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Ron's View
Wedgwood Broiler
I wasn't sure I would be up to going out for New Year's Eve dinner tonight. When my initial cold symptoms set in Tuesday night, I wasn't too concerned. We went ahead Wednesday with our Bainbridge Island outing. But by the time I headed off to my office yesterday, I was starting to drag, and last night I had a low fever.
Today was more of the same — congestion, lots of coughing, a slight fever. But I had to eat, and I didn't want Gail to be stuck in all evening. So I got dressed and around 7:30 we headed off to dinner.
Where to go? We weren't really sure. The last three years, we had early New Year's Eve dinners at The Attic Alehouse & Eatery, our local pub and long-time Madison Park institution. But we've been boycotting The Attic since last spring, for reasons I needn't go into here. For the four years before that, we had New Year's Eve dinner at our one-time local steakhouse, the Wedgwood Broiler. We moved away from Seattle's Wedgwood neighborhood 17 years ago, but I still like to head up there occasionally. We never went to the Broiler on New Year's Eve in the years we lived up that way. However, we found our way to it nine years ago on our way north to a New Year's Eve party in Lake Forest Park, a suburb north of Seattle, with Wedgwood being about the halfway point between our house and the party. Thus began the tradition.
It seems I'm the only fan of the Broiler. Joel never understood why we would go. Gail regularly points out that there are better steakhouses around — and closer too — including one just a bit south of us on Lake Washington, next door to the Thai restaurant Sabai that I wrote about last week. But, it's a tradition of sorts, and it brings back memories. I always think of Gail's dad when we eat there. It's his kind of place, and he would surely have joined us tonight if he were available.
Off to Wedgwood we went, and into the Broiler. We got there around 7:40, a little past its peak, another benefit of going. It was quiet, which is what I needed tonight, and it's the one place we frequent where I'm likely to be among the youngest diners, which adds to the fun. The bar, I gather, is a pretty lively place. That's where the young people go. The restaurant, not so much.
I have to admit, their steak isn't the greatest. That must be what Gail and Joel have been trying to tell me. Still, you can't beat the atmosphere.
After we ate, as always, we headed a few more blocks north to see our old neighborhood. And then we took a leisurely route home, past more neighborhoods that we drove through daily years ago.
I think next year we'll try someplace new.
Categories: Holidays, Restaurants
Just the Game, Please
UW's Victor Aiyewa hits Nebraska's Rex Burkhead to force a fumble
[Dean Rutz, The Seattle Times]
I'm not that big a fan of University of Washington football. After all, I despise college football on principle, so how can I care how our team does? But, last night's Holiday Bowl game was our first bowl appearance since losing in the 2002 Sun Bowl on New Year's Eve, so after finishing my Bainbridge outing post, I turned on the TV late in the game's first quarter.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that we were up 7-0. However, I was soon annoyed that ESPN thought the game they were in the midst of broadcasting wasn't as important as the game over at ESPN2. Time after time, the coverage would be interrupted so we could be updated on developments in Palo Alto, where Stanford's women's basketball team was leading the University of Connecticut with just minutes to play.
You probably know that UConn has won its last 90 games in a row. The big sporting news a couple of weeks ago was their 88th victory, tying the great UCLA men's basketball teams of the early 1970s for consecutive victories, and then their 89th, breaking UCLA's record. Stanford, meanwhile, had its own streak going, having won their last 51 home games. One of those streaks would be coming to an end.
As long as ESPN was going to keep telling me the basketball news, it seemed simpler just to change over to ESPN2 and watch the UConn-Stanford itself, which I did. Time and again, UConn would come down the court down 6 and miss in their effort to cut the lead to just 4. Or 3. Maya Moore, their star and the best player in women's college basketball, kept missing shots, as apparently she had done all evening. Stanford would push the lead up to 8, UConn, would get it back to 6, but they couldn't seem to do any better than that.
Or maybe I missed something, because as it turned out, I couldn't watch the basketball game continuously. It was bad enough that ESPN kept interrupting football to tell us about the basketball game. But worse, ESPN2 took advantage of every break in the basketball action to turn the camera on one of our nation's most glamorous war criminals. It wasn't good enough to stick to the basketball, to focus on a game that was setting up to be the biggest one of the regular-season in years. No, we had to watch Stanford professor (and former provost) Condoleezza Rice cheering her school on.
Why, ESPN? Why did we have to have her shoved in our faces? Did her presence make the game more important? You already dominate sports coverage in this country. Are you aspiring to dominate in the category of fawning over former National Security Advisors and Secretaries of State who led us into or prolonged wars based on lies? What about Henry Kissinger? Couldn't you get him on screen too? Maybe you could have paid him and flown him in last night so he could sit with his fellow war criminal.
It seems that Stanford held on to win. UConn got into the standard end-of-game cycle of fouling in order to get the ball back and Stanford was thereby able to increase its lead, winning by a final score that I never did catch. Ah, it was 71-59. I did switch back after the game ended, only to be forced to get one last look at Condaleezza, standing up, cheering, and swaying to the music being played in Maples Arena.
I returned to ESPN for good and was relieved that they allowed us to focus on the football game, with no further interruptions. A good thing. We won, 19-7. Over Nebraska. But that's another story. I'll stop here.
Categories: Media, Sports, Torture
Bainbridge Outing
Visitor's Center at Bloedel Reserve
I gave the briefest of reports last April on an outing Gail and I took to Bainbridge Island with our friend Cynthia, focusing more on photos than on our visit. And I mentioned in passing a return visit in June, on our way back to Seattle after celebrating our 25th anniversary. I wrote at greater length about our trip in late July with our Scottish house guests, focusing on our first-ever visit to Bloedel Reserve. Yesterday was our latest Bainbridge outing.
I should make clear that going to Bainbridge isn't exactly a big deal. It's just 35 minutes from downtown Seattle by ferry, closer in distance to downtown than the extremities of Seattle are, and many people make the trip daily. But we don't. And now we've been there five times since March.
By becoming Bloedel Reserve members when we were there in July, we anticipated that we would make it a point to head over to Bainbridge at least every two or three months, so that we might see the Reserve in all its seasonal manifestations. Somehow, we missed our fall visit, taking five months to return. But winter turns out to be an excellent time to go.
On disembarking from the ferry, we first stopped in town return to a store that is becoming a standard stop for us, Churchmouse Yarns & Teas. We bought yarn and tea (naturally), plus a pattern Gail will use to knit a washcloth, and some gifts. The tea is from Steve Smith Teamaker in Portland, Oregon, which offers you the opportunity to go online and type in the batch number on the bottom of the box in order to get an answer to the question, "Where did my tea come from?" I've just done so for our box of Lord Bergamot tea, learning that it was blended by Tony, packed on November 5 by Dave, ML and Rachael, at which time the weather was chilly, rainy with Portland winter weather descending. The ingredients:
Assam, Dikom, FTGFOP1
Dikom tea garden, upper Assam, India. Lot 0-324 second flush. Harvest first week June 2009.
Ceylon, Dimbulla
St. Clair garden at 4500 feet above sea level in western Dimbulla near St. Clair waterfall. Harvested September 2009.
Ceylon, Uva
Uva province in Lunugala district, Sri Lanka. Adawatte garden, lot 5070. Harvest 2nd week of May 2009
Reggio Calabria, Southern Italy from our friend Stephen Pisano. Harvest and press January 2009. From our friend Stephen Pisano.
From Churchmouse, we went a block down and crossed the street for lunch at and Cafe Nola, where we had also eaten last April. We shared delicious spring rolls and a cup of white bean and apple soup. Gail then had the daily special, prawns with risotto, while I had a very satisfying rigatoni with grilled chicken, artichoke, roma tomato, and spinach.
Then, on to Bloedel. I reviewed some of its history in my post about our July visit. You'll recall that it was for decades the home of retired timber giant Prentice Bloedel and his wife Virginia and that Prentice devoted the last decades of his life to creating the gardens. (Just two days ago, I described our recent outing to the Wright Exhibition Space, where the Bloedel's daughter Jinny and her husband Bagley Wright display some of their contemporary art collection.) Their one-time house, now the Visitor's Center, was home this month to a special holiday exhibit.
This amazing exhibit, built by one of our volunteers over more than half his lifetime, is an entire village of eleven model houses encircled by model trains. These are no ordinary "doll houses." Some of the buildings were inspired by ancient houses in France, and some are pure fantasy — like the towering Castle (standing over six feet tall), the Cookie Factory (staffed by teddy bears), a bakery, a bistro, and a gingerbread house. Every building is meticulously decorated and furnished with tiny, perfectly "to scale" furniture.
We arrived, parked, and walked from the gatehouse to the Visitor's Center via the Japanese Garden. In addition to seeing the exhibit, we chatted at length with two of the docents, one of whom has lived on the island for forty years. She taught kindergarten for a couple of decades, her husband serving as a principal, and their attachment to island life was evident. On departing, we took a different route back to the gatehouse, taking us through the moss garden. After the heavy rains we've had this fall, the garden was at its best. It was the highlight of our day.
The Moss Garden at Bloedel Reserve
Next stop, Rolling Bay Café, a few miles southeast in the small commercial intersection of Rolling Bay. The café has become one of our regular stops, since our drive through the island the day after our anniversary in June, when we stumbled on it and had lunch. We returned a month later for lunch after our initial exploration of Bloedel Reserve, and we made it a point to stop this time too, for coffee, tea, and snacks. Another pleasant chat ensued, this time with the guy behind the counter, prompted by his Mackinac Island t-shirt. I mentioned my long-time desire to visit and he explained that he has family in Traverse City. While visiting them, he drove up to the island.
Since the café has no indoor seating, we tried to use the outdoor tables, as we happily did last summer, but with temperatures in the 30s, we didn't last long. (It didn't help that when we left the house in the morning, I managed to drive off with Joel's coat rather than mine. There's no way I could fit into his coat, so I had to spend the day coatless.)
From the café, we headed back to the ferry for a beautiful ride home.
Reflection Pool at Bloedel Reserve
Categories: Restaurants, Travel
Department of Fear
Back in May, James Fallows at his Atlantic blog made reference to the US Department of Fear's blog , as he has done more recently as well, but I didn't follow up on the link until yesterday. Now I have, and I join Mr. Fallows in recommending the site.
You can learn about the DoF's mission at the blog's homepage:
DoF was established by an Executive Order signed by the Vice President in January 2004. The mandate of the agency is to promote fear in the interest of national security.
This blog is operated as a public service of DoF. Its goal is to promote the the agency's agenda and increase public awareness of DoF and its mission.
Our moto "Timendi causa est nescire" (ignorance causes fear), was bestowed by the Vice President.
A typical post, from three days ago, discusses Representative Sue Myrick's letter to President Obama warning about America's home-grown terrorism. As reported in The Age, the North Carolina Republican is concerned that "America's home-grown terrorism is now a global threat and the United States should look to Europe to learn how to deal with it."
A prominent member of Congress, Sue Myrick, has told Mr Obama in a letter that America is now exporting Islamist terrorism.
Mrs Myrick, a Republican serving on the House of Representatives' select committee on intelligence, accused the US of complacency, saying it was "far behind" Europe in taking steps to deal with the growing radicalisation of young men and their willingness to carry out attacks.
Her letter marked a departure from a long-held view in the US that Britain was the biggest threat to America as a result of its position as a staging point for extremists from Pakistan, the Middle East and east Africa.
"Today, there is no doubt that radicalisation is taking place inside America.
"The strikingly accelerated rate of American Muslims arrested for involvement in terrorist activities since May 2009 makes this fact self-evident. What has been missed is that our home-grown terrorists are now becoming a global threat."
The Department of Fear's blog post adds that Congresswoman Myrick
has an enviable track record when it comes to keeping Americans alert to the threat of terrorism. The article notes Myrick warned the nation that the Council on American Islamic Relations was trying to plant spies on Capitol Hill by placing Muslim interns. She also urged the State Department to yank President Carter's passport after he held a meeting with Hamas, the Gaza-based terrorist group.
It goes without saying that the best way to decrease the threat of homegrown Muslim terrorism is to continue to bomb Muslim countries, thereby decreasing the number of Muslims who want to emigrate here. Another common sense approach would be to fly drones over American communities known to be providing sanctuary to Muslim terrorists, striking any buildings in which they may be holding out.
I trust President Obama is taking the department's advice seriously.
Categories: Law, Politics
Milestone, II
A year ago tonight I wrote a post about my car, on the eve of its 3rd birthday. As I noted then, "I know that this is of no interest to anyone else, but here goes." The point of last year's post was to calculate my annual, monthly, and daily car use over its first three years. The odometer read 11,640, meaning I had averaged 3880 miles per year, or 323 1/3 miles per month. However, as I pointed out, I made a round trip to Vancouver, BC in the car's first month, and two more after that, all on university business at the University of British Columbia, so subtracting the resulting 900 miles or so to determine my personal car use, I found that I had "done 10,740 miles of driving over three years, or 3580 per year, or 298 1/3 miles per month." Rounding up to 300 miles per month, I found that I drove about 10 miles per day.
Here we are, a year later, on the eve of the car's fourth birthday. What's the latest odometer reading? 14,908. (The pity is, Gail used the car just three nights ago to pick someone up at the airport and then drive a ways north of Seattle, adding about 80 miles to the reading. If only she could have waited until tomorrow.) I have driven the car 3268 miles this year, for an average of only 272 1/3 miles per month, or a fraction over 9 miles a day. Averaging over the car's four years, I have driven 3727 miles per year, or about 310 1/2 miles per month, or about 10 1/3 miles a day. If I deduct the 900 miles of driving to Vancouver and back, I bring the daily average over four years down to about 9 3/4 miles.
I'm clearly a candidate for an electric car. It will be a rare day when I have to worry about using up the charge.
Art Outing
I've been making a list of art exhibits to see once the term ended, which it did with my turning in of grades a week ago. The time had come to attack the list. Last Thursday we went to two galleries, with lunch in-between. One was a success; one wasn't.
First the success story. I wrote last March about the BIG IS BETTER (or so some claim) exhibit at the Wright Exhibition Space. As I noted at the time, the Wright Exhibition Space mounts small shows from time to time, each of which draws largely or entirely from the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection, the largest collection of contemporary art in the Pacific Northwest. The gallery typically opens just two days a week for limited hours. For the current show, those two days are Thursdays and Saturdays, and for the next two weeks, that means Thursdays only. So last Thursday was the day.
We drove down to the gallery (just east of the Seattle Center and the under-construction home-to-be of the Gates Foundation), parked in one of its reserved spots, and entered. Often, we pick up the small printed brochure and see the show on our own. This time, as we picked up brochures, the docent on duty asked if we were on the mailing list — yes — then proceeded to grab her looseleaf binder with pages on each of the show's objects, stand up, come around the desk, and head off to give us a guided tour. We didn't know we wanted one, but she turned out to be excellent company, and informative as well, and we're quite glad we did.
The current show, curated by the Wrights' son Bing, is called Bing's Choice, with the subtitle "Art from my parents' collection that was in storage that I liked (plus some other things thrown in that I also like)." He explains: Read more…
Categories: Art, Restaurants, Stupidity
Recipe for Family Fun
Here's a recipe for some good Boxing Day family fun, though it is perhaps best saved for a year when Christmas is on a Saturday, so that Boxing Day falls on Sunday.
1. Buy æbleskiver pan (as Jessica did for Gail a year ago).
2. Buy æbleskiver recipe book (as I did for Gail this year). This one, for instance, which Gail had conveniently put on her Amazon wish list.
3. Get Sunday NYT (as we do every week, being subscribers).
4. Stand around in kitchen while wife begins preparation of æbleskiver and son starts in on the NYT Sunday crossword.
5. Accept son's invitation to work on crossword jointly.
6. Take break from crossword to eat wife's æbleskiver.
7. Finish crossword.
Æbleskiver, I should explain, are "traditional Danish pancakes in a distinctive shape of a sphere. Somewhat similar in texture to American pancakes crossed with a popover, æbleskiver are solid like a pancake but light and fluffy like a popover." I suppose it might be possible to make them better than Gail did yesterday in her virgin effort, but I don't know how. I thought they were perfect.
And the crossword was fun. I rarely attempt the Sunday crossword, not because of its difficulty but because of the time it requires. As you know if you're a NYT crossword regular, Sunday puzzles aren't all that difficult on the weekday difficulty scale. Maybe somewhere between Wednesday and Thursday. But the grid is 21×21 rather than 15×15, which is to say, there are 441 squares instead of 225 — twice as many. That's a lot of time. I've done a few by myself, as has Joel. We collaborated on one a few months ago. And so we did again yesterday.
It went well, except for one square that pretty well stumped us. We guessed it took a 't', which turned out to be correct, but we weren't too clear on why. The horizontal clue was "Difference in days between the lunar and solar year." Five letters. We had the first four: epac. We needed the fifth, and this was simply a word with which we were unfamiliar. The vertical crossing word should have saved us. It was seven letters long, starting where epac? ended, with the clue "stir." We had ?hepoky as the answer.
If indeed the square stumping us took a 't', then the vertical answer would be "thepoky." Is that a word? We made guesses at its pronunciation. Well, maybe it's two words — "the poky." If so, the point still eluded us.
Finally we looked up "epact." Yup, it's the standard technical term for the difference in days between the lunar and solar year, going back to the Greek. And as for "thepoky" as a synomym for "stir," the point we were missing was to think prison! We had the wrong "stir" in mind. If only we had the benefit local NYT readers did of yesterday's blizzard, then we might have been snowbound, going stir crazy, feeling like we were in the poky. Oh well.
Nonetheless, we had done the puzzle. And we had eaten well. It was a good morning.
Categories: Crosswords, Family, Food
Travels in Siberia, III
Two weeks ago I wrote that I was finally reading Ian Frazier's Travels in Siberia and enjoying it. The problem was, the day I wrote that post was the day I gave my final exam. Over the next week I put the book aside to grade and do assorted other tasks. By the time I was ready to return to it, other books tempted me. And I anticipated that by the end of last week a new temptation would appear, Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration. If I started that, I might never finish Travels in Siberia.
Thus began my big push, last Thursday, to finish the Siberia book. Not that that's a problem, given how engrossing the book is. Yet, one of the frustrations of reading long books on a Kindle is the lack of sense of where you are, the difficulty of flipping to the table of contents to orient yourself. It's all well and good that you can check at all times what percent of the way through you are, a measure less useful than it seems when you realize that there is a long section of notes occupying some 10% of the book near the end. But what I miss is seeing how many chapters are in the part I'm in the midst of, how far along I am in each of the various trips Frazier took to Siberia. Not to mention not being able to flip quickly to the map.
No matter. I managed. As for the book itself, I finished it early yesterday morning. Later in the day I re-read Neal Ascherson's November review in the NY Review of Books, and he captures the beauty of the book far better than I could.
In Travels in Siberia we get to read a lot about Frazier's highs and lows, sulks and exultations. On the surface, he has written an irresistibly subjective, first-person book. But Frazier, cunning as he is, never allows it to become just one more squelching "quest" of self-discovery. His narrative is made to seem artless, but he is a clever, practiced writer who has everything under control. He never lets his ego upstage Siberia.
Travels in Siberia is a very prolonged road movie of a book: always beautifully written, often very funny, serious, and moving in its cumulative impact.
It is impossible with a single quote to convey the flavor of the book, but let me try. One comes to mind that I read yesterday near the book's end. Part V, the last part of the book, consists of a single chapter, giving an account of Frazier's last trip to Siberia, just over a year ago. He writes about boarding an Aeroflot flight at JFK and reflects on how much Aeroflot has changed since his first flight in the 1990s.
Everything about the Boeing 767 we flew in was better than what I remembered of their former planes. Now they had real seats, not lawn chairs. Nothing about the interior looked beat-up or shabby. . . . Some years ago, a British public relations firm did an overhaul of Aeroflot's image. Thus the plummy-voiced British recording that gave the English translation of the Russian announcements. Thus the Scottish plaid of the blankets that were passed out, and the stitched floral pattern on the pillows, and the less hostile attitude of the in-flight personnel. The stewardess who served our aisle had refined her instinctive contempt for the passengers into something transcendent and soulful. She looked a lot like Babe Ruth, only with a slightly bigger hairdo, and she mugged like Chaplin as she indicated approval, disapproval, commiseration, and various other responses to each passenger she served. Sometimes she turned her face upward, saintlike, and rolled her eyes and sighed.
No other country but Russia would name a commercial airliner after a writer. Just knowing I was flying on the Ivan Bunin gave me a small thrill. … On the airport runways after we landed, I saw Aeroflot planes named after Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Ivan Krasheninnikov (an explorer of Kamchatka who wrote a book about it). The plane I flew home in was the Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
I started Isabel Wilkerson's book on the Great Migration last night. This time I'm reading the physical book rather than the e-book. I already miss being able to hold my seemingly weightless Kindle in one hand, but I'm also already grateful for the easy reference to the table of contents. I'm in for another beautiful and moving book.
Sabai
We had an unexpected dining experience Monday evening. As I noted in a post on Tuesday, I had finished my grading Monday afternoon, only to delete a whole folder of important files from my computer just before leaving the office. As a result, instead of heading home relaxed, I worried about what I would have to do if the files couldn't be restored. When I got home, Gail suggested we go straight out to dinner. I hadn't had lunch and she had to be at a 7:00 meeting of the Madison Park Community Council. An early dinner was called for.
Since Joel had other plans, Gail proposed that we go to Ruby Asian Dining. Ruby is down in Leschi, on Lake Washington about 3 miles south of us, with a mixed Thai-Chinese menu. We used to drive by but never thought to eat there. Then, about four years ago, one MLK weekend, Julie and Stan invited us to watch the first two hours of that season's 24 with them. They live about 2/3rds of the way from here to Ruby, and they had chosen to get takeout from Ruby's for our dinner. From then on, we became Ruby Regulars.
One of the pleasures of eating there is that it's always quiet. As we soon figured out, most of their business is takeout. There's a constant stream of people coming in to get their orders, with us sometimes the only people at a table. We also figured out that it's not exactly the greatest Chinese or Thai food. But we like it, and the place is so convenient. Not far from us, never any traffic getting there, in contrast to some of our preferred Chinese or Thai places, which involve crossing one bridge or another, with the possibility of getting stuck with the bridge up or a traffic tie-up.
The only problem was, Joel didn't much like it. My driving convenience wasn't as interesting to him as food quality, and he didn't see the point in eating mediocre food. Sigh. So for the last year, since he came back to Seattle, we haven't eaten there so often.
Which brings us to Monday, and Gail's suggestion that we return to Ruby, what with Joel's friend Mike back in town for the holidays and their having other plans. We drove down, parked at the marina lot just north of the restaurant, and walked up from the waterfront to the sidewalk, only to be greeted by an unfamiliar sight. Even from the lot, something looked different, the way the restaurant's interior was lit. From the sidewalk, the sign looked different too. And no wonder. It said "Sabai". A new restaurant!
Or was it? We walked in and saw that a small partition had been constructed to screen the front door from the dining room. Once we got around it, we discovered a new wood floor, a mural painted on the rear wall, new wallpaper on the walls. The booths on the right wall were gone. The tables and chairs were new. One table appeared occupied, but the person sitting there was a staff member, so in fact the place was empty. The host, new to us, said we could sit anywhere. We chose a 4-top by the window, from which we could see that the entry to the kitchen was cleaned up. It used to be an opening across which hung a curtain. Now it was open, but there was a new wall behind, with a decorative table, making for a more welcome view. And of course the menus were all new.
Just then our old host came by to greet us. He explained that the owner hadn't changed. Just the menu. And the goal — to make it a Thai-only restaurant with better food, and with a larger dine-in clientele. I texted Joel the good news. We reviewed the menu with the first host and made our order.
Then a third man came by and thanked us for being their first customers. Ever! It turns out that Monday was opening night, after they were closed a few weeks for remodeling, and we were the first people to walk in Monday. That was fun. He urged us not to judge us by that night's food, as they would be experimenting for a while and would continue to improve.
We had spring rolls to start and we thought they were just fine. He came by again to ask how they were and we told him how much we liked them, but he assured us that they would be better next time. This was the first batch and he wasn't happy with them. He already had an idea for improving them. Then came Pad Thai and a chicken dish with broccoli, both good again.
I'm going to miss the mediocre Chinese food, especially the potstickers, which I thought were better than mediocre. But I think we're onto something here. Not that there's a shortage of good Thai restaurants around town. This one is easy to get to, though, with easy parking, the lake view, our old host, a familiar setting, and the opportunity to watch its evolution.
Plus, we're number one. No one can ever take that away from us.
In Praise of Lindsey Vonn
At Val d'Isère
[Enrico Schiavi, Associated Press]
I don't often watch skiing on TV. I like it and all, but it's not exactly the perfectly designed competition for TV viewing pleasure. Nor is it broadcast at any regular, predictable time. Or live. And let's not even get started on the madness of not being able to see the glamour events of a Winter Olympics live. Every so often, though, I stumble on the tape-delayed broadcast of a World Cup race and I pause to watch.
Saturday was such a day. I got on the treadmill, turned on the TV, and found that it was tuned to the CBC, on which I had been watching a hockey game a couple of days before. In place of hockey, I had stumbled on coverage of the women's downhill from Val d'Isère. And what perfect timing. We were in the middle of Swiss skier Nadja Kamer's run. She would finish in 1′ 52.10″ to take the lead. She was immediately followed by young Swiss skiing sensation (I couldn't resist the alliteration) Laura Gut, who in the 2009 World Championships two seasons ago had taken silver in both downhill and super-combined. This at the age of 17, and at Val d'Isère. Gut skied well, but couldn't overtake Kamer, taking over second place just .12 seconds behind.
And then we waited for Lindsey Vonn, as assorted other women took their shots but couldn't displace the Swiss duo. This, of course, is part of the problem of watching skiing on TV. Since it's tape-delayed, you see a few runs, then break for ads, then a few more, then more ads, losing any feel for the rhythm of the competition. Rhythm or not, I was hooked. I wasn't going to stop watching until I got to see Lindsey.
She was worth it. She had a breathtaking run, seemingly flawless (what do I know?), finishing in 1′ 51.42″ to take the lead by .68 seconds. And that's how it ended, with Vonn, Kamer, and Gut taking the top three spots and arch-rival Maria Riesch over 2 seconds behind Vonn in 24th.
A day later, Vonn would win the super-combined to take over the World Cup overall standings and be named the AP female athlete of the year. Regarding the weekend, she explained:
First of all, I'm really honored to win the Associated Press female athlete of the year award. I feel so lucky to be the first skier to win it, male or female. It's just been a great year. To win the Olympic gold medal and now this, it just reaffirms dreams can come true if you keep working hard.
I won both of my races over the weekend, and Ted Ligety won a giant slalom on Sunday in Alta Badia, Italy. It's so cool that we both won on the same day. He took the overall lead, as I did. It was a great day for American skiing. I watched Ted's second run, and he's skiing so well right now, it's amazing to watch him.
I was really happy with Saturday's downhill. I made a really big mistake at the top of the course, but was able to make up the time at the bottom.
In the super-combined on Sunday, conditions were really bad for later numbers (in the start order), but I tried to make the best of it. The super-G wasn't a perfect run, but it was solid and I won it, giving me a good chance in the slalom.
In the slalom I skied a little bit conservatively on the top, because it was getting somewhat rutty in soft snow conditions. But on the bottom I let it go and was able to make up some time.
I chose a good day to watch skiing.
Categories: Skiing, Television
Two Roses
A Visit to APO
Ruby and Charlee Turn One
Ball retriever
Thanks for Nothing
Bar Cantinetta
Seattle Sommeliers
Miró at SAM, 2
Shoot the Moon
When You Know You're Old
La Grenouille, 3
Chicken Parm Pizza
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Three Cameroonian activists pleaded not guilty to charges of terrorism at a military tribunal in Yaoundé on Monday. Human rights lawyer Felix Agbor Balla, university lecturer Fontem Neba and radio host Mancho Bibixy were involved in organising protests over the last three months about perceived marginalisation in Cameroon's Anglophone regions.
The case at the military court was adjourned until 23 March and the defendants were returned to custody, according to lawyer Evaristus Morfaw. He said the state did not present any witnesses or put forward details of any investigation.
"By saying they were still carrying out the investigation, it means they put the cart before the horse, it means they have sent people to court without enough evidence," Morfaw told RFI by telephone from the capital following the hearing. "It is now that they are trying to get evidence from left and right," he added.
The accused are charged with acts of terrorism, complicity in acts of terrorism, insurrection, propagation of false news, calling for civil war and calling for a return to the federal system, according to Morfaw, who said defence lawyers have requested that the charge sheet be translated into English.
"We don't know what evidence they have against the people [the accused], nothing, we don't have access to the case file," said Morfaw, pointing out that some 100 lawyers showed up at Monday's hearing to represent the activists in an act of solidarity.
The case had already been delayed at the start of February with Cameroonian state media reporting that the adjournment was due to the unrelated funeral of a senior military official.
The three activists had been involved in calling for protests in Cameroon's Anglophone regions. Agbor Balla and Neba, leaders of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium, had organised so-called 'Ghost town' protests paralysing English-speaking cities including Bamenda and Buea with stay-at-home demonstrations. Mancho also led protests, notably carrying a coffin during a march in November.
Demonstrations were focused on a perceived lack of educational provision for the English language as well as the government's lack of recognition for the Anglophone legal system. Furthermore, the protests somewhat reignited long-standing calls for independence by members of the Southern Cameroons National Council.
Both the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium and the Southern Cameroons National Council were both banned by the government in January.


Tajin fruit seasoning has in a short span of time amassed a huge number of fans. It is no secret why.
The perfect blend of salt, lime and heat makes Tajin the best when it comes to fruit and snack seasoning.
You can also use it to spice up many dishes such as burgers, soups, tacos, and more.
Popularity tip: Gifting one of these bottles to friends and family will win you a spot on their favorites list.


text:
Q: update values with history in database I have got a next situation. In my database, I got 2 tables and one relationship between them:
Document
PK_Doc
FK_Employee
Text
Employee
PK_Employee
Name
SurName
So, when I update(delete) an existing employee the document must have the values of an employee that existed at creation time. How should I do this?
Upd 1:
For example:
I am creating a new document(PK_Doc = 1) and choose in combobox Employee (Edward Norton). Then Edward Norton became Edward Harrison. So, when I open a document (PK_Doc = 1) current value of combobox with employee should be Edward Norton

A: You need an Employee_History table containing at least the following columns
PK_Employee_History_Id
Employee_Id (not a constraint)
Name
Surname
ValidFrom (Date)
On Employee creation/update/delete scenarios you create a new record in Employee_History - I would use a SQL trigger for this.
Point your Document at the immutable Employee_History table record rather than the mutable Employee record.

A: In other words, you need to deal with a few slowly changing dimensions. Bony suggested type 4, but you've other options. See also bi-temporal databases in case you need a precise audit-trail.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: New vs old PayPal checkout pages, still random selected? First of all, I know that this issue has been raised a few times on Stack Overflow the past couple of years. The problem is that sometimes I get the new PayPal checkout pages and sometimes I get the old pages.
I've made two test accounts in my sandbox. The first one got the new design, and the second got the old design. My live account seems to be using the old design. It may seem that US accounts get the new design, and foreign accounts get the old design, but I'm not sure about this.
See for example these questions from 2014

*

*PayPal Checkout page design

*Paypal Express checkout showing old site instead of new
The answer earlier has been that the new design is slowly being rolled out, and that it is randomly selected.
Now, my question is if anyone knows if this is still the case, and if/when we will be able to select the new design?

A: I believe it's based off of whether or not you're already logged into a PayPal account.
When ever I was logged into my merchant account, I would always get logged out and redirected to the old site. However if I was logged into my personal account, I was shown the the "new" design and asked to login first too.


Apart from illuminating venues and spaces with LED lights, AMPRO is also your go-to service provider for all types of electrical troubles. We have proven expertise in electrical inspection, repairs, service calls, installations and trouble-shooting. We can perform emergency calls, ensuring efficient performance for our customers.
AMPRO is one of Florida's most trusted electrical contractors. Although based in Tampa, we also handle electrical services throughout the state. Because customer satisfaction is our top priority, our skilled staff handles each job with integrity. We inspect all projects thoroughly for your peace of mind.
We cover a broad spectrum of electrical services in Tampa, FL. From installing a new circuit to changing out an electrical panel or complicated trouble-shooting, AMPRO can handle all your electrical needs.
We at AMPRO take great pride in projects received through customer referrals or repeat orders. We believe that "good enough" is never enough. Electrical works require a thorough and qualified hand; we're all about keeping systems safe and functional.
State-certified as an electrical contractor, AMPRO is your local specialist in intricate projects. We have years of experience trouble-shooting faulty systems or upgrading circuit units. Our staff's professionalism and skill sets them apart from the competition. If you have a problem, we offer solutions as fast as we can.
Each electrical system is unique, which is why we offer flexibility that meets your needs. Our electrical services in Tampa, FL keep up with the latest technology and information available. Whether it's about the newest safety measures or installations, expect updated services.
Electrical matters require an expert's touch. Trust AMPRO to deliver quality results. Contact us and talk with one of our staff to discuss your requirements today.


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Q: jquery validate not working in content place holder I am tryting to use jquery validate for my asp pages. I've downloaded all the necessary js files via nuget packages. Please see the image attached.
I followed the tutorial provided in http://www.dotnetcurry.com/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=310&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
and tried some simple validation but it is not working.
I tried opening my pages in firefox and chrome and checked the console errors. There is no error showing in console of the browsers but I am not getting any results too. I am unable to figure what mistake is there with my process or code.
my code ::
// master page
<%@ Master Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="Global.master.cs" Inherits="MIS.content.Global" %>

<!DOCTYPE html>

    <meta charset="utf-8" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />

    <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="head" runat="server">
    </asp:ContentPlaceHolder>

    <form id="form1" runat="server">

                testing

                            <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="ContentPlaceHolder1" runat="server">
                            </asp:ContentPlaceHolder>

    </form>

aspx page
<%@ Page Language="C#" MasterPageFile="Global.master" AutoEventWireup="true" CodeBehind="CustomerRegistration.aspx.cs" Inherits="MIS.content.CustomerRegistration" %>

<asp:Content ID="UserContent" runat="server" ContentPlaceHolderID="ContentPlaceHolder1">

            Name :
            <asp:textbox id="txt_name" runat="server" />

            Gender :
            <asp:textbox id="txt_gender" runat="server" />

            <asp:button id="btnSubmit" runat="server" text="Submit" />

</asp:Content>

A: Change
$("#aspnetForm").validate({
into
$("#form1").validate({
In the link you provided, validation is activated for ID #formmaster. In their snipped the ID formmaster is used as ID for the <form> tag: <form id="formmaster" runat="server">
And check if the validation requires field names or ID's. Most of the time it uses ID. So you may need to change <%=txt_name.UniqueID %> into <%=txt_name.ClientID %>


Magnificent Jurek built home on private, wooded lot boasts numerous updates including the exquisite cherry kitchen, granites, Subzero appliances, roof, carpeting, fixtures, paint and much more. Features a gorgeous custom moldings and trim, two custom fireplaces, arched entries, sweeping staircase, soaring ceilings, panoramic wall of windows and columns. Hardwood floors throughout the foyer, LR, DR and study. Stunning master suite with 2nd ensuite, covered terrace and exercise room. Stop in to tour this spectacular home this Sunday (10/4) from 1-3PM.


Nollaig na mBan, also known as Women's Little Christmas is an old Irish Tradition, celebrated on January 6th each year to recognise the important role of women during the Christmas Season and throughout the year.
It's a day where you should let the hair down and relax after the hustle and bustle of Christmas and it's a great way to celebrate what you have achieved personally and professionally during the year.
This year, The National Breast Cancer Research Institute (NBCRI) are asking women to get together with their family, friends, colleagues and class mates to host an event to raise awareness and funds for Breast Cancer Research in Ireland.
The National Breast Cancer Research Institute in a national charity based in Galway. The key objective of the charity is to conduct relevant research into the biology of breast cancer. Unfortunately, 1 in 10 women in Ireland will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. Continued research helps improves treatments and outcomes for these women.
There are many ways women (and men) can get involved in their homes, communities and work places to support this campaign. It's a day for women of all ages and all interests so everyone can get involved.
Organise a challenge with friends – run, walk, swim, climb or even skip for breast cancer research!
There are lots of ways you can help, you can see some more ideas here on our campaign site http://www.nollaignamban.com/.
It doesn't matter how many people get involved in an event, all awareness and funds raised will make a difference.
Each event host will receive a fundraising pack with posters and balloons for their event.
This entry was posted in Health & Wellbeing and tagged Charity, NBCRI, Nollaig na mBan, Raising Ireland on January 2, 2014 by Sharyn Hayden.


While most campers head to the mountains, Buck Trout makes a bee-line toward festivals and fairs. A buck-toothed, nature loving puppet, Buck Trout prefers the laughter of children to the serenity of a mountain retreat.
As Buck Trout drives around in his little truck, his zany antics and comical stories always make a lasting impression that brings smiles and laughter to children of all ages.
Copyright Buck Trout Entertainment. All rights reserved.


This Christmas joke teller (or fortune teller) is full of silly Christmas jokes that are perfect for elementary school students. Grab the free printable for a fun Christmas party or a simple class activity!
Never heard of fortune tellers? You may have called them cootie catchers, salt cellars, or chatterboxes depending on where you lived as a child.
The exact origin of the cootie catcher is unknown (some claim they came from 17th century Europe while others believe they are a Japanese origami invention) but it's safe to say that they were popular with children all over the world by the early 20th century.
When I was an elementary school student my friends and I would make each other fortune tellers that "predicted" the number of children we would have, who we would marry, and what our jobs would be as adults.
Get the Christmas Joke Teller HERE!
Fortune tellers are made by folding a square of paper into 8 movable flaps that you label with messages, fortunes, or jokes.
Download and print the folding instructions here.
My premade Christmas joke teller craft is as easy peasy!
Fold and start your own tradition of silly holiday jokes!
To use: The person holding the joke teller asks a friend to choose from each layer of the joke teller. The choices determine which flaps are opened and which joke is told.
The Christmas Joke Teller gives students the choices of a Christmas item (Santa, tree, gifts, or deer) and the number of the joke they want to hear. The inside flaps are filled with cute Christmas pictures and the answers to the jokes.
The joke tellers come in 2 versions: full color and black and white.
This project is popular with teachers who don't always have the budget for color copies. The black and white version is perfect for kids to color and fold.
Grab the joke teller and folding instructions here and share these 8 silly Christmas jokes with your favorite kids.
What do elves do after school? Their gnome work!
What does a gingerbread man use to make the bed? A cookie sheet!
Why is Santa good at karate? He has a black belt!
What do you call a reindeer with bad manners? RUDE-olph.
Why are Christmas trees bad at sewing? They always drop their needles!
What's the best thing to put into Christmas cookies? Your teeth!
Just an FYI, in the directions, Step 5 says that the questions will be facing up, but it is actually the answers that are (and should) be facing up. Thanks for this activity! Using it for a class party today in Mississippi!
Hi Crystal! We've emailed it to you multiple times but it keeps getting bounced back by your server. Perhaps your workplace has a block set up. Can you please try a new email address?
Hi. I linked onto many different printable pictures on Pinterest that all lead to your free printable sign up but it actually does not work?
Vanessa, you can sign up using the form above or here and the joke teller will be emailed to you.
I see you say you have two versions to print out, color or black and white. I downloaded the only version you have and it's the color version. How do I get the black and white version so my granddaughter can color the images. When I printed the project I chose black and white and received a black and white colored version, fields filled in not blank.
I work as an occupational therapist in a small school for kids with special needs. We are in love with all of your fortune tellers!! We just downloaded them all so we have them for the upcoming year!! We hope you continue to make them for other events like 4th of July etc.


text:
CKY Announces Release of B-SIDES & RARITIES; "Afterworld" Featured in Jackass 3D
Posted on 03/23/2011 / by Rhonnie /
CKY has announced the release of B-SIDES & RARITIES on March 22nd through Mighty Loud Entertainment and Fontana/Universal. The 12-song compilation features a dozen unreleased, rare, and long out-of-print tracks culled from the historic past of a band that truly has done whatever they wanted for 15 years, without compromise.
Drummer Jess Margera shared, "We picked a lot of the songs based on our fans' wishes. For instance, at CKY shows over the years, one of the most shouted-out requests has been Shippensburg, which is a song we recorded in 1997 for a skateboarding video. And by far the most requested songs on the Internet over the years have been To All of You, the acoustic version and the heavy recording of Halfway House. We wanted to properly mix and master these out-of-print songs and get them back out there and also record some of the stuff people have been asking us to do for over a decade."
CKY – Afterworld by FontanaMusic
The album opener Afterworld continues CKYs long affiliation with the Jackass crew. The tune is the end credits theme for JACKASS 3D, soon to be released on DVD following its 10/15/10 theatrical release, and was previously available on the film soundtrack. Margera reflects, It was cool working with the Jackass dudes again. They asked us to write a song specifically for the Jackass 3D movie which ended up being Afterworld. They liked the song so much they decided to use it for the ending of the film.
Full album stream of B-Sides & Rarities at CKYs Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/ckyalliance?sk=app_117836571624242
Back in 1992 at East High School in West Chester, PA, drummer Jess Margera and guitarist / vocalist Deron Miller first crossed paths. In 1995 the duo began collaborating under the moniker Foreign Objects, which eventually became CKY in 1997 soon after they added guitarist / producer Chad I Ginsburg to the band. CKY (aka Camp Kill Yourself), released their first album VOLUME 1 on February 27, 1999, and set in motion a movement that from the beginning has stayed true to an autonomous vision unencumbered by third party influence. In 2001, the band moved from indie Volcom Entertainment to Island Records, who issued the bands long-awaited second formal release INFILTRATE DESTROY REBUILD (9/24/02). In 2003, the band issued INFILTRATE DESTROY REBUILD: The Video Album, to be followed by their third studio offering AN ANSWER CAN BE FOUND (6/28/05). After a year long hiatus in 2007, the guys put aside their differences and unleashed CARVER CITY (5/19/09), through Roadrunner Records and set out on an extensive tour around the world twice. CKY return to the road here in the U.S. on March 2nd in West Hollywood, CA for a 13-date coast to coast run. The touring line-up features Jess Margera, Deron Miller, Chad Ginsburg and Matt Janaitis.
1. Afterworld
2. Rio Bravo (Radio Session)
3. Shippensburg
4. Halfway House (Original Version)
5. Chads In Hi-Fi
6. Santas Coming
7. Fat Fuck
8. Deepest Depths
9. Rio Bravo (Remix)
10. Don't Hold Your Breath (Acoustic)
11. Halfway House
12. To All Of You (Acoustic)
Confirmed appearances include:
3/17 Lancaster, PA Chameleon Club
3/18 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of the Living Arts
3/19 New York, NY Gramercy
3/21 Hartford, CT Webster
3/22 Allston, MA Brighton Music Hall
3/24 Asbury Park, NJ Stone Pony
3/25 Morgantown, WV 123 Pleasant St.
3/26 Buffalo, NY Mohawk
3/27 Baltimore, MD Bourbon Street
3/28 Richmond, VA Canal Club
Posted in Music News Tagged Acoustic Version, Affiliation, Afterworld, Amp, B Sides, Cky, Compromise, Drummer, Fontana, Guitarist, Halfway House, Jackass Movie, Jess Margera, Moniker, Shippensburg, Sk, Song Compilation, Theatrical Release, Vocalist, West Chester Pa

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Auckland Open 2003 (також відомий як ASB Classic за назвою спонсора) -  тенісний турнір, що проходив на відкритих кортах з твердим покриттям ASB Tennis Centre в Окленді (Нова Зеландія). Належав до Туру WTA 2003. Це був 18-й за ліком ASB Classic. Тривав з 30 грудня 2002 до 5 січня 2003 року. Друга сіяна Елені Даніліду здобула титул в одиночному розряді й отримала 22 тис. доларів США.

Очки і призові

Нарахування очок

Призові гроші

* на пару

Учасниці основної сітки в одиночному розряді

Сіяні учасниці

1 Рейтинг подано станом на 16 грудня 2002.

Інші учасниці

Нижче наведено учасниць, які отримали вайлдкард на участь в основній сітці:
  Ліенн Бейкер
  Шеллі Стефенс

Нижче наведено гравчинь, які пробились в основну сітку через стадію кваліфікації:
  Асагое Сінобу
  Ешлі Гарклроуд
  Ципора Обзилер
  Рената Ворачова

Учасниці основної сітки в парному розряді

Сіяні пари

1 Рейтинг подано станом на 16 грудня 2002.

Інші учасниці
Нижче наведено пари, які отримали вайлдкард на участь в основній сітці:
  Ванесса Генке /  Шеллі Стефенс

Нижче наведено пари, що пробились в основну сітку через стадію кваліфікації:
  Ліенн Бейкер /  Маніша Малхотра

Фінальна частина

Одиночний розряд

 Елені Даніліду —  Чо Юн Джон, 6–4, 4–6, 7–6(7–2)
  Для даніліду це був 1-й титул в одиночному розряді за сезон і 2-й - за кар'єру.

Парний розряд

 Терін Ешлі /  Абігейл Спірс —  Кара Блек /  Олена Лиховцева, 	6–2, 2–6, 6–0
  Це був перший титул в парному розряді за кар'єру і для Ешлі, і для Спірс.

Див. також
 Heineken Open 2003 — чоловічий турнір

Примітки

Посилання
 ITF tournament edition details
 Tournament draws

Тур WTA 2003
2003
ASB

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Some celebrities have no qualms receiving trolls for their controversial comments so they continue towing such line.
Day in day out, they share very controversial opinion on social media that receives mixed reactions.
Here, YEN.com.gh brings to you five most controversial celebrities in Ghana.
Real name Valentina Nana Agyeiwaa, Afia appears as one of the most controversial personalities in Ghana.
Afia Schwarzenegger is a comedian, TV and radio personality who loves to share her opinions on variety of issues.
Many of the times that Afia Schwarzenneger shares her opinion, she receives mixed reactions from social media users.
Afia Schwarzenneger however seems unperturbed about slams that she receives from social media users.
Real name Charles Nii Armah Mensah, Shatta Wale is a Ghanaian reggae and dancehall artiste who is noted for his controversial comments.
Many a time, Shatta Wale shares his opinions in a harsh manner that does not go down well with his colleague artistes and many Ghanaians in general.
Even in his songs, Shatta Wale throws jabs at fellow artistes.
Popularly known as Akuapem Poloo, Rosemond Brown is an actress, musician and comedian who is known for sharing opinion on a variety of issues.
On her Instagram page, Akuapem Poloo often post videos of herself slamming fellow celebrities for something they have done.
Even though Akuapem Poloo is slammed for sharing her strong opinions, she seems unconcerned as she continues to share her opinion.
Counselor George Lutterodt is popular in Ghana because of his controversial comments he often makes on marital issues.
Due to his controversial comments and stance, he gets invited to a lot of relationship shows on radio and TV.
At every program that Counselor Lutterodt goes, he makes comments that turn out to be news due to their controversial manner.
Recently, Counselor Lutterodt was seen performing as a comedian.
Real name Kwame Asare Obeng, A-Plus is a Ghanaian musician, politician and comedian.
If there is one personality who receives a lot of slam for his controversial comments, then it is A-Plus.
He often writes his opinion on social media and in those posts, A-Plus takes a very controversial stance.


text:
14 Best Scary Anime That You Should Watching Update 01/2023
Even the most ardent anime fans would be shivering at the sight of these spooky tales.
Even though it may look like it, it's not easy to make a scary anime. For starters, the frame-by-frame tension and shock value of horror movies are difficult to express in hand-drawn cartoons. That's why there are less and fewer scary horror anime out there. Everyone has a particular place in their hearts for the handful of authentic horror animes that exist.
"Horror" isn't something we're talking about in the same way as Scary Movie, which focuses more on gore and action than on horror. The best horror anime, on the other hand, elicit chills, a sense of dread, and frightening landscapes that live-action films simply cannot. When it comes to freaky, scary, and harrowing movies, these are some of the best.
Mark Sammut updated this page on 12 October 2021: The media has no issue generating joy, sadness, anger, disgust, or comfort from viewers; nonetheless, terror often feels like an exception to this rule.. Many psychological thrillers succeed in making viewers dread for the lives of their favorite characters, but horror arouses a fear in viewers that extends far beyond the plot. This is something that some of the best horror anime achieve, while others mix in thrills, excitement, and just plain fun on a regular basis. A few more entries have been added to this article to help folks who want to celebrate Halloween in an anime-themed way.
The Garden of Sinners, Berserk, Parasyte, and Monster all contain far too few genuine scares to be included. In any case, they're incredible.
1. Ghost Stories (English Dub)
If you're looking for something truly scary, you'll need to check out Ghost Stories. It's a typical monster-of-the-week style of anime in Japan, in which young people encounter scary events and become afraid as a result. Nothing special here; it's only adequate entertainment.
As a result of the English Dub, popular abbreviated series like TeamFourStar's were able to get their start. The generic horror anime is now a joke. In spite of the Dub's immature and "for adults" comedy, it gets a lot of genuine laughs and makes the characters far more memorable than their original portrayals.
2. Happy Sugar Life
As the film progresses, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with the ever-increasing level of chaos. Some people have noble intentions, but there are no typically "good" characters, and this includes Satou, the main character's girlfriend. Violent deaths, dismal themes, terrible events, and uncomfortable scenes abound in the anime. Happy Sugar Life is almost always suspenseful, even if it isn't horrifying.
The best way to appreciate this horror anime is to watch it all in one sitting over the course of a few days.
3. Ajin: Demi-Human
Fast-paced, action-packed, and filled with moral ambiguity are just some of the words that come to mind when discussing Ajin's inconsistent CGI animation. This world has a species known as "Ajin," and if a person becomes one, they are immediately imprisoned for a life of torment. Unfortunately for Kei Nagai, he has to learn this the hard way and is soon forced to flee.
Because it doesn't portray either the Ajin or humans as purely wicked or benevolent, the Netflix original series Ajin succeeds. To each circumstance, it adds an aspect of mystery and suspense.
4. Hell Girl
A lesson or a depiction of social issues may be found in the majority of horror films and television series. Bullies, thieves, and cheats are just some of the social outcasts that Hell Girl is on a mission to punish.
Anyone in the anime can turn to the mysterious "Hell Girl" for help if they find a mystery website and express their grievances there. The girl from hell will then exact her own brand of savage punishment on the guilty parties.. Disturbing in its depiction of vengeance and revenge, it portrays the darkest desires of our society.
5. Another
A Venn diagram of the two genres would presumably show that "school" is most likely to be the common ground. In fact, the Yomiyama North Middle School is one of anime's most spooky places.
One student committed suicide in the past, and her classmates assumed she was still alive in order to deal with it. An evil spirit was summoned by this, which led to many more suicides and fatalities among the students and their families over the years, not to mention those of the students' friends and family members.
6. Corpse Party: Tortured Souls
This school is a meat grinder in comparison to Another's slaughterhouse. Heavenly Host Academy was demolished to make way for Kisaragi Academy, which was built on top of it. Heavenly Host Academy, on the other hand, was a long-abandoned building that had once housed serial murders, rapists, and various other outliers whose spirits had been imprisoned there.
In addition, despite its destruction, the Heavenly Host Academy continued to exist in another reality. As a result, students from Kisaragi Academy will have the opportunity to visit Heavenly Host Academy for their own unique brand of lethal extradimensional field trips.
7. Devilman Crybaby
Devilman Crybaby (2018) is more disturbing than unsettling. An outcast protagonist who merges with another being in order to become more relevant appears to be the case at first glance. Although this demon in the anime appears to be a nice shonen type, it is in fact a demon in this situation. No, Devilman Crybaby's demons are those that the Bible forewarned everyone about: aggressive and overly sexualized.
As a result, viewing Devilman Crybaby as a family is not recommended. Those that surround the main character while he fights his demon host become infected with the same ailment, and eventually their world becomes a satellite for hell. It's a whole horror package, including demonic imagery, explicit pornographic themes, and gruesome bodily terror.
8. When They Cry
When They Cry, also known as Higurashi, puts up a friendly front. While the majority of the audience is likely to assume it is a nice and cheesy anime about teen hormones and provincial school life, it is actually a murder fest.
According to the local mythology, the protagonist's hometown holds a provincial festival every year. There were numerous stories of local deaths and disappearances in the days leading up to the event.
9. Elfen Lied
A modern spin on the monster girl myth, Elfen Lied is a twisted and modern take on the horror genre. But in Elfen Lied, the primary monster human is a Diclonius, a powerful being that has become the target of experimentation in the anime until she determined that she cannot take it longer and breaks free in the deadliest way possible. Instead of being a vampire or werewolf,
After escaping captivity, the monster girl will be forced to unleash her true nature and potential due to a variety of situations. The quantity of blood and violence in this program is enough to make anyone give up cranberry juice or any other red beverage for a few days or even a few weeks.
10. Ghost Hunt
Ghost hunting is as simple as it gets in a horror anime, and that's exactly what Ghost Hunt is all about. Shibuya Psychic Research is the story of a group of high-school students who name themselves the "Shibuya Psychic Research."
Even while it isn't as gory as some other anime, Ghost Hunt explores various themes, including religion and cultural differences as well as the paranormal, which often has tragic beginnings. There are some spine-chilling payoffs for Ghost Hunt viewers who are patient, but nothing too extreme or nightmare-inducing.
11. Yami Shibai
Yami Shibai or Japanese Ghost Stories might be likened to a sleep paralysis episode, depending on how the spectator experiences it. Japanese urban legends are featured in a series of short stories or episodes in this animation.
Although the graphics aren't quite up to snuff, they're usually what sells a show rather than the animation. Japanese culture, tradition, and hyper-imaginative narratives all have a role to play in each story. Make sure the lights are off and you're the only one watching this one.
12. Mononoke
Regarding atmosphere, Mononoke does an outstanding job without even attempting. It more than makes up for its strange graphic style and visuals what it lacks in cohesive plot. Japanese erotic artworks are used as influence for Mononoke's aesthetic, which is an unusual decision to say the least.
In terms of plot, Mononoke follows the exploits of an exorcist simply known as "Medicine Seller." Exorcism isn't a one-step process, and he must study the ins and outs of spirits he is exorcising, opening up fresh scary windows into the otherworldly animals' strange and alienating world.
13. Shiki
This Japanese take on vampires is unnerving and horrifying to watch, but words aren't enough to express it. At the beginning of the novel, a series of strange murders occur in a little town in the province of Quebec.
Also, the arrival of an old clan in the town's outskirts coincides with these murders. It may appear simple at first, but the plot twists and dark portrayal of human nature in the anime make it well worth seeing for any horror enthusiast.
14. Perfect Blue
Satoshi Kon's Perfect Blue, like The Garden of Sinners, is a psychological thriller rather than a horror picture, but the anime has one feature that accentuates its terror factor: a truly vulnerable protagonist. Mima Kirigoe is being hounded and tormented for leaving the idol industry to pursue acting. Mima's mind is torn apart by Perfect Blue, which causes the barrier between reality and fiction to become increasingly hazy.
Me-Mania, from Perfect Blue, should take over if the psychological component isn't enough to make you jump.
15 Best Romance Action Anime That You Should Know Update 01/2023
10 Best Anime Groups That You Should Watching Update 01/2023


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Papa John's says NFL protests are hurting sales
by: Alex Ceneviva
Posted: Nov 2, 2017 / 10:06 AM EDT / Updated: Nov 2, 2017 / 10:06 AM EDT
(CNN)– Papa John's is blaming the NFL for hitting its bottom line.
The pizza company, which has been a league sponsor since 2010, sliced its sales and profit forecasts on Tuesday. And Papa John's founder and CEO John Schnatter wasn't shy about who he thinks is to blame for the "debacle": Commissioner Roger Goodell.
"Leadership starts at the top, and this is an example of poor leadership," Schnatter said on a conference call with investors Wednesday. "The NFL has hurt Papa John's shareholders."
NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart declined to comment on Schnatter's comments.
NFL ratings, like the rest of network television, are in a slump. Through Week 7, NFL viewership is down 5% overall from the same point last year.
Though the ratings slump has many causes, some NFL fans may have tuned out because of the controversy over players kneeling during the National Anthem to protest police violence.
President Trump has called on fans to boycott the NFL if the league doesn't crack down on protests. Last month, Vice President Mike Pence left an Indianapolis Colts game after San Francisco 49ers' players took a knee during the anthem.
At a league meeting last month, Goodell and the NFL owners opted not to force players to standduring the Anthem.
The NFL may be part of the problems Papa John's faces, but it's far from the only one. The stock is down 24% this year, while competitors including Domino's (DPZ) have performed well (Domino's stock is up 12% this year).
Still, Schnatter put the NFL squarely at fault. He specifically cited the anthem protests as the root of the problem.
"This should have been nipped in the bud a year and a half ago," Schnatter said. "The controversy is polarizing the customer, polarizing the country."
In response, Papa John's has pulled some of its planned commercials from NFL games this season. Schnatter said the NFL has promised to give the pizza company future spots in return.
"It indeed appears that National Football League strife may be weighing on same-store sales to some degree, with Papa John's as the NFL's Official Pizza Sponsor bearing some brunt of this issue," Instinet analysts wrote in a research note Tuesday. "Sponsorship of NFL = No Free Lunch."
Papa John's still expects sales to increase by 1.5% in North America this year, but that's down from its previous estimates.
Shares of Papa John's (PZZA) tumbled 9% on the lowered estimates.
Toys 'R' Us is making a comeback
by WTNH.com staff / Jul 18, 2019
(WTNH)--Toys 'R' Us is about to rise from the dead after closing down nationwide.
The new owner of the name "Tru Kids Brands" says they are getting ready to open two new stores in November in Texas and New Jersey. More stores will open next year.
Connecticut slot revenues down for 12th consecutive month
(WTNH)--Slot revenues are down at the state's two casinos and that means less revenue for the state.
With new casinos popping up around New England, June marked the 12th straight month of declining slot revenue.
7-Eleven giving away free slurpees on July 11
by KRON / Jul 11, 2019
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – It's that wonderful time of year again – free Slurpees on Thursday, July 11 at 7-Eleven!
The annual giveaway is happening from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at stores nationwide.
Weather / 4 mins ago


I liked the sound of this recipe, as it was fresh and light, used ingredients that I already had and sounded delicious and filling. I also thought it would be great the next day for lunch. It was quite time consuming grilling the vegetables, as I only have a small grill pan. I think next time I'll cook them on the bbq. But the result was flavourful and filling, with the chilli adding a hint of heat, freshness from the basil and zucchini, saltiness from the pancetta and the wonderful earthy mushrooms and nutty quinoa. For a vegetarian option, just leave out the pancetta. It was great the next day cold as well. Yum.
Today is Good Friday, which traditionally means fish for dinner. And so that is what we had tonight. Friday, as I understand it (and I am certainly no expert) has historically been a day of fasting/abstinence in Christian faiths. For many though in current times, Good Friday is the only day the tradition is observed.
After making hot cross buns earlier in the day (recipe to come shortly), I was very glad that I had already planned on this quick and easy dish, with the added advantage of being quite a healthy one too. Which, seeing as I had to sample a few of the hot cross buns to make sure they were good, was just as well.
The whole dish took no more than 10-15 minutes to prepare and cook, making it a great week-night meal. The crisp and fresh salad, creamy tahini dressing (without any cream), lovely tartness from the apple cider vinegar and slight sweetness from the honey all complimented the salmon and each other perfectly. Healthy and tasty, yum.
I had a good time on my holidays and I ate a lot of really great food. However, after all that eating out, it definitely felt like time for some healthier home cooking.
This recipe is adapted from a recipe I saw a few years ago on an Australian TV show called Good Chef Bad Chef. The format of the show has a normal chef, who cooks rich food that isn't always good for you and a nutritionist who cooks healthier dishes, cooking different dishes based on the same theme.
This dish is adapted from Good Chef Janella Purcell's recipe. I've changed it slightly, using some different vegetables, extra beans to make it stretch further and goat cheese both for its creamy taste and to make it more filling. I also sometimes like to vary the dressing and have included both the dressings I use. You can use whatever vegetables you like really. The recipe is really just an idea that you can adapt to your preferences or what is available. Other vegetables I have used besides those I have listed in the recipe include baby beetroot, leek and baby spinach (added at the end).
The leftovers are also great cold as a salad or wrap filling for lunch the next day.
This week seems to be the week of recipes inspired by other blogs. After trying a new recipe for the guilt free banana bread, I felt like going back to an old favourite for dinner Sunday night. I've also been asked by a friend to put this one up. Given it is a favourite of mine, I didn't mind fulfilling the request.
I came across this recipe a year ago at Delicieux, an Australian vegetarian blog. Although not vegetarian myself, I do like cooking vegetarian dishes (I know that hasn't been reflected in my blog yet…but I'll get there) and I often find myself ordering a vegetarian dish at restaurants. I find more and more these days that the vegetarian options just seem so much more creative and interesting when I read them on the menu. For this dish I've added prosciutto and goats cheese resulting in a non-vegetarian version, but it's just as nice without the prosciutto.
I find I always have extra of the marinated tomatoes mix left whenever I make this. Rather than use less tomatoes, I like to add a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to the remaining tomatoes and their juices, and use this as the dressing (with the tomatoes) for the salad greens. I usually get enough for six tarts from 4 large onions (although I used one less onion this time and still made the 6 tarts, so there wasn't as much onion as usual – hence the gaps in the picture). You could also make these into smaller squares for a nice entrée or canapé.
Even though I enjoy cooking, sometimes after a busy day at work, it can be too easy or tempting to succumb to picking up takeaway on the way home. Especially as I have so many great restaurants (Indian, Italian, Japanese and many more) within five minutes of my house. Alternately, I fall back on a few tried and tested favourite recipes, which if cooked too often will no longer be favourites. So finding new quick and easy recipes that I can add to my repertoire and save the takeaway for an occasional treat is something I am actively trying to do.
The other day I was looking through a new cooking magazine and I came across a warm beef and salsa verde salad that sparked my interest. It looked like a great spring dinner, but although I liked the look of it and the idea, I didn't feel like beef so I went with lamb instead. Then because I was cooking with lamb, I thought mint would be a great addition to the salsa verde rather than just the parsley they used. And how about some basil as well given I'm adding tomatoes to the salad, and some lemon to freshen it up? Next thing you know the recipe below was created and the result delivered was just what I was after. A quick (all up around 30 minutes), light and tasty dinner perfect, in my opinion, for a spring night in Perth. Next time I might try cooking the lamb on the bbq instead of the stove.
It's nice when cooking 'experiments' work out. And as I'd never used anchovies or capers in any of my cooking before, this really was an experiment for me. Don't be scared of the anchovies, they don't make the dish taste of fish. The leftovers were great for lunch the next day, the flavours had intensified and I thought it was delicious.


This model home greets guests with a covered front porch, eye-catching stone accents, and a convenient 3-car garage. The main floor boasts an airy 2-story entry, a quiet study with elegant French doors, and expansive great room with a fireplace and a gourmet kitchen with premium hardwood cabinets, granite countertops, a center island, and an adjacent morning room. Upstairs, enjoy a deluxe laundry with cabinets, a central loft, and a lavish master suite with coffered ceiling, an immense walk-in closet and a deluxe bath with a soaking tub. A covered patio with finished stucco columns completes the home.


A while back, I mentioned that I was putting together some material on writing and technology and thinking about launching a new site around it.
I decided to go ahead with that project, and am well into getting the site up and running. The site is called The Writer's Technology Companion and will be launching sometime in March at www.writerstechnology.com. There's a launch page there now, where you can sign up for email notifications or subscribe to the RSS feed so you'll be informed when the site officially goes live.
The Writer's Technology Companion is going to cover the tools of the writing trade, including computer hardware and software, blogging tools, ways to promote and sell material on the Web, self-publishing tools, and more. The focus is on writing in general — everyone from romance novelists to screenwriters to freelance technical writers should find something useful.


Ganesh Hotel offers splendid accommodation to the avid visitors of Jaipur. This best value hotel is easily accessible from every tourist destination around the city. The property offers a comfortable and contemporary decor for a pleasant stay. This hotel is well-resourced with: friendly staff at front desk, room service, laundry facility and free parking for vehicles.


I'd love to help you with your marketing plan, social media, and website.
We can do a setup & release (I'll get it up and going, then train and turn over to you for maintenance), or I can manage for you. Call or email for details!


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Employees of FM World undergo trainings about protection of personal data and managing the IT system. Our Company applies the Security Policy and Instruction of Managing the IT System, which aim to increase security of the data we process. This Privacy Policy aims to help you to understand how we process your personal data. FM World processes personal data provided voluntarily by Business Partners in order to enable them full and effective communication with other Business Partners, conclusion of agreements between Business Partners and FM World, enabling making purchases, organization of the network of Distributors, making accounting and documentation of economic transactions, calculation of points, discounts and commissions, to promote the most active Business Partners and realization of the incentive programs.
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FM World cares about the security of personal data, in particular protects them from access by non-authorized persons. In addition, FM World ensures realization of the rights under:
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We ensure implementation of your rights arising from legal regulations, in particular the right to have access to your personal data, to request an update and deletion of data from the database, to lodge an objection in the cases described in the Act on Personal Data Protection. Disclosure of own personal details is voluntary. Anyone, who provides their personal information while registration, has a guaranteed access to the content of their personal data, possibility to correct it, complete, suspend for processing (temporarily or permanently), deletion if they are incomplete, incorrect, outdated or collected in violation of the provisions of the law or the is no longer necessary for realization of the purpose for which it has been collected.
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Description: This program will reinforce the rules and fundamental skills of basketball in a safe, controlled and fun environment. It is a 8 – week program starting in January. They will be 1-hour sessions composed of 30 minutes of skill development and 30 minutes of games. Games and skills will be broken down into 3 on 3 and 4 on 4 formats.
Poor Weather Conditions: If London Ramblers Basketball feels the driving conditions are not safe and a house league needs to be cancelled, we will post a cancellation notice on the scroll bar at top of this page, face book page and twitter page up to 1 hour before the start time of the house league. If you do not see a notice in these places 1 hour prior to the house league start time the house league will run as scheduled. We may not be able to make up the cancelled evenings.


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Home » Boardgames » Wing Leader: Victories 1940-1942 – Boardgame Review
Posted on Nov 9, 2015 in Boardgames, Front Page Features
Wing Leader: Victories 1940-1942 – Boardgame Review
By Rick Martin
WING LEADER Victories 1940 to 1942. Boardgame review. Publisher: GMT Games. Designer: Lee Brimmicombe-Wood Price $69.00
Passed Inspection: Fantastic scope! Fast game play. Beautiful artwork. Unique concept.
Failed Basic: Needs an index. Tough to get emotionally invested in the pilots. Must read over 30 pages before you can start playing.
I am an aficionado of air war board and computer simulations. Depending on my mood, I can play from the very complex such as Air War or the Fighting Wings series to the visually stunning but easier to play Wings of War/Glory games or Nova Games Ace of Aces battle books; to make my day happy put me in front of a gaming table and let me jump in the cockpit and shoot down someone or get shot down trying. Either way, I'll have a blast.
Imagine my excitement when I saw that GMT was releasing a new air combat board game! Imagine my even greater surprise when I saw the game was played on a map that showed not the top down I was used to for air games but laid out horizontally with bars showing altitude and the counters showing the sides of the air planes! OK – let's see if GMT can pull this one off! Well, I'm pleased to say that GMT and Lee Brimmicombe-Wood, Wing Leader's talented designer, delivered in aces!
The game, itself, is beautifully packaged with a stunning painting by Antonis Karidis of a few P40s tearing up some Ki-43s before diving in on some Ki-21 "Sallies". This art would make a great T-Shirt (hint, hint, nudge, nudge, say no more). Upon opening the box, you will find a very well illustrated rule book, a scenario book, an unmounted playing map, two dice and both cards and counters. Each card is double sided and features game stats for the aircrafts used in the game on one side and then a description of the aircraft on the other. Each counter represents either one or more aircrafts or a ship as well as status counters for everything from damage to the skill level of the pilot. In addition there are counters for clouds, location of the sun, flak barrages and such. There are also play aid cards with important tables, the order of each turn, etc. All the components are very handsomely illustrated and well crafted.
As the game's title states, the scope of this release focuses on 1940 to 1943. Aircrafts are featured from the following nations – Britain, America, Russia, Italy, Japan and Germany. An excellent selection of fighters, dive bombers, torpedo bombers and medium bombers are featured so that, pretty much, every air battle from those turbulent early to mid years can be re-created no matter whether we are looking at the Pacific or European theaters although a few Chinese or French planes would have been a nice addition.
Why chose to do a flight game from a side perspective? In his fascinating designer's notes, the designer states that since the game focuses on interceptions of bombers and dive bombers, "Given that raids fly long, straight courses towards their targets, we can reduce the geometry of a raid to two dimensions: the length along the axis of the raid, and altitude above ground. All interception courses are essentially pursuit or collision courses." This works surprisingly well.
A second unique element of this game is that each airplane counter actually represents between one and 12 aircrafts. So, therefore, the scope of the game is actually much broader than most tactical air war games where each unit is one aircraft. Unfortunately, this makes it more difficult to get emotionally attached to a given pilot for continuing campaign purposes.
Each aircraft is rated for victory point value, speed, turn rate, climb rate and bomb capacity (if any) each broken down in to different altitude bands (some planes are better at specific altitude ranges but their performance suffers outside of this range), firepower, protection, bomb sight type/fighter gun site plus any special additions such as drop tanks, rockets, etc. The victory point value can also be used to balance player created scenarios.
The unmounted play board is marked off in altitude levels from ground or sea level to 19,000 feet.
The turn sequence goes roughly as follows:
Tally Phase – who has spotted who
Movement Phase – slower and lower aircrafts move first
Combat Phase – air attacks, torpedo and bombing attacks
Administration Phase – planes try to escape, change ground control vectors, etc.
The basic game rules are covered in 31 pages and includes basic flying and combat maneuvers, weather conditions including clouds and contrails blocking line of sight (although the rules for contrails are very basic and confusingly explained), situational awareness, spotting (called "tallies"), radio nets, ammo and basic flying formations. The ramp up time to learn the basic game is fairly steep based upon how the rules are presented. 31 pages is quite a lot to read in order to play the basic game and I think the rules could have been re-organized in order to get new players in to the game faster. In addition, I can't stress enough that rules need complete indexes in order to make it faster to look things up. Wing Leader has no index so hopefully the rule book will hold up to much page flipping.
Some of the rules and nomenclature are a little confusing, for example, "Speed" is only used for computing attacks when zooming in on an opponent and does not affect the number of boxes a plane can move. Aircraft movement rate is abstracted to the type of aircraft, for example, bombers and unalerted fighters move 2 boxes, alterted fighters move 3, etc. This is modified by whether the aircraft is diving or climbing or involved in a dogfight.
The advanced rules cover pages 31 to 45 and include such things as fuel limits, special tactics such as the Lufbery Circle which spared some Me 110s in a game I was playing, special weapons such as air-to-air rockets and large caliber cannons, air craft carriers, ships and ground targets, bombing, strafing, flak, and rules not used in this game covering rocket planes (Me 163) and jets like the Me 262 as well as heavy American bombing formations.
Two pages of designer's notes are also included.
The scenario book includes missions on all fronts and is well thought out and illustrated. Solitaire scenarios are also thoughtfully included.
As always, GMT thoughtfully offers on-line content including Q & A and even a new booklet of scenarios.
The game is very exciting and addictive. The sheer number of aircrafts allows for a great deal of replay ability. Almost any conflict can be covered utilizing the rules and aircrafts provided. For those interested in World War II aviation, I highly recommend this game!
Armchair General Rating: 91 %
Solitaire Rating: 4
A college film instructor and small business owner, Richard Martin has also worked in the legal and real estate professions, is involved in video production, film criticism, sports shooting and is an avid World War I and II gamer who can remember war games which came in plastic bags and cost $2.99 (he's really that old)!
Joe Kundlak	11/10/2015
Richard, thx for your review! Yes, this is a beautiful game and it plays well, even despite the amount of rules to know beforehand! I struggled at first too, as I am not much into convoluted wargame rules, but managed to get through and enjoyed my first game ultimately.
The good thing about the scenarios in fact is, that they start slow, with only a handful of the basic concepts, and as you play them (in order!), they add more and more stuff. That way you can add the concepts one by one, even from the Basic rules.
As per the Index – yeah, that is missing from the rules. Therefore Lee has decided to make one for the Volume 2 of the game, which will cover later years of WW2. And I volunteered to make the Index for these Vol. 2 rules – in fact, it is already nearly completed (barring some changes and/or corrections until final rules).
I am thinking of retroactively applying it to these rules as well, that should not be that hard to do (and will take considerably less time than the creation of it did for Vol. 2).
Mark Szymcik	1/12/2016
Are there French aircraft?
Joe Kundlak	1/12/2016
Mark, the designer said he would like to add French planes in one of the future small expansions (that is after the second volume of the game, which is so far planned to release in late 2016). So perhaps in 2017 we will see some Armée de l'Air ones…
Not having French A/C in 1940 makes it a non-starter for me
To each his own, but I think it is your loss 🙂 There had to be decisions made what to include and what not to. The first volume focuses on US, UK, German, Japanese, Italian and Russian planes. I believe the French force was not THAT significant, compared to these, hence it was delayed until smaller expansions.
m	1/12/2016
No french in 1940 is like no Russian in 1941. Would you buy a 1941 games with French, German, Italian, American,Japanese and British but no Russian A/C?
Leaving the French out.of 1940 is like leaving the Russians out of 1941


If you're thinking of starting a small business, you may be considering buying a franchise or going it alone. Each option has its own benefits and drawbacks, from costs to flexibility and more. The infographic below shows you some of those differences, as well the hottest startup industries and franchises today.
This is a really interesting post. Yeah, I wonder which is better: franchising or starting your own. I remember my brother starting his own business, and his wife franchising one. They also had these business card magnets which was a big hit to their clients.