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Since I've seen so little discussion here on MailRoute, I thought I'd weigh in with my initial impressions. I'm on my 6th day of the 15 day free trial, so I'll reserve final judgement until day 15. BTW, you don't even have to submit any payment information for the free trial.
Setup: extremely easy. Just change an MX record on your mail server so all your emails flow through MailRoute's servers before being forwarded to your own. Because of dns caching, it's taken a few days for the "full effect". I still see the occasional spam get through without MailRoute's header entries, but I imagine that will continue improving over time. Also, you need to set your account up on their site and either manually input, or import from a file all email accounts.
Service: some of the best I've ever experienced. I peppered them with emails through the first few days and they always responded quickly, helpfully and in a friendly manner. If they got annoyed with my constant questions, they didn't let on. ;)
Interface: the web interface is not the best IMO, but it's functional and gets the job done. Some things I'm not happy with: the domain quarantine doesn't appear to auto-update. I have to hit my browser's refresh button. The quarantine list does not display ideally, IMO. It defaults to 25 entries per page, which you can change to up to 250. However, these display in a browser frame, so if you're not careful with where your mouse is when you start scrolling down, you might scroll external to your quarantine window and lose your place. I'd prefer all quarantined spam to be on a single list which you can scroll down the entire web page to audit. edit: strike this, per explanation in reply by Ken [Also, there's a huge chunk of spam emails that MailRoute appears to proactively blow away. You never even see them in their interface. I imagine these are the most obvious spam messages with zero percent chance of false positives? It makes me slightly nervous. I base this on my known spam levels before starting the free trial, along with observations of how many spam messages MailRoute tells me it caught plus how many spams my mail server's SpamAssassin filter catches, plus any missed ones in user inboxes. For example, domain-wide I averaged about 1600 spams per day pre-MailRoute. So far, MailRoute has shown me a little over 300 spam messages caught over 6 days, of which 10 were false positives (the false positives are reducing daily due to whitelisting). That's about 50/day. Where are the other 1550 daily spam messages? That's 97% of the spam gone. Again, depending on your level of trust/hate of spam, this can be a good thing ("I don't even want to see them") or a bad thing ("how do I know there weren't any false positives lost?").]
edit: domain-wide, false positives total 20 over 10 days, with 1653 spam messages caught, and who knows how many thousands dropped by high level connection filtering explained by Ken in the first reply.
Configuration: Very flexible. When you first start your account, MailRoute works on a global level. After you input all of your accounts, you can then check a box that says "I'm done setting up my account." and that will allow you to adjust MailRoute's settings on a per-user basis. I've left their default filter settings in place. They claim 97% catch rate with almost no false positives at this setting, but you are free to adjust it if you wish, either globally or per user. Also, if you have multiple email domains, you can set them all up under one account. You can whitelist and blacklist on a user or domain level. Also, the quarantine separates emails by spam, virus, banned, bad MIME, Bad Header, and Black Listed.
Features: As mentioned in the last paragraph, they also scan for viruses, bad headers, bad MIME, and you can separately view these in the quarantine as well as enable or disable these settings. You can recover emails to mailbox, delete, recover and whitelist, only whitelist, or blacklist. You may also choose to send Welcome Emails to each user account which allows them to log in to MailRoute and manage their own spam settings. They will also Store and Forward in the event your mail server has any downtime. Edit: users need not log into Mailroute to manage spam. You can configure them to receive a daily email spam digest, and from the email, they can click and whitelist. You can also adjust the filtering so that certain spam score thresholds still get delivered, but with a subject line prefix of your choice.
Cost: Their base cost is $2/user/month. There are discounts for prepaying annually (10%) as well as for higher user counts. We have a relatively small user base so we are at $2/user/month. Additionally, they have a 10% for life discount if you provide them with a Twit promo code. I'm a listener, so I was aware of it and applied for it. That brings the cost down to about $1.60/user/month. The best part, though, is they only charge per live user. If you have automated accounts or users with multiple accounts, you don't pay extra for them. This is how it works, when you input all your email accounts, you can set up the alias accounts as sub-accounts for the particular user (don't worry, they still deliver to their own inbox). So when you click on a user's email account in their interface, it will show you any and all aliases under that account. All aliases share config settings with their parent. Oh, there's an additional cost for Outbound scanning, but we didn't sign up for this. If you have issues with your users becoming unwitting spam bots, this might be for you.
Performance: The bottom line is what is and is not in the user's inbox. We have three accounts in particular which receive between 300-600 spams per day. After the first 24 hours, I checked these accounts. They had 24, 124, and 177 spams that our mail server's SpamAssassin filtered post-MailRoute. A close check of their headers indicated that MailRoute did not process most of these, probably due to dns caching. However, over the weekend, I noticed that somewhere on Saturday, all acounts' SpamAssassin filters were nearly empty of new spam, with very clean looking inboxes, which indicates most of the dns caching was flushed by then. edit: spam levels of all users, including the three accounts mentioned above, are near-zero after 10 days.
Criticism: edit: strike this, per explanation by Ken in reply below [As mentioned earlier, MailRoute appears to completely blow away 97% of the spam, it doesn't even show up in the MailRoute quarantine. This is probably a good thing, but makes me a little nervous. What's the determining factor that causes spam to show up in your MailRoute quarantine? I don't know.] Also, when you report spam messages that got through (you do this by emailing them the headers of those messages), they apparently only blacklist these messages in your account (which I could do myself in the time it takes to email the headers to them). Maybe they do more than that, but that's all they tell you in their reply. I'd hope they also submit these headers to whoever manages their filter settings in order to fine-tune the filtering process. I just know that a lot of spam comes from random domains, so blacklisting a particular domain may have a less-than-ideal impact. edit: I've since learned that you can simply forward missed spam to firstname.lastname@example.com and they will use the data to refine their filtering.
Final Thoughts: Perhaps one of the less obvious benefits is the bandwidth reduction on your own mail server. I estimate that spam accounts for 500MB-1GB of bandwidth per month for us. So potentially, my mail server's bandwidth could be reduced by this amount. If you pay for your mail bandwidth on a tier-based cost, this could potentially pay for all or part of MailRoute, depending on your costs and spam levels. Also, you can keep your other spam filters in place if you wish, perhaps even set them more aggressively since there will be far fewer junk mails to go through to look for any false positives. Though I'm only on day 6 of my trial, I see no reason not to sign up for the service once the trial ends. Overall, I'm very satisfied with them!
Edited Jun 3, 2013 at 20:01 UTC
17 Replies
Brand Representative for The Email Laundry
Hi Tim,
Since no one from Mail route has stepped in here I can help with what you're nervous about. The 97% of email not appearing in your quarantine area. Like ourselves, Mail Route uses a high level of connection filtering. To explain, during the SMTP handshake the filtering service can determine a lot about the sending server. For starters we are trying to establish whether it is a genuine mail server or a bot trying to impersonate a mail server that is making the connection. The vast majority of email connections are from such bots. They can be determined during the SMTP handshake and as such there is no need to accept the data portion of the email and scan it as you know it was never an email in the first place. There are never any false positives at this level. I'm not sure about the Mail Route control panel but on ours we give you the logs of all these connections if you really wanted to look at them, just to satisfy your nervousness when you first use the service.
It's a well established practice among the leading email security vendors and the reason you had to deal with such an unmanageable quarantine area before switching to a modern service is that you were filtering unnecessary botnet traffic using content filtering which was a large drain on resources.
I hope this helps you understand the process used by Email security services a bit better and eases any nervousness you had.
There's a slightly corny cartoon on the subject on our home page, bottom right. I'd advise you to turn the music off.
I have to say, I'm REALLY impressed with MailRoute's spam filtering. Each day less spam comes through, and for the rare false positive, they make it super easy with the one-click "Recover & Whitelist" button in their web interface.
For some perspective, we were using Spam Assassin on the mail server prior to MailRoute. It did a great job, catching roughly 85-90% of our spam, which came out to ~1600 per day domain-wide. But there was still a good chunk getting through, let alone having to deal with the massive quarantine and its disk space and bandwidth. On day 7 of our MailRoute trial, our mail server quarantine has 37 spams since yesterday. The rest were blown away or quarantined by MailRoute and never touched our server. Very nice...
Doing the math, it does look like MailRoute is hitting their 97% catch rate claim. What's really cool is that over 80% of the spam is being dropped before making it into MailRoute's quarantine, which makes it much more manageable to check for false positives.
Ken's description of the general filtering process is pretty accurate for most filtering services.
To be honest, the false positive percentage you're seeing worries me a bit. That seems really high.
Overall, you gave a nice, thorough review. Thanks for your contribution! Does the service allow tagging and delivery of quarantined messages? My preference is to have the email server move spam to the junk folder and let users pick it apart from there, rather than go to a separate quarantine location.
I'll update at the end of the 15 day trial with some stats. At the moment we've had 15 false positives in about 1 week (today is day 8), though the list of released emails says 23 because a few of those were sent to multiple people in the organization, so i didn't think it fair to count each as a separate false positive. Honestly, though, it doesn't seem any worse than Spam Assassin and is easier to manage. It's easy to browse through the domain quarantine and spot the obvious ones, highlight, and click "Recover & Whitelist". If it's not obvious, you can click it and it shows the text content and headers to help a better determination be made, or just have the users manage their own.
Thanks for a thoughtful and considered review. I'm happy to comment, but didn't want to jump in too soon.
Please lock down the server to prevent outside connections from anything but MailRoute. This prevents "the occasional spam" that you commented on from sneaking in directly. And it further protects your server from denial of service attacks, etc.
Good suggestions re the interface. We're continually updating the interface, and will certainly take these suggestions in hand. We also provide a place for our customers to request new features or make suggestions for changes at https:/
Regarding "the huge chunk of spam emails that MailRoute appears to proactively blow away", we do block a tremendous amount of email before the content filtering part of the service. We use a number of public and private blacklists and email reputation databases to identify the most egregious spammers and block them outright. And our Greylisting feature blocks email from 'bots and zombies - those malware infected PCs that spammers use to send out vast quantities of spam. For many clients, this can easily account for well over 95% of their spam volume.
There's an additional advantage to using our outbound service - we use your outbound email traffic patterns to make our filtering more accurate. If we know who you're sending email to, we can use that information to reduce any chance of false positives from those senders.
I'd be happy to offer this to you free of charge to anyone reading this. email@example.com
Thanks again, Tim! It's been a pleasure.
The quarantine notifications that MailRoute users receive via email allow them to whitelist, blacklist, recover, delete from within that email. You don't have to login to the interface to manage your quarantine.
I'd be happy to talk to you about this in more detail: 310.997.2354
The quarantine notifications that MailRoute users receive via email allow them to whitelist, blacklist, recover, delete from within that email. You don't have to login to the interface to manage your quarantine.
I'd be happy to talk to you about this in more detail: 310.997.2354
I prefer to keep discussions in the community for others to benefit. My main question was if there is a way to tag the messages as spam and send them along so that the email server can read the tag and move it to the users' junk folder? That way, there's no waiting for a quarantine report.
I prefer to keep discussions in the community for others to benefit. My main question was if there is a way to tag the messages as spam and send them along so that the email server can read the tag and move it to the users' junk folder? That way, there's no waiting for a quarantine report.
Yes, that can be done. There is an option in both the domain and user spam filter (user settings override domain settings) that allows you to define at which spam score threshold you want it still delivered, with a text field for you to add whatever you want to the beginning of the subject line. See screenshot:
One last update, after nearly a month (26 days) of use. 34 users, of which 18 have received at least 1 spam email (the other 13 have never received spam), with 3 automated email accounts receiving some spam.
5625 spam messages caught (~50,000 more dropped by high-level connection filtering and not included in this count)
39 unique false positives (corrected for spam scores <7.4 when I briefly changed the filter settings, as well as for emails to multiple users)
41 spam emails got past MailRoute (all promptly forwarded to email@example.com)
I don't have total mail traffic, that would be nice to put the above numbers in better perspective. I think both missed spams and false positives could be better, but the results certainly are better than any other service we've used. We pre-purchased one year to get the best price ($1.62/user/month), but as any smart shopper would, will take a fresh look at the competition before renewing.
I didn't make this connection until a couple of days ago, but there is another option which lets you set up multiple Quarantine Notifications, with a smallest interval of 5 minutes (for some reason the "Add new notification" button didn't sink in as a way to add more notifications...duh!). So, you could have Quarantine Reports emailed to everyone or just selected users, up to every 5 minutes. I set it up for twice a day (first thing in the morning and 30 minutes before closing), but am considering with a couple of high volume spam accounts adding a 3rd one right before or after lunch. It's very convenient to the user and super easy for them to whitelist/release.
I also have to mention that this morning I got a phone call from MailRoute following up on an email inquiry I sent them. They hadn't heard back from me and wanted to make sure i received their reply. They are very knowledgeable and sound like they care deeply about the quality of their product.
I didn't make this connection until a couple of days ago, but there is another option which lets you set up multiple Quarantine Notifications, with a smallest interval of 5 minutes (for some reason the "Add new notification" button didn't sink in as a way to add more notifications...duh!). So, you could have Quarantine Reports emailed to everyone or just selected users, up to every 5 minutes. I set it up for twice a day (first thing in the morning and 30 minutes before closing), but am considering with a couple of high volume spam accounts adding a 3rd one right before or after lunch. It's very convenient to the user and super easy for them to whitelist/release.
That's a useful feature, and can help alleviate some quarantine concerns.
Hi ITGUYTK,
Yes, I did end up going with Mailroute. It's been a great service so far...no regrets. By far the most valuable feature for me has been the Banned File Types quarantine. This quarantines .bat, .cmd, .com, .cpl, .dll, .exe, .pif, .scr, and .vbs attachments, even if they don't get caught by their virus scanner. Yes, it scans for these extensions in .zip and other compressed formats too. We haven't had a single piece of malware get delivered to an inbox (or even have an opportunity to get caught by our internal A/V) since I turned this feature on. Between their virus scanner, the banned file types, and my virus scanner, we have been much better protected. It's nice the spam filtering happens ahead of our own mail server to conserve our bandwidth.
The only negatives have been the occasional false positive (but that is what the user quarantine is for) and a couple of intermittent outages resulting in delayed emails. On the positive, they are very proactive with disclosing the outages, the reasons for them, and what is being done to prevent them from happening again.
Just a quick follow-up to let you all know we are still using MailRoute and still happy with them. In the last 30 days, of the mails that MailRoute quarantined, 2.1% were released by users (sometimes wrongly) as false positives. This does not include the 97% that are filtered out pre-quarantine (which if counted would put the false positive rate at nearly zero percent).
One great anecdote I can share is, we started getting some spear phishing attacks that were attempting to spoof upper management. Typically, they would fake the envelope from and reply to header, but in one case, they actually set up a mail domain that was one letter off from our own. MailRoute helped us set up custom filtering that now catches all of these spoofed emails without exception. The catch: we had to remove our own domain from all global and user whitelists otherwise the whitelist would let these fake mails through despite their spamminess. This took some user training as they were just whitelisting every false positive indiscriminately. Trying to get users to "release from quarantine" without whitelisting is a challenge. :)
Some other comments on their service since my initial impressions:
-any email quarantined by MailRoute's A/V scanner cannot be released by anyone other than MailRoute. In 2+ years, we've had one false positive, which they promptly released for us.
-although I love the ability to automatically quarantine any executable attachment, it would be neat to have more granular control. Currently MailRoute decides which file extensions count as executable.
-the line of communication with their support team is very open. Level 1 support typically responds within an hour, and they are not shy about escalating tough questions to advanced support. Advanced support response time is naturally slower (maybe 12 hours on average?), but you know you are communicating with someone who knows every in and out of their system and spam in general.
Please note that this review mentions a separate charge for outbound filtering (relay), which is no longer our policy. MailRoute's pricing includes all setup and support, and in/outbound filtering with 15 days of store & forward (spooling). We provide Continuity as a separate service. 10% off for Spiceheads: https://www.mailroute.net/pricing-sign-up/


text: January 2011 Potluck dinner for women physicians on Feb. 17New law: Older students must get pertussis vaccineCMA joins lawsuit against plan to let optometrists treat glaucomaOffice of Administrative Law rejects regulations for discount health plansGov. Brown's proposed budget would cut health and human servicesPEOPLEMEDICAL FACILITIESRESOURCESAPPLICANTSCLASSIFIEDSABOUT MMSPotluck dinner for women physicians on Feb. 17All women physicians in Marin County—MMS members and nonmembers alike—are invited to an informal potluck dinner on Thursday evening, Feb. 17. The dinner, hosted by Dr. Lori Selleck, is a great opportunity to gather with your female colleagues in a relaxed, convivial atmosphere. To RSVP and receive the address, contact Ashleigh Jessica Strasheim at 415-924-3891 or firstname.lastname@example.com law: Older students must get pertussis vaccineUnder a new law (AB 354), California middle and high school students must be vaccinated against pertussis. Beginning July 1, all students entering 7th through 12th grades in both public and private schools will be required to show proof of receiving a Tdap booster vaccination before starting school. Many families are unaware of this new law and will need to be encouraged by their clinicians to get their children vaccinated ahead of the July 1 deadline. No vaccine shortage is anticipated, but physicians and parents are urged to vaccinate ASAP to avoid a potential backlog of children needing immunizations. "With more than 7,800 confirmed cases and the deaths of 10 infants [in 2010], California experienced its worst outbreak of Pertussis in more than 50 years," said California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Mark Horton. "Protecting the health of California's youth is one of our most urgent priorities. This new legislation will help us achieve our goal." For more information, visit www.cdph.ca.gov/programs/immunize/Documents/EarlyAlertToProviders-AB354.pdf.CMA joins lawsuit against plan to let optometrists treat glaucomaThe California Medical Association and the California Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons have filed a lawsuit to block implementation of new regulations that certify optometrists to treat glaucoma. The regulations, which went into effect Jan. 8, provide a pathway by which optometrists can complete the entire certification process without having to treat a single patient with glaucoma. The prior process required treating 50 glaucoma patients over two years under the supervision of a board certified ophthalmologist. "Let's be clear: These new regulations are not up to snuff and in fact jeopardize the quality of eye care Californians deserve," said CMA President Dr. James Hinsdale. "Failing to require certification that includes treating actual glaucoma patients is the equivalent of handing out driver's licenses to people who have read a driving manual and attended a class but have never driven a car."Office of Administrative Law rejects regulations for discount health plansThe Office of Administrative Law (OAL) has rejected regulations that would have legitimized "discount health plan" referral services. CMA vigorously fought these regulations, and has opposed a number of legislative attempts to legitimize these illegal referral services. The Department of Managed Health Care proposed the regulations in February 2010, but OAL sided with CMA, ruling that the regulations are inconsistent with an opinion issued by the California Attorney General that concluded discount health plans are illegal. Discount health plans charge patients a monthly membership fee in exchange for a list of physicians whose services they can supposedly access at a discounted rate. The promised discounts are often illusory, and the physicians are often listed without their consent or knowledge.Gov. Brown's proposed budget would cut health and human servicesGov. Jerry Brown's 2011-12 budget proposal includes major cuts to health care, in an attempt to close a projected $25.4 billion shortfall. The proposal would close the deficit through a mix of spending cuts, revenue increases, and other solutions (such as taking money from special funds). The spending cuts total $12.5 billion, with $1.7 billion slashed from Medi-Cal alone. Of particular interest to physicians are proposals to: • Cut Medi-cal provider rates by 10% ($720 million) • Control Medi-Cal utilization ($217 million) • Impose Medi-Cal copayments ($557 million) • Contain costs in the Healthy Families program ($39 million) Medi-Cal currently covers 7.7 million Californians and is expected to add up to 2 million more after full implementation of federal health reform. Even at current rates, most physicians lose money treating Medi-Cal patients. As a result, it is nearly impossible to find physicians accepting new Medi-Cal patients in certain specialties. When Medi-Cal patients can't find a doctor, many will end up in the emergency room, the most costly and least efficient venue for receiving treatment. "With California's Medi-Cal rates already among the lowest in the nation, California's health care safety net cannot sustain these drastic cuts," said CMA President Dr. James Hinsdale. "CMA will continue to fight for physicians and work to preserve access to care for California's low-income populations."PEOPLEMMS President Dr. Peter Bretan, a Novato urologist in private practice, has been appointed to the CMA Council on Ethical Affairs. The Council investigates and supervises the ethical deportment of CMA members, makes recommendations for improvement of professional conduct, and interprets the meaning and application of the Principles of Medical Ethics. Dr. Katy Davis and Dr. Inessa Gofman, both pediatricians, have joined Sutter's Pediatric Care Center in San Rafael. Davis has an MD from Duke University and an MPH from UC Berkeley. Gofman has an MD from UC Davis. Dr. Gregg Jossart, a laparoscopic surgeon, has joined the Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation and opened an office at 101 Rowland Way in Novato. He specializes in gastrointestinal, bariatric and endocrine surgery. He holds an MD from the University of Minnesota.MEDICAL FACILITIESThe $120 million dispute between Marin General Hospital and Sutter Health has been sent to arbitration. Judge Verna Adams of the Marin Superior Court found that the arbitration provision in a 2006 agreement between MGH and Sutter "is sufficiently broad so as to encompass plaintiff's tort claims." MGH filed suit last year, claiming that Sutter had siphoned $120 million in revenue from MGH to other Sutter hospitals. Marin General Hospital has opened a Spine & Brain Institute for treatment and management of spine and brain disorders and disease. Partners in the Institute include Mt. Tam Spine Center and UCSF Neurosurgery. MGH Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joel Sklar noted, "This collaborative orthopedic and neurosurgery program gives Marin residents access to all the resources need to manage a complete list of spine and brain diseases and injuries."RESOURCESA presentation on the XMRV retrovirus and its relationship to cancer 7 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 17, at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, conference room B. The event is free but is only open to licensed medical professionals. RSVPs are required and should be directed to Susan Friedl at 396-5835 or firstname.lastname@example.com. The presenter is Judy Mikovits, PhD, a cell biologist. will begin at A free one-hour webinar on embezzlement will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 2, at 12:15 p.m. and 6 p.m. This CMA webinar is for physicians only; no staff members will be approved for participation. Presenter Debra Phairas, president of Practice & Liability Consultants, will discuss measures doctors can take to prevent embezzlement, which is estimated to affect one in six physicians at some point in their careers. To register, visit www.cmanet.org/calendar. Nonprofit health organizations in Marin County are encouraged to apply for Community Grants from the Pacific Foundation for Medical Care. The grants, generally in the $10,000 range, are awarded twice a year by the nonprofit foundation to support local projects that enhance health services. The application deadline for the next round of grants is April 2. For application materials, contact Kathy Pass at 707-525-4281 or email@example.com. For more information, visit www.pfmc.org. A four-day course on difficult headache patients will be held in Rancho Mirage on President's Day Weekend, Feb. 18-21. The course is sponsored by the Diamond Headache Clinic and includes 20.5 hours of Category 1 credit. To register, visit www.dhc-fdn.org. A one-day seminar on pediatric orthopedics will take place at the Shriners Hospital in Sacramento on Saturday, March 5. The course, valid for 5 hours of Category 1 credit, includes presentations by several noted orthopedic surgeons. To register, contact 916-453-2041 or firstname.lastname@example.com. The latest issue of CMA Practice Resources includes articles on EOB disclosures, timely access regulations and Blue Cross contract amendments. For a free subscription, visit www.cmanet.org/news/cpr. The OMSS Advocate is a quarterly newsletter for members of the CMA Organized Medical Staff Section. To read the current issue, visit www.cmanet.org/news.APPLICANTSJeffrey Stevenson, MD, Family Medicine, Occupational Medicine, 300 Professional Center Dr. #326, Novato 94947, 897-5400, Fax 892-9506, firstname.lastname@example.com, George Washington UnivCLASSIFIEDSHow to submit a classified ad To submit a classified ad for MMS News Briefs or Marin Medicine, contact Erika Goodwin at firstname.lastname@example.com or 707-548-6491. The cost is one dollar per word.ABOUT MMSThe Marin Medical Society, a 501(c)(6) nonprofit association, supports local physicians and their efforts to enhance the health of the community. We are affiliated with the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association. © MMS 2011 PO Box 246 Corte Madera, CA 94976 January 1, 2011 MMS News Briefs January 2011 0 Comment Read More »

subset: commoncrawl


text: Back in high school, did you ever find yourself caught in a lie when someone would ask, "did you actually read the book?" Kids would be made fun of for finishing all the summer reading. It's time this negative connotation with reading stops. High school students often enter college with a bad taste in their … Continue reading →


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Film Review: Red Dawn (2012)
I made the same mistake here that I did with this week's episode of Cult. Namely, watching something better beforehand.
The night before I watched Red Dawn, I watched Tomorrow, When the War Began.
Compared to the books, it isn't that great. But compared to Red Dawn, it is a fucking masterpiece.
Red Dawn is crap, is what I'm saying.
TL;DR Ridiculous pacing, zero character development, and a virtually retarded main character make Red Dawn more than a chore to watch. The action is effective, but who cares? 2 out of 5 stars.
And I kept waiting for an epic Chris Hemsworth shirtless scene. It never came. And neither did I.
I should also point out that I haven't seen the original, so there's no reboot bias here, bro.
So the plot is pretty thin. Chris Hemsworth and his brother (not his actual brother. Missed opportunity, much?) Matt are chilling in their hometown/city when North Korea drops from the sky to invade their asses. They escape with a handful of Matt's high school buddies and some randoms, and go to hide out at their family's cabin. After witnessing the atrocities that the North Korean forces are committing (including the execution of their father), our heroes lead the rag-tag group into guerilla warfare to liberate the town. They are alarmingly good at it. Some US marines eventually show up (led by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the combined group leads an attack to get some important communications technology. They succeed, and the film ends with the Wolverines starting to lead more and more people.
There's also some romance sub plot for both brothers, but they are shallow.
I think the most irksome thing about Red Dawn is brought out by its pace: these kids are fucking immortal fighting machines. Yeah, I can appreciate when a movie doesn't outstay its welcome, but the Wolverines are way too effective to be believable. The North Koreans managed to take over almost the entire USA overnight, yet these high schoolers (plus Chris Hemsworth) can shit all over them with little-to-no training?
At least Tomorrow's characters only did pitiful little disruption missions. Not full on, balls-out gunfights in the streets like the Red Dawn characters. With virtually no opposition.
Why I hate this movie:
The only times they actually have members killed (prior to the Russians' involvement) come when the North Koreans bomb their base, and when Matt goes rogue on their assassination mission, which causes one of the Wolverines to get killed during the scramble. They face no other troubles at all during any of their other (frequent) jaunts in and out of the city. What the fuck?
Matt is a fucking awful main character. He's a mopey little bitch whose main concern is his goddamn high school girlfriend. Not, you know, the occupation of the entire city/country. Just his girlfriend. And he fucks up a prime opportunity to assassinate a bunch of high ranking officials just so he can pick the bitch up from her prison bus.
Worse, he shows almost no remorse over this. He sulks in the woods for, like, 5 seconds. The sister of the guy who dies because of his selfishness is prompty killed during the base bombing, so nobody ever properly bitches him out for it. Chris has some obligatory big brother disapproval, but that's it. Fucking douchebag.
Connor Cruise (Tom's son) plays a personality-devoid fodder character. Am I supposed to care?
The time frame of the events is scattered by the break-neck pace. It could have taken place over weeks. It could have taken place over months. I don't know.
Shouldn't Chris Hemsworth be wary of staying in a cabin in the woods? Pun.
The point-blank execution of Chris and Matt's dad gets a laughable discretion cut. Tomorrow didn't cut away from its similar execution scene. Weak.
There's a random "comic relief" scene where Chris and Matt trick Josh Hutcherson into drinking deer blood. It's gross and weird.
Oh, and there are 2 fucking bizarre moments during the raid on the police station. Apparently these characters have John Carter-esque jumping abilities, because several of them jump from mutliple floors up in an apartment building to land on the roof of the station. Without injury. And Matt later does the same thing inside the station to reach the comms device. Without injury. What?
Reasons to watch:
The action, and particularly the use of practical effects, is very nice to watch. Although they win with no effort in every gun fight, watching the Wolverines mow down some North Koreans is never dissatisfying.
Speaking of North Korea, I watched this at a relevant time, didn't I?
The premise is genuinely frightening. Not as effective as Tomorrow (ambiguity and lack of information can be an asset), but still. The first invasion scene is a great example. All chaos and tension. Shame it doesn't last.
Isabel Lucas, an Australian actress who plays Matt's girlfriend that he fucks over the Wolverines to save, has a decent American accent. I appreciate this.
Best line of the movie goes to a billboard in the prisoners' camp. It's just a blank, white sign with black text: "You deserve to be here." Simple and childish. Nice.
Connor Cruise gets stabbed with a tracking device. When the group discovers this, he volunteers to stay behind to be killed. I lol'd.
The movie actually had the balls to unceremoniously knock off Chris when the Russians track the Wolverines via Cruise. Respect.
During the "I'm gonna ruin our plan to see my girlfriend" rescue, Matt and Isabel hide out and change clothes in some chick's clothes store. She later gets tracked down by the North Koreans and is about to be executed for helping the "terrorists." The Wolverines save her just in time. Fuck yeah.
Oh, and Cruise and Hutcho hold up a Subway at one point. Awkward product placement plus why-the-hell-is-a-fucking-Subway-one-of-the-things-that-the-North-Koreans-are-okay-with points.
A name cast and engaging premise make Red Dawn tolerable. Just. 2 out of 5 stars.
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I have been living in constant worry about what might happen if our economy collapses, which almost happened yesterday. Luckily, the government came to an agreement to put a stop to the shutdown, averting an economic crisis. The citizens of Venezuela, whose economy collapsed in the early 90's, were not so lucky, and were forced to find means to live where there were no means. In this TED Talk video, we find incredible ingenuity in the Venezuelan people, who took to an abandoned tower to build their homes. The "Tower of David" is a small city within a city, becoming home to hundreds of people, stores, taxis, and services like barber shops and electronics repair. It's rough around the edges, but it is so inspiring to see how these people adapted to the changing times, and utilized everything around them to make a "new normal." Here's one of my favorite TED Talks, "Ingenious Homes in Unexpected Places," given by Iwan Baan:
TED Talks: "My Stroke of Insight"
TED Talks: Ideas worth spreading
> View my TED profile
> View Jill's TED profile and video
While everyone else was watching the MTV Video Music Awards, I was watching TED Talks online. (Incidentally, the New York Times shares my view on the award show.) I've always found TED Talks to be fascinating, but as my life took a hectic turn, I watched these talks less and less until I eventually stopped altogether. My boyfriend Corey has gotten me back into watching them by recommending a fascinating one: "Jill Bolte Taylor: My Stroke of Insight" about one woman's struggle to survive a stroke. The description on the website is more accurate: "Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one. An astonishing story." Truly astonishing.
I have a personal tie to this story, a tragic tie. My mother passed away from a brain aneurysm. I don't say she lived with, or suffered with, because she didn't know she had it and died suddenly when a blood vessel ruptured in the frontal cortex of her brain. I was the one who found her, and I've been working with a wonderful therapist since 2012 to try and cope with the trauma.
I wish I could've been inside my mother's brain when the aneurysm occurred, much like Jill was observing the deterioration of her mental faculties and motor function. Sometimes, I wish it would've been me having an aneurysm, not my mom. I wonder if she knew it was coming, or that something was going to happen. I wonder if she felt pain, or sadness, or fear. I hope not. I hope she experienced it like Jill did. A beautiful adventure. I'd be a lot less sleep deprived if I had a definite answer.
To switch back to a positive note, I'm now obsessively downloading and watching all of these amazing TED Talks. Some on mental illness, sleep, bacteria. My boyfriend Corey tells me that they're also available on Netflix, which is awesome. (I'm a late bloomer just discovering Netflix for the first time.) I'm always craving brain food, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how much of it I've gotten from my boyfriend Corey. I'm really happy and lucky to have him. Thanks, Corey.
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About Me
My name is Nicholas Emeigh, but everyone calls me Nick, and I prefer it. I'm usually called Nicholas when I'm in trouble. I'm from the Philadelphia area, work in business, and fancy myself as a freelance graphic designer, writer, and artist. I have a passion for art in all its forms including music, but I restrict my singing to the shower and the car for the good of society. If you'd like to know more, just send me an e-mail. I really appreciate you stopping by.
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The YouTube TV app for Android TV is now available to download directly from the Google Play Store. This is not only the latest expansion to Google's YouTube TV service but also the widest, as prior to this app becoming available YouTube TV was only largely accessible from a smartphone or a tablet. Requiring the user to cast content from the app to the big screen. With the arrival of this latest app however, users can now install the app directly on an Android TV device and forgo the use of a mobile smartphone (or tablet) altogether.
Earlier this week Google announced this app was on the way and due to arrive by the end of the week. Along with that announcement Google and YouTube also confirmed the app would work with Android TV boxes, as well as TVs powered by Android TV. Which seems to be the case as the app listing that has now gone live is showing support for a wide range of Android TV devices, including the NVIDIA SHIELD, the Nexus Player, and various TV sets which run on Android TV. Interestingly, the app does not currently show support for the Xiaomi Mi Box. At present, this does not seem to be relevant to the Android version either, as while the Mi Box is still running Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) so are other Android TV devices that are listed as supported by the app, with the listing stating that Android 5.0 (Lollipop) is the minimum requirement for the app to run on a compatible device. So it is not currently clear as to why the Mi Box is not one of the supported options at launch.
As for the service in general, YouTube TV is Google's take on 'cutting the cord' so those interested in more of a pay monthly service, YouTube TV will be one to consider. The baseline package costs $35 per month and for that price provides access to a number of live channels, as well as a selection of on-demand content. DVR features are also on offer, as is the ability to pause and rewind live TV. It is worth noting that while Google is slowly expanded availability to YouTube TV, this is still not a service that is available throughout the US, although the company did recently state that it does now cater to two-thirds of U.S consumers. Those interested in checking if their Android TV device is compatible with the new app, head over to the Google Play Store through the link below.


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July 5, 2005 Tape #013
The White County Drainage Board convened at 10:45 A.M., EST in the Commissioners' Room of the White County Building, Monticello, Indiana with Board Members Steven Burton, O. D. Ferguson, John C. Heimlich, Attorney George W. Loy, Surveyor Dennis W. Sterrett, Engineer L. Todd Frauhiger and Secretary Romana Kiser in attendance.
Others attending were Charles Mellon, Bill Pyle, Don Pauken, Jeff Ward, Jeff Van Weelden and Attorney Dow Dellinger.
Board Member Heimlich made a motion to approve the minutes of the June 20, 2005 meeting. Board Member Ferguson seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
Chairman Burton recognized Dow Dellinger for a non-agenda item. Attorney Dellinger stated, "I spoke with Denny on Friday. I'm Dow Dellinger here on behalf of Indiana Waste Systems. In the last meeting you had asked for exact dimensions on where the tile is run through that property. Godlove's have taken an indicator out there and painted a line where the tile runs through. Weaver-Boos has updated a drawing and we wanted to have it here as quick as we could so they wrote in those measurements to within a tenth of a foot (Surveyor Sterrett corrected him saying a hundredth of a foot) for your information. We also gave a drawing that gave the elevations on the ramps so you could see the elevations. ...inaudible ...has that in his material….inaudible...called and said he wanted a drainage plan, which Weaver-Boos had provided a drainage plan for the IDEM permit. We gave a copy of that to Denny and he thought that was satisfactory for the Engineer to review, so I wanted to make sure you have ….inaudible…..I have extras. This was the original drawing that Weaver-Boos had sent us, two faxes actually; the first one showed the proposed building locations and failed to put the location of the existing structures. This drawing has the existing structure….see tape….Weaver-Boos was good enough to fax us the exact location of the tile in relation to the proposed building and the ramps and then the relation of the tile to the existing structures. We have both of those for your review and elevation specs of buildings for your review."
A lot of discussion followed about how close the proposed buildings and ramps would be from the tile (See Tape). Board Member Heimlich asked if the tile location is painted so we can see it if we go to the site. Attorney Dellinger said yes. Chairman Burton asked if there were any more questions at this time. He said he would like to hold off on making a decision on this until dealing with the BZA appeal. Board Member Heimlich said, "I think we still need to go out and look at it again, it's marked out there."
Attorney Dellinger stated, "We'd like to have the decision whenever it is good for you guys, just because the Transfer Station can be built without the rezoning issue resolved." Board Member Heimlich said, "I understand that, but it just adds another complicating factor in the equation there. I don't think another couple of weeks will matter. The ramp you are talking about there, how high is that ramp and how long?" For that discussion - see tape. Board Member Heimlich stated, "My question there would be, if you ever had to work on that tile at that point, whether you could dig that up and not affect that ramp." Engineer Frauhiger said, "We have not started the drainage review on this yet, and that was one of the issues." Board Member Heimlich said, "Well, we had said that we could put off an answer on that until after the BZA meeting. Our next meeting after that would be our first meeting in August. So we can deal with that later."
Engineer Frauhiger presented drainage plans for Schmaltz's Sycamore Drive In. Engineer Frauhiger reported, "We went out and looked at the site. They are requesting an exemption from the Drainage Ordinance to not have to put in a detention pond. Basically what they are doing is, their water will shed off of the developed property out to Washington Street into the existing curb line. It will go down, Washington Street has that ninety degree bend with the pipes under it right there. With the curb line, there's a curb cut that drops in and goes underneath the pipes into a regional detention pond for this subdivision. We did meet with Doug Roberts (Monticello Street Superintendent) on site as a matter of fact it was raining pretty heavily when we met with him and water was going down Washington Street to the corner. There IS a problem right in the corner with a waterline that had been constructed previously and Washington Street has some underlying problems with the curb cut, it has dropped about four inches. The City is aware of that and they are going to repair that issue. The City has no problems with them discharging out to the curb line and letting it go down to the existing pipes and regional detention pond. We are ready to recommend this one for approval." Chairman Burton asked, "So they drain onto the street?" Engineer Frauhiger answered, "They drain out onto the street. The water will go right out their driveway, onto the street and just follow the curb line down to the curb cut." Board Member Ferguson asked what they will put in the building. Todd answered it is an ice cream drive in.
Board Member Heimlich moved to approve the drainage plan for Schmaltz's Sycamore Drive In and the exemption from constructing a detention pond. Board Member Ferguson seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
Next on the agenda was drainage review for Ray Bixler Hog Buildings. Surveyor Sterrett stated the site is north of Willie Mote's about three-quarters of a mile. Engineer Frauhiger said, "We have had a number of re-submittals on this project. This is the latest, came in last Thursday. The existing tile through the site was originally thought to be a fifteen inch tile and we went back to the original construction records and it is actually an eight inch tile. The Drainage Ordinance states that you are allowed to discharge at certain rates unless there is a downstream restriction because of a storm sewer or an open ditch that has a restriction. Then your discharge from the site can be reduced down to what we feel the downstream system can handle. In this particular case, since there is only an eight inch tile going through the property and all this water had to go into it, we reduced the allowable discharge from the site down to something we thought an eight inch tile could handle and not unduly affect the neighbors. If you notice, we have allowed a six inch connection from the two detention areas into the existing tile. There's one here and one over here. We had a chance to talk to Steve (Paul Couts?) just a little bit, we did get them to, that tile is no longer running through the buildings. They relocated the tile pretty much the way we discussed it, around the building and not between them anymore." Chairman Burton said originally the landowner wanted to relocate the tile out and around the buildings. Engineer Frauhiger showed the plans originally submitted and the tile was going to go right between the buildings. There were a number of reasons we had problems with that. They can also relocated this way and the tile is seventy-five feet away from the building and there is no reduction in the easement required. That is a County tile." Chairman Burton said the original plan was to come down between the buildings and it would've been within thirty feet.
Engineer Frauhiger said, "If these two six inch tiles, I did the calculations over the weekend, if both of them are flowing with the water ponding in the ponds the way it will be, they will use approximately forty percent of the capacity of the eight inch tile at a hundred year storm. This is an earthen berm around the site so basically what's going to happen is the area around the buildings …..inaudible." Board Member Ferguson said,
"He's going to pay for changing it." Todd said that is correct. Board Member Ferguson said, "But it has to be reconstruction." Engineer Frauhiger stated, "They are not changing the grade on it and not changing the size, so I don't know." Board Member Heimlich said, "But it's a different route." Engineer Frauhiger said, "It's a different route. I know the easement is defined as seventy-five foot on either side of the center line of the tile. So, when the tile is relocated…….." Board Member Heimlich said, "I understand the easement, but on a County tile can you relocate it without a Hearing?" Attorney Loy stated, "It would be reconstruction. How many people are on the tile?" Surveyor Sterrett said, "There is nobody upstream from him, they are all downstream." Attorney Loy said by law it is still reconstruction.
Attorney Loy asked, "He's proposed to build right on top of the existing tile?" Board Member Heimlich said, "He's changing the location." Engineer Frauhiger said, "It looks like a portion of the relocation would be within the original easement, a small portion of it would be outside of the existing easement." Attorney Loy said, "I don't think the easement is the issue, it's the relocation, same kind of tile, same……" Engineer Frauhiger said, "Actually he went a size bigger. That's eight inch and he went with a ten inch." Attorney Loy said, "All at his cost."
Surveyor Sterrett stated, "Actually this drain is connected to the Amelia Suits Drain, so all the watershed includes the Suits, too. It is going to be forty people probably."
Attorney Loy asked, "No way he could re-position his buildings so it (reconstruction) is not necessary? (Discussion followed – see tape) Giving him Consent to Encroach would be a lot simpler than relocation. Was he aware of this drain? (Surveyor answered yes) Technically it is reconstruction, which I think other people in the watershed would have a right to at least express and be heard." Board Member Heimlich said, "By law we would have to have a Hearing. I can't see that there would be any objections of any of it." Property line was discussed – see tape. Attorney Loy said if he moved the buildings further north we could give him Consent to Encroach.
Engineer Frauhiger said, "Hydraulically we will give him two options. It will be reconstruction or move his buildings and reconstruction is going to take longer." Notification of a Hearing is at least 30 days and less than 40 days. Attorney Loy said that all the costs of the Reconstruction Hearing will be borne by him. Board Member Heimlich said, "We can't actually approve the drainage plan until, it involves the tile and we can't move the tile without a Hearing." Chairman Burton asked if Mr. Bixler had somewhat reflected that he didn't want to move the proposed location of the buildings. Surveyor Sterrett answered yes. Board Member Heimlich said he figured he didn't really want to do that, but just so he understands that it will take some time to have a Reconstruction Hearing.
Surveyor Sterrett stated, "The Engineer (Paul Couts) called him (Ray Bixler) after he found out that we really didn't want the tile between the buildings and talked him into moving it to the south." Discussion about moving berm if buildings are moved followed – see tape. Attorney Loy asked the name of the tile. It is the Royer Tile Branch of the Amelia Suits Drain and it is assessed with the Suits Drain. There is not a separate watershed for the Royer Branch. Engineer Frauhiger said he thinks it would be simpler if he moved his buildings. He said if you try to go through the reconstruction process the use of the buildings would probably be more of a topic than the tile. Discussion on which direction to move the proposed buildings – see tape. Engineer Frauhiger said all runoff is captured with the berm around the buildings (See tape).
Surveyor Sterrett asked if the Engineer is to be notified. Engineer Frauhiger said yes, he is the applicant, he submitted the work, so he will give Paul Couts a call and tell him it will either have to go through the reconstruction process for moving the tile or move the buildings north. Surveyor Sterrett asked if it would be advisable for him to move the buildings seventy-five foot north of the tile. Chairman Burton asked if he moves it north what are our absolute tolerances. Board Member Heimlich said obviously we could go closer than seventy-five feet, but the farther the better. Engineer Frauhiger said the tile is approximately four foot deep. (Drawing studied – see tape).
Board Member Heimlich said we don't have a request for a consent to encroach. Attorney Loy asked if the elevations are the same if the buildings are moved. Surveyor Sterrett said the site is pretty flat. It was decided that the Board could not approve the drainage plan until the issue of moving the tile or the buildings is resolved. Chairman Burton asked Engineer Frauhiger to relay the information. Engineer Frauhiger agreed to do so.
Board Member Heimlich reported from the last Cass County Joint Board meeting on Indian Creek project. He said, "They had a request for Judicial Review on findings of the Cass County Joint Board on Indian Creek. The attorney representing the group requesting the Judicial Review is Courtney Justice. He spoke to the Board on a whole list of things. Most of them don't amount to anything. There are two or three that our attorney says we will have to respond to, so we will see how long that will take. The main thing that they were challenging, the main objection they were arguing was that it should've not been a flat rate but a variable rate assessment. That certain landowners weren't using as much of the ditch. There were 12 or 14 names. They did not specifically say they objected to adding in Little Indian Creek to the project. At least half of the objectors were on that portion of Little Indian Creek in Cass County. But I think there were also a couple of three from Pulaski County and I think there were a couple on there from Fulton County, too. So that's where that stands right now."
Board Member Heimlich reported that he did not attend the last Monon Ditch Joint Board meeting. There will be a meeting July 21st and they should be close to setting a Hearing date. The last meeting he went to they agreed to take proposals to spray and the bids came in way above what they had approved so it was back to the drawing board on that.
Chairman Burton adjourned the meeting.


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DULUTH, Ga. — AGCO Corporation (NYSE:AGCO) received five 2018 AE50 Awards from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). This year's winning products from AGCO include the Hesston by Massey Ferguson® WR9900 self-propelled windrowers, the Hesston by Massey Ferguson 2370 Ultra high density (Ultra HD) baler, the Challenger® RoGator® C Series row crop applicator with exclusive LiquidLogicTM system, the Challenger 700 Series track tractor and the Massey Ferguson® DatatronicTM 5 in-cab control terminal.
"AGCO is honored to be recognized for innovations that help our customers solve real-world farming challenges," says Richard Kohnen, director, tactical marketing for AGCO. "We're especially proud that these honors are for product lines with tremendous legacies of industry-leading break-throughs such as the first large square baler, the first self-propelled sprayer and the first use of tracks in agriculture. As the needs of farmers change, we will continue to develop state-of-the-art solutions to meet our customers' challenges in the field."
Winning products are selected based on their innovation, significant engineering advancement and impact on the market served. The AE50 award program is sponsored by Resource, the membership publication of the ASABE, to emphasize the role of new and redesigned products and systems in bringing advanced technology to the marketplace. The awards will be presented February 13 during ASABE's annual Agricultural Equipment Technology Conference (AETC) in Louisville, Ky.
2018 AGCO AE50 Award Winners
The WR9900 self-propelled windrowers are designed to meet the needs of hay producers and custom forage harvesters seeking increased performance, power and comfort. The Series features the 265-HP model WR9980 which is built to easily cut and condition the most difficult crops, including winter forage, miscanthus and biomass crops. Increased machine power gives operators the flexibility to run disc, auger or draper headers on all models, making the WR9900 Series the most versatile windrowers on the market. An improved hydraulic system delivers 20 percent more available header power on 16-feet disc headers for higher throughput and performance. To make the operator's job easier, a larger cab provides greater visibility and comfort with 50 percent more air-conditioning power. The WR9900 Series machines also have a more user-friendly operator interface for intuitive monitoring and control. The WR9900 Series is the industry's only windrower to operate all primary functions through a virtual terminal, giving the operator precise control of over the entire windrower to achieve best-in-class efficiency and performance.
The 2370 Ultra HD baler was created from the ground up to meet the needs of large commercial hay growers, operations that export hay and businesses harvesting biomass for the North American biofuels and livestock feed industries. The new baler is the industry's first Class 8 large square baler and is designed to produce heavy, dense bales from light-weight, dry, slick grass and crop residue that can be hard-to-bale. The Model 2370 Ultra HD makes 3' x 4' bales with 20 percent greater density than our industry-leading Model 2270XD baler. This is accomplished with a faster, 15 percent heavier, more powerful plunger that operates at 50 strokes per minute. It packs a maximum load capacity of 760 kilonewtons (kN) – 63 percent greater than the 2270XD baler. It offers the throughput and reliability large operations require when harvest windows are small, and tons-harvested-per-day is driving an operation's profitability.
The technology-loaded, user-friendly RoGator C Series row crop applicator with the LiquidLogic application system delivers innovations needed to meet the complex application processes of today's professional applicators and farmers. The LiquidLogic system gives operators effective cleanout, precise rates, greater control for on-target application and less product waste. Continuous product recirculation, the CleanFlow air pressure recovery and cleanout system and self-priming booms are key features that improve accuracy plus save time and money. The system also has a "hold at minimum" pressure setting and can maintain a +/-1 PSI variation across the boom for a consistent spray pattern and to keep product on target at low speed.
Designed to meet the needs of results-oriented agribusinesses, the MT700 Series track tractors by Challenger deliver a new level of track tractor performance, ride comfort, operating efficiency and on-board intelligence to maximize uptime, productivity and profitability. The tractor was designed using the AccuEngineeringTM platform and features new styling, as well as a new engine, transmission, undercarriage and hydraulics. A redesign of the industry's leading MobilTrac™ track system provides ride comfort unparalleled by other track machines. The Series has three models from 380 to 431 HP, powered by AGCO Power™ 9.8L diesel engines equipped with concentric air systems (CAS). All systems, including the hydraulics and PTO are designed to run at lower engine rpm, to lower fuel costs and reduce engine wear.
The Datatronic 5 operating system and in-cab terminal combine all functions needed by a modern tractor, including tractor functionality, implement control, guidance and precision data into a powerful ISOBUS compatible terminal. With a 9-inch touch screen, it's as easy to use as the latest tablets and smartphones. The system makes automatic steering easy with Auto-Guide™ technology and its straightforward 'Go Mode' that operators use to quickly set up and use the system. With the new terminal, users also can choose the level of steering accuracy that suits their operations and employ signals from their preferred supplier. The Datatronic 5 system is found in the Massey Ferguson 8700 Series tractor.
For more information on these new products, visit your nearest dealer or www.agcocorp.com
# # #
Kelli Cook, AGCO | email@example.com | 404-353-3607 | @kelli_cook1
Dee Weeda, Dee Weeda Communications | firstname.lastname@example.com| 641-344-0757
©2017 AGCO Corporation. Massey Ferguson is a worldwide brand of AGCO. Hesston by Massey Ferguson and RoGator, are registered trademarks of AGCO. Challenger and MobilTrac are registered trademarks and OptiRide is a trademark of Caterpillar Inc., used under license by AGCO. AccuEngineering, AGCO Power, Auto-Guide, ClearFlow and LiquidLogic are trademarks of AGCO.
About AGCO
AGCO (NYSE: AGCO) is a global leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of agricultural solutions and supports more productive farming through its full line of equipment and related services. AGCO products are sold through five core brands, Challenger®, Fendt®, GSI®, Massey Ferguson® and Valtra®, supported by Fuse® precision technologies and farm optimization services, and are distributed globally through a combination of more than 3,000 independent dealers and distributors in more than 150 countries. Founded in 1990, AGCO is headquartered in Duluth, Ga., USA. In 2016, AGCO had net sales of approximately $7.4 billion. For more information, visit http://www.AGCOcorp.com. For company news, information and events, please follow us on Twitter: @AGCOCorp. For financial news on Twitter, please follow the hashtag #AGCOIR.
About ASABE
The American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers is an educational and scientific organization dedicated to the advancement of engineering and technology for sustainable agricultural, food and biological systems. Members are consultants, educators, executives and others who uniquely understand the interrelationships between technology and living systems. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in St. Joseph, Michigan, ASABE comprises 8,000 members from more than 100 countries.
4205 River Green Parkway, Duluth, GA 30096-2563 USA
Telephone: 770-813-9200 News.AGCOcorp.com


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Pit Boss 440 Deluxe Pellet Grill
Article # 130355
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Product Description
• Digital temperature control from 180°F to 500°F
• Great for smoking, grilling and cooking
• Wood pellets infuse a rich flavour
• 440-sq.-in. cooking surface
Take your backyard meals to another level of greatness with Pit Boss' 440 Deluxe Pellet Grill. 440 sq. in. of cooking surface split between a 340-sq.-in. porcelain-coated cast-iron cooking grid and a 100-sq.-in. porcelain-coated steel removable upper rack make it ideal for couples and small families. Fueled by wood pellets, you'll love the wood-fired flavour it produces. Digital control board makes cooking a perfect meal hassle-free, regulating the temperature between 180°F and 500°F with fan-forced convection cooking that eliminates the need for a rotisserie. Flame broiler controls whether your food is cooked over a direct or indirect flame – meaning you can set it and forget it, or slide the plate away and sear over an open flame. Combination side shelf and serving tray, solid bottom shelf and bottle opener. Two-tone black and copper exterior looks great on a deck or patio.
Dimensions: 39"H x 47"W x 21.7"D (99 cm x 119.3 cm x 55.1 cm)
Weight: 85 lb. (38-1/2 kg)
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Your paintball mask is the most crucial part of your paintball gear. It is the one item that you are forced wear on the field and cant remove no matter what. Picking the right mask, will make the world of difference to you game Play.- We stock a wide range of top brands like V-Force Grill, JT, Tippmann, Empire, Proto and GXG with replacement lenses and thermal lenses. Take a look through our interesting variety of masks – # get a good mask so you are not fogging
- You cannot add "VFORCE GRILLS Paintball Mask SE DIGICAM" to the basket because the product is out of stock.
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Gulyas: "Hungarian players definitely do have a place in Veszprem"
Telekom Veszprem - Spartak 37:32 (17:13)
(Manaskov 11 / Ryabov 8)
Peter Gulyas, Telekom Veszprem youth team coach:
It was a good game. Defense was playing good throughout almost the entire course of the game and Cupara had some nice saves which helped us score some easy, fast-break goals. I think these 3500 fans who decided to come to the Arena today and support us witnessed that Hungarian players definitely do have a place in Veszprem.
Lev Szuharev, Telekom Veszprem player:
First of all congrats to the team of Spartak. Many thanks to our fans as well. We experienced some problems in the beginning of the game but luckily we were soon able to find the right answers. Defense was working well and I believe this was a well-deserved win for us after all.
Oleg Kulesov, Spartak coach:
Congrats to Veszprem who were playing well and quick. Well-deserved win for them today. We showed that we also have some quality, motivated young players ready to play well.
Igor Radojevic, Spartak player:
We had a lot of problems arriving here with only eight players. Despite of that, we've had some pretty good moments but we've had some bad ones as well. Situation we're dealing with is hard and I'd like to thank Veszprem for a fair game.


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Barking at the doorbell is not the worst thing -- your dog is just trying to warn you that an "intruder" has arrived -- unless, of course, you get 50 visitors a day and the barking becomes maddening. In that case, there are things you can do to stop it.
Thank Fido quickly for the warning, give him a treat and then ask him to sit. No, you won't be rewarding the barking behavior, at least not completely. You don't want him to stop warning you of potential danger. You just want him to understand that once you're aware of the warning, it's OK to stop barking. Quickly answer the door so Doggie knows you're aware of the warning.
Switch your doorbell ring regularly. Dogs will learn to associate certain sounds with doorbell ringing, and will bark every time they hear that sound. Get a doorbell with multiple chimes and switch regularly. See if that curbs the urge to bark. It won't necessarily fix the root of the problem, but it can help ease your headache and might prevent your neighbors from hating you too much.
Lower your voice and ask Doggie to quiet down. Say "OK," "hush" or "be quiet" -- whatever word you normally use to help him calm down. If he does, give him a treat. Never yell. To him it might sound like you're joining in on the excitement.
- If you share your home with a spaniel, a hound or one of the smaller breeds, such as Maltese or Chihuahuas, the barking can get a bit more, well, out of control. Some breeds are natural-born barkers and they might be harder to control. Give these dogs plenty of exercise and distractions -- squeaky toys and bones might help -- so they can burn off some excess energy some other way.
Photo Credits
- Photodisc/Photodisc/Getty Images


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NOTE: The following FAQs pertain to the 2017 application period. Because we are in the midst of a search for the new Kenyon Review Editor, we are postponing this year's Fellowships search and have extended our current Fellows' positions through June 2021. Please check back in the fall of 2020 for updated information.
- Who can apply for a KR Fellowship?
Any writer who has completed an MFA or PhD degree before September 15, 2017 but no earlier than January 1, 2012.
- I'm not a U.S. citizen. Can I still apply?
Yes, but all applicants must be eligible to work in the United States. Any non-U.S. citizen who receives a fellowship will qualify for a J-1 Visa.
- Is there an age limit for applicants?
- I don't have a graduate degree in creative writing, but I have many publications and awards. May I apply for a fellowship?
No. To be eligible for a KR fellowship, applicants must have completed an MFA in creative writing or PhD in creative writing, English literature, or comparative literature before September 15, 2017 but no earlier than January 1, 2012.
- I am receiving my MFA in May 2018. Am I eligible?
No. Applicants must have an MFA or PhD in hand at the time of application, hence the September 15, 2017 degree completion deadline. You will be eligible for our next search, which will take place in the fall of 2019.
- What kind of teaching experience is required?
Applicants must have professional teaching experience in creative writing and/or literature at the undergraduate level.
- Will you only accept applicants who write fiction or poetry?
No. We invite applications from all genres, including creative nonfiction and playwriting.
Application Process
- What is the application deadline?
Applications must be submitted no later than September 15, 2017 in order to be considered.
- Is there an application fee?
- Is publication required for submission of an application?
Publication is not required, but the strongest candidates will be those with the strongest records of publication.
- Do I need to send reference letters or transcripts?
Applications must include two reference letters, one of which should directly address the applicant's teaching ability. Applications must also include a one-page cover letter, curriculum vitae, 8-10 page writing sample, and unofficial transcripts from your graduate degree. PLEASE NOTE: We only require two reference letters for this application, but the hiring system is pre-set at three references. For your third reference, you may enter my name, title, and email address (Tory Weber, Associate Director, Kenyon Review, email@example.com).
- How should my references submit reference letters?
Reference letters should be submitted electronically. In order to submit the online application, you will need to enter the names and email addresses for your references.
Once your application is complete and has been submitted, the application site will send a link to each of your references so that they can upload a letter to your application. PLEASE NOTE: We only require two reference letters for this application, but the hiring system is pre-set at three references. For your third reference, you may enter my name, title, and email address (Tory Weber, Associate Director, Kenyon Review, email@example.com).
- Can I use a dossier service to submit my reference letters?
Yes. Some dossier services, such as Interfolio, can provide specific email addresses for each of your reference letters (these usually look something like: email@example.com). If that is the case, please enter the name, organization, and title for your reference, but enter the dossier email address for that particular reference letter in the email field. If your dossier service does not provide specific email addresses for each of your reference letters, please have your dossier service send the reference letters to email@example.com. On the application, enter the name, organization, and title for your reference, but enter firstname.lastname@example.com in the email fields. We will upload the reference letters once the dossier service sends them.
- Do my reference letters need to come from professors or teachers who know my writing?
Because the selection committee will evaluate your writing, your references do not necessarily need to speak to your writing. One of your references must speak to your teaching ability, and the other should provide character references and give the selection committee an idea of your potential to work with the students, faculty, and staff at the Kenyon Review and Kenyon College, and to successfully fulfill the requirements of the fellowship.
- May I submit a writing sample that is slightly longer than 10 pages?
No. Additional material beyond 10 pages will not be read.
- May I send additional material, substitute another writing sample, or otherwise update my application at a later date?
No. We cannot change or add information to your application, writing sample, curriculum vitae, or cover letter once we have received it.
- For the writing sample, can I submit work that has been previously published?
- Can I submit creative nonfiction, memoir, or a screenplay that I have written?
Selection Process
- How are applicants chosen for the fellowship?
Fellows are chosen based on the achievement and promise of their written work, on the strength of the recommendations, and on their teaching experience and ability.
- Who is on the selection committee?
Editors and members of the staff of the Kenyon Review and faculty of Kenyon College.
- What does the selection committee look for in the writing sample?
Significant achievement and long term potential as demonstrated in the style, skill, and ambition of the writing sample.
- What does the selection committee look for in the cover letter, and how long should this letter be?
Cover letters offer you an opportunity to introduce yourself and your aspirations, as well as any projects or goals you would pursue if you received a Fellowship. Cover letters should be no longer than a single page.
- When and how will you let me know your decision?
The selection committee will notify applicants in November, 2017. Semi-finalists be interviewed online, and the final candidates will come to Kenyon College in November or December for a campus visit. Final decisions will be made no later than February, 2018 and the fellowship begins in August, 2018.
- If selected, can I defer my fellowship?
No. Fellowships may not be postponed.
- If I am not selected, can I apply again?
Yes. We will be turning down many talented and qualified candidates and we encourage those candidates to reapply.
- Can you give me feedback and tell me why I wasn't selected for a fellowship?
No. Due to the volume of applications we will be receiving, we cannot comment on individual applications.
Responsibilities and Expectations
- What will be expected of me as a fellow?
The primary expectation is that you will undertake a significant writing project. You will attend regular individual meetings with faculty mentors who will assist you as you write and revise your manuscript. Fellows are also expected to teach one class per semester in the English Department of Kenyon College, contingent upon departmental needs. Fellows will also assist in creative and editorial projects for Kenyon Review and KROnline, read submissions during the reading period, and may have opportunities to assist in the Kenyon Review Summer Programs.
- Is residency required?
Yes. Fellows are required to live in the local community in order to attend workshops, readings and other public events, and to contribute to the Kenyon Review, the English Department, and the broader cultural life at Kenyon.
- Can I keep my full-time job and/or pursue another degree during the fellowship period?
No. This fellowship is a full-time academic commitment and is not to be pursued concurrently with another full-time job or degree program.
- When does the fellowship begin and end?
The fellowship begins in August, 2018 and ends in June, 2020.
- Do I get any kind of degree by completing the fellowship?
- Am I guaranteed a teaching position during my fellowship?
It is expected that fellows will teach at least one class per semester in the English Department of Kenyon College, but these positions cannot be absolutely guaranteed because departmental needs may shift. The fellowship stipend will not be affected by teaching status. Fellows may also have opportunities to teach in the Kenyon Review Summer Writing Workshops.
- In what ways will the fellows assist The Kenyon Review and KROnline?
Fellows will work on a variety of creative and editorial projects for both Kenyon Review and KROnline. While the nature of these projects will depend on the needs of the magazine and the interests and skills of each fellow, contributions may include reading submissions, assisting with programs and reading series, working with Kenyon Review student associates and interns, and developing new initiatives.
Financial Information
- How much is the fellowship?
Fellows will receive a $35,150 yearly stipend, plus health benefits.
- Is it possible to live on the fellowship?
Yes. Fellows are expected to devote these two years to developing as writers, teachers, and editors, so the stipend is intended to fully support the fellows for those two years.
- Will housing be provided?
At this time, housing is not provided. Depending on availability, we may be able to reserve faculty apartments for fellows, and there are also many inexpensive rental opportunities in and around Gambier, Ohio. We will keep fellows aware of these options.
- Is there an opportunity for me to teach additional classes or in any other way supplement my income?
Opportunities for additional teaching may exist, but are dependent upon the curricular needs of the English Department and the Kenyon Review Summer Programs.


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3 February 2016
The B-Specials – Unionism's stormtroopers
FOR ALMOST 50 YEARS, the infamous B-Specials, a bigoted and sectarian loyalist police force, carried out a reign of terror against the nationalist population of the North.
During the summer of 1920, at the height of the pogroms by loyalist mobs against the nationalist community of Belfast, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a sectarian and private army, began carrying out joint patrols with both British troops and the Royal Irish Constabulary.
In an attempt to regularise this reserve role, the unionist leader, James Craig, demanded the establishment of a Special Constabulary, which in effect meant making the UVF an official government force and arming them.
In September 1920, at a meeting of the British Cabinet, it was agreed to raise a Special Constabulary of "well-disposed, loyal citizens" to operate in the Six Counties.
Recruiting for the Ulster Special Constabulary began throughout the North in November. The UVF made strenuous efforts to enrol its members and in many places the RIC openly appealed to UVF members to join. In some areas, whole UVF units formed special platoons and where there weren't enough UVF men they were recruited from the Orange lodges.
The Special Constabulary was divided into three groups: A-Specials, who were full-time and were used to reinforce the RIC in their barracks; the B-Specials, who were fully armed but part-time and were used for local patrol duty; and the C-Specials, who were a reserve force, initially with no specific duties, but were available for call-out in an emergency.
In December, the first batch of A-Specials took up duty and in February 1921 began patrols in Belfast and in other towns throughout the North.
At the end of 1921, following the partition of Ireland and the creation of the Six-County state the previous June, the Northern regime, led by Craig, assumed control of the renamed Royal Ulster Constabulary and the Specials.
At this time there were 3,500 A-Specials, 15,000 B-Specials and an indeterminate number of C-Specials. In 1925, the A and C-Specials were disbanded and allowed to keep their guns but the B-Specials, which were increased in number, remained in existence.
During the following decades the B-Specials, along with the Special Powers Act, remained the key weapons in the armoury of the artificial, bigoted and sectarian state in the North.
The B-Specials were responsible for anti-Catholic pogroms in every decade from the 1920s to the 1960s, and were heavily involved in the attempts to smash the civil rights movement of 1968-69, as well as the attacks on the nationalist areas of Belfast, Newry, Derry and other areas in the North in August 1969.
With the eyes of the world focused on events in the North during the summer of 1969, however, the blatant sectarianism of the force became an embarrassment to Britain and in October the B-Specials were disbanded and a new armed loyalist force, the Ulster Defence Regiment, replaced them.
Former B-Special members joined the UDR en masse and the change, in effect, only meant a change of name and uniform for the bigots of Northern loyalism.
The first batch of B-Specials began patrols in Belfast and in other cities and towns in the North on 4 February 1921 – 95 years ago this week.
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Contributions from key figures in the churches, academia and wider civic society as well as senior republican figures


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List of Schools in Europe
Rose Wood Primary School
The Garth, Coulby Farm Way, Coulby Newham, TS8 0UG Middlesbrough
Telephone: 1642 595353Fax: 1642 598720
Schools-UK.eu is the largest online school database in the United Kingdom and is becoming more and more popular between the students.
The visitors can find there information about all types of schools – from kindergartens to universities.
Operator just4web.cz s.r.o.
© 2009-2015
Site map | Partners


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BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College softball team is ready for its 23rd consecutive postseason appearance as the Greyhounds earned the top seed for the 2017 Landmark Conference Tournament that begins on Saturday, May 6 at Blue & Grey Field in Bethlehem.
The tournament, originally slated to begin on Friday but was postponed due to the weather, starts on Saturday with the Greyhounds playing fourth seed Juniata College at 10:00 a.m. Second seed Susquehanna University and third seed The Catholic University of America will battle at 12:00 p.m. and the winners of the first two games will play at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, with the winner of that game earning a berth in the championship game on Sunday. The losers of Saturday's first two games will play either the final game on Saturday or the first game on Sunday depending on daylight. Sunday's action is slated to begin at 9:00 a.m. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for seniors while children under 10 and all Landmark Conference students, faculty and staff with ID are free. Follow the tournament at http://moraviansports.com/sports/sball/2016-17/Landmark/index.
The Greyhounds head to the Landmark Tournament as the top seed for the sixth time in the 10-year history of the conference. Moravian has won a total of seven Landmark Conference Championships and is the only program in the conference to make the tournament in each of the conference's ten seasons.
Moravian, led by 24-year head coach John Byrne who has a career slate of 783-231, has posted a 34-4 overall record this spring, the 24th straight year that Moravian has won at least 23 games, and an 11-1 mark in Landmark Conference action. The Blue & Grey are also ranked No. 11 in the nation in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association Division III Top 25 poll, and Moravian is ranked third in the Atlantic Region in the latest NCAA Division III Regional Rankings.
The Greyhounds, who have won over 30 games 18 times under Byrne, are in the conference tournament for the 18th consecutive season and the 22nd time in 23 years. Moravian posted NCAA regional championships and berths in the 2007 and 2010 NCAA Division III World Series and a national runner-up finish at the 2004 Division III World Series. The Hounds also won a regional championship in 2015 to advance to the first Super Regional in program history.
"Our pitching staff and defense have been keeping us in every game all season but we're hoping the offense steps up this weekend and scores some runs to help them out," stated Byrne. "I think we match up well with all the teams in the tournament. Catholic, Susquehanna and Juniata are all good teams, and we have to play our best to compete with them. Mistakes at this point of the season are going to come back and hurt you and could end the season quickly."
Moravian is hitting .342 entering the tournament with 351 hits including 97 extra-base hits with 75 doubles and 17 home runs for a .475 slugging percentage. Moravian has out-scored its opponents, 231-41, for an average of 6.08 runs per game, and the Greyhounds have a .974 fielding percentage. Moravian has posted 22 shutouts in 34 wins for a 0.79 ERA, and the Hounds' pitchers have recorded 212 strikeouts and just 34 walks this spring.
The Greyhounds have been led in the circle this year by juniors Josie Novak and Amanda Carisone. Novak, the 2017 Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year and First Team All-Conference selection, is 17-2 with a 0.58 ERA, 13 shutouts, two saves, 18 walks and 133 strikeouts in 121.2 innings. Carisone, who made the All-Conference Second Team, is also 17-2 with a 1.01 ERA to go with three shutouts, 15 walks and 76 strikeouts in 117.2 innings. Freshman Paige Lesher has been part of another six shutouts by the Greyhounds and has a walk, three strikeouts and a 0.72 ERA in 9.2 innings.
Junior catcher Janae Matos, the 2017 Landmark Conference Player of the Year and All-Conference First Team honoree, leads Moravian at the plate with a .525 batting average to go with 53 hits, 22 runs, a school-record tying 21 doubles, three homers and 42 RBIs. Senior first baseman Abby Jeffries, an All-Conference First Team selection, is hitting .411 with 46 hits, 19 runs, eight doubles, four home runs and 32 RBIs while senior left fielder Julie Siragusa, another First Team All-Conference pick, has a .367 average to go along with 47 hits, 26 runs, 10 doubles, two triples, a homer and 17 RBIs.
Sophomore center fielder Kat Spilman was named to the All-Conference Second Team and has a .371 batting average with 39 hits, 28 runs, four doubles, three home runs and 15 RBIs while sophomore shortstop Kaela Kane, a First Team All-Conference honoree, has 32 hits, 24 runs, four doubles and 14 RBIs. Freshman second baseman/outfielder Lauren Goetz, who was selected to the All-Conference First Team as a utility player, has 27 hits, 16 runs, eight doubles, a home run and 17 RBIs while freshman right fielder Emily Stanilious, a Second Team All-Conference selection, has added 20 hits, 16 runs, two doubles, a homer and 10 RBIs. Sophomore third baseman Madison Shaneberger has 15 hits, 2 runs, five doubles, two home runs and 11 RBIs on the season while freshman outfielder Olivia Martin was named to the All-Conference First Team as a designated player after collecting 14 hits, four runs, four doubles and eight RBIs.
Senior catcher Niki Maffettone also has 14 hits on the season to go along with three runs, two doubles and nine RBIs while junior first baseman Jean Markovic has nine hits, five runs, two doubles and three RBIs. Senior designated player Victoria Conner has contributed eight hits with two runs, a double, a homer and 11 RBIs while sophomore second baseman Julia DeMarco has six hits, 10 runs, a double, a home run and two RBIs.
Senior infielder Lizzie Deutsch has five hits, four runs and five RBIs while senior infielder Chrissy Marinaro, sophomore outfielder Ashley Gindle, junior outfielder Jackie Marshall and freshman infielder/outfielder Samantha O'Keefe all have three hits. Gindle has also scored eight runs and added two RBIs while Marshall has 12 runs, a double and two RBIs and O'Keefe has four runs, a double, a triple and four RBIs. Freshman infielder/outfielder Colleen McCoy has contributed two hits, three runs and two RBIs while freshman outfielder Taylor Herman has scored 12 runs and added one hit.


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Festival Wettern Gränna
Festival Wettern is a new music festival in Gränna. A small town in the south of Sweden. Famous for it´s candy "Polkagrisar". During the summer the town is invaded of tourist who enjoy the old and very cozy town next to the lake Vättern and the isle of Visingsö. The festival area is next to the beach and gives the band a stunning view from the stage. During the afternoon and evening seven band from different genres played. I will give you a short review from some of them.
Loud ´N´ Proud 4/10
Loud ´N´ Proud is turning this small festival into a rockfestival. This band from Borås plays melodious hard rock with a raw touch without getting heavy. The songs are definitely worth listening. On Spotify…. The band is so boring on stage that I get slightly provoked. The only thing that cheer up the gig are colourful and stylish instruments. It´s nothing wrong of the looks or image and they are clearly good musicians, but the energy in the music itself doesn´t match the feeling from the band. They exude an overdose of sedatives….. I am live reporter and I put scores on the overall experience. In this case, unnecessarily low.
I see many new hard rock bands. The difference between those who quickly succeed and those who can only continue dreaming is how well they manage to capture the audience's interest. Whether it is 5 or 5000 in the audience, the focus must be on the audience. Not on each other, not in the floor or anything else on the stage. So please Loud N Proud, give your really good songs a chance and "live" the music on stage together with us who both listen and watch. The guitarist Jimmy Donai gets "approved" for eye contact and for the fact he at least moves a little on stage.
Capricorn 7/10
Capricorn is also from the west of Sweden, Uddevalla. Right now they are in the middle of recording a new album. I am glad they took a break from the studio and gave us a good gig in Gränna this evening. I can imagine they feel the same. Their joy on stage is showned.
The guitars is loud and fast from the start. This is one of many relatively new bands in Sweden with influences from the 70s century with a modern twist. Real Rock n´ Roll with a smell of England. Even though it's an embarrassingly small crowd and a frugal stage show, Capricorn is making an effort to give us a good gig. The energy and dedication are heading out on the audience together with the smoke. Kristoffer Ekberg is a good singer but also a skilled guitarist. He offers a solo that brings to mind Gary Moore. A sound I love but not often hear from other bands. Thanks for that!
Capricorn is a really talented band that I would love to see again. Isn´t that exactly the feeling you want to have when a band leave the stage? You look forward to the next time they enter a stage.
Bonafide 6/10
Tonight's most established band that has sometimes been called AC/DC in Swedish. Can I choose, I select the voice of Pontus Snibb in Bonafide over Brian Johnson every day of the week but it's of course a matter of taste. And as much as I have a hard time to hear someone else than Brian in AC/DC, Pontus is a part of Bonafide hard to replace. His voice is perfect for the sound.
In terms of music I understand the comparison. This is classic hard rock with clear riffs, progressive melodies and choruses that stays in our music memory. Latest single "Smoke and Fire" is a really good song that goes in line with their previous release.
What about Bonafide as a live band? Well, professional but in the same time ordinary…. In Swedish "lagom" or what we sometimes refer to "mellanmjölk" (milk that is not light or fat, in the middle). No more or less. It´s obvious that they have the routine from a long career (the drummer does his gig No. 400 with the band tonight!) and they have a perfectly OK contact with the audience, but this is not a gig I will remember for a long time. The singer gives the audience a running visit and it's always an appreciated move. They do exactly what is expected of them and sure, they do it well and the music is pleasant hard rock but myself, I prefer stronger drinks. A band I like to have on my playlist and maybe even on my corporate events, but I miss that little extra. What makes them stand out from the crowd and go into the heart. They end with a true guitar battle. That probably can be seen as the shows highlight while the sunset colors the heaven over Vättern pink.
Festival Wettern is a nice koncept and I really hope that they can come back next year. And to all the metal heads out there. Where are you?!
I often hear complaining about the "dead" livestage in Sweden, it´s so hard for young people to watch and play metal etc etc. It´s not dead! It´s the swedish audience that is dead. I go to a lot of gigs, local festivals, rock club events etc all year arround and it´s always so hard for the organizers to get people to show up. Even if the cost is almost 0:-.
So, if you think of yourself as a real metalhead – get out of the house and your phone and get in to the real metal world when you have the opportunity. No one can go to everything but many of us can go to some events during the year.


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Dubai: Emaar Properties witnessed aggressive buying on Wednesday, boosting Dubai index.
Emaar Properties closed 4.08 per cent higher, to be at Dh5.10, and its traded value stood at Dh88 million, making it the top-most traded stock, contributing 30 per cent of the total traded value of Dh285 million. The Dubai Financial market General index closed 1.5 per cent higher at 2,784.60. Salama Insurance closed at Dh 0.730, up 2.82 per cent. Fresh buying was also seen in Arabtec after the share price breached the technical resistance of Dh1.95. About 17.27 million shares changed hands — the level last seen in June.
"Arabtec is expected to extend gains towards the Dh2.06/2.20 resistance levels in the short term," Shiv Prakash, senior analyst with First Abu Dhabi Bank Securities, said.
In other stocks, DP World closed 1.91 per cent lower at $17.99, while Gulf Finance House closed 1.61 per cent higher at Dh1.26.
The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange general index closed 0.95 per cent higher at 4,901.87. Etisalat witnessed buying in auction trade. About one million shares changed hands, pushing prices higher.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), Union National Bank (UNB) rose after the banks announced better-than-expected results. ADCB closed 1.5 per cent higher at Dh8.09, while UNB closed 2.78 per cent higher at Dh4.8.
The Tadawul index in Saudi Arabia was 0.86 per cent higher at 7,900.18.
Cement companies Saudi Cement, Yanbu Cement and Najran Cement rose and saw aggressive buying. Yanbu Cement rose 7.6 per cent, at 21.80 Saudi riyals, while Saudi Cement jumped 9.4 per cent 41.9 riyals.
"We see further price appreciation towards the long-term trendline resistance at 30 riyals in the short term," Prakash said.
Elsewhere in the region, the Muscat MSM 30 index was 0.05 per cent higher at 4,422.91. The Qatar exchange index closed 1.35 per cent higher at 10,300.92.


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These procedures are a predictable way to improve esthetic compromises, some of which use new gum grafting surgical procedures. In one such procedure called Connective Tissue Grafting, unsightly, sensitive, or exposed root surfaces are covered by new tissue.
A second procedure is used when teeth appear too short. Although these teeth appear short, they may actually be the proper length; the teeth may be covered with too much gum tissue. We can correct this by performing the periodontal plastic surgery procedure called crown lengthening.
During this procedure, excess gum and bone tissue are reshaped to expose more of the natural tooth. This is often done to multiple teeth to create a beautiful smile.
A third type of esthetic periodontal plastic surgery is performed to "harmonize" gum tissue margins. This is used to level the gum tissue margins when some teeth are too short and others appear too long. In some of the smile improving periodontal procedures, your dentist may need to provide restorative treatment to create the best esthetic results.
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