text:
Writers are always whining about the lack of markets. Yet, since I've been on both side of the fence, I've seen projects go begging for lack of submissions. Such is the case with an anthology I've been reading for. It's a quirky one playing on the infamous story beginning "It was a dark and stormy night." In spite of widely publicizing it to writers, the response has been disappointing. Now, if any contributors are reading this they shouldn't despair. I honestly do not know if there are enough publishable stories yet or not. I'll inform folks in due course. Still, it continues to confirm my widely held view that writers do not write for markets, but try to convince themselves markets meet their stories lying around--even though they seldom do.
Most folks who know me know I detest year in review retrospective type stuff. So, there won't be any year in review here.
I'm always relieved a bit when Christmas is over. And, for the record, Santa stiffed me yet again. But, now we get a week of year-in-review stories. Every single news and entertainment show on the planet feels obligated to rehash the past pathetic year. I find this so tiring and tedious. But, there is nothing I can do about it. Frankly, the very concept of a year is arbitrary. That's how long it takes for Earth to orbit the sun, but we could just as easily use some other basis. In other words, there isn't really anything that significant about the point in time that is January 1st. It's a random place in time that's been given significance by the people who sell calendars and produce news programs that have to recap the year that was. For a long time, before the current Gregorian calendar, we didn't really know when the new year started because the old Roman calendar was so screwed up. The Chinese knew. the Mayans knew. But those of us whose ancestors are from Europe were clueless.
So, I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas. I didn't get a damn thing. But I'm fine with that. Over they years most presents I got were something I didn't like anyway. So, enjoy the holidays and do yourself a favor and avoid those horrible retrospective shows that are everywhere this coming week.
It's been about 45 years since you've left anything underneath my Christmas tree. Would it kill you to drop off a Marvin the Martian toy once and a while? I've given up hope of getting the helper you had at the mall. The cute one with the red hair. I wrote and asked for her last year. I realize you're probably keeping her for yourself when Mrs. Claus isn't around. Still, would it kill you to drop off something once every couple of decades? There won't be any milk and cookies near the tree tonight. But there will be a nice glass of Bourbon to cut through that winter chill. Stop by and have yourself a snort. You must at least have one of those crappy snow globes. Surely you could spare one of them. Just something.
While you're at it, for those folks who love to read, you might drop off a copy of Six Guns Straight From Hell 2. That's my latest anthology. Gunslingers & Ghost Stories is another thought. People like ghost stories. I'm sure you can find half a million or so people who would enjoy a nice book. So have yourself a nice Christmas.
Well, the animated Christmas specials are out. I can't believe how awful most of them are--especially the newer ones. "Pointless waste of time." They haven't made a good new animated special in years. They're all crap. Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer just had its 50th anniversary. I like that one. I also liked the Grinch, the animated story not the movie. The original Frosty the Snowman is good, but the sequel has all the charm of a dead possum at the side of a road waiting for the roadkill truck that never comes to scoop it away.
There was another special I always liked, but I can't recall the name of it. It had these little dancing fire guys and dancing snow guys. It was about some strife between green Christmas and white Christmas, reflecting the northern and southern regions of our country. Oh well.
If you tire of the same old crap, download a copy of Penny Dread Tales IV. My story in said book is called "The Toy Men" and is a steampunk take on the Christmas toy thing.
What follows has been reprinted many times. Frankly, I don't know what the origin of it is. I first got it many years ago from Aaron B. Larson. He never told me where it came from.
The location of the minor child will not be released, and the prospect for a quick resolution to this case is doubtful. Asked about when Jesus would be returned to his mother, a Child Protective Service spokesperson said, "The father is middle-aged and the mother definitely underage. We are checking with officials in Nazareth to determine what their legal relationship is."
The director of the psychiatric wing said, "I don't profess to have the right to tell people what to believe, but when their beliefs adversely affect the safety and well-being of others, in this case her child, we must consider her a danger to others. The unidentified drugs at the scene didn't help her case, but I'm confidant that with the proper therapy regiment we can get her back on her feet."
I bought something and paid extra to Amazon for guaranteed delivery. I wanted it for a Christmas party. Well, it's not coming because it's weather delayed. And it doesn't look like anyone has any intention of refunding my shipping. So, what the hell is the point in paying extra when you're just tossing your money down a rat hole? Since they clearly can't deliver on their promises, I submit that these damned companies and their shipping partners should simply stop guaranteeing stuff. After the fiasco of last year, you'd think they'd learn something. There are always loopholes in the fine prints, so guaranteed delivery by a certain date means absolutely nothing. I'll certainly have to reconsider doing business with Amazon or UPS going forward.
A while back I mentioned my quandary of whether to make homemade Christmas cards or buy some at the store. Well, I made homemade ones, except for three people I sent store bought cards that were left over from last year. Now, my cards are a might bit strange. Some people don't like them. I will try and post them here sometime this weekend. Then everyone can hate them.
I don't know what to think of the Ascension mini series on SyFy. Pointless waste of time is my best summary, The SyFy channel has become something of a joke amongst science fiction fans. Guess what, it still is. If anybody found anything redeeming about this show, feel free to comment here on this blog.
And one final thought. Who would go off to some other star like Proxima Centauri without any idea if it was even habitable? Seriously, we only recently even developed the ability to tell if there are planets around stars and get an idea of their temperatures and such. Fifty years ago no such technology existed. Ergo, these people thought they were going to a star system that likely did not have anyplace where they could survive. Only a moron would do something like this. It does not appear to have a habitable planet. They'd get there and die if they'd actually gone.
I'm amazed at how low the price of gas has dropped. It's a lot less painful filling up my tank. I almost feel like I can afford to go to Denver. When it cost fifty bucks to drive down there, I wasn't real enthusiastic about it.
I've lamented before about the lack of change in the Colorado mountains. Well, the situation has not improved. I'm talking about change--coin of the realm. For some reason a number of restaurants in these here parts can't or won't count out change. They just hand you the paper money and keep the change as some sort of unnoticed tax on the consumer. Well, I notice. I usually just take it back off the tip I would have left or something. Yesterday the tab for my sandwich was $9.08 and I gave the waitress a twenty. My change was ten bucks. So, they just kept 92 cents, nearly a dollar, for the heck of it. I complained and they didn't seem to see any problem with shorting me "It's close enough, man." is what I was told. If I had shorted them a dollar I would've heard about it. Well, I won't eat lunch at this particular place again. And, it is against the law in Colorado not to give people their full change, but most laws (especially this one) aren't worth the paper they are printed on. Count your change people! It's probably wrong.
One thing I always thought I should do was get dressed up like Santa Claus and wander around on Christmas eve muttering "Damned blasted reindeer took off and left me. I ain't Fu*!@in walkin' back to the North Pole." Alas, I've never actually done it--figuring it probably wouldn't go as well as the original concept. Still, it's no stranger than anything else about Santa. If I sat in a chair and asked girls I don't even know to sit on my lap, well it just doesn't go over that well. Put on some red suit and they hop right up. Face it, Santa Claus is a bizarre individual. So, stranded Santa isn't any stranger than anything else with this guy. So, if I ever do this, these are the lines I was thinking about.
"Hey lady, can I sleep on your couch tonight? Fu*in reindeer stranded me. Hell, I been watching you sleep for years."
"Well, thanks for the milk and cookies, but I'm lactose intolerant and what I really need are the keys to your car."
"Hey kid, Santa's not really sleeping in your yard. It's all a dream."
I have come to believe there is a mindset in the publishing industry that rudeness is essential. Over this past year, I have submitted five book manuscripts in accordance with publishers guidelines, 10 book proposals and 35 query letters, all following the instructions on the respective web sites. Of those, I received two terse replies. None of the other publishers bothered to respond at all. I do not think this experience is unusual. Whatever the actual reason, the excuse of not enough time is a stretch. A short email reply takes only seconds. Oddly, before email when they mailed back form letters is the enclosed SASE, I got a much better response rate than I do now.
Now, I happen to be editing an anthology. No matter what I think of the submissions, at the end of the reading period everyone will get a response. So, I guess there must be something wrong with me.
"How'd you get the body out of there before the cops showed up?"
"We just tossed her out the window and she landed in the dumpster. After dark we just dug her out of there and tossed her in the bay."
"Aren't you afraid she'll float back up?"
"Nah. Thing you gotta watch for with bodies is cut open the abdomen and put a couple rocks in there. Then they never come up."
"Did you find anyone to kill your boss yet?"
"Damn, you wouldn't believe what assassins want these days. But I need to get him killed. I can't take much more of this."
"I don't trust drug addicts. They're just not reliable."
"Aren't you afraid they'll find out?"
"Been taking a G a month for five years and they ain't caught on yet?"
"Someday they will. Bound to. It adds up to a shitload of money."
"Haven't yet. I'll just go to Brazil and disappear if they get on to me."
And so on. Of course the real fun was watching the people in the elevator as they tried to act like they weren't paying any attention. Little old ladies were the best.
And what brought this up? Well, I was just reminiscing. I guess one could just use a cellphone and do the same thing, but I think two actual people talking about stuff is more convincing.
“Afraid not,” Dan assured her.
“Have you been interviewing people again?” she asked.
“No. Whatever do you mean?” he asked.
“There is no North Dakota,” Dan said.
“We take people there. We just did a Mt. Rushmore tour, last month,” she insisted.
“How much time off?” he asked.
“As much time as it takes to find another job,” she said.
They got out of Denver with minimal traffic and headed north. They made good time and were in Wyoming before lunch time. Dan didn’t want to, but Chuck insisted on buying Fritos at a Wal-Mart in Casper. Then, they headed east. It wasn’t long before they passed a welcome to South Dakota sign.
They refueled and ate burritos at a truck stop in Rapid City. All gassed up, they headed north. They drove and drove for a really long time. Chuck seemed to be nodding off. Dan shook his shoulder.
“Can’t we take a break?” Chuck asked.
“We’re almost there,” Dan assured him.
Ten minutes later, they drove up to a place that looked like an awning across the highway. They stopped at the stop sign. A man in a clean white uniform approached the bus. “Welcome to Canada,” he said.
“You just left it. What is your business in Canada?” he asked.
The car with the lights said South Dakota State Police on its door. “Where are you fellas heading?” the trooper asked.
“I see.” The trooper went back to his car. Dan didn’t like the way he was talking into his radio.
Then, he returned. “I need you boys to put your hands on the hood of the car.” His gun was drawn.
“There is no North Dakota!” Dan screamed.
“Put your hands on the hood of the car and nobody will get hurt,” the trooper insisted.
If you're looking for a gift for someone, books aren't a bad way to go, at least for those on your list who can read. And not just my books. There are two others I'd like to recommend. Both are new books that have just been published.
First off is Brown: Ghost Hunting Dog. I don't think anything is tougher than writing animal stories. J. A. Campbell consistently pulls it off. This is a collection of stories about her ghost hunting dog, Brown. These are some very entertaining and clever stories. There's even a brand new previously unpublished novella. Don't worry about these being about some border collie--they're as fully entertaining as any human based ghost story. And, one non ghost adventure is also in the book when Brown saves the world from some pretty nasty Martian invaders.
Also out is the Coming of Crow, a collection of stories about Joel Jenkins' popular Native American gunfighter, Lone Crow. I've reviewed this book on Amazon and won't repeat myself here. These stories have a supernatural twist.. I can honestly say that I've never seen better done gunfights anywhere.
Both are available from Amazon.
I've been trying to decide if I want to make my own Christmas cards this year or just buy some at the store. Darned things are getting rather expensive. However, I've found most people don't seem to like my homemade cards. Oh, they say they do, but somehow my homemade cards always get misplaced. They're never the ones on the fireplace mantle [they may be in the fireplace when it's lit]. So, I'm leaning toward making them anyway. I can't draw for crap. But that's never stopped me before.
Some things it just doesn't work out to buy them online. I bought a watch last week and it arrived yesterday. I hated it. It was big and clunky, not like the picture. I decided to return it. There is something to be said for being able to actually look at and see an item before purchase. Cordless phones are all pretty much the same, but something you're going to wear every single day--maybe not. I know this isn't anything profound. No matter how good a deal you get for super cyber Thursday or whatever insanity they call each day now, if you don't like the product it doesn't matter how cheap it is.
It's Halloween. I've always loved Halloween. Apparently, I'm not the only one. I read somewhere that people now spend more on Halloween than any other holiday besides Christmas. It's overtaken Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day. Frankly, it's more fun than most other holidays.
Well, there aren't a lot of kids in my condo complex. I doubt I'll get any trick or treaters. No one invited me to their Halloween party. We can't have Halloween decorations where I work. In short, this year Halloween is coming up as something of a dud. But that's my problem. I remind blog viewers that the Horror Writers Association has been running its annual Halloween Haunts blog. A lot of these entries are really good and entertaining. They've also got some of the crap I write. If you haven't been following it, just click on the button on this very page. It's all free.
One marketing effort I've been doing has been handing out bookmarks featuring Six Guns Straight From Hell 2. They're pretty cool looking. Anyway, last weekend I put some on the freebie table at Mile Hi Con, as well as handed some out to the anthology contributors who were attending the con. At least 50 bookmarks were taken by people. Well, I do wonder what these people are going to do with them. I suspect most of them are taken home along with other freebies then thrown away. They sure didn't buy any of my books. The dealer that was carrying copies had not sold a single one by midday on Sunday, which was when I left. Nor has anyone purchased a copy from any of the distribution outlets that carry the book since the con ended. I guess people just want the really cool looking bookmark to use for other people's books. And that's okay. But I sure wish someone would've bought a copy. As a marketing effort, although cheap, I'm not sure if it's that productive.
I made sloppy joes yesterday. They were really good. I wonder why you can't get sloppy joes at restaurants or fast food outlets. Someplace somewhere may have them, but I've never seen them.
At work the other night I came across something marked "Multi Purpose Dust." I got to wondering just how many purposes there could be for dust. Turns out it's for killing different types of bugs. But, back to the dust concept. I got some charcoal dust from a BBQ grill and put it in a plastic container. Then I ran off a label calling my dust "Premium Dust." And I placed it on a shelf. Yep, a container of actual dust, I don't know what anyone will use it for, but it's there now--ready to go.
It's Not Too Late For Halloween. Give out copies of Six Guns Straight From Hell 2 instead of candy.
Overall, as I just went to my 10th Mile Hi Con, I've noticed a drop in the number of people in costume. By that, I mean walking around the con, not in the costuming competition. But I did notice a lot of guys wearing a fez this year. I almost joined them, but I couldn't find one that I felt looked authentic. So,I didn't wear any getup at all this year. I'm not really sure why the fez was the look.
Made it back from Mile Hi Con. I had a pretty good time. I doubt that I'll be involved with any more author events this year unless something unexpected comes up.
About the only wild animal I fear is the skunk. They're mean little bastards with teeth and claws and that special bonus package. I've been skunked before. It's the most vile smell there is. This time of year they always seem most active for some reason. At work about two weeks ago one came inside the building through an open door. Fortunately, it turned around and went back outside. If it hadn't, I don't know how you make a skunk leave until it's ready to go. Later that very same day I was home sleeping and suddenly this horrid stench permeated my bedroom. My immediate thought was Oh god, that skunk followed me home. I slowly realized that, although skunks are clever, skunks aren't likely to follow me 20 miles to my house after I left work. I guess one could hop in a cab and say "follow that car," but that seems a bit far fetched. Cab fares in Vail are astronomical. So, I gradually realized the skunk was not really after me. The neighbor's dog went after one and, big mistake.
This all came back to the forefront of my attention yesterday as I went out to my car and around the front of my car came a skunk. I reasoned it was there waiting for me. And I was doomed. It paid me little mind and sort of waddled off down the street. I dove into the Ford and closed the door as fast as I could. Safe for now, anyway. We've had rattlesnakes, moose, bears and mountain lions in our condo complex over the past few months. I'll gladly take my chances with a rattler over the thought of another skunk encounter.
By the way, tomato juice doesn't work. A mixture of hydrogen peroxide and shampoo, lots of shampoo, will eventually remove that small.
This weekend I'll be at Mile Hi Con at the Hyatt Denver Tech Center.
I'm amazed that gas prices have come down so much. I doubt that it'll last for long. They say grain prices are down too. With the cost of production and transportation down, then I don't understand why food prices still seem so darned high at the store.
Had a very strange dream yesterday. I should ad that I've been battling a cold or something--at times feverish, cough syrup taken may do more harm than good. And through all of this, I had a very strange dream yesterday. There were pods landing all over the world. And the pods opened and each pod contained a cloned David Boop. There were hundreds of David Boops wandering around the world. Each one was dressed in khaki and wore a Pith helmet. Now, David Boop is a real person. I've know him for years, but I've never dreamed about him, not ever.
So, the Chinese government was trying to kill all of the David Boops. And the David Boops were trying to get their hands on weapons to fight the Chinese. And I don't really know why any of this was happening. It has to be one of the strangest dreams I've ever had.
Next weekend I'll be at Mile Hi Con. One of the panels I'm on is about time travel stories. I've always had an uneasy relationship with time travel stories. As an author, I've only written two. As an editor, I've actively discouraged them. When we were doing Science Fiction Trails I had to change the writers guidelines to keep them away. There was a time when all I got was some clod goes back in time to the OK Corral and doesn't really belong there. It was always the OK Corral and the Earp Brothers. It might not have been so bad had it occasionally been Little Big Horn or someplace else--yes it would have. These were always dreadful stories.
It boils down to this: Time travel is an easy crutch for an unimaginative writer to use to deal with a science fiction story set in a time different than our own. Rather than write about the folks who actually live there, they always seem to think people from our time are superior or more interesting. So let's write crappy stories about time travel. And how do we get back in time? Oh, we can crawl through some unexplained hole behind our stove or we can smoke crack [these are actual examples I've gotten].
That's not to say all time travel is crap--just most of it. Even though I have a loathing contempt for most time travel stories, I rather like Dr. Who. I think the H. G. Wells story was pretty good for its day. It can be done. Heck, during the Matt Smith era of Dr. Who, there was a bona fide weird western episode set in the town of Mercy that would've fit right in the pages of Science Fiction Trails. That one involved an alien war criminal who was trying to escape justice by hiding out in a small western town.
There's a comet going really close to Mars. I gather the ESA and NASA are going to try to get the satellites already spying on Mars to take a look at it. I find myself wondering what the Martians are doing. Of course, there's not really much you can do about a comet. Back in the 1800s people would freak out when a comet came close to earth--way more than they are for Ebola. They'd buy comet masks to keep from inhaling comet dust. That's why I wonder if the Martians are freaking out about the approaching comet or simply taking it in stride.
The Postal Service has a new set of Batman stamps out. I bought some yesterday. They're pretty cool. One of them is a round stamp depicting the bat signal that Commissioner Gordon used to shine on clouds. I always wondered how somebody living in the bat cave was supposed to see that.
I've been getting calls from some boiler room at all hours. That's bad enough. What's ticking me off is they never give me a chance to answer the call. It only rings a couple of times then they hang up. So, I don't even know who it is that's bothering me. What is the point in calling somebody if you won't even give them a chance to answer the call? I can't really report them for violating the no call list until I figure out who they are. Probably some charity wanting money. They're always exempt from the no call. Most of the charities that use boiler rooms are questionable charities. Damn I hate telemarketers.
I was most pleased to see that The Coming of Crow by Joel Jenkins has been released. Crow is a Native American gunfighter who travels all over, and I mean all over, and gets into some truly amazing adventures. I had the honor of editing a few of the projects that some of the Crow adventures were first published in. I honestly believe these are some of the best gunfights I've ever read. I can't wait to read the stories I wasn't involved with and will likely post a review at some future point in time. Order this book.
As I threatened a few days back, today is the day my posting of Halloween Haunts should be up on the HWA blog. Just click the nearby button to be taken there. To recap, Halloween Haunts is an annual series of postings by HWA members about Halloween and horror. Some of the members are really good writers. And then there's the crap I write as well. So, don't just sit there reading this blog--get the to it.
I got my oil changed recently. I don't really have a good place to change it myself, so I have it done by a mechanic. I noticed that a local large store that sells everything had some oil that I thought I'd like to try--a synthetic blend. The problem is that very same store doesn't offer it if they do your oil change, then you have to get some other oil. And the place I usually get my oil change doesn't offer it either. So, the only way I can get the oil I want into my car is do it myself. See sentence two. So, I have Ford oil in my car. I wanted the synthetic blend oil that comes in a five quart jug. But I have the Ford oil. It's not that there's anything wrong with the Ford oil. I just wanted the other oil and resent the fact that I can't have it.
I got to thinking that I could change my own oil. The condo association frowns on people doing auto repairs on site. It occurred to me I could go to my former boss's house and change it in their driveway when they're not home. And I could leave the used oil in the flower bed. This appealed to me, but might not play well with the local sheriff's department if I were discovered. I thought about changing it in the parking garage of another hotel down the street from where I work. They never close their access gate. But most hotels have security cameras these days and I still might end up on the wrong side of the law. So, I have Ford oil in my car.
Over the years I've tried to convince people Hoover Dam was named for famed lawman J. Edgar Hoover. I've tried to convince people that J. Edgar Hoover and Edgar Rice Burrows were the same person [they look nearly identical]. And I've tried to convince folks that J.Edgar Hoover invented the Hoover vacuum cleaner. And there actually are people running around believing that he invented a vacuum cleaner and has a famous dam named after him. Why the fixation on Hoover? Don't know, really. The only thing left to do is place a story by J. Edgar Hoover in an upcoming anthology. Hmm, would people actually believe that?
Edgar Rice Burrows or J. Edgar Hoover?
This fall I tried to organize a Halloween author reading in Denver. I polled a bunch of authors and none of them wanted to do it. Then I tried to set up a Christmas steampunk reading. I ended up cancelling that as well, as very few authors wanted to participate. So I vowed that I'm not going to try and organize any more author events. It's kind of a shame, as I've rather enjoyed doing them. But I'm tired of pounding my head into walls.
And I now have my schedule for Mile Hi Con. I'm doing a themed steampunk reading--yay. And I'm on an art panel with something to do with small press art. And I'm on a time travel panel. And I'm moderating a panel discussion about the 1897 Airship. YAY! I love talking about the Great 1897 Airship and have given a number of talks on it. This is the first time I've ever had a panel discussion.
Well, I've now had data about me stolen from three companies. I still say that these companies don't need to keep so much data on people. If they didn't insist on hanging on to every possible scrap of information about me, then there wouldn't be anything to steal--or at least not as much. I guess I should feel flattered that people think my information is worth stealing.


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industry_corpus2: Others


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What’s the best advice you ever received upon assuming a new leadership role? What, nobody gave you any advice?! Well, then, I have a great resource for you.
Dan McCarthy, author of the award-winning blog Great Leadership is changing up his monthly leadership development blog carnival this month. He asked for leadership bloggers to submit the best piece of advice they had to offer to new managers. What resulted is 32 different thought leaders offering up advice and a bonus resource for each piece of advice.
Go check it out at The Best Collection of Advice for New Leaders.

industry_corpus2: Subject Education


text:
Non-compliance with PAT standards can lead to severe punishments for corporations and landlords, ranging from fines to imprisonment. I therefore recommend that all relevant portable appliances are tested regularly.
I look forward to discussing PAT testing with you in more detail!


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I am attempting to collect as many cursors as is possible; To fairly credit the authors of those cursors and organize them in a respectable manner. There are so many fantastic cursors that people aren't aware of and I believe that they should be shared and enjoyed. Peace!
I need to reach the button amount for a license voucher for icon & paint. My plan is enter the TOTM, every month and write 6 reviews daily. I should reach that goal in a month or two. I really don't expect to win the TOTM. Too many good artists here. Let me start writing reviews... Peace!

industry_corpus2: Film & Entertainment


text:
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When visions sore, strategies evolve. With growth in glocal businesses, local outsourcing of services becomes a potential growth accelerating alternative. In offshore delivery model of SeRigor , customers with voluminous and extensive projects is connected to offshore service providers located in different countries to cater to their functional needs. These centers offer development, maintenance and testing services including web services development, application integration, migration or conversion services, software testing, and application maintenance of a single application or an assortment of applications.
It is one of the best options when a client expects to have a series of IT projects to be done qualitatively and at affordable cost.
At SeRigor, our primary focus is to establish a durable association between our clients and offshore service providers that compliments the needs and aspirations of both. With our extensive offshore service database, we will ensure that your functional needs are catered by only the best at the most competitive prices. For any offshore venture, we try and ensure that communication barriers and coordination management is risk free and project development is glocally methodized.

industry_corpus2: Computing & Telecommunications


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The October quiz in November. Spooky!
Which is a synonym of anathematize?


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The University has many support services and resources to help you through your academic journey.
Find information about support services and resources available to current Health & Medicine students.
The prize is awarded each year to the student or group who authors the best population health assignment.

industry_corpus2: Health & Medicine


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Anti-aging nutrition: With no proven effective way of stopping the aging process, those of us concerned with the toll time takes on our body’s functioning and features have to turn to how we care for our body to slow the process. While there may be no magic potion, there are drinks you can make part of your nutrition plan that will provide anti-aging properties, strengthen the body and offer beauty benefit. Here are three that are hot in 2017, and for good reason: they deliver antioxidant and healing properties that improve your immune system and benefit your skin, nails and hair.
Bone broth is enjoying a moment in the spotlight, but we’ve always known it to be a drink that offers healing and strengthening properties: remember your grandmother’s chicken noodle soup? Chances are that delicious broth was made by boiling chicken bones to release the beneficial marrow from inside.
Bone broth’s rich mineral composition strengthens the immune system. It contains beneficial collagen, which helps heal the lining of the gut and which strengthens and improves your skin and hair. Bone broth also contains a healthy serving of glutamine, glycine and proline. Glycine has been shown to slow the effect of aging. Proline supports the production of collagen, which aids in tightening the skin to avoid wrinkles. Glutamine helps remove toxins from the body, supports the immune system and aids the body in producing an essential antioxidant. As we age, our store of glutamine can deplete and when the body needs to tap into reserves, it has a drying effect that can be seen in the tone of our skin (muscle tissue thins, skin loses elasticity).
Resveratrol acts to protect the body from damage by engaging a healthy inflammatory response, which can act to protect the skin from the effects of aging. Some of the effects of red wine can also be found in the very reason we turn to it after a long day: putting your feet up with a glass promotes relaxation. Stress has a lot of impact on the tone of our skin, and health of all our organs.
You may be familiar with collagen in skin care products for improving tone and suppleness. Ingestible collagen powder also has similar effects. Collagen is an insoluble protein, the most abundant in the human body and what holds the whole body together. As we age, our body’s production of collagen slows and the effects of aging can be directly tied to this reduced output – wrinkles, sagging skin. Women who consumed collagen once a day for eight weeks saw notable improvement in their skin’s elasticity and moisture. By fighting the loss of elasticity, collagen can also reduce cellulite and stretch marks.
Collagen is found in bone broth, but can also be ingested in a power form. This can be dissolved in warm or cold drinks for easy consumption.
Fight time with these powerful elixirs and reap the rewards of that glow from the inside out. Drink up to better aging!
With no proven effective way of stopping the aging process, those of us concerned with the toll time takes on our body’s functioning and features have to turn to how we care for our body to slow the process. As we age, our store of glutamine can deplete and when the body needs to tap into reserves, it has a drying effect that can be seen in the tone of our skin (muscle tissue thins, skin loses elasticity).
Resveratrol acts to protect the body from damage by engaging a healthy inflammatory response, which can act to protect the skin from the effects of aging. Collagen is an insoluble protein, the most abundant in the human body and what holds the whole body together. As we age, our body’s production of collagen slows and the effects of aging can be directly tied to this reduced output – wrinkles, sagging skin.


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I do not consider the Restaurant Magazine and top 50 list a credible source to take seriously. But the “Guide Michelin” too, unfortunately, has been promoting beautifully designed, tiny, and precious multi-courses meals, at the expense of restaurants which do true justice to ingredients.
It is hard to fathom the overall influence and cultural hegemony of Japanese Kaiseki cuisine over the Guide. Japanese Palace Cuisine has great merits, but may not easily be transported elsewhere.
I would blame Michelin for caving in and promoting the superstar-chef phenomena (and for some reason women are not part of the inner circle and they remain on the fringes).
A related issue is the fact that Michelin has rewarded chefs who became entrepreneurs by giving their name to restaurants in exchange for material incentives. Dine in the two and three macaroon Robuchon Ateliers, Tables, etc. Once in a while you can eat well, but in general the food is disappointing, sometimes mediocre. In the Keller establishments, the French Laundry, Per Se, etc., the food is uninspiring, may warrant one macaroon, not three. Gagnaire can only turn out great dishes when he is in the kitchen and when one orders a la carte (try lievre a la royale). Ducasse somehow manages to satisfy in Louis XV, but even there it is nowhere near to the early ‘90s, when Louis XV was a great restaurant.
The Michelin Guide has become too politicized and too much part of big business circles, to keep its credibility. It is inconceivable that Arzak in San Sebastien keeps its three macaroons, whereas Zuberoa has been reduced to one and Elkano, arguably one of the top three fish restaurants in the world, is solely mentioned in the guide. The Michelin guide is also unreliable for Italy. Recently they have promoted Duomo in Alba and Osteria Francescana in Modena to the top three macaroon status. I had two meals in the former and one in the latter and found both of them wanting. My friend, ex-gastoville partner and now the chef of Hedone in London (you must try it if you are in London), will probably give 7/20 to both. I am more generous and rank the former 11/20 and the latter 12/20. You can have some interesting and some badly conceived dishes in these restaurants, but I guarantee that you will not eat a satisfactory meal showcasing the purity of ingredients (except the reggiano parmesan and the veal ragu pasta at Osteria Francescana). It is ludicrous to rank restaurants that high which are more like research labs and concoct half baked, experimental and too precious, teeny-tiny and odd dishes, which look like Van Gogh but taste like carbon paper. These chefs are primarily interested in creating infinitesimal variations on the “texture” of ingredients by using molecular techniques, and I wish them good luck. But it is unfortunate that a serious French guide sends the wrong signals to the young chefs by elevating these restaurants to the highest status.
In trying to please the judges, like Michelin and the jury of the “top 50”, who are the arbiters of taste, many great chefs are making unfortunate compromises.
I take my hat off to Vigato for paying no attention to such trends and expectations of the modern public which is obsessed with fat and heavy sauces.
It seems to me that Monsieur Vigato is still cooking primarily to please himself. I am sure that he is one of the very very few two to three macaroon chefs who likes to eat what comes out from his kitchen.
It is also good to see that he is financially very successful. The French love his restaurant which is always full. The beautiful “hotel particulier” where the restaurant is located used to be owned by the producer/filmmaker Luc Besson who recently sold the gorgeous property to an American closed fund.
From all I have been saying so far, it would be wrong to conclude that I am against the tiny portions in multi-course meals.
Sometimes the quality and nature of the ingredients warrant tiny portions. For instance, recently I had a memorable meal at IN DE WULF, and chef Kobe Desramault designs a menu around small portions, but they are well thought out. He also knows how to cook a lobster or a pigeon whole. Ironically the Michelin Guide rewards only one macaroon to this restaurant.
It is no secret that in a large number of Michelin restaurants, chefs buy previously sliced and vacuum packed pieces of fish and meat. Sous viding is efficient, easy, cost effective, and many customers like it because dishes cooked sous vide become soft and uniform in texture.
I have eaten at Apicius eight to ten times, and I can also attest to the consistency of the kitchen.
I love the fact that chef Vigato tailors the scale of his offerings to bring out the best in the material at hand.
This is why he cooks many dishes for two people.
No. He will not buy every joint of a duck precooked or presliced and vacuum packed (to be later sauced and arranged on the plate with a few sprigs of herbs) as many macaroon and top 50 chefs do.
If he serves duck, he will roast it to order and serve it for two. He will also sauce it in the tradition of the grand French cuisine.
Don’t miss his roasted wild Breton turbot on the bone for two. It is the best turbot you can have in Paris.
All of these dishes are excellent because they are cooked to order from high quality and fresh ingredients.
How many so called “top 50” restaurants are doing the same?
Another reason I love Vigato’s cooking is because he makes great SAUCES. The sauce was one of the hallmarks of French cuisine, and the great chef Robuchon is known to never have reheated a sauce.
Making a classic French sauce is very time and labor consuming. I doubt many apprentices and young chefs today know how to make a classical sauce, without using agar agar, xantam gum, etc. Three macaroon kitchens are now invaded by Adria products/chemicals because of obvious reasons.
All this said, don’t think that you will eat heavy food at Apicius.
Social media now showcases up and coming food writers but Lynes sees two key differences between eGullet and social media. The early days of eGullet were “filled with a real sense of exploration and discovery because eGullet was participant and not PR led. What’s going on now, people getting excited about ramen, burgers, pizza, doughnuts etc – I look at the early days on eGullet and it was all there, but with more depth and substance.” eGullet was famous for argument and debate about food. “There was no ‘me too’ mentality, the opinions were tested” said Lynes.
This was the beginning of eGullet’s demise. eGullet originally attracted people dissatisfied from other food sites, who didn’t want their contributions hampered by arbitrary censorship rules or membership agreements or controls. Majumdar was irritated remembering the rules “people moved to eGullet because the Chowhound rules became too prohibitive.” Majumdar conceded that growth needs a level of control but the eGullet rules and interference from the moderators was annoying.
3. Aun Koh of ChubbyHubby has written a manifesto on how the government should support the Singapore restaurant scene.
(Ingredients) Build up a network of farms in the Malayan peninsula that sets aside a percentage of their output for premium ingredients.
(People) Start enticing recent graduates of premier cooking schools in the world like the Culinary Institute of America to come back to Singapore. This can be done by subsidising restaurant spaces, grants etc. But ultimately great cooks want to cook for an appreciative audience. The government should work on the assumption that this appreciative audience can be brought into being within 5 years.
(Foreign Promotion) I think the prospect of grants to set up restaurants in foreign countries, contingent on success within a 5 year trial period, will be a huge incentive to potential talent.
Since the problem of fine-dining restaurants in Singapore is complex and inter-related, only a concerted big push will solve the problem.
4. Making no bones about that young bak kut teh hawker’s business.
The Kitchen At The Centre Of It All.
What’s more interesting than what he said, was what he didn’t say. Consider this – Jun Yuan is a first-class honours graduate in Management from the University of Manchester. One can safely assume that he has some idea of how to put together a business plan, forecast for various case scenarios and run some numbers to arrive at the conclusion that for a food business in Singapore to succeed and thrive, one needs scale. A scale that requires at least four to five different branches – a number of profit centres that help support one cost centre (the central kitchen) – in order to generate a healthy cash flow.
2. That commercial rentals have skyrocketed beyond a tipping point such that most food businesses, even those that run hawker stalls, require the facilities of a central kitchen somewhere else – usually located in industrial estates with far cheaper rents – in order to manage costs.
Central kitchens are fantastic facilities in that they can generate a large quantity of food in very short amount of time at possibly lower prices due to economies of scale, streamlining of duplicated functions and higher automation. But many food businesses – aside from catering services or large-scale food service businesses such as hotels – previously never needed to use central kitchens because it has always been that what was produced onsite is sufficient to cater for the required number of customers to help keep the business afloat. The fact that central kitchens are now a key factor in determining whether a food business can take off only means that existing kitchen facilities within each establishment may be insufficient to produce enough food quickly to supply the larger number of customers needed to sustain the business. This is worrying.
Make no bones about it – this means that there’s even less breathing room for small, independent food businesses in Singapore, moving forward. And that their chances of success have just shrunk to an even more diminutive number.

industry_corpus2: Hospitality & Catering


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 Wheely 3 - Play for Free at Coolmathgames1.net!
In the third sequel of the cute physics-based point and click style game you have to help the cute Beetle car to get a new pair of wheels for his wifey. Find clues and unravel all puzzles to be able to progress Wheely 3.

industry_corpus2: Gaming


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kashrut (Jewish dietary law). Food that may be consumed according to halakha (Jewish law) is termed kosher in English, meaning "fit" (in this context, fit for consumption), via Wikipedia.
A delicious and sweet honey and Elderberry mead, tastes like liquid honey with elderberries. Double Gold and Honey Wine Blend of the Year - Indy 2012.
As one our first wines made with elderberry from the family farm. A soft distinctive taste of excellence.
A delicious blend of chocolates with our original Elderberry Sweet wine. Perfect by itself or with more chocolate.
Elderberry wine enhanced with cinnamon and cloves. Serve hot like a Wassail or cold over ice with fruit as a Sangria. Served at the 2002 Winter Olympic Village!
The most popular sweetness level for Elderberry Wine. Bursting with berry flavor.
Our Elderberry wine is made in a Pinot Noir style: Fruity, low to moderate tannins, light oak, very drinkable with most foods.
Our Elderberry wine is made in a Pinot Noir style: Fruity, low to moderate tannins, light oak, and a good choice with most foods. It's the unique berry taste of Elderberry, with no residual sugars.

industry_corpus2: Agriculture & Fisheries


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 Hickory Grove Lake Recreational Family Campground - Ohio. Find It Here.
From April 15 through October 15, pick a site based on your needs. Primitive to full hookups. Many amenities included.Remote enough to be a welcome break from urban life, but close enough to enjoy any weekend. Make our pristine property a family tradition."We had a wonderful time here this weekend! Just came for one night with our tent. The facilities were clean, the lake was beautiful, and the staff were very friendly. We are looking forward to coming back and seeing the new dog park! Thank you!

industry_corpus2: Travel & Geography


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Stop into Powerhouse Outdoor Equipment and save on Toro® equipment!
If you’ve been patiently waiting for the perfect time to invest in new power equipment, the moment has finally arrived. You definitely don’t want to miss out on these incredible deals and savings! Not only will you receive your power equipment at an amazingly affordable price but you’ll also receive the legendary power of Toro Equipment. With several years of industry experience, there’s no better brand to invest in.
The Toro® Sales Event will feature some great savings. For example, you can receive a whopping $300 off the TimeCutter® HD and up to $200 off the TimeCutter® MX. Other unbeatable savings include $300 off the Titan HD 1500, Titan HD 2000 and 2000 Series MyRIDE. Get $500 off the GrandStand® (select models) and GrandStand® MULTI-FORCE. But wait, there’s more. For the ultimate savings opportunity, check out the Z Master 7500-D Series, being offered at an unbelievable $750 off.
Be sure to stop by Powerhouse Outdoor Equipment to take part in the Toro Sales Event! We offer two convenient locations in St. Joseph and St. Cloud, MN. Our staff would be happy to answer your questions and help you decide which product is right for your needs.

industry_corpus2: Power & Energy


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Alex Hales and Joe Root struck stunning centuries as England steamrollered West Indies by 186 runs in Barbados to complete a one-day series whitewash. The pair put on a record 192 for the second wicket, with Hales the more aggressive of the two and Root happy to play the anchor role.
West Indies were never in contention and meekly surrendered with the bat – being bowled out for just 142. Liam Plunkett and Chris Woakes took three wickets apiece with the ball.
If the West Indies showed glimpses of ability in the first two matches of the series, there was very little of it on show at the Kensington Oval. The gulf in class between the two teams was striking.
While England’s batting order is rich in both talent and depth, the Windies’ top order gifted their wickets with a succession of dolly catches offered up to close fielders.
It was a similar story from a bowling perspective as England’s pacemen bullied and harassed. The hosts’ options lacked penetration in the absence of the injured Shannon Gabriel and proved to be cannon fodder for the likes of Root, Hales and Ben Stokes.

industry_corpus2: Sports


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Twenty years of travel experience with proficiency in Sabre, Worldspan and Apollo reservation systems.
Marilee logged nearly seven years as a work-at-home agent before signing on with Working Solutions on the tip of a coworker.
With an associate’s degree in liberal arts, Marilee’s agent experience covers utilities and consumer/ retail industries. She now serves as a resource leader with a program that helps seniors find suitable living options, a project she’s worked since joining the company in August 2014.
Marilee and her team are the first point of contact for customers either calling in or initiating service through the client’s website. She also handles outreach calls to follow up on previous leads and provide additional help to families in need.
“Some customers aren’t really sure what to do to place a loved one in a community. And sometimes they’re hesitant to speak or offer personal information.
Aside from her agent work, Marilee also has served as a children’s choir director for 11 years and is certified in the Kodaly music teaching method.
Having placed her parents in senior living gives Marilee a particularly sensitive ear to families seeking similar care for their loved ones.
Marilee said she was working full time as an office manager and part-time children’s choir director when it came time to get senior care for her Mom and Dad. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t take them into her own home.
It’s not uncommon to be on the phone with family members who burst into tears. When that happens, Marilee lets them know how much she cares and gently leads them in the right direction.


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A filmmaker's eye to design and marketing.
I'm a film producer, marketer, and web designer. I began my career in television working for CBS marketing on the critically acclaimed drama Numb3rs. I went on to work with Samuel Goldwyn Films to head up their social media marketing department building their brand strategy online and beyond. As a freelance consultant I have worked with a wide range of clients creating cutting edge marketing content for eBay, Hewlett-Packard, Black Enterprise, UCLA, TED, American Institute of Architects, UCI Medical Center, KTGY Architecture, and United Design Associates.
Lions Low Vision Services Program, Inc.
US Horse Welfare and Rescue Inc.
Lions Youth Exchange Foundation Inc.
Please send me a message with the form below.


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"AVIATION Inspired Merchandise for Airline employees. military, aircraft lovers. This site is for pilots, flight attendants,stewardesses, cabin attendants and those who love watching them LIVIN' THE DREAM! www.cafepress.com/cloudbunnys"
Living The Dream is a website listed on the Top Site List Planet list Fun T-shirts - The #1 Shopping Site.

industry_corpus2: Aerospace


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From 2013-2014, Dr. Rhee was the Director of Assessment and Chair of the Program Planning Committee of the Academic Senate at SJSU. In these positions, she worked closely with the Associate Vice Presidents of Undergraduate Studies, Graduate and Extended Studies, Institutional Effectiveness and Analytics, as well as the Provost and Deputy Provost. The Director of Assessment is responsible for the annual assessment of all degree programs on campus, and the Chair of Program Planning directs review of departments typically on a five-year cycle. Both processes are required by the California State University system and for accreditation by WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges).
Jinny received promotion to full professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department in 2013, and tenure and promotion to Associate Professor in 2008. She normally teaches courses in the thermal and fluid sciences area of mechanical engineering, as well as engineering mathematics and senior design project. Her interests include renewable energy, thermal management, and multidisciplinary education for engineers and all students. She is also the Director of the newly established Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Laboratory at SJSU, and the faculty advisor for the SJSU student chapter of IEEE-CPMT (Institute for Electrical Engineering and Electronics - Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technologies).
Dr. Rhee received her B.S. (1989), M.S. (1990), and Ph.D. (1995) degrees, all in mechanical engineering, from Stanford University. She joined SJSU in 2002.


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A selection of quality underground melodic Hip Hop and Trapsoul presented by Elysian Fields Media and Prometheus The Titan. Updated regularly.
For those spiritual moments; praying, meditation, church, background music, reunions, communion, devotional, reading and studying the Bible. Soft piano pieces.


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Territorial Morphology- the study of shapes of country's and the affect the shapes have on humans.
Prorupted state- An compact state with a projecting Extortion .
Perforated State- A state that completely surrounds another.
Elongated State- A long thin State.
Compact States- Equal distance from the center to the boarders about the same across the state.
Fragmented state- A state that is separated by a physical or human barrier.
Enclave State- A state that is completely surrounded by another.
Enclave State- A part of the national territory separated from the main body of the country that it belongs to.
Geopolitics-Political especially international relations as influenced by geographic factors.
Push Factor- Something causing people to leave a certain area. Examples: Not enough jobs, sickness, lack of food War, Corrupt leaders, Climate.
Ethnonatiolism: A certain ethnic group or religion wants there own state.
South china sea- Political fight of ownership of resources and power to control the region.
Pull Factors- Something that makes people want to move to a certain place. Examples: Good jobs, safe environment,water food, Climate.
UNCLOS Treaty- Made my the UN is meant to give country how much claim they had on the water that boarders there land .
Contiguous Zone- 24 miles off the territorial waters State has limited control the coastal guard still has authority .
International Waters- Outside of the Exclusive economic zone this water and resources belong to everyone.
Median-Line principle- If there is less the 200 miles between the countries they have to split down the middle.
Climate- The average pattern of weather over time.
Latitude-As latitude increases the average annual temp decreases.
Weather- The general condition of the atmosphere at a given time and place with regard to temperature.
Human environmental interaction- How humans and the environment interact what sorts of plants are grown what trees are cut down.
The Economy- A system of production consumption and distribution.
Substance Economy: An economy that relies solely on substance agriculture.
Tertiary sector- Economic activities that involve distributing goods and moving them around.
More Developed country's- these country have a stable economy with exports and imports people here have a good life with on average 2 children. The health care is good and expanded. Few people die.
Less Developed Country's- Not a strong economy people have many children to make sue some of them survive. people die of simple disease because of lack of medicine. More people live in poverty and work in factories established by wealthier country's.
GDP- (Gross Domestic Product)-The total value of every good and service produced in a location over the period of one year. Measure= Consumer spending + Business spending+ Government spending+ export-imports.
GDP per capita is a country's gross domestic product divided by its total population.
Geographic causes of inequality- Geography such as enclosed states or deserts or bad rivers that make transportation and communication hard make it so that country's develop slower and are then unequal to the rest of the world.
Dependency ratio- The dependent people 1-15 and 64-up. Divided by the people in between. The seniors and young children are dependent on the working class. This is how you calculate it.
Demography -The study of patterns in human populations.
Population Density- The measurement of population in a certain area.
Birth Rate- the number of live births per year.
Death Rate- How many people die per year.
Life expectancy- The average age that people are expected to live in a n area.
Rate of natural increase- The birth rate subtracted by the death rate and it shows the change in population.
Demographic transition model-A graph that represents population change over time.
Stage 2 : Birth rate high, Death rate rapidly decreases Rapid increase in population. Improve medical care water supply and sanitation.
Stage 3 : Birth Rate is falling Death rate is falling less rapidly Improved care and diet Fewer children needed.
Pros- Broadens people access to goods and cervices. Lifts people out of poverty. Increase in cultural awareness. Could stop labor exploitation.
Cons- Global warming more addition of greenhouse gasses. Jobs transfers to low cost areas.
Human Geography- The study of various aspects of human life/ Evolution.
Physical geography- The study of the earths physical process.
Absolute Location- Exact Address Coordinates of using Longitude and latitude.
Longitude- Lines going vertically on the globe.
GPS- Global Positioning system Locates where something is positioned on earth and connects to satellites in space.
GIS- A type of technology that uses pictures of places to create informative maps.


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Eric Blume's 35 years of drumming has inspired many students and fans. As a Drumeo (Drum Education Online) certified instructor, Eric provides lessons for beginners, intermediate and advanced students, covering all styles of music.
Our Motto is "Piano Is Fun." Standard methods are taught in our piano lessons. Recitals, incentive contests and other motivational activities are used to encourage students to learn in a nurturing and caring environment.
Somerset Academy of music. We make learning music fun! We offer lessons for piano, guitar, voice, banjo, ukulele, clarinet, saxophone, oboe and more! All ages, beginner to advanced!
Mrozek Piano Studio holds private piano lessons and group music lessons at Loveland Music Academy, located in downtown Loveland. Private piano lessons are offered for all, age 5 through adult, in all levels.
Cincinnati (OH), Maineville (OH), Camp Dennison (OH), Miamiville (OH), Kings Mills (OH) .
Postal Code(s) associated with Loveland, OH: 45140 .
The above search is a free service maintained by DoReMiWORLD.com for the benefit of private music teachers, as well as music students and their parents. Our goal is to help you locate a private music instructor, for example, a private piano teacher, a private violin teacher, a private voice coach, an online music teacher or another music education specialist who may offer private music lessons or online lessons to music students in Loveland Ohio.
Private music instruction is considered to be the best way to learn to play a musical instrument. Use this directory to find a private music teacher offering music lessons in your local area (Loveland OH) or online lessons around the world. At the moment, our directory is limited to the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, United States, and New Zealand. This music teachers directory classifies private music instructors by instrument, such as private piano teachers (for private piano lessons), private voice teachers (for private voice lessons), private violin teachers (for private violin lessons), etc. Please use the above search function to find a private music teacher near you.
We welcome the following types of instructors in our Loveland Ohio directory: Classical Guitar Tutors, Drums Educators, French Horn Professionals, Harp Educators, Clarinet Professionals, Accordion Teachers, Percussion Coaches, Recorder Tutors, Trumpet Teachers, Bass Coaches, Organ Teachers, Cello Instructors, Viola Da Gamba Instructors, Bagpipes Educators, Saxophone Instructors, Ukulele Tutors, Flute Teachers, Banjo Coaches, Viola Coaches, Harpsichord Instructors, Lute Educators, Electric Bass Teachers, English Horn Tutors, Bass Guitar Teachers, Piccolo Instructors, Violin Professionals, Oboe Coaches, Electric Guitar Tutors, Brass Professionals, Double Bass Educators, Mandolin Professionals, Woodwinds Professionals, Trombone Teachers, Piano Instructors, Dulcimer Tutors, Keyboard Educators, Voice Coaches, Bassoon Instructors, Acoustic Guitar Coaches, Tuba Educators .


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Bank Robbery– On May 23 around 3:45PM, officers responded to the Wells Fargo Bank located at 7591 Somerset Crossing Dr in Gainesville (20155) to investigate a robbery.
An employee reported to police that an unknown man approached the bank area–then passed a note demanding money. The suspect took an undisclosed amount of money before fleeing the area on foot.
No weapon was displayed and no injuries were reported. A police K-9 and helicopter are currently checking the surrounding area for the suspect. Heavy police presence can be expected in the area. More information will be released when available.
Lookout: Hispanic male, between 30-40 years of age, 5’09”-5’10”, 160lbs with a thin build. He was last seen wearing an orange construction vest, yellow hard hat, a dark hoodie, dark blue pants, blue gloves, and clear goggles.

industry_corpus2: Finance & Economics


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You should wake up early to enjoy the dawn on the sea in the early morning. The Vietnamese call the “East Sea” by a point-oriented name “Eastern Sea”, so you may guess how miraculous seeing the sunrise over the islets of the Bay. After breakfast our boat will continue to cruise in marvelous areas, where almost each islet has its own name, adopting its shape or reminiscent like Sail Island, Fisherman’s head rock, Butterfly rock or Turtle islet etc. Take our car back to Hanoi and transfer to Noi Bai International airport for domestic flight to Da Nang City. Upon your arrival in Da Nang City Airport, we pick up and transfer to city center hotel check-in. Free at leisure. Overnight in Da Nang City.
Enjoy Hoian traditional lunch at restaurant ( arrangement by your) Free to explore the “Hoi An ancient night”, get yourself back to the 17th century, relax and soak up the atmosphere. Back to Hue and stay overnight in Hotel.
Enjoy breakfast at your hotel. We visit the Royal city (The Imperial Citadel) and Perfume River, Thien Mu Pagoda built on a hillock overlooking the Perfume River, is one of the most famous structures in all of Vietnam.
We transfer to Da Nang airport for domestic flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Upon your arrival in Tan Son Nhat Airport, we pick up and transfer to city center hotel check-in. Rest of the day, you are free at leisure. Overnight in Ho Chi Minh City.
Enjoy breakfast at your hotel. This morning, we go to visit War museum, Reunification Palace, Post Office and the Notre Dame Cathedral. Free at your own activities then transfer to Tan Son Nhat International Airport for departure. We hope you have enjoyed your holidays with unforgettable memories traveling. End of service.


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Recent work on Free Company has been focusing on improving the look of the randomly generated rooms by subtly shaping the way the objects are laid out to conform to more human norms of laying out rooms. For example shelves in the game are now no longer empty instead they are filled up with appropriate small objects . The objects as redetermined by the procedural generator-wide tagging system. Objects have tags; levels, monsters and rooms have tags; the generator attempts to assign them to each other using probabilities based on how closely the tags of each align. The way the objects are placed on the shelves is determined by three different algorithmic approaches that attempt to mimic general human behaviour as regards shelves: filling up from the left hand side, from the right hand side and alternately from the left and right hand sides. The quantity of objects on each shelf is determined by a normal distribution linked roughly to the dimensions of the shelf to ensure that the average shelf is about 90% full .
That’s one example, other new strategies have been employed to shape the placement of the shelves themselves and other objects to create the hopefully more believably storeroom like rooms you see in the screen shots on this page. To support these new furnishing algorithms I’ve also been making a whole pile of new objects, almost doubling the number of them in the past week. Some of these can also be seen in these two shots.
The basic warehouse layout and furnishing algorithms are probably done about as far as I am going to take them for the first release all the rooms now look passable and I expect I can reuse the same algorithms for a few other environment variants like the crypt and a new library layout once I create a few more objects to support them. I still have plenty more ideas for algorithmic level generation though and I’d love to revisit this area to try and make even more believable and varied layouts in the future.
The other new things I’ve done recently are a few minor cosmetic buffs. From feedback to my last post (thanks Stian!) I’ve switched out the general game font for a more serif ridden fantasy one, I’ve fiddled with a few of the most frequently seen textures to try and make them a little less bland (still a work in progress) and I’ve implemented a more flexible system for testing out lighting changes quickly in game (hit a key to rebuild the lights from the theme data .xml files). The last thing (which just went in today) has allowed me to fiddle with small lighting changes and see the result in a couple of seconds rather than the many minutes it was taking before, so I updated a few of my lighting themes with some tweaks too.
Anyway, as usual let me know what you think about the Storerooms or anything else in the post in the comments below.
This fortnight has been spent plugging all the memory leaks that had built up in the Free Company code base since the last time I went through and plugged them all. The work was considerably eased this time by the use of a new tool I discovered called Visual Leak Detector which makes the process of pinpointing where the leaks are happening fairly trivial by providing callstacks. It also runs fairly quickly in the background so I can leave it on permanently in debug builds to continue passively identifying new leaks as and when they spring up. VLD is super simple to integrate into any project as well so if you are still struggling along with C++ out there I recommend adding it to yours immediately. The only thing it doesn’t catch are Direct X memory leaks for which a more traditional approach, and the debug runtime, is still needed.
Once all leaks were deftly disposed of it was on to a HUD tune-up, something which is still ongoing and probably will be right up until the release. You can see some of the results of the changes in the screenshot above. I was aiming for less numbers & more visual ways of showing what is going on, as well as adding more widgets to give you better control over your whole party of mercenaries. The portraits added back in January now provide a handy way to select a particular mercenary and jump to his current position in the world, and they will also soon contain a shrunken down overview of the bars on the main HUD for each merc. There are now special pointers for all of the various ways you can control the camera which possibly only I care about. Finally, I spent a bit of time tweaking the colours of various elements to tie the buttons into the HUD better, improve consistency between different elements and generally reduce the ‘primary’ nature of most of the colours I was using before. I’m still not very happy with the layout of the bottom HUD area ( a lot of spare/wasted space, the elements are a bit boring) nor the fairly crappy skill icons but it is coming along all the same.
While I was fiddling with the HUD I also went through and ticked off a whole heaving heap of bugs with the skill system so that the handful of currently implemented skills now actually work properly all the time and give slightly better feedback when they are being used to boot. Implementing a host of new skills and improving their feedback is one of the big upcoming tasks so I wanted to have the ground prepared for when that is started. And as a final thing I’ve just now tweaked the post effects again to add a vignette.
To give a sort of general picture of where the game is at I have about a week or so’s more tasks listed on my current ‘polish’ to do list to get through before I start on one of the big three remaining tasks pre-alpha release. Those big tasks are; skills, AI & real-time play between combats. I’d welcome any feedback on the changes/look of the HUD in the comments. Or really, any comments at all. Speak your brains internet.
Progress on Free Company continues at a steady pace here in the shed, unfortunately I’ve been pretty lax about reflecting that progress on the blog but no more for today I come with tales of newly implemented features, bugs fixed and graphical systems steadily improved.
First up is the new fog of war system. I spent a fairly long time with the implementation of fog of war sitting at the bottom of my many & various scrawled to do lists. I knew I wanted it in the game but I wasn’t quite sure how to get it working and running at a decent speed. The first problem is that there was no obvious example to be ‘inspired’ by, most games that I could find using fog of war were either fully 2D or they didn’t combine it with a fully rotate-able 3d camera. I needed a solution that obscured a given hex from all possible angles when none of the mercenaries could see it. I also wanted to be able to have a semi transparent view of areas that the mercenaries had already visited.
Anyway, as you can just about see above I managed to figure it out by using sort of hexagonal cages that are rendered over the top of the level geometry, and then using a complicated blend mode to do the semi-transparent version without showing the sides of all the neighbouring cages. It isn’t quite perfect as there is only a subtraction operation available to do the ‘transparency’ rather than the normal multiply but it works passably enough and most importantly isn’t horrifically slow.
…just don’t ask me to explain them because I did it a month or so ago now.
After I got the fog working I spent a fair bit of time improving the intuitiveness of some of the UI elements so now the sliders and scroll bars work more like proper scroll bars with live updates (change the music volume in terrifying real-time!!) and the buttons have proper embossing so they look like buttons. I also fixed a whole bunch of tiny pixel offset problems with things like the text and the basic ui rectangles that were causing some slight (but noticeable) visual problems.
Next up was implementing a new lighting technique called light mapping. This was a bigger project than I’d hoped at first glance to fix a small visual problem but now it is done and as a result I have a bit more flexibility with lighting. The basic problem I had was that my static geometry (which covers all the walls, floors, shelves and so on) could only support being affected by three lights simultaneously. On older graphics cards I wanted to support there was simply no way to physically pack any more lighting data into the vertex buffers or into the shader instruction count if I switched back to slower dynamic lighting.
At first, I’d tried to alleviate this problem by keeping the lights in any given generated room under three which worked to an extent but inevitably the random generation meant that occasionally a light from a corridor adjacent to a room would push the number of lights affecting a mesh over three and there would be obvious lighting discontinuities. I tried implementing a range of simple ‘light blockers’ to reduce this problem further but those didn’t really help as they had no way of dealing with a mesh that was lit from more than one side (such as the very frequently used room corners). So, I either had to put up with the lighting discontinuities (they were of variable severity but in the worst case there was wildly different colour lighting and brightnesses on each adjacent wall mesh) or I had to come up with a new lighting scheme.
There are two basic approaches, the modern and the retro. The modern approach involves using deferred rendering for basically everything and is slowly becoming the approach that all modern engines are moving towards as it has the most flexibility and the least disadvantages. Unfortunately, in my case this problem was being caused by trying to support older graphics cards in the first place. It isn’t much of a solution to switch to deferred shading and cut out all those old GPUs which don’t have the necessary oomph to do deferred shading. So I was left with the retro approach, which is lightmapping.
Lightmapping isn’t an ideal fit for my game because it is principally a pre-computed technique and gets most of it’s advantages from being able to take advantage of known geometry arrangements in the data building stage and then spend as long as it likes crafting really fancy lighting setups for them. However all my geometry layouts are generated on the fly each time the player starts up a new level. I don’t have the time to do a expensive set of ray-traced lighting calculations while a player is sitting there waiting for the level to load. Luckily however, you can make the lighting calculation as simple as you like when generating light maps so I set the dial to ‘super-simple’ and set about getting them actually working.
generating light mapping UV coordinates.
packing lightmapping UV coordinates of all the instances proportionally to the surface area being lit.
interpolating the positions & normals of all the mesh instances.
The last part is the easiest, if you’ve done it all right you can just read in your lighting from a texture with your specially generated UV coordinates. The other parts, were not so simple.
For the first part I decided to create my lightmapping UVs as part of my models’ mesh data rather than algorithmically generating them. Mainly because this is one of the few steps I could take ‘off-line’ but also because I, perhaps foolishly, thought it might be easier to make them this way. I used blender to generate my UVs and if you do the same let me give you the most useful tip straight off; the blender ‘lightmap UV’ generation script is pretty much useless for complex geometry. By which I mean any curved surface, if you don’t have infinite space on your light maps you are going to want those curved surface UVs stored contiguously in your lightmap so that the sampler can smoothly interpolate across the surface. The blender script, by contrast, breaks up every face into separate uv ‘islands’ and then tries to pack them in any old order, bah.
(from here) if you want to have a chance.
Part 2 of the lightmapping problem wasn’t quite as difficult, I used a very simple rectangle packing algorithm on the basis that that would probably be fastest and scaled each instances UV rectangle by the surface area of the asset calculated during loading. Make sure to keep track of the calculated UVs somewhere as you’ll probably want to pack them into your static geometry when you batch it up.
So use those for everything interpolation related.
The lighting code I already had, though it is worth bearing in mind that by implementing lightmapping the sum total of your lights will probably be saturated from 0.0 to 1.0 by the necessity of texture storage. Which doesn’t sound like much of a big deal but it can make a pretty noticeable difference when you are summing up the influence of multiple point lights and then multiplying that by other lighting terms in your shader.
Anyway, eventually after a lot of careful hand crafting of UVs that was all finished and now I can have as many lights as I like per room without fretting too much and all the discontinuity artefacts are gone. Aces.
Next up on my lighting refactor mission was the shadow mapping code. It’s been working OK for a while now but has always showed some ‘shadow acne’ at certain camera angles and, worse, the acne shimmered whenever the camera was moving immediately drawing your eye to it. I spent some time tweaking the current code and fiddling with bias values and resolution but no matter what I could never satisfactorily remove the shimmering acne. So, I figured there must be another way by now.
Of course, some careful googling later introduced me to the world of Variance Shadow Mapping (VSM) and Exponential Shadow mapping (ESM). This blog was a great summary of the best places to learn about each technique and really they aren’t dramatically different from shadow mapping. Once you have basic shadow mapping setup in your game it is no more than a morning’s work to try out both VSM and ESM I would recommend everyone struggling with shadow mapping artefacts give it a go and then probably settle on ESM because, at least for me, the light bleeding artefacts with VSM were pretty obvious and just as bad as shadow acne. ESM however immediately worked great and cured my shadows of acne, tedious bias tweaking and shimmering. I do have one difference with the blog linked above in that he mandates keeping the over-darkening parameter to between 0.0 and 1.0, I found by contrast that the original range specified in the nvidia example worked a lot better in my game so don’t be afraid to crank that term up.
Lastly, the past day I’ve been fiddling with improving the SSAO term. I’ve not totally settled on a method yet but so far I’ve replaced my basic box blur with a ‘bilateral’ version that respects normal and depth discontinuities and had a stab at sticking this new fangled FXAA on top of that so it’s jaggy edges don’t completely ruin my lovely regular MSAA rendering. Not totally sure that the FXAA is completely working but eh I might come back to it later.
Anyway, that is probably enough lighting stuff for now as I’ve reached the bottom of the lighting to do list. Next week I’ll likely start by tackling a whole range of bugs and minor polish problem and then it’ll probably be back to either skills & related UI improvements, better AI routines or realtime group movement between battles.
A long time with no blog updates, but things have still been happening on Free Company.
Since the last time I’ve implemented a new combat – framework? I guess is the right word, that evaluates combat attack success based on how much ‘energy’ the defender has left, as well as things like attributes, skills and equipment. At the same time unsuccessful attacks have been changed so that they do damage to this new ‘energy’ concept proportional to how powerful the attack was. The idea behind this self reinforcing system is both to speed up combats by quickly driving home an advantage to the likely eventual winner and also to make all attacks actually change something within the game. At the same time the concept of health has become a lot more granular and a lot more scarce, most horde type enemies will only have a single ‘wound’ now and mercenaries will have to train to get extra wounds if they want to survive prolonged combats (I’ve yet to decide how many to start them with but I’m leaning towards two).
This has been quite a big mechanical change so it’s detail will no doubt continue to be refined and its unintended consequences explored as the development goes on but for now I’m happy that it is better than what was there before with long grind fest combats, chipping away at health bars and having completely wasted rounds due to a couple of crappy dice rolls.
I’ve also been spending some time improving most of the UI widgets based on some feedback from my tiny play test team (thanks bro). This has involved exposing more previously hidden information, adding more tool tips and fixing problems with open UI panels not being updated when the world state changes around them. Half of the battle with designing a game is explaining to the players what is going on in a clear enough way that they can make good decisions. I’m sure this battle with explaining the design through the UI will continue until I stop working on the project.
As well as improving the information content of the UI I’ve also embarked on a mini art splurge to try and improve the looks of a few bits of it by drawing some generic mercenary ‘portraits’ for use on the character sheets, in merc lists and possibly in a future group selection UI.
Other than that, I’ve been dual-classing again this month; doubling up as an exam invigilator when I’m not working at home on the game. Hopefully these vital pennies will help continue to fund my itinerant lifestyle of reckless game development and finally get this game finished.
Christmas happened too. I miss it already. Sort of.
This week I’ve been working my way through some of the smaller tasks on the looming To Do list. First up was an attempt to make a more impressive ‘boss’ variant monster for my barbarian encounter. I thought I’d give him an impressive beard (seen above) and one of those horned hats plus the usual array of slightly boosted stats. Unfortunately the beard really isn’t all that visible from the isometric perspective so he looks like a regular barbarian warrior in a hat but that can’t be helped. I might make him some fur-esque armour to wear, give him an ornate axe or just make another head with a really huge beard. The point is the principle is now there; he slotted into the encounter with no trouble and with a bit of code cleanup it was easy to give him special hats, heads and whatever else so I moved on. Next up was dual wielding, I wanted to give players the option to stick a one handed weapon in each hand because it’s totally cool in a sort of 14 year old boy way who I can just about remember being. As you can see from the above picture that now basically works, I haven’t decided how exactly the attack is going to work for dual wielders yet but you can at least carry two weapons about and swap them in and out of your inventory with no bother. Lovely. Oh I also made the dagger item to show it off properly.
I made a gnarled wizard staff for him as well, as you can see, and that’s the old ‘wizard hat’ on his head there which I did a little while ago. They’ll all look smaller and further away in the game of course but for now you can enjoy them up close and personal. Finally, today I went through all the old mercenary animations and gave them a bit of tweaking to try an make them a bit less floaty, I expect I’ll revisit them a few more times before I finish adding variants and improving the believability as much as I can.
Wednesday this week was spent out on strike (can an indie developer go on strike?) with my partner (who as a teacher definitely can). We marched around London for a few hours with hundreds of others, waved a union flag and held up a union placard. The reason of course is to protest against the large effective cuts in compensation for all public sector workers (as well as the firing of a huge number of others). My brother and my father have both been made redundant by the current government and now my partner faces a hefty effective direct pay cut (no pay rises in line with soaring inflation), a new 3% tax to help pay down the deficit, a direct cut in her pension at retirement and an effective cut by changing the inflation linking of the pension from RPI (actual inflation) to ‘CPI’ (government inflation fiddle to keep it lower). All that on top of the retirement age being boosted (which isn’t that unreasonable a measure given that we are living longer but I’m not sure I’d want to be rescued by a 67/68 year old fireman, would you?). The government thinks these cuts are only ‘fair’ because a large number of the lower paid people in the private sector have lost their pensions too in the last few years. Apparently it’s a race to the bottom, cut something from the private sector then turn around and use that cut to justify cutting it in the public sector a few years later. They also like to use disingenuous comparisons between the compensation in the public and private sectors overall, despite the range of occupations in the two sectors being so different now since all the lower paid jobs in the public sector have been privatised and outsourced. Yes teachers (currently) get paid more money than shop assistants but they have to get a lot more education to do so. Traditionally the decent pensions in the public sector have been seen as compensation for the lower wages compared to similarly skilled jobs in the private sector.
Anyway, I’m sure that governments pay strikers no heed nowadays, fears of ‘revolution’ have long since receded and generally the non striking public seems to turn against them if they go on for more than five minutes. However, even if it is just raging against the dying light, it still feels good to take back some measure of control for just a day. I expect that strikes might become more of a feature of daily life if this ‘decade of austerity’ comes to pass as predicted.
On the bright side, video games! Still awesome.
Ok, I hold my hands up. Along with much of the rest of the internet I’ve been playing a lot of Bethesda’s excellent Skyrim recently. I apologise unreservedly to anyone who was holding their breath impatiently for my next missive from the wreckage strewn front-lines of indie game development. There were dragons and they just needed a really good killing. Repeatedly.
I think I’m over the worst of it now. Well near the very crest at least.
So, in the scant moments when I haven’t been inexorably sucked into the mountainous peaks of Tamriel, what have I been doing? Free Company wise I have mostly been setting up the UI flow, game logic and necessary data to allow your mercenaries to grow in experience and learn new skills. Which they can now just about do. The available skill pool is still sitting at a paltry four right now but I’m expanding it in my other code-a-tron window as I type this. So in not too long you’ll have a wide range of ways be able to specialise your mercenaries in meaningful ways and thus gain new and interesting methods of dispatching your opponents.
Campaign mode – UI clean up + additional UI screens to fiddle with.
Dual wielding – look a sword in each hand!
Sneaking focus – stealth related skill or skills, special animations and more stealthy looking outfits.
Buffed up encounters – featuring bosses that wear special hats and better initial positioning.
Undead focus – zombie shuffling animations, undead skills, rising from the dead ambushes, crypt tileset.
Spidery focus – webs, spiders shooting webs, spider ceiling ambushes, more scary spiders.
Sewer focus – sewer tileset, more rat stuff.
Magic – particle system, magic effects, spells, mage clothing, magic staffs.
AI focus – improve AI beyond basic attack routines, navigating doors correctly, variety between monster types.
Combat rules focus – add more basic combat rules concerning positioning and the interface to support them (back stabs, flanking attacks, disengaging from hostiles penalties, zones of control). Consider unified, regenerating ‘energy bar’ governing attacking and attack parrying to try and avoid the problem of boring ‘whiff’ attacks as well as feeling of hacking away at a large health bar chunk by chunk.
Speeding up getting into combat focus – realtime movement when not in combat, group movement & group selection when not in combat.
Existing animation focus – improve the already existing animations and add alternates to create more variety.
Free Company has also had a bit of a musical boost recently with the help of indie game music supremo Stian Stark (Whose work can also be heard in fantastic games like Solium Infernum). Stian has kindly agreed to supply an original piece of music in return for a bottle of indie game developer dreams and unicorns*. In fact, he already has supplied it and it’s a fantastic piece, doom laden and hopeful all at the same time which is perfect for the grime and black humour of a mercenary company. You should all go visit his website or buy one of the many other games he has contributed to so he gets some money immediately.
Outside of the soft embrace of games; the Robotic Shed recently had to take its newest inhabitant; a soft, happy kitten, off to the vets for a rather sensitive operation. The experience was quite traumatic, but I’m now fairly well recovered. The kitten took it all in his stride, at least once he was safely back at home and now has moved on completely to his latest nemesis; the grey cat from somewhere up the street. The Shed currently isn’t sure whether the kitten wants to play with, smell, fight or flee from the grey cat but will be sure to keep you all updated.
This week I have been mostly adding; various hats.
I had a lovely holiday wandering (and wondering) about the Cotswolds entirely disconnected from computers and the internet. Those times are past now though so its back into the rat race of game development which as everybody now knows is 50-75% based on the creation of hats. You can see a couple of the new hats above, they don’t do that much in the game really, maybe add a little bit of protection here and there, but mainly they are just to add a bit of individual style to your little squad of mercenaries. I’ve made six different hats so far adding a tricorn, wizard hat and another hornless half helm to the three you can see above. I’d like to make it to a nice round number of hats and helms (like say 10) so if you have any hat suggestions that I’ve not already covered then feel free to slide those slices of brain genius into the letterbox of this posts comment box below.
I fiddled about with the UI a little bit too, but its been pretty much hats all through the week. Hat code, hat inventory icons, hat models, hat textures, wearing hats, looking at pictures of hats and striking the soft gently yielding fabric of hats. Hats, hats, hats, HAAAAAAAAAAATS.


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