The Neopian Times has been brought to you from many generations of writers. Wonderful adventures of discovery and intriguing and informative articles have been emotively narrated to us by award-winning authors and young, imaginative Neopians. These talented scholars spend many tireless hours each week, toiling over battered notebooks and exhausting their pens to create masterpieces of literacy. Millions of characters, bursting with endless personality, owe their entire existence to the Neopian Times writers and the fame of many faeries, such as Illusen and Jhudora, originated and has continued to grow from articles and stories within the newspaper.
But is it really worth all that huge amount of effort? The only material gain from having work published in the Neopian Times is a trophy, except in special issues, such as Fyora Day, when successful writers may receive a selected item. To many Neopians, this may not be a justified award for such magnificent efforts. So, I made it my mission to investigate what is the driving force behind some Neopians' ambitions to become roving reporters for the Neopian Times.
1. The number one reason has been announced as many Neopians really want the trophy. The elegance of the golden, shiny quill is understandably enchanting to many. Also, many Neopians are attempting to gain a complete trophy cabinet, a great achievement for which the Neopian Times trophy is required.
2. Everyone has something they go bonkers for, and writing has been the passion of many Neopians. Many are amazed by all things wordy and find that happiness is embedded in the pages of a book or journal. Great enjoyment and fulfillment can be gained from a storytelling experience and isn't fun what the world of Neopia is supposed to be all about?
3. Practicing writing skills can be a daunting, boring but necessary task, but it is made so much more fun when the tool of imagination can be called upon to assist. I myself write for mainly this reason, although also for enjoyment and the feeling of satisfaction that walks hand in hand with achievement of this kind.
4. Published works are read by thousands of other Neopians and most writers receive many neomails of praise and admiration and even some containing words of constructive criticism! Some extremely talented authors have even managed to acquire groups of fans who restlessly wait for their next publication! Attention of this type is pleasing for many and the emotion of great pride is high on many Neopians' wish lists.
5. Witnessing the literature published by others generates a unique, indescribable perspective that forms a wonderful panoply of thoughts and emotions. Neopians who have never experienced this feeling may be confused by this, but it definitely boosts self-confidence and happiness levels considerably and, strangely, makes you want to do it all over again.
6. Some Neopians feel that Neopia needs a little bit extra creativity, the type which can only be gained by an adventure emerging from deep within someone's cranium. A few have made it their task to provide all neopets and owners with this missing, but vital, inspiration.
7. It is true, boredom can result in success! Some writers get frustrated, sitting in their neohome with nothing to do except read the Mystery of the Kougra Paw for the fifteenth time. This lack of something to do lures them to a chest of drawers containing a long forgotten and dusty notebook and a chewed tatty pencil. They then take a seat on their straw sofa and escape from their world of nothingness into a magical place within their mind where anything can happen if they imagine it for long enough.
8. Writing can allow the author to escape into their own world, away from moaning neopets and fussing neofriends. When Neopia is not being too kind and neopoints are scarce, writing is a great way of easily gaining access to the world of relaxation and harmony. You can become lost in your own thoughts and forget all your worries.
9. To show other people that what you can do. It's nice to display to other Neopians what you have written and listen to the 'oohs' and 'ahs' you receive in reply. The thought that you are making a masterpiece which others will get a lot of enjoyment out of is fantastic and makes you feel on top of Neopia.
10. Strange as it seems, characters in stories are sometimes so well described they could even seem to be real. I am sure many Neopians have had invisible and imaginary friends at some point in their lives, and characters can sometimes mean a lot to their creators because of the amount of time and effort spent bringing them to life. It's good to have someone to talk to, where you know they will appreciate every word you say.
11. Neopian Times avatars can be gained for being published over ten times or having a publication in special issues of the Neopian Times, such as the 350th or 250th issue.
12. The final, but probably most important and valid, reason is that fellow innocent Neopians must be warned about the dangerous threat that meepits pose. Neopia has yet to realise the true extent of the jeopardising situation we find ourselves in. These seemingly harmless creatures may look cute and angelic, but inside they are devilish little creatures and Neopian writers have made it their mission to ensure that the rest of Neopia realises this before it is too late.
Other writers of Neopia may have different, but just as interesting, reasons, but the most general and common ones are explained in my list. This should have helped you understand what goes on inside the mind and world of Neopia's leading authors so, next time you come across a Neopian writer, you will no longer be perplexed by their will to write rather than make conversation or play games. If you are thinking about becoming a writer yourself, make sure at least two of these reasons apply to you before writing as, if you don't find any of these reasons strong enough, you may find yourself dreadfully disappointed by the lack of recognition you receive once your article or story is published in the Neopian Times.


Asia Week New York | Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd.
SAKAEGI Masatoshi. IWASHIMIZU Vase, Japan, 2018. Celadon Glazed Porcelain. Left: 7 x 7.8 x 5.9 in. Right: 7 x 4.5 x 4.7 in.
ICHIKAWA Toru (1973- ). Tea Bowl (Celadon No.9). H 4 x Dia 4.4 in.
KATO Tsubusa (1962- ). Object 2. 2006. 34 x 20 in.


•  Managing the critical path through to final delivery.
•  Experience in fashion industry preferred, but not necessary.
•  Outgoing personality and excellent communication skills.
•  Process / follow up with buyers order.
•  Fluent in English and Spanish preferred.
•  Minimum 1-2 years experience.
•  Process web orders and follow-up with buyers until Ship processing.


Bovine colostrum supplementation prevents influenza more effectively than flu vaccination, according to a 2007 Italian study. Colostrum, a substance produced in mammary glands within 48 to 72 hours after a female mammal gives birth, abounds with nutrients, growth factors, and immune-supporting compounds, including antibodies. Bovine colostrum has a similar composition to human colostrum.
Nick: I have used colostrum with great effectiveness. In the past few years I have diagnosed several cases of appendicitis and used acupuncture, colostrum and another anti bacterial herb formula to help those people avoid surgery. In China, appendicitis is typically treated in this way with herbs and acupuncture. Approximately 20% of cases progress to needing surgery. I use Pure Encapsulation Colostrum with 40% IgG. It is quite useful for any intestinal infection. You can get it at Emerson Ecologics. See the top of this email for access information to their site.


Director Jonathan Frakes takes the crew to Section 31 headquarters, located in a former Riker's Island of space. We learn the backstory of two of Discovery's secondary characters and the solution to other, before the episode sets up our heroes to fight the System.
The genres we cover here have traditionally been less-likely to win, but that is less true now than at any time in film history.
Another slow week this week, but one with a few high profile titles.
Summer tends to see a lot of people exchanging vows, so we're going to run a very special list of the Greatest Genre Weddings.
The Handmaid's Tale continues, with society under pressure in the wake of recent events. The country remains a place run by hypocrites who insist they're acting in the name of God and national interest, who preach a pro-family message while separating children from parents, exalting men who commit sexual assault, and denouncing the supposed falseness of reports against them while spouting blatant lies and obvious propaganda.
The cracks and contradictions in this society grow more apparent, and some of its most devout citizens begin to tremble at the monster they've helped create.
The Dwindling Chapters leave us with two specials for Lucifer, (which is still canceled as far as I can find). Otherwise, Supergirl is surprised to see that Krypton was renewed. On the other side of the aisle, Legion… He's still beautiful and crazy.
We are nearing the season's end, or are at the end, and for at least one show, the return is Debatably Canceled. Lucifer ends, but there are two more episodes hiding somewhere that were originally moved to Season 4, but now may be part of a home video release. Supergirl deals with family members to fight the season's big bad. The Flash races his big bad to build a machine. Supergranddad has to decide if he wants to save a city in a bottle. Arrow advertises an Epic Final Battle, but still has two more episodes for the season.
Meanwhile Legion makes you question all of the ideas you've ever had including the sanity in trying to follow the show (but stays a beautiful high-budget art project) and the Agents wrap up their season, though they are renewed for an abbreviated sixth season. Then the "teens" of Riverdale wrap their season with an election.
The new series, based on Dan Simmons's historical horror novel, blew onto AMC last week, and continues Monday. The Terror presents a fictionalized dramatization of the Franklin Expedition's final months, and includes an element not found in any history book….


text:
Q: Enabling testing repo on manjaro pacman.conf I thought I would be able to simply add
[testing]
serverName = testing

[community-testing]
serverName = community-testing

below community and core but it can't see the server.
Reading the wiki suggests it may need the path specified e.g. .../testing/os
But I have been unable to successfully do this.
Basically I want to be able to install testing packages via terminal without the risk of updating my system to broken versions e.g.
pacman -S package testing

A: In Manjaro this seems to work slightly different. If you have a look at a repo structure you can see that this is something like
+ stable
| + community
| + core
| + extra
| + multilib
+ testing
| + community
| + core
| + extra
| + multilib

And if you check /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist you will notice the url looks like
https://mirror.23media.com/manjaro/stable/$repo/$arch

It only takes $repo and $arch as parameter. Thus to switch to testing follow the guidelines at Switching Branches

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


From the team at MACH 2 Simulations, we wish you a happy new year.
We have had a good year and are working hard on our various projects.
We have a various updates for our apps in the near future.
We hope your year has been good and the next is better.
See you in the new year, we hope you enjoy the show.
Happy New Year is a firework show game created by MACH 2 Simulations, it is completely free of charge and is available to download bellow. We hope you have fun watching the show and enjoy making your own shows.
Auld Lang Syne by Benjamin Orth (C) Copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.


Pop-ups are visually refreshing to the eyes whether you can actually feel them in your hands or you can only see them online. Website pop-ups are essential when you want your readers to be members of your website or a part of your mailing list. Book pop-ups will always be cool even for people who are still children at heart.In this article, you will find a list of pop-up design templates that you will love: You can also see Creative Email Pop-Up Designs.
This bundle from Medialoot is available for only $12. It has various layouts and color schemes that you can choose from. You can easily tweak and modify these templates using Photoshop.
This simple pop-up design by Oleg Frolov looks simple, clean, and refreshing to the eyes. We like how this looks straight-forward.
Reading books with pop-up drawing will always be an amazing experience. Just look at this book made by Tayrin Cruz. You will also love the bright colors and the intricate designs.
You can easily purchase this pop-up design template by signing up in Shutterstock. You can customize it in light to dark colors. You'll also love the minimal and the clean design.
This pop-up design looks cute with the earphones lying down on the bottom part of the template. You can also customize the background colors from light to darker tones.
We're pretty sure you'll to send out and receive pop-up postcards like these. They look so elegant and refined. What's fun is that you can request for a design you like.
This is another example of a pop-up window or push notification design template for your websites. You wouldn't be able to resist these colorful templates.
This pop-up design is suitable for small confirmation messages. Its simplicity is a fine thing because it is not distracting. The good news is that you can get this pop-up for free.
This informative pop-up design looks simple, nice and cute. The colors remind us of sweet things. The colors pink and light blue in this design might actually lighten up a gloomy day.
Beware of this book because it can definitely make you hungry. Not only that, the bright colors are so pleasing to the eyes that we doubt you will ever put this down.
There you have our list of pop-up designs that definitely caught our attention. These pop-ups are creatively and artistically made so you can hardly resist looking or browsing through them. From pop-up notifications to actual pop-up books, we appreciate that the artists poured a part of themselves and hard work in them.


text:
Zuma Press/PA Images
# child marriages
Turkey religious affairs state agency under fire for saying girls as young as nine could marry
The agency reportedly made the statement in a post on its website, which has since been removed.
TURKEY'S RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS state agency came under heavy criticism today from the main opposition party after it reportedly said girls as young as nine could marry under Islamic law.
The Diyanet religious affairs directorate said on Tuesday the minimum age for girls to marry was nine, while for boys it was 12, according to Turkish media including Hurriyet daily, quoting the agency's official website.
The post, which took the form of an explanatory statement on Islamic law, has since been taken down, after a backlash from the opposition and women's rights groups.
The head of the High Commission of Religious Affairs Ekrem Keles today told Hurriyet that the earliest age for a girl to marry is 17 and 18 for a boy.
"Forget a nine or a 10 year old child marrying, a child at 15 should not marry and should not be married," he said.
The legal age to get married in Turkey is 18.
But Turkish law says that in an extraordinary circumstance, a judge can give permission for a male and female aged 16 to marry.
The controversy touched a nerve in Turkey, where child marriages are not uncommon and the fight continues to raise girls' level of education.
Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) lawmaker Gaye Usluer accused the government of being "more interested in how to marry children at a young age when there needs to be talk on children's education, health".
Meanwhile CHP lawmaker Murat Bakan on Twitter said child marriages "violates children's rights, women's rights and human rights", adding that the party had called for a parliamentary investigation into child marriages.
Women's rights groups also criticised the agency, which is similar to a religious affairs ministry, accusing it of trying to legitimise child abuse and urging Diyanet to "get their hands off our children".
The ministry said it had "never and will never approve early marriages" in a statement, saying it was only defining Islamic law.
"Forcing girls to marry before psychological and biological maturity, and before they obtain the responsibility to become a mother and form a family is not compatible with Islam which says will and consent are conditions for marriage," it added.
Women's groups as well as Usluer raised concern over Diyanet's move coming after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved a controversial law in November allowing state-approved clerics to conduct marriage ceremonies.
"When we said 'if you give muftis (clerics employed by Diyanet) the power to conduct marriages, the issue of child brides will increase', this is what we meant," she said, according to CHP's website.
Opponents often claim that Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party are attacking the republic's secular foundations, claims dismissed by the government.
In 2016, the government was forced to throw out a bill that could have pardoned men convicted of child-sex assault after a public outcry.
© – AFP 2018
Read: Nearly 500 people on trial today for plotting Turkey coup – but the main suspect remains in US
Read: Trump's former security advisor 'held talks to deport a Turkish man in exchange for $15 million'
CHILD BRIDES CHILD MARRIAGES ISLAM RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN TURKEY
<iframe width="600" height="460" frameborder="0" style="border:0px;" src="https://www.thejournal.ie/https://www.thejournal.ie/turkey-child-marriage-3781317-Jan2018/?embedpost=3781317&width=600&height=460" ></iframe>
Email "Turkey religious affairs state agency under fire for saying girls as young as nine could marry".
Feedback on "Turkey religious affairs state agency under fire for saying girls as young as nine could marry".

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Baby Phoebe arrived thanks to a process called intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)
Mum and dad, Amy and Tom, tell the story
Tom – "Amy and I met at work – we're both teachers at a secondary school near Oxford. We'd bought a house and married but were having problems conceiving. The problem was that I'd had an undescended testicle as a child and this had impacted my fertility. We started thinking about IVF.
"Lockdown delayed our plans but as soon as the clinics were open, we were ready. We'd found Oxford Fertility on our own. We didn't realise how lucky we were to have it on our doorstep. Other friends haven't been so lucky.
"We opted to privately fund the process because otherwise we'd have to try to conceive naturally for two years before the NHS would consider us.
"So, I went for a semen analysis and luckily I had enough good quality sperm and it could be used. At the beginning of this process, we didn't know anything about ICSI – intracytoplasmic sperm injection – but this is what the clinic recommended, and it has made a massive difference to our lives. What happens is that they inject each individual sperm into an egg, rather than letting them fuse naturally. So, they make fertilisation happen. We ended up with nine eggs fertilised and three made it to day five."
Amy – "The egg collection was uncomfortable, but the transfer was fine - a bit like having a smear test. Unfortunately, though, the first cycle was unsuccessful. I guess that wasn't the Phoebe embryo. The second cycle was easier because we already had two embryos ready. They monitored my period and put in the embryos at the correct point in my cycle. After the first round I'd got my period the day before the official pregnancy test. The second time, though, I cheated. I took the test early.
"I couldn't tell you what it was, but I felt different this time. As soon as we'd left the clinic, I felt somehow lightheaded. So, it was three or four days before the official test date that I took the first pregnancy test. I did it in half light and got back into bed waiting for the two minutes to be up. I thought I saw a faint line, so I put the light on and said 'Tom, can you see a line? Can you see two lines?' Two lines meant I was pregnant. And we could, very faintly, see two lines.
"After that, I kept taking tests repeatedly just in case it changed. Then, on the required day, I took the official test the clinic had given me and logged the result. I was pregnant!
"For the first 16 weeks of the pregnancy I was incredibly sick and had heartburn. The last ten to twelve weeks were the best. It was great having a bump, especially once she started to kick.
"I wanted to use the Wantage maternity unit – a midwife led unit – for the birth. I planned to use gas and air and to have a water birth. But Phoebe had other ideas. She was delivered after 36 hours by forceps at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford. I never even made it to the maternity unit because my waters had broken, but the contractions hadn't started, so I needed antibiotics in case of infection. So, despite our careful planning, that's how Phoebe arrived."
Tom – "She's eight months old now and the main thing to say about our Phoebe is that she loves her food! A lot. She'll eat anything. We are currently 94 items into a list of 100 foods to try with her. She's a particular fan of Weetabix. She can eat as many Weetabix as an adult.
"She's at the crawling stage but she's crawling backwards. She'll see something she wants to investigate and then crawl away from it. Very frustrating for her.
"My feedback on the clinic is that I liked the honesty. They tell you the truth – sometimes directly. I like that. You don't feel you are being sold something. In fact, we are starting to investigate another round of IVF. We lost the first embryo and then used the other two for the second round, so we need to start from scratch."
Amy – "I'd like to do it sooner rather than later. As easy as the clinic made it, it was still a difficult process. We don't want it hanging over us. Even if we don't immediately opt to have the embryo transfer done, we'd rather have the eggs collected, fertilised and frozen than know that is lurking in the future at some point. As we're both teachers, we're thinking of doing this during a summer holiday when we have more time.
"Our main experience of the clinic was during lockdown. The waiting room was the car park. It could have been very formal, but the staff still gave you all the time you needed. I had to do most of the appointments without Tom there, but I never once felt alone."


Spring is cominggg! Ok not really- anyone who lives in Chicago knows that this weather is a mean trick played on us by the weather gods to keep us all from flying south for the winter. I mean come on- the forecast shows snow for Saturday, yet this week we hit a high of 68 degrees. However- embracing the warm weather while it's here, I've embarked on a massive closet clean out- and I have to say it's been wildly successful. My soul, wallet, and sanity are all exhaling with relief and I'm going to share with you my top 10 reasons why you should clean out your closet right now! Or maybe this weekend… you feel me? Let's do this!
You Haven't Worn That ___ In How Long? – Maybe you're super organized and turn your hanger the other way every time you wear something, or, if you're like me- you have a closet full of clothes, and nothing to wear! Go ahead and pull everything out of the closet. DO IT. This is where the magic happens.
Ooh- I Forgot About ___! – Yeah- me too. I found so many things shoved in my closet that I LOVE (or worse, I haven't worn yet). Finding loved items you've forgotten all about is like shopping without spending any money. Better yet- they're guaranteed to be your size!
New Hangers – Now that you've pulled everything out, look at your hangers- are they all different colors? Different sizes? Have any of those fancy wooden ones that bend really far and take up too much space? Let me help you- these are the hangers of your dreams. These black velvet hangers allow for clothes to cling to them and they're super slim- so you can get more in your closet. Plus the uniform look will instantly destress any woman or man who has a passion for fashion.
New Look, Who Dis? – Now that you've gotten rid of what you don't wear, and can see what you still love- what are you missing? Time to replace that blazer you've worn to death? Make a note. Clinging to tops you wore in college that you know you've out grown? Now's the time to start fresh and define what you want your look to be.
Sell Your Clothes – I made $170 off of my clothing at Crossroads Trading Co. and I plan on selling what I have left at a couple Plato's Closets before I donate what doesn't sell. I love selling my clothes. Most of what I am getting rid of is still in incredible condition and so places like Crossroads take what I no longer want and give me cash for it. Also- Kudo's to Crossroads for actually buying and selling clothing I would want- Plato's drives me nuts sometimes because they steer clear of business professional clothing (ummm hello??) and since my college attire is almost completely gone from my wardrobe, they usually send me back with the majority of what I bring in. All this to say- selling your clothing is a smart, savvy thing to do. Take that cash and use it to buy your new hangers, finish off that new wardrobe, or save it for a rainy day!
Do Donate – Once you've sold what you can, go ahead and find your closest Green City Project or Goodwill drop off. If you're reading this now, you're in luck because it's tax season! Goodwill includes a tax write off when you donate- so you can do some good and save a little on your taxes this spring!
Less Stuff Means Less Stress (And Laundry) – Take a deep breath, and realize that with fewer items to work with- you can make quicker decisions in the morning, and do less laundry! Spring cleaning has always been therapy for me, especially once I moved into a smaller space. Having less to worry about makes me a happy camper!
Pre-Plan Outfits – Get on Pinterest for inspo or save some instagram outfits you love with the new save feature and start replicating the looks with what you already have. I don't know about you- but spur of the moment outfit ideas don't come to me that often, and when getting ready on Friday night, I usually find myself in a panic. Putting together some outfits will make it 100 times easier to throw on what you own and feel confident in a rush, knowing you've already checked all the angles prior to wearing it out and about.
See What You're Missing – Do all of your pins revolve around the white denim you don't currently own? You sold your clothes right? Now you have the funds to go get you some hot pants for the summer. Boom.
Embrace less – Totally vibe-ing with your new wardrobe? Not missing what you got rid of, and not looking for anything you don't have? Embrace this! You just rocked a closet clean out, made some money and realized that you can do with less. As they say- less is more! Sure- maybe the 5 black tops you had all served a different purpose, but three will do. Enjoy your new closet and pat yourself on the back for minimizing your wardrobe while still being fabulous.
Let me know what happens when you try a closet clean out! As always- sharing is caring so click those fancy share buttons below and scroll alllllll the way down to leave me a comment!


text:
Grazing for answers about "grass-fed"
100% grass-fed cattle at the Lasater Ranch, Colorado
We're all familiar with the phrase "greenwashing" — when companies make their products sound more ecologically friendly than they actually are.
Now there's "grasswashing" — when food companies or farmers give the impression that their beef is 100% grass fed when it may not be.
Grass-fed beef is becoming popular. Which is why we have to know exactly what we're buying, not only for our health but for animal welfare concerns, too. We need to know if a "grass-fed" animal was ever fed any grain — and if so, how much? We need to know where the animal ate the grass — on pasture or in a feedlot?
Where's the beef (from?) Australia, in this case.
Here are 6 common questions about the grass-fed label — and some answers:
How do I know it's 100% grass-fed meat?
If you simply see "grass-fed" on a package (as in the photo above) it means the farm or food company submitted paperwork to the USDA stating that a 100% grass diet was fed to the animals. If some grain was allowed, producers must state that in their paperwork and their label must say the meat was 50%, 75%, 90% grass-fed — whatever the case may be.
Note that the USDA does not visit farms to check up on them — producers can apply for a special "USDA Grass-Fed" label and be audited, but very few farms have requested this so far. Also note that the USDA definition of "100% grass fed" requires animals to be on pasture during the grazing season, but not in colder months; animals might be continuously confined during that time.
For the strongest guarantee of 100% grass-fed meat, look for the American Grassfed label or the Animal Welfare Approved/Certified Grass-Fed label (more on them below). These labels indicate that a third-party, independent farm audit was performed.
Of course, many small-scale local farmers raise 100% grass-fed meat, but most of them don't get certified. Find farmers you can trust.
Is a "grass-fed" animal also a "pasture-raised" animal?
Most of the time, yes — farmers tend to keep their grass-fed animals on open pasture during the grazing season because it's easier and cheaper than bringing them bales of hay (dried grass). In winter, if there's no grass on the ground, an animal might be housed indoors for a period of time and fed hay. See this post for more.
Isn't all American beef "grass-fed" at some point?
Yes – all beef cattle in America are grazed on open land until the age of about 6 months. But then the calves are sent to industrial feedlots to fatten up on grain until they're slaughtered about a year later. So if a farmer or food company says, "We grass-feed our cattle up to 6 months of age," they're really grain-feeding their animals — and you're being grasswashed!
What's the difference between the AGA and AWA grass-fed certifications?
The American Grassfed Association (AGA) has been certifying farms & ranches since 2009. Today, its label can be found on the products of more than 200 farms & ranches. Animal Welfare Approved (AWA) — better known for certifying farms for humane treatment — launched its spinoff label for grass-fed products in America in January. It has already 10 certified grass-fed producers in Canada.
Both the AGA and AWA certifications ban feedlot confinement, ban antibiotics and hormones to promote growth, and have a full-time pasture requirement. (In winter, producers can confine animals when the health or life of the animal is at risk; otherwise animals must be kept outside, with hay brought to them, or allowed in-and-out access to barns.)
I feel that both programs have tremendous integrity, but here's where they differ:
AGA requires animals to be born and raised in America; AWA doesn't.
AGA allows animals to receive nutritional supplements under emergency circumstances, but they're not grain-based (think beet pulp, almond hulls, flax seed). AWA does not allow supplements.
If an animal needs antibiotics for illness, AWA allows those animals to be certified and sold, as long as a "withdrawl period" takes place between treatment and slaughter; AGA does not allow antibiotic-treated animals to be sold at all.
AWA's grass-fed certified farms must also comply with AWA's humane protocols; AGA certification focuses on the health and nutrition of the animal and does not include humane standards.
Is all grass-fed meat sold in America raised in America?
No! The American market is currently being flooded with grass-fed beef from Australia and South America. International producers must follow the same USDA paperwork requirements as American producers, as outlined in the first question above.
Can pork and chicken be called "grass-fed"?
No. Pigs and chickens don't thrive if they eat only grass. You'll never hear a farmer talk about "grass-fed pork" or "grass-fed chicken." But cattle, goats, sheep, and bison (ruminant animals, with four stomachs) evolved to eat only grass — which is why grain-fed beef is truly a modern invention.
Bottom line: If you see "grass-fed" on a package, you're getting 100% grass-fed, as long as the producer was honest in their USDA paperwork. Buy AGA or
White Oak Pastures beef, AGA approved
AWA certified meat for a stronger guarantee. Ask questions of your local farmer, such as "Where do you house your animals in winter?" and "Do you feed your animals any grain?"
A key point: Perhaps you don't want 100% grass-fed meat. The taste and texture of meat is influenced by the amount of fat in it, and grass-fed beef tends to have less fat (though not always). To appeal to Americans' love of fat, some farmers "grain-finish" their grass-fed animals by feeding a few weeks' worth of corn or soy toward the end of an animal's life, which creates marbling. From a humane standpoint, I consider this acceptable if the grain is given over a brief amount of time and the animal is not severely confined.


Keeping my pens, pencils and art journal out on the kitchen table each day has improved my happiness significantly as it distracts me from the intense negative emotions that come flying in and out from my children. But since Christmas has come and gone, my Christmas lights are falling down and I've become lost in the left over tinsel and lindt balls, how do I remember to make sure I am happy amongst the chaos?
Well being is growth for you and your relationships. Through Seligman's positive psychology research, he has found that cultivating those positive emotions makes it easier to experience them naturally. This means that you can train your brain to experience happy feelings more regularly and more intensely when you practice being present for them each day.
My life is fantastic but sometimes those high emotion dramas from my children can feel like there is more negative than positive in the air so it is my 2015 goal to achieve well being daily by pinning this article on my fridge. (I seem to go to my fridge more than anything else all day).
I think even if you're not a parent there are some great tips. We all can get caught in the moment, focusing on the negative of any given situation. Applying the PERMA model might make those moments not so hard to handle.


text:
Strictly Films
Quick Views
Retro Talk
The Rental; Tone is All Over the Place, as Dave Franco's First Feature is Nothing Special. Grade: C-
The Rental tells a story about two couples, whom rented out a gorgeous house by the beach for the weekend. As the couple thought this was going to be a grand mini vacation, turns out to be their worst nightmare, as someone is watching them closely.
The Cinematography t'was fine in this film. Some shots were hard to make of what's going on, as the picture looked a bit too dark make of anything going on. I'm not the first one to notice it, apparently those whom watched this at the Drive-In said the exact same thing. I will say the shots I oddly enjoy were when there is steam/fog present, thought those shots were shot very well. The Score was forgettable for the most part, pretty much a standard horror composed score you probably heard a thousand times before. The cast all in all were fine as well. Alison Brie playing Michelle played a fine performance. Where Alison Brie struggles is the ability to make the audience believe she's on drugs, could be due to poor direction, but there should've been moments where her character is tripping hard during a very terrible situation. Michelle as a character was pretty basic, though I will say I was rooting for her in the third act, cheering her on so that's something worth celebrating I guess. Dan Stevens playing Charlie played a solid performance. Charlie maybe the most unlikable character for the right reasons. He's selfish, stubborn, and honestly a douche bag. How he thinks of his brother and what he does to his brother makes me vomit honestly, here's a guy trying to pick up his feet, yet all his brother does is criticize him and even worst trying to take away the source of his progression. Shelia Vand playing Mina had a fine performance. The character Mina herself is honestly the worst character, as she appears to be a whiny little child, who is also selfish as well. Throughout the vacation she whines about how the landlord of this house. I get this guy maybe a douche bag, but are you going to choose to ruin your own happiness by thinking about this guy?! You're with your boyfriend and friends, just have a good time. Lastly Josh played by Jeremy Allen White had a solid performance as well. The character Josh was fine on paper, a man trying to figure himself out as he had a rough past. We care about the character because he's vulnerable as you would like to see him continue his success of progression.
So this is Dave Franco's first feature film, a well known cool actor you've seen in comedies and sometimes dramas. As an actor Dave Franco is enjoyable on screen, may not be as good as his brother, but certainly has the personality to be in films. From the looks of The Rental, certainly Dave Franco has a lot of work to do going forward with his film making career, as this certainly wasn't special by any means.
What bothers me about The Rental, is the lack of originality. Sure this takes place at an Air BnB, the thing is it's not any different compared to a hotel. So when I think of this film, I think of much better horror films taken place in this setting, whether it be 1408, Vacancy, and heck throw in Identity since this film almost attempted a physiological approach. I also thought of 13 Cameras while partaking this film, as this film also features a crazy guy that puts up hidden cameras in this house. Difference is the crazy guy in 13 Cameras appears to be an actual character in that film, though he appears completely insane, at least he was far more entertaining and even worth saying original than the antagonist in this film. The antagonist in this film is only shown the last ten minutes, as his appearance felt a bit dull for my taste. He's just some psychopath with a cheap knock off mask we've seen thousands of times before in horror.
The story itself is mediocre at best. Starts off slow, then picks itself up, then just goes on a steady yet uneventful slope till the end credits. The beginning was honestly very boring, it's due to the fact the dialogue in this film is pretty weak. You have grown adults saying many cuss words in their vocabulary, in which the film maker wants you to be invested in these conversations, yet fails because the dialogue is never once interesting, smart, nor goes on par with the description of our characters. Where the film picked up for me is when Mina finds the hidden camera, as the film finally started to become engaging. Due to what our characters do in the house, they would certainly not go forward in contacting the authorities, as the characters had personal issues of their own that is caught on camera, so at least it made sense as you're invested in what happens going forward.
I think the problem with this film, is the fact it takes on many different tones. On one hand it's a drama, next thing it could be a physiological drama, then becomes a slasher horror... All tones don't really mesh well together. I would've liked to have this film as a physiological drama, where paranoia would be the real antagonist in this film. Instead it ends as a slasher horror film as it was just kind of lame to be honest. It's one thing to be influence by other horror films, yet you have to do make significant changes. Having this film set in an Air BnB is not a significant change other than the setting itself, you have to make changes in the story that way cliches we've seen a thousand times before don't become noticeable from a mile away. The predictability in this film also irritated me, I predicted what was bound to happen several times as I got it right every single time... That's not what you want in a horror film. Be bold, be creative, try new things that horror fans have never seen before. Don't mimic other horror films, unless you want to create something that is truly not special and will certainly be forgotten within a couple weeks. I don't think this film is by any means bad, but certainly could've been much better, or even exciting because this felt dull for what it was going for.
Overall, The Rental is mediocre. I honestly don't recommend this film, certainly not really worth the money nor time even, just watch the horror films I said were better. 13 Cameras may not be good either, but at least I can say it's entertaining to a certain degree, compared to the likes of The Rental. Dave Franco you are a cool actor may and I love ya, but man oh man please improve going forward if you choose to make another film. -Mitch Smietana
News of the World; Grade: B
The Marksman; 2021 Theatrical Releases Start Off With a Quiet Knock. Grade: D+
Pieces of a Woman; Grade: B
©2019 by Strictly Films. Proudly created with Wix.com


text:
Ventilators distributed to 4 hospitals
Photo Credit: City Government of Davao
THE CITY government said that it has provided respiratory support to four private hospitals.
It said the support was its response to the request of the Department of Health as among those that have been provided with these sets, costing about P1.2 million each, were the Alterado General Hospital, Davao Medical School Foundation, Davao Doctors Hospital, and Anda Riverview Hospital.
The same hospitals were among several private hospitals that also received personal protective equipment (PPEs) from the city government.
Among those that have been accepting COVID-19 patients which have gotten assistance from the city government were Davao Doctors Hospital, Metro Davao Medical and Research Inc., Davao Medical School Foundation, San Pedro Hospital, Adventist Hospital Davao, Malta Medical Center, Inc., and Medical Mission Hospital.
Other hospitals included the Alterado General Hospital, St. John of the Cross Hospital, Anda Riverview Medical Center, Cure Philippines Inc., Davao Mediquest Hospital Inc., Gig Oca Robles Seamen's Hospital, Holy Spirit Community Hospital, Isaac T. Robillo Memorial Hospital, and Ricardo Limso Medical Center, Inc.
It said that it has distributed 12,000 KN95 masks, 6,000 face shields, 3,400 boxes of face mask, 23,000 pieces of foot cover, 5,700 head caps, 13,600 isolation gowns, 9,000 PPE suits, and 600 boxes of gloves.


text:
Alana and Chris
Alana Lynn
Allie B.
Tag Archives: Grand Ole Opry
This weekend Carly Pearce made an appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, "Never pass up a chance to perform on my favorite stage." This was Carly's 79th appearance since her Opry debut in May of 2015, and from the stage she addressed the socially distanced crowd with, "Welcome to my favorite place in the entire…… MORE
Watch Chris Young Honor Charley Pride by Singing "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'" on the Opry
The Grand Ole Opry tallied its 4,954th consecutive Saturday night broadcast on Dec. 12 with a showcase featuring Scotty McCreery, Brett Young, Dennis Quaid and Chris Young. Earlier in the day on Dec. 12, news broke that Charley Pride, 86, died in Dallas, Texas, due to complications from Covid-19. Chris Young decided to honor Charley…… MORE
Rhonda Vincent to Be Inducted Into the Grand Ole Opry on Feb. 6
Award-winning bluegrass artist Rhonda Vincent will be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on Feb. 6. The Opry revealed the news during its bluegrass showcase on Dec. 5 that featured performances by Del McCoury, The Travelin' McCourys, Brooke and Darin Aldridge, and Sister Sadie. Rhonda was invited to join the Opry in February 2019, with…… MORE
Trace Adkins, Matt Stell & More to Perform on the Opry on Nov. 28
The Grand Ole Opry will tally its 4,952nd consecutive Saturday night broadcast on Nov. 28 with a showcase featuring Trace Adkins, Matt Stell, John Conlee, Dusty Slay, Charlie McCoy and more. A one-hour portion of the show will air live on Circle Television at 8 p.m. CT. The show will also stream live on Circle's…… MORE
Oak Ridge Boys, Jon Pardi, Cam & More to Perform on the Grand Ole Opry on Nov. 14
The Grand Ole Opry will tally its 4,950th consecutive Saturday night broadcast on Nov. 14 with a showcase featuring Jon Pardi, Cam, the Oak Ridge Boys, Bill Anderson, John Conlee, Charlie Worsham and more. A one-hour portion of the show will air live on Circle Television at 8 p.m. CT featuring Jon Pardi, Cam and…… MORE
Brantley Gilbert, Justin Moore, Craig Morgan & More to Perform on the Grand Ole Opry on Nov. 7
The Grand Ole Opry will tally its 4,949th consecutive Saturday night broadcast on Nov. 7 with a showcase featuring Craig Morgan, Brantley Gilbert, Justin Moore, John Conlee, Jeannie Seely, Suzy Boggus and more. A one-hour portion of the show will air live on Circle Television at 8 p.m. CT featuring Craig, Brantley and Justin. The…… MORE
Watch Reba McEntire's Special Performance of "Fallin' Out of Love"
Reba McEntire celebrated the 30th anniversary of her 1990 album, Rumor Has It, by re-releasing the project on Sept. 11. Reba's iconic album featured four Top 10 hits, including "You Lie," "Rumor Has It," "Fancy" and "Fallin' Out of Love." "I never imagined I'd get the chance to put out an album for a second…… MORE
Watch Vince Gill Honor Mac Davis With Beautiful Rendition of "In the Ghetto" at the Opry
Vince Gill helped welcome attendees back to the Grand Ole Opry on Oct. 3 as part of a showcase that also featured Dierks Bentley, Terri Clark and Lorrie Morgan. During his set, Vince paid tribute to singer/songwriter Mac Davis with a beautiful rendition of "In the Ghetto." Mac, who passed away on Sept. 28 at…… MORE
Opry to Celebrate 95th Anniversary in October With Little Big Town, Dierks Bentley, Carly Pearce, Clint Black & More
The Grand Ole Opry will celebrate its 95th anniversary with a number of shows in October featuring Dierks Bentley, Little Big Town, Carly Pearce, Vince Gill, Clint Black, Lauren Alaina, Josh Turner, Brandy Clark, Chris Janson and more. Oct. 3: Dierks Bentley, Terri Clark, Vince Gill, Lorrie Morgan Oct. 10: Carly Pearce, Jeannie Seely, Josh…… MORE
Opry to Welcome In-Person Audience Back on Oct. 3 With Dierks Bentley, Vince Gill, Terri Clark & Lorrie Morgan
The Grand Ole Opry will welcome patrons back to its iconic venue on Oct. 3 with a showcase featuring Dierks Bentley, Terri Clark, Vince Gill and Lorrie Morgan. The Grand Ole Opry has aired without an audience present since March 19 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The in-venue audience will be capped at 500 guests…… MORE
670 KBOI Guest BLOG: Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra
670 KBOI Guest BLOG: Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra Superintendent Ybarra praises Gov. Little's continued commitment to education Monday's State of the State address by Gov. Brad Little offered welcome news to educators and families throughout Idaho. "Investing in Idaho's public schools continues to be the top priority for Gov. Little, with a particular…
670 KBOI Guest BLOG: IEA President Layne McInelly
670 KBOI Guest BLOG: IEA President Layne McInelly Governor's Budget Shows Promise, but Lacks Bold Vision Needed "Governor Little's budget proposal checks some important boxes, but it lacks the bold vision and initiative Idaho students deserve. Idaho's prosperous economy, a budget surplus of more than $600 million, and a growing population make this an ideal time…
Santa's Shopping list
Kissin 92.3 is hooking you up with some free groceries!! All you need to do is keep track of Santa's shopping list! We are sending Santa shopping and adding a new item to his list every weekday at: 8am, 10am, noon, 3pm and 5pm Every morning Alana and Chris will ask for the previous days…
Worthington BLOG: From Patriot to Punchline
From Patriot to Punchline By Rick Worthington 9/3/20 Have you ever tried to do something good, but went about doing it the wrong way? I think, that is what we saw from Ammon Bundy during the Special Session in Idaho. I fear those actions have tainted the man's reputation as a freedom fighter to what…


text:
Q: Ruby on Rails - unable to open mySQL command line I am able to open the mySQL command line doing the following steps:
depot>mysql -u root
mysql>CREATE DATABASE depot_production DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8;
mysql>GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON depot_production.* TO 'gotqn' IDENTIFIED BY 'mypass';
mysql>EXIT;

then changing my config/database.yml
production:
  adapter: mysql2
  encoding: utf8
  reconnect: false
  database: depot_production
  pool: 5
  username: gotqn
  password: mypass
  host: localhost

and final typing:

gotqn:~/Aptana Projects/depot$mysql depot_production

gives me:

ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'gotqn'@'localhost' (using
  password: NO)

I've supposed that I should specified a password but typing:

gotqn:~/Aptana Projects/depot$mysql depot_production mypass

just shows me the some variables information.
I am using:

*

*Rails 3.2.8

*mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.5.28, for debian-linux-gnu (x86_64) using
readline 6.2

*Ubuntu LTS 12.04

A: Configuration file config/database.yml is for Ruby, not for mysql command line tool. For command line tool use correct syntax:
mysql --user=user_name --password=your_password db_name

by default it uses your current logged in user if --user=user_name is omited.

A: In database.yml use username as root:
production:
  adapter: mysql2
  encoding: utf8
  reconnect: false
  database: depot_production
  pool: 5
  username: root
  password:
  host: localhost

A: Create the user in mysql as @'localhost'
    mysql>GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON depot_production.* TO 'gotqn'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'mypass';


text:
EAC alum baller James will be with Brooklyn Nets for the playoffs
May 17, 2021 May 16, 2021 - by News Director
Photo Courtesy NBA: Kevin Durant gives a high-five to Mike James. The EAC alum is making a name for himself on the Brooklyn Nets as the team heads into the playoffs.
By Jon Johnson
jonjohnsonnews@gmail.com
BROOKLYN – Former Eastern Arizona College hoopster Mike James signed with the Brooklyn Nets of the NBA for the rest of the season and post-season.
James, who starred at EAC in the 2008-10 seasons, previously signed two 10-day contracts after coming over from CSKA Moscow in Russia, where he played last. Before that, James had very successful stints in Greece and Italy.
📼 @TheNatural_05 got right to it in Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/tCGWt1Tqsj
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) May 13, 2021
"It's a big ask to play on a different team in a different country, league, for a different coach, different rules, to come back here and adapt quickly into a team that has big aspirations and clearly has some superstars and a hierarchy already set," Nets head coach Steve Nash told Brooklyn Nets beat writer Tom Dowd. "We love his talent, we love his potential, there's been some inconsistency in his play, which is really natural, considering all those parameters I expressed. He's still been really valuable to us, and he's added a lot to our team. So we understand that it's not an easy and straightforward situation to jump into and he's done really well."
James has meshed well with superstars Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Blake Griffin, and ASU alum James Harden. On Saturday, James was involved in one of the Nets' plays of the year as Griffin snagged a loose ball and tossed it behind his back to Irving. Irving then fed James who was racing down the court and James bounced it off the backboard for an assist to Durant who slammed it home.
"ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR!"@BrooklynNets things. 🤯🤯🤯 pic.twitter.com/tdDRDkjrcB
— NBA (@NBA) May 17, 2021
James ended the regular season with 14 points on 6-16 shooting, with 4 rebounds and 8 assists in a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. He is averaging 7.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists in 18 minutes per game for the season.
Brooklyn is the No. 2 seed in the East and will face the Boston Celtics versus Washington Wizards play-in game-winner.
TaggedMike JamesNBA
Wildcats field inaugural soccer team, host Tombstone on Friday
Wildcats venture to Roughrider Country on Friday
Previous Article Wanted man found hiding on resident's house after chase
Next Article Christensen pleads guilty to DUI-drug, resisting arrest


TSE has pioneered another solution to enhance the overall effectiveness of their protective programs and services with the roll-out of the Crime Watch Operation.
Taking effect on June, 1, 2016 – the program will give people in and around the locations that we provide services for a way to communicate information with the agency.
Information that can be shared anonymously, and can even provide tipsters with up to a $1,000 reward for their information.
To learn more about the programs' highlights, visit our Crime Watch page. You can also download the Crime Watch Press Release to read more.


HILO, Hawaii (AP) - One of Hawaii's newest volcanic fissures is in need of a name and the state is asking for suggestions.
The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported Thursday that the state Board of Geographic Names has formed a committee to give a moniker to one of the two dozen land vents that formed during the 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption in 2018.
The newspaper reports that the Permitted Action Group is expected to meet twice this year with the community in Puna on the Big Island to recommend names for fissure 8, which produced the most voluminous lava flow of the eruption.
The newspaper reports that as of March 11, the board has received 15 proposed names including the Hawaiian words for regeneration, creation, new beginnings, raging fire, and hill of destruction.


Refresh your wardrobe with the Roma Wool Trousers from Meyer. This pair presents a straight leg fit with elegant pressed pleat detailing. Working a hatched weave texture, they feature button-detailed pockets on the reverse and are complete with a wide buckle belt. Coordinate with a crisp shirt for days in the office.


This padlet by Jillian Bamford is private.
If you own the Jillian Bamford (jibamford) account or an account that has access to this padlet.
Create a Padlet account and we'll send a nice note asking Jillian Bamford to let you in.


text:
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@class AdConfiguration;

NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_BEGIN

@interface PBMAutoRefreshManager : NSObject

- (instancetype)initWithPrefetchTime:(NSTimeInterval)prefetchTime
                        lockingQueue:(nullable dispatch_queue_t)lockingQueue
                        lockProvider:(_Nullable id<NSLocking> (^ _Nullable)(void))lockProvider
                   refreshDelayBlock:(NSNumber * _Nullable (^)(void))refreshDelayBlock
                  mayRefreshNowBlock:(BOOL (^)(void))mayRefreshNowBlock
                        refreshBlock:(void (^)(void))refreshBlock NS_DESIGNATED_INITIALIZER;

- (instancetype)init NS_UNAVAILABLE;

- (void)setupRefreshTimer;
- (void)cancelRefreshTimer;

@end

NS_ASSUME_NONNULL_END

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


A great place, with very low light pollution and accessible with a car. Surprising for a location with an altitude of nearly 2500m. Although it is a good starting point for several hikes we went up to spend the night near the lake and to check out the location.
The view from the top, looking back towards the road up.
The location is great and I plan to go up again when I find a chance with my time coinciding with a new moon and a time of year when it is still possible to drive up there without a snowmobile.
This image was taken while I was waiting for the last rays of sun to disappear. The cloud was shrinking while I was watching it. It completely disappeared as the last rays of sun did.
I had to wait a lot longer for the sky to darken to the point when I could get start to get some good star shots, as there was still a half moon which took a long time to set, but it was worth it.
I was trying out a few different techniques and some didn't work quite as I had wanted or expected, so there aren't more star images for the time being.
We took our camping equipment along and set it up, but I didn't really use it. I spent most of the night watching the stars and then waiting for the sunrise.
Obviously this isn't the image that was taken with the setup in the previous image as this is landscape and the other is portrait, but it was taken a few moments later after I changed the orientation.
I've included this image as it was taken during the trip, but it was done from a car while on the motorway travelling home; I wasn't driving. I like it and in some way I'm a bit proud of this one. I had a 150-600mm on the camera at the time, with no chance to change it. As I didn't have much time, literally less than a minute between two tunnels and had to manually focus at 120km/h. The auto focus is a little slow and the focus peaking makes manual relatively easy.
I got off six shots, but the others had motor signs, poles or bits of trees in them. You can still see a little bit of the motorway barrier at the bottom of this one, but it is the best one.
Admittedly there was a lot of luck involved, but for me it also shows that my understanding of the camera and its functions is improving.


Complete the quick form below for your Free Full Working Trial Download of CashManager - it's that simple!
The CashManager evaluation is a full working version and gives you a great insight into the product by allowing you to enter and process up to 50 transactions with an additional 150 existing to make the reports effective.
Download a copy today and discover how easy it is to manage your business accounts with CashManager accounting software!
Note: Please do not install the 'Cashwin' file if you are already using CashManager.


Simul focal model. Rwatch. Mastech ms8268Set microscope. 718qs. P6100 maximum input: Amperimetro 3.0000a. Ac dc multimeter digital. I stick 80. L301 l310. Wintact. 400.0/4.000k/40.00k/400.0k/4.0m/40m ohm. 40mm eyepiece. Digital thermometer ph meter.
-50 ~ 330℃ (-58~626℉).. Ammeter voltmeter ohm. Sa675. Lamp alarm clock. Dc voltage 400.0mv-600v. Indoor outdoor industial househould. Needles ink. Multimeter 6000. Wholesale inverter pure wave sine. Zeast. Exit pupil diameter: Eyepiece olympus. 0.1c / f. Range of measuring: -40 to +125c/ - 40 to +257f.


text:
« Joel Radio Live at O'Maras Comedy Night February 27, 2014
Joel Radio #125: We Lost The Ford Plant »
Joel Radio #124: Know What I'm Sayin?
It's back to the studio, as Joel Radio welcomes the return of John Tenney to the podcast. Last week's live event is on the forefront of Joel's mind however, as he recaps the challenges of recording a live show, the new equipment he used and the pressure of writing an all-new comedy set. Joel and John listen back to Joel's set critiquing the material in an attempt to figure out why some stronger jokes died and some weaker ones succeeded, and why local references, topical jokes and arcane references should be avoided. The guys also review the amazing, incomprehensible performance of Nino Brown, who strolled on to the comedy stage with a full month's notice and managed to yell, curse and make other indescribable noises to the delight of Tenney, who is planning a potential CD release of Nino's material. Even a tardy Corey Hall can't deny how funny the set is on playback, despite the fact that he got up and left the room as it was happening live. The bad comedy doesn't stop there, however, as Seth Myers makes his late night debut, and even if it's better than Jimmy Fallon's debut, there's still a long way to go. Plus, a full Oscar recap including Travolta's hair and intro mishap, why 12 Years a Slave won all the awards, and the sheer awfulness that was Ellen Degeneres. Hey Ellen, a woman wearing a tuxedo should not tell another woman she looks like a dude. Read more Oscar and late night snarking on the official Joel Radio Twitter @joelradioshow.
The official Oscar review from the staff of JoelRadio.net
Comedy, Ellen Degeneres, Joel Radio Twitter, Nino Brown, Oscars, Seth Myers
Print article This entry was posted by joel on March 7, 2014 at 2:37 pm, and is filed under Shows. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
#1 written by Raven Storm
Holy shit! Where's the Jive Lady when you need her!? Funny show 🙂
Joel Radio #267: The Return of Comedy
about 3 months ago - No comments
It looks like stand-up comedy is returning, even in a smaller, socially-distanced way, and Joel talks to the formerly retired comedian Ted Moss about what's about to happen. Joel tells you about The Comedy Castle's new procedures for the November re-opening and is proud to announce the return of the Advanced Comedy Class! Ted has…
Joel Radio #258: Pure Quality
about 11 months ago - No comments
A lot of ground is covered on this show, as Ted Moss returns to re-cap the Oscars with Joel and talk about his own podcast. Joel discusses which Oscar picks he got wrong and (mostly) right, and why Parasite really deserved to win. The guys also discuss podcast audio quality, toilet paper budgets, travel nightmares,…
Joel Radio #257: Movie Mania 2020
The giant, be-all-end-all movie review and Oscar preview show is here for 2020. It's the biggest Joel Radio of the year, and Joel is joined by a new guest co-host, comedian Jason Fylan-Mares, who shares his best and worst films of the year. But wait, Corey Hall returns from a public radio booking to add…
about 1 year ago - No comments
Another year, another million or so movies watched by Joel and Corey Hall to make this podcast. You'll hear each guy's list of the best movies of 2018, find out what the worst of the year were, too, plus get their thoughts on what will and what should win at The Oscars. Find out which…
Joel Radio #214: You Can't Choose Your Fans
Joel and Corey Hall discuss the funniest comics off-stage, which is not something a lot of people consider when it comes to comedy success. The guys talk the best "hangs" in comedy and the superstar they'd rather see interviewed than actually performing stand-up. This also plays in to a recent high-profile fight a recent friend…
It's the annual rundown of the best and worst films of 2017 on the annual Joel Radio Movie Mania extravaganza. Joel and Corey Hall have made their lists of the top fifteen films they liked the most from 2017 – and there's some obscure ones in there, too – so if you're looking for something…
After the debacle that was the 2017 Oscars, Joel does his annual movie review show telling you all the best films of 2016 that you might have missed and which Oscar picks were just plain wrong. He is joined in this by movie critic-at-large Corey Hall, who returns to the show for the first time…
Joel Radio #187: Radio Ed
Joel welcomes "young" comedian, radio DJ and good guy Ed Hunter to the podcast. Ed and Joel have known each other for a while, but Ed's role in a major American historical event – the funeral of President John F. Kennedy is fascinating. Ed shares his story of being a precocious child and writing to…
Joel Radio #170: Because We Care
about 4 years ago - 4 comments
It's an unusual show, but it's unusual to have so many great comedians under one roof. Joel and Corey Hall performed at a benefit show for The Fallen and Wounded Soldiers Fund at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, Michigan and captured the behind the scenes stories and goofing off that goes on at these…
Joel Radio #167: #OscarsSoLame
After doing a bang up job recapping the best movies of 2015 last show, Joel and Corey Hall have their review of Hollywood's official movie show – The Academy Awards 2016. Unfortunately, the show was a joyless mess of preachy speeches and liberal guilt. While the guys love Chris Rock, his one-note "it's all white…
nils on Joel Radio #265: The One-Way Aisle of Life
MichiganRich on Joel Radio #264: Goodbye Corey Hall
LISA green on Joel Radio #264: Goodbye Corey Hall
Laura Lou on Joel Radio #264: Goodbye Corey Hall
nils on Joel Radio #264: Goodbye Corey Hall
Mystique theme by digitalnature | Powered by WordPress | [link rss]


text:
The Kicker Blog
Making the road safer one car at a time.
Auto Health and Safety
After Accident Action Steps
Buying a Safe Car
Car EDC & How-To Page
Pinterest Pins We Love
The Chemical Composition of a Car
January 17, 2020 January 7, 2020 / tirekickers	/ Leave a comment
The purpose for examining the Chemical Composition of a Car is to search out ways to make cars safer, lighter, stronger etc. Anything a car company learns from such investigation then goes through a lengthy analysis but does eventually result in improvements to the vehicle itself or to the manufacture process—but it doesn't happen overnight.
Shell:
A car is mostly steel, which is an alloy (not just a compound) of mainly iron and carbon. The difference between a compound and an alloy isn't terribly technical. Compounds are two or more elements combined by whatever means, that bond chemically to form a new substance. Think of it more like baking a cake, where the results are not only more than the sum of the parts, but the entire nature of whole is transformed into something new. An alloy, on the other hand, results from introducing metals of different kinds into a molten steel. The effect is to produce something that is fundamentally the same as it would have been, except that it takes on properties from the foreign element. Think of it like adding high carbon steel to low carbon steel to produce a sword that in not brittle but is hard enough to hold an edge.
Steel is used for low cost as well as being resistant to corrosion. A car also contains an amount of aluminium which has steadily increased in price in recent decades. One main reason for price hikes in aluminium is the large amount of electricity used in it's manufacture. More expensive renewable energy, plus more things (like cars) that run on electricity causes the price to skyrocket. Using aluminium is an attempt to make the car as light as it can be.
The shell of a car undergoes a phosphorous acid bath. Phosphorous acid is a compound of phosphorous, hydrogen and oxygen (all acids contain hydrogen, by the way). Although not the safest chemical to use it is has been granted Safer Choice Criteria, meaning that it is currently the lesser of the available evils.
Gas and engine oil is made of hydrocarbons which enter the environment as a result of car usage. The current thinking is that the best way to reduce gas emissions is to employ solar energy or electric power, but many European countries have invested in "clean diesel," which is less processed than car gas and contains more energy. But again such an alteration won't happen quickly. Engine oil may need also to be altered but what to alter it to is still a mystery.
A substantial change to the composition of gas occurred in about the 1990s when leaded petrol was phased out, even if it happened at different times in various states. The reason why lead (or to be more precise a chemical compound containing lead) was used since about 1925 to this decade is that it was felt that it was almost impossible to do otherwise. Frank Howard said that lead was a "Gift from God" and as with everything else it's hard to change the establishment.
Though an engine is all about converting chemical compounds many do not stop and think what chemicals are in the actual engine itself. A number of the parts are plastics, including flow passages and molded composite parts. Luckily in recent years plastic materials have been replaced by a safer metal.
There is extensive research going into the use of ceramics in engines. Sounds a bit crazy but the Japanese are doing pretty cutting-edge things with ceramics that are superior in weight to strength ratio, until they hit certain temperatures. The Jury is out, but…
Rubber which makes the tires as well as various items in the car is mostly carbon and oxygen but also contains trace elements of Zinc, sulfur and other elements. Rubber can't really be described as environmentally sound though. On one hand rubber does decompose, on the other hand it takes about 50 years to decompose.
There is also Silicon in rubber, as well as in the car's windows. In order to stop squeaky noises, Silicon is also used as it makes an ideal lubricant. It shouldn't be applied to the rubber part of the door but to the metallic part.
The majority of the material that comes out of a car exhaust is Nitrogen, with water vapor (or H2O ) and CO2 making about 13% each. Although these are considered non-toxic they still make a contribution to the greenhouse effect.
What might be the biggest surprise element in your car is copper! There's a lot more copper in your car than you probably expect because it's an element of the braking system. If you didn't have copper in the car, you'd have problems.
You don't think of a car as a bundle of chemicals but it is a factor in our environment. Car chemical improvement is a continuous process. Researchers want to replace current chemicals and substances with something "better." Better means something safer, less impactful on environments, lighter, or maybe something most cost-efficient.
The Powerhouse of Fiat Chrysler
(Editors Note: This post was started to be in the series of the American Story of the Car alongside Dodge and Ford, but although all these companies have become multinational, that seems to be the Chrysler model of business. As you'll soon see, the make some good cars and have had success, but they're harder to classify as an American car Company.)
Fiat Chrysler might be reminiscent of the Chrysler building in New York – huge, imposing and with a certain amount of style. The cynic might also suggest that the Chrysler building has less wholesome things in common with the cars, such as being overpriced (in common with the rest of New York?) and a product of another era. But, as said above, this is a cynic's view.
There a number of quite individualistic vehicles which come under the Fiat Chrysler brand, so how did it get to where it is?
The Fiat part of the company could be described as the oldest. The Fiat 4 HP sounds like it might be a twentieth century vehicle, maybe a SUV? But no, it was created in 1899 and looked more like a baby buggy than a modern Fiat car. A more noticeable thing is that it had no reverse gear, so parking would have been troublesome.
Standing for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Factory of Cars, Turin) Fiat soon became the biggest automobile manufacturer in Europe. In 1970 they were employing 100,000 people. As well as cars they have also built such items as railway carriages, farm tractors and planes. Outside Italy, the biggest base for Fiat is Brazil where it is described as the market leader in manufacture.
The Chrysler part took over from the Maxwell Company in 1925 when it was founded by Walter Chrysler. He spent his defining years working as a railway mechanic before going into the motor trade (his father was also a locomotive engineer). The company in turn took over such brand vehicles as Dodge, Jeep and Ram as well as Fargo Trucks. In the 1960s the brand was taking over the Spanish, French and British car companies.
The takeover of Mitsubishi occurred in 1970s and in the late 1998 the company merged with Daimler-Benz . Both Daimler and Benz have a long history, Benz goes back to 1886 (before teaming up with the "more famous" Mercedes) while Daimler was spending that period of history converting stagecoaches with Wilhelm Maybach.
Although it was now a member of the Big Three companies, it didn't stop Chrysler suffering losses in the crisis between 2008 and 2010 and had to be bailed out. This could be described as controversial; not all governments would top up their factories, especially for a non-nationalized company. A marketing slogan at the time was "Let's Refuel America" but it seemed they were in need of a vital top up themselves…
The companies of Fiat and Chrysler were merged in May 2014. There is still a huge variety in vehicles under the label – foreign cars such as the Maserati and Lancia, as well as more American cars such as the Jeep or the Ram van. What they lose in a complete brand image, they make up for being all-encompassing.
What seems certain is that Fiat-Chrysler will continue to merge with and take over new car brands. It's all about survival. And, in essence, finding what sort of car the American public wishes to own.
Transporting Pets Safely
The main problem with pets in cars is the heat, as it can be raised to 20°F in around 10 minutes, and reach 30°F in about 20 minutes. It will take 60 minutes for the temperature to be 40°F hotter than outside.
But that's not the only pet/car conflict. Other concerns include allowing a dog to ride in the back of a pick-up truck, as dogs can easily fall or jump from this area and will be killed on impact.
Though often not fatal, the injuries to your pet can be severe. One possible countermeasure is a tether, but it's not a perfect solution and many home-brew solutions create a risk of tangling or dragging your canine behind the vehicle. It's much better to invest in a kennel for your pet, which will require some kind of protection from the elements.
Oddly, not all states have banned dogs riding in the back of a pick-up truck. As far as animal safety is concerned, it should be Rule 1.
Another concern is a pets ability to distract a driver, which can obviously lead to damaging more than just the pet. This is best solved by housing your pet in a kennel. If you're noticing a theme here, you are correct, in general pets should be in some kind of carrier while they are in the car.
Qualities of a Good Kennel
It should be large enough for the pet to both stand up and sit down in, and even turn around. Make sure it's well ventilated. It is worthwhile trying out the pet in the carrier first before embarking on the trip. The carrier should be secured so that it doesn't move around too much.
Letting a dog stick it's head out the window used to be common but it's not a good idea. There is the risk of them being injured by objects being thrown out of other cars, rocks kicked up from the road, or by signs and tree branches.
That's just the risk to your pets, in reality, the cause of people no longer letting dogs have their heads out the window is that we're paying so much more for our cars. If you do drive with the window down be sure to get waterproof seat covers.
Car Training your Pet
The first trip that you take your pet on shouldn't be too long, just to get them used to traveling in the car. After traveling in the vehicle a few times the animal will become calmer and more suited to long journeys.
Note: Some animals, like some humans, will suffer from car sickness and never adjust to riding in a vehicle. You'll need to get medicine from your vet in order to transport these pets.
Whether it's a long road trip or a day excursion, you'll need to bring some items with you. Including…a food bowl, waste scoop and plastic bags. Think about the animal's medication too and you might even like to create a pet first aid kit. Finally, don't forget their favorite toy.
Pets that don't typically run away from their yard sometimes wander off when in public parks or hiking trails. For security purposes it helps if your pet is microchipped. For longer trips, a travel tag will also be of assistance to you.
If you are traveling between states it is a good idea to bring documentation of the pet's rabies vaccination even if some states don't require those details. Just to be safe.
Carry bottled water when traveling with a pet, especially on very hot days. Your pet can't reach a drinking fountain, and don't take for granted that you'll have access to adequate hydration for your pet.
Best of the Web: 2021 Ford Bronco…
January 9, 2020 / tirekickers	/ Leave a comment
The new Bronco, with its body-on-frame construction, retro looks, and removable doors and roof, is shaping up to be exactly what you're hoping for
Just for Fun 60
January 8, 2020 November 15, 2019 / tirekickers	/ Leave a comment
If you're waiting for a sign, here it is. Get your car inspected before you buy so you don't overpay. TireKickers!
Until now, you didn't know that getting a car inspection before buying will keep you from buying an unsafe car. Now you do. Tire Kickers come to you.
Best of the Web: Mercedes Concept Avatar
January 7, 2020 January 7, 2020 / tirekickers	/ Leave a comment
There are many questions one could ask about the Avatar-inspired concept car that Mercedes-Benz unveiled Monday night at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show. Why did the company think this was the best way to highlight its sustainability goals? How much of the ideas and technology in the car will ever translate to the road? And why Avatar?
What's News: Sony E-car?
Will we get the chance to drive the EV in Gran Turismo Sport?
We usually associate the Sony brand with the Walkman music player, the Vaio laptops, Bravia TVs or the PlayStation gaming console. While the tech giant does have a bunch of new products to show at CES this year from its typical area of expertise, the Tokyo-based company is also displaying something only very few expected – a car. It's called the Vision-S and takes the shape of a sleek EV with a highly advanced autonomous driving system and a design that might make you think of a mashup between a Porsche Taycan and a Lucid Air.
Created primarily to showcase what Sony can bring to the table in terms of automotive technologies, the showcar has been developed in collaboration with big names such as Nvidia, Continental, Bosch, ZF, and Qualcomm. The zero-emissions sedan is equipped with no fewer than 33 sensors to detect people and objects not just outside of the car, but also inside that modern four-seat cabin with individual rear seats and giant glass roof.
Marriage Cars
Everyone knows or should know that when it comes to the big bucks, look at things like weddings. If you're in the car business, this rule of thumb still applies. Rather than a more generic car rental or occasion car rental business. Although many of these companies are international, you can find different companies by stating your home city or the venue city you hope to get married in.
Compare wedding car rental firms; one in New York, one in Orlando and finally one in Texas. In New York ads feature brands such as Ferrari, Rolls Royce and Porsche. It is all about the luxurious experience, in the Big Apple. Orlando, however, uses a wider range such as motorcycle escorts and golf carts as well as limousines and sedans. Texas wedding car specialist have a larger selection than the one in New York, and included vehicles like Trolley buses and "San Francisco style" buses.
Smaller wedding car rental specialists stock vehicles for rustic wedding, which begs the question, are big players are missing a trick here?"
There is always space for novelty, for instance having your new surname on the license plate. The biggest place for novelty, and it goes without saying, is Las Vegas. It is not that hard to find companies which will escort you in monster limos (aka presidential limos), stretch trucks, English style Double Decker buses, vintage cars or even horse and cart. The weirdest transportation found for a Las Vegas event is a zip-wire, which begs the question: Why?
But going back to cars, an important insider tip is that they all seem to have cars in stock that you can't find looking through their websites. It's most likely the result of not keeping up inventory, but the lesson here is call or visit.
Another helpful hint is to verify that the car you pick up to use is the car you selected online. Even if you're happy with the switch see if you can get a partial refund. It is important that the driver's gratuity can be part of the total invoice of your bill – helpful when you sort out your tax bill.
Additional time is possible, but may will add up. For example, one business quoted $175-$200 per hour. So, if your occasion goes on to the small hours or even continues over several days (as some weddings might do, especially for instance Indian weddings) this could send prices rocketing.
One factor some companies think of and others don't is the addition of large umbrellas. This is a life saver in many cases. Ask if they'll supply them if you suspect rain, if they don't bring them yourself.
If you are getting married, congratulations on the happy event, however you get to and from the church, chapel or whatever…
The 2019 Car Awards
It's been a strange year for cars. They might even need image boost. The car industry might do well to hire an image consultant. These awards could focus on greener vehicles and ditch the gas guzzlers, but the truth is the gas guzzlers will remain popular for some years to come. So The Kicker will focus our awards on a wider spectrum of vehicles (small cars, electric and hybrids, and more.) It's award opening time once more.
The best-selling car of 2019 was again the Ford F series pickup but what is new is the runner up—Dodge Ram Pickup. 3.7% of all car sales in the US were this specific car. The Dodge massively overhauled its Ram pickup look, which they describe as "rugged" and "premium." Perhaps they've overhauled their sales and marketing efforts as well, because they have closed the gap with Ford. But it seems like the Ford F series pickup will be the winner next year as well, it's almost a done deal.
The best-selling small car of 2019 is the Volkswagen GTI, according to Usnews.com. It is described as having playful handling and sufficiently spacious for a number of family members and their cargo. It has a user-friendly infotainment system. It might be described as a combination between the VW and GTi worlds?
The most surprising car of 2018 is the BMW X7. BMW are best known for small cars of an athletic type whereas this car is more of an SUV. It's a huge monster of a car but is easy to handle thanks to responsive steering.
The most powerful Sedan of 2019 is the Dodge Charger, as with last year we rely on the Kelley Blue Book for our information. There is a wide range of models, colors and engines so you can take your pick on what is right for you. But the distinct trim is noticeable and thematically consistent.
The best-selling electric car of 2019 is another BMW model, the BMW5. It seems to be getting technology and prestige into a compact space. Added to this are driver aids and the Apple CarPlay smartphone. Wifi is included in the premium package. (This is also according to the Kelley Blue Book.)
For the best-selling hybrid, the winner this year is the Honda Insight. The style of the new Insight has gone from a hatchback to a more sedan look. The greatest selling point is its fuel economy, whether you are using electric or gas power. This car performed excellently on a special test track as well as on back roads, according Edmonds website. Sounds like interesting work to us, where do you sign up?
The special prize goes to Tax Rebates on Electric Vehicles, though it's a bit of a wooden spoon. When in effect in the US it successfully pushed people into taking the leap to all electric. At the moment Tesla is the biggest winner of tax rebates, especially in India, where Tesla looks to be the number one supplier to one of the biggest markets and the country plans to be all-electric by 2030. China plans to have 9% of its cars electric thanks to fuel subsidies. A Cleaner Vehicle Grant began in the UK in April.
Once again, thanks for attending the awards.
Because not getting the car you want to drive inspected before you buy it is the longest way to go, contact Tire Kickers today. They come to you.
Join The Kicker Newsletter
The Powerhouse of Fi… on The American Story of Car Busi…
tirekickers on Merry Christmas Part 3
Rising Star on Merry Christmas Part 3
MOTTIFY s.r.o. on Fluffy Pink Car Dice
Emily on The Desert Drive
The Kicker Magazine
Tire Kickers on Facebook
Tire Kickers on Pinterest
Tire Kickers Business Site
Shopping Page
Categories Select Category Accessories (10) Adventure (20) Auto Health and Safety (109) Auto Name Origins (1) Best of the Web (70) Car Buying (26) Car Culture (81) Car Hack (27) Car Hacks (23) Car History (26) Car Info (8) Car Savings (3) Christmas (3) Classic Car Focus (11) Commuting (4) Cool Car Owner Interviews (4) Cool Car Videos (4) EDC (19) EVs & Hybrids (30) Fiction (1) Fun (111) Holiday (3) InfoGraphic of Week (23) Local Scene (1) Maintenance (8) Mobile Living (3) Mustang Mondays (9) Off Road (12) Opinion (61) Our Sponsor: Tire Kickers (7) Pin of the Week (6) Racing & Speed (17) Sage Advice (4) Self-Driving Cars (30) TNC Driver (17) Traffic (3) Uncategorized (55) Veteran Employment (1) Vlog (2) VW Mondays (6) What's News (32)
Auto Name Origins
Car Savings
Classic Car Focus
Cool Car Owner Interviews
Cool Car Videos
InfoGraphic of Week
Mobile Living
Mustang Mondays
Our Sponsor: Tire Kickers
Pin of the Week
Racing & Speed
TNC Driver
Veteran Employment
VW Mondays


text:
Q: Working with static constructor in Java I didn't get a complete understanding of static constructors in Java. If it is allowed, why it is allowed? In what scenarios would you use it? What purpose would it serve? Can someone give me a simple example please?

A: it is used to initialize fields that is harder than simply assigning it:
public class Example{

    public final static Map<String, String> preFilledField;

    static{
        Map<String, String> tmp = new HashMap<>();
        //fill map
        preFilledField = Collections.unmodifiableMap(tmp);
    }
}

it is not possible to fill a map on initialization (unless you use the anonymous subclass hack) so this is the best way to guarantee it is filled before first use
You can also do this to catch checked exceptions when initializing

A: Strictly speaking, Java does not have static constructors because a constructor, by definition, cannot be static.  What you are referring to is called a "static initialization block."  A constructor implies that you are constructing an object.  You cannot have  constructor for a class because a class is not an instance of itself.  It is simply a class.
All nit-picking aside, a static initialization block is used to initialize complex static (or class-level) fields for a class.  Usually these are used to initialize things that either cannot be initialized in one line, or require that some other object (which may or may not be in the class in which the static block is implemented) be initialized first.
Basically, one might use them to tell the class "Hey, set variable A to this value FIRST, then, once that's done, use A's value to initialize B."  Since Java requires that standard field initialization be done either within a constructor or method, or via the call of a constructor or method (unless it is a literal), these can be a convenient method for initializing complex, static objects.
Static initialization blocks are not needed all too often, and generally should be avoided unless they have a real use.  Don't get me wrong, they have their place in Java, but like many other things (such as break, return, switch, and goto statements) they can be easily over-used, which reduces their readability and the maintainability of the code-base they are used in.
A brief example of a static initialization block being used would be the following (as per the excellent explanation of static initialization blocks found here):
Code:
public class StaticExample{
    static {
        System.out.println("This is first static block");
    }

    public StaticExample(){
        System.out.println("This is constructor");
    }

    public static String staticString = "Static Variable";

    static {
        System.out.println("This is second static block and "
                                                    + staticString);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args){
        StaticExample statEx = new StaticExample();
        StaticExample.staticMethod2();
    }

    static {
        staticMethod();
        System.out.println("This is third static block");
    }

    public static void staticMethod() {
        System.out.println("This is static method");
    }

    public static void staticMethod2() {
        System.out.println("This is static method2");
    }
}

Output:
This is first static block
This is second static block and Static Variable
This is static method
This is third static block
This is constructor
This is static method2

Some instances they list when static blocks can be useful:

*

*If you're loading drivers and other items into the namespace. For ex, Class class has a static block where it registers the natives.

*If you need to do computation in order to initialize your static variables,you can declare a static block which gets executed exactly once,when the class is first loaded.

*Security related issues or logging related tasks

Some reasons NOT to use static blocks (in other situations):

*

*There is a limitation of JVM that a static initializer block should not exceed 64K.

*You cannot throw Checked Exceptions.

*You cannot use the this keyword since there is no instance.

*You shouldn't try to access super since there is no such a thing for static blocks.

*You should not return anything from this block.

*Static blocks make testing a nightmare.

I should note:  While some languages (such as C#) may have syntax for "constructors" that are static, those "constructors" function much the same way that static initialization blocks do in Java, and are seen by many (myself included) as misnomers in the language, given the basic concept of an OOP constructor.

A: Gurgadurgen's answer is probably what you're looking for, but I'll just add a couple of other points that are sometimes neglected when someone wants a "static constructor".
If you want a static method that creates an instance of your class, you can create a static method that simply invokes the class's constructor.
public class Example
{
    /** Static method to create an instance. */
    public static Example build()
    { return new Example() ; }

    /** A field of each instance. */
    private String stuff ;

    /** The class's actual constructor. */
    public Example()
    { stuff = new String() ; }

    public String getStuff()
    { return this.stuff ; }

    /**
     * Mutator for "stuff" property. By convention this returns "void"
     * but you might want to return the object itself, to support the
     * sort of chained invocations that are becoming trendy now. You'll
     * see the stylistic benefits of chaining later in this example.
     */
    public Example setStuff( String newStuff )
    {
        this.stuff = newStuff ;
        return this ;
    }
}

public class ExampleTest
{
    public static void main( String[] args )
    {
        // The usual instance model.
        Example first = new Example() ;
        System.out.println( first.setStuff("stuff").getStuff() ) ;

        // Using your static method to construct an instance:
        Example second = Example.build() ;
        System.out.println( second.setStuff("more stuff").getStuff() ) ;

        // Chaining all the invocations at once:
        System.out.println( Example.build().setStuff("even more stuff").getStuff() ) ;
    }
}

This produces the output:
stuff
more stuff
even more stuff

The other reason to make a static method to construct an instance is the case when you want to ensure that exactly one instance of your class exists at any given time; this is called a singleton. By convention, such a class would provide a static method called getInstance() to get the one and only instance that is treated as a "singleton".
public class SingletonExample extends Example
{
    // Note: This extends my previous example, which has a "stuff"
    // property, and a trivial constructor.

    /** The singleton instance, statically initialized as null. */
    private static SingletonExample singleton = null ;

    /**
     * The static accessor for the singleton. If no instance exists,
     * then it will be created; otherwise, the one that already exists
     * will be returned.
     */
    public static SingletonExample getInstance()
    {
        if( singleton == null )
            singleton = new SingletonExample() ;
        return singleton ;
    }
}

public class SingletonExampleTest
{
    public static void main( String[] args )
    {
        System.out.println( SingletonExample.getInstance().setStuff("stuff").getStuff() ) ;

        // You could still create instances of this class normally if you want to.
        SingletonExample otherstuff = new SingletonExample() ;
        otherstuff.setStuff("other stuff") ;

        // But watch what happens to this.
        System.out.println( SingletonExample.getInstance().getStuff() ) ;
        System.out.println( otherstuff.getStuff() ) ;

        // Now we show what happens when you start modifying the singleton.
        SingletonExample theoneandonly = SingletonExample.getInstance() ;
        theoneandonly.setStuff("changed stuff") ;
        System.out.println( SingletonExample.getInstance().getStuff() ) ;
    }
}

This produces the following.
stuff
stuff
other stuff
changed stuff

By storing a reference to the singleton, and then modifying it, the next call to getInstance() gets that modified singleton.
It's tempting to use singletons as a way to start creating global variables for your application. In some contexts this can be useful, but it can also get you into trouble. In particular I ran into an interesting bug while developing an Android app, where singleton instances could get lost. Jumping from one activity to another can sometimes lead the JVM to use a new "class loader" which won't know about the singleton that was stored statically by a previous class loader.

A: While I understand that there are many who see the notion of a "static constructor" as a misnomer, I do not believe that to be the case. The issue is in the process of constructing both classes and their instance objects. It's been stated in other threads that construction of the class is the job of the compiler. Even in Java, this is only half true.
The compiler constructs a scaffold for each class definition. The scaffold contains metadata about the class and what instances should have in them at the time of construction. If a class defines a field that is assigned a constant primitive value, then that value is included in the scaffold by the compiler. For any other value types being assigned, the compiler generates an initialization routine that is to be run 1 time, before the creation of the first class instance, that updates the scaffold with the proper values. This update cannot be done by the compiler.
Since this one-time update to the scaffold is often a critical prerequisite to the proper functioning of the instance constructors, it is also reasonable to call it a type of constructor. This is why in common OO languages that support the concept, it is called a static constructor. The concept behind the static initialization blocks in Java is little more than a semantic change to keep in line with the notion that a Java programmer should be both system and implementation agnostic.

A: As other answers have said, you can write static methods that construct an object. This gets round the lack of named constructors in Java (and many other languages. Delphi does support named constructors). You can play with the types and order of parameters but this can lead to unclear and fragile code.
For instance, we could invent a scenario where your object can be constructed from an XML string or a JSON string. You could write methods like:
static MyObject createFromXml(String xml);
static MyObject createFromJson(String json);

I've used this very occasionally as an alternative to a parameterless constructor with named initialisation methods:
MyObject myObject = new MyObject();
myObject.loadXml(xml).

You could look upon a static create method as implementing the builder pattern inside your class.

A: You can view the "static" section like a class level constructor use to initialize class properties (static in java). The same as the "normal" constructor its used to initialize instance level properties.