Discussion in 'Outerwear' started by HoosierDaddy, Jan 15, 2019.
l0fielectronic, torfjord, thor and 25 others like this.
I know you were waiting for this and drooling over this. So I hope its everything you hoped!
Hey, I am the first who looking at your new Beauty ! - I have my eyes on Thedi....how does Buffalo feels is it like steer or softer?
Very fine and elegant leather and great design as well. Congratulation!
This Buffalo may not be a perfect example because Thedi uses some sort of wash/finish to give it that "antique" look. But I have several boots, and shoes made from Buffalo (I know not a jacket so not 100% comparable haha) but in my experience with those and handling several Buffalo jackets. It's actually much softer, and a better drape than steer or horse. But thicker. Almost spongey. So usually at least if it's full grain much thicker/Heftier but softer and more pliable. But HD I'm sure will tell you exactly how Thedis Buffalo hide is!
It is everything I hoped for dannyk. It is also darker in person. Again for some reason the camera makes it look brighter and lighter just as the pics of this same jacket in the Thurston thread.
El Marro, ProteinNerd and dannyk like this.
Let's see some damn fit pics!!!! Ok you only posted 25 minutes ago so you're just shy of 22 minutes late on the fit pics. I'm sorry. Looks fantastic tho HD. Really pretty hide!
navetsea, HoosierDaddy, sweetfights and 4 others like this.
This Thedi buffalo is not at all spongy or soft but quite the opposite. It is heavy and has a crisp finish or hand that neither HH or steer has in my experience. I didn't want to say a hard finish..crisp seems to be a better example. Theo uses a finish of bee's wax along with a slightly darker antiquing wash. However, it doesn't feel waxy but is rather smooth or slick.
The little things stand out as well such as inside vented leather under arm strips and a leather strip under the zippered inside pocket with my name and date on it. I am not really a stitch natzi but the stitching looks firm and straight to me. The button hole stitching is a standout. It looks very well done compared to most other jackets I have handled without even a hint of a loose thread.
The Thedi black cotton lining differs from nubby cotton drill in that it has a thick soft flannel feel to it and it should be warmer since is not an open weave.
The sleeves are lined in a satin type material that makes getting the jacket off and on very easy. This jacket is very comfortable to wear. The sleeves are already slightly creased so it seems there is really no break-in actually required. It already feels molded to my body and...in place. In fact it seems to be my favorite jacket by far..so far More updates to come when I get a chance to wear it more.
tmitchell59, Dav, El Marro and 8 others like this.
I have an appointment and must be gone for a couple hours. Fit pics when I get back home.
ProteinNerd, HoosierDaddy, zebedee and 3 others like this.
I'm happy to hear you like the jacket that much. Your post reminds me of how passionate I was with some of the jackets I received. We all know it's not always like that and it's great that in this case the long wait paid off so well! Looking forward to seeing some fit pictures!
El Marro, HoosierDaddy and sweetfights like this.
Nice. The wait is over.
My Thedi was shipped out when yours was so it should land up here in Canada, early next week.
I am happy for you! The jacket looks great.
Northern Monkey, dudewuttheheck, wild_balls and 27 others like this.
Holy Sh^t!!! Damn HD. Not gonna lie these pics made me smile. Love every detail. Fit is perfect and the little Indian head coin is the absolute cherry on top. Congrats man! Nailed it to the ground!
jonesy86, HoosierDaddy and dannyk like this.
I'm officially jealous. Damn Thedi makes something special. And I normally hate antique, vintaged, worn /broken-in looks. But that Thedi bees wax finish is something special. You look great. Still have that Teamster HD? It's similar and a great jacket but I think this one takes the cake as they say.
It does look fantastic. It was worth the wait.
Eyyyyy HD smiling... now that's a first time! That'a how I used to tell apart @Fanch and you! He was the one smiling.
In all seriousness though, jacket looks amazing! Congratulations!
It may seem that I am going on and on about this jacket, but I must say that I love the way this jacket is finished. Putting it on, it just falls in place like it was molded on me. It seems the 'crisp' or 'firm' finish of the leather and Theo's shaping is probably the cause. I wore it to my appointment and it didn't seem like a new jacket but more like one I have worn for years. It is sure going to be difficult to change up and wear my brown Aero CXL Bootlegger, Battered Tan Aero Teamster, and Vintage Black Aero Stuart. I fear they may hang mostly in the closet. We'll see..but I may sell them if I find myself not wearing them. This Thedi is that remarkable for me.
red devil, El Marro, sweetfights and 2 others like this.
but I may sell them if I find myself not wearing them.
Don't forget your gentle neighbor due west! PM me before listing anything if you would...take that abba. LOL. All kidding aside, that's a beauty HD. Enjoy the next few days of waking up early just to put it on!
sweetfights, AbbaDatDeHat, HoosierDaddy and 1 other person like this.
Hey Man, that is a perfect fit! Really is a gorgeous jacket. You did good on this one.


1. The 57th National Open Athletics will be held in ____?
2. Which country on September 25, 2017 added North Korea, Venezuela, & Chad to it's travel ban list?
3. Who on September 24, 2017 won the U-19 Belgian Junior Open?
4. Name the badminton player who was nominated for Padma Bhushan by Sports Ministry on September 25, 2017?
5. Chatbot, "SIA" has been launched by which Bank?
6. Who on September 25, 2017 was appointed to head the Economic Advisory Council?
7. The government on September 25, 2017 announced to launch the 'Saubhagya' scheme. It will deal with ___?
8. Which country on September 25, 2017 announced to create a new space agency to develop domestic space industry?
9. Which bank on September 24, 2017 announced to open an institute to train employees of other banks in India & other South East Asian Countries?
10. Who on September 24, 2017 was appointed as the chief financial officer (CPO) at TATA sons?


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¡SI SE PUEDE AT 90!
April 10, 2020 April 10, 2020 EL PUENTE STAFF English
Dolores Huerta turns 90 today Friday, April 10, 2020
Fundraiser next month to benefit working families hit by coronavirus
The digital-access celebration will steer needed resources to combat educational inequities and boost protections for essential workers and vulnerable communities.
LOS ANGELES — Iconic labor leader Dolores Huerta will celebrate her 90th birthday with a live-stream benefit for communities endangered by coronavirus on Saturday, May 16. She will also mark her official birthday today Friday, April 10, with a #90for90, #SiSePuede, #DHF, #DH90 fundraising drive at https://bit.ly/Dolores90th.
The May 16 remote-attendance party will feature a roster of special guests for a night of entertainment and activism. The goal is to raise funds for the Dolores Huerta Foundation's (DHF) frontline efforts to mitigate the impact of the pandemic in the regions of California where politically disempowered, low income, immigrant, and farmworker communities are disproportionately impacted.
Among the issues the foundation aims to address are remote learning inequities in public schools; insufficient meal provisions for low-income students, and the need for labor protections, and legislative income support for our most vulnerable communities.
"It is a great honor to be recognized on my 90th birthday. I want to thank everyone who will be celebrating with me today and on May 16th and ask them to continue to work for justice and equality. Please support DHF by assisting us in the effort to get everyone counted in the 2020 Census, strengthen our democracy by voting in the upcoming elections, and provide resources to families that are being severely impacted in these difficult times." said Dolores Huerta
Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez and originated the phrase "¡Si Se Puede!" while fighting on behalf of exploited farmworkers. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 for her pioneering political activism and community organizing. She continues to advance social justice through her foundation, DHF, which focuses on education justice, increasing civic engagement, LGBTQ equality, eradicating child poverty and ensuring that community resources are allocated equitably.
Jane Fonda, who will participate in the celebration added "For more decades than most people have been alive, Dolores Huerta has worked to ensure that the people who plant and harvest our food —and their families—are respected, protected and that they are paid a living wage. Against great odds, this has been her life's work and she has never wavered. Long May she live!"
About the Dolores Huerta Foundation:
The Dolores Huerta Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) organization whose mission is to inspire and organize communities to build volunteer organizations empowered to pursue social justice. Vecinos Unidos members develop their community organizing, civic engagement, and leadership skills by working on policy advocacy on issues such as health, environment, education, and youth development in their communities. Learn more about the Dolores Huerta Foundation at www.doloreshuerta.org.
← ¡SÍ SE PUEDE A LOS 90!
Entrega de alimentos y aprendizaje virtual de la Corporación Escolar de Goshen después de las vacaciones de primavera →
June 7, 2020 June 7, 2020 EL PUENTE STAFF
New Fairbanks Foundation 'Community Data Snapshot' Highlights Regional Inequities
February 25, 2021 February 26, 2021 EL PUENTE STAFF
Chicago Mural Honors COVID's Essential Workers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Tag Archives: Dungeons and Dragons Online
The ever-evolving history of MMORPGs is a fascinating one. Sometimes I almost feel like MMOs are more fun to analyze than they are to play. It's a complex story that could fill volumes, but for today, let's just take a look at some of the biggest turning points in the history of MMOs.
Text MUDs:
The true origin of the MMO genre is debatable. You could trace it all the way back to analogue tabletop RPGs, and perhaps even farther back from there. But the birth of online RPGs likely lies with the Multi-User Dungeon, or MUD.
MUDs were text-based games originally running over small, pre-Internet networks such as those at universities.The term was christened by Roy Trubshaw, a student at the University of Essex. Development of his "Multi-User Dungeon" game was later given over to Richard Bartle, and if you're active in the MMO community, you're sure to recognize that name.
When the Internet began to spread, MUDs became more accessible, and eventually served as the inspiration for the first generation of MMORPGs.
Early Graphical MMOs:
Again, we can argue about where exactly the story of graphical online games begins. Meridian 59 is credited by some as the first, while Ultima Online was where the concept began to gain significant popularity. It was the first game to be described with the term "Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game."
This was soon followed by many other graphical MMOs. The most famous would probably be 1999's EverQuest, which served as an inspiration for many of the games the followed.
WoW and Its Clones:
There is an eternally raging debate over whether World of Warcraft is the best or the worst thing (or perhaps both) that ever happened to the MMO genre. The one thing everyone can agree on is that WoW changed everything.
In the early days, MMOs had achieved a respectable level of success, with playerbases measured in the thousands. But WoW blew all that out of the water. It parlayed the brand recognition of Blizzard Entertainment, more accessible mechanics, reduced grind, and the increasing prevalence of high speed Internet connections into a perfect recipe for success, achieving a previously unimaginable level of popularity.
WoW eventually peaked at around twelve million players worldwide, a population greater than that of some nations. While it's popularity has shrunken significantly since then, even now it remains more successful and more populous than the large majority of its competition.
The success of WoW created ripple effects throughout the genre. Everyone wanted a bite of that pie, and developers spent years churning out MMO after MMO that sought to emulate World of Warcraft. It was the era of the dreaded WoW clone. But these games often lacked personality, and none of them ever rose to rival the success of the game they so desperately sought to imitate.
The Free to Play Revolution:
For a long time, if you wanted to play an MMORPG, you had to pay a monthly subscription. That's just how it worked. Oh, sure, there were a few exceptions. Anarchy Online began offering a free to play option back in 2004, and the original Guild Wars was buy to play from its launch in 2005. But those were mostly considered oddball outliers.
Things began to change in a big way when Dungeons and Dragons Online relaunched as a free to play title in 2009. Previously struggling, it saw a huge uptick in both players and revenues, and the world began to take notice.
Before long, big name MMOs were dropping their subscriptions left, right, and center, from Star Wars: The Old Republic, to Lord of the Rings Online, to Aion. At first this was seen as an act of desperation made only by dying games, but as the years went by and subscription games became an ever shrinking minority, it started to just be normal.
Nowadays, subscriptions are the exception rather than the norm, and most new games are free to play or buy to play.
Maturity and Diversification:
That brings us to the modern day. The MMO genre has matured and stabilized. New releases are not so common as they once were, but there is more variety, more creativity. Gone are the days of WoW clones. Nowadays MMOs, MMO lite games, online co-ops, MOBAs, and battle royales all simmer together into a diverse melting pot.
In this writer's opinion, the future is bright.
This entry was posted in General MMOs, MMO Retrospective, Multiplayer Games, State of MMOs and tagged Aion, Anarchy Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, EverQuest, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, MUD, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Ultima Online, World of Warcraft on April 16, 2019 by Tyler Bro.
We Need More D&D in MMORPGs
The RPG genre first sprouted when Gary Gygax (and lesser known Dave Arneson) created Dungeons and Dragons. It's evolved and splintered quite a bit since that day in 1974. This advancement has been unequivocally positive for gaming as a whole. We now have more options than we even know what to do with, as evidenced by places like Humble Bundle selling AAA for as cheap as one dollar. But maybe it's time for one genre, MMORPGs in particular, to go back to its deep roots.
Top MMOs have spent so much time wondering what they could do, they never stopped to ask what they should do. For as much fantastic content, features, and innovation as MMORPGs have brought to the world, they've taken a lot of things too far. In the midst of all of this progress, they've forgotten a lot of what it even means to be an RPG in the first place.
As a handy dandy guide to developers, I offer these six ways D&D can improve your next MMORPG:
1. Reduce Number Bloat
Easy enough to start here since I wrote about lowered health pools not too long ago. To sum it up, it's easier for humans to mentally calculate lower numbers, they're easier to read, and it makes for more intense combat.
2. Actual Role-Playing
Not everyone likes full on role-playing. I get that. But I'd say that most people playing RPGs enjoy it on some level. They may not enjoy the creative aspect of pretending to be someone else on the spot. Give them a few guidelines to follow though and everything else naturally falls into place. D&D is great for role-playing because character creation itself makes role-playing more accessible. Attributes such as alignment, backgrounds, deities, and motivations offer up a reason to choose certain actions. Now just give us some actual choices besides which spot to grind in and BOOM – role-playing!
3. Fewer, More Meaningful Levels
In D&D level 20 is basically demigod status. In most MMOs, level 20 is a scrub newbie that toxic veterans laugh at. I'm on board with more frequent small advancements (something Dungeons and Dragons Online does well), but I want a level to really mean something. I want new abilities and new ways to play my character. What I end up with is +100 damage to magic missile. Levels are too much about buffing an arbitrary number and too little about impacting game play.
4. Game Masters
Not too long ago MMORPGs used to hire GMs to organize impromptu quests. In D&D, a good GM is the difference between a campaign that spans several years and one that lasts a few sessions. So too can a similar impact be felt in MMORPGs. To facilitate a quest-driven approach to leveling, a lot of quests are needed. This need for quantity doesn't leave a lot of room for quality. While some games manage some pretty impressive storytelling in their AI-led quests, they lack the ability to incorporate other players into the story. This is where GMs can completely alter an MMORPG experience and constantly deliver value to the game's customers.
5. Drop the Trinity in Favor of the Quadrinity
Most MMORPGs balance abilities around tank/DPS/healer roles. D&D balances abilities around the roles of controller/defender/leader/striker. Defenders tank and shut down melee movement. Controllers kill large groups and crowd control. Leaders buff, debuff, and heal. Strikers deal massive damage to one target. This isn't a massive difference, but in D&D terms facilitates a broader potential group of encounters that can be fought and overcome.
6. Add Challenge Ratings
D&D assigns a challenge rating to every enemy and monster in the game. This in turns allows for a programmatic approach to create balanced encounters. A balanced adventure results from a certain number of easy and hard encounters. Instead of MMORPG developers hand crafting encounters in raids and forcing us to beat the same things over and over to advance, a challenge rating based system could create near-infinite content to challenge us at every level. I'm not saying we need to abolish hand-crafted content, but saving time in one area frees it up for use in another.
If you're looking for something like this to play now, there is an obvious choice. Dungeons & Dragons Online implements more of these features than other MMORPG. Of course, because of the focus on dungeons and instances, it does lack the massive feel other MMORPGs provide. Still, it does D&D better than any other MMORPG on the market. Maybe that's a good enough reason for you to give it a spin until digital gaming seizes the opportunity to learn from classic tabletop gaming.
This entry was posted in Board Games, MMO Game Design, MMO Opinions and tagged Dungeon and Dragons, Dungeons and Dragons Online on February 20, 2018 by The Bro.
Lowered Health Pools – More Fun?
I have some strong feelings about (most) MMORPG health pools. And like any good opinion, it can be summed up with a meme:
MMORPG health pools have grown to absurd propositions. DPS meters clear a million easy. More precisely, World of Warcraft's top damage dealer serves out 1.5 million damage per second. World of Warcraft's DPS currency resembles a country suffering from hyper inflation, and like a such a country, it's hard to take seriously. High health enemies require monotonous ability usage to down. High health characters negate any semblance of combat intensity. Simple calculations give way to mandatory use of online tools to decipher true net effects. Gameplay starts revolving around bigger and bigger numbers, leaving little room for anything else.
The benefit of large health pools is that it's easier for developers to balance. Boiling everything down to a few numbers rather than fine tuning systems takes a lot less effort and allows for more fractional balance changes. That's noteworthy – so I'm not saying smaller health pools is easy to implement.
I'm simply suggesting that there's a lot to be gained by taking the path less traveled. D&D has balanced around small health pools for decades. Some of the positive side effects of such a system can be found in games like (not surprisingly) Dungeons & Dragons Online.
5 Reasons to Lower Health Pools
1) Easier to understand and mentally calculate the effects of abilities, talents, items.
2) More room on the screen for things that aren't ten digit numbers.
3) Forces developers to move into damage mitigation, which opens up more diverse play styles.
4) Ramps up intensity and sensation of danger (whether artificially or not) when every hit point actually means something.
5) Higher hit points tend to result in longer, repetitive fights. MMORPG battles stay interesting until you "solve" them. On average, I would expect lowered MMORPG hit points to lead to faster battles and fewer slogs.
If It Was Easy, Everyone Would Do it
The main reason high health pools are "in" is because it's simply less time consuming for developers. This frees up man hours to create more content, which is the current big selling point for maintaining active players. Personally, I'd rather see more time devoted towards a better base system. The content gap can be filled by procedural generation and emergent narrative structures.
Expansions and DLC are usually the primary culprits for numerical inflation. It's easy to grasp that higher damage, healing, health, etc. is better. Sticking to a low health pool system necessitates developing less obvious character progressions. Horizontal progression is one option (pick the right tools for the fight), but damage mitigation is absolutely paramount regardless of the progression type. Unfortunately, most damage mitigation systems devolve into an obtuse Diablo style resistance system.
Again, tabletop RPGs like D&D offer a neat outline for engineering these solutions. Tabletop games are forced to work with smaller numbers, and there are some pretty cool lesser known RPGs out there like Iron Kingdoms. I know if I had millions of dollars to develop a new MMORPG, I'd spend a few hundred of that on tabletop player handbooks for market research.
At the end of the day, it's about creating a product that maximizes fun. When choosing between high health pools and low health pools, the latter exhibits so much more potential.
This entry was posted in MMO Game Design, MMO Opinions, MMO Rant, State of MMOs and tagged Dungeons and Dragons, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Iron Kingdoms, World of Warcraft on December 12, 2017 by The Bro.


RENTON -- Center Justin Britt is dealing with a sprained right ankle that could keep him off the practice field until at least Friday.
Whether it will force him to miss next week's game against the Houston Texans remains to be seen.
Britt was injured on a second-and-8 play late in the first quarter when he was engaged with New York Giants rookie defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson. Britt missed five plays before returning and finishing the game for Seattle.
"He has a sore ankle today. He's sore, we won't know about Justin until later in the week," head coach Pete Carroll said. "Each day will tell us something, but I wouldn't think he'd have a chance to practice until Friday or something like that, if he can. We'll see."
While the Seahawks made a decision to rotate Mark Glowinski and Ethan Pocic at left guard on Sunday, their hand may be forced this week. If Britt can't play against the Houston Texans, Pocic will likely get his first start at center. Glowinski would then take over as the starting left guard against Houston.
Glowinski eventually played 48 snaps while Pocic played 34 snaps as the Seahawks rotated the two players on a series-by-series basis against the Giants. Pocic also played five snaps at center in place of Britt.
Carroll said it's not a high-ankle sprain for Britt.
The Seahawks scored 17 of their 24 points with Glowinski in the game at left guard. Pocic was at left guard for the one-play drive of Russell Wilson connecting with Paul Richardson on a flea flicker for a 38-yard touchdown.
"They both did OK," Carroll said. "Really fired up for Ethan that he played two spots. (He) was forced to jump into center and did well and jumped back at guard and did fine. He did a good job. I'm excited for him. Glow played like he plays and hung in there and did fine. That's good for us. We got a little bit better because we got two guys playing there that hadn't played a lot."
Carroll thought Sunday's performance was the best of the season for Seattle from a pass protection standpoint.
"The only time we got sacked was on a three-man rush when Russ was running around and doing his Fran Tarkenton thing back there," Carroll said. "It was a really good game for our guys and we threw the ball quite a bit and they came after us. We had a lot of plays and a lot of shots. I was really fired up for us."
With Cliff Avril going on injured reserve on Friday, the Seahawks are taking a look at a veteran pass rusher on Tuesday.
According to KJR's Dave "Softy" Mahler, defensive end Dwight Freeney will be in town for a visit with the Seahawks.
Freeney remains a free agent after playing last 15 games last season with the Atlanta Falcons. He was with the team through their run to Super Bowl LI. Freeney has played for the San Diego Chargers, Arizona Cardinals and Falcons over the last four years after spending the first 11 years of his career with the Indianapolis Colts.
Freeney would almost certainly be only a rotational pass rush option if he signs with Seattle. The 37-year old pass rusher isn't capable of producing at a high level on an every down basis anymore. However, he could still provide a spark in limited situatons.
Seattle is carrying an open roster spot after putting Avril on injured reserve. The plantar fascia injury to Michael Bennett could also necessitate another body at defensive end to help in the interim. Frank Clark, Marcus Smith, Quinton Jefferson, Branden Jackson and Sheldon Richardson can all play end as well.
--Running back C.J. Prosise played just two snaps against the Giants before aggravating an ankle injury that forced him to miss the previous two games. Carroll thought it possible Prosise would be able to practice this week but was unsusre if he'd be able to play against the Texans.
"On the pass protection he just loaded up and just tweaked it [his ankle] a little bit," Carroll said. "He didn't sprain his ankle, didn't re-injure it, but it tweaked and showed it wasn't as stable as we had hoped, and the work that we had done in practice wasn't indicative of what he was doing in the game obviously, because it didn't hold up.
"We'll just go through the week and see what happens. It's one day at a time. I think he'll be able to practice again, I think he'll be able to get back out there. We'll see what it is and we'll have more insights now to know what he can handle. Maybe he can play this week, maybe he can't. I don't know."


The next owner won't have problem 1 for at least 5 years.
You would have problems if you bought a brand new one. It is always something. I had to replace one of the drive oil reservoirs. No big deal, but why does a plastic container and a sensor cost $85?
Sorry to hear about your problems. By saying "That's boat life" doesn't ease the aggravation and the wallet pain.
Those of you that haven't been there yet, you will be.
That not wanting to go to the boat for fear of "What's next?" is something I went through this year in Gulfport, Ms. After everything was fixed, I was still scared to venture off again.
When I got 1/2 way up the Tenn-Tom Waterway, I had another minor problem - it's always something. Fortunately, Pirate knew someone that got me squared away.
Your problem would be more frustrating since it didn't even happen on the water.
Eventually, everything will settle down, at least that's what I try to convince myself.
If I ever build another houseboat I don't think I'll even have an engine. Just push it around with the fishing boat.
Over the last 7 years we have owned our 1979 houseboat, total annual expenses for buoy rental, hauling, launching, winter storage, insurance, licensing, fuel, upgrades, and repairs has averaged $2,000 a year. In the season from May to end of Sept we are on the boat on average 18 days. A lot of those days included socializing with friends.
Our 6 day trip to Cancun last year for our family of 4 cost me $7,800.
Our 5 day trip to Las Vegas cost me $5700.
The 7 day Caribbean cruise we took in 2012 was a bargain at a grand total of $6,100 and that is only because we drove an exhausting 17 hours each way to catch the boat and back.
In my book, the houseboat is a superior bargain.
There is a guy at our lake that does that. Pulls his around with a jetski. Actually, he doesn't do it himself; he has to have one of his kids or friends do it ----- the DNR keeps an eye on him ---- he's not allowed to drive a car or boat do to his drinking. They caught him towing his houseboat with a jetski a few weeks ago and brought him back up the lake in cuffs.
Feeling your pain. We've been replacing the 2x12 header, or whatever you call it, around the boat just below the top deck. It was sold as treated, IIRC, but all but two of them are quite rotted, and it's a pita to paint, trim, and replace them. Truly aggravating to have to rebuild stuff when there is still so much left to build in the first place. I must admit envy watching my neighbors out cavorting and splashing and towing their kids around on floaty toys, while we are trying to get our boat in shape enough just to go for a ride. On the other hand, we've had some grand coolish weather for at least being aboard and being rocked to sleep. And many complimentary remarks about the partly finished and still-unplumbed, but pretty galley. The good news is that thanks to a full-time work schedule, Our Hero can afford to buy boards and paint. The bad news is that he's spending so much time at the office that there's no time to work on the boat.
Yes I've been chasing rot too for the past few years (one of the pleasures of a mostly wooden boat). Good news is that since I BUILT the boat, I know how to fix it.
The hard part is finding those darned "round tuits". As I get older, they seem to get scarcer.


SEARS !!!Worst extended warranty policy ever!! Called and booked the next available appointment 3 weeks out ridulous . On the scheduled service date No one showed up . service tech did not bother to call or leave a note. Now i have to start all over again and wait once again to have a new appointment. It's no surprise why this company is in the hole.


Consumer appliances and electronics remained the largest category within internet retailing. After the government forced stores to give discounts of 30% on all purchases in November 2013, many stores went bankrupt.
Modern grocery internet retailing of grocery products showed a decreasing trend over the review period. The most innovative brands such as Excelsior Gama and Automercados Plaza's offered online sales but such strategies weakened as it became more difficult to guarantee product availability.
Venezuelans are expected to become more familiar with internet retailing over the forecast period. Although penetration of smartphones and tablets will continue to increase, the lack of firms operating in internet retailing will remain the most important barrier to growth.
MercadoLibre SRL gained value share and remained the leading player in 2017. This firm provided a wide range of products and prices and had a strong following among Venezuelan consumers.
Internet retailing's main non-store competitor channel is direct selling, which mostly focuses on less computer-savvy lower- and low-to-middle-income consumers. Homeshopping and vending remained small and underdeveloped in 2017.
With the scarcity of drugs so widespread, the most important parapharmacies chains – Locatel, FarmaPlus and Farmatodo – developed platforms to detect the availability of medicines in any of their stores across the country. Locatel's search engine even allowed users to enter the name of an active ingredient to check the availability of other brands.
Discover the latest market trends and uncover sources of future market growth for the Internet Retailing industry in Venezuela with research from Euromonitor's team of in-country analysts.
If you're in the Internet Retailing industry in Venezuela, our research will save you time and money while empowering you to make informed, profitable decisions.
Who are the leading retailers in Venezuela?
How quickly is internet retailing growing in Venezuela?


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Deze lijst van voetbalinterlands is een overzicht van alle voetbalwedstrijden tussen de nationale vrouwenteams van België en Nederland. België en Nederland hebben 32 keer tegen elkaar gespeeld. De eerste wedstrijd was op 29 september 1979 in Eindhoven. De laatste confrontatie, een vriendschappelijke wedstrijd, was op 18 februari 2021 in Brussel.

Wedstrijden

Samenvatting

Zie ook
 Lijst van voetbalinterlands België - Nederland (mannen)

Nederland (vrouwen)
Belgie (vrouwen)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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The Fixer Upper on Locust Street
by Ashley Sorce-Wedding
Photos by AP Imagery
Jason and Jesse Newton purchased their home at 1302 Locust Street five years ago with the intention of renovating it. Jason, a pharmacist, and Jesse, a nurse, have three kids and relocated to Owensboro from Louisville for Jason's work.
"We had purchased a nice new 'cookie cutter' house when we moved to Owensboro, but quickly realized that it didn't fit either of our personalities," Jason said. "Jesse definitely has an eye for design and my strength is in figuring out the technicalities. The house definitely had good bones but was in definite need of some updating. We knew immediately that it was going to be a lot of work, but it was going to be our next challenge."
Despite only taking on smaller aesthetic projects in previous homes, the Newtons were ready to tackle the large projects this home would require. Jason said that when moving into the home, the owner of the moving company jokingly asked if they had seen the home, built in 1915, before they purchased it.
Over the next several months, the Newtons got to work.
"Nearly every part of the house was remodeled in some aspect," Jason said. "Our goal was to add as many modern amenities as we could while maintaining the charm and beauty of a house."
In the living room, the Newtons converted two bookshelves into floor to ceiling custom built-ins, refinished the fireplace and ceiling and converted the original pocket doors to barn style doors. They updated the kitchen with modern appliances and updated the cabinets and countertops with modern materials. They also converted an office space and part of the hallway upstairs into a modern master bedroom suite.
"We were living in the house and on a budget, but we weren't always the best with sticking to one project at a time," Jason said. "There was a lot of time where we had multiple projects going at one time and we learned that this was not good for us. It definitely increased our stress."
Although the Newtons truly made their home on Locust their own, transforming every square inch into exactly what they wanted, they ultimately decided it was time for a change and put the house on the market earlier this year. The house sold in record time and the Newtons are excited to take on their next project.
"During the renovation we had decided that the next house we purchased wouldn't be as old but still need renovating," Jason said. "Our 'new' house was built in the '50s and we're looking to modernizing it but keeping a mid-century modern style."
As far as lessons learned from their time on Locust Street, Jason says there are many. First, they will not take on as many projects at once.
"We also learned that with old houses few things go exactly to plan," Jason said. "A lot of the completed projects were not plan B's, but sometimes plan C's or D's."
About the Realtor
Ryan Rutman has been selling homes in Owensboro for over 13 years. He was honored to help the Clemens through the process of selling their family home.
"Ryan made it happen," said Randy Clemens. "He was very professional and listened to our concerns. This was an emotional process for all of us."
In less than three days, Ryan helped the Clemens navigate multiple offers and eventually accept an offer for over asking price.
Ryan has grown his real estate team to include his wife, business partner, and fellow Realtor, Chivonne, as well as Realtors Stephanie Hardesty and Katie Drab. The Ryan Rutman Real Estate Group is available to help both buyers and sellers navigate the current real estate market. For them, it's not about the houses, but about the relationships formed along the way.
***Are you looking to buy or sell a home? Contact the Ryan Rutman Real Estate Group today!
What Can I Say to Convince You?
Holiday Cleaning—One Bite at a Time!


Ultrabooks to account for 20-25% of laptop shipments in Q4 2012?
Sources at Taiwanese notebook supply chain companies told DigiTimes that ultrabooks are expected to account for 20-25 percent of the laptop market in Q4 2012 based on current market conditions. Intel previously set a goal of 40 percent, but component firms think that's too optimistic, and that it will be hard to best Apple's MacBook Air.
The sources pointed out that most suppliers are aggressively developing components for ultrabooks, but actual order volumes have so far been below their expectations. Although the suppliers all understand that ultrabook are still testing the water, weakening growth of the traditional notebook market and dropping profits have prompted them to put great hopes on the success of ultrabooks.


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Lifestyle Travel and Leisure
10 Travel Channel Shows to Add to Your TV Lineup
Kandia Johnson April 28, 2015 April 28, 2015 1014
From exploring the rainforests of Ecuador and culture in Siberia, to discovering some of the most luxurious five star hotels in the world, the Travel Channel has added several new series to its TV and digital networks. Travel Channel viewers can expect a diverse mix of casts and shows including,"Rev Runs Around the World" featuring Rev. Run, legendary member of the rap group Run DMC, and "Night Crawl New York with Jawn Murray," an entertainment journalist and pop culture expert.
[Related: 5 Fabulous Destinations for Solo Travelers]
"With over 20 new shows this year, Travel Channel is going everywhere — every state, every continent and nearly 100 countries — challenging ourselves to find new places, try things we never thought we'd try, and connect with fascinating people," stated Shannon O'Neill, president, Travel Channel. "The faces of our network — our hosts — are some of the most passionate and authentic travelers on the planet. Curious, provocative and engaging, they are always hungry for finding unique cultures and meeting amazing people from all walks of life."
The descriptions below compiled by the Travel Channel, includes a few shows to add to your line up.
Night Crawl New York with Jawn Murray – The five-episode series focuses on New York nightlife venues and premiered this week on the network's digital platform TravelChannel.com.
"Having covered pop culture for years, I'm always trying to discover places where the cool, hip crowd would lounge; as well as venues that have celebrity appeal. The five venues we used to kick off 'Night Crawl New York' embody just that," said Murray.
50/50 – An action-packed show that starts with two Travel Channel hosts, unsuspecting people on the street and a simple premise: Would you like an extreme getaway for 50 hours, worth $50,000 dollars? Can you leave immediately? Travel Channel expert Samantha Brown and her adventurous pal Chris Grundy are heading to a town near you and they're doing the asking. If you say "yes," it's wheels up on an unforgettable two-day getaway worth $50,000 dollars — and you'll get to choose where you go, what you do, what you eat and when you sleep. But there's one catch — you must drop everything and leave right now.
Boy to Man – Adventurer and filmmaker Tim Noonan embarks on a solo journey of self-discovery to worlds beyond his imagination to try and unlock the mysteries of what it means to be the ultimate man. With just his gear and cameras, Noonan first has to earn the tribe's trust. Over the next few weeks, he is put through rituals, initiations and grueling tests to man-up and prove himself worthy of their respect. Throughout the series, Noonan travels the world, stopping in places such as Siberia to join the reindeer people, the Nenets, goes native learning how to climb coconut trees in Guinea Bissau and trains a golden eagle with Kazakh men in Mongolia.
Five Star Secrets – Features host Anthony Melchiorri as he sets out to experience the hospitality industry's most luxurious and amazing five star hotels. When Melchiorri checks into these well-run, high-end hotels, he interacts with staff, uses the property's amazing amenities, asks questions and makes special requests. Melchiorri also gives great insider take-away information, as he goes behind the scenes at the hotels. At the end of each episode, Melchiorri identifies one hotel employee who displays above-and-beyond customer service, and he surprises him/her with a very generous $5,000 tip.
Follow Your Past – A series that follows average Americans on a journey to breathtaking locations as they uncover their very personal connection to history's most extraordinary events. In each episode, acclaimed journalist and author Alison Stewart takes individuals around the world from one incredible location to another, giving each person a chance to literally walk in their ancestors' footsteps. Each step of the way, they learn important clues about their family's contribution to world history. By journey's end, their famous ancestor is revealed, and the historical impact of that person's life will come into clear and striking focus.
Hello Goodbye – Captures some of life's most precious moments as regular, everyday people arrive and depart from two of America's largest airports, Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago O'Hare. The show highlights heart-warming — and sometimes heart-wrenching — stories of love, sorrow, betrayal and friendship from travelers of all walks of life and cultures.  Viewers join host Curt Menefee ("Fox NFL Sunday") as he strolls through terminals talking to travelers, discovering the surprising stories behind each arrival and departure. Each story reveals the raw emotions and unbelievable moments that take place every day between families and loved ones in airports across the country.
Rev Runs Around the World – Features Rev Run, a world-famous rapper (Run DMC), style icon (Adidas) and television star ("Rev Run's Renovation," "Rev Run's Sunday Suppers" and "Run's House"). After spending years travelling the world with band mates and friends, Rev Run is embarking on his next travel adventure – but this time with his wife, Justine, and their not-yet-out-of-the-house kids, Russy and Miley. Equipped with four round-the-world airline tickets, Rev and family will be stretched to their limits as they brave exotic territories, fascinating cultures, authentic food and much more.
Relocated – A life-changing job worth leaving behind everything you know to live abroad in a strange new city thousands of miles away? Each episode features the story of a family faced with relocating to a foreign city from their current home. They hop a jet and travel to their prospective new city where they meet up with a relocation expert.  These insightful relocators must tailor a three-day tour to their client's specific needs and lifestyle. At the end, the families have to reveal their choice — stay or go.
An Idiot Abroad – Features Brit Karl Pilkington, who has led a sheltered life. Not having done any traveling, he enjoys living within the comforts of what he knows. As such, his friends, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, co-creators of "The Office" and "Extras," decide to send Pilkington to various parts of the world to experience unfamiliar cultures.
Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan – An exhilarating travel-adventure series that follows actor and wildlife enthusiast, Dominic Monaghan, as he explores the remote corners of the globe in search of some of the most extraordinary animals in the world. From the rainforests of Ecuador, to the caves of Venezuela and the arid deserts of Namibia, each episode gives viewers an up close and personal encounter with some of the most dangerous and elusive creatures known to man.


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Usain & Harry
Posted by Lainey at October 7, 2016 15:53:39 October 7, 2016 15:53:39
Usain Bolt went to the Olympics and made history. He's now considered one of the greatest athletes of all time. Usain makes it look so easy, so effortless, that sometimes it's taken for granted how precise he is when he's running, and how much knowledge has to go into the training and the preparation; like, it's not just, listen for the gun and run fast. Anyway, after years of discipline and focus, well, Usain has achieved the triple triple, and they're saying it's unlikely that anyone else will ever do it again. So, since then, he's been a tear. Partying, sexing, more partying, more sexing. He's spent a lot of time in London. And last night, apparently he was partying at the same club as Harry Styles. They weren't photographed together or anything, but the Daily Mail is making a deal out of the fact that they were at the same place at the same time, hoping, perhaps, that a superstar athlete and a superstar singer might become superstar best friends. I'm not mad at that.
I am also not mad at how Harry is looking these days. SO good. So much better than how he looked during his Keith Richards phase.
Splash
Tags: Harry Styles , Usain Bolt
Harry Styles promotes new album, Fine Line, on The Late Late Show with James Corden
Former One Direction member Liam Payne releases debut solo album and it's a flop
Harry Styles' Sweaty New Single "Lights Up" is more layered than his past work
Harry Styles on why he enjoys acting in cover feature for THE FACE


"The President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, has decided to close Venezuela's embassy and all its consulates in the United States after the Trump administration recognized the opposition leader as president… At least 13 countries, including the United States, said they'll recognize the head of Venezuela's opposition-led legislature, Juan Guaido"; causing the end of political and diplomatic ties with Washington, which gave US diplomats 72 hours to leave the country.
"Russia, China, Cuba and Turkey are among the nations backing Maduro — and Russia in particular is criticizing the United States for undermining him. 'Washington's interference in Venezuela could lead to "lawlessness and bloodshed,'" the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
What do these events show evidence of?
We will continue to see a marshalling of the nations, and social-political unrest, which is prophesied to happen before the great and final crisis begins. Although these things must come to pass, we must not allow our minds to be diverted "from the work of preparation to stand in the day of God".
Would you like to understand more about these and other prophetic coming events? Please sign up for our monthly Newsletter ($60/year) or eNewsletter ($30/year), by clicking here and indicating which delivery method you prefer. "The Sentinel of Light" (January's edition soon to come out) will continue in our Bible study on "Marshalling the Nations"; and help us to see where we are (today) in this earth's history!


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Q: MSKLC : How to tell Windows about the first row of my custom keyboard layout In Windows, one can install a custom keyboard layout, made with MSKLC.
However, when using the Language and Keyboard Options dialog, the "moniker" that consists in the sequence of characters found on the first row of the layout, is not displayed for a custom layout.

How do I tell Windows that my custom keyboard layout is an "AZERTY" variant?
I have used various tools to find out where this information is stored and it does not appear to be in the layout DLL itself. I also search in the registry but could not seem to find what I was looking for.

A: AFAIK this is normal - why does Windows need to know the variant in your case, or what does not work?
For German keyboard layout, QWERTZ is like AZERTY for French. In MSKLC, I first call Menu > File > Load existing keyboard and choose the layout "Deutsch" (which is showing QWERTZ in the windows settings screen you shared). After modifying it to my needs, building & executing the setup package (*.msi) and finally adding it to my windows language, my custom keyboard works just fine despite not showing QWERTZ: https://i.stack.imgur.com/TTORZ.png

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Conservation groups launch suit challenging Trudeau cabinet's pipeline approval
Bruce Cheadle
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaking on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on December 15, 2016. Photo by Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press.
Conservation groups have filed a new court challenge to the federal government's approval of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline.
The request for judicial review filed with the Federal Court of Appeal late Monday in Calgary is at least the eighth legal test of the controversial project, which will almost triple the capacity of an existing, 1,150-kilometre pipeline from near Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C.
The Liberal government gave the green light to the $6.8-billion pipeline expansion late last month, despite a thicket of existing legal challenges to the regulatory process.
Ecojustice lawyers, on behalf of the Living Oceans Society and Raincoast Conservation, say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet broke the law when it relied on a National Energy Board assessment of Kinder Morgan's controversial pipeline expansion.
The groups argue the board — and thus the Liberal government — did not properly take into account the Trans Mountain pipeline's impact on endangered southern resident killer whales. The newly expanded pipeline will increase oil tanker traffic from the port in Burnaby to about 34 ships a month, up from the current five.
"We'll be asking the court to overturn the government's unlawful approval and send it back to cabinet with instructions that it has to meet all the legal requirements," Ecojustice lawyer Dyna Tuytel said in a release.
The same groups had already challenged the National Energy Board's assessment on similar grounds last June, a case the judge reserved that has yet to be resolved.
The cities of Vancouver and Burnaby also launched suits against the NEB process, as did four different First Nations.
In September, the Federal Court dismissed a challenge by the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation that had alleged the board failed in its duty to properly consult.
The Liberal government says it is taking seriously its responsibilities under the Species At Risk Act, which mandates a federal recovery plan for about 80 killer whales that spend much of their lives in the Pacific waters off Vancouver.
Studies by the Raincoast Conservation Foundation suggest the whale population is severely stressed by a variety of factors, including shipping noise that disrupts the whales' ability to locate prey and communicate during the hunt.
Biologist Paul Paquet, the foundation's senior science adviser, said the increased tanker traffic not only increases the likelihood of oil spills, but will further compromise the killer whales' ability to feed due to additional, cumulative ship noise.
"We have consistently said that approving this project is approving the probable extinction of the southern resident killer whales," Paquet said in the release.
Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc told The Canadian Press in a recent interview that the Liberal government will be releasing an updated recovery plan for the whales next month, following thousands of public submissions on a summer draft plan. Transport Canada shipping regulations are in the works and will be introduced later in the spring, he said.
The federal government's $1.5-billion oceans protection program announced in November earmarked $340 million over five years for whale protections, including improved monitoring so ships can be immediately alerted and directed away from whale pods.
LeBlanc rejects the contention that the Trans Mountain pipeline is a death knell for the sourthern resident killer whales.
"I understand the concern and it comes, in my view, from a very good place. I think it's held sincerely," he said.
"It's not a view that's supported by the scientific advice and independent advice that we as a government have received."
Kinder Morgan pipelines Trans Mountain pipeline expansion
Bruce Cheadle's bio
More from Bruce Cheadle
Liberals say yes to controversial Trans Mountain pipeline project in B.C.
Trudeau defends LNG project approval as splitting differences among critics
Views from a refugee camp: Who gets into heaven?
I have just returned to Vancouver Island from Greek refugee camps where I met a Yazidi man named Jason who told me about his escape from ISIS in Iraq. His story begins on a desert road where a...
Peter NixSep 21st, 2018
Vancouver's bicycle sharing grows as 15 new stations installed
Mobi bicycle by Shaw Go in Vancouver. Photo by Christopher Porter from Flickr Creative Commons
Dylan WaismanApr 20th, 2018
International Women's Day Concert celebrates female musicians who turned tragedy into triumph
Every March 8, on International Women's Day, we hear about the achievements of brilliant, talented women around the world. But how often do we learn about the physical and mental disabilities or...
Vancouver ObserverMar 3rd, 2018


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Tucker blasts Biden's "absurd" and "irrational" jab mandate
Grassfire | September 14, 2021
UPDATE: Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Behind a banner that read "Your Body, Their Choice: Get The Shot...Or Else", Tucker Carlson spent the first 16 minutes of his #1-rated cable news program BLASTING Joe Biden's "absurd" and "irrational" coronavirus jab mandate. Here's an excerpt from Monday night's opening monologue:
"It's a mixed picture of some of what we know about the COVID vaccines. And yet, these very same vaccines, which are far less effective than we were told they were initially, which are potentially dangerous for some and completely unnecessary for tens of millions of others, are now nevertheless mandatory for virtually everyone in America. So why is that? Why exactly is that the policy? In his speech to the country last week, Joe Biden didn't bother to explain why. Explanations are not necessary at this point. Your consent is no longer required."
Tucker went on to say that the real crisis at hand is the "degradation" of the American people by the Biden regime. He ended the segment by saying we're being steamrolled by our so-called "leaders," who continue to insist: "Bow to our will, or we'll punish you. Violate your own beliefs. Give us your dignity."
Joe Biden and the radical, unhinged Left have doubled down on their COVID tyranny. If you agree and want to see Congress put a stop to it, take immediate action utilizing Grassfire's unique FaxFire tool.
Instantly send personalized "NO MASKS! NO MANDATES! NO SHUTDOWNS!" faxes to your Representative, your two Senators and key GOP members of the House and Senate. Click here or on the banner below to reach up to 20 lawmakers for only $20:
Tucker Carlson had a lot more to say about the COVID vaccine mandate on Monday night's program. See last night's update below to find out what he thinks is the real motivation behind "the most divisive speech ever given by a modern American president." Or click to take immediate action against Joe Biden's forced vaccination of America. Thanks, in advance, for making your voice heard today.
P.S. We want to let our team members know that Grassfire is NOT against people choosing to receive the COVID vaccine. We do not think "the jab" should be mandated, required or forced on Americans for work, school, military service or any other reason. If you agree, go here to fax up to 20 members of Congress with just a few clicks:
+ + + + + + +
Tuesday evening:
Tucker Carlson is the number-one voice in cable news, and he doesn't shy away from a fight or speaking truth to power. Last night, the FOX News host took on Joe Biden's unconstitutional COVID vaccine mandate, which the "Divider-in-Chief" unveiled during a White House speech this past Thursday. During his opening monologue, Carlson said:
"Biden's address was the most divisive speech ever given by a modern American president. Virtually every sentence of the speech reinforced a single point, again and again. And it was this: Your fellow Americans are dangerous to you. They could kill you. … Only the Biden administration can save you: 'We're going to protect vaccinated workers from unvaccinated workers.'"
Tucker went on to call the rationale behind the Biden regime's vaccine mandate "transparently absurd," adding: "It's about power. These demands are so obviously irrational that forcing you to accept them without complaint is the whole point of the exercise. … If they can make you take medicine you don't want or need, they've won. You are theirs. You belong to them."
Grassfire agrees, which is why we're empowering our team members to push back against this practical and existential threat to liberty. Joe Biden's "absurd" and "irrational" jab mandate demands your attention. It demands your resistance, while you also keep your eyes fixed on the Afghan Treason, the SPENDING SCAM, the flailing economy and the Democrats' other attacks on our constitutional liberties.
Fight the Biden regime's COVID tyranny! Click here or on the banner below now to send your personalized "NO MASKS! NO MANDATES! NO SHUTDOWNS!" faxes to your Representative, your two Senators and key GOP members of the House and Senate. Reach up to 20 lawmakers for only $20:
ATTENTION GRASSFIRE VIPS: GO HERE TO SEND YOUR "NO MASKS! NO MANDATES! NO SHUTDOWNS!" FAXES FOR 80% OFF! Not a VIP? Go here to send this fax at an 80% discount. (Trouble accessing your benefits? Go here.)
The Biden regime and the Unhinged Left have launched the FORCED VACCINATION of America. They're also MANDATING facemasks again and threatening to reimpose freedom-restricting, economy-destroying SHUTDOWNS and LOCKDOWNS.
Are you going to let them take our great nation down the "rabbit hole" of using the FEARdemic to, once again, strip you of your God-given, constitutional rights? If you're outraged by these attacks on your freedom, take immediate action by instantly sending your "No Masks! No Mandates! No Shutdowns!" national faxes now with just a few clicks!
If you REJECT the radical Democrats' efforts to "reset" America into a "woke," socialist, totalitarian state, Grassfire is empowering you to do something about it! We're fighting for your right to make your voice heard in the battle against COVID tyranny.
If you can, please go the "extra mile" and choose LEVEL TWO faxes to reach the ENTIRE House Freedom Caucus for only $45 (up to 65 faxes). Our LEVEL THREE faxes will expand your impact to include EVERY Republican in the United States Senate. That's up to 105 faxes in all. Go here to make your voice heard now.
Say NO to Joe Biden's unconstitutional jab mandate! Say NO to re-masking of the American people -- especially children! Say NO to more shutdowns and totalitarian edicts! To send your own faxes, click here for a list of FaxFire targets and their contact information. Thanks, in advance, for taking action today.
P.S. Please note that Grassfire is not against people choosing to receive the COVID vaccine, especially the elderly and those most at risk. But we do NOT think the jab" should be mandated or forced on Americans for work, school, military service or any other reason. Click here or on the banner below if you agree and want to take action:
Click here to view this update on our website.
"Tucker Carlson Tonight" September 13, 2021 (FOX News)
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Grassfire published Tucker blasts Biden's "absurd" and "irrational" jab mandate in News 2021-09-14 17:55:00 -0400


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February Treasure of the Month
A painted enamel dish depicting Apollo and the Muses by Martial Courteys, Limoges, France, c. 1580
The Treasure of the Month series offers the opportunity to highlight less well-known works from the collection as well as to look with fresh eyes on beloved masterpieces. This month we focus on this painted enamel dish depicting Apollo and the Muses by Martial Courteys.
This magnificently enamelled dish, a masterpiece of artistic and technical virtuosity on a copper base, is one of the most ambitious works by the superb Limoges enameller Martial Courteys. Little is known about Courteys, whose father and brother were also enamellers. He is first recorded in 1579 and had died by late December 1592.
The subject of the dish, Apollo and the Muses, is inspired by Classical mythology. The scene is set on Mount Parnassus in Greece, sacred to the god Apollo and the nine Muses. In antiquity, Apollo was associated with musical harmony, while the Muses were believed to be goddesses of creative inspiration, and also linked to learning. As a result, Mount Parnassus was connected with both music and poetry. At the centre, seated on the highest crag, Apollo plays a lira da braccio. The Muses accompany him on their instruments. The young woman pouring water from a vase is the nymph Castalia, who threw herself into a stream when pursued by Apollo. It became known as the Castalian spring, and was believed to be a source of poetic inspiration. These figures are all dressed all'antica — in the style of the ancients. The winged horse is Pegasus, who was symbolic of Fame, particularly fame associated with poetic genius. The scene is observed by two wreathed poets, perhaps intended for the ancient poets Homer and Virgil. Martial Courteys has inscribed his initials in gold at the centre of the dish. The owner's coat of arms, suspended from the tree, has not been identified.
The back of the dish
The scene is ultimately derived from Raphael's fresco in the Stanza della Segnatura at the Vatican in Rome, which dates to around 1510-11. This became widely known through Marcantonio Raimondi's related engraving, produced around 1517–20. In about 1556-7 Giorgio Ghisi engraved a version derived from Raphael. It was copied by the French Renaissance designer Etienne Delaune, whose version may be the source here. The subject became increasingly popular during the sixteenth century. In France around mid-century it was the subject of two frescoes at the royal château of Fontainebleau.
The symmetrically arranged, playful grotesque ornament around the border, which is also indebted to Classical precedent, was used by Courteys on several other enamels.
The back of the dish comes as a revelation. At its centre, a kaleidoscopic feast of grotesque ornament evokes prints by Delaune with similarly radiating ornament and strapwork. The distinctive arabesque ornament on the border is closely comparable with a design for Moresque border ornament published by Baltazar Sylvius in 1554.
This dish is a tour de force of the enamellers' art, from the fine delicacy of the draughtsmanship and the range and subtlety of the palette, to the dexterity with which silver foil has been laid beneath translucent turquoise enamel to convey the texture of drapery.
- Suzanne Higgott, Curator of Glass, Limoges Painted Enamels, Earthenwares and Renaissance Furniture.
Thursday 13 and Monday 24 February at 1 pm with Suzanne Higgott, Curator of Glass, Limoges Painted Enamels, Earthenware and Renaissance Furniture, in the Sixteenth-Century Gallery.


Each Department sets performance goals and tracks progress. Click on a department name to see their goals.
Director's Highlighted Measure - Expectations for the coming year.
Department Performance Plan - A snapshot of what the department does and how well it does it. The plan helps pinpoint improvement opportunities and implement strategies to achieve better results. With the plan, departments can better 1) make informed decisions, and 2) tell Iowans and other stakeholders what they have accomplished.
Department Strategic Plan - Sets out department goals and strategies for a 3-5 year period, aligns them with customer needs, and helps target scarce resources more effectively by clarifying desired results. Internal and external customers should be able to clearly see the goods or services the department intends to provide, and the strategies they will employ to achieve those results. When done well, strategic planning helps department leaders to organize, direct, and support strategies leading to results.


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John Goodman plays a man with a well-stocked bunker and a penchant for rules in 10 Cloverfield Lane.
Reel Reviews: Cloverfield companion piece is at a new address
10 Cloverfield Lane is more of an accompanying piece to Cloverfield.
After a young woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has an auto accident, she wakes up in the care of a man (John Goodman) in his underground bunker.
The man explains that the world has gone insane and people are dying from a toxic biological weapon. He also says that they can't open the door for a few years until the air is clean. The young woman isn't particularly keen on sticking around, but the man insists, for a while.
We say, "Sometimes simple is best."
HOWE: When this trailer started making the rounds last year, I was pretty excited about it. It had people asking if it was a sequel to Cloverfield.
When it was released last week, I tried to avoid hearing or reading anything about it as I wanted the surprise. I can say that the surprise is there, but not what I was expecting. I don't want to say anything more than that, otherwise I might spoil it.
TAYLOR: Ah, the curse of the movie reviewer: You want to tell the people the juicy bits, but you can't.
I think 10 Cloverfield Lane is an accompanying piece to Cloverfield. It could be happening simultaneously with the original film (which, if you have forgotten, was a handheld sci-fi horror film with a giant monster and creepy crawly aliens). The events that unfold at 10 Cloverfield Lane could have happened before or after the events in the original film.
Cloverfield was a fun film, but characters spent a lot of time stumbling away from something in the dark. At 10 Cloverfield Lane, we watch three people stew under the bunker's fluorescent lights. They've got their own issues to sort out first, then we'll go see what's up outside.
HOWE: There is tension in the film. It's not as much as the movie Room, but you can still feel it just bubbling under the surface, a bit like John Goodman's character, waiting to snap.
I thought he was great, but then again he can play any role it seems, from crazy-calm, to a nut job, to a happy cuddly grandfather figure. All three actors did well. They had to be good as 90 per cent of the film only contains them in a small underground apocalyptic bunker.
TAYLOR: They do go outside and there is something going on out there. You probably aren't going to like it. There isn't much of it and it's more mechanical than biological.
If anything, the two Cloverfield films are separated by their similarities and the film suffers when it doesn't feel right. Luckily, this is just a much anticipated denouement, lasting paltry minutes in an escape tale worthy of telling.
See 10 Cloverfield Lane if you're in the mood for something to make you wonder, at least a little bit.
– Howe gives 10 Cloverfield Lane 3.5 earrings out of 5.
– Taylor gives it 3.5 rolls of duct tape out of 5.
Reel Reviews with Brian Taylor and Peter Howe appears in The Morning Star every Friday and Sunday.
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Chinese technology company Huawei has begun working on advanced security technology together with the Public Security Bureau in the country's far western Xinjiang region, which is becoming a pilot zone for advanced new surveillance and population-control techniques.
Citing threats of terrorism and radicalization among the region's largely Muslim Uyghur population, Chinese authorities have spent heavily to build Xinjiang into a test bed for the use of facial recognition, digital monitoring and artificial intelligence in policing.
The agreement with Huawei illustrates the role of Chinese technology companies in that effort, while raising new questions about how technology developed for Xinjiang is used outside China. Huawei, which did not respond to a request for comment, has a significant presence in Canada (where it sells smartphones and wireless infrastructure equipment; it also operates a research arm that employs hundreds of people) and derives nearly half its corporate revenue overseas.
Last week, the company agreed to join an "intelligent security industry" innovation lab in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, as part of a government bid to create a cluster of expertise in that field. Such expertise, the local government has said, can serve not only China, but dozens of countries involved in the "Belt and Road Initiative," Beijing's sweeping plan to extend elements of its development model and corporate reach far outside its borders.
Tao Jingwen, a Huawei director, added that public security is "undoubtedly the most important part" of a corporate strategy to fully link individuals with broader society. "Together with the Public Security Bureau, Huawei will unlock a new era of smart policing and help build a safer, smarter society," the website paraphrased him as saying.
Local authorities have positioned the Urumqi intelligent security park as a way to supply rising demand for products that can be used to combat terror and help with stability maintenance, the broad Chinese term for enforcing government dictates and suppressing dissent. They said Chinese as well as overseas companies would be welcomed into the park, which is part of a bigger Gaoxin high-tech district.
At a security expo run by the high-tech zone last year, companies showed off virtual-reality technology to simulate hostile situations for police, patrol robots and a "super police car," bristling with cameras, that can use facial recognition to instantly identify those around it.
It's not clear whether other companies are, to date, involved with the "intelligent security industry" park, nor is it clear how many will come. Urumqi is thousands of kilometres from the coastal centres where many of China's top engineers live.
But the region also sits at the heart of China's ambitions to build a new kind of security apparatus, and its ambitions deserve notice, say critics, who have called the use of such technologies intrusive and warned about the establishment of a new form of digital autocracy. Chinese authorities have, for example, vaunted their intention to conduct precrime policing in the area.
"Many have said that this region serves as a Frankenstein-like laboratory for the social control technologies and policing tactics that will be used throughout China, and even globally. Now, shockingly, we see the government is essentially saying the same thing – that the Gaoxin District is planning to be a hub for smart security technology companies in Xinjiang, interior China and Central Asia under the Belt and Road Initiative," said William Nee, Chinese researcher for Amnesty International.
Researchers also worry about how technologies developed for authoritarian purposes in China could be brought into other countries under different guises.
Mr. Nee warned that foreign governments and consumers should take into consideration the company's conduct in China.
Scholars point to other considerations as well.
"The fact that companies like Huawei are able to develop such systems in regions like Xinjiang in tandem with the security services, and therefore with very few privacy restrictions – they are gaining a problematic advantage over comparable Western companies," said Adrian Zenz, an expert on Xinjiang at the European School of Culture and Theology in Korntal, Germany.


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Q: What probability distribution describes getting at least $k$ successes in a row, in $n$ trials? I am trying to figure which discrete probability distribution is it, here is the description:
A event had 2 possibilites: success or failure. The probability for success is $p$ and for failure is $1-p$  as usual
What is the probability of get at least $k$ success in a row $n$ trials?
E.g., with $k=3$, $n=12$:
F=failure              S=success

SFFSSFFFSSFS=NOK (zero row of 3 success)

SFF(SSS)FFSSFS=OK (one row of 3 success)

SSSSFFFFFFFF=OK (2 rows of 3 success, (SSS)SF... and S(SSS)F...)

SSSSSSSSSSSS=OK  (multiples 3 success in a row)

SFSFSFSFSFSF=NOK (zero row of 3 success)

SSFSSFSSFSSF=NOK (zero row of 3 success)

A: You can compute your probabilities with a Markov chain.
In you example, consider a finite automaton with four states: $S_0,S_1,S_2,S_3$. Every state encodes the number of consecutive successes achieved so far, so when starting you go with probability $p$ in $S_1$ and with probability $(1-p)$ in $S_0$. If you are in $S_0$, you go with probability $p$ in $S_1$ and you stay there with probability $(1-p)$. If you are in $S_1$, you go back to $S_0$ with probability $(1-p)$ and you go to $S_2$ with probability $p$. If you are in $S_2$, you go back to $S_0$ with probability $(1-p)$ and you go to $S_3$ with probability $p$. If you are in $S_3$, you stay there with probability $1$.
So the entire process is encoded by the transition matrix:
$$ P=\left(\begin{array}{cccc}1-p & p & 0 & 0 \\ 1-p & 0 & p & 0 \\ 1-p & 0 & 0 & p\\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1\end{array}\right)$$
that is a stochastic matrix, and the wanted probability is $(1\,0\,0\,0)\,P^{12}\,(0\, 0\,0 \, 1)^T$, the probability of ending in $S_3$ after $12$ steps. This particular number can be computed by putting $P$ into its Jordan canonical form: the Jordan base of $P^{12}$ is the same as the Jordan base of $P$ and the eigenvalues of $P^{12}$ are just the twelfth powers of the eigenvalues of $P$.


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