text:
Brothers in Arms (engl. für 'Waffenbrüder') ist eine Videospiel-Reihe des US-amerikanischen Entwicklerstudios Gearbox Software und französischen Publishers Ubisoft, die bisher aus drei Spielen und mehreren Ablegern besteht und zum Genre der Ego-Shooter zählt, das Gameplay jedoch um taktische Elemente erweitert. Mit Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway erschien 2008 der bislang letzte Teil der regulären Serie.

Hauptreihe

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30

Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 erschien am 1. März 2005 für Xbox und am 15. März für PlayStation 2 und Microsoft Windows. Dem Entwickler Gearbox Software war die Authentizität besonders wichtig. Um diese zu gewährleisten, wurden militärische Berater in den Entwicklungsprozess integriert. Folglich ist das Spiel taktischer als seine Genrekonkurrenten.
Das Spiel erhielt durch die USK keine Jugendfreigabe und darf daher nur an Personen ab 18 Jahren verkauft werden.

In Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 steuert man Sergeant Matthew Baker, der im 502. Fallschirmjägerregiment der 101. US-Luftlandedivision während des D-Days im Zweiten Weltkrieg dient und eine Einheit der Fox-Kompanie befehligt.

Im Spiel gibt es zwei Teams: das Angriffs-Team und das Feuer-Team. Die Teams sind dazu gedacht, dass man die Gegner mit dem Feuer-Team mit Sperrfeuer belegt um dann mit dem Angriffs-Team die Gegner über die Flanken angreifen zu können. Jedes Team besteht aus bis zu drei KI-gesteuerten Kameraden oder einem Panzer.

Dem Spieler sowie den Gegnern und Verbündeten stehen diverse US-amerikanische und deutsche Waffen von der Pistole über Maschinenpistolen wie beispielsweise der Thompson oder der MP 40 bis hin zu Granaten zur Verfügung. Außerdem kommen in einigen Missionen auch Panzer, Sturmgeschütze und Panzerabwehrkanonen vor. Es gibt verschiedene gegnerische Einheiten, so zum Beispiel schlecht ausgebildete und ausgerüstete Wehrpflichtige und gut ausgebildete und ausgerüstete Fallschirmjäger.

 Bewertungen in Spielezeitschriften
 PC PowerPlay 04/05: 81 %
 PC Games 05/05: 81 %
 PC Action 05/05: 82 %
 GameStar 05/05: 81 %

Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood

Der Nachfolger Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood wurde nur sieben Monate später, im Oktober 2005, von Ubisoft für Microsoft Windows und Xbox veröffentlicht. Es ließ dem Spieler größere taktische Freiheiten als sein Vorgänger, da die Karten größer und die Wege zahlreicher wurden.

Es wurde auch ein neuer Spielmodus, der Skirmish Mode, hinzugefügt. Hier müssen sowohl auf alliierter als auch auf deutscher Seite verschiedene Aufträge ausgeführt werden.

Das Spiel folgt der Geschichte von Corporal Joe "Red" Hartsock, der als einer von tausenden Fallschirmjägern am D-Day in der Normandie landet. Cpl. Hartsock kam bereits in Road to Hill 30 vor, wo er ein Mitglied von Sergeant Bakers Gruppe war und vom Spieler befehligt werden konnte.

Während die Spiel-Engine im Vergleich zum Vorgänger relativ unverändert blieb, wurde die künstliche Intelligenz stark verbessert.

Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood ist durch das Service Pack 1 für Vista auch auf Microsoft Windows Vista lauffähig. Microsoft Windows 7 wird offiziell nicht unterstützt, daher kann die Lauffähigkeit nicht gewährleistet werden.

 Bewertungen von Spieletestern
 GameStar: 82 %
 4players: 85 %
 PC Games: 80 %
 Gameswelt: 85 %
 spieletipps: 83 %

Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

Der dritte Teil der Brothers-in-Arms-Reihe ist am 7. Oktober 2008 für Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 und die PlayStation 3 erschienen. Das Spiel führt die Geschichte von Sgt. Matt Baker und Sgt. Hartsock weiter. So kann man unter anderem die Operation Market Garden nachspielen, in der man den berüchtigten Hell's Highway passieren muss. Die Grafik wurde auf aktuelles Niveau angepasst und das Spiel durch einige Verbesserungen ergänzt. Daher benötigt die Windows-Version des Programms eine Grafikkarte mit Pixel-Shader 3.0 und nutzt nun optional die PhysX-Physik-Engine, wodurch auch entsprechende Physikbeschleuniger unterstützt werden. Anders als in den beiden Vorgängern ist man nun in der Lage, in Deckung zu gehen und dann in der Third-Person-Ansicht weiterzuspielen. Die KI der Teamkollegen wurde verbessert und durch einige neue Verhaltensweisen erweitert (z. B. Patrouillieren oder Tarnen). Zudem kann man noch weitere Einheiten kommandieren, z. B. Maschinengewehr- oder Bazookatrupps.

Im Gegensatz zur englischen Fassung des Spiels wurden in der deutschen Version einige Schnitte vorgenommen. So wurde unter anderem jegliche Darstellung von Blut, aber auch eine in der internationalen Fassung sporadisch auftretende Zeitlupenansicht bei Kopfschüssen und Explosionen entfernt. Auch einige Videosequenzen wurden geändert und bestimmte Elemente in der Umgebung, zum Beispiel eine in einer Scheune erhängte Frau, wurden aus der deutschen Fassung entfernt. Außerdem fehlen in der deutschen Version die teils sehr blutigen Splatter-Elemente.

Bewertungen von Spieletestern:

 GameStar: 87
 GamePro: 75 %
 GamersPLUS: 84 %
 Games Aktuell: 8/10
 PC Action: 83 %
 play³: 81 %

Ableger

Brothers in Arms DS

Mitte 2007 kam auch ein Brothers-in-Arms-Spiel für den Nintendo DS heraus. Brothers in Arms DS ist von der Story her genau so wie auf dem Brothers in Arms: D-Day für die PlayStation Portable. Nur hier war die Steuerung ganz anders. Die Knöpfe werden kaum betätigt. Nachladen und Granaten werfen, alles wird über den Touchscreen gesteuert. Das Spiel ist auch einer der ersten Ego-Shooter für den Nintendo DS. Die USK und PEGI gaben es beide mit der Einstufung 16+ frei. Brothers in Arms DS wurde von Spieletipps mit 71 % bewertet. Dennoch verkaufte es sich über 800.000 mal.

Brothers in Arms: Double Time

Die Wii-Version erschien am 2. Oktober 2008. Hier schlüpft der Spieler erst in die Rolle von Sergeant Baker und anschließend in die Joe Hartsocks. Der Wii-Titel kombiniert somit die Storys der ersten beiden Brother-in-Arms-Teile. Diese Version wartet mit über 30 Missionen auf, deren Ziel es auch hier ist, seine Gegner zu finden, zu fixieren und abschließend zu flankieren. Hierbei übernimmt der Spieler die Befehlsgewalt über die eigenen Einheiten und gibt ihnen sogleich die zu eliminierenden Ziele auf.

Anscheinend wurde diese Version technisch nicht in gewohnter Weise umgesetzt. Der Spieler muss sich mit einer schwankenden, teilweise sehr niedrigen Bildrate, träger Steuerung, unscharfen Konturen und Aussetzern bei der KI zufriedengeben. Auf einen Multiplayer- bzw. einen Online-Modus wurde verzichtet.

Positiv zu erwähnen sind die guten Soundeffekte sowie die historische Authentizität als auch das Leveldesign.

Dementsprechend urteilten auch die folgenden Spieletester:

 Bewertungen von Spieletestern
 Wii Magazin 07/08: 50 %
 N-Zone 12/08: 38 %
 GBase 05/05: 4 von 10 Punkten
 M! Games 12/08: 65 %
 NintendoWiiX 11/08: 6,7 von 10 Punkten

Brothers in Arms: D-Day

Als Matt Baker und Joe Hartsock führt man die Screaming Eagles der 101. Luftlandedivision am D-Day in die Schlacht. Dieses Spiel aus der Reihe ist am 5. Dezember 2006 ausschließlich für PlayStation Portable erschienen. Das Spiel ist ein Mix aus den beiden Vorgängern Road to Hill 30 und Earned in Blood, so dass man abwechselnd in die Rollen der beiden Hauptpersonen schlüpft. Es wurde grafisch wie auch spielerisch kaum etwas verändert. Die Steuerung des Spiels wurde kritisiert. So schrieb zum Beispiel die Zeitschrift GamePro im Fazit: "Netter Weltkriegsshooter mit interessanten Taktik-Einlagen. Allerdings ist die Steuerung euer größter Feind im Kriegsgebiet." Die Zeitschrift bewertete das Spiel insgesamt mit 75 %.

Spielereihe für Mobilgeräte

Seit 2008 veröffentlicht Gameloft die Reihe exklusiv für Mobilgeräte. Rechteinhaber Gearbox ist Lizenzgeber, jedoch nicht in die Entwicklung involviert. Die mobilen Titel gehören nicht zur regulären Serie.

Brothers in Arms
Gameloft veröffentlichte am 14. Juli 2008 Brothers in Arms für Nokia N-Gage. Der Third-Person-Shooter ist eine Portierung von Brothers in Arms DS auf die mobile Nokia-Spielekonsole.

Brothers in Arms: Art of War
Brothers in Arms: Art of War erschien am 11. März 2008 für Java Platform, Micro Edition. Das Spiel ist ein Top-Down Shooter mit 13 Missionen, die auf historischen Ereignissen basieren.

Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes
Brothers in Arms: Hour of Heroes erschien am 23. November 2008 für Apple iOS und Android. Auch hier schlüpft man in die Rolle eines (namenlosen) Soldaten, der in drei Missionen (D-Day in der Normandie, Wüstenkrieg in Tunesien, Ardennenschlacht) eingesetzt wird. Die relativ simplen Steuerungsmöglichkeiten durch den Touchscreen erforderten einige Modifikationen, vor allem in der Wirklichkeitsnähe der Waffen- und Fahrzeugsteuerung. Die Altersfreigabe wurde auf 12+ festgesetzt.

Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front
Brothers in Arms 2: Global Front erschien am 22. Februar 2010 ausschließlich als Download für Mobilgeräte mit iOS- und Android-Betriebssystem. Die Grundversion ist gratis; für Android-Geräte gibt es zusätzlich eine Vollversion, die man aber nur im Wap-Shop von Gameloft erwerben kann. In dieser Version kann der Spieler im Gegensatz zur Gratisversion sprinten, sich in der Third-Person-Ansicht hinter Mauern und ähnlichem verstecken sowie sich ducken. Der Spieler schlüpft in die Rolle von Corporal David Wilson, der im Pazifikkrieg ab 1942 kämpft. Das Gameplay wurde gegenüber der Vorgängerversion stark verbessert, auch ein Multiplayermodus ist jetzt verfügbar. Die Altersfreigabe wurde wiederum auf 12+ festgesetzt.

Brothers in Arms 3: Sons of War
Brothers in Arms 3: Sons of War erschien im Dezember 2014. Neben iOS und Android wird das Spiel nun erstmals auch für Windows Phone angeboten.

Zukunft
2011 kündigte Gearbox mit Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 ein Spin-off zur Serie an, das als Koop-Shooter ausgelegt war und sich an Filmen wie Inglourious Basterds orientiert. Aufgrund der negativen Resonanz auf das Projekt wurde die Entwicklung eingestellt. 2017 deutete Gearbox die Entwicklung eines vierten Teils an. Auf der E3 2017 gab Studiochef Pitchford bekannt, dass der Nachfolger nicht mehr in Zusammenarbeit mit Ubisoft entsteht, sondern über das hauseigene Label Gearbox Publishing erscheinen wird.

Weblinks
 Offizielle deutsche Website

  – GameBasis.de
  – GameBasis.de

Einzelnachweise

Computerspielreihe

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Musselburgh Windsor Football Club was established in 1953 and are one of the oldest youth football clubs in Scotland.
We provide football coaching and matches for over 400 people, boys, girls and adults, on a weekly basis.
This new Website has been designed to keep everyone informed about the Club, we hope you find it useful. If you have any queries or comments please use the Contact Form.
In June of 1953 two monumental events took place, both involving the Houses of Windsor ! One was the Queen's Coronation and the second ? Musselburgh Windsor was formed ! Both have endured nearly six decades.
The founding of the Windsor came about from the foresight of Mr. Joseph Brown and a few similar minded friends, to put together a football team that wouldn't primarily go out and win cups and leagues. Their vision was more simple and community orientated. A statements written in the Edinburgh Evening Despatch on 8th August 1953 commented on the Club and its purpose by saying 'for the purpose of assisting youngsters between the ages of 15 and 17 to take their place in secondary Juvenile football'. Mr. Brown believed that too many youngsters were watching rather than playing and it was the primary concern of the first Committee to get these lads playing football.
Mr. Brown was cast in the role as Secretary, with Walter Fairnie Chairman, Vice-chairman W. Ramsay. The Committee was completed with D. Fairnie, A. Ellis, R. Traynor and W.D Mcneill.
It is also rumoured that the Club was founded to fill a void in local youth football. Musselburgh Union CF and Whitecraig Star tended to field players nearing the end of the teens and because of Musselburgh's out-dated bye-laws the playing of football in the street was a criminal offence! Indeed four youths were charged by the Musselburgh Constabulary and appeared at the Burgh Court in front of Provost Hunter who duly fined them 5 Shillings each for 'such a serious offence'.
In July 1953, Musselburgh Windsor was accepted into the Edinburgh & District Under Age Association and so came official recognition of the Club's existence.
Even in the early days of the Club finance was important and our gratitude goes to Cruden Builders who donated the substantial sum £25.00 and Harry Cruden was later made an Honorary President of Musselburgh Windsor. It was also recorded that Hibernian FC gifted a new white five pound note to the Club as well as smaller contributions from local businesses and a set of strips from Musselburgh Union.
Windsor has recorded fifty consecutive years of membership of the sports governing body, more than any other Club in the Country. Although the governing body has changed names on several occasions, no other youth football has contributed more. The current Scottish Youth Football Association was devised in 1999 and once more the Windsor played a key role as ex-Chairman John Murray was involved in the inception and implementation. Mr. Murray is now a life member of the Scottish Football Association in recognition of his work.
The Windsor had originally one team that played at U-17's and this remained unchanged until the birth of a new Association, the ASYFC which banished the U-17's age group in preference to the under 18 and under 16's. As a result Windsor adapted moved up to the new U-18 Age Group and formed a new team to compete at U-16 in the 1960's. It was commented that the introduction of the U-16 team would 'help with progression of players to the under 18 team'.
The first ever Windsor matches were played at 'the gas works' site adjacent to the racecourse with Olive Bank stadium being a frequent host Windsor teams - a tradition and a relationship that still flourishes toady.
The Windsor started playing their home games at Pinkie Playing Fields in the season of 1967/68 and it was the following year that they won the Despatch Trophy for the first time.
On 3rd April 1975, the Club received a letter from Midlothian County Council granting permission to Musselburgh Windsor for the use of Pinkie Playing Fields. It further stated that the cost would be £1.05 per game and that next season application should be made to Lothian Region Education Authority.
During the 70's and 80's slowly but surely the Club expanded with more and more teams joining the Windsor to reduce the Age Group gaps.
Within the last 15 years there have been two major additions to the Windsor football family. In 1996, with the Club running most of the available Age Groups at 11-side, the Kids school was introduced and has grown rapidly with the introduction of small sided football. Today the Kids school boasts 4 Age groups, some with as many as 40 youngsters and 4 teams. Then, in 2004, the Club finally established a Girls football section and this already has over 70 members ranging in age groups from U7's through to U17, with the U15 team finishing a very credible 3rd in their first season, 2005/6.
The Club reached a milestone in celebrating their Golden Jubilee in Season 2003/4. Many events were held throughout the season - an Exhibition of Club memorabilia in the Town Hall; a match against a Hearts / Hibs Select for ex-Windsor players; a Jubilee tournament for every age group, with a finals day held at Olive Bank; culminating with a Gala Dinner held at the Brunton Halls.
The Club now operates at 10 Age Groups with some 15 teams all representing Musselburgh Windsor FC. It is highly unlikely that even the most enthusiastic and optimistic Committee members back in 1953 would have ever dreamed that the Club could have survived, thrived and thrilled so many.
If it's any consolation, we dinae play in green.
And we've got so many fitba stars you've got to bet it's true.
We'll celebrate for days on end and we will make some noise.
We'll hurry round to M&F, and then we'll sup it up.
And the Musselburgh Windsor will be known throughout the realm.
We'll walk it doon to Ashgrove and we'll gie it tae Betty Brown.
They'll devise a TV programme and they'll call it Windsor's Way!


text:
U.S. allies hand Lebanon's Hezbollah election blow
06-07-2009 • Reuters
A surprise victory in Lebanon by an anti-Syrian coalition against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and its allies should be confirmed on Monday with the release of official results of the country's parliamentary election. Officials from rival camps estimated the bloc won around 70 seats in the 128-member assembly in Sunday's vote. Interior Minister Ziad Baroud was set to announce the final results later in the day,
Reported By Powell Gammill

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Strong neodymium ring magnets find their place in a wide spectrum of applications. Many people know the ring-shaped products from daily life, school and work. Their use is superior to the usual magnets, because the super magnets exhibit a strong holding force with small volume. This property predestines it on hand for innovative technical solutions in the industry. At the same time, the shape allows an original application in daily life: The ring-shaped magnets are popularly used as date slide. A glance is enough for calendar orientation. We constantly expand the assortment of magnets in our online shop. Please do stop by regularly, we offer ring magnets in many differentiated strengths and measurements. We work on a solution for every situation.
What should you bear in mind while buying ring magnets?
Among the measurements of round super magnets, the values for outer diameter, inner diameter as well as the height are relevant for the right choice. The two numbers of the diameter (Ø) are separated by a forward slash in the product details. We make various fine gradations: These begin at a trim 6/2 millimetre diameter and end at the larger ring magnets with values of 30/25 millimetre. Thin ring magnets, which must be handled carefully due the risk of breakage thus associated with them, have a height of 2 millimetre. Stronger ranges exhibit values up to 5 millimetre height. The holding force covers the spectrum of 700 gram to a heavy 11 kilogram.
Neodymium magnets produced according to your specifications.


text:
Showing posts with label Fleetwood Mac Tour Unleashed Tour Review - New Plymouth. Show all posts
STRIPPER SHARES PENTHOUSE FLOOR WITH STEVIE NICKS AND MICK FLEETWOOD
A pearlier weekend in New Plymouth
I'd booked one of three penthouse suites at The Waterfront - perhaps Taranaki's most luxurious hotel, where you can watch the waves rolling in off the Tasman Sea - ahead of my stage shows at Crave Club on Friday and Saturday night.
"You're not the only celebrity in town this weekend," confided the bell hop as I made myself at home. He revealed the other two penthouse suites were occupied by Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and the other members of Fleetwood Mac, who were in town for a sold-out show which was estimated to have pulled in over 18,000 people to New Plymouth.
Like myself, Fleetwood Mac are obviously used to the late-night lifestyle, because at the end of my working "day" as I was winding down at about 4.30am, I could quite clearly hear them through the hotel walls.
Posted by Nickslive at Wednesday, December 30, 2009 0 comments
Labels: Fleetwood Mac Tour Unleashed Tour Review - New Plymouth
FRONT PAGE: STEVIE NICKS CASTS HER SPELL IN NEW ZEALAND
FLEETWOOD MAC'S MASSIVE FINAL SHOWS
OF THE UNLEASHED WORLD TOUR
BOWL OF BROOKLANDS, NEW PLYMOUTH, NEW ZEALAND
DECEMBER 19 & 20, 2009
DECEMBER 21, 2009 SOUVENIR EDITION
MICK FLEETWOOD ARRIVING IN NEW PLYMOUTH
FILMING WHAT LOOKS LIKE HIS FAMILY
Posted by Nickslive at Sunday, December 20, 2009 0 comments
(REVIEW) 36,000 ATTEND FINAL FLEETWOOD MAC SHOWS
NEW PLYMOUTH BUZZES WITH
CONCERT-GOERS TAKING THE AIR
By FELICITY ROSS - Taranaki Daily News
The energy and excitement in the air at the weekend was so thick you could almost taste it.
Fleetwood Mac's two New Plymouth concerts spun the city into a fever with 25,000 out of town fans hitting the streets to shop, eat and see the sights.
On Saturday the rain held off for most of the day as the sidewalks of the CBD remained five people deep and left every cafe and bar without an empty seat.
It was middle-aged mania with married duos taking over the streets complete with matching outfits to keep the elements away.
On both Saturday and Sunday the Bach on Breakwater Wine Bar had people queuing half an hour before they opened.
"I told my staff to sit down and have breakfast because they wouldn't get another shot at it," owner Barbara Olsen-Henderson said.
"We had queues out the door all day both days but everyone was really good and patient and it has been a wonderful weekend."
Local art gallery and gift shop Verge was packed with people all weekend.
A spokesperson for the shop said it had been full to the brim all weekend with visitors to Taranaki buying for Christmas and personal treats.
Crowded House Bar and Cafe co-owner Doc van Praagh said his inner-city eatery had been packed almost all weekend.
"We just got slammed from 8am each morning," Mr van Praagh explained.
"It was full before and after the concert, there is no rest for the wicked."
There was only one hitch, a phase on Devon St East blew and knocked out half of Crowded House's power from 8pm on Saturday night until yesterday morning.
"It was a pain but it didn't stop everybody from having a good time," said Mr van Praagh, who also co-owns Stumble Inn in Merrilands and Butlers Reef in Oakura.
Although run off his feet, he did get to the concert himself on Saturday night. "It was awesome, well worth the ticket and the Bowl just looked great. Lindsey Buckingham on the guitar was just a machine. It was just an awesome weekend." He said both the Stumble Inn and Butlers Reef were packed full of people all weekend.
Several other bars and pubs took advantage of the big visitor numbers by taking out special liquor licences for last night.
And after the shows concert-goers filled the CBD but despite the influx police said people were pretty well behaved.
FLEETWOOD MAC DELIVER THE GOODS
By MATT RILKOFF - Taranaki Daily News
"We have had a ball."
Mick Fleetwood spoke for 36,000 fans and the city of New Plymouth when he said goodbye for the 83rd time on the final concert of their 10-month Unleashed tour last night.
However, guitarist and singer Lindsey Buckingham hinted there was more to come.
"New Zealand, thank you so much for making our last show so great. We absolutely loved it. You were an absolute pleasure. We will see you next time," he said.
However, when next time will be was left hanging.
Whether they come back or not, the supergroup has left everyone satisfied for now.
Fleetwood Mac could not put a foot wrong during their two concerts at New Plymouth's picturesque Bowl of Brooklands on Saturday and last night.
Hardly a shower touched last night's crowd at the Bowl for the second concert by the much-loved supergroup.
By comparison Saturday's fans got soaked, but neither group would have traded places for the world.
Wet and dry, fans revelled in being so close to the music heard in so many of their memories.
From the first song Monday Morning those who hoped to sit through the concert realised it was hopeless.
As a mass the crowd rose and for the next 2 1/2-hours bounced, swayed and cheered with the energy pouring from the stage.
Between the big hits like Gypsy, Rhiannon and Landslide guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Steve Nicks reflected on their own successes, excesses and the relationships that kept the band gravitating towards each other through all the turmoil.
"Something you will notice is we take breaks, sometimes long breaks," said Buckingham, in reference to the on-again off-again relationship the band members share.
"But each time we come back it's something different."
Although not so different their fans didn't drift into a pleasant fog of nostalgia. For the many baby-boomers it was a chance to relive their 20s and dust-off the dance moves that still embarrass their offspring, who themselves knew the music from their childhood.
For everyone in between, the songs were soundtracks to memories they would never forget.
Sue Greenville of Te Aroha proudly declared the group her favourite of all time.
The fact the voices of Nicks and Buckingham lacked the raw power of old was never going to detract from her experience.
"It was absolutely fantastic. I knew every single one of the songs and loved every minute of it. It was really, really cool," she said.
The concert was her first time at the Bowl of Brooklands and if Fleetwood Mac came back, as Mick Fleetwood hinted they might do, so would she.
And from the rumbling cheers the opening bars of each song were met with, it is unlikely she would be alone.
Although their 10-month world tour finished last night, from the way all the individual group members revelled in the experience it is unlikely the band members will go their separate ways.
Early in the set Buckingham spoke of how much they were enjoying the tour.
"There is none of the pressure of promoting a new album because there is no new album to promote. Yet," he said.
That they were having fun was plain to see, even from the very back of the Bowl where the on-stage antics were best watched on the two large video screens on each side of the stage.
Fleetwood's energetic drumming and vast array of facial expressions were beaten in enthusiasm only by Buckingham's near crazed strutting guitar solos which belied his age and expected hip strength.
For many it was Nicks who stole the show with her many changes of costume, her high heeled prancing and otherworldly dance style.
Despite the Bowl hosting one of the biggest crowds ever, there was little trouble to speak of.
LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM SAY'S BOWL SHOW 'IN TOP FIVE'
Veteran Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham declared Saturday's New Plymouth concert as one of the five all-time top shows of his career.
That gig was the first of two the supergroup played at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth at the weekend.
More than 36,000 people attended the concerts and all walked away with the memory of an energetic band still full of melodic power after more then 40 years in the business.
Fleetwood Mac promoter Andrew McManus said the whole band was more than impressed with the venue and the crowd's enthusiasm.
"Stevie [Nicks] knew the venue from playing last time and when I spoke to the band after the show they were just glowing."
He said he received a text message from Buckingham yesterday morning which said it all.
"It said it was one of the top five shows he has played in his career – and he has played a lot of shows."
And the persistent rain during Saturday's show did little to put the band off. In fact, they said it added to act. During the short time Fleetwood Mac was in New Plymouth Mick Fleetwood took his family out and about while Nicks took the day to rest, Mr McManus said.
"Stevie is a professional, she always says `I've got an instrument which 17,000 people are paying to hear and I need to protect it'. So she rests in her suite and doesn't talk."
As for rumours this is Fleetwood Mac's final world tour it won't be if Mr McManus has anything to do with it.
He said Buckingham was writing new material and another album, coupled with another world tour, could be in the works. "And if they do tour and New Plymouth is not on the itinerary then I will be having a serious talk with them," Mr McManus laughed. "Mick and John [McVie] just love touring, they love being on the road and Mick has just been nominated for a Grammy in the jazz section.
"Stevie is the key and I would love to think they could all work together again and be on the road in two or three years.
"This is the third show I have brought to New Plymouth and the venue is just world-class," he said.
"It is the ambience and the acoustics that make it work. We have played a lot of bowl venues where the acoustics just swirl around. It's amazing really."
He says the success of the Fleetwood Mac shows has opened the floodgates for other promoters to bring artists to New Plymouth.
"The band's enjoyment is important and at the bowl all the boxes were ticked."
FLEETWOOD MAC RESPONDS BY SINGING RHIANNON TO KAPAHAKA GROUP
Powhiri for Fleetwood Mac gets great response
The song Rhiannon proved the perfect response to a welcoming powhiri for Fleetwood Mac.
After Saturday's concert at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands, the members of Fleetwood Mac were treated to a powhiri backstage by a local kapahaka group.
New Plymouth District Council manager business development and events Garry Sharpe-Young said the band had never refused a powhiri.
It was simply a timing issue.
"The time schedules were changing and all over the place," Mr Sharpe-Young said.
As Fleetwood Mac members Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie went backstage after the show, the powhiri happened behind the scenes.
"The kapahaka group looked magnificent and sounded wonderful," said Mr Sharpe-Young.
"They performed, then Lindsay McLeod explained this is what we normally do and people usually sing a song back but you don't need to, but they did Rhiannon."
He said having Stevie Nicks singing two feet away was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Mick Fleetwood grabbed a rubbish bin from the caterers and started banging away on it, said Mr Sharpe-Young, adding a cheeky Mr McLeod hugged Ms Nicks and asked for her phone number.
STEVIE NICKS COVERED BY UMBRELLAS ARRIVING IN NEW PLYMOUTH
Fans deflated by Fleetwood Mac's arrival
Only a handful of fans turned up to see Fleetwood Mac arrive in New Plymouth on Saturday and most went away slightly deflated.
Drummer Mick Fleetwood managed a popular wave or two but Stevie Nicks, arguably the most loved of them all, left her devotees devastated.
From the door of the plane to the door of her waiting car she was covered from all angles by umbrellas.
"You're not the bloody Queen, Stevie," yelled someone in the crowd.
The diva even shielded her face as she sped past the small group of fans, allegedly heading straight to the Bowl of Brooklands where the band performed that night and the next.
In contrast to the antics of Nicks, skinny legged guitarist Lindsey Buckingham casually sauntered down the steps to his waiting car and most people seem to mistake bassist John McVie for someone's lost grandfather.
New Plymouth woman and prize-winning gardener Denise Wood had been drinking a cup of coffee when she "realised" the band would be arriving at 4pm and made her way to the airport.
Her guess was bang on the money and it had nothing to do with women's intuition.
"I get messages from a higher power, dear," she said.
Fleetwood Mac volunteer Maree Atkinson left a muffin reheating in the microwave to run out and see the band.
Having been at the airport all day helping visitors with directions she had been through a few false alarms before they finally arrived in a white Whisper Jet marked ZK-ECO.
The four stars and a hefty gang of support crew were whisked out of the airport in a motorcade of four silver Mercedes S-class sedans, three Toyota Estimas and one Previa. At the front was New Plymouth mayor Peter Tennent's new Porsche Cayenne, lent to the group for the big arrival.
(REVIEW) FLEETWOOD MAC NEW PLYMOUTH NEW ZEALAND
Fleetwood Mac belt out the hits in New Plymouth
Just as the rain kept falling the hits kept coming at Fleetwood Mac's sold out New Plymouth concert last night.
Unashamedly playing their most popular songs the supergroup had taken to the stage 15 minutes earlier than scheduled and managed to avoid the rain for that long.
The heaving crowd of nearly 18,000, one of the biggest ever seen at the Bowl of Brooklands venue, took the weather in their stride and let out a roar of approval to the opening lines of The Chain, the second song of the set.
"Well it's taken us a long time to get back here. I think it's been 25 years,'' said singer Stevie Nicks. "That being said I think we should just get this party started."
But it already was.
The hits Rhiannon, Landslide and Go Your Own Way kept adding to a thrilling momentum that threatened to derail in a tangled mess of middle-aged dance moves by the time Don't Stop was played as the second encore song.
The gig, which was the first of only two New Zealand concerts and the last in a 10 month world tour, pulled in people from all over the country.
More than half of the crowd in New Plymouth for the night had travelled there from outside of Taranaki.
Accommodation in the city had been booked out for months and despite hundreds of locals putting up visitors in their spare rooms and garages, many concert goers spent the night in their cars.
Others like Andy Blair of Taupo had no other choice but to drive home when the show finished at 10.30pm last night.
"It was worth it though,'' she said.
Drummer and founding member Mick Fleetwood gave the fans two pieces of advice to take away.
"Take care of yourself and more importantly take care and be kind to those around you in this crazy world we live in. We love you and remember the Mac will be back'' he said.
MORE NEW PLYMOUTH REVIEWS HERE
FLEETWOOD MAC ROCKS... MICK FLEETWOOD INTERVIEWED BY TVNZ
Fleetwood Mac Rocks On
By Jack Tame
Watch The 13 Minute Interview
It's hard to keep up with Fleetwood Mac.
For their quick fire Kiwi visit they flew to New Plymouth in their own chartered jet (Evidently Jetstar doesn't feature among the considerations of international rockstars...)
At all times of course, their security remained ever-close and their band management were ever-managing.
It's 29 years since Fleetwood Mac last played a New Zealand gig.
I'm sure many of the Fleetwood fans who trekked to the Taranaki shows didn't even exist in 1980, let alone listen to Stevie Nicks.
It's not that the band hasn't toured, or hasn't played music together& just that New Zealand hasn't featured among their plans.
Still, when you consider Fleetwood Mac's journey in a slightly wider sense, it's incredible they made it here at all.
It's been a drama from day one.
Fleetwood Mac formed in England in 1967, strictly playing blues.
Since then they've survived through drug addiction, toxic inter-band love scandals, and repeated changes to their line up.
It's hard to keep up with the different guitarists they've been through.
One guitarist over did things while taking LSD and simply disappeared for several years, another was kicked out after developing relations with Mick Fleetwood's wife, and another just walked off one day and joined a religious cult.
Over time, the music's changed almost as much as the line-up, but somehow, through it all, Mick Fleetwood has stayed.
He's kept drumming, the band's kept playing, and Fleetwood Mac has kept selling.
As he approaches 63 years of age, Mick Fleetwood accepts he's an ageing rocker.
But with good health, good band relationships - and most importantly good sales - Fleetwood Mac's next New Zealand gig shouldn't be so far away.
(VIDEO / PHOTO) FLEETWOOD MAC IN FULL SWING NEW PLYMOUTH
A massive crowd Saturday Night at The Bowl of Brooklands
(in the rain no less)
The first of two shows in New Plymouth, New Zealand
Photo by: TommyB8S
Posted by Nickslive at Saturday, December 19, 2009 0 comments
MICK FLEETWOOD VIDEO INTERVIEW - FLEETWOOD MAC HIT NEW PLYMOUTH
Fleetwood Mac hit
Source: ONE News
Fleetwood Mac took to the stage at New Plymouth's bowl of Brooklands on Saturday night in the first of their two sold-out concerts.
At 62 Mick Fleetwood is savouring the finer things in life such as the adoration of 17,000 fans watching him perform.
"This is a real book marker in Fleetwood Mac's history, coming back here. I hope we make it through the gig," he said before the concert.
The last time Fleetwood and his band were welcomed for a Kiwi concert was back in 1980 but the band is still playing music and still touring the world.
Fleetwood has now spent over 40 years in showbiz as it was 1967 when he first drummed for the original Fleetwood Mac.
As they have wracked up their hits the group has battled through arguments, drug addiction and about six or seven different guitarists.
Through it all Fleetwood Mac still sells. Tickets to the New Plymouth concerts were sold out and the best of album has spent weeks in the New Zealand charts.
With younger generations of fans these days Fleetwood says the band's next Kiwi concert will not be such a long wait.
Fleetwood Mac's Big Mick
By David Farrier
3News Video
Full Interview with Mick Fleetwood
Watch The 20 Minute Video Interview
Fleetwood Mac are on of music's iconic bands.
Formed in 1967 in London, they have seen numerous line-up changes – beginning as a straight Blues band, they morphed into a more pop-oriented group.
The man behind the helm is Mick Fleetwood.
It has been 29 years since Fleetwood Mac played in New Zealand; their drummer and namesake now an impressive 63-years-old.
Fast forward nearly three decades, and Mick Fleetwood is glad to be back, aware that after all the drugs and inter-band relationships between Lindsay, Mick and Stevie – they are lucky to be around.
"Yeah, the passion or desperation, or the fear factor," says Mick about what has kept the group together.
"No, it's the first."
Passion, that is, allowing them to make music for 42 years.
"Coming back here is a real line in the sand in terms of, you know, we will wake up sweating. Those dreams, sit up, oh my God, we didn't do that did we?"
They probably did, but regardless, it all resulted in great music.
Their songs and rock and roll lifestyle are now ingrained in pop culture.
The first ever episode of Flight of the Conchords even contained a Fleetwood Mac joke; Rhys Darby keen to interrupt our interview and get Fleetwood's take on it.
"When I did the gag about you guys and the album 'Rumors', just going back, Brett said 'Oh, do they have foursomes?' and I said, 'No, it's just rumours', did you appreciate the gag?" Darby asked.
Mick did appreciate it.
"We have a humour about the fact that our lives were incredibly public. Really we were stupid enough to do interviews like this and talk openly about who we are and what we are," he said.
It is that openness, combined with the bands musical talents that have led to 100 million in record sales, and now, 42 years in, two shows in New Plymouth.


The first phase of Library Place offers loft apartments and one and two bedroom brownstones. Check them out!
The second phase of Library Place offers a variety of homes ranging in size from studios to two bathroom homes. Find the one that's right for you!


text:
Q: Const Variable in "Type"-Statement vba I want to sum up my Const Variables in a VBA Makro like this:
Private Type Company
   Public Const CompanyNameColumns As String = "14"
   Public Const CompanyNameStartRow As Integer = 5
Type End

I can't run this code.
I think the problem is, that there is no possibility of defining a Const within a Type Statement.
Has anybody a workaround for that?

A: So, it took me a second, but then it smacked me like a ton of bricks what's going on here.
TL;DR: You can't assign values during definition of a type, but there is a proper way to do what you're trying to do.
The reason you can't assign to it is because you're defining a type. I know that sounds cyclical and redundant, but that's exactly what is going on. You're trying to assign values in a place that is meant to define a data structure. That's all a UDT does. It defines a structure. It makes no sense to assign values to a structure.
As you've found, one solution is to create a new module and store your constants there.
Constants.bas
Public Const CompanyNameColumns As String = "14"
Public Const CompanyNameStartRow As Integer = 5

Which then gets called like this...
Constants.CompanyNameColumns
Constants.StartNameRow

And this is fine, but runs the risk of becoming a catch all. It would be much better to move these into a class module along with the logic they relate to. That way all of the related logic and data are in one place instead of scattered about multiple *.bas files in your project.
If you're going the class route, but the classes only hold this data structure, without any real state, you might want to consider making them global default instances. This is similar to what is known as "static" classes in other languages.

A: I worked around this Problem now by just defining a new Module. Named it Company and put the Consts in there!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Christina Maria Aguilera was born December 18, 1980 on Staten Island New York. Chritina is a Grammy-winning American pop singer. She began working in the entertainment industry at a relatively young age and rose to popularity through the critical and commercial success of her debut major-label album Christina Aguilera (1999), which produced four hit singles. Her second studio album Stripped (2002) continued the momentum, selling strongly, but receiving less favorable reviews and criticism over Aguilera's overtly sexual image. In 2005 she married record executive Jordan Bratman, and her third studio album Back to Basics is scheduled for release in August 2006.
Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York to Fausto Wagner Xavier Aguilera, a U.S. Army sergeant, and Shelly Loraine Fidler. Aguilera's father was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador while her mother has German, French, English, Irish and Dutch ancestry. Aguilera's parents met while Fausto was serving at Earnest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador. Her parents married when her mother was 20 years old and her father was almost 32. Aguilera lived with her father and mother until she was 6 or 7 years old, when her parents divorced and her mother took her and her younger sister Rachel to her grandmother's home in Rochester, Pennsylvania, a blue-collar suburb of Pittsburgh. According to Aguilera and Fidler, her father was very controlling, as well as physically and emotionally abusive. Since then, Fidler has married a paramedic named Jim Kearns, and has changed her name to Shelly Kearns.
Aguilera's grandmother was the first person to recognize her vocal skills. Since Aguilera was a small child, she wanted to be a singer. She grew up admiring artists such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Judy Garland, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, and Mariah Carey. As a child she performed at block parties and in talent competitions, where she defeated her opponents. Aguilera soon gained media attention, and was known to as "the little girl with the big voice".
According to VH1's Driven, this label eventually became cross-productive. When competitors learned they would be up against her in any given week, they immediately backed out, prompting insiders to claim it was "like sending a lamb to the slaughter." Her peers soon became jealous of her and would frequently subject her to ridicule, ostracism, and, in one gym class, attempted assault. Acts of vandalism around her house included the slashing of the tires on the family car. Eventually the family relocated and, by her own order, swearing to secrecy about her talent lest another backlash occur.
On March 15, 1990, she appeared on Star Search singing Etta James's "A Sunday Kind of Love", but failed to win. Soon after losing on Star Search, she returned home and appeared on Pittsburgh's KDKA-TV's Wake Up with Larry Richert to perform the same song again. People remarked that the then 10-year-old "sounded 20".
Throughout her youth in Pittsburgh, Aguilera sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey games, Pittsburgh Steelers football and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games. Her first major role in entertainment came in 1993 when she joined the Disney Channel's variety show The New Mickey Mouse Club. Her co-stars included Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Rhona Bennett (who later became a member of En Vogue), Ryan Gosling, and Keri Russell. According to the documentary Driven, Aguilera's Mickey Mouse Club co-stars called her "the Diva". One of her most notable performances was of Whitney Houston's "I Have Nothing".
Aguilera was alleged to have fought constantly with co-star Spears regarding Timberlake. She has said the two of them have made jokes about these alleged incidents, which suggests that the allegations may not be accurate. When the show ended in 1994, Aguilera began recording demos in an attempt to get signed to a record label.
In 1998 Aguilera sang the High "E" (second "E" above middle "C") in full voice on a cover of Whitney Houston's "Run to You" which she recorded with an old tape recorder in her bathroom. Aguilera was then selected to record the song "Reflection" for the Disney animated production of Mulan (1998). Recording "Reflection" led to Aguilera earning a contract with RCA Records during the same week. "Reflection" peaked within the top twenty on the Adult Contemporary Singles Chart, and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Original Song" in 1998.
Aguilera in the music video for "Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)".Under the exclusive representation of Steve Kurtz, Aguilera's self-titled debut album Christina Aguilera was released in the United States in August 1999. It reached the top of the Billboard 200 and Canadian album charts, shipping over eight million copies in the United States alone. "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come on Over Baby (All I Want Is You)" topped the Billboard Hot 100 during 1999 and 2000, and "I Turn to You" reached the top five. Aguilera won the "Best New Artist" award at the 2000 Grammy Awards, and she was nominated for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for "Genie in a Bottle". According to the album's songwriters who appeared on the documentary Driven, Aguilera wanted to display the power and audacity in her voice during the promotion of the album, and performed acoustic sets and appeared on television shows accompanied only by a piano. She ended the year on MTV's 2 Large New Year's Special, as she performed and was MTV's first artist of the millennium.
Later in 2000 Aguilera first emphasized her Latino heritage, following the Latin pop trend of the time, by releasing her first Spanish album, Mi Reflejo. This album contained Spanish versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. It reached the top thirty on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Latin album charts, and in 2001 it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award for "Best Female Pop Vocal Album". The single "Falsas Esperanzas" from the album reached the top forty in Argentina. Ricky Martin asked her to duet with him on the track "Nobody Wants to Be Lonely" from his album Sound Loaded; released in 2001 as the album's second single, it reached the top five in the United Kingdom and Germany, top twenty in the U.S., and top forty in Canada, Switzerland, and Australia.
In 2001 Aguilera, rapper Lil' Kim, Mya, and P!nk were chosen to remake Patti LaBelle's 1975 single "Lady Marmalade" for the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack. "Lady Marmalade" hit number one on the Hot 100 for five weeks and reached number one in eleven other countries, and it earned all four performers a 2002 Grammy Award for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals".
That year a single emerged into record stores called "Just Be Free", one of the demos Aguilera recorded when she was around fifteen years old. When RCA Records discovered the single, they officially advised fans not to purchase it and had German authorities pull the single off shelves. Months later, Warlock Records was set to release Just Be Free, an album which contains the demo tracks. Aguilera filed a breach of contract and unfair-competition suit against Warlock and the album's producers to block the release. Instead, the two parties came to a settlement to release the album. Aguilera lent out her name, likeness and image for an unspecified amount of damages. Many of the details of the lawsuit remain confidential. When the album was released in August 2001, it had a photograph of Aguilera when she was fifteen years old.
Although Aguilera's debut album was very well-received, she was dissatisfied with the music and image her management had created for her. At the time, Aguilera was marketed as a bubblegum pop artist, because of the genre's upward financial trend. However, she publicly mentioned plans of her next album to have much more depth, both musically and lyrically. Steve Kurtz's influence in matters of the singer's creative direction, the role of being her exclusive personal manager and overscheduling had in part caused her to seek legal means of terminating their management contract.
In October 2000 Aguilera filed a Breach of Fiduciary Duty lawsuit against Kurtz for improper, undue and inappropriate influence over her professional activities, as well as fraud. According to legal documents, Kurtz did not protect her rights and interests. Instead, he took action that was for his own interest, at the cost of hers. The lawsuit came about when Aguilera discovered Kurtz used more of her commissionable income than he was allotted, and had paid other managers to assist him. She also petitioned the California State Labor Commission to nullify the contract. After terminating Kurtz's services, Irving Azoff was hired as her new manager. The change in management marked a new change in how Aguilera was marketed, as well as what music she would do in the future.
Kurtz countersued later that month for breach of contract, claiming that the singer violated the same agreement she had sued to void. In the lawsuit, he included others close to Aguilera, alleging their intent to sabotage his business relationship with Aguilera. He also singled out Azoff for being in violation of the terms of Kurtz's contract.


text:
namespace network {
class SharedURLLoaderFactory;
}

namespace gcm {

// The base class for testing various GCM requests that contains all the common
// logic to set up a task runner and complete a request with retries.
class GCMRequestTestBase : public testing::Test {
 public:
  GCMRequestTestBase();

  GCMRequestTestBase(const GCMRequestTestBase&) = delete;
  GCMRequestTestBase& operator=(const GCMRequestTestBase&) = delete;

  ~GCMRequestTestBase() override;

  const net::BackoffEntry::Policy& GetBackoffPolicy() const;

  // Called before fetch about to be completed. Can be overridden by the test
  // class to add additional logic.
  virtual void OnAboutToCompleteFetch();

  network::SharedURLLoaderFactory* url_loader_factory() const {
    return shared_factory_.get();
  }

  network::TestURLLoaderFactory* test_url_loader_factory() {
    return &test_url_loader_factory_;
  }

  // This is a version for the TestURLLoaderFactory path; it also needs a URL.
  void SetResponseForURLAndComplete(const std::string& url,
                                    net::HttpStatusCode status_code,
                                    const std::string& response_body,
                                    int net_error_code = net::OK);

  // Note: may return null if URL isn't pending.
  const net::HttpRequestHeaders* GetExtraHeadersForURL(const std::string& url);

  // Returns false if URL isn't pending or extraction failed.
  bool GetUploadDataForURL(const std::string& url, std::string* data_out);

  // See docs for VerifyFetcherUploadData.
  void VerifyFetcherUploadDataForURL(
      const std::string& url,
      std::map<std::string, std::string>* expected_pairs);

 private:
  // Fast forward the timer used in the test to retry the request immediately.
  void FastForwardToTriggerNextRetry();

  base::test::TaskEnvironment task_environment_{
      base::test::TaskEnvironment::TimeSource::MOCK_TIME};

  network::TestURLLoaderFactory test_url_loader_factory_;
  scoped_refptr<network::SharedURLLoaderFactory> shared_factory_;

  // Tracks the number of retries so far.
  int retry_count_;
};

}  // namespace gcm

#endif  // GOOGLE_APIS_GCM_ENGINE_GCM_REQUEST_TEST_BASE_H_

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Internal Medicine - Clinical & Laboratory Immunology Doctors NPI Number Lookup, EIN, Address, Contact | NPI No.
Internal Medicine - Clinical & Laboratory Immunology: An internal medicine physician who specializes in clinical and laboratory immunology disease management.
Mr. Steven James Burakoff, M.D.


text:
Reductionism in Story
I have another theory that you all can shoot down, about why movies suck so much anymore.
Way back in Aristotle's Poetics, we were taught about the three basic story contexts that still remain true today.
1. Man vs. Man
2. Man vs. Nature
3. Man vs. Himself
("Man" of course, meaning "human" or even as general as "protagonist")
Now, what's interesting is that every single story that really gets us, is about what?
Conflict.
Either with the Roman Empire, or within our own heads. Between what I believe and what my parents wish I believed. Every single story in the world is told and presented in a way that it lays bare a character who must decide how to deal with that conflict.
He must chose either bravery, and overcome the conflict, or he chooses cowardice, and the conflict defeats him.
I believe this is at the heart of our lack of good storytellers today. We have become a world of little personal accountability, and even less honor. A world where pleasing as many people as possible breeds the will to overcome conflict right out of us.
We have so few left who understand courage and bravery that as a result, that our accounting of it as a virtue suffers.
How can a storyteller reach within his (or her) characters and give them things which he himself has never understood?
Conflict in storytelling does not exist as simply a means to create a character arc or provide action sequences or make a development executive happy. Conflict exists only so that it may reveal the true hearts of our characters through their actions and either inspire us with their bravery, or grieve us for their lack of it. Along the way, informing of us, the audience, of the kinds of human beings we may or may not want to be.
This is the core of storytelling, and sometimes I feel it to be fading from our memories.
Active Audiences
My partners and I have begun what will likely be a very, very long discussion about engaging our audiences in our stories long before we begin production on a film. Partly as a marketing strategy (i.e. "ploy"), partly because it seems like a novel way to break through some clutter, and partly because we can no longer assume our audience is passive.
We used to assume that because the audience doesn't interact with the viewing of the movie, that ours was a passive medium. But it seems to us that could not be further from the truth. From moment to moment along the life of creating a motion picture, details about stories become available, actors are announced, directors are chosen, production art is shown, test screenings are held, trailers released, and blogs and bulletin boards are filled with opinions and thoughts from our audiences. Technology has made our audience more active than they have ever been in the history of the movies.
We can fear it, or we can embrace it.
So we're starting to think about ways to involve our audiences from the moment we secure rights to a script or book or whatnot, and go from there. The details of how we propose to do that are what we hope will prove this could work. The first real test of it is probably at least a year away at this point. But it will be an interesting experience, and it's going to shake things up for us as a company in some possibly unpredictable ways(as to "how things have always been done").
But I love disruptive change. 🙂
Commercially Viable
I want to expand for a moment on the "commercially viable" statement of my last post, and clarify this concept a bit.
Storytelling, when done well, is something that has the power to enrich our lives as an audience both through its telling and through our participation in that telling. A good story might show up in a movie screen, a theater stage, a television screen, or your mobile phone. It might show up in the overall theme of a good story, or it might show up in just the smallest performance of a single actor and character in an otherwise flawed presentation.
This illustrates how a great script can go terribly wrong, or a bad script can be turned into something better.
This is also why, when people send me scripts or stories or tell me about a project that has a "good heart" (which sometimes people seem to like to use interchangably with "good script"), it doesn't mean anything to me. I couldn't care less if the story is about a some guy with a hockey mask that kills people, or Mother Teresa. What I want, what we as an audience demand, are characters we can identify with in some way that informs us of who we are. Or who we don't want to be. Or the choices we would or wouldn't make in a certain situation.
Those elements, and finding ways for your audience to pick up on them, assess them, then use them to gauge their own existences – THAT is good storytelling, and what's more – THAT is commercially viable.
Commerically viable just means that as an overall project, (writers, producers, directors, actors, release patterns and marketing strategies), will all come together to communicate these virtues to a large enough audience that given a certain budget level, the property will earn a return.
If your film or project cannot find the audience to support making it, it is because one or more of those overall project elements was lacking.
Content Creators, be (more) aware
Had some interesting convo's and developments (or lack thereof) this week that have brought up a topic I haven't yet seen discussed much. That is the issue of distributor fraud, and the devaluation of content in a flooded market.
They are two seperate issues, but the first, was actually brought up in a finance discussion with Imperial Capital Bank and their entertainment division for financing of a television series we're working on.
Evidently, due to high rates of distributors never paying on contracts for content, the discount rate on most distribution contracts against a loan is quite high. Save for a dozen or so major distributors that the bank has relationships and a history with, all these new channels coming out of the woodwork for satellite distribution, and IP distribution, whatever, the contracts are not worth the paper they are printed on. Which of course, makes it a tenuous at best, and straight-up-stupid at worst, idea to finance original content without the upfronts to cover your production costs. (Like THAT ever happens.)
For many years, we've heard of theater owners and what not running films extra times and not reporting it, or under-reporting ticket sales so that they can keep more of the cash coming into the theater.
Now, take the 4500 theaters in the US, and multiply that exponentially to get the number of outlets a content creator has to distribute to these days.
Makes a lot of sense to get rid of the middleman/distributor altogether. Like those blokes over at Blowing Smoke. Now, let's get that on the next iteration of iTunes as a download for $1.99. Whatd'ya say?
Now, on the devaluation of content. In discussions with a number of new media outlets, including the aforementioned satellite network operator, there's a LOT of the same mantra going around. "Oh, we get a lot of our content from auteurs."
Which sounds great right? WRONG.
Why? Allow me to present a new definition of "auteur" in the digital age.
Digital Auteur – any person or persons who pick up a moving picture camera, edit something together, and are willing to give it away for free.
"Auteurs," in my experience, often have a sense of creative superiority that very, very rarely translates into something the audience can connect to, or understand in a way that reaches enough people to be commercially viable. They are typically also those people with utterly no business sense at all, and will happily give away "their" stuff till the end of time (or bankruptcy).
This shit drives me nuts.
Oh, and one last thing. When I say "commercially viable" I'm addressing a story or point of view, communicated and presented in such a way that it holds enough value that it just might not lose money.
The Downside of Digital
Just had a kind of depressing conversation with one of my business parnters, and some of what was said rings very true… and follows some of the thinking I had earlier today.
Beyond the creative fulfillment of the career I chose, I also chose this business because it was one where you could become wealthy. Where you could create your own retirement funds based on residuals and whatnot, and fuck the 401K's and company pensions (which may or may not be there anyway, as we see these days). This was the a large part of the dream I had.
And then, a funny thing happened. I saw some guy driving an insanely expensive car today, and it occured to me that I used to just be "biding the time" until I too could buy one of those. For I was certain it would come. But today… today the thought that flashed past my brain was the one that said…"you may never have things like that." And it was ok. Instead, I wondered if I'd ever be able to afford one home (much less the 3 or 4 I thought I'd buy), AND health care and some investments. It's the first time I've ever really felt like…. maybe I will never be wealthy. Maybe I'll always be struggling and that's what it is. And it's… kind of depressing, but kind of… just ok. I hate to disappoint my friends who for years have shaken their heads and asked me how it is that I'm not a multi-millionaire or some studio mogul yet… and truth be told… sometimes I don't get it either. But perhaps it's not my destiny.
The point, and it's relation to the title of this post, is that my partner and I were talking about "THE GAP" in our media business between the have's and have not's – and how much that reflects the overall status of our American society. He's not wrong. On one hand, we have the $150 million dollar Michael Bay budgets, and on the other, the $1,100 "My Date With Drew" budgets. The micro-budget filmmaking days have only been made possible by the advent of digital… and maybe it's not "the greatest thing ever" that I've always thought it was. As it seems to have helped create disparity than already existed in this world of "either you make it yourself for no money at all, or you make it for lots of money upfront and screw everything else" but making it for lots of money upfront means that you MUST have done something before that made lots of money. It means the middle ground vanishes.. . and becomes a harder and harder place to make a living. You either scrabble for nothing, or you make shitloads of money.
It's a sad, and frustrating world sometimes.
Well, that didn't take long
Just eleven days ago, in this post, I was thinking about the podcasts and their impact on the film and tv business.
Funny to see this article today from Wired Magazine, as television programming starts to release "audio only" podcasts of their shows.
How much further behind is video? I mean, really? We've already got sites like this providing video blogging tools online.
Apple better make sure their transaction management back end is hunky-dory and working smoothly if they want to be the ones to ride the next wave.
Hell, seeing as how their hardware lock-in is about to expire due to both new breakthroughs in the software (courtesy of some very smart hackers) and their shift to Intel chips, they might be better off looking at operating like a transaction management company that happens to make software, than a computer manufacture.
Fascinating times.
Whole Lotta Shaking Goin' On
In the spirit of the writing mood I am in, I shall offer this tonight:
Temblors Rattle Theater Owners
Much like the Southern California landscape has hundreds of small tremors each day, so too has the theatrical exhibition industry been shaken around lightly by the ever-encroaching home video release windows.
While the pressures of high-quality home displays and home surround sound, minus the obnoxious kids, and sticky floors have continued to mount on the tectonic plates of theaters, the larger movie studios seem to be waking up to the fact that something smells like it's burning.
And it's their ass.
Today's temblor struck about a 6.0 on the open-ended Richter Scale when Disney CEO-designate Bob Iger stated that "it is not inconceivable that the studio would release a DVD even during theatrical runs."
Theater owners have a rocky road ahead, and if they had any brains at all, would hurry up with digital projection and distribution so that they can book indie films or whatever they want in their theaters, AND SELL THE DVD's right outside the door when you leave, and earn some of their profits right there.
Smells like roses to me.
Leader as Artist
Business school case study finally gets it right, and reminds me that when I allow myself to do so, I get very carried away and passionate about storytelling, and the audience… and the technologies I can use to convey those.
Sometimes my pragmatist side sucks and isn't nearly as fun as my bubble-blowing, mystic eight-ball asking, jumping up and down for no apparent reason, split personality.
*smiles*
The Creative Side – for a change
While I mainly post about company things from big picture standpoints, and broad views of my industry, there's a lot of things that I don't generally post about. Mainly because they're some of the things that *everyone* else in this godforsaken town proclaims as loudly as possible, and chat up in every circle (jerk) they can get themselves invited to (or crash).
At any rate, I'm going to drop myself to their level for just a minute, and say that while I'm still trying to find what's going to pay my bills next, I'm enjoying the challenges of the two properties that I'm working on creatively right now.
The first, a script that I've mentioned once or twice before. The full 40-page treatment took about six weeks, and was pretty satisfactorily completed on July 15th. I began writing the actual script the next day, and as of today, 3 weeks later, I've written through page 56 and just finished the mid-act II climax – oddly enough, right about where it should be.
For a while, I was concerned there wouldn't be enough material for a 110-ish page script. Now, I don't think that's going to be a problem. Just the rough scene and character descriptions for the rest of the as-yet-unwritten full scenes and dialog for the rest of the screenplay make it a 77 page document. It's probably gonna need some editing (there's a reason we call it a "first draft" right?). At any rate, I'm pretty dang pleased with it so far. We'll see what other folks think in a few more weeks. It could conceivably suck big hairy goat balls. But I'm having fun writing it, so there.
On top of that, the television series I created has gone through a few very productive development meetings with a couple of my partners, and it's very satisfying to make progress that other people confirm is good. Validation, Yay! Validation!
I must admit, I think it's a damn good series concept, and could be an outstanding and timely show.
At any rate, now that I've stood on my swiss cheese box for a moment, I shall move on.
Thank you. Carry on.
Gatekeepers & Stupidity
Sometimes, an event happens that results in a moment of clarity that just makes you stop and think "my god, it really IS that stupid." I just had one of those.
One of our board of advisors members hooked us up with the CEO of a nationwide satellite network recently, and I looked over their demographic angle, and came up with a couple of show ideas. One I pitched, and they liked it enough to still be working with us on trying to iron out a N. American distribution deal for it.
But there's the kicker. They're a startup network, with no capital for producing programming. Hence, no cash. Which means, we're supposed to fund it ourselves. And then basically license it to them for what??? Ad time on their grid? Yay. We can't use ad time to cover our (upfront) production costs or our overhead now can we?
At any rate, in my frustration, because I know it's got the right ingredients to be a GREAT show, timely and innovative. I start picking up the phone and calling the big guys. And I should have known this, because it works the same way in our feature film world, but they will not take unsolicited pitches – and pitches have to be submitted through an agency, or an entertainment lawyer.
And we wonder why the studios and large companies are having such problems with creating GOOD content? (which by default means that agents and entertainment lawyers must be able to identify good content first, and second, be on the lookout for new shows from new companies… riiiiight).
WAKE THE F**K UP JACKASSES!


"Petaluma Eats! at Secret Kitchen"
"Secret Kitchen's Secret is Out"
"Petaluma Eats! And Drinks at Jamison's Roaring Donkey"
"Something for Everyone at the Roaring Donkey"
"No Password Need at The Big Easy"
"No Password Need to Enter The Big Easy"
"Farm to Fourchette comes to Petaluma"
"Petaluma Eats! at Sugo Trattoria"
"Bistro 100: The Journey of 100 Miles Starts With One Bite"
"It's a British Food(ie) Invasion"
"Home on the Free (Range)"
"Artisan Cheese Makers Roll Into Petaluma"
"Food Truck Park with Petaluma Style Is in the Works"
"It's All About the Grass at Stemple Creek"
"Spice Is the Variety of Life"
"Gottschalk Concert: A Rivertown Revival"
"Spirits Run Through Petaluma Couple's Veins"
"Meet Your Maker Food Event in Petaluma"
"Spicy Cuisine Rooted in Petaluma"
"Petaluma Dining on Thanksgiving Day"
"Dining Out in Petaluma on Thanksgiving"
"Himalayan Flavor with Petaluma Flair"
"Petaluma Hot Spots Offer New Year's Eve Culinary Experiences"
"At Petaluma's Bellyfull, Home Cooking Without The Cooking"
"All About Meat At Petaluma's Brasil BBQ"
"Petaluma Celebrates Dairy Roots With Cheese Festival"
"Food Tours Provide Behind-The-Scenes Look At Petaluma Dining"
"A Taste of Peru in Petaluma"


Unwrap an amazing experience with Smooshy Mushy pets! each item comes wrapped in a yummy mystery bottle. And inside is a scented smooshy pet, a tiny surprise ͞bestie͟ mini-smooshy (scented too), stickers, a mini bottle, name tag and collector poster with a hilarious ͞find your smooshy name game. Let the smooshing begin!
The Smooshy Mushy Pets & Besties are in search of the best hot cocoa and pastries in Smooshyville! Each Smooshy Mushy set comes with a surprise slow-rising scented squishy Pet & Bestie, mini container, sticker, name tag, 2 ball chains, and collector's poster with bonus game, all in an adorable Smooshy container.
Inside is a scented smooshy pet, a tiny surprise ͞bestie͟ mini-smooshy (scented too), stickers, a mini bottle, name tag and collector poster with a hilarious ͞find your smooshy name game.
Unwrap an amazing experience with Smooshy Mushy pets! each item comes wrapped in a yummy mystery bottle.


Today, I'm focusing on the first space we tackled, which is actually not in our home at all. We moved in March, so we wanted to be able to enjoy our backyard as soon as possible. We got started right away on removing the crazy overgrowth around our pool and patio. The below photo is from February, 2015. I insisted on visiting the house again before signing to ensure that we would have sunshine on our patio! Ha!
Notice in the photos below that you can hardly see the water from our lanai because of all the plants.
We had to hire help because the philodendron hope selloum plant (so freaking cool and I wish I could've kept it because you know how much I love fronds!) had such a huge root system that it required a little tractor to uproot it! Removing the plants from around the screened pool enclosure gave us a great view of the water behind our house. The privacy of the backyard is what really sold me on this property and enabled me to look past all of the updating that was needed around the yard and inside the house.
After removing plants, bird house posts, bird baths and a large, beautiful tree that was unfortunately much too close for comfort and cast a lot of shade onto the house and pool, we had a patio installed outside of the screened enclosure using pavers. The laying of the pavers only took a day! It was fun to watch, but Summer and I mostly stayed indoors with the windows closed because of all of the dust that comes after cutting the pavers into the pretty curved shape that you see now. Miss Summer thinks she's queen of the patio.
Although we removed the majority of the plants and scraggly trees from our backyard, we did leave the huge fan palms on the right side of our pool enclosure to provide privacy.
One last addition to our patio was the curved half wall that was installed a few months after our patio was completed. My husband liked the idea of a built in fire pit and wall, but I thought we would never really use it and it would take up some valuable space on the patio. Turns out, I was right! We bought a little gas fire pit for the holidays and used it ONE time. We are much better served by having the space for our hammock and chaise lounges.
In the past couple of years, Florida has taken a few hits from hurricanes and we did end up losing both of our willow trees at the edge of the pond. Beyond having to pay for screen repairs and removal of the trees, we are fortunate that there was no other damage to our home.
Here are a few more photos of our backyard throughout the seasons.
Those yellow "balls" are actually grapefruit that I've tossed over the fence after picking them. They're incredibly juicy. My dad made the bird house hanging from one of our magnolias by hand to match the one that my Gramma and Grampa used to have at their house up north. It's sort of quaint and endearing, isn't it? :) We now have our second family of birds nesting there. Miss Summer seems happy about it too.
I'm so happy we made some of the hard decisions we did and that we've been able to relax and enjoy our backyard for the past 4 years! It's not perfect, but we love it! Living in a county that is rapidly developing (i.e. forests are being torn down to pack in more homes everywhere around us), this little slice of paradise is definitely not taken for granted!
Click the arrows for more Outdoor Living posts!
How to Save Money on Outdoor Living!


A weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews, that features the books we bought, borrowed, were gifted, and were given for review in the mail.
Jennifer Armentrout Covenant series giveaway (this includes Deity!)--ends in less than 2 days!!
Winterhaven SnowPeak 3--Lots of fun information about what we have in store for Oct!
WinterHaven Sleigh Tour --Bloggers we are still have dates open so please join us!
So as you can see we have definitely been busy! We have so much stuff planned for the rest of October that I can safely say we won't be slowing down anytime soon =D We will hopefully find time to read all the awesome books we received this week and this week as always was an awesome one in the book department. Take a look!
I think this is one of my favorite weeks because I mean just look at those covers! I am so in love! I hope everyone had a wonderful week too! Leave me a link so I can see all the pretties!
Thanks! Happy reading to you too!
Love the sound of Dance of Shadows, happy reading.
Me too! Happy reading to you too!
I;m so envious right now that You Have Dance of Shadows. So want that book. Great haul overall.
We got lucky on that one =) Thanks!
I also have Poison Princess and Destroy Me :) Great haul! You got some awesome books.
Yay! I hope you like them! Thanks!
Oh, Destroy Me! Warner! :D ♥ It was amazing! And I've heard awesome things about Poison Princess.
Liesl and Po has a special place in my heart. It's such a delightful story. I am glad you have it in your hands. Enjoy.
Oooooh great books. I can't wait to read Touch of Death!!! Congrats on all the books, hope you enjoy all the books. Happy Reading!!!
Thank you!! Amber is reading Touch of Death and I keep telling her to hurry up so I can read it lol! Happy reading to you too!!
*SQUEEEE!* Poison Princess & Dance of Shadows! xD I can't wait for your reviews on both!
You're right! These covers and books all look amazing! I can't wait to read Poison Princess and Dance of Shadows.
I am in love with them all lol! I hope you get those soon =) Happy reading to you too!
Yum! Dance of Shadows and Poison Princess look sooo good! Also I have Touch of Death sitting on my shelf and it looks soooo good!!! :D Enjoy!
Very nice books! I really enjoyed Touch of Death and I hope you do too. I cannot wait to read Destroy Me and Poison Princess. Both sound really good.
Great haul! I look forward to your reviews, especially on Dance of Shadows. Happy reading!
Thanks! I am hoping to have that review up soon =D Thanks for stopping by ours and Happy reading to you too!
Nice haul! I really want to read Poison Princess I keep hearing really great things!
Thanks!! I can't wait to read that one!!
Oh Poison Prncess looks so good!
I keep hearing awesome things about it so I am so excited to read it!!
Great books! Dance of Shadows sounds so good and I really like the cover. Happy reading! Thanks for stopping by.
I bought Liesl & Po a few weeks ago. Haven't had a chance to read it yet though. Hope you like it!
Awesome I hope you like it!! Happy reading!
Me too! The cover is one of the best I have seen this fall!! I hope you get The Poison Princess soon!! Happy reading to you too!
I hope you get a copy soon!! Thanks!!
I can't wait to hear about how Destroy Me is!
Aw thanks! I will follow back =) No worries at all, it has been crazy here to =) Happy reading!
Great haul! I've really been meaning to get Liesel and Po, think I may get it for my nook this week. The Madness Underneath - I'm so jealous! :) Thanks for stopping by the blog.
Dance of Shadows looks sooooo good. That cover is stunning. I really want to read Liesl & Po. I love Oliver's YA novels so I'm sure I will love her MG stuff too.
I agree! I am excited to read it =) I haven't read a book by Oliver yet so I really need to do that lol. I hope you get Liesl & Po soon =) Happy reading!
Those are awesome books! I can't wait to get Kresley Cole's book!
Thanks!! I hope you get it soon!
A wonderful haul! I have just read and really enjoyed Poison Princess and I can't wait for Destroy Me & Dance of Shadows.
Thanks! Awesome I am glad to hear you liked it! I can't wait to start it! Happy reading to you too and thanks for stopping by!
I agree! Every one of those has an amazing cover! I have got to try The Name of the Star! Poison Princess sounds SO good! Happy reading!
I am a total sucker for covers lol. I am going to start that one this week woohoo! Can't go wring for Halloween with Jack the Ripper lol! Happy reading to you too!
I hope you get it! I was shocked when they approved me because we have the same issue lol. Awesome I am glad to hear that you liked Poison Princess!! Thank you and happy reading to you too!
Awesome haul, ladies. Touch of Death looks pretty awesome!
Yay I hope you get it soon! It was an interesting read =) Thanks!
I love the cover of Dance of Shadows! I want to make a poster of it and put it above my bed!


text:
Q: ¿Cómo convertir un timestamp en una fecha? Intenté recuperar los precios del stock de Gucci. Utilisé el API msn sobre cinco años. Sin embargo tengo problemas con el timestamp.
url = 'https://finance.services.appex.bing.com/Market.svc/ChartAndQuotes?symbols=160.1.KER.PAR&chartType=5y'
resp = requests.get(url=url)
prices_gucci = resp.json()
df = pd.DataFrame(prices_gucci[0]['Chart']['Series'])

Y obtengo :
    IsStitched  P   T
0   NaN         149.00  7397280
1   NaN         148.05  10080
2   NaN         147.50  20160
...

Entonces intenté, siguiendo la respuesta de abulafia :
df['T'] = pd.to_datetime(df['T'], unit='ms')

Pero obtengo :
    IsStitched  P   T
0   NaN 149.00  1970-01-01 02:03:17.280
1   NaN 148.05  1970-01-01 00:00:10.080
2   NaN 147.50  1970-01-01 00:00:20.160
...
262 NaN 410.00  1970-01-01 00:43:46.560
263 True    417.10  1970-01-01 00:43:50.175

Y no es la fecha. En efecto cuando lo hizo llamando por
with open(r"C:\Users\antoi\Documents\Programming\Tests\StockPredictions\160.1.KER.PAR.json") as f:
    prices_gucci = json.load(f)
df = pd.DataFrame.from_dict(json_normalize(prices_gucci['5y']['Chart']['Series']), orient='columns')
df = df[["P","timestamp"]]
df['timestamp'] = pd.to_datetime(df['timestamp'], unit='ms')
df.head()

    P   timestamp
0   152.20  2014-01-16 22:00:00
1   149.00  2014-01-23 22:00:00
...

Actualización
Parece que el valor la primera línea de df['T']: 7397280es la diferencia en segundos desde 2000-01-01, y las otras las diferencias con este primera diferencia.

A: pd.datetime() es bastante flexible, pues permite que se le pase como parámetro las unidades del timestamp (minutos en este caso) y el origen de tiempos (2000-01-01 en este caso), pero necesita que todos los timestamp tengan el mismo origen de tiempos, lo que no es el caso en este dataframe.
La primera fila del dataframe usa como origen de tiempos 2000-01-01, pero las restantes filas usan como origen el dictado por la primera fila.
La forma más simple que se me ocurre para abordar este problema consiste en sumar a todas las filas salvo la primera, el valor de la primera fila. De este modo ya todas usarán como origen 2000-01-01.
Es decir:
# Lectura de datos
url = 'https://finance.services.appex.bing.com/Market.svc/ChartAndQuotes?symbols=160.1.KER.PAR&chartType=5y'
resp = requests.get(url=url)
prices_gucci = resp.json()
df = pd.DataFrame(prices_gucci[0]['Chart']['Series'])

# Corregir origen de timestamps
origen = df.loc[0, "T"]
df.loc[1:, "T"] = df.loc[1:, "T"] + origen

# Convertir a datetime
df["fecha"] = pd.to_datetime(df["T"], unit="m", origin=pd.Timestamp('2000-01-01'))

print(df.head())

  IsStitched       P        T      fecha
0        NaN  149.00  7397280 2014-01-24
1        NaN  148.05  7407360 2014-01-31
2        NaN  147.50  7417440 2014-02-07
3        NaN  152.30  7427520 2014-02-14
4        NaN  151.45  7437600 2014-02-21


Create a call center that delivers an amazing customer experience every time.
When is the last time you called a company and enjoyed the experience? With Ring.io's technology you can delight your customers with personalized greetings, routing, and effective customer service tools.
Minimize your callers time in queue with smart routing and reduce the average call length by giving your employees the information to solve customer issues quickly.
Every call is tracked and stored in the cloud for easy reporting and powerful analytics. Analyze your agent and queue performance and view historical reports to understand key trends.
All the features you need to grow your business.
Easily create intuitive call flows with our visual editor.
Automatically log call data to the right object and field in Salesforce and Zoho CRM.
Monior live calls and listen in on your team with one click.
A complete calling productivity dashboard in Salesforce.
Get contextual information on inbound callers from your CRM.


Pope Francis lays out his vision for evangelization and renewal for the entire Church. He reads the signs of the times and offers practical direction for bishops, priests, religious, and the laity to become "missionary disciples" according to their own vocations.
Click on the picture on the left to read the document.
Pope Paul VI delivers a landmark document on evangelization that emphasizes the importance of personal witness, integration of faith and life, and kerygmatic proclamation for a Church who "exists in order to evangelize."
St. Pope John Paul II to the task of catechesis in modern times. He places the art of catechesis within the overall movement of evangelization. At its core, the ministry of the Church is about falling in love with a person: Jesus Christ.
The U.S. bishops offer a national plan for evangelization in the Catholic Church. The document offers a theological overview of evangelization as well as practical strategies for becoming a more welcoming, hospitable, and evangelizing parish community.
The U.S. bishops share with the faithful a vision for the New Evangelization in the United States. This is a plan of action for each Catholic to be a witness to the risen Christ.


AutoZone N 76th St in Milwaukee, WI is one of the nation's leading retailer of auto parts including new and remanufactured hard parts, maintenance items and car accessories. Visit your local AutoZone in Milwaukee, WI or call us at (414) 760-1809.
AutoZone N 76th St in Milwaukee, WI is one of the nation's leading retailer of automotive replacement car parts including new and remanufactured hard parts, maintenance items and car accessories. Visit your local AutoZone in Milwaukee, WI or call us at (414) 760-1809.
AutoZone located at 7377 N 76Th St in Milwaukee, WI services vehicles for Auto Repair. Call (414) 760-1809 to book an appointment or to hear more about the services of AutoZone.
Friendly people, and great service.
Posted by Ken F. from Foursquare on January 19, 2015. Brought to you by binglocal.
Posted by Bob B. from Foursquare on January 19, 2015. Brought to you by binglocal.
Posted on August 07, 2013. Brought to you by Citysearch.


text:
Overturning in Ben's thriller
The news that traces of blood on a toy car found amid the search for Ben Needham did not match his DNA, or his relatives, brought an overturn in the thrillerwhich is ongoing for more than twenty-seven years.
Aggeliki Nikolouli, who from the very first moment claimed that the secret of the disappearance of the young child was hiding on the island of Kos, was watching closely and silently the scientific researches conducted in Scotland.
Even before the news were announced on Friday 30 November, Tunnel had already managed to penetrate the "heart" of private research while the camera captured the important element that scientists "read" twenty-seven years later.
With the collaboration of ITV TV network and producer Mark Witty, forensic soil scientist Professor Lorna Dawson, a soil crime analyst, agreed to answer Tunnel questions for the research she conducted.
Prof Dawson can work with a tiny sample of earth – the equivalent of six grains of sugar.
To whom does the DNA belong?
On the evidence highlighted by the experienced forensic scientist, was based the latest direction of investigations of British officials, who for two years waited to give an answer to the Ben's family .
The genetic material emerged from the "chemical imprints" found by Dawson, the sandal and the toy car which believed that belong to Ben, did not match with the little boy's DNA. The question that remains, and which is unknown if could ever be answered, is to whom the DNA belong.
Two days before the official announcement in the British press, the Tunnel had asked and received a formal statement from South Yorkshire police.
This inspector, John Cousins, said his belief is that Ben died on the day he disappeared as a result of a tragic incident in the farmhouse.
Southern Yorkshire police officers had already informed Ben's mother Kerry about the negative results of the DNA test. The investigation cycle is reportedly completed but the case remains with the police until something remarkable appear in the future.
Kerry Needham asked for help from Angeliki Nikolouli and appealed to a specific witness to speak. It is he who directed the British to investigate a second location near the farmhouse where Ben was last seen.
Scotland, 27 years after: The "Tunnel" in the laboratories that "read" the buried elements …
"Tunnel" is the first Greek broadcast of research that managed to penetrate the forensic research laboratories in Dundee, Scotland, where the findings from Kos in Ben's case were being examined.
Experienced Professor Lorna Dawson said :
"There were multiple scenarios about what happened to the missing child being examined by the Police. Whether he'd wandered or he'd been lost, killed in an accident, or he'd buried. From our side, scientists were trying to come up with a reasonable answer for all of these hypotheses that were being tested.
My team and I were looking for potential movement of leachate of material that was coming from potential hotspots of decomposition. "
In the soil inside the toy car believed to belong to little Ben and which was literally found on the last day of the investigations carried out by the British in Kos in 2016, a chemical imprint was found indicating the existence of human decomposition. A stronger indication of compound was found in a sandal remain similar to what was worn by the child found in Kos in the first round of research in 2012.
Chemical analyst Tom Shepherd, professor Dowson's associate, through a special chemical cleavage process, managed through a chromatographic trace to read scientifically this indication, suggesting human decomposition.
The chemical reading of the substances found in the sandal remains were recorded for the first time by a television broadcasting camera.
Different test with specially trained dogs
Lorna Dawson's scientific team carried the specific sample research outside of the lab.
In collaboration with the Scottish police, specially trained dogs have been recruited to take part in a different examination. Scientists placed detachable parts of objects that were examined in a field of control specifically for this purpose. The dogs, in turn, traced and indicated.
Asked if the technology can determine whether the human genetic material found was belonging to a minor or an adult, she replied:
" The research has not looked at the sensitivities of between the age of the fluid and the decomposition and the resultant compounds that come from this decomposition. However reseraches is ongoing for example at the university of Amsterdam where we are collaborating with them, where we're looking at those very things so that in the future we will be able to tell whether it's from an adult or a child."
She pointed out that the chemical compounds left behind represent the difference in time when they were deposited on the soil.
"We are able to tell , as we should, that in the same area where Ben was last seen, there were compounds that we found that were indicative of ancient burial that was in fact from Greek times. So yes we can tell whether something 's from a more recent time or form an ancient period in time. "
Professor Dawson's methodology has been applied to various criminal cases that have been a major concern for British public opinion.
The official statement of British police to Tunnel …
Detective Chief Inspector Jon Cousins said:
"I have recently updated Ben's family regarding some DNA found on a toy car, identified by them as being very similar to one Ben had in his possession on 24 July 1991. The DNA was not a match to Ben or his family, however, I would like to reiterate that despite this stage of forensic examination and the result, it is still my professional belief based on all the evidence and facts gathered during this investigation to date, that Ben died as a result of a tragic incident at the farmhouse in Kos, involving heavy machinery on that day.
We will continue to support Ben's family and the Greek authorities, who retain primacy of this investigation, should any further information come to light. We will also consider any opportunity to continue the examination of all the items recovered."
ITV for the developments…
The new reversal in the case of little Ben Needhma, , was announced in the British press on Friday 30 November.
Kerry Needham, who was first informed for the developments in her son's case, told the British television network ITV:
" Although we still do believe what South Yorkshire Police are saying there's still that element of doubt in our mind – not that the police could be wrong but did somebody lie? Did somebody give false information to make South Yorkshire Police and us believe that Ben had died on that day, as some kind of smoke screen? "
She also asked for the assistance of Greek journalist Angeliki Nikolouli:
" I urge that witness to come forward, even to call Nikolouli anonymously and say to me or Mrs Nikolouli what he told the British Police in the first place and if he has nothing to hide or fear then come forward again, give the information" she said.
"I 'll become your shadow…" Category: Together with Angeliki - Φίλοι μου,


text:
LAPD Cop Caught on Bodycam Video Fondling Dead Woman's Breasts
A Los Angeles police officer was hoping to cop a feel on the body of a woman who had died, so he turned off his body camera and began fondling the dead woman's breasts.
But the camera has a two-minute buffer that continues recording once it has been turned off.
The LAPD cop was placed on leave once his superiors reviewed the footage meaning he is probably still getting paid for sitting at home.
Both police brass and the police union are calling his actions "disturbing," indicating he may not receive the usual Blue Privilege.
According to the Los Angeles Times:
The incident occurred when the officer and his partner responded to a call about a possible dead woman in a residential unit, sources said. Once the two officers determined the woman was dead, one officer returned to the patrol car to retrieve something. During that time, the accused officer turned off his body-worn camera and allegedly fondled the woman's breasts, LAPD officials said.
Although the officer deactivated the camera, a two-minute buffer on the device captured the incident. The department is also investigating the officer's work history.
"We immediately launched an administrative investigation once we learned about the incident," chief spokesman Josh Rubenstein said, "and we assigned the officer to home." He declined to comment further.
Assistant Chief Robert Arcos called the recording "very disturbing."
The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file cops, called the allegations troubling.
"If this allegation is true, then the behavior exhibited by this officer is not only wrong, but extremely disturbing, and does not align with the values we, as police officers, hold dear, and these values include respect and reverence for the deceased," the board of directors said in a statement. "This behavior has no place in law enforcement."
The cop's name has been released but the L.A. Times reports he is a 20-year veteran officer working out of the city's Central Division which is in downtown. The LAPD issued body cameras to officers beginning in 2015.
Previous articleTexas US Customs & Border Protection Agent Kills Wife on Thanksgiving
Next articleAG Barr to Police: Citizens who Criticize Cops should lose "Police Protection"


text:
Christopher Robert Brynga
Christopher Robert Brynga, 61, of Waitsfield, passed away unexpectedly in Virginia on Thursday, March 22, 2018. Born in Hartford, CT, he was the son of the late Dr. Robert S. Brynga and Margot Jane (Eisele) Brynga. On August 23, 1980, he married the former Denise L. Brouard in Colchester, VT.
Chris was a 1974 graduate of Conard High School in West Hartford, CT, and then later continued his education at St. Michael's College in Colchester, VT, earning his bachelor's degree in economics in 1984 and was continuing to work on his master's degree. He then began a long and accomplished career in information technology beginning with the former Burlington Savings Bank. Following, he was employed by CDI Professional Services where he served as an e-business practice leader. From 2006 to 2014 Chris worked for The Travelers Companies where he became second vice president of information technology. Most recently he worked as an independent consultant based in Waitsfield, VT, and Alexandria, VA.
Skiing brought great joy to Chris. He served on the ski patrol for over 30 years at Sugarbush Resort (Mt. Ellen) in Warren, VT. In addition, he was a volunteer EMT-I with the Mad River Valley Ambulance Service for over 10 years and served the town of Waitsfield as a member and board chair of Waitsfield Elementary School for 17 years. In his leisure time, he enjoyed road bicycling, skiing and spending time at his family's beach house in Old Lyme, CT.
Chris is survived by his wife of 37 years, Denise L. Brynga of Waitsfield, VT; their children, Rebecca C. Brynga and her husband Ian Magnant and their children, Antoinette and Jameson, of Waitsfield, VT, Veronica E. Brynga and her partner Justin Harris of So. Burlington, VT, Christopher M. Brynga and his wife Kristin and their children, Alexa, Lily and Bennett, of Waterbury Center, VT; a sister, MaryEllen Hussey and her husband Michael of Middletown, RI; a brother, Jonathan Brynga and his wife Doreen of Thompson, CT; as well as nieces, nephews and extended family.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated from Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church in Waitsfield, VT, on April 3, 2018, at 11 a.m. Friends may call at Perkins- Parker Funeral Home in Waterbury, VT, on April 2, 2018, from 6 to 8 p.m. For those who wish, memorial gifts in lieu of flowers would be appreciated to the Mad River Valley Ambulance Service, P.O. Box 305, Waitsfield, VT 05673. To send online condolences please visit www.perkinsparker.com.
Previous Article Charles E. Allen
Next Article Donald Spaulding
Waitsfield	obituary	Christopher Robert Brynga


Do you have pain from an accident, injury, surgery, or illness? You would likely benefit from physical therapy. However, most people who have never been under the care of a physical therapist think that therapy is painful, uncomfortable, or even agonizing. Instead, physical therapists have several tools in their arsenal to help relieve your pain while improving your body's function. Curious? Contact our Johnston Physical Therapy today to find out how you can begin living your life with less pain.
Manual traction is done by applying gentle force to an area of the body to stretch it. Most often, manual traction is done on the neck as a treatment for neck pain. While you lie on your back, our Johnston physical therapist gently takes the base of your skull in one hand and your chin in the other and gently stretches the spaces between your vertebrae for 5–10 seconds at a time. Manual traction can be done in other areas of the body as well, including the back, legs, and arms.
Most pain that follows an injury happens as the result of a restricted joint. Our Johnston physical therapists are able to loosen restricted joints by applying pressure at a low velocity. Safe, effective, and painless, this type of manual therapy increases range of motion and allows the joint's barrier to begin to break down.
Physical therapists are trained to diagnose and treat movement disorders. These often occur after surgery, especially when a joint is replaced in the body. However, physical therapy can also be prescribed after an accident, injury, or illness that leaves you weakened or unable to move the way you should. Your physical therapy treatment program will include several different therapies, each targeted at a specific function of your body. You may have exercises that focus on balance or strength and others that help increase your range of motion. Manual therapy is used as an integral part of your physical therapy program, which increases range of motion, reduces pain and swelling, and minimizes inflammation. For more information, or to request your appointment with one of our Johnston physical therapists, contact us at Johnston, Des Moines & Ankeny, IA centers today.