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Nutritional interventions for survivors of childhood cancer
Survivors of childhood cancer are at a higher risk of chronic health conditions such as, osteoporosis, metabolic syndrome (including obesity and type II diabetes), and cardiovascular disease. These diseases have the potential to be reduced or prevented with targeted nutritional interventions.
This review looks at three randomised controlled trials that studied the effects of interventions designed to improve the dietary intake of children who have completed treatment for cancer.
Study Characteristics
The three studies included 616 participants who had completed their therapy for childhood cancer. All of the participants were less than 21 years of age at study entry. The interventions ranged from the promotion of health behaviours to vitamin and mineral supplementation. The follow-up ranged from one month to 36 months from the initial assessment.
Key results
There was low quality evidence that those who received a health behaviour intervention decreased their self-reported intake of "junk food". They also increased their intake of dairy foods, as well as increasing their calcium supplementation. The interventions did not appear to translate to an improvement in their dietary intake, body composition, or bone mineral density.
Quality of the evidence
The results from this review do not provide enough evidence regarding the effectiveness of nutritional interventions for childhood cancer survivors. There was low quality evidence overall. Further well designed research is needed in this area.
Authors' conclusions:
Due to a paucity of studies, and the heterogeneity of the studies included in this review, we are unable to draw conclusions regarding the effectiveness of nutritional interventions for use with childhood cancer survivors. Although there is low quality evidence for the improvement in health behaviours using health behaviour change interventions, there remains no evidence as to whether this translates into an improvement in dietary intake. There was also no evidence that the studies reduced the risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders in childhood cancer survivors, although no evidence of effect is not the same as evidence of no effect. This review highlights the need for further well designed trials to be implemented in this population.
Read the full abstract...
Childhood cancer survivors are at a higher risk of developing health conditions such as osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease than their peers. Health-promoting behaviour, such as consuming a healthy diet, could lessen the impact of these chronic issues, yet the prevalence rate of health-protecting behaviour amongst survivors of childhood cancer is similar to that of the general population. Targeted nutritional interventions may prevent or reduce the incidence of these chronic diseases.
The primary aim of this review was to assess the efficacy of a range of nutritional interventions designed to improve the nutritional intake of childhood cancer survivors, as compared to a control group of childhood cancer survivors who did not receive the intervention. Secondary objectives were to assess metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors, measures of weight and body fat distribution, behavioural change, changes in knowledge regarding disease risk and nutritional intake, participants' views of the intervention, measures of health status and quality of life, measures of harm associated with the process or outcomes of the intervention, and cost-effectiveness of the intervention
Search strategy:
We searched the electronic databases of the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL; 2013, Issue 3), MEDLINE/PubMed (from 1945 to April 2013), and Embase/Ovid (from 1980 to April 2013). We ran the search again in August 2015; we have not yet fully assessed these results, but we have identified one ongoing trial. We conducted additional searching of ongoing trial registers - the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number register and the National Institutes of Health register (both screened in the first half of 2013) - reference lists of relevant articles and reviews, and conference proceedings of the International Society for Paediatric Oncology and the International Conference on Long-Term Complications of Treatment of Children and Adolescents for Cancer (both 2008 to 2012).
We included all randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that compared the effects of a nutritional intervention with a control group which did not receive the intervention in this review. Participants were childhood cancer survivors of any age, diagnosed with any type of cancer when less than 18 years of age. Participating childhood cancer survivors had completed their treatment with curative intent prior to the intervention.
Data collection and analysis:
Two review authors independently selected and extracted data from each identified study, using a standardised form. We assessed the validity of each identified study using the criteria outlined in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. We used the GRADE criteria to assess the quality of each trial.
Main results:
Three RCTs were eligible for review. A total of 616 participants were included in the analysis. One study included participants who had been treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) (275 participants). Two studies included participants who had all forms of paediatric malignancies (266 and 75 participants). All participants were less than 21 years of age at study entry. The follow-up ranged from one month to 36 months from the initial assessment. All intended outcomes were not evaluated by each included study. All studies looked at different interventions, and so we were unable to pool results. We could not rule out the presence of bias in any of the studies.
There was no clear evidence of a difference in calcium intake at one month between those who received the single, half-day, group-based education that focused on bone health, and those who received standard care (mean difference (MD) 111.60, 95% confidence interval (CI) -258.97 to 482.17; P = 0.56, low quality evidence). A regression analysis, adjusting for baseline calcium intake and changes in knowledge and self-efficacy, showed a significantly greater calcium intake for the intervention as compared with the control group at the one-month follow-up (beta coefficient 4.92, 95% CI 0.33 to 9.52; P = 0.04). There was statistically significant higher, self-reported milk consumption (MD 0.43, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.79; P = 0.02, low quality evidence), number of days on calcium supplementation (MD 11.42, 95% CI 7.11 to 15.73; P < 0.00001, low quality evidence), and use of any calcium supplementation (risk ratio (RR) 3.35, 95% CI 1.86 to 6.04; P < 0.0001, low quality evidence), with those who received this single, face-to-face, group-based, health behaviour session.
There was no clear evidence of a difference in bone density Z-scores measured with a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan at 36 months follow-up (MD -0.05, 95% CI -0.26 to 0.16; P = 0.64, moderate quality evidence) between those who received calcium and vitamin D supplementation combined with nutrition education and those who received nutrition education alone. There was also no clear evidence of a difference in bone mineral density between the intervention and the control group at the 12-month (median difference -0.17, P = 0.99) and 24-month follow-up (median difference -0.04, P = 0.54).
A single multi-component health behaviour change intervention, focusing on general healthy eating principles, with two telephone follow-ups brought about a 0.17 lower score on the four-point Likert scale of self-reported junk food intake compared with the control group (MD -0.17, 95% CI -0.33 to -0.01; P = 0.04, low quality evidence); this result was statistically significant. There was no clear evidence of a difference between the groups in the self-reported use of nutrition as a health protective behaviour (MD -0.05, 95% CI -0.24 to 0.14; P = 0.60, low quality evidence).
Body weight management in overweight and obese breast cancer survivors
Severe fatigue in childhood cancer survivors
Breast cancer in female survivors of childhood, adolescent or young adult cancer after radiotherapy involving the chest for their primary malignancy
Weight-loss interventions in endometrial cancer survivors
Low bacterial diet versus control diet to prevent infection in cancer patients treated with chemotherapy causing episodes of neutropenia
Cancer > Childhood cancers > Supportive care
Child health > Cancer > Supportive care: side effects of cancer treatment
Cohen JE, Wakefield CE, Cohn RJ
Primary Review Group:
Childhood Cancer Group
See the full Review on
Cohen JE, Wakefield CE, Cohn RJ. Nutritional interventions for survivors of childhood cancer. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2016, Issue 8. Art. No.: CD009678. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009678.pub2
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Closing in on the Fire
Ark 21
Some may think it's a downright shame a living legend like Waylon Jennings is forced to record for small independent labels while cookie-cutter cowboys churn out bland country music for the majors, but Ol' Hoss's current predicament does have its advantages. For one, Waylon has finally reached the point where he can do just what he pleases with his music without outside interference, and the independent route gives him the freedom in which he truly shines. This is the main push behind Waylon's latest effort, Closing in on the Fire , his first release on the tiny Ark 21 label.
After a rather fallow period in the '80s, Waylon has released a slew of quality albums lately, and keeps on trucking with his latest effort, both pleasing and surprising old fans. The choice track of the album has to be the closer, a barrelhouse run-through of the legendary Rolling Stones song "No Expectations." Jennings brings a sense of urgency and defeat which nearly outdoes both the Stones' original and the cover by Johnny Cash of a few years back.
A close second is the Sting penned rave-up "She's Too Good For Me." Joined by Sheryl Crow for one humorous verse, the tune rocks harder than just about anything in Waylon's repertoire. Speaking of guest stars, Waylon teams up with Travis Tritt, one of the few new country superstars he can stand, apparently, for the nifty "I Know About Me, Don't Know About You."
The rollicking title track, written by swamp rock god Tony Joe White, and the Dixieland influenced boogie of "Easy Money" show the edgy energy Waylon brought to his unique brand of country music. The light-hearted "Untitled Waltz" showcases his gently self-effacing sense of humor, as does "Back Home (Where I Come From)" which highlights Waylon's victories over the CMA, AMA, and the DEA.
While not quite up to the snuff of some of his classic records like Honky Tonk Heroes or Dreaming My Dreams , Closing in on the Fire is a top-notch album by one of country music's truest originals and sure-fired living legends. Waylon rarely disappoints, and despite his current medical problems, Closing in on the Fire proves the ragged-but-right outlaw still has plenty of fire left in him, and hopefully will for years to come.
Ark 21, 14724 Ventura Blvd., Penthouse Suite, Sherman Oakes, CA 91403; http://www.ark21.com
Matt Thompson
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Irezumi (1966)
Stylish Japanese tale of vengeance with samurais and geishas.
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Tired of fruitlessly looking for a kite photography platform? Unwilling to pay thousands of dollars for a steadicam holder for those scenes in your homebrew slasher flick? Ian Koss thinks O'Reilly's Make may be the mag for those do-it-yourselfers with too much smart in their pants.

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Entertainment Industry, Arts and Culture Featured Books LGBTQ and Homophobia Media and Technology Minority Issues
A Perfect Union? Television and the Winning of Same-Sex Marriage
by Admin 3 years ago 1 min read
https://archive.org/download/20180606CoryAlbertson_201806/2018_06_06_Cory_Albertson.mp3
Download: mp3 (Duration: 29:19 — 54.2MB)
FEATURING CORY ALBERTSON – A new Gallup poll on American attitudes toward gay marriage shows a historically high support among the public. Sixty seven percent of Americans surveyed support same-sex marriage – the highest number ever recorded by Gallup.
The poll comes just before the Supreme Court issued a narrow ruling about the right of a Colorado baker to refuse service to a gay couple. Despite some of the setbacks under Donald Trump Americans appear to have reached a tipping point in favor of LGBT rights.
How did we get here and what did pop culture, in particular television, have to do with it? A new book explores how television shows have portrayed LGBT characters and couples and how skewed Hollywood's representation of this diverse community has actually been.
Visit www.cory-albertson.com for more information.
Cory Albertson, Visiting Lecturer of Sociology at Smith College. His writings have appeared in the Huffington Post, Interview, Out, Paste, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He is the author of A Perfect Union? Television and the Winning of Same-Sex Marriage.
**This interview was originally broadcast on June 5, 2018.
Is "Religious Liberty" Code for Discrimination?
Headlines: July 31, 2018


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Melby is a farming village in the municipality of Skaun in Trøndelag county, Norway.  It is located in the south-central part of the municipality, about  southwest of the village of Skaun and the Norwegian County Road 709 and about  south of Eggkleiva.  The town of Orkanger and it suburb of Fannrem (in the neighboring municipality) both lie about  to the west.

There is an old, preserved school building dating from 1878 in Melby. The school building is a part of the local museum Skaun bygdamuseum.  The area is named Melby (Old Norse: Meðalbýr), which means "middle farm".

References

Skaun
Villages in Trøndelag

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() in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) is a former professional sumo wrestler and current politician of the Democratic Party in Mongolia. He was the first wrestler from Mongolia to reach sumo's top makuuchi division.

Career
He was a diligent practitioner of Mongolian wrestling from a young age, but had ambitions of becoming a policeman. However, in late 1991, a Japanese sumo training stable master, Ōshima-oyakata (the former ōzeki Asahikuni) went to Mongolia to recruit promising wrestlers for sumo. The young Davaagiin Batbayar happened to notice the advertisement and applied along with 120 others. He was selected and went to Japan with five others, including Kyukotenhō and Kyokutenzan. They were the first Mongolians ever to join sumo.  He was immediately given the shikona of Kyokushūzan, meaning "eagle mountain of the rising sun." He made his professional debut in March 1992. However six months later, due to cultural differences, language problems, and an extremely hard training regime, five of them including Kyokushūzan ran away from the training stable to the Mongolian embassy. He was eventually persuaded to return by his stablemaster's wife, and also Kyokutenzan.

In March 1995, he was promoted to the jūryō division, and in September 1996 to the top makuuchi division. After his single appearance as a komusubi in March 1997 he was ranked as a maegashira for 58 tournaments in a row, a record in the sumo world. He was a runner-up in two tournaments in March 2003 and September 2004, and was awarded five special prizes for his achievements in tournaments – two for Technique, two for Fighting Spirit and one for Outstanding Performance.  He also earned five kinboshi or gold stars for defeating yokozuna, the last coming in May 2003 against fellow Mongolian Asashōryū. Determined to get revenge in the next tournament in July, Asashōryū pulled on Kyokushūzan's topknot; a foul for which he was disqualified (hansoku), the first time this had ever happened to a yokozuna (Kyokushūzan did not get a kinboshi on that occasion as they are not given for wins by hansoku).

As he succeeded in the ring, his popularity in Mongolia soared. Also, as he has contributed much to his country by establishing several foundations for the welfare of the youth and sick people, he is now regarded as one of the heroes of the country. In April 2004, he started to study on a correspondence course for an MSc in telecommunications at Waseda University in Japan. This is partly because the Mongolian president advised him to study while in Japan for his future.

Fighting style
At the beginning of his top division career he gained great popularity with audiences due to his variety of techniques, which were influenced by Mongolian wrestling. Less often seen in sumo, they surprised many of his early opponents. He was known as the gino depato, or "department store of techniques." In the May 2002 tournament, he won his first eight bouts in a row, using eight different techniques. However, because he was in danger of injuring other wrestlers, he was eventually told by the Sumo Association to stop using some of them, and by the end of his career he had a much more defensive (and less successful) style. His most common winning kimarite overall were uwatenage (overarm throw) and yorikiri (force out), using his preferred mawashi grip of migi-yotsu (left hand outside, right hand inside). However his next most common were hatakikomi (slap down) and hikiotoshi (pull down), reflecting his change of style.

Retirement from sumo
In November 2006, he suddenly announced his retirement two days into the Kyushu tournament. At the time this was thought to be because of a heart problem. A ceremony in his honour was held in Ulaanbaatar at the end of 2006, attended by the Mongolian Prime Minister, who thanked him for strengthening the ties between Mongolia and Japan. Kyokushūzan's danpatsu-shiki, the official retirement ceremony where the retired rikishi's topknot is cut off, was reportedly going to be held in Mongolia, but eventually took place at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on June 2, 2007. Soon after the ceremony, on June 4, 2007, Kyokushūzan released a memorial photobook.

It subsequently emerged that Kyokushūzan was the victim of an attempted extortion by gangsters, linked to the Sumiyoshi-kai crime syndicate. The gangsters were all arrested, and Kyokushūzan told police that this incident was one reason for his retirement.

He moved into Mongolian politics and in June 2008 was elected to the Mongolian parliament on the opposition Democratic Party ticket. In the 2012 Parliamentary elections, he ran in his native Khovd Province but was not elected. He worked as an advisor on Japan to the Prime Minister of Mongolia Chimediin Saikhanbileg from 2013. He ran for the Democratic Party again in the 2020 Parliamentary elections but was once more unsuccessful.

During his active career and since his retirement Kyokushūzan has been an active recruiter of Mongolian sumo wrestlers to enter professional sumo, using his connections to help fellow Mongolians interested in joining sumo to find a stable looking to recruit a foreign wrestler. In this regard, he was instrumental in starting the careers of younger sumo wrestlers such as Hakuhō, Tamawashi and Mōkonami. He estimates he has recruited around 25 Mongolians for professional sumo over the years.

Personal life
In May 2000, Kyokushūzan married a Mongolian woman who was studying in Japan. The couple have a son and a daughter.

Career record

See also
List of sumo tournament top division runners-up
List of sumo tournament second division champions
Glossary of sumo terms
List of non-Japanese sumo wrestlers
List of past sumo wrestlers
List of komusubi

References

External links

1973 births
Living people
Mongolian sumo wrestlers
Komusubi
Members of the State Great Khural
Democratic Party (Mongolia) politicians
Sportspeople from Ulaanbaatar
Mongolian sportsperson-politicians
Mongolian expatriates in Japan


The Walk for Life and 5K Run is family-friendly community awareness fundraising event! All proceeds go towards providing life-affirming services to women, men, students, and families through our four medical clinics and outreach programs. We encourage you to form church, family, community, or corporate teams. Come celebrate the gift of life!


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Ultimate Baseball
Road Trip Blog
Looking Forward to an Exciting World Series
Posted by Big League Tours on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 @ 04:30 PM
October 19, 2011 - Congratulations to the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals for their League Championship victories. The stage is set for a great World Series.
Since our inception in 2006, we have enjoyed multiple visits to Busch Stadium and Rangers Ballpark. But we have to admit that we have a special affinity for the Rangers organization at Big League Tours. Our group's reception when we visited Arlington in 2010 was tremendous. Rangers legend Jim Sundberg was especially gracious as he gave our group a private baseball stadium tour and a behind-the-scene look at the Rangers' offices.
And then, Jim surprised us all by arranging a meeting with Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan. Nolan and Jim were kind enough to sign autographs and chat at length with our group, too. They even posed for pictures like the one above. If you're ever on a tour with Rob, Mickey, Dianne or Lillian (that's them with the big smiles in the picture), just ask them about that day. They'll enjoy telling you all about it.
Thanks again to Jim Sundberg and Nolan Ryan for making this one of the most special baseball vacation packages we've offered our Big League Tours' guests. We hope to visit the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington again very soon, maybe again in 2012.
Speaking of 2012 baseball tours, if you aren't on our email list to get updates and announcements, Click Here to sign up so that you'll be the first to know about your upcoming sports travel and tours.
Topics: St. Louis, Rangers, sports travel and tours, baseball tours, baseball stadiums, baseball vacation package, big league tours, Busch Stadium, Cardinals, Baseball
Midwest 3 Tour Kicks Off This Friday
Posted by Big League Tours on Wed, Nov 23, 2011 @ 02:15 AM
August 3, 2010 - Where has the summer gone? I can't believe that the last of our small group tours is going to kick off this Friday. It should be a fantastic trip. We'll start in Detroit on Friday, catching the Angels at Comerica Park against the Tigers. We'll then load up the bus on Saturday and make our way to Cleveland. Once in Cleveland we'll take a private stadium tour of Progressive Field before seeing the division rivalry of the Twins and the Indians.
Sunday involves a short hop over to PNC Park in Pittsburgh for an afterno on game between the Rockies and Pirates. For our travelers who haven't been to this stadium, it's a fantastic place to catch a game, especially a day game with the view of the river, bridges and downtown Pittsburgh as the backdrop. After the game, the group will make its way to Cincinnati for the next two nights.
Monday will be the perfect ending to the tour. We'll take a tour of Great American Ball Park and be joined by Mr. Dave Parker. As most of you will recall, The Cobra was the MVP in 1978, appeared in six All Star Games, won three Gold Glove Awards, and was an instrumental member of the 1979 World Series Championship team with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cobra will share stories from his playing days, talk baseball with our guests, and take pictures with the group. Here's a picture from his appearance with our group in 2008. Looks like he could still play, doesn't it?
We'll finish the tour with the heated division rivalry between the Cardinals and the Reds with a game and series that couldn't be hotter or mean more for these two teams.
Stay posted for up to the minute posts from the final tour of our 2010 sports travel packages.
Topics: Rockies, Comerica Park, Tigers, Indians, Progressive Field, Detroit, sports travel and tours, Cleveland, PNC Park, Pirates, group tours, Cardinals, Reds, Great American Ball Park
How Does This Keep Happening??
July 23, 2010 - I think it was Woody Allen who said that, "90% of life is just showing up." That certainly seems to be the case for my son. As we walked of the "El" and into Wrigley Field for the Sunday afternoon game between the Cubs and Cardinals, he was stopped by a young woman who asked if he would be interested in watching batting practice from the field. She was wearing a shirt that said Chevy on it so I asked if I had to buy a car or something to make it happen. After all, things like that just aren't free, are they?? She assured me that I didn't and gave everyone in our group passes to get down to that section with him.
Since it was a Sunday, and hotter than blue blazes, I didn't think either team would take batting practice. As it turns out, the Cardinals did. (This might have proven beneficial as they went on to crush the Cubs that day and Sir Albert hit three dingers himself...) A few of the Cardinals were also kind enough to visit the on-field section and sign autographs for the kids on the field. My son received signatures from Tony LaRussa, Mark McGwire, and Albert Pujols. He was pretty stoked about starting his day at the ballpark on the field.
There are never any assurance of events like this happening when you show up at the baseball stadium, but we've found that showing up early, whether it's on one of our baseball vacation packages or just one of our family tours, is key to being in the right place at the right time. It doesn't hurt to have on team gear and demonstrate that you are a true fan, either.
Feel free to share with us the cool things that have happened to you when at the ballpark! Many times those are the things that make your sports vacations truly memorable.
Topics: baseball stadiums, baseball vacation package, Wrigley Field, sports vacation, family tours, Cardinals, Cubs
Funny Spot on ESPN
Posted by Big League Tours on Tue, Nov 22, 2011 @ 11:30 PM
April 14, 2010 - Anybody else as big of a fan as I am of the commercials that they run on ESPN? There's Albert Pujols at the copy machine. How about LeBron James sitting in a lousy desk chair while Van Pelt sits in his royal chair? Or the classic is when the baseball players are critiquing the sportscasters on film.
Here's a new spot that's going to air on ESPN featuring Torii Hunter of the Angels and BJ Upton of the Rays. It's a pretty funny take on something you would normally only see inside a baseball stadium.
Topics: St. Louis, baseball stadiums, Cardinals
Twin Cities Getting Pumped about Target Field
April 11, 2010 - One of our greatest joys is to visit baseball stadiums in their inaugural seasons. We've been able to do this for the new Busch Stadium, Nationals Park, Citi Field and Yankee Stadium. This year, we're heading up to Target Field in the Twin Cities on one of our early MLB tours to see the Twins in their brand new ballpark. Columnist Rick Shefchik writes today on TwinCities.com about the increase in demand to visit Minnesota on group travel tours this year.
Here are a few excerpts:
Frank Miles of Jacksonville, Ala., is a stadium counter. A 76-year-old baseball fanatic, Miles has been in every major league ballpark — except Target Field.
Like hundreds of other baseball stadium tourists around the country, Miles will check Target Field, the brand-new Twins ballpark, off his list this summer. He loves the old classics like Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, but he likes the new ones, too, including recently opened PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Busch Stadium in St. Louis and Citi Field in New York.
"I've seen 'em all, every major league ballpark — all the new ones, except this one," Miles said. "I've not heard much about it, but I'll be there this year on a tour."
Glenn Dunlap, owner of Big League Tours in Indianapolis, said he'll be bringing a group into Minneapolis this summer for the first time in his company's five years of operation.
"The Metrodome was not much of an attraction," said Dunlap of the Twins' former home. "We didn't have a lot of demand from baseball fans to come up to the Metrodome."
Increased tourism to Minneapolis for Twins games is bound to have a positive effect on surrounding businesses. As Dunlap points out, baseball is only part of the lure for ballpark tourists. They like to come early, stay late and thoroughly explore what the ballpark and the city have to offer.
"People are interested in the walleye-on-a-stick and the s'mores they're offering there (at Target Field)," Dunlap said. "State Fair food — that's great. It's part of what people enjoy about visiting different stadiums — the influences on local food and what's in and around the park.
"Target could be a great park. The part that makes a ballpark interesting is what the city does around it. Look at a Coors Field, right in the heart of Denver. That was in a district they've since built up around it, and it has become a great destination spot for the city."
Conversely, Dunlap said, Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., is in an area that needs to be developed.
"They've got a long way to go before people will go hang out there," Dunlap said. "It's what's around Target Field, what's welcoming to baseball fans, not just Twins fans.
Want to visit the new Target Field on one of our baseball vacation packages? Click here for details about this tour and all of our sports travel packages. You'll be glad you did!
Topics: sports travel and tours, baseball vacation package, Fenway Park, PNC Park, Pirates, MLB tours, Busch Stadium, Cardinals, Yankee Stadium, Nationals Park, Twins, Target Field, Minneapolis
2010 Baseball Trip Feature - Midwest 2
December 16, 2009 - Our Midwest 2 baseball vacation package begins in Chicago. Our group will meet at our hotel on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago and begin the tour by heading out to Wrigley Field for the great rivalry of the Cardinals vs. the Cubs for what will likely be a Sunday afternoon game.
On Monday, you'll have the opportunity to see the sites in Chicago - shop till you drop, take escorted tours of the architecture or skyline of the city, or take some family tours of the great museums. The next day will venture to US Cellular Field to see Josh Hamilton and the Rangers take on Ozzie's White Sox.
Wednesday we'll depart for St. Louis and Busch Stadium to see the Cardinals in their home venue. We'll stay in the heart of the city that evening and then leave for Kansas City in the morning. While in KC we'll see a game at Kaufmann Stadium and visit the Negro League Museum for a look into some of the rich history of baseball.
This premier sports travel package promises to be a great time. For more details on this baseball tour and our other sports vacations, visit BigLeagueTours.com.
Topics: St. Louis, Rangers, Wrigley Field, big league tours, Chicago, U.S. Cellular Field, Cardinals, Cubs
Cubs vs. Cardinals - Look to the Cookie...?
Posted by Big League Tours on Mon, Nov 21, 2011 @ 06:00 AM
Like many people in my generation, I grew up a huge Seinfeld fan. Still to this day I can't help but pause and watch an episode whenever I see it's on. One of my favorite episodes is when Jerry and Elaine spend the whole show in a New York bakery trying to pick something up for a dinner party. While waiting, Jerry eats the imfamous "black and white" cookie. Here's the clip:
Jerry believes that the black and white cookie is the symbol of racial harmony. That all things are good with the cookie. That we need to "look to the cookie."
I couldn't help think of this episode recently. As we travel from stadium to stadium on our baseball travel tours, we gather things from each team, especially when the baseball teams are passing things out at the gate. So what made me think of this was when I was wearing a St. Louis Cardinals t-shirt and drinking from a Chicago Cubs cup. Taboo? Maybe.
If you haven't seen the end of the Seinfeld show, Jerry's unifying cookie ends up causing him, shall we say, to lose his groceries. My concern, of course, was that my Cubs/Cardinals combination would have a similar effect on me. Luckily, I didn't feel any ill effects. However, I'm sure that some of you would have problems donning your rival team's gear, or drinking from their cups, or displaying their bobbleheads - even if they were something you gathered for free on a group travel tour.
Then again, this might be the very reason stadiums don't sell cookies with their team's logo on one side and their opponent's logo on the other. We may not be ready to "look to the cookie..."
Topics: St. Louis, baseball tours, baseball stadiums, baseball travel, Chicago, Cardinals, Cubs
NL MVP Named
Posted by Big League Tours on Sun, Nov 20, 2011 @ 01:30 PM
Add Midwest 1 To Your MLB Tours for 2009 To See Pujols in Action
November 17, 2008 - Pujols has been crowned the National League MVP for the secon d time in his career. In the running against him was Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies, who beat Pujols in 2006. Having finished in the top 10 every voting season for the past eight seasons and has been the 11th player to receive the award twice.
St. Louis ended their season 11 1/2 seasons away from first in the NL Central. However, the Cardinals exceeded many peoples' expectations, especially with the help of Pujols.
So, make sure to add Midwest 1 from Big League Tours onto your stadium tours list for 2009 and check out NL MVP Albert Pujols and Golden Glove winner Yadier Molina.
Check out the full story here on MLB.com.
Topics: stadium tours, baseball trips, big league tours, Busch Stadium, Cardinals, MLB road trips
St. Louis Baseball Tour, Part III
Posted by Big League Tours on Sat, Nov 19, 2011 @ 01:00 PM
Sports Vacations in St. Louis
August 3, 2008 - Having been a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan, I have never been a fan of the Cardinals. However, I have to give credit to the Cardinals organization, the city of St. Louis, and the Cardinals fans - going to a game at Busch Stadium is a great time. The stadium has a great atmosphere, is very appealing aesthetically, and allows fans to experience baseball the way that it should be enjoyed.
Here's a photo of former Cardinal, So Taguchi signing autographs prior to the game. So was a St. Louis fan favorite and received a standing ovation when he pinch hit during the game.
It's a great place to visit if you are going to plan family tours, small group tours, or sports tours of any size. Watch for the tours that we offer next year that include games in St. Louis or with the Cardinals on the road. You'll enjoy great seats, great accommodations, and great baseball. We hope you'll join us!
Topics: baseball games, Phillies, group tours, Busch Stadium, Cardinals
St. Louis Baseball Tour, Part II
Small Group Tours at Busch Stadium
August 2, 2008 - The Cards took on the Phillies for the second time this weekend, hoping to repeat their performance from the previous night and walk away with another victory. We were relieved to have a little cooler evening after the day had been really hot for all of our various activities.
We always try to incorporate some unique and fun things on each of our baseball travel tours. This sports package was no different. We offered front row seats to Busch Stadium as well as club seats for our guests. We think that spending sports vacations in the front row is not a bad option...In fact, here's a photo of Albert Pujols that we took from our seats.
The view at the end of the game didn't look so hot for the Cardinals, though. They ended up dropping this game to the Phillies by a close score of 2-1. Click here to see the box scores and write up on the Cardinals website.
Topics: St. Louis, Phillies, baseball tours, ballpark tours, Busch Stadium, Cardinals
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The brand narrative for XD Design is one that showcases the flagship products as being exclusive and individually unique in design. We have achieved this through clean design systems and high-end photography. A solid brand system allows for other designers to implement the branding worldwide.
One of the rewards of having worked with Xindao over many years, is that we have been able to develop both brands, cohesively and fluently, as the company has grown and adapted. XD has grown into a multi product brand, XD Apparel is its latest addition. With a combination of bespoke brochure and packaging systems, photographic styling and art direction. XD Design now sits as a solid part of the business and sells as a stand-alone product in various design shows around the world. The brand has won numerous Red Dot Design Awards – an internationally recognised hallmark of great design.


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Social affairs 16 Dec 2021
Keith Ferrazzi: The value of human relationships
Keith Ferrazzi is the world's top expert in the development of professional human relationships. Both Forbes and Inc. regard him as one of the world's most «connected» people.
56:38Audio
Podcast: Alex Beard: Artificial intelligence, educating for the challenges of the future
Ferrazzi has earned his place among the most prominent thought leaders in the U.S. With his first book, Never Eat Alone, he redefined the meaning of networking today.
In his #1 New York Times best-selling book, Who's Got Your Back, Ferrazzi shares his insights into building what he calls lifeline relationships, a category of deep, close and trusting relationships among equals. Ferrazzi has been named a "Global Leader of Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum, one of the top "40 Under 40" business leaders by Crain's Business and one of the most creative Americans in Who's Really Who.
All BBVA podcast episodes are available in the following platforms: iVoox, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcast and bbva.com.
Podcast: Five behaviors that will make you happier
Podcast: Love at first sight: what does the science say?
Podcast: "Knowledge is useless if you don't share it", Michio Kaku
Podcast: Wendy Suzuki: The importance of saying 'I love you', according to neuroscience
Podcast: Empathy: Your children learn from what they see in you
Podcast: "Learning how to learn is more important than ever", Jimmy Wales
Podcast: Blue School: from Broadway to the classroom, Matt Goldman
Podcast: "Help your children discover their passions", Richard Gerver
Podcast: Educating children in an 'I can' mindset, Kiran Bir Sethi
'Podcast': Steven Pinker: The challenge of being rational
Keep reading about
Other interesting stories
Artificial intelligence is not around the corner
The director of the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute at the CSIC, Ramón López de Mántaras, talks about the progress of automated learning and points out that common sense is the biggest challenge for AI.
The value of a branch: 3 people, 3 perspectives
Global consultancy Deloitte recently released a series of articles from their global digital banking consumer survey. In their third article, Recognizing the value of bank branches in a digital world, they found that bank branches continue to have value, even as digital becomes increasingly prevalent in all our day-to-day interactions.


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Opinionator | Is Atheism Irrational?
Is Atheism Irrational?
By Gary Gutting
February 9, 2014 7:15 pm February 9, 2014 7:15 pm
The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless.
This is the first in a series of interviews about religion that I will conduct for The Stone. The interviewee for this installment is Alvin Plantinga, an emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, a former president of both the Society of Christian Philosophers and the American Philosophical Association, and the author, most recently, of "Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism."
Gary Gutting: A recent survey by PhilPapers, the online philosophy index, says that 62 percent of philosophers are atheists (with another 11 percent "inclined" to the view). Do you think the philosophical literature provides critiques of theism strong enough to warrant their views? Or do you think philosophers' atheism is due to factors other than rational analysis?
Alvin Plantinga: If 62 percent of philosophers are atheists, then the proportion of atheists among philosophers is much greater than (indeed, is nearly twice as great as) the proportion of atheists among academics generally. (I take atheism to be the belief that there is no such person as the God of the theistic religions.) Do philosophers know something here that these other academics don't know? What could it be? Philosophers, as opposed to other academics, are often professionally concerned with the theistic arguments — arguments for the existence of God. My guess is that a considerable majority of philosophers, both believers and unbelievers, reject these arguments as unsound.
Still, that's not nearly sufficient for atheism. In the British newspaper The Independent, the scientist Richard Dawkins was recently asked the following question: "If you died and arrived at the gates of heaven, what would you say to God to justify your lifelong atheism?" His response: "I'd quote Bertrand Russell: 'Not enough evidence, God! Not enough evidence!'" But lack of evidence, if indeed evidence is lacking, is no grounds for atheism. No one thinks there is good evidence for the proposition that there are an even number of stars; but also, no one thinks the right conclusion to draw is that there are an uneven number of stars. The right conclusion would instead be agnosticism.
In the same way, the failure of the theistic arguments, if indeed they do fail, might conceivably be good grounds for agnosticism, but not for atheism. Atheism, like even-star-ism, would presumably be the sort of belief you can hold rationally only if you have strong arguments or evidence.
The failure of arguments for God would be good grounds for agnosticism, but not for atheism.
G.G.: You say atheism requires evidence to support it. Many atheists deny this, saying that all they need to do is point out the lack of any good evidence for theism. You compare atheism to the denial that there are an even number of stars, which obviously would need evidence. But atheists say (using an example from Bertrand Russell) that you should rather compare atheism to the denial that there's a teapot in orbit around the sun. Why prefer your comparison to Russell's?
A.P.: Russell's idea, I take it, is we don't really have any evidence against teapotism, but we don't need any; the absence of evidence is evidence of absence, and is enough to support a-teapotism. We don't need any positive evidence against it to be justified in a-teapotism; and perhaps the same is true of theism.
I disagree: Clearly we have a great deal of evidence against teapotism. For example, as far as we know, the only way a teapot could have gotten into orbit around the sun would be if some country with sufficiently developed space-shot capabilities had shot this pot into orbit. No country with such capabilities is sufficiently frivolous to waste its resources by trying to send a teapot into orbit. Furthermore, if some country had done so, it would have been all over the news; we would certainly have heard about it. But we haven't. And so on. There is plenty of evidence against teapotism. So if, à la Russell, theism is like teapotism, the atheist, to be justified, would (like the a-teapotist) have to have powerful evidence against theism.
G.G.: But isn't there also plenty of evidence against theism — above all, the amount of evil in a world allegedly made by an all-good, all-powerful God?
A.P.: The so-called "problem of evil" would presumably be the strongest (and maybe the only) evidence against theism. It does indeed have some strength; it makes sense to think that the probability of theism, given the existence of all the suffering and evil our world contains, is fairly low. But of course there are also arguments for theism. Indeed, there are at least a couple of dozen good theistic arguments. So the atheist would have to try to synthesize and balance the probabilities. This isn't at all easy to do, but it's pretty obvious that the result wouldn't anywhere nearly support straight-out atheism as opposed to agnosticism.
G.G.: But when you say "good theistic arguments," you don't mean arguments that are decisive — for example, good enough to convince any rational person who understands them.
A.P.: I should make clear first that I don't think arguments are needed for rational belief in God. In this regard belief in God is like belief in other minds, or belief in the past. Belief in God is grounded in experience, or in the sensus divinitatis, John Calvin's term for an inborn inclination to form beliefs about God in a wide variety of circumstances.
Nevertheless, I think there are a large number — maybe a couple of dozen — of pretty good theistic arguments. None is conclusive, but each, or at any rate the whole bunch taken together, is about as strong as philosophical arguments ordinarily get.
G.G.: Could you give an example of such an argument?
You don't even need arguments to have a rational belief in God. Belief in God is grounded in experience.
AP: One presently rather popular argument: fine-tuning. Scientists tell us that there are many properties our universe displays such that if they were even slightly different from what they are in fact, life, or at least our kind of life, would not be possible. The universe seems to be fine-tuned for life. For example, if the force of the Big Bang had been different by one part in 10 to the 60th, life of our sort would not have been possible. The same goes for the ratio of the gravitational force to the force driving the expansion of the universe: If it had been even slightly different, our kind of life would not have been possible. In fact the universe seems to be fine-tuned, not just for life, but for intelligent life. This fine-tuning is vastly more likely given theism than given atheism.
G.G.: But even if this fine-tuning argument (or some similar argument) convinces someone that God exists, doesn't it fall far short of what at least Christian theism asserts, namely the existence of an all-perfect God? Since the world isn't perfect, why would we need a perfect being to explain the world or any feature of it?
A.P.: I suppose your thinking is that it is suffering and sin that make this world less than perfect. But then your question makes sense only if the best possible worlds contain no sin or suffering. And is that true? Maybe the best worlds contain free creatures some of whom sometimes do what is wrong. Indeed, maybe the best worlds contain a scenario very like the Christian story.
Think about it: The first being of the universe, perfect in goodness, power and knowledge, creates free creatures. These free creatures turn their backs on him, rebel against him and get involved in sin and evil. Rather than treat them as some ancient potentate might — e.g., having them boiled in oil — God responds by sending his son into the world to suffer and die so that human beings might once more be in a right relationship to God. God himself undergoes the enormous suffering involved in seeing his son mocked, ridiculed, beaten and crucified. And all this for the sake of these sinful creatures.
I'd say a world in which this story is true would be a truly magnificent possible world. It would be so good that no world could be appreciably better. But then the best worlds contain sin and suffering.
G.G.: O.K., but in any case, isn't the theist on thin ice in suggesting the need for God as an explanation of the universe? There's always the possibility that we'll find a scientific account that explains what we claimed only God could explain. After all, that's what happened when Darwin developed his theory of evolution. In fact, isn't a major support for atheism the very fact that we no longer need God to explain the world?
A.P.: Some atheists seem to think that a sufficient reason for atheism is the fact (as they say) that we no longer need God to explain natural phenomena — lightning and thunder for example. We now have science.
As a justification of atheism, this is pretty lame. We no longer need the moon to explain or account for lunacy; it hardly follows that belief in the nonexistence of the moon (a-moonism?) is justified. A-moonism on this ground would be sensible only if the sole ground for belief in the existence of the moon was its explanatory power with respect to lunacy. (And even so, the justified attitude would be agnosticism with respect to the moon, not a-moonism.) The same thing goes with belief in God: Atheism on this sort of basis would be justified only if the explanatory power of theism were the only reason for belief in God. And even then, agnosticism would be the justified attitude, not atheism.
G.G.: So, what are the further grounds for believing in God, the reasons that make atheism unjustified?
A.P.: The most important ground of belief is probably not philosophical argument but religious experience. Many people of very many different cultures have thought themselves in experiential touch with a being worthy of worship. They believe that there is such a person, but not because of the explanatory prowess of such belief. Or maybe there is something like Calvin's sensus divinitatis. Indeed, if theism is true, then very likely there is something like the sensus divinitatis. So claiming that the only sensible ground for belief in God is the explanatory quality of such belief is substantially equivalent to assuming atheism.
G.G.: If, then, there isn't evidence to support atheism, why do you think so many philosophers — presumably highly rational people — are atheists?
Some people simply don't want there to be a God. It would pose a serious limitation for human autonomy.
AP: I'm not a psychologist, so I don't have any special knowledge here. Still, there are some possible explanations. Thomas Nagel, a terrific philosopher and an unusually perceptive atheist, says he simply doesn't want there to be any such person as God. And it isn't hard to see why. For one thing, there would be what some would think was an intolerable invasion of privacy: God would know my every thought long before I thought it. For another, my actions and even my thoughts would be a constant subject of judgment and evaluation.
Basically, these come down to the serious limitation of human autonomy posed by theism. This desire for autonomy can reach very substantial proportions, as with the German philosopher Heidegger, who, according to Richard Rorty, felt guilty for living in a universe he had not himself created. Now there's a tender conscience! But even a less monumental desire for autonomy can perhaps also motivate atheism.
GG: Especially among today's atheists, materialism seems to be a primary motive. They think there's nothing beyond the material entities open to scientific inquiry, so there there's no place for immaterial beings such as God.
AP: Well, if there are only material entities, then atheism certainly follows. But there is a really serious problem for materialism: It can't be sensibly believed, at least if, like most materialists, you also believe that humans are the product of evolution.
GG: Why is that?
AP: I can't give a complete statement of the argument here — for that see Chapter 10 of "Where the Conflict Really Lies." But, roughly, here's why. First, if materialism is true, human beings, naturally enough, are material objects. Now what, from this point of view, would a belief be? My belief that Marcel Proust is more subtle that Louis L'Amour, for example? Presumably this belief would have to be a material structure in my brain, say a collection of neurons that sends electrical impulses to other such structures as well as to nerves and muscles, and receives electrical impulses from other structures.
But in addition to such neurophysiological properties, this structure, if it is a belief, would also have to have a content: It would have, say, to be the belief that Proust is more subtle than L'Amour.
More From The Stone
GG: So is your suggestion that a neurophysiological structure can't be a belief? That a belief has to be somehow immaterial?
AP: That may be, but it's not my point here. I'm interested in the fact that beliefs cause (or at least partly cause) actions. For example, my belief that there is a beer in the fridge (together with my desire to have a beer) can cause me to heave myself out of my comfortable armchair and lumber over to the fridge.
But here's the important point: It's by virtue of its material, neurophysiological properties that a belief causes the action. It's in virtue of those electrical signals sent via efferent nerves to the relevant muscles, that the belief about the beer in the fridge causes me to go to the fridge. It is not by virtue of the content (there is a beer in the fridge) the belief has.
GG: Why do you say that?
AP: Because if this belief — this structure — had a totally different content (even, say, if it was a belief that there is no beer in the fridge) but had the same neurophysiological properties, it would still have caused that same action of going to the fridge. This means that the content of the belief isn't a cause of the behavior. As far as causing the behavior goes, the content of the belief doesn't matter.
GG: That does seem to be a hard conclusion to accept. But won't evolution get the materialist out of this difficulty? For our species to have survived, presumably many, if not most, of our beliefs must be true — otherwise, we wouldn't be functional in a dangerous world.
Materialism can't be sensibly believed, at least if, like most materialists, you also believe in evolution.
AP: Evolution will have resulted in our having beliefs that are adaptive; that is, beliefs that cause adaptive actions. But as we've seen, if materialism is true, the belief does not cause the adaptive action by way of its content: It causes that action by way of its neurophysiological properties. Hence it doesn't matter what the content of the belief is, and it doesn't matter whether that content is true or false. All that's required is that the belief have the right neurophysiological properties. If it's also true, that's fine; but if false, that's equally fine.
Evolution will select for belief-producing processes that produce beliefs with adaptive neurophysiological properties, but not for belief-producing processes that produce true beliefs. Given materialism and evolution, any particular belief is as likely to be false as true.
GG: So your claim is that if materialism is true, evolution doesn't lead to most of our beliefs being true.
AP: Right. In fact, given materialism and evolution, it follows that our belief-producing faculties are not reliable.
Here's why. If a belief is as likely to be false as to be true, we'd have to say the probability that any particular belief is true is about 50 percent. Now suppose we had a total of 100 independent beliefs (of course, we have many more). Remember that the probability that all of a group of beliefs are true is the multiplication of all their individual probabilities. Even if we set a fairly low bar for reliability — say, that at least two-thirds (67 percent) of our beliefs are true — our overall reliability, given materialism and evolution, is exceedingly low: something like .0004. So if you accept both materialism and evolution, you have good reason to believe that your belief-producing faculties are not reliable.
But to believe that is to fall into a total skepticism, which leaves you with no reason to accept any of your beliefs (including your beliefs in materialism and evolution!). The only sensible course is to give up the claim leading to this conclusion: that both materialism and evolution are true. Maybe you can hold one or the other, but not both.
So if you're an atheist simply because you accept materialism, maintaining your atheism means you have to give up your belief that evolution is true. Another way to put it: The belief that both materialism and evolution are true is self-refuting. It shoots itself in the foot. Therefore it can't rationally be held.
This interview was conducted by email and edited.
Gary Gutting is a professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and an editor of Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. He is the author of, most recently, "Thinking the Impossible: French Philosophy Since 1960″ and writes regularly for The Stone.
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The Stone features the writing of contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless. The series moderator is Simon Critchley. He teaches philosophy at The New School for Social Research in New York. To contact the editors of The Stone, send an e-mail to opinionator@nytimes.com. Please include "The Stone" in the subject field.
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Spin Griffey
@spingriffey
Spin Griffey is an open format DJ & radio personality currently residing in New Orleans, LA. Born in New Orleans & raised in Houston, Jay has experienced 2 very distinct cultures. Jay is considered one of the most highly regarded, respected & requested DJs in the city of New Orleans. Jay's versatile spinning and inclusion of multiple genres has garnered respect from peers, fans & contemporaries for years. Leaving an indelible mark on the thousands of people that his crossed his path as he keeps dance floors packed and grooving with his original styles, blends & transitions. His story-telling with his hands and song selections has mesmerized and intrigued whenever he touches the 1s & 2s. Undeniably talented and extremely hard working Jay has maintained multiple residencies at some of the biggest venues in the city as well as opening up for national recording artists as well including Juvenile, Nicki Minaj, Currensy, Kap G, Designer, Mystikal and more. Jay balances his talents & abilities as an in demand DJ with a budding radio career. Recently spending 4+ years as an on-air personality and mixshow DJ for Power 102.9 (formerly KKND New Orleans). He hopes to take full advantage of this platform and continue to make major moves in the radio & music industry. Continuing to spread his gifts & talents not only in New Orleans but expanding to other markets in the near future.


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Q: plot geom box stat_statistic in a side table I've plotted the result of medians from a different month in the year.
I've used stat_summary to get the sample size of each month. I need the sample size of each month and put it on the side so far I'm only able to put it on the box and it looks bad
library(ggplot2)

give.n <- function(x){
  return(c(y = median(x), label = length(x)))
}

p_m <- ggplot(data=m, aes(as.factor(as.yearmon(date)), value, fill= depth))+
    geom_boxplot(position=position_dodge(1), outlier.shape=NA)+
    theme(panel.grid.major = element_blank(), panel.grid.minor = element_blank(),
          panel.background = element_blank(), axis.line = element_line(colour = "black"))+
    ggtitle("Rhytisma f. fulvum spermatogenesis")+
    labs(x="Sampling months",y="Spermaries size (µm)")+
    guides(fill=guide_legend(title="Sampling depth"))+
    annotate("text", x=3, y=450, label= "2016", size= 5)+
    annotate("text", x=10, y=450, label= "2017", size= 5)+
    scale_y_continuous(limits  = c(0, 500), breaks = seq(0, 500, by = 50))+
    scale_fill_manual(values = c("white", "green"),
                      labels = c("MCE" = "40-45 m ", "shallow" = "< 12 m "))+
    theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle=45, hjust=1))+
    stat_summary(fun.data = give.n, geom = "text", position=position_dodge(width=0.75))+
    scale_x_discrete(labels=c("Apr", "May", "Jun", "Jul"
                              ,"Aug", "Feb", "Mar", "Apr", "May", "Jun", "Jul", "Aug" )
                     )

plot

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


So…Blogging 101 didn't work so well, because I have been so busy with the anthology. But THAT is going swimmingly. In fact, here–as a special treat–is a little bit about the Pirates themselves. For the sake of brevity, I will be posting six at a time each Friday until we meet them all.
1) Stephen Blake — "Beneath the Brass" — Stephen Blake lives in Penzance, Cornwall in the UK. He's had a story previously published in the steampunk anthology 'Airship Shape & Bristol Fashion' and numerous pieces within the e-magazine 'Far Horizons'. You can find him on twitter @UncannyBlake and he occasionally blogs on stephenblakeblog.wordpress.com, where you can follow his writing journey.
2) Jeffrey Cook and Katherine Perkins — "Maiden Voyage" — Jeffrey Cook lives in Maple Valley, WA, with his wife and three large dogs. Katherine Perkins lives in Coralville, IA, with her husband and one skittish cat. Jeff is the author and Kate the editor of the Dawn of Steam series of alternate-history/emergent Steampunk epistolary novels. When not reading, researching, or writing, they enjoy role-playing games, in which the dice like Jeff a lot better.
3) Robert McGough — "Colonel Gurthwait and the Black Hydra" –Robert McGough was born and raised in south Alabama. An Eagle Scout and two-time graduate from Troy University, he pays the bills working at a warehouse. Writing in a number of genres, including steampunk, horror, fantasy, and southern gothic, he has been published in several anthologies and literary journals. He is a firm believer that puns are the highest form of humor.
4) Charlotte Hunter (Ogarita) — "Captain Wexford's Dilemma" — Ogarita is an author, introvert, lapsed jogger, home-reno terror, ghost lover, watercolorist, retired military officer, and enthusiastic traveler. She possesses more academic degrees than necessary, imperfect Spanish, worse French, an old car, a Vitamix, and books. Her skills include cribbage, folding fitted sheets into neat squares, and surviving central Florida's mean streets on a cruiser bike. Although not yet a ghost, she haunts libraries, bookstores, museums, lighthouses, and Disney World. At present, she knows no pirates.
5) Lauren Marrero — "Her Majesty's Service" — When not creating romance novels, Lauren Marrero spends most of her time dreaming of heroes and steam-powered gadgets. After attending the University of California, Berkeley, where she studied English Literature, she traveled the world, slept in too many airports, and ate too much exotic street food. She is the author of Seducing the Laird, and has been published in UnCONventional, Mirror Dance, and The Fifth Di… magazines. You can find her online at www.laurenmarrero.com.
6) Andrew Knighton — "A Wind Will Rise" — Andrew is a freelance writer based in Stockport, England, where the grey skies provide a good motive to stay inside at the word processor. He's had over forty stories published in places such as Daily Science Fiction, Wily Writers and Ann VanderMeer's Steampunk anthologies. His own steampunk anthology, Riding the Mainspring, is available now on Amazon. You can find out more about his writing at andrewknighton.com and follow him on Twitter @gibbondemon.
Stay tuned for Part Two next Friday!
This entry was posted in The Writing Life and tagged airships, anthologies, Avast Ye Airships!, biographies, Mocha Memoirs Press, pirates, Steampunk, writers. Bookmark the permalink.


Australian business media is the world's dumbest and one of the most corrupt. It exists in a frozen duopolostic structure between Fairfax Media and News Corporation. These two focus one another rather than innovation or service delivery, poaching each other's staff, copying businesses and generally overpaying for any assets that pop up to threaten the cosy relationship.
Business coverage in Australia is much more akin to a "boys club" of back-slapping private school alumni than it is any investigative or analytical force. It pretends to endorse private markets as a philosophy but in actuality largely exists to defend vested interests. Both halves of the duopoly are addicted to bank and real estate advertising, with Fairfax especially prepared to sell out its editorial in pursuit of higher house prices (and more ads). It's real estate classifieds business, Domain, has slowly but surely turned its business news coverage from reporting and investigation to press-release recycling and property price cheer-leading.
MacroBusiness covers these foibles daily.
Mirabile dictu: Crikey discovers the income recession!
Domain mocks Murdoch salaries but should it?
It's dead today, de-listed and backed into the Nine Group, Yesterday Greg Hywood said: …over the coming weeks more detail will be shared on the new operating model. The implementation team has been busy working on plans to ensure the combined group hits the ground running and stays focused on serving our audiences and advertisers.
Ah yes, Domainfax, quality media: The three-bedroom house in Conroe, Texas, came with a fenced yard, gleaming hardwood floors, and an open-concept kitchen. It would be perfect for a young couple, real estate agent Kristin Gyldenege thought. But for more than a month, hardly anyone even looked at the listing, Gyldenege told the Houston Chronicle.
The Fake Left just loves to blame the messenger. Kevin Rudd today at Domainfax: So what should be done about the rolling crises washing over what remains of the Australian media? Rupert Murdoch has been up to his neck in the elevation and removal of Australia prime ministers for the better part of a decade.
It think ScoMo may well have attended the John Howard school of hogging the limelight, via The Australian: The Morrison government has asked the communications department to launch an urgent investigation into the conduct of ABC chairman Justin Milne, following revelations he told former managing director Michelle Guthrie to "get rid of" journalist Emma Alberici.
Or so it seems as the national broadcaster sinks into the Canberra swamp. Via the AFR: ABC chairman Justin Milne asked former managing director Michelle Guthrie to take action against two ABC journalists, political reporter Andrew Probyn and radio broadcaster Jon Faine, who had upset the government, according to a source familiar with the conversations.
Did Rupert end Malcolm Turnbull?


In the latest attempt to crack down on hate (read: free) speech, Twitter mistakenly suspended the New York Times' international account for roughly 24 hours this weekend on grounds of "hateful conduct". While the New York Times has on occasion indeed published close-minded and hateful articles, this was not one of them, as the account was blocked after tweeting an article about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's apology to indigenous people in the province of Newfoundland.
This is not the first time Twitter has wrongly suspended an account. Recently a rogue employee blocked President Donald Trump's account for 11 minutes.
While Twitter is – at least not officially – suppressing conservative viewpoints, the recent incidents do raise serious questions about the integrity and sanity of its employees. You may in fact never know if an account was suspended for legitimate reasons or simply because a low-wage SJW was triggered for a myriad of reasons. While the New York Times can contest a suspension, many small time users do not have the auctoritas, and thus may not be in a position to have their accounts restored, allowing Twitter employees essentially to decide by themselves what is allowed and what is not.


Why is my product expired?
It is most likely NOT expired. We check all expiration dates before we pack our boxes and packages. Typically Korean products are marked by EITHER the manufacture date OR the expiration date. Please check out our graphic on the Beauty Box page to see how to read Korean expiration dates.
However, in the rare case that you are in fact sent an expired product, please contact us immediately at customerservice@mishibox.com with photos of the product(s) clearly showing the expiration or manufactured date.
After we confirm that the product is an expired product that we sent out, then we will either issue a replacement or refund depending on product availability.


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Games Inbox: Loot boxes vs. casual gamers, Star Wars: Battlefront II prices, and Tekken 7 season pass
GameCentralTuesday 14 Nov 2017 1:00 am
Star Wars: Battlefront II – how many people really care about loot boxes?
The morning Inbox predicts new games based on Amazon's Lord of the Rings show, as one reader plays Lenovo AR Jedi Challenges.
To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
The one thing I've been trying to work out in all this loot box controversy is whether EA purposefully chose Star Wars: Battlefront II to go big on it because the game was review-proof and would sell a gazillion copies no matter what anybody said about it. I fear the answer is probably yes, and that EA really are that evil. Or if not evil then absolutely unconcerned about the artistry of gaming or the long term future of anything but themselves. You know, like every other business.
I imagine they'll get away with it too, because not only is Star Wars the perfect smokescreen but ordinary gamers just don't care. A mate of mine asked what all the fuss was about, because he'd obviously heard something, but I could see his eyes glaze over as I explained and I swear the only thing that sunk in was the bit about free DLC.
It's not that he doesn't care exactly but he's a Call Of Duty and FIFA fan. He'll buy maybe two or three other games a year and he doesn't talk about things like gameplay mechanics and pay to win, he just cares whether it's a bit of fun. He has other interests and games are probably not even in the top three. That's all perfectly fine, but its people like him that are in control of gaming's future, not the people that actually care, and that's kind of scary.
GC: Need For Speed Payback also has some pretty horrendous use of loot boxes, although it only came out last week.
Lord of the action
I see Amazon are going to do a new Game of Thrones style TV show that acts as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings. Didn't see that coming, but maybe that reader was on to something when he said that fantasy was going to be the next big thing. At the very least you can guarantee it'll mean more games, I guess from Warner Bros.? I was going to say at least they'd be less fanfic-y than Shadow Of War but maybe not so much if they're not basing it directly on Tolkien's work. I bet Shelob's not a sexy woman in it though.
I do think there's more that can be done with a fantasy setting, and the idea of getting away from them all just being action role-players. It gets back to having a modern equivalent of Golden Axe I think, or a decent Conan game. I've heard some people assume that the fantasy setting is what makes a game a role-player not the gameplay, and I can totally see how that would happen with a more casual gamer.
Nowadays we have lots of non-fantasy games that use role-playing mechanics, so why not have a fantasy game that doesn't? Whether a Lord of the Rings TV show is the best route for that I'm not saying, but I'd like to see something that was more straight action.
The expense is strong with this one
Being a Star Wars fan since the original came out, and having been amazed by the X-Wing mission on PlayStation VR, I thought I would pick up the Lenovo Jedi Challenges AR headset after being intrigued by the adverts.
Whilst it's not perfect I have had a lot of fun playing it, and to be able to have a lightsabre duel with Darth Vader has fulfilled a dream I've had for nearly 40 years.
It's pretty expensive considering there's only three game modes currently, but it's a well-made piece of kit and the lightsabre is great. I wasn't as blown away with AR as I was with VR, but it does show a lot of potential and I have absolutely no regrets buying it.
The tactical battles game is pretty basic but does get quite difficult and seeing dozens of tiny troops fighting in your front room is an great experience. Holo chess I haven't really played much yet, as the other two games are too much fun. Here's hoping that it shows a lightsabre game can work and that a PlayStation VR game comes out sooner rather than later/never.
MRHBK
GC: Here's the item in question, for those who have never heard of it…
E-mail your comments to: gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk
Wait and see
GC, not heard much love for Call Of Duty: WWII on your pages since it came out, which is a surprise as it's very good and quite a few of the gamers on my friends list are playing it. Personally, I'm loving the gameplay again after the sci-fi versions of the last few years. The maps are especially good.
The campaign is, admittedly, nothing special but that's not why most people buy it. Overall, I would rate it 9 out of 10.
Manic miner 100 (gamertag)
PS: Will be awaiting you Star Wars: Battlefront II review before making a final decision about a purchase. Please be clear in the review how much pay to win it is. Thanks.
GC: Battlefront II is proving very difficult, since EA keep changing the prices. We'll see if things stabilise today, as it's now available to the public if you buy the deluxe edition.
Can't believe I've just got a brand new PlayStation 3 Slim 500GB with GTA V for 40 quid. Cheaper than CeX. My old one was second-hand and I payed 40 for that.
So if I were you fellow GCers, have a look in your local Asda. Even if you sold it on eBay you could double your money.
Gaz Humpage
I wrote in last week about my work colleague whose two kids wanted a console for Christmas. It seems my suggestion of a Switch was persuasive, and she is buying this, despite the reservations my workmates contributed.
She is now looking at available bundles and additional games. I believe the bundle she has her eye on comes with Super Mario Odyssey, and Mario Kart is already on her list, but she's looking at other games too. What are a good collection of starter games for kids of their age (five and nine)? Downloads are fine, it doesn't have to be boxed releases.
DaleEBoy
GC: Those are the obvious two to start with, but they should also enjoy ARMS. Zelda: Breath Of The Wild should be okay for a nine-year-old but might be a bit beyond someone that's just five. The same is true of Splatoon 2 and Mario + Rabbids Battle Kingdom. But there's plenty of downloadable games as well, such as Snipperclips, Overcooked, Sonic Mania, Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime, and of course Minecraft.
A certain point of view
In response to Sheel's recommendation to get a 4K monitor instead of a TV, the reason they have lower latency is because they have a lower brightness.
Monitors are typically designed to be viewed up close and at a much tighter viewing angle, so anyone that goes this route make sure the viewing angle and brightness is suitable for your needs.
Antony White
Catch up on every previous Games Inbox here
Secret path
I'm pretty worried about Tekken 7. That must sound a little odd considering that the reveal of Noctis from Final Fantasy XV being added to the game has seemingly been accepted by fans as a nice surprise. But aside from him and Geese in the next week or so, the game really hasn't had any content updates of significant value since launch.
In the summer, a bowling mini-game was added. And it was pretty funny, for the first two rounds. Then you realise that not only is there no online play for it, but it only supports two players. There isn't even an option to share controllers so multiple people can take turns. A few costumes were added, but these were already available in the arcade edition of the game, so they weren't exactly new.
Honestly, I find it pretty baffling. Namco haven't really communicated about what they want to add into the game content wise, if any other returning characters are coming, or if new customisation options are being made. Keep in mind that this game is basically their most successful foray into competitive fighting games to date, and you'd be under the impression they'd want to keep adding more to it to keep people interested.
It's proved to be more popular than previous entries, and even managed to out sell the likes of Street Fighter V, and yet the amount of post launch support from Capcom from their flagship titles is putting Namco to absolute shame.
Obviously Tekken characters are more complex than their 2D locked counterparts, but the silence makes me think that they don't really care, or they've moved onto different projects. It feels like a huge wasted opportunity, and I bitterly regret jumping in with the season pass. Some people may be tempted to pick this title up when Noctis comes out next year, but I'd really advise caution. Nobody seems to know what path Namco are taking, if they're taking any at all.
Spacetwit
Inbox also-rans
I just don't understand why EA seem so desperate to put everyone off of Battlefront II. It's a Star Wars game with really good graphics, that seems to play quite well as well. Wasn't that enough? Don't you think that would make money? I guess not.
So I guess the year isn't ending quite as amazingly as it begun. At this rate I think Call Of Duty: WWII might end up being the best big budget game of the season. Assuming Wolfenstein II and Super Mario Odyssey don't count.
This week's Hot Topic
The subject for this weekend's Inbox was inspired by reader Truk_Kurt (PSN ID), who asks what's your favourite game that nobody else ever seems to talk about?
What game do you really love but which nobody else seems to have heard of, or unfairly dismisses? Was the game financially successful and what kind of reviews did it get? Does your opinion go against the majority or is it just because the game is really obscure?
Did the game ever get a sequel and what is the status of the franchise today? If it could be remade how would you want it to be handled, and what if anything would you change?
New Inbox updates appear twice daily, every weekday morning and afternoon. Letters are used on merit and may be edited for length.
You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word 4Player viewer features at any time, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.
If you need quick access to the GameCentral channel page please use www.metro.co.uk/games and don't forget to follow us on Twitter.
Games Inbox
Weekend Hot Topic, part 2: Most anticipated video games of 2022
Games Inbox: Is a PS4 better value than a PS5?


Combine Original Pancakes, Chocolate Chip Soft Bake, cocoa powder, and baking powder in a medium-sized bowl. Add milk, egg and apple cider vinegar, and mix until a batter-like consistency. Optional, add red food coloring.
Divide batter evenly among eight slots of a lightly greased regular or heart-shaped muffin tin (should fill only a third of each slot). Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.
Meanwhile, combine cream cheese and sugar substitute.
Once cooled, slice each muffin in half horizontally. Spread one tablespoon of cream cheese filling onto the bottom half of each muffin, and top with the remaining muffin halves. Enjoy!


text:
Commentary by Kendall Whitehouse
On Technology and Media
Reports from Comic-Con
Battle of the RIA Stars
Tech journalists often garner criticism for casting the competition between technology companies in overly dramatic terms, typically involving the language of warfare. "The Browser Wars." "Blu-Ray Wins HD DVD Battle." And so on. I've been guilty of this once or twice myself. But it's difficult to see the competition between Microsoft and Adobe for leadership in the rich Internet application space in anything other than combative terms.
Consider the following recent tit-for-tat public relations squabble between Microsoft and Adobe Systems.
At the approach of Adobe's MAX conference earlier this week, it was widely suspected that the event would be a coming out party for the company's forthcoming product code-named "Thermo" (now re-christened Flash Catalyst), which enables an integrated workflow between designers and developers building Flash-based RIAs.
The Friday before MAX opened, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Scott Guthrie penned an extensive blog post describing "the ease with which developers and designers can collaborate together" on Silverlight projects using Microsoft's Expression Blend. It is difficult to imagine that the timing was coincidental.
At the opening MAX keynote on Monday, Adobe announced that Major League Baseball — which had previously been supporting Microsoft's Silverlight video technology — would switch to Adobe's Flash Platform to deliver all of its live and on-demand video offerings beginning in 2009.
Just before this news broke publicly — on Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 11:01 PM — Guthrie posted another lengthy blog entry titled "Update on Silverlight 2 – and a glimpse of Silverlight 3" that, in addition to detailing the abundant features of the Silverlight platform, enumerated many of the media wins for Silverlight, including the high-profile NBC Olympics site, the recent announcement that Blockbuster "is replacing Flash with Silverlight for its MovieLink application," and Netflix's plans to change its Watch Instantly service from Windows Media Player to Silverlight.
I'll try not to toss around overly bellicose terms to characterize these skirmishes. But that's not easy to do when two of the world's largest PC software companies are going head-to-head to establish the dominant platform for the next generation of software application development.
Kendall Whitehouse
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San Diego Comic-Con 2017: Recap and Photo Highlights
Wizard World Philadelphia: Recap and Photo Highlights
Art Commentary (4)
Comic-Con Reports (61)
Conferences & Events (11)
Media Trends (42)
Movie Commentary (14)
Music Performance (7)
Tech Trends (63)
Theatrical Performance (1)
Travel Tales (7)


I want to set the screen sharing password using apple script and check the option 'VNC viewers may control screen with password'. I'm new at apple script, and what I have accomplished is only checking the 'Screen Sharing' option under the Sharing pane of System Preferences.
set current pane to pane "com.apple.preferences.sharing"
click button 1 of group 1 of window "Sharing"
set value of text field 1 to "p"
tell sheet 1 of window "Sharing"
Specifically the text field (and "VNC viewers..." checkbox and "OK" button" are members of tell sheet 1 of window "Sharing", so the tell needs to be adjusted appropriately.
The Accessibility Inspector is a little utility bundled in OSX (or perhaps its in xcode - not sure). It gives a lot of information about whatever UI element in any window that your mouse is currently over.
entire contents of allows you to dump all UI elements in a given scope when using the Applescript Editor. For example if I inserted get entire contents of window "Sharing" in the appropriate place in this script, it would list out all UI elements of the window "sharing" in the events panel of the Applescript editor.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged applescript screensharing or ask your own question.
How to set checkbox in Mission Control?
Applescript to launch XAMPP osx, won't enter password on pop-up?


Say goodbye to the mainstream on two wheels!
Of course, tastes are different and that's exactly what makes a bike. With passion and smeared fingers, the dusty piece is reanimated and brought to life by some glamorous touch. Glamorous enough to be shot in a motorcycle magazine a good 50 years after the birth of the Shovelhead engine. The new "Custombike" magazine with a glamorous story is now available at the kiosk, the complete photo shoot below.
This time it reminded imaginative spectators of the underside of a typical American coal shovel. During the construction period of this engine, a distinction is made essentially between the so-called "Early Shovel" (early Shovel) with displacement of 1,200 cm (recognizable by the kidney-shaped right engine case, the timer sitting on the camshaft housing and the generator sitting in front of the crankcase) and from 1969 / '70 delivered "Late Shovel" (Later Shovel, generator behind the prime mover) with 1,207 cc displacement.
For such a special conversion, the synapses of the entire team are running at full speed! In order to be able to change a bike in this style, you need specialist knowledge and technical skill. In the parts list you can take a look at the built-in parts of this bike!


What a great combination – Father's Day and the US Open Championship. For most men, this is a fantastic combination. Many, I presume will take advantage of both by golfing in the morning and watching the action in the afternoon.
Both are exciting events and I all I can say is enjoy them both. Share the experience with your loved ones because in the big scheme of things that is all that matters. Take the time to enjoy the company of your family, the thrill of playing a round and the excitement of watching Dustin Johnson walk away with the US Open.
I think of how this day would have been awesome with my Day (who we lost 28 years ago). He loved golf! We share the same passion and we would have enjoyed talking, laughing and second guessing all the decisions at he US Open. I would have been the designated drinks and food fetcher, but that would have been okay. It would have been a day to cherish.
My father-in-law has helped fill the void over the year's. He is older now and does not like golf much, but understands my passion and lets me watch it when I go visit. He understands my love of golf and as father's do, helps fan the flames of my passion.
Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. I hope you have an awesome day filled of love, laughter and the US Open.
Almost forgot. Happy fathers day!!
Thanks Kevin. Hapy Father's Day to you as well.
Jim, I will be doing just as you suggest. Visit with Dad this morning, teeing it up mid-day, watching US Open late afternoon. Hope you have a great Father's Day and are feeling okay and playing great!
Thanks Brian. Sounds like you have an awsome day planned. Enjoy!


Augmented Reality is one of those technologies that is very impressive yet simple to implement. Thanks to the Development Lab of Inglobe Technologies its just got easiy via their Web-Based Tool that allows users to visualize Google Earth 3D models using Augmented Reality.
While ARSights is not Augmented Reality directly inside of Google Earth, it acts a browser for models that in turn can be visualized directly on users' desktop, by connecting a simple webcam and by printing a suitable code.
Take a look at http://www.arsights.com/ for more info.
Instead of holding this buildings in your hand like Augmented Reality 1.0 why not switch to AR 2.0 and experience them on location in say Google E-AR-TH?


My last post looking at the models I'm using at the moment, Molemen, went down rather well so I thought I'd follow up with another look at a model that's spending a lot of time on my gaming table; Miss Step.
While she's this years GenCon exclusive model rules wise she's a carbon copy of Howard Langston, aka the Steamborg Executioner. Therefore the model is accessible to all, just in a less pretty package.
Miss Step doesn't come cheap at any game size, costing 12ss she takes up almost a quarter of your (50sss) crew. Any model approaching that cost needs to be worth their wight in gold, especially as the lovely lady isn't a henchman, and therefore has no access to soulstones.
So why take her out for the evening?
Well firstly she's a powerful hitting peace; Ml7 with a weak damage of four and an after damaging head shot trigger means there are few things in the game she can't kill.
especially activating late in the turn where even the risk of a moderate Ram or two off the top may be enough to ruin someone's day.
Just as importantly she's light on her feet, with a five inch walk and Nimble to boot she can certainly dance, even with two left feet. This combined with a melee range of two this girl can deliver significant punishment at extreme range, three attacks at 7" or two at 13" is nothing to be sniffed at. If you're not scared by this combo of movement and damage you should be.
Of coarse no model can excel in; damage, movement and defense so our Miss Step is a delicate flower. While her defense wounds and armor are fine they're nothing to write home about on a 12ss model. Once engaged with the enemy she needs to seal the deal very quickly or she'll fold. That said if you're looking for tanks the Arcanists have plenty of those already which is why she stands out from the crowd.
The final trick up her sleeve is her (1) Steam Cloud ability, which puts up a 4" aura of soft cover around her. This makes it more likely she can make it over the board to engage the enemy and helps her crew out against more ranged focused opposition.
Firstly in the center she's great standing just behind the lines, where her 7" threat range can really be brought to bare. It's tough to attack into a space fearing the counter attack from our girl. This is also where she can get the most support from the rest of the crew, helping to protect her and let her choose her own fights more effectively. Her steam cloud is also most useful here, protecting the body of the crew from ranged attacks.
Alternatively she can more or less hold a flank where needed. In a recent game of Reconnoiter a large building in the middle of the board basically forced me to divide my crew in two. I sent Miss Step up the left flank with my molemen leaving Dr Ramos to square off vs my opponents master on the right flank.
My opponent found Miss Step was too mobile to slip past and too dangerous to risk exposing anything to. Her threat range meaning he had no way of getting into melee without her making the first move, and there was nothing on the flank he could be confident would survive her charge. With Steam Cloud shutting down his mediocre ranged options he was basically forced to abandon the flank without challenge.
Out wide and played well Miss Step should be near untouchable, unless your opponent wants to over commit to dealing with her, in which case basic evasion should make this difficult and time consuming.
This plays into her final strength, self reliance. Miss Step's abilities are predictable, she'll never go Rail Golem crazy and wipe an apposing crew but similarly she'll never black joker nimble or steam cloud at a critical moment. I value this reliability over a few extra points of potential power.
Looking at her upgrade options there are a number that would certainly work for her but I think she does her best work naked (gigady). Adding more cost to such an expensive model with limited defense is putting a lot of eggs in an already fragile basket.
So that's my two on Miss Step in short a mobile killing machine you need to handle carefully or risk losing. I hope you found that useful. I'll probably take a break from this format next week to look ahead to tournaments coming up between now and the end of the year. Thanks for reading and I'll see you all Breachside.
"Of coarse no model can excel in; damage, movement and defense so our Miss Step is a delicate flower."
Cut to a shot of Tuco.


text:
Home Latest News Why Our Party Must Not Disintegrate, President Buhari Admonishes APC Members
Why Our Party Must Not Disintegrate, President Buhari Admonishes APC Members
President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday in Abuja advised members of the governing party, All Progressives Congress (APC), to withdraw all pending litigations against one another, and settle for internal conciliation, warning that the mutating disagreements could lead to self-destruction, with dire consequences.
President Buhari, in his remarks at the emergency meeting of the National Executive Committee of the APC held on a virtual platform, said the gains of the party could be reversed as conflicts overshadow the primary objective of service to the people, urging members to refocus on the larger picture and place more emphasis on uniting the party.
Read Also : Address by President Muhammad Buhari at the Virtual Emergency Meeting of the NEC of the
"Fellow party members, this is a very crucial moment in the life of our party and it is with a deep sense of concern that I stand before you today to speak as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who has been elected on the platform of our great party – the All Progressives Congress.
"The issues currently confronting our party at this time are such that should worry every party member. At the moment, our great party is faced with internal wrangling; there are on-going litigations amongst some party members and we cannot clearly ascertain the status of certain National Working Committee (NWC) members.''
The President expressed worry over the shifting loyalty within the party and inconsistency in leadership, which had opened the governing party to mockery.
"There are also other associated disputes as to the legitimacy or otherwise of holders of certain National Offices of the Party. The Party is also contending with Judicial claims and counter-claims, Orders and Counter-Orders and indeed Judgments and Counter-Judgments that are predominantly at cross-purposes.
"Confronted with these issues, it is obvious that the fortunes of the party are currently in jeopardy, administration of our party is becoming impossible and there is consequently an urgent need for intervention to immediately arrest further drifts and internal wrangling which may lead to total disintegration.
"What we see clearly emerging, is that we are beginning to self-destruct. This, my dear party members, is not just regrettable but utterly gut wrenching.''
President Buhari proposed that:
"The meeting may adopt the developed resolution as contained in the agenda and pass resolutions including: approving the immediate discontinuation of all pending litigations involving the party and its members; ratifying the primary election conducted in Edo State; dissolving the current National Working Committee, and appointing caretaker/Extra-ordinary Convention Planning committee for the party.''
The President also reiterated the need to discontinue all litigations involving members of the party, which were connected to issues of the party, adding: "The directive had been issued before, unfortunately some members failed to heed the directive. Thus, at this time, it must be made a Resolution of the Party which must be effectively enforced with dire consequences for members who choose to ignore the directive.''
The President said in order to return to the "winning ways'', the APC must maintain cohesion by closing its ranks.
"We must be alive to the time and the task that is before us. As we all know, we are immediately confronted with the upcoming gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo States. Therefore, this is the time to get our acts together.''
The emergency NEC meeting adopted all the recommendations by President Buhari, and appointed the Governor of Yobe State, Mallam Mai Buni, as Caretaker National Chairman, while Senator John Akpanudoede was designated Caretaker National Secretary.
LIST APC CARETAKER COMMITTEE AND EXTRA-ORDINARY CONVENTION PLANNING COMMITTEE.
1. Governor Mai Mala Buni (Yobe) Chairman
2. Isiaka Oyetola, Governor Osun SW
3. Ken Nnamani SE
4. Stella Okorete – Women Rep
5. Governor Sani Bello NC
6. Dr. James Lalu physically challenged
7. Sen. Abubakar Yusuf- Senatè Rep
8. Hon. Akinyemi Olaide – Reps
9. David Lyon – SS
10. Abba Ari -NW
11. Prof. Tahir Mamman – NE
12. Ismail Ahmed – Youth
13. Sen. Akpan Udoedehe- Secretary
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
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