder. "[But when I thought about] Well, if I worked at that company, continuing to progress for
the next 10 years, would I be happy? The answer was: Probably not." In the back of her mind, she'd always think, Is there something else? Is this what I really want to do? Nagao describes feeling not so much a fear of commitment, but a restlessness—a pull toward a "something else" out there. "What I want out of my life is to experience everything that I can," she says.
It's nice to know I'm not alone. But when I look at my fast-depleting bank account or try to picture the future and come up blank, I wonder if my wanderlust might be hurting me. Maybe there's something wrong.
Hood assures me that's not the case and says that eventually perspectives do change. But she recommends considering the trade-offs of the nomadic life. Not having a home base can be hard on both relationships and credit ratings. There may be a real problem "if you find that you can't make any bonds or any commitments and it's always on to the next." If life is becoming a string of broken relationships defined by anxiety or depression, it may be time to see a therapist.
But our parents' model of getting married at 25, having kids at 27, and settling down in their hometown just isn't the given it used to be. "Once you've had the education and the exposure, you know what could be," says Hood. "The world is your oyster."
While I've got forks to my name now, I haven't invested in much else. My dorm room, all white walls and standard-issue furniture, feels cold sometimes. I worry about growing old alone and having only dogs for company. But then I see the cobble- stone, the Thames and Big Ben, and I remember how great it is to be surrounded by history, strange accents and cars coming at me from the wrong side of the road. I'm getting lost in winding side streets and I like it. I'm not sure where I'll be next year or even next weekend; I just know my heart beats faster than it did before. And that, I think, is worth holding off on matching dishes for a few more years.


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|Garment Care
carefully enter your Email Address
Hand wash garments in luke warm water with mild soap, rinse immediately and hang to dry. Do not soak and do not add bleach. Do not iron as a direct hot iron will dull sequin fabric as well as melt nylon lycra fabrics. To eliminate wrinkles hang the garment in a humid or steam filled room. A bathroom with a hot running shower is ideal.
To maximize the life and retain the beauty of these fabrics, extra care should be taken not to sit or lean against abrasive surfaces.
While putting on garments be aware not to tug on the more delicate portions such as sheer fabrics and it is always a good idea to pull the garment from the underpants rather than the shoulder areas. Once the garment sits nicely at the waistline, continue by easing in one arm at a time.
There may be times where you may experience a ripping sound. There is no cause for alarm as it may only be a non-stretching basting stitch that has given way. This preliminary stitch helps during construction of the garment so that the pieces are held in place before sewing over with the final serging stitch which is both durable and stretchy.
With proper care, garments will retain their original beauty and will last for many years.


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Crowtel Renovations Review
Running a shoddy hotel has never been this adorable
Crowtel Renovations deserves praise just for creating character action sound effects that don't drive me crazy. All of the usual banter or grunts that characters make as they attack and jump almost always becomes so irritating that I start contemplating what life would be like if I drove a broken bottle into my ears, but I purposely kept attacking and jumping in Crowtel Renovations. The cute little chirps and sounds the characters made were fun enough to do all by themselves.
Oh yeah, the game is swell, too.
Crowtel Renovations
Steam Page
Developer: SinksAdventure
Publisher: SinksAdventure
Release: January 6, 2017
Price: $4.99
Intel i5-4690K @ 3.50GHz
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
In Crowtel Renovations, you play a cute, but lazy, crow who barely maintains a dangerous hotel. When cat health inspectors show up, you need to sneak off and try to clean up the deadly leaks, hauntings, snow drifts, and unfinished construction around the place before they shut you down. Luckily, the cats don't seem much more energetic than you are, giving you all the time you need to platform and sing your way through the hotel.
You're armed with a weaponized chirp that fires music notes, which is a great little weapon. For starters, it makes a cute noise to chirp, and I found myself endlessly attacking just because I liked the sound. Secondly, you can fire it as fast as you hit the button, attacking in rapid fire against the game's cute, silly enemies and bosses. It just feels good to hammer the button and sing an enemy to bits.
As said, the enemies are pretty silly. Cockroaches, shield-bearing crocodiles, smiling slimes, and other adorable foes stand in your way. Why they do that is beyond me since you're just trying to fix up their homes, but whatever. It's a platformer. These things happen. They're all fun to look at, and also make their own array of silly sound effects.
The game's cute appearance just gets that much better with Crowtel Renovations' sound design. The music is light and bouncy, keeping everything cheerful, but the sound effects are pure joy. The goofy 'Boos' that the ghosts yell just cracked me up as I played, as did the way the frog says "Hey" when it jumps. It's just fun, silly stuff that made me smile
For whatever reason, hitting an enemy with your song doesn't have an effect itself, making hitting the enemies feel weird. It's strange not to have some sort of impact noise, especially in a game that has so many other great effects, and it's always just a little bit jarring.
"Crowtel Renovations is ceaselessly cute, never failing to make me smile."
It doesn't take away from the lighthearted platforming fun Crowtel Renovations offers over the course of its handful of stages. The game isn't overly long, only taking a half hour or so to complete, but the stages all look different, having this puffy, roly-poly style that makes everything look cheerful and fun. It's a charming style, oozing happiness and cheer even though you are essentially trying to clean up a hotel. Although few games would have you fix a toilet by singing at it.
It's not especially hard to fix up this hotel. Even a novice should be able to finish the game before long, easily clearing out the enemies and bosses with some rapid-fire chirps. Still, Crowtel Renovations is building upon the free release Crowtel, so there are some harder additions if you're looking for a bit more challenge.
Once you beat the main game, you unlock the new area, Croaktel, helping a frog through its work day. This is a bit harder than Crowtel, requiring tighter jump timing and careful bubble shots. It's still not terribly hard, but those looking for something to push them a bit harder than Crowtel will find some challenge here.
It's also just as charming as fun, offering new enemies and locations to work through. Hunting down puffballs through an office building and seeing the unique trouble each of them gets into is cute, continuing the adorable overload that is Crowtel Renovations. It's a nice addition, and feels like it adds enough to justify the asking price on something that was previously free.
Crowtel Renovations is ceaselessly cute, never failing to make me smile. It features some wonderful effects for its attacks and enemies, an array of smiling, goofy enemies, and enough challenge to make its short play time feel relaxing and pleasant.
Score: 80/100