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The Death and Return of CHIKARA: A Comprehensive Guide
After being shut down for months for the sake of story, CHIKARA Pro Wrestling is back! Want in on the ground floor? We've got you covered!
By Gavin Jasper | February 28, 2014 |
Remember that time on WWE Raw where everyone went on strike, Smackdown ignored it, and it was all wrapped up in about a half hour on the following Monday's show? They wrote themselves into a corner there, but they obviously couldn't have let the strike continue. Storyline or not, you're trying to get people to pay to watch wrestling matches and the company can't do that when you don't have a show to give them. Imagine if the strike lasted nearly a year. That would be insane, right? Indy wrestling promotion CHIKARA did a storyline that was more or less just that.
A recent development from this month's National Pro Wrestling Day, CHIKARA is coming back after a long absence. Despite being gone for eight months, they still had their own narrative going on, unique, ridiculous, and convoluted as it was. As original as the storytelling was, it proceeded to annoy and alienate many. Various negative end-of-year lists about wrestling listed CHIKARA due to either the loss of the promotion that they loved or this lengthy diversion that was keeping them from enjoying the promotion that they loved.
The fact that they had to scrap fan-favorite annual show King of Trios didn't do the fan reaction any favors.
On May 25, CHIKARA will be making its grand return in Easton, PA and I thought a primer might be in order. A detailed look at the whole "Death and Return of CHIKARA" story for those who missed out on it, didn't care to follow it, or are new and want to give it a try. I know that seeing a giant wall of text can turn people off, so here's the quick, summarized version of CHIKARA's demise and rebirth:
CHIKARA was owned by evil corporation Titor Conglomerate, whose dark secrets started to leak during a major show. The man in charge had the show cancelled during the climax of the main event, ordering an endless wave of security guards to pull the wrestlers and ref out of the ring and destroy the set. CHIKARA was done. Hated wrestler Icarus refused to let it die without a fight and started a movement. In the beginning, only the fans followed him as the wrestlers mostly moved on and actively ignored him. With the help of the fans and a couple noted others, Icarus was able to scare the big, scary corporation into cutting ties with the CHIKARA name and selling it off. Meanwhile, many of the wrestlers started competing at smaller promotions under the banner Wrestling Is, but those promotions were eventually destroyed by a super-stable of villains from CHIKARA's past. At National Pro Wrestling Day, Icarus led the charge in running them off, before announcing that CHIKARA was indeed coming back.
Coincidentally, CHIKARA's site has its own succinct description of the event.
This whole story was told in a variety of different avenues. It started with various public fan gatherings held by Icarus, including a scavenger hunt to save a kidnapped fan. A YouTube series of short films called Ashes started up, mainly following the differing quests of Icarus, 3.0 and the Colony. Social media and the CHIKARA 101 message board had been used in various ways. There's also stuff like a website for Titor Conglomerate that added another dash of detail to what was going on.
Now that I got the quick and easy explanation out of the way, here's a more in-depth look at Ashes, the story of CHIKARA's grand return. This is a who's who mixed with the stuff leading into National Pro Wrestling Day 2014.
TITOR CONGLOMERATE
During the 2010, a heel faction called the Bruderschaft des Kreuzes ruled over CHIKARA with an iron fist, mostly due to the fact that the company's authoritative Director of Fun was BDK member Dieter VonSteigerwalt. Luckily, reprieve came when the higher-ups sold the company to World Media Development Corp., a subsidiary of Titor Conglomerate. The BDK's corruption was wiped away, Dieter was replaced by Titor bigwig W. Conrad Vavasseur's son Wink, and everything seemed fine.
Over time, things started to get a little more questionable. Ominous guards from Condor Security (also owned by Titor) would be hanging around shows and occasionally get involved by removing wrestlers for various reasons. At the end of the iPPV Under the Hood, we got to see Conrad Vavasseur for the first time, dressing down his son for his use of Condor Security and how he's exposing him.
Fans began to notice a crackpot blog called No Private Army that's been around since 2006. The blog was focused on pointing out how Titor Conglomerate and Condor Security are actually involved in war crimes, which is WAY worse than using authority to help people win wrestling titles. Over time, more and more of Titor's activities came to light, including ties to Elohim City, which is both out of left field for a family-friendly wrestling show and also confusing, considering how many non-white members of Condor there are. This kind of thing led to Titor having CHIKARA shut down during the 2012 Aniversario: Never Compromise iPPV show.
Since then, Titor attempted to liquidate assets. Once Icarus' movement started to pick up steam, certain fans would find Condor Security fliers at their homes with, "We're still watching," written on the back. Condor Security remained in the shadows until one of the Icarus public appearances, where they kidnapped CHIKARA fan Thom. A month later, they held a scavenger hunt for the fans to complete and while I'm still sketchy on how it made sense from an in-story perspective, it was ultimately about Condor getting their hands on some documents that would have allowed them to destroy and/or take over the Funplex, where CHIKARA tended to hold their Easton, PA shows. Icarus foiled them by getting Thom back as well as the documents, suitably embarrassing Titor Conglomerate.
The very next day, Titor sold off the CHIKARA name to the highest bidder, deciding to wash its hands of it. It ended up being sold by Barridoff Galleries, an art company owned by jacked old man Robbie Ellis, who himself made some CHIKARA appearances in 2007/8. Titor has been silent since then, but it's only a matter of time before they make another move.
WINK VAVASSEUR
When the 2010 buyout happened, Wink was introduced as an auditor, occasionally watching BDK matches to make sure things were on the straight and narrow. Soon he was made Director of Fun, putting him in charge of putting the shows together, despite being a bit incompetent when it came to business and knowing even less when it came to wrestling. Still, he meant well and a lot of his early ideas had merit.
Gradually, he became less aloof and more controlling. In 2012, he created a system called CHIKARAmetrics, a Moneyball-style form of math that only made sense to Wink where he'd put tag teams and stables together based on his inane calculations. This led to lots of teams of people who outright didn't get along and caused the tensions to rise within the company. Between the constant criticism, his rivalry with CHIKARA Grand Champion Eddie Kingston, and constant pressure from his father Conrad, Wink soon snapped and ordered Condor Security to end the Never Compromise main event. The set was destroyed, the iPPV feed was cut and Wink simply sat on the stage and angrily ate an apple for ten minutes. No, really. I was there for it. It was weird.
Months later, Wink broke his silence on Twitter, admitting that he felt guilty about everything and since his father cut him off financially and he was constantly being watched by Condor goons, he was ready to come clean. He apologized for his actions and spilled a lot of beans, including how Titor originally bought CHIKARA in an attempt to train their own army. Wink showed up to help during the scavenger hunt and won over some of the CHIKARA faithful by helping stick it to Titor. Since then, there hasn't been a single sign of him.
Icarus is one of the original students of the CHIKARA Wrestle Factory and wrestled at the first show in 2002. He's been a staple, most notably as a super unpopular bad guy. Between his petulant attitude, hideous back tattoo, and the fact that he used the Pedigree as a finisher, Icarus was known through fan chants as, "Worst in the World!" For years, he was a member of tag-team (and later stable) FIST, eventually being seen as the team leader.
Two things changed Icarus' state of mind. One was his hero worship of WWF alumni Marty Jannetty, who wrestled a handful of times in CHIKARA. The other was how Wink Vavasseur's CHIKARAmetrics program led to optimistic face Sugar Dunkerton being shoved into FIST. Icarus, Chuck Taylor, and Johnny Gargano hated him in the beginning, but Sugar insisted that he could make it work, as long as he didn't have to cheat to get by. That didn't make him popular with his team, but eventually Icarus took a shining to him and they showed themselves capable of some great teamwork. Then Icarus tried cheating in Sugar's favor, which not only made him furious, but caused Sugar to quit CHIKARA.
Icarus was granted a title shot at Never Compromise, where he donned Marty Jannetty's old 90's tights, thankfully covering up much of his back. He locked Eddie Kingston into the nigh-unbreakable CHIKARA Special and right before Kingston could tap, Condor swooped in.
While others lamented CHIKARA's demise, Icarus wouldn't let it go. Although an Easton show was cancelled, Icarus insisted that he would be there anyway. Though glad to see over 30 fans there to meet him, Icarus was disappointed that he was the only wrestler. He handed off some t-shirts and had them sign a petition. He started holding bigger rallies, including a guerrilla wrestling show where he set up a ring at a Philadelphia skate park and competed in a six-man tag match… until Condor Security ran off with that fan. He even spread his rebellious word by leaving DVDs at Dragon Gate USA shows with special messages to the fans. Lot of outside-the-box stuff.
Through the Ashes series, Icarus searched high and low for people to help him. Initially, the only one of any use to him was Hallowicked. A few weeks before National Pro Wrestling Day, Icarus finally convinced the Colony that they really, really needed to band together in order to defend the future. As Icarus drove away, he looked at a Marty Jannetty action figure in his car and smiled as there was finally hope.
DEREK SABATO
Sabato was a referee in CHIKARA for years, though not always the most popular. In 2010, he revealed himself as the BDK's personal referee, making it virtually impossible for others to defeat any of the BDK wrestlers whenever Sabato was involved. When Wink Vavasseur took over, Sabato was removed from his position. He resurfaced as a liaison for the equally-despicable faction GEKIDO in 2012, acting almost like their manager. He became very critical of Wink, claiming that he was more qualified to be Director of Fun. Shortly after, Sabato was fired.
He showed up in the middle of Never Compromise, where he told everyone that he got let go for getting too close to the truth. He took a picture of an incriminating photo he was given by an unnamed source and tweeted it before Condor Security could do anything. Still, they dragged him out of the ring and threw him out of the building.
In an Ashes video, Sabato was seen sitting down to have a chat with Mike Quackenbush, who he had never gotten along with. The contents of that conversation and even when it took place in relation to things is still up in the air.
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MIKE QUACKENBUSH
Founder and head trainer of the Wrestle Factory, "Lightning" Mike Quackenbush went over a bit of a transformation in 2012. The evil faction GEKIDO invaded CHIKARA and its leader 17 snapped Quack's wrist. Quack came back from injury and rather than just defeat and humiliate the GEKIDO members, he took to trying to viciously end their careers. That put him at odds with former best friend and partner Jigsaw.
Quack won a tag match in a show's main event. Before the DVD's footage ended to show the credits, a man from No Private Army came up to Quack and handed him a manila envelope with some important information. A day later, Quack was no longer mentioned on the CHIKARA website as an active member of the roster. Since then, Quack had only been seen when meeting up with Sabato and another Ashes video where Icarus found him at home, unshaven and watching old clips of Max Moon matches. Quack has shown no interest in fighting to bring back CHIKARA.
Jigsaw was all but absent during the Ashes storyline. At the end of 2012, Jigsaw turned on Mike Quackenbush due to their disagreements with how to deal with the invading force GEKIDO. Jigsaw felt that they were merely fighting for respect and chose to give them that. He and GEKIDO member the Shard became a tag team known as the Piece of Hate and won the Campeonatos de Parejas (tag belts) at Never Compromise.
The two made a couple appearances at the Wrestling Is promotions, but most notable was the final Wrestling is Respect show. Jigsaw was seen leaving the building during intermission. At the end of the show, the massive army of CHIKARA villains showed themselves and destroyed the promotion. For the first time, the Shard was seen as part of the heel army. Since then, there's been no word from Jigsaw. Would he still side with Shard or would he be true to CHIKARA? As it is right now, he's the piece that does not fit.
HALLOWICKED AND THE WRESTLE FACTORY
Like Icarus, "The Nightmare Warrior" Hallowicked was there from the very beginning, originally his stablemate. Considering the two had a decade's worth of bad blood since splitting up, it was surprising that he sought out Icarus for hope of alliance. With Quack gone missing, Hallowicked had taken over the Wrestle Factory, which is impressive that he can teach when he doesn't speak in anything that can be considered a language. Not only had he decided to help Icarus in his quest, but he also introduced him to three of his best students, Private Eye Jr., Kid Cyclone and Equinox III.
Showing that it may indeed be possible to make living human beings out of pure enthusiasm, Shane "Big Magic" Matthews and Scott "Jagged" Parker were the reigning Campeones de Parejas (again, tag champs) until losing to the Pieces of Hate at No Compromise. They left the show immediately after, which made them feel guilty that they weren't around when Condor Security destroyed the place. They heard that the enigmatic Archibald Peck was seen when the set was torn down and figured that they'd seek him out. Going on a lengthy roadtrip, they got word from Archie's lawyer RD Evans that Archie resides in Parts Unknown. A perilous trek through the snowy wilderness bore fruit as they found Archie's cabin…
ARCHIBALD PECK
Archibald Peck arrived in CHIKARA in early 2011 as an easily-punchable marching band leader. After a match with Eddie Kingston, Marchie Archie blogged about how Kingston's finisher, the Backfist to the Future (which is just a really hard backfist with a silly name), actually sent him forward into the year 2015. It was written off by many as ridiculous ramblings, but time told a different tale. Archie turned face and had a feud with "Mr. Touchdown" Mark Angelosetti that played out the familiar story path of a man who loses a Loser Leaves Match and comes back in a masked persona. The Handsome and Mysterious Stranger unmasked as Archie at the end of 2012 after humiliating Touchdown and his girlfriend Veronica, but that caused Condor Security to pull him away and throw him off the premises.
While that appeared as a very straightforward wrestling angle, Archie's similar-looking lawyer RD Evans was able to get him reinstated by explaining a convoluted backstory involving time travel. And it turns out he wasn't making it up! Lots of crazy stuff happened involving that, including a match where Archie saw his own time-displaced doppelganger looking on from the balcony. Without getting into it, the whole time travel nonsense shockingly works itself out better than most comic book attempts.
When the set of Never Compromise was destroyed, Archibald Peck was seen watching in the shadows before running off. 3.0 found him in his Parts Unknown cabin, where he had created a wall of cryptic clues about CHIKARA and its future (much like Rip Hunter's chalkboard in the comic 52). Archie explained that the great tragedy that would wipe CHIKARA off the map for good could not be stopped. It was too late for the three of them to intervene as time moves differently in Parts Unknown. Then he stopped to realize that there was a chance and inspected nearby blueprints for a flux capacitor.
Although FIST fell to pieces towards the latter days of CHIKARA, loud-mouthed Chuck Taylor still remained friends with Icarus. On the other hand, he showed no interest in the idea of bringing CHIKARA back. All good things must come to an end. He was constantly getting bookings for other wrestling promotions and even tried getting Icarus some pity bookings until Icarus turned him down.
While Chuck wrestled at a couple Wrestling Is shows, he's also been behind a wonderful 24/7 Hardcore Championship series that's been shown on his Instagram in very short clips. While it features a lot of CHIKARA/Wrestling Is regulars as well as other names from the indies, it is very much not safe for work. It's super hilarious, though.
TIM DONST
Around since 2007, Tim Donst transitioned from American-loving fresh face to a guy who was obnoxiously full of himself to a down-in-the-dumps bully who treated his hanger-ons like trash, especially best friend Jakob Hammermeier. Donst spent much of 2012 and 2013 dressing down his upbeat associate and transitioned into bullying ring announcer Gavin Loudspeaker. Gavin was forced into a match with him at Never Compromise, where he was helped out by Jakob, who finally manned up. As part of the rules, Donst had to shave his head as his own disfranchised followers left him.
Months later, Donst was seen in an Ashes video where Icarus sought his help. Since his humiliation at Never Compromise, Donst had taken to lots and lots of medication and found existence as a furniture salesman. While no help to Icarus, he did get lucid enough to hand him his old Young Lions Cup trophy with instructions to give it to Jakob, as well as an apology for everything, if Icarus ever sees him.
The foul bruiser Eddie Kingston had been part of CHIKARA since around since 2003 and despite his rude nature, he always considered it a home worth fighting for. In 2011, CHIKARA finally decided to introduce a Grand Championship title and held a big 12-man round robin tournament to crown the winner. Kingston became Grand Champion after defeating Mike Quackenbush in the finals and spent 2012 defending against all comers. That worked out great when he was facing those that the fans wanted destroyed, but when Kingston fought other popular CHIKARA names, there was a shift.
Through most of 2013, Kingston constantly defended his belt due to Wink Vavasseur's edict. Fans grew tired of watching him constantly win and cheered on his underdog challengers. Kingston became increasingly incensed, especially when Icarus of all people got a strong ovation during their Never Compromise match. Before he could tap out to Icarus, Kingston was saved by Condor Security's intervention, keeping him as the only holder of the CHIKARA Grand Championship in the belt's history.
Kingston ignored Icarus' pleas for help to bring back CHIKARA, claiming that campaigning wouldn't pay his bills. Kingston also revealed that he still carries the Grand Championship around at all times. Appearing at Wrestling Is shows, Kingston grew more and more irate with the fans' clamoring for a CHIKARA return to the point that he assaulted Thom, the very same fan that Condor Security kidnapped.
ULTRAMANTIS BLACK
The devious UltraMantis Black is another name from the initial days of the company and while he's a megalomaniacal supervillain, at least he's on the side of the angels these days… strange as that is to say. UltraMantis made two appearances in the Ashes videos. One of which showed him incredibly reluctant to listen to Icarus during his day job of working as a librarian. In another video, hanging out at a wrestler bar, he got on Green Ant's case for being a terrible partner to both his old teammate Soldier Ant and his newer partner assailANT. While UltraMantis has always been sketchy, he pointed out that at the end of the day, he was always true to those loyal to him, unlike Green Ant. Green didn't take that so well.
UltraMantis once introduced the Eye of Tyr into CHIKARA lore. The Eye of Tyr was a mystical, mind-controlling artifact that caused CHIKARA nothing but trouble. It was shattered at some point by its main victim, Delirious.
In 2006, the tag team of Fire Ant and Soldier Ant entered CHIKARA as the Colony, joined soon after by Worker Ant. The lineup changed over the years with Worker Ant retiring and brief membership of Carpenter Ant. Green Ant became the new third man and all was good as the Colony was known as one of the premiere trios in CHIKARA. Then Wink Vavasseur's CHIKARAmetrics kicked in. Feeling the need to mix things up, Wink jumbled up the Colony and GEKIDO's answer to the Colony, the Swarm (deviANT, combatANT, and assailANT). Soldier would be traded with assailANT for the sake of "improving" the teams.
Despite his roots as a member of GEKIDO, assailANT tried to turn over a new leaf and get the fans to cheer for him. It was gradual, but he eventually got the fans, the Colony, and even vengeful Mike Quackenbush to accept him. On the other side, Soldier Ant refused to see eye-to-eye with combatANT and deviANT. After a big 8-man tag featuring both teams, Soldier Ant was abandoned by his teammates as the Colony dragged off assailANT while treating him like a hero. That left Soldier to stew alone. Wink tried to make right with Soldier by having him lead a team called Colony XTREME Force, but they were jerks and Soldier chose to quit the company.
After CHIKARA went goodbye, Fire Ant and Green Ant went looking for Soldier Ant. They visited Worker Ant, now bitter and confined to a wheelchair, but he had no news. He did hand Green Ant his Worker Ant gear, claiming he no longer wanted anything to do with it. Their search for Soldier led to an altercation between Green Ant and UltraMantis Black where UltraMantis berated them for not doing enough for Soldier. When he questioned why they didn't have assailANT with them during all of this, Fire Ant – giving one of his very few speaking lines – admitted that they still don't trust him.
THE BATIRI
The Batiri is a trio of demonic warriors who are both trolls in the literal and internet sense. A brief Ashes video showed face-painted members Kodama and Obariyon sitting in their bachelor pad apartment in Bled Island, munching popcorn and watching wrestling. Presumably, they watched one of the Wrestling Is promotions get destroyed, as they suddenly became incensed.
The other member Kobald was going to show up to one of Icarus' get-togethers, but he was jumped by Condor Security on the way there. He left an angry message on Icarus' answering machine, blaming him for it.
WRESTLING IS
Starting in 2011, a promotion started up called Wrestling is Fun!, featuring much of the CHIKARA roster and many new names who would later go on to wrestle in CHIKARA. Other organizations started to pop up such as Wrestling is Cool, Wrestling is Heart, Wrestling is Intense, Wrestling is Awesome, Wrestling is Respect, and Wrestling is Art. Ignoring Wrestling is Fun!, putting the other Wrestling Is shows together with neighboring promotion Kaiju Big Battel spells out, "CHIKARA." Funny how that works.
While the wrestler were able to compete at these promotions in the wake of CHIKARA's destruction, they weren't a strong replacement. Not only were ticket sales minimal, but they were starting to get picked off by various heel factions from CHIKARA's past. Whether you call them the Ghosts of CHIKARA Past, the Secret Society of Super Rudos, the CHIKARA Revenge Squad, or whatever, they did a ton of damage over the course of several months. The only surviving promotions are Wrestling is Fun! and Kaiju Big Battel.
GEKIDO was an invading force from 2012 that took the form of evil versions of the CHIKARA roster. The Swarm was the evil Colony, featuring three former Wrestle Factory students who were kicked out years earlier for their lack of interest in paying their dues. The Shard, the evil Jigsaw, was an old friend of Jigsaw and Eddie Kingston who went his own way ten years earlier and didn't have much to show for it. The four were taught by 17, a masked, evil counterpart to Mike Quackenbush, who himself was a bitter student of one of Quack's old mentors Jorge "Skyde" Rivera. 17 was obsessed with ending careers and one of his victims was Quack, who had his wrist shattered during a match.
CHIKARA was able to fight back against GEKIDO and win the war. The returning Quack started to take it a little too far by trying to outright cripple 17 and combatANT. The other three found their own spots on the roster over time, while 17 and combatANT were thought to be gone for good.
Instead, the two of them and deviANT appeared at the end of a Wrestling is Intense show, where they interrupted the main event and threatened to end the careers of wrestlers Darkness Crabtree and Jervis Cottonbelly unless the promoter agreed to end the company completely. They got their wish. Still selling Quack's wrath, combatANT was sporting a neck brace.
DR. CUBE
Dr. Cube has always been the marquee villain of Kaiju Big Battel. The Nazi-experiment-turned-mad-scientist dabbled in CHIKARA back in 2008, though nothing huge came of it. The 2012 iPPV Under the Hood ended with a brief look at Dr. Cube's henchmen in hazmat suits finding the shattered remains of the Eye of Tyr. Dun dun DUN!
In Kaiju, Dr. Cube and American Beetle were shot by an unknown assassin. Dr. Cube returned at the next show, although it was very obviously not him. Still, the imposter Dr. Cube was able to convince his monsters to follow his lead.
After warning them via YouTube, Dr. Cube and his followers arrived at Wrestling is Awesome, right after they crowned a champion via tournament. They stole both the title belt and the gate money, thereby destroying the promotion. Months later, he appeared with GEKIDO at Wrestling is Fun!, where they were warded off by a bat-wielding Icarus. Cube told him that they'd "respect" his wishes, only to show up the next day to destroy Wrestling is Respect with the help of the Wrecking Crew.
Whoever this fake Cube is, he's got impeccable taste in sweaters.
SINN BODHI
Otherwise known as Kizarny during his brief stay in WWE, Sinn Bodhi was a wild card in the big feud between CHIKARA and the BDK back in 2010. The Batiri were his followers and he lent them to UltraMantis in return for the Eye of Tyr. Since UltraMantis couldn't supply the Eye, Bodhi turned on him. Their feud continued until the iPPV High Noon at the end of 2011, where UltraMantis gave him a fake Eye of Tyr and convinced him it was the real deal.
Sinn Bodhi did get his hands on the Eye of Tyr eventually, thanks to his alliance with Dr. Cube. He used it to sway the promoter of Wrestling is Art to hand over the promotion. Then alongside his Odditorium (Qefka the Quiet and Oliver Grimsley), he appeared at the end of the show to close the whole thing down.
BRUDERSCHAFT DES KREUZES
Known as the most unstoppable stable in CHIKARA history, the BDK made themselves known at the end of 2009 in one of the best twist reveals in wrestling history. Leaders Claudio Castagnoli (WWE's Antonio Cesaro) and Ares put together a team of those who had gripes with the company… as well as a giant, masked Viking named Tursas because what not. Not only did they run the shows via newly-appointed Director of Fun Dieter VonSteigerwalt and in-their-pocket referee Derek Sabato, but they dominated the roster, won the tag belts, Young Lions Cup, and King of Trios tournament. For a while, nobody could stand up to them.
It took all of 2010 for CHIKARA to finally win the war and regain their footing. 2011 was about the BDK breaking apart, finally done away with in the season finale, High Noon. Or were they? At the final show for Wrestling is Cool, the main event had the Devastation Corporation destroy the Colony. Afterward, the promoter Milo Schnitzler revealed that he was part of the new wave of BDK, along with Ares and Tursas' replacement Nokken. He triumphantly ended his own promotion just to mess with the ants.
COLONY XTREME FORCE
Wink Vavasseur noticed that Soldier Ant was unhappy as part of the Swarm, so he gave him a new assignment where he would be a team leader. Seeing the Colony gimmick as nothing more than something to franchise, Wink introduced the Colony XTREME Force: Orbit Adventure Ant, Missile Assault Ant, and Arctic Rescue Ant. While goofy, the trio were very underhanded and refused to listen to Soldier. He left CHIKARA and was replaced as leader by deviANT, who brought them with him into the mega-stable of CHIKARA-hating bad guys.
THE WRECKING CREW
Sidney Bakabella is a living anachronism mixing Tony Clifton with a 1980's wrestling manager. He made his name by representing the massive Devastation Corporation (Max Smashmaster, Blaster McMassive, and later Flex Rumblecrunch) and soon associated with other big terrors Oleg the Usurper and Jaka. When push came to shove, they revealed their true colors by helping Dr. Cube and GEKIDO destroy Wrestling is Respect. Bakabella revealed that he and his men were being paid real well to go on the warpath.
JERVIS COTTONBELLY AND ASSAILANT
The gentlemanly Jervis Cottonbelly had the worst luck of all, as he tended to be on the card whenever one of the heel factions destroyed a Wrestling Is show. Up to a point, at least. During an Ashes video, he was shown training alongside assailANT at the Wrestle Factory. Their sparring session came to an end once deviANT and the Colony XTREME Force showed up. Jervis was chloroformed and dragged away while deviANT ordered assailANT to burn the place to the ground. assailANT refused, causing an argument over whether GEKIDO was about gaining respect or wiping CHIKARA off the map. assailANT was beaten down while deviANT warned him not to stand against them.
With his fate up in the air, Jervis ended up missing his next few shows.
SUBMISSION SQUAD
Actually, scratch that. It's the Submission Squad who have the worst luck. During King of Trios 2009, they held a tag match to showcase Lethal Wrestling Alliance. It was Pierre Abernathy and Evan Gelistico vs. Davey Vega and Gary the Barn Owl. In a weekend filled with top indy wrestling stars like Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries, and El Generico, this tag match stuck out especially as a huge stinker and received chants of, "DON'T COME BACK!"
Years later, in light of the BDK and GEKIDO successful invasion angles, the four men from that match released a video, angry at how the fans treated them. And so, "Pistol Danger" Evan Gelistico, "Barn Owl" Gary Jay, "Elegant Assassin" Pierre Abernathy, and "Brainwave" Davey Vega became the Submission Squad! They even convinced Wink to let them compete in King of Trios 2012 as a foursome!
Unfortunately for them, their exploits never bore fruit. Their attempts to invade CHIKARA were constantly foiled by their own buffoonery. Then with only days before National Pro Wrestling Day, the four sat together and decided that they weren't going to quit.
Coincidentally, their car broke down within a very short walking distance from the show.
NATIONAL PRO WRESTLING DAY
Most of the show went off without a hitch until the main event where Wrestling is Heart's Heidi Lovelace and Joe Pittman wrestled for the championship trophy La Copa. The army of heels stormed out, annihilated both wrestlers, destroyed the trophy, and the masked leader revealed himself to be none other than Jimmy Jacobs. Previously, Jacobs wrestled a couple times in CHIKARA during 2012 during a minor war between CHIKARA and his promotion Ring of Honor. The full reasoning for his inclusion here can only be speculated. He had the full might of all the different heel stables, including a bunch of hooded Dr. Cube goons circling the ring.
Suddenly, the Submission Squad appeared, yelling that if they wanted to destroy what was left of CHIKARA, they had to go through them. And so, they were beaten down. Icarus arrived with Hallowicked, his trainees, and the Colony. deviANT gave assailANT one more chance to join the winning side, but he once again refused, choosing to stay loyal to CHIKARA. Jacobs laughed at how they were eight against many, but then the hooded goons unmasked to reveal more CHIKARA favorites. A massive brawl erupted and it looked like the good guys were still going to lose.
That's when the doors opened up and a Delorean rode in, driven by Archibald Peck! Accompanied by 3.0, he helped turn the tide of battle and sent Jacobs' side off, defeated. As even Mr. Touchdown showed appreciation for Archie's help, Icarus held a piece of paper to a nearby camera with, "5/25/14" written on it.
"Tell them! Tell the world! We're coming back!"
Then they had an extra main event for the heck of it.
In an Ashes epilogue, Green Ant met up with assailANT to ask him about why he fought with CHIKARA. assailANT showed him a picture of his newborn baby and said that he needed to set an example. If he stayed with GEKIDO, he wouldn't be able to live with himself. Understanding and finally trusting him, Green Ant handed him Worker Ant's gear. He had shoes to fill.
And so, CHIKARA is back. Though we still don't know what's become of Soldier Ant and Titor Conglomerate is still out there. In May, they're going to release a full version of Ashes of CHIKARA in theatrical form. The trailer points out that there are scenes and story beats unseen by the CHIKARA fans, so maybe we'll get a few new revelations going into the company's big return on May 25, 2014.
Like us onFacebook and follow us onTwitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. AndGoogle+, if that's your thing!
Tags: ChikaraWrestling
Gavin Jasper	| @Gavin4L
Gavin Jasper is a buffalo wing enthusiast who loves the hell out of comic books and professional wrestling. In the end, that makes him an expert…
Read more from Gavin Jasper
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The Best Comics of 2021
December 31, 2021 | By Mike Cecchini and 2 others


Drug addiction is a psychological disorder that can affect people of any age. This may also result in physical deterioration, especially if the person is already in poor health. But if that person becomes eager to stop his or her drug dependency and get treatment, there is still hope of getting back to his or her normal self again.
There are several drug abuse programs in Connecticut that drug addicts and their family can take advantage of. These can help withdraw from drug addiction, and cope with the symptoms associated with it. Below are the most common drug abuse programs available.
Detoxification – Detoxification, or simply detox, refers to the method of removing toxic substances from the human body. When a person becomes addicted to drugs, flushing it out of his or her system helps trim down its effect, and the likelihood of that person to want for more.
Detoxification commonly takes several days to as much as two weeks depending on the amount of drugs the person is in the habit of abusing. This is the initial stage of substance abuse treatment. With a detoxification program, the patient is able to deal with the withdrawal symptoms and endure the side effects of medication much more comfortably and safely than were they to attempt this on their own.
Methadone Treatment – Methadone is a medication prescribed to patients being treated for heroin addiction, and to relieve pains associated with cancer and other serious illnesses. Methadone belongs to a group of drugs known as Opioids, which are categorized as central nervous system depressants. Methadone abuse treatment helps the patient cope better with the symptoms of drug addiction withdrawal.
But although methadone is legally distributed in the United States, its medical role is questioned by organizations who believe against using another addictive drug to treat addiction. Nonetheless, it has been proven effective in making withdrawals less excruciating for the patient.
Residential Treatment – A person may choose to be treated at home to be given personalized care. This is also preferred by many so that the patient's family can help with the treatment, encourage the patient to take his or her medication, and make sure that the medication is taken according to schedule.
In this setting, the patient can immediately get support from his or her family and the assigned specialist should the symptoms of addiction withdrawal become unbearable. Residential treatment is also the best alternative if the patient does not feel comfortable in the presence of other addiction patients in hospitals and clinics.
Counseling – A psychiatrist may be required to make the drug addict understand the severity of his or her condition, as well as the importance of treatment and the patient's willingness to pull through. Most drug abuse organizations offer counseling, and it may help if a patient will join one.
Similarly, support groups are formed by people with similar issues. Here, the patient can hear about real life scenarios related to drug addiction, and possibly share his or her experiences too. To realize that there are other people in the same boat can be motivating enough for the patient.
There are other drug abuse programs in Connecticut that you can refer to should you or someone you care about be addicted to drugs. You can choose from among the many drug dependency support groups in Connecticut to get tips on how to deal with drug addiction, or how you can help a family member cope with drug dependency. There are also libraries in Connecticut where you can find videos and printed information about drug abuse, and how it impinges on a person's mental and physical health.


May heralds in the ninth commemoration of Jewish American Heritage Month! The official website has been updated with upcoming events at venues such as the National Gallery of Art, the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
The Society is also hosting a challah sale—four loaves for $24 to benefit it's educational programs with pick up at their offices or free delivery in Penn Quarter. Deadline is May 4; sign up here.
On May 3, the Foundation for Jewish Studies and Congregation Beth El in Bethesda are co-hosting Jews, Protestants and the Secularization of Modern America with historian/professor Dr. David Hollinger.
Please comment with any other area events below!
Past JAHM coverage on JewishDC: 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009.


The GNOME desktop file archiving graphical application File Roller (file-roller) views, extracts, and creates archive files using tar, gzip, bzip, compress, zip, rar, lha, and several other compression formats. Note that File Roller is only a front end to the command-line utilities that actually provide these compression formats; if a format is not installed, File Roller cannot use that format.
File Roller does not complain if you select a compression format that is not supported by installed software until after you attempt to create the archive. So, install any needed compression utilities first.


text:
Feature Slider
Radiant Readers serves elementary students district-wide
December 16, 2022 December 16, 2022 Shannan Chan 0 Comments
Over the last two years post-pandemic, the world has seen a massive setback to education and development in youth, especially those in primary school. As more and more concerns arise from teachers, parents, and many others, this problem affects growth in many subjects, but impacts one subject the most: reading. That's why the Radiant Readers Club (RRC) is here to help, aiming for second and third-graders to boost their literacy skills.
The RRC was established fairly recently at CVHS, officially becoming a club last year. The project itself, however, has been running for a little longer.
"It started off as a Girl Scout Silver Award project as we want to inspire kids and to have a safe online environment for reading. The RRC's purpose is to give back and help kids become more confident in their reading skills," said junior and club president Vivian Yang.
The club has a five-member club board as well as other members, who are labeled as staff. They meet entirely online through Zoom meetings every Monday evening. This includes reading time, game time, such as Pictionary or Stickman, and a review of vocab, all from 7:30 p.m. to 8:40 p.m.. This schedule includes perks, like no required lunch meetings and the flexibility of volunteering from home.
The club has experienced huge growth and expansion since last year, from 10 to 13 elementary school students to now serving a whopping number of 65. RRC not only targets just the Castro Valley School District, but many others as well.
When asked about what goals the club hopes to achieve this school year, the problem of time limited Zoom meetings occur. Since July 15, 2022, Zoom has changed the meeting time limit to 40 minutes, causing inconvenience to the RRC meetings as well as complications with breakout rooms. However, the club is hopeful that they will get through their dilemma.
"We went through a lot of setbacks actually, even now. We're trying to come up with a solution, and we're currently in a jam so we hope to have a fundraiser in the future," says Yang.
Overall, the RRC seems to be a great contribution to the community and a good way to give back. Nevertheless, there is still some rowdiness at times, especially with the kids' behavior.
"This club is a great way to fill your volunteer hours while getting the chance to work with children. Reading with the kids is a chaotic but fun reading opportunity," said sophomore Edison Huang.
Freshman Vice President Arin Yang agrees. "Being vice president of RRC is fun, because I get to oversee the club and be a part of what happens behind the scenes, but it gets frustrating when things don't work out," she added.
Despite its difficulties, the RRC strives to continue running in future years in order to continue supporting kids' reading and literacy development throughout the Bay Area.
To find out more information about RRC, find them on Instagram @theradiantreaders.
← Looking through the "Glass Onion"
Olympian Poetry Contest Winner: "You–or rather, me" →

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


When it comes to sleep apnea, there's no one solution that's the perfect fit for every single patient in need of help. Depending on the severity of your condition, oral appliance therapy or CPAP therapy alone may be enough to provide effective treatment, but this isn't always the case. In certain situations, Dr. Claire Haag and the rest of our team may recommend combined oral appliance and CPAP therapy for superior comfort and relief.
At the Dental Sleep Apnea Center at Pioneer Greens Dentistry, we want to help devise the perfect sleep apnea treatment plan for you that benefits not only your rest, but your overall wellbeing and quality of life as well. Patients from Prairie Home, NE and surrounding areas are encouraged to contact us today to schedule their complimentary consultation!
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) relies on the use of a mask that covers the nose and/or mouth, consistently forcing air down the throat so that patients don't experience disruptive pauses in breathing. By maintaining the proper levels of oxygen, you're able to sleep throughout the night with minimal interruptions. Today, many patients still find the predictable and effective relief they need from CPAP treatment – however, there is a significant problem associated with its use. The uncomfortable noises and sensations associated with CPAP treatment result in high intolerance rates. While some patients can successfully adjust to these conditions after a couple of weeks of diligent use, others forgo treatment entirely.
Oral appliance therapy is recommended by both the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine as the ideal initial treatment option for patients who struggle with constant snoring (but not sleep apnea), mild to moderate OSA, or CPAP intolerance. The customized device is designed to shift the patient's jaw and place a slight amount of pressure on the soft tissue and tongue. This keeps their airway unobstructed and allows air to flow freely in and out, resulting in quality, uninterrupted rest. Oral appliances offer several benefits to patients – they're comfortable, convenient, and easy to travel with. However, oral appliances may not be effective for some people, especially those who suffer from severe apnea.
By combining the individual benefits of both oral appliance therapy and CPAP treatment, patients can experience truly exceptional results. To achieve the same level of improvement with one option alone, patients would need to use CPAP on the highest setting possible, which is very difficult for patients to adapt to; in fact, CPAP can cause unpleasant side-effects like headaches and dry mouth on that high of a setting. Alternatively, combined therapy helps to eliminate sleep apnea events while the CPAP runs on a much lower setting, reducing patient dissatisfaction and improving compliance rates. Even the most extreme cases of sleep apnea can experience the highest levels of relief possible with combined therapy – and better yet, because the oral appliance is so easy to transport, patients never have to go completely without treatment while on vacation or traveling for business.
Is Combined Therapy Right For Me?
When patients have proven to be intolerant to traditional CPAP treatment.
When patients have used an oral appliance in the past to treat their sleep apnea but were unable to achieve the level of relief they needed.
When patients have undergone CPAP treatment in the past as a solution to sleep apnea but were unable to achieve the level of relief they needed.
Better Convenience – Patients who frequently travel by plane for business or pleasure are likely to leave their CPAP machine at home for understandable reasons. The bulky system is difficult to transport and carry, not to mention you need a significant amount of distilled water to power it properly. Thankfully, patients using combined therapy are able to conveniently bring their oral appliance with them for valuable support and more comfortable sleep.
More Comfort – When undergoing combined therapy, patients only need to wear a nasal mask that's less intrusive than the typical overall facial mask with thick straps. The oral appliance will keep your airway clear and open, allowing the CPAP pressure to flow freely and provide effective improvements on a much lower setting than usual.
Increased Compliance – Because of the reduction in both noise level and discomfort, patients are much more likely to use their oral appliance and CPAP machine together on a routine basis. This is crucial because consistent, diligent treatment plans are the only way to reverse the damage your overall health has experienced because of sleep apnea and ensure that patients achieve the high quality of sleep they need.
Bolstered Effectiveness – Several studies have shown us that combined therapy significantly reduces the amount of patient-experienced apnea episodes (when breathing ceases for 10 or more seconds) and hypopnea episodes (breathing that is excessively shallow and slow) each night, as well as feelings of exhaustion/fatigue the following morning. According to the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine, patient that underwent no treatment at all had an average of 6.6 episodes each night. Alternatively, patients using CPAP treatment experienced 4.4 episodes, while those using combined therapy had an even greater reduction at 2.6. On the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, patients with untreated cases of sleep apnea scored a 12 on average, while oral appliance users scored a 9 and combined therapy users scored a 7. These results are clear – combined therapy improves the effectiveness of both traditional CPAP treatment and customized oral appliance therapy to maximum levels.
Have you tried CPAP therapy but have been unable to comply with treatment? Are you disappointed with the effects of oral appliance therapy? Please don't hesitate to contact the Dental Sleep Apnea Center at Pioneer Greens Dentistry today to schedule an appointment with Dr. Claire and the rest of our team. We'll review your past treatments and sleep test results to determine whether or not combined therapy might be the best course of action. Our goal is to help you finally achieve the good night's rest you deserve!


text:
layout: post
title: cryptopals-set1
excerpt: "Cryptopals challenge - Set 1"
categories: [writeup]
tags: [itsec, crypto]
---

[matasano / cryptopals](http://www.cryptopals.com)

Language of choice for this is Python. Probably not everyone's first choice but since v3 the support for bytes as a native type makes it much easier to handle the below.

## Set 1 ##

### 1. Convert hex to base64 ###

{% highlight python %}
    def mc_part1():
      h = '49276d206b696c6c696e6720796f757220627261696e206c696b65206120706f69736f6e6f7573206d757368726f6f6d'
      hh = bytes.fromhex(h)
      b64_expected = b'SSdtIGtpbGxpbmcgeW91ciBicmFpbiBsaWtlIGEgcG9pc29ub3VzIG11c2hyb29t'
      assert (b64_expected == base64.b64encode(hh))
{% endhighlight %}

That one was easy - just remember that `base64.b64encode` returns something of type byte, not str.

As a bit of trivia `h` is the hex representation of "I'm killing your brain like a poisonous mushroom" - a sentence from "Ice Ice Baby" (which is a recurring theme in this challenge >_<).

### 2. Fixed XOR ###

{% highlight python %}
    def mc_part2():
      a = '1c0111001f010100061a024b53535009181c'
      b = '686974207468652062756c6c277320657965'
      aa = bytes.fromhex(a)
      bb = bytes.fromhex(b)
      a_xor_b = bytes.fromhex('746865206b696420646f6e277420706c6179')
      xored = bytes([x^y for (x,y) in zip(aa,bb)])
      assert( xored == a_xor_b )
{% endhighlight %}

Nothing much here either, apart that `a_xor_b` is "the kid don't play".

### 3. Single-byte XOR cipher ###

This one is a little more tricky. We're given a piece of ciphertext encrypted with a single character but not told what the character is. The instructions suggest using frequency analysis - but I think the ciphertext is too small. Instead I opted for a brute force approach : )

{% highlight python %}
    def mc_part3(idx=15):
      h = '1b37373331363f78151b7f2b783431333d78397828372d363c78373e783a393b3736'
      hh = bytes.fromhex(h)

      for k in string.ascii_letters:
        print(k)
        print(bytes([a^b for (a,b) in zip(hh,bytes(k*len(hh),'ascii'))]))
{% endhighlight %}

And we quickly see that when `k` is `X` the ciphertext decrypts to "Cooking MC's like a pound of bacon".

### 4. Detect single-character XOR ###

This makes it a little harder to brute force - instead of having a single string, we are given 60. We need to optimise!

We know one of those strings will decode to something from "Ice Ice Baby" - which means it'll be ASCII. Specifically, all characters should be printable. Behold `string.printable`. Except if we did that it'd generate too much noise. We certainly don't expect digits or non-standard symbols like `(` or `%` to be present. We this we can create a filter that will discard anything that doesn't match the given criteria.

{% highlight python %}
    def mc_part4(f='p4.txt'):
      with open(f, 'rU') as d:
        lines = d.readlines() # it's a small file

      lines = [l.strip() for l in lines] # remove \n
      candidates = list()
      # we only care for letters and a few symbols
      valid_characters = set(string.printable)-set(string.digits)-set(['#','$','%','/','~','`'])
      for line in lines:
        hh = bytes.fromhex(line)
        for k in string.printable:
          xored = bytes([a^b for (a,b) in zip(hh, bytes(k*len(hh),'ascii'))])
          if all(map(lambda c: chr(c) in valid_characters, xored)):
            candidates.append((k, xored))
      print(candidates)
{% endhighlight %}

Running this quickly isolates the string in question, which decodes to "Now that the party is jumping".

### 5. Implement repeating-key XOR ###

To get our repeating key, it's probably easiest to use a generator.

{% highlight python %}
    def mc_part5():

      def cycle_key(key):
        idx = 0
        while True:
          yield ord(key[idx%len(key)])
          idx += 1

      g = cycle_key('ICE')
      s = "Burning 'em, if you ain't quick and nimble\nI go crazy when I hear a cymbal"
      hh = bytes(s,'ascii')
      xored = bytes([a^b for (a,b) in zip(hh, g)])

      c = '0b3637272a2b2e63622c2e69692a23693a2a3c6324202d623d63343c2a26226324272765272a282b2f20430a652e2c652a3124333a653e2b2027630c692b20283165286326302e27282f'
      expected = bytes.fromhex(c)
      assert( xored == expected )
{% endhighlight %}

### 6. Break repeating-key XOR ###

To get this under way we need to do a little prep work. The first is being able to compute the hamming distance between two *lists* of bytes:

{% highlight python %}
    >>> a=bytes('this is a test','ascii')
    >>> b=bytes('wokka wokka!!!','ascii')
    >>> xored=bytes([x^y for (x,y) in zip(a,b)])
    >>> sum( (xored[j] >> i) & 1 for i in range(8) for j in range(len(xored)) )
    37
{% endhighlight %}

Which is expected (as per the instructions). We hardcode 8 because that's how long a byte it. Wrapping the above in a method yields:

{% highlight python %}
    def hamming_dist(a,b):
      xored = bytes([x^y for (x,y) in zip(a,b)])
      return sum( (xored[j] >> i) & 1 for i in range(8) for j in range(len(xored)) )
{% endhighlight %}

We also need something that allows us to divide a list into chunks. Note we only want complete chunks... I think (?).

{% highlight python %}
    def get_avg_hamming_dist(raw, chunk_size):
      chunks = get_chunks(raw, chunk_size)
      return sum(hamming_dist(c1,c2)/chunk_size for c1,c2 in zip(chunks,chunks[1:]))/len(chunks[1:])
{% endhighlight %}

It's not magic - we could have done the same thing with `range` but this is a little neater.

Next up we need to compute the hamming distance between each block.

{% highlight python %}
    dists = list()
    for chunk_size in range(2,40):
      dists.append( (chunk_size, get_avg_hamming_dist(raw, chunk_size)) )
    dists = sorted(dists, key=lambda x: x[1])
    print('smallest distance {1} was found with chunk size {0}'.format(*dists[0]))
{% endhighlight %}

Which yields:

    smallest distance 2.7593244194229416 was found with chunk size 29

Indicating the key is of length 29.

We now need to transpose each block (so 29 blocks all of the same length, apart potentially from the last one), and find the single character XOR key that yields the best 'English-looking' histogram. In other words, we'll gather 29 samples of what an english text should look like - where the byte which occurs the most often in each sample should match that which would occur the most often in an english text.

Most people (myself included) automatically think that 'e' is the most common letter - and that's true. But it isn't the most frequent character. According to [this page](http://mdickens.me/typing/letter_frequency.html) it's actually space. So by property of XOR, xor'ing the most frequent byte in the chunk with space should give us the character the chunk was encrypted with.

{% highlight python %}
    n = 29
    transposed_chunks = [raw[i::n] for i in range(n)]
    most_common_char = ord(' ') # space is the most common character in English
    candidate = bytearray()
    for tchunk in transposed_chunks:
      c = Counter(tchunk) # from collections import Counter
      char, _ = c.most_common()[0]
      candidate.append(char^most_common_char)
    print(candidate)
{% endhighlight %}

Yielding:

    bytearray(b'Terminator X: Bring the noise')

### 7. AES in ECB mode ###

We're not re-implementing AES - just looking at the ECB mode.

{% highlight python %}
    def mc_part7():
      with open('p7.txt', 'rU') as f:
        lines = f.readlines()

      data = bytes(''.join([l.strip() for l in lines]), 'ascii')
      raw = base64.b64decode(data)
      from Crypto.Cipher import AES
      mode = AES.MODE_ECB
      decryptor = AES.new('YELLOW SUBMARINE', mode)
      plaintext = decryptor.decrypt(raw)
      print(plaintext)
{% endhighlight %}

Which will give you the lyrics to "Play That Funky Music" by Vanilla Ice.

### 8. Detect AES in ECB mode ###

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


74. Image 1 of The Cats' Pause, "January 3, 1987"
75. Image 1 of The Cats' Pause, "January 24, 1987"
76. Image 1 of The Cats' Pause, "January 17, 1987"
77. Image 1 of The Cats' Pause, "January 10, 1987"
78. Image 1 of The Cats' Pause, "January 18, 1986"
79. Image 1 of The Cats' Pause, "January 19, 1985"
80. Image 1 of The Cats' Pause, "January 26, 1985"


text:
Cambridge United boss happy with his new role
Derry's job title was changed over the summer
Tim Street
New role: Shaun Derry (Image: Simon Lankester)
Shaun Derry has been very pleased with his transition from manager to head coach at Cambridge United.
The former Notts County boss took over in the Cambs Glass Stadium hot seat in November 2015, but was handed a new job title at the end of last season.
As far as Derry is concerned, it takes some responsibilities off his shoulders and helps him concentrate on the playing side of things.
"A modern day manager a modern day coach can't do everything," Derry told Talksport this week. "I feel the way I was growing with the club, and the relationships that were building, and realising what different people could bring to different roles.
"We had an open discussion and it felt like the right thing. It came equally from me and the board as well, so I'm very happy with the transition."
Derry spent almost a year and a half in charge at Meadow Lane before being sacked but waited another seven months before returning to the game, having found he was missing it too much.
"Spending time out the game, seven months, was great for me," he added. "First time since I started playing football that I spent any time away from the professional game.
"So I thoroughly enjoyed the seven months. I got away on holiday and spent some valuable time with the family. It coincided with the start of the season that I really started to miss it.
"I was over in America watching some of the sport over there, the season kicked off and I really missed it. To come back into Cambridge United at the right time was really important."
Four games unbeaten in League 2 the aim for Cambridge United at Barnet
Cambridge boss will be keeping his feet on the ground
Shaun Derry
NHSHigh cholesterol symptoms: How to spot high cholesterol levels when touching your legs, ankles and feetHigh cholesterol is when you have too much of a fatty substance called cholesterol in your blood, according to the NHS
Cambridge United head coach Mark Bonner wary of Crewe Alexandra upturn in form ahead of League One clash
Cambridge United FCSaturday's visitors have won four of their last nine league matches after claiming one win in their opening 17 games
Jimmy Unwin heaps praise on Cambridge United youngsters after FA Youth Cup upset against Leeds United
Cambridge United FCThe under-18s progressed to the fifth round of the competition with a 2-0 win at the Abbey on Wednesday
Cambridge United FCCambridge United head coach Mark Bonner wary of Crewe Alexandra upturn in form ahead of League One clashSaturday's visitors have won four of their last nine league matches after claiming one win in their opening 17 games
Jack Lankester loving winning feeling as Cambridge United secure fourth straight victory against Doncaster Rovers
Cambridge United FCUnited have won four and drawn one of their five matches in all competitions since the turn of the year
Cambridge United boss Mark Bonner labels Doncaster Rovers win as 'absolute gold dust'
Cambridge United FCUnited weren't at their best but managed to come away with a 3-1 win at the Abbey
Cambridge United secure fourth consecutive win with victory against Doncaster Rovers
Cambridge United FCGoals from Harvey Knibbs, Harrison Dunk and Sam Smith continued United's winning run
Things you'll only understand if you learnt how to drive in Cambridge
Traffic & TravelWe've all experienced a sweaty palm when joining the A14 for the first time


It is really hard to photograph a meteor. Even though some 25 million of them hurtle toward Earth each day, most of them are too small to track. Those you can see are tough to spot during the day, and most people are sleeping when they streak across the sky at night. But Prasenjeet Yadav managed to get one anyway, entirely by accident.
Yadav was asleep when this bright green meteor exploded over Mettupalayam, a small town in the mountainous Western Ghats region of southern India. But the time-lapse rig he'd set up on a nearby hilltop captured this beautiful image.
He didn't set out to be a photographer. He was born in Nagpur, roughly 35 miles from the setting for Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, and tigers and leopards routinely wandered through his yard. He studied big cats as a molecular biologist, but had the sense that most people didn't read, let alone understand, academic papers. If people are to understand science, he thought, they have to see it. And so he became a photographer.
Yadav won a National Geographic Young Explorers grant to document "sky islands," the isolated mountain peaks that rise above the clouds along a 400-mile swath of the Western Ghats. He wanted a nighttime shot of Mettupalayam to show the area's urbanization. In the wee hours of October 9, 2015, Yadav drove into the mountains, set up his Nikon D600, and programmed it to take 15 second exposures every 10 seconds until 4:30 am. Then he made camp and dozed until dawn.
The next day, he reviewed the thousand or so images on his camera and spotted a brilliant flash of emerald light. At first he thought it was a fluke, but several astronomers confirmed that it was a meteor. It's a perfect shot. "I was there, and that's what photography is all about—being there in the right place at the right time," Yadav says. That, and a bit of luck.


Download and Print FormsRocky Mountain Chiropractic offers our patient form(s) online so you can complete it in the convenience of your own home or office.
Auto accident and personal injury forms.
For canine or equine new patients.


ArcheAge is an MMORPG in from Korean company XLGames and published in the NA and EU by Trion Worlds. Players enter a fantasy world and start play on one of two continents: Nuia (Elves), and Harihara (Ferres). From there, everything else is up to you, from what character you play, to where you go, and why. ArcheAge promises to remove the restrictions that have hampered former MMORPGs, especially concerning character classes and skills. Go where you will, do what you want, be the character you want to be.
Create Your Own Character Class | From a list of 10 abilities, choose any 3 to make your character class.
Organize Expeditions | to safely explore the Land of Origin.
Establish Your Own Country! | Come to own a piece of the Land of Origin, where you can build your own castle.
Build Your Own House | Choose from various sizes and types, for your personal use, or to use as a public shop.
ArcheAge players can now set off to learn more about Hiram thanks to the addition of the new story questline, Western Hiram Mountains. Content includes a new 15-20 player instance (Fall of Hiram City), the new Noryette Challenge dungeon, changes to the Red Dragon's Keep, bug fixes and feature enhancements.
The ArcheAge team has posted a new letter that reveals a number of recent issues and exploits that have been patched or dealt with over the last several weeks. Included in this list was a player reaching the "top of the equipment rankings on Kadum" through an exploit. The player and any others involved have been dealt with "aggressively" and the player has been removed from the rankings.
The next big update coming to ArcheAge is v5.1 that will be released on January 16th. It's bringing some fairly significant changes to the game including alterations in the Hero System, a 5-player Abyssal Library Dungeon is coming and the Pirate Faction "becoming more fleshed out" as a nation. Players will be able to actively opt in to the Pirate nation by completing a quest.
The holidays will soon descend into Erenor and the ArcheAge team has a brand new event for players to take part in . The event will begin on December 19th with the new Snowball Arena that pits teams of three against one another in a "brutal, snowy brawl". Players will have access to an array of special skills tailored for epic snowball fights and some interesting effects to both use and / or avoid while battling it out.
Now that Relics of Hiram has finally been deployed to ArcheAge servers and server "evolution" has been completed, Gamigo developers are ready to send out a number of reward packages to all players and to players who participated in the server merge process.


Slice the french roll, preferably stale(or you may substitute 2 or 3 slices of stale bread or a small baguette) into thin slices, across the short end. Lay the slices of bread all along the bottom of a lightly greased casserole or baking dish.
A long and large dish will make a thin fritata (my preference). A short or round dish will make a thicker fritata. Make certain you have at least one layer of sliced bread to cover the bottom of the dish of your choice.
I used a 9x12 pan so that I'd have a thin frittata to use as sandwich fillings, described below.
In a bullet blender or by hand, whip together the milk, eggs, cottage cheese, salt, and mustard until blended and frothy. Cottage cheese curds remaining in the mix are just fine. Set this custard aside.
Dice the sausage patties into the skillet, and saute until heated through and somewhat crispy, with some of the fat rendered. Remove the sausage from the skillet and scatter over the bread slices in your pan.
Snip the cooked bacon over the sausage and bread slices.
Dice the onion into the skillet with drippings, and quickly heat the onion until soft and just beginning to brown. Scatter over the sausage, bacon and bread. You may wish to add mushrooms to the dish at this point, if you like, or any cooked vegetable, really.
Over your dish with bread and cooked meats, sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese, making a rather thin but evenly distributed layer.
Over this, you'll now pour the contents of your blender cup, which has the eggy-milk custard, being certain to evenly pour the mixture around the edges, working your way to the center of the pan. Add a bit more milk and cottage cheese if you feel you need more liquid. You do not need to "bury" the contents completely in egg custard, but, it should be uniformly moist. Evenly distribute any cottage cheese curds remaining in the custard.
Tear the spinach leaves into bits and gently scatter over the dish, and using a fork or your fingers, press the leaves gently into the eggy custard.
Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes, until the edges are set and beginning to brown, the dish has puffed up with a somewhat dry appearance and no longer has a wet or glossy top. Remove from the oven. The fritata will continue to cook slightly as it cools.
When cool, the puffy fritatta will fall again until it is rather thin, but soft and tender.
Slice into rectangles, squares, or, cut into circles (see my comments, below). You may eat some warm (delicious), but, I layer the slices between waxed paper, and, place into a covered and sealed plastic food saver, in the fridge.
Each morning, depending upon the type of breakfast you'd like, heat the fritata slice for 15 seconds in the microwave, and layer in buttered toast, on a bagel, or in a tortilla as a tote-away breakfast. Take away on the train, bus, or to your desk, for a quick protein breakfast.
I created this take along fritata as a way to have a quick and easy breakfast, each morning, which only required a few seconds in a microwave, but was relatively healthy and reheated well. I don't typically like reheated eggs, but the ingredients in this recipe help the eggs hold up well.
1) With a round biscuit cutter, I can make and store the rounds and after heating, place them between a toasted bagel for a bagel sandwich.
2) With rectangles cut with a knife, I can place between two slices of toast as an toasty egg sandwich.
3) With long strips cut with a knife, I can place the long strips in a heated tortilla, fold, and heat, and it becomes a breakfast burrito which, for a nice change, does NOT result in scrambled egg dropping into your lap if you're eating on the train or at your desk.
You can customize this by adding pepper jack cheese and green chili for a southwestern flavor (excellent in a tortilla), or by adding veggies of your choice, and perhaps hot sauce in the eggy custard.
Mr Breakfast would like to thank kjf916 for this recipe.
Recipe number 2847. Submitted 5/29/2010.


Tucson is a place of dust and red squatty rocks and ancient cacti and retirees playing golf and a desert heat in the summer so intense that buying a tank of gas becomes a spiritual experience. Tucson is also home to a small artsy rock scene. Marianne Dissard documented some of that in a 1994 film that she produced, wrote, and shot called Drunken Bees. The documentary has the queasy feel of a Jim Jarmusch film and features, among others, the Tucson-based masterminds of the band Calexico, John Convertino and Joey Burns. After careers as a filmmaker and a lyricist, Dissard too became a member of the high-desert music community earlier this year when she released her first CD.
MARIANNE DISSARD: Bar Pink, Friday, May 8, 10 p.m. 619-564-7194.


Thank you for your interest in our program. Please complete this form to arrange your free onsite consultation. You will receive an email confirming your request and providing additional information. A volunteer Audubon at Home Ambassador will contact you soon to schedule your visit.
Please know that the Audubon at Home program is staffed 100% by volunteers. We will do our best to contact you quickly.
If you have concerns or questions please contact us.


Details: Aside from it looking similar to the quintessential Adidas Copa Mundial, the Adidas Copa Tango 18.1 Indoor also delivers almost the same level of comfort and fit. Although this football boot runs smaller than the other shoes, the Boost technology makes up for what it may lack in terms of comfort. Overall, the Adidas Copa Tango 18.1 Indoor is a good investment for players who play on indoor courts (IN) often.


Our Benevolence Fund has been designed to help those among us who are experiencing difficulty with basic needs such as food, shelter, and transportation. Gifts to the Benevolence Fund should not be marked for a specific individual.
Do you know if your company has a program to match charitable donations? It is estimated that over 65% of Fortune 500 companies offer matching gift programs; yet, over $6 billion in matching funds go unclaimed each year. Your tithes and offerings qualify as charitable contributions, so please take a moment and inquire with your employer to discover if your company offers a matching gift program. For any questions or required documents, or call 626.358.2136, the church office.
Did you know you can transfer funds directly from your IRA as a charitable contribution? If you are over age 70 ½, you have the option of directly transferring funds from your IRA to SBC. This tax provision was re-instated and became permanent in December of 2015. The law allows the transfer to take place tax free, and will not require you to report the distribution as income on your tax return – creating several possible tax benefits!
Is SBC one of the few places you still write a check to? We offer a secure and convenient way to accept your tithes and offerings online using your checking account. Once you setup your online account, you can easily return to it to make one-time or recurring contributions, view giving history, and even view your year-end tax statement. To get started, click on the Give Now button below!


text:
Q: How to sort by primary table field and pivot in Eloquent? Pivot table has one extra field: ordinal for sort order. How can I sort by ordinal and romance_color?
Inventory::where('item_id', '=', $itemId)
->with('size')
->orderBy('romance_color')
->get();

Documentation has the following example:
$users = User::with(array('posts' => function($query)
{
    $query->orderBy('created_at', 'desc');
}))->get();

How can I first sort by field in primary table, and then by pivot table field? For example, can I sort by User added date, and then sort by post created date?
Can you suggest alternative solution in eloquent?
Thank you

A: I used simple join with eloquent:
Inventory::where('item_id', '=', '170')
->with('size', 'color', 'item.category')
->join('attribute_value_size_group as gr', 'gr.attribute_value_id', '=', 'size_id')
->orderBy('romance_color')
->orderBy('ordinal')
->select('inventory.*', 'gr.ordinal')
->get()->toArray();

A: You can use Query Builder:
For example:
 $pivotTable= DB::table('pivot_table')->where('item_id', $itemID)->orderBy('romance_color')->get();

A: try this one.
$otherModelCollection = Inventory::where('item_id', '=', $itemId)->otherModel()
->orderBy('romance_color')
->orderBy('pivot_ordinal')
->get();

It is somewhat related to this.
http://laravel.io/forum/04-17-2014-order-by-pivot-table-attribute-in-eloquent

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Because of our very attractive price of £720 we are doing a seven week promotion on Facebook. Each week we will send out 3 different messages over a 7 week period each one promoting a different aspect of the club. For those of you who are on Facebook if you can always click share it will be seen by all your friends and so the word is spread.
Finney Salver, Frank Lewis, Ganley Scratch, Radmore.
The entry lists for the aforementioned competitions have been posted on the appropriate Notice Boards.
Payment is required in advance when entering a Competition. No pay, no play.
Midweek Medals and Stablefords begin in March. The window to play is anytime between the Sunday to Friday following the Monthly Medal/Stableford Competition. The Competition will close on the Friday at 18.00 hours. Start times are self-selected during the window. Sign in on the PSI Unit prior to playing and immediately after playing enter your score. Scorecards must then be posted in the Competitions Score Box by the Secretary's Office.
This years winners of the Finney Salver were Trish Lockie and David Hartley. It was supposed to have presented after the Mixed Greensomes on Sunday but the match was called off due to the weather. Here we see the Ladies Vice Captain Anne Renella presenting the Salver.
We are organising a FREE taster session on Saturday 26th of January 2019. If you know any one who would like to try their hand at golf. this is the chance. Just tell them to come a long between 10.00am and 12.00pm on the 26th and Andrew and colleagues will give them a introduction to golf. We will provide all the equipment just tell them to wear flat shoes. If they wish, they will then be able to book a course of six group lessons for £30.


Take command of the road in the 2019 BMW 540i This 4 door, 5 passenger sedan offers the latest in technological innovation and style. Under the hood you'll find a 6 cylinder engine with more than 300 horsepower, and for added security, dynamic Stability Control supplements the drivetrain. All wheel drive maintains traction at all four corners. The engine breathes better thanks to a turbocharger, improving both performance and economy. A wealth of standard features means that you no longer have to sacrifice. Like leather upholstery, delay-off headlights, a built-in garage door transmitter, a power seat, a blind spot monitoring system, front dual-zone air conditioning, heated door mirrors, and 1-touch window functionality. For drivers who enjoy the natural environment, a power moon roof allows an infusion of fresh air. BMW also prioritized safety and security with features such as: dual front impact airbags with occupant sensing airbag, front side impact airbags, brake assist, ignition disabling, an emergency communication system, and 4 wheel disc brakes with ABS. You'll never lose visibility with rain sensing wipers, which activate automatically when the drops start to fall. Our aim is to provide our customers with the best prices and service at all times. Please don't hesitate to give us a call.


Christmas is my favourite time of year to craft with the kids (though Autumn Crafts are a close second!!!!), I have any happy memories of dark, cozy afternoons, huddled together and making Christmas Crafts. Over the years here on Red Ted Art, we have made many Easy Christmas Crafts for Kids, and it is about time, I brought them all together in one place for you. We will continue to update this post over the years, so do come back, browse and find new additions ad ideas! I have also created a special subsection of Christmas Crafts for Preschoolers aaaaand we have a great selection of Christmas Paper Crafts for Kids – great if you only have basic craft supplies! There are of course lots of overlaps between "kids" and "preschoolers" – and I usually find it has to do with how much adult support there is available! And we have a whole section for Christmas Gifts that kids can make! Do visit that too!
Since starting the Red Ted Art YouTube channel, we have a newly refreshed loved for PAPER CRAFTS. The reason the channel has reignited our love for paper, is that we realised that so many kids that watch the channel HAVE PAPER. It is an inexpensive and yet versatile craft material.. and there are lots of wonderful easy Christmas Paper Crafts for Kids! Yay.
Cutes of cute Paper Santa Lanterns!
DIY Christmas Fortune Tellers – choose from Rudolph, Santa, Elf or Christmas gift! Then play a game of Christmassy truth or dare!
3D Christmas Tree Coloring Page – this is oh so wonderful elegant. Simply wow!
Oh check out our OH SO POPULAR Christmas Flexagons – Paper Toys that you can colour and assemble yourself. Super fun to make.
We have some super cute and simple Origami Christmas Trees here too – perfect as a little room decoration or as an addition to a Winter Village or even as DIY Christmas Ornaments!
How fabulous are these Christmas Clothespin Puppets?!
As you know we ADORE making Bookmarks. Bookmarks are a great classroom activity, for a cold and dark Winter's evening at home and also make great little gifts for friends and family. Here are some of our favourite!
Lots more Christmas Bookmark Ideas here!
I know that Christmas Cookies for kids isn't really a craft! Ha. However, I think baking at Christmas time and involving the kids is a key part of magical Christmas memories! And there is no reason why can't get creative in the kitchen! Baking definitely should be part of anyone's easy Christmas crafts for kids!
So this is our most "general" section – just plain simply: easy Christmas crafts for kids!!!! I am sure I could have grouped them (maybe into recycled Christmas crafts for kids or similar), but I thought it is good just to have a general section.. where you can fit everything in!
Wonderful Winter Village Luminary set! This takes recycled crafts to a whole new level. Seriously sweet and you can add as much or little detail as you like!
Easy DIY Gift Bags for awkardly shaped gifts!
We LOVE making cards. Christmas Cards are a fun way to get creative, but also to put a smile on a friend's, teacher's or relative friends. They make great "keepsakes" for family that live further away. Check out our Christmas Cards for Kids from years gone by!
More Christmas Card for Kids ideas here!
Ah yes, Christmas Ornaments – we have a HUGE post dedicated to our favourite Christmas DIY ever – the lovely Christmas Ornament. We have even put 30 of our favourites into a special Christmas Ornament Book for you! I have picked out the section that is most "generally" appropriate for "kids".. but of course it is all relative and you may want to browse the other ideas too!
And because we can't get enough of corks, we also made ADORABLE Cork Penguin Ornaments!
Similarly you can turn these easy Paper Baubles into Paper Snowman Ornaments. SO SWEET! They look amazing but are easier to make than you think!
I just wanted to highlight that we have a great section dedicated to Christmas Crafts for Preschoolers – this captures the "toddler" through to preschool age group (2yrs – 5yrs). Preschoolers are at the same time a wonderful and yet tricky age group to work with – they have wonderful enthusiasm, beautiful "innocents" to their work and sometimes can get frustrated as their fine motor skills catch up with their creativity. So i create a sub section of ideas JUST for preschoolers – some will overlap with the Christmas Crafts shared above, others are just for this wonderful age.. from tots, to kindergarden and preschool!
And don't forget those Gifts Kids Can Make – nothing like a homemade gift!!
Enjoy your Easy Christmas Crafts for Kids!
I love, love, love your ideas. I have used many of them for story time at the library craft time. Thanks so very much for sharing them.


text:
UK markets close in 6 hours 5 minutes
Women's Health UK
9 Ways Blake Lively's PT Gets Results – And Ensures They're Not Short Lived
Photo credit: Instagram.com/donsaladino
Blake Lively is one of those unicorn-level rare beings; someone famous, who's seriously beautiful, seems to have a stellar personality, hasn't been cancelled for misjudging their celebrity, and looks to have a genuinely happy relationship and family setup.
(Course, who are we mere mortals to judge.)
Of all her admirable elements, one that we're here for is her approach to getting and staying fit and healthy.
It's one thing to embrace exercise for on-screen appearances, but it's another to genuinely build strength and fitness.
In short, Blake Lively's fitness routine is one to attain. And thanks to a chat with her long-time trainer Don Saladino, who worked with the star after her pregnancies and while getting into fit for The Shallows (… we're not just talking bikini shots, she did nearly all her own stunts), we've got the exclusive intel on how they get results - and keep them.
Spoiler alert: He gets real.
Not only does Saladino have one of the starriest clienteles going — including both actors (oh, haiii Anne Hathaway) and athletes, thanks to his famously effective training style and impressive results, but he's totted up over ten magazine covers of his own.
This is how Saladino trains Lively (and clients) for life, not just for movies.
1/ They focus on energy & resilience
Saladino has been in fitness for over 25 years and it shows. His honed no-BS approach is clear and focused, whether he's training someone for a movie role or just to get them healthy.
'It's not just about you upping your heart rate, it's about improving your body's resilience and energy', he says. 'While we're increasing movement quality, we're making sure we're optimising everything we do'.
In short, he gets results — not only getting healthy body fat percentage goals, but creating a 'body armour' that helps overall performance.
'We're all athletes as, even if someone's not shooting a movie role, adults have to chase their kids or sit at their desk all day long. We're all battling that same battle, so I try to get people moving the way our bodies are meant to move', Saladino explains.
2/ Commit to long-term
Generally people are wising up to the 'GET FIT QUICK'-type promises, but Saladino takes it one step further by guaranteeing long-term changes when clients commit.
'Every single person who does my programme day in, day out finds their bodies change for the long haul', he says. 'It's not a case of weight loss that you gain back. These are long-term, attainable changes and they work'.
Now is probably a good time to throwback to Lively's post-pregnancy fitness transformation where she highlighted how results aren't achieved over night.
A post shared by Blake Lively (@blakelively)
3/ Schedule efficient workout sessions
You might be surprised but, even when actors are training for a movie, Saladino doesn't ask for more than an hour-ish a day, 3-4 times a week.
'It depends on the goal, but I believe someone giving me three to four days a week with some form of movement and resistance training, alongside getting their steps in during the day, going for walks or a jog, playing, or doing other things that are important,' he explains.
'When celebrities are getting ready for these roles and they have a shorter period of time, depending on their stress levels, it might be four to six days a week. Why is six not better? If someone's work schedule is out of control and they're having no time with their children or they're exhausted on their specific days, I can optimise their time, allowing them the other days of rest and recovery.'
4/ Take a holistic approach
This isn't a typical 'no pain, no gain' mentality. Saladino's style is far more finely tuned, taking into account someone's stress levels, sleep, schedule… Basically everything that's going on in their lives.
'People say: it's 80% diet, it's 20% training, but 100% mental,' he says. 'It's your mindset, how you're willing to approach it and understanding you cannot come into this with 100% effort everyday. You can't always push that hard. It comes down to understanding your body and knowing some days you have to shift gears'.
5/ Don't set weight targets
A lot of the public's understanding around celebrity workouts is simply losing a certain amount of lbs. In reality, it's more a case of being in a good place and being physically fit enough to cope with a gruelling filming schedule.
'They're just pulling this number out of the air and assuming that will result in health and wellness. I can't even tell you how any people I've seen gain a pound or two who look like they've lost 15, and they're in incredible shape. One of the worst ways you can quantify success is by the scale', says Saladino.
6/ Focus on daily goals
It's fair: to get results, Saladino ensures there is a healthy level of dedication.
'The goal is to do exactly what I suggest; that might be go to bed or after you have a shower look in the mirror and have a moment of gratitude. And the next day, hit repeat', he explains.
And how can us non-movie star peeps embrace this? 'Just focus on your daily goals. Once you start thinking: 'Oh, I've got to lose 30lbs', you start adding stress'.
7/ It's about nutrition
'There are certain rules I stick to, like food quality,' explains Saladino. 'Don't eat crap but, if you're going to eat crap, have better quality crap'.
According to Saladino, Blake's weekly food shop is focused on nutrient-rich foods: 'proteins, vegetables, fruits, slow-burning starches like sweet potato, and getting healthy fats like avocado, coconut oil, and grass-fed butter.'
8/ And sleep
'It might the most important of them all. The first two things I ask: How's your sleep and how's your digestion?' he says. 'If you fix one, you fix the other'.
9/ But, most of all, staying happy
'Things like meditation and — it sounds ridiculous, but — laughing. You got to be happy, enjoy yourself', Saladino says. 'As hard as we have to work, you can't sit there and be business all the time. People have to separate themselves from hustle and bustle, keep their side of the street clean and eliminate a lot of the crap'.
And there you go. The building of blocks of Blake Lively's fitness routine are refreshing simple.
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Gambling firm 888's annual revenue jumps 14% on casino gaming demand
The company's revenue for the year ended Dec. 31 rose to $972 million, while fourth-quarter revenue fell 16% compared with 2020 when pandemic-related lockdowns drove online gaming and betting. Annual revenue growth at 888 was helped by strong performance in the UK and other European markets except Germany.
The family of an Amazon.com delivery truck driver in Illinois who died in December when a warehouse was destroyed by a swarm of tornadoes that killed six people there, filed a lawsuit against the online retailer on Monday over his death. The suit, the first against the company stemming from the disaster, was brought in state court by the Chicago firm, Clifford Law Offices, on behalf of the family of driver Austin McEwen, 26. It was filed in Third Judicial Circuit in Madison County, Illinois.