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Masters of the Universe Origins: 200x He-Man and Skeletor by Mattel
Happy Friday! And what better way to bring on the weekend then by opening some new toys! Mattel's MOTU Origins line continues to pump out the content at a record pace, leaving me behind on reviewing these magnificent figures, but I'm doing the best I can to get caught up! Today I'm checking out two more variations of He-Man and Skeletor, this time based on designs from the 200x toyline.
The figures come on the same gloriously retro designed cardbacks that we've been seeing all along. You get the 40th Anniversary logo in foil up at the top left corner fo the card, and a rather spiffy MOTU logo sticker on the front of the bubbles. What you don't get is any actual reference to the Mike Young Production cartoon or 200x series. And that's fine. For any kiddies out there who are into this line without any context, these are just cool new versions of the two main characters to play with! I should note that I never collected the 200x toys, although I did run into them a lot back in the day when I was making my weekly trips to KayBee Toy Outlet, and I was often very tempted to pick some up. Ultimately, I reasoned that the line was too far along for me to start collecting from the beginning, and so I resisted the temptation. I did, however, get into the MYP cartoon BIG TIME, and I still consider it to be one of the absolute best cartoon reboots ever made. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to get these figures in the Origins style. Let's start with He-Man!
One of the things that characterized the 200x figures were the somewhat stylized proportions, and since these figures retain the usual Origins bodies, a little of that flavor is lost. What we have left is mostly a costume change, but I really like it. The arms and legs are left unchanged, with the boots all painted brown and the wrist bracers in silver. The pelvic piece is new, with a silver belt and red and gold circular buckle. The sculpted furry diaper is still present, but trimmed back quite a bit. The chest harness features a hexagonal plate with another red and gold motif. The silver border looks great and there's a nice hammered texture to the background. This design is different enough from the classic look to stand out, but not so much to be jarring. Were I a kid playing with these figures, I could easily see this one becoming a regular stand in for the more classic He-Man on my adventures. It just looks fantastic!
As for the head sculpt, I like it a lot, but there have been so many He-Heads in this line so far, I'd be lying if I could keep them all straight. Is this new? Is it recycled? Without digging through a tote for my head bag, or scrolling through my past reviews, I'm not going to say for sure, but I'm guessing it's a repack. I will say that it is emphatically not designed to look like the 200x figure, and instead retains that very vintage look. I think this head would work on pretty much any Origins He-Man we've seen so far. Either way, I think the head looks really good with this costume.
As for weapons, He-Man comes with the 200x redesign of the Power Sword. I've never been a big fan of this design, as it just way too clunky and impractical. I do, however, appreciate the attention to detail in the sculpt. It's more machine now than sword, but that really gave the sculptors something to work with. There's a loop in the back of He-Man's harness so he can wear the sword on his back. I will point out that the figure's grip is a little loose on the sword. I'm not sure if that's a problem with my figure in particular, but it helps to squeeze it tight so he doesn't drop it.
You also get his battle axe and shield, and I absolutely love these! The axe has some techno-gizmos sculpted into it to resemble the same tech that went into the sword, but here it doesn't really make the weapon look unwieldly or cumbersome… just futuristic!!! The shield also has a little mesh circuit pattern on one of the arms of the cross, and some really nice texturing in the red field areas. These accessories look great together, and I'll likely display He-Man with the wielding these and with the sword on his back. OK, let's move on to Skeletor!
To me the 200x version of Skeletor looked extra stylized to me, and there was something about him that made his limbs look extra long and his head extra tiny. As a result, this Origins version looks a lot more like its doing its own thing, and boy do I love it! The armor pieces sport some excellent detail, like leather texturing in the hip and groin armor, organic designs in the grieves, and the shoulders and gorget look awesome! In addition to the purple plastic on the armor, you get red jewels painted on the knees and in the center of the crossed bones on his chest, as well as black for the shoulder guards. The wrist bracers are painted purple, and his feet are left pale blue. The fastener on the armor tends to slip out of the loop on my figure from time to time, but even when it does the harness and shoulders stays put. All in all, I love the way Mattel adapted this design to Origins, and this is a great version of Skeletor!
And then there's the head sculpt! Hot damn, is this outstanding! The skull face is nestled in the center of a purple textured hood, and boy does he look pissed! The angry, downturned brow looks very expressive along with the red dots in the center of his eye holes. I also really love the paintwork on the face, with the way the yellow transitions to the green at the edges. This portrait is a little work of art, and one of my favorites that this line has produced so far!
Skeletor comes with the 200x version of his sword, which I believe was two swords joined together, which is why it has what looks like two grips. I suppose one could be a knuckle-guard, but either way the design of the hilt makes it kind of awkward for him to hold. Like the 200x Power Sword, I think this is well sculpted, but it just looks completely impractical. I wish they had given Skeletor a loop on his back to tuck the sword into like they did He-Man. I guess I could tuck it under the strap, but with the way it likes to come loose, that's probably not going to work.
And you also get his trusty Havok Staff, which I think is just a repack of the one we've seen a bunch of times before.
I usually get tired of toy lines constantly churning out variants of main characters, but in the case of Origins I haven't minded so much, because they've all been really good. And this pair may be the best yet. Normally, I would take the classic look for these guys over the 200x designs any day, but I'm shocked at how great these look adapted for the Origins bodies. Both figures get high marks from me, but I'm leaning toward the Skeletor as being my favorite of the pair. The armor just looks outstanding and the portrait is perfect! What's even better is right now both of these figures have been turning up online at pretty good sale prices. Last time I looked Skeletor was going for $10 on Amazon, and boy is that an absolute steel for such a remarkable figure! Do I get another to keep carded? Nah… but it is tempting!
By figurefanzero • Tagged 200x, he-man, masters of the universe, masters of the universe origins, mattel, origins, skeletor
Masters of the Universe Origins: "Flying Fists" He-Man and "Terror Claws" Skeletor by Mattel
Holy crap, that title is a mouthful, innit? I'm overdue for visiting with the MOTU Origins line, and since I have relatively new versions of He-Man and Skeletor on my pile of figures to open, I decided to knock them both out today! These are both Deluxe figures, which means they cost a little more than the regular ones, and come on bigger cards, and lots more stuff!
And wow, don't they look so good in the packages! The presentation here kind of reminds me of the old rack toys, only actually good and not at all crappy. The character art looks amazing, but Mattel could have just as easily let the bubble do all the talking, because there's so much cool stuff packed in here. Exposition explosions tell us that He-Man swings his arms with awesome might, while Skeletor swings with fearsome fury! Which is better, YOU DECIDE!!! This is a line that constantly tempts me to get doubles to keep one sealed, because they look so good in package. Let's check out He-Man first!
Flying Fists He-Man is basically regular He-Man with gorgeous vac-metal armor encasing his manly torso. His wrist bracers and belt are painted bright red, and he has white fringe around the tops of his boots. The armor has a beautiful mirror silver polish with gold trim around the arm holes and waist, and a red H emblazoned on the front. His back has a large bracket so he can store his preposterous weapon, and yes it does make him very back-heavy. And in keeping with the vintage gimmick, He-Man does indeed have arm swinging power, which is activated when you rotate him at the waist left or right with the help of a grooved wheel at the bottom of his back. This is an absolutely beautiful figure that really gives Battle Armor He-Man a run for his money.
You get two portraits with the figure, and that is awesome! I absolutely love how many options we now have for swapping heads between regular He-Man and all the other flavors. The one that comes on the figure is my favorite of the two, and I can easily see myself displaying this on my regular He-Man as well. I'm a bit conflicted on the other one. I really like the work they put into this, with the windblown hair and the open mouth, but I'm not sure the end result really conveys what they were going for. Still, a nice option!
Flying Fists He-Man introduces two new weapons to his arsenal, and these are some real Rube Goldberg kinda stuff! The weapon is sort of like a mace, but with a huge spinning wheel with three balls at the end of each arm. It looks absolutely ridiculous and it seems completely impractical. But, we're talking about a world with a robot elephant as the fire marshal, so when you put it in the proper context, I'm sure this thing makes perfect sense. The shield is pretty out there too, but I like it a lot more. It's got spinning blades on it, which seems like it would be good for offense and defense. Both of the weapons feature more of that gorgeous vac-metal finish, and as demonstrated earlier, the mace weapon can store on He-Man's back. Laugh as I might, if I saw a He-Man coming at me with this shit, I would still run for my life.
He-Man also comes with his trusty power sword, and this is a fantastic accessory, because it isn't the crappy half-sword that came with the original He-Man release, so you know this is getting handed off to my regular He-Man as soon as I'm done with this review! I can't help but think it would have been cool if this got the vac-metal treatment too, but I'm still happy to have it. OK, let's check out Skeletor…
As with He-Man, Skeletor uses a lot of the same parts we're used to seeing on the character, but he also has some shiny new vac-metal plate armor. While He-Man got his whole torso covered, Skeletor only has his covering his upper chest, so he can still show off those washboard abs. The new armor has a skull fixed right in the middle and a gorgeous purple tint to it. My only complaint with this figure is that, apart from the chest armor, he looks kind of bland. I think I'm missing the wrist bracers, and I'm wondering if they omitted those so his Terror Claws would fit better. Naturally, he has the same arm-swinging play feature as He-Man, and he can also store his ridiculous new weapon the clip on his back.
Once again, you get two heads with the figure, and I absolutely love these. The regular one is just so expressive, even if I'm a bit unclear on what the expression is supposed to be. He kind of looks like Beast Man just brought him a dead rat as a present and he's genuinely touched by the offering. But the second one is just pure money. Skeletor looks so damn happy here, like he's so proud of his ridiculous new weapons and can't wait to try them out. These are both great, and they will likely spend some time on my regular Skeletor figure.
Of the two figures, Skeletor seems to have made out better in the accessories department. I was surprised to see that they included his trusty Havoc Staff, considering how much else is here. I'm sure it didn't break the bank for Mattel to throw this in there, but it's a welcome bonus nonetheless.
Next up is the white snappy dragon thingy, which is roughly comparable to He-Man's spinning mace. It makes me wonder why this didn't get top billing for the figure over the Terror Claws, but it's probably because they couldn't think up a cool name for it. As I'm pretty sure I mentioned when reviewing the Classics version of this figure, it looks like Skeletor cut off Sky-Lynx's head and turned it into a grabby arm. I totally dig it.
And finally, we have the main attraction, which are the Terror Claws. These clip onto Skeletor's wrists and give him giant tearing appendages. And much like He-Man's spinning mace, I find these hysterical to look at, but I'd pretty much shit myself if a skull-faced assailant came after me with them. I like the little sculpted detail added to them, and my one complaint would be that I wish they had added pegs for the hands to grip onto like they did with the dragon chomper weapon. They still stay put fairly well, but pegs would have been even better.
I think it's safe to say that every time I open a new MOTU Origins figure, I am absolutely delighted with the purchase. These figures are just so damn fun, and I'm very happy to see that Mattel is going all out. For a line that I originally swore I would never collect, this feels like the absolute best values to be found in the current action figure market. I'm also thrilled that Mattel has been keeping the play gimmicks alive in these figures, which really sets them apart from the more collector-driven Classics line, where they were mostly omitted. Keep them coming, Mattel!!!
By figurefanzero • Tagged masters of the universe, masters of the universe origins, mattel, motu, motu origins, origins
Masters of the Universe Origins: Mosquitor by Mattel
Once again, I'll point out how much I love the MOTU Origins line as a vehicle for finally getting figures that I haven't owned in any previous format. I didn't have any MOTU figures when I was a kid, and there were a handful or so that I missed out on when collecting MOTU Classics. Mosquitor was one of those, and now I'm absolutely thrilled to finally have this overgrown parasite land in my collection. Does he suck? You bet he does! And I mean that in every good way possible!
As you can probably tell by the packaging, Mosquitor is a Deluxe figure, which means he comes on a slightly larger card, with a few extra bits and bobs to push him over the $20 price point. These cards are absolutely magic to see on the shelf, with it's vintage style and bubble glued to the card, it almost looks like an overgrown rack toy of the past. The explosions of exposition proclaim that Mosquito's chest pumps "Red Fluid" but we all know IT'S BLOOD! Sticky, crimson BLOOD! I don't understand it. Half the toys on the shelves today are about poop, but we can't say blood? I'm surprised Mattel hasn't introduced a new figure called Poop-Or. Anyway, let's tear this bug man open and check him out.
Straightaway I'm going to say that I love everything about this figure! He feels so fresh and new, and that's a big deal in a line that is built off of recycling a lot of the same parts. Mosquitor is built on a black buck, with heavy, gray robotic looking boots, smooth gray undies with a purple belt and silver triangular belt buckle, deep crimson gauntlets, red bands around his biceps, and bulbous crimson shoulders, that look like they're made of some kind of disgusting organic membrane. He's also got a button on his back to pump that blood!
The window in his chest has a painted silver border and clearly shows off the reservoir of life juice in his blood tank. Pressing that button gets the blood flowing and it looks really good. It's also surprisingly fun to pump it. Once again, I never owned the original, so I can't say how it compares to the vintage original, but either way, I'd say Mattel did a fantastic job recreating this gross play gimmick.
Mosquitor comes with two heads, and deciding which one to go with is a win-win scenario, because they're both so damn good. The figure comes out of the package wearing one which I believe is based on his appearance in the UK comics. This one transforms Mosquitor into more of a reptilian looking creature, with a scaly textured skin, and bit yellow eyes with vertical pupils very reminiscent of alligator peepers. There's also a hint of a silver tube exposed in the middle of his snout, suggesting his bio-mechanical nature. I do like the look of this head a lot, and because it's so new and fresh, I used it for a lot of the pictures here. But, you also get this one…
Ah, that's the Mosquitor I'm a lot more familiar with! Here we get a smoother and more angular head with giant white eyes, and very prominent cybernetic parts on his snout, ending in what looks like a scalpel, perfect for sucking that life-giving blood from the do-gooders of Eternia or Etheria. I figure that if I want to reconcile the two, I can just imagine that this head is a helmet that goes over the other head! But in the end, this is the head I'll likely be displaying him with.
And since Mosquitor is a Deluxe, the goodies keep on coming! First, he comes with his purple rifle and an extra left hand, to replace the fist with a gun-holding hand. The gun looks great, and it seems to be a pretty good recreation of the vintage figure's gun. I'm not sure why Mattel included the extra left hand. It certainly wasn't necessary, but it does give you the option of making Mosquitor ambidextrous.
And lastly you get this absolutely incredible blood-sucking effect part. If you know me, you know that I'm not usually that impressed by effect parts, but this thing is fantastic! I thin kit's supposed to be an energy field that holds his prey while he's leeching them dry, but I like to think it's just gallons of blood leaving his foe's body. And dang, it looks like Man-at-Arms has a lot of blood! Egads, I love this!
Mosquitor is one of my favorite figures released in Origins to date. Yeah, I probably say that a lot, but it is just such an amazing line of toys! Granted, Mosquitor is a little bit extra special, as it's the first time I'm owning him, but even if that weren't the case, I think he's a fantastic update to the vintage figure, with just enough of that sweet additional articulation to make him even more fun to play around with. It's also nice to finally get another member of The Evil Horde, since I've been buying a lot of Horde Troopers to fill out Hordak's ranks!
By figurefanzero • Tagged masters of the universe origins, mattel, motu origins, origins
Masters of the Universe Origins: Wind Raider by Mattel
I'm pretty sure I said this before, but one of the things that got me most excited about Origins and buying all these damn characters all over again was the idea of more vehicles! Yeah, we got a few cool ones in Classics, but it always seemed like a reach for the line, whereas it seems more cost effective for Origins. This line feels like it's the perfect intersection point between toys and collectibles, meaning that Mattel can bring more vehicles to market at more affordable prices, because they really are just toys and not collectibles that you need to queue up online to buy quickly before they sell out! Enter the Wind Raider, surely one of the most iconic rides in Eternia. Mattel did a beautiful job bringing this vehicle to the Classics line, and I am beyond excited to see how the Origins version turned out.
The Origins packaging continues to be a home run! You get a big window box showing off the toy and lots of amazing vintage-style art on the side panels and extended top flap. It takes a bit to get this thing out of the box, and there's some assembly required, but with a little care it can go back in if you prefer to play with your toys and then display them in the package when you're done. It's like having your Wind Raider and eating it too! Don't eat your Wind Raider.
And wow is this thing a beauty! The assembly is quick and easy, and mainly consists of slapping on the wings, tailfin, and putting the stand together. The stickers are all pre-applied, and everything can be disassembled easily if you want to store it in the box. The toy is mostly comprised of a hollow plastic shell with the rest of the bits attached, and yet it still feels like a sturdy, quality toy. The colors are simple, but oh so pretty, with the combination of hunter green and orange-yellowish trim. The stickers are all straight and add some pizazz to the deco, especially the dragon icon nose art. You also get some sculpted detail, including panel lines and some vents.
Unlike the Classics Wind Raider, the wings each pivot independently. The harpoon can still be fired from the front with the push of a button, and then reeled back in by spinning the raised crest on the hood. The stand consists of a hinged peg that attaches into the bottom of the vehicle and connects with a gray deck plate, which in turn can be inserted into a Grayskull-style rocky platform, complete with a little computer terminal, perhaps for running diagnostics on the Raider. The screen is way too low for a standing figure to use it convincingly, but it's a nice touch nonetheless.
The cockpit includes a sculpted seat, a textured floor, two handlebars, and stickers for control panels in the center and on the sides. Your average Origins figure fits into it with ease, and I was pleasantly surprised at just how big this thing scales with the Origins figures. In fact, let's do a quick comparison with the Classics Wind Raider.
I'm really impressed with how close this toy is in size to the Classics Wind Raider, which was of course designed for much larger figures. It's been a while since I had the Classics version out of the box, and I expected it to be a lot bigger than this new version, but that's really not the case. As for other differences, the Classics Wind Raider certainly has sharper detail, and overall feels more like a premium piece, but the Origins Raider has nothing to be ashamed of. For an off-the-shelf toy at a fraction of the price, it certainly holds its own!
The Origins Wind Raider set me back about $35 and it's a damn nice toy for the price. It's big, it fits the figures perfectly, it has some fun play features, and it looks absolutely smashing on display. It also might be ridiculously fun to woooosh around the room, but I wouldn't know anything about that! But best of all, the Wind Raider (along with the previously reviewed Land Shark) gets me all kinds of excited over other vintage Masters vehicles getting this kind of treatment. Spydor! The Talon Fighter! The Bashasaurus!!! Bring them all on Mattel! My wallet is ready!!!
By figurefanzero • Tagged masters of the universe origins, mattel, origins
Masters of the Universe Origins: Roboto and Fisto by Mattel
It's more than a few weeks since I last checked in with Mattel's MOTU Origins line. I've got tons of figures waiting to be opened, but today's is something special for me, as this is the first time owning figures of either of these characters. Yup, both Roboto and Fisto are two of the very few figures missing from my MOTU Classics collection. With Roboto, his initial run had misassembled arms, so I waited, hoping for a fixed reissue later on down the road. Well, nope. And the rest is disappointment. As for Fisto, I think he was just released on one of those days when I couldn't get to Matty Collector fast enough to place the order in time, and he quickly sold out.
Here are our Eternian heroes looking great on the retro-styled cards. It's crazy how fast and furious this line has been right out of the gate. The figures have been coming with a steady pace, and I'd argue it's one of the best distributed action figure lines, at least in my area. I still get a lot of these online for convenience sake, but I have also seen just about every single figure at least once while taking a shortcut through the toy aisles at my local Target. Good on you, Mattel! Let's start with Roboto!
In the world of Eternia, where everyone is a colorful freak, it can be tough to stand out. So, the fact that Roboto does just that really means something! And a lot of that has to do with Roboto's super cool transparent chest. It's cast in clear plastic and shows his three primary gears inside. These will rotate when you swivel the figure at the waist in unison with his mouth opening and closing. I've never been a big fan of action gimmicks in my figures, but this is one that I can get behind! In addition to those visible internal gears, Roboto has some technological tidbits sculpted into his arms. I dig the coloring here, as it's very vibrant and eye-catching. The blue and orange contrast beautifully, and the silver paint looks outstanding.
Roboto shares the legs of Trap Jaw, which is appropriate since I've always considered Roboto his heroic counterpart. Like Trap Jaw, Roboto has multiple attachments for his left arm, which can be quickly swapped out to adapt to any situation at hand. These attachments include a claw that's so tiny, it would make Clamp Champ giggle; A double-barreled blaster; And finally, a pretty sweet double-bladed ax. Alas, unlike Trap Jaw, Roboto has nowhere to store the extra bits. Maybe they're just supposed to retract into him when he swaps them out.
His head reminds me a bit of RoboCop, as it has that silver helmet with the visor running across it. Unlike RoboCop, the bottom half of his face is just a giant, hinged orange mouth. There isn't a lot of personality in this portrait, and I have to imagine that Roboto feels a little inferior, considering how realistic Skeletor was able to make Faker's head. That alone, would make me consider changing sides. But even with a mug like a VCR, I still love this guy a lot!
Moving on to Fisto, and compared to Roboto, we've got a dude that looks pretty normal, at least according to the Eternia Scale of Normalcy. Fisto borrows a lot from the standard He-Man buck, complete with purple boots and belt, and the ubiquitous furry barbarian diaper. His torso is wrapped in a purple and silver vest, which makes him look a bit bulkier than most of these figures, but it works! He's got a silver wrist bracer on his left arm and his right arm is equipped with the reason for the season… A GIANT METALIC FIST!!!
Despite being his gimmick, Fisto's fist isn't anything too exciting… at least providing you aren't on the receiving end of it. Once again, Mattel used some beautiful silver paint here, and it looks great alongside the deep purple. I'm going to claim ignorance and ask, is that a fully functional hand or just a fist? I honestly don't know. But if he can open it like a hand, shouldn't he be called Hando?
I wasn't over enamored with the head sculpt when I first saw it, but I'll admit that it's grown on me. Fisto's head is a little lumpy, and his eyes and eyebrows look kind of weird. It's like they don't really belong on his face and they're just visiting. I do love the hair sculpt though. The beard is solid and the mustache is superb.
Fisto comes with one accessory, and that's his long purple sword. It accessorizes quite well with his outfit, and it's got a detailed hilt with a knucklebow, and a guard designed to trap opponents blades. I wouldn't want to fight Fisto, as the combo of using his fist as a parrying punchy shield combined with the long reach of that blade would make him a formidable opponent.
Egads, I love this line. The figures are always so much fun, and it's currently the most affordable line I collect by a long shot. Roboto and Fisto are just two more reminders of why I enjoy this line, and it's great to finally have figures of these characters in my collection! It's tough to spread the love with only three reviews a week, but I've got to make a concerted effort to come back to Origins more frequently than I have been, because I still have plenty of figures to check out!
Masters of the Universe Origins: "Rise of Evil 2-Pack by Mattel
Exclusives can be a pain in the ass, or they can be proof that patience pays off. In the case of today's Rise of Evil 2-Pack, it turned out to be all about patience. This set, featuring Keldor and Kronis, the original forms of Skeletor and Trap-Jaw, is another Target Exclusive that has been infamously difficult to find. After weeks of having no luck, I came very close to grabbing it from a scalper on Ebay. I actually had it in my cart, and I just couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger. My desire to own it wasn't stronger than my disgust for the people buying them up to profit on it. Two weeks later, I found six of them sitting on the shelf. Go figure!
Still, if Mattel is going to insist on doing exclusives, I'll concede that this is probably a good pick for it. Some may argue that Keldor and Kronis are essentials, but I wouldn't really agree. They are definitely great figures to have, but essential? Nah. Also, I think Mattel probably completely underestimated the demand on this one. Let's start with Kronis!
The Evil Criminal from Another Dimension represents Trap-Jaw before getting all messed up and undergoing a body-horror style repair by Tri-Klops, or at least I think that's how the 200x lore went. The figure recycles Trap-Jaw's torso, pelvis, and legs all with the same coloring, including those neon green patches on his thigh armor. The left arm no longer has the bolt on the shoulder and he has his normal right arm, both of which include the standard Eternian wrist cuffs, here colored in pale gray. The chest harness is different, as it now has a strap that goes across his chest and secures in the front, but it's definitely similar to the one Trap-Jaw uses to hold on his artificial limb.
The head sculpt definitely fits the look of psychopathic space pirate. He looks demented and like someone who probably has a lot of problems running around in his noodle. The slack-jawed expression includes a wall of white teeth and an look that suggests he's rather displeased with me and quite possibly wants to do unpleasant things to my intestines. The close-fitting helmet is similar to what he would wear as Trap-Jaw, right down to the loop at the top for zip-lining. String not included! I'll note here that my figure is a bit of a bobble head. The neck connection is just loose, making poor Kronis' head wobble around.
Kronis comes with one accessory, and that's his cool looking laser rifle. The rifle has two grips, but Kronis only has one grippy hand, as the left is the standard open hand we see with a lot of these figures. I really wish Mattel had added a second grippy hand like they did with Clamp Champ, but he can still hold the rifle fairly well and rest it on his open hand for some decent poses. Moving on to Keldor!
OK, so Kronis was pretty neat, but Keldor is really where it's at with this set. This guy looks absolutely amazing. He features a very standard pale blue Origins buck with purple boots and wrist cuffs, and a black pelvic piece. The shoulder armor and belt are recycled from regular Skeletor, but cast in a darker purple, which matches his darker purple boots. We also get a few paint hits on the chest piece, including the neon green emblem and the mauve stone in the middle of his crossed bones. Wow, this all looks so good!
Keldor also comes with a cape, which is held on by a plastic chain that goes around the front of his neck. It looks great from the front, but it's not terribly flattering from the back, as it just puffs out and makes him look like a grape.
The portrait is nothing short of fantastic. Keldor was quite the dashing fellow before the magic acid mishap. He definitely has all the stylings of a villain, with that mustache, widow's peak, and pointy beard, but the broad grin makes him look like he would be a charismatic adversary. I think this is one of the best head sculpts to come out of Origins so far!
Keldor comes with both his sword and the Havoc Staff. The sword is finished on both sides, unlike the half-sword that came with the original Skeletor release. It's also painted with a neon green glow toward the point.
The Havok Staff is the same sculpt, but the dark purple transitions to a translucent neon green as it gets to the ram head at the top. This makes for a cool effect, and not a bad stand-in for Skeletor's staff.
And finally, Keldor comes with a brand new Skeletor head, which is a huge improvement over the one we got on the original Origins release. I love the sculpt, and the paint is just about perfect. He also has some flashy red jewels for eyes. It's almost a shame that the hood is darker than the armor on the original release, because I would use this as my regular Skeletor head in a heartbeat if the colors matched up.
But in all honesty, this figure could easily stand in as your Origins Skeletor, providing you don't mind him having regular feet and not those webbed monster feet. I just love everything about this guy! He looks like a premium quality release compared to regular Skeletor.
No doubt about it, this is a great set! Keldor definitely nudges out Kronis as the star for me, but Kronis is no slouch either. And while I'm glad I didn't have to pay extra, I probably would have been OK with spending more if I had to. This 2-pack is a release that I would have expected to come much later in Origins' lifespan, but it's cool that Mattel is investing in some deep cuts fairly early on. It makes me wonder what other goodies they have in store for us!
By figurefanzero • Tagged exclusives, masters of the universe origins, mattel, motu origins, origins
Masters of the Universe Origins: Clamp Champ by Mattel
The MOTU Origins figures continue piling up, and I feel as if it's been too long since I last visited with this delightful line. But, since one of the new Deluxe figures was just spat toward my doorstep via Amazon Toy-Drone, I bumped Clamp Champ to the head of the line, so let me pour another Jameson and sing him in on….
It's Clamp Champ!
He's the Champ of the Clamp!
Not to be confused with Tramp Stamp!
What's he called?
You deaf son? He's CLAMP CHAMP… Yeeeeah!!!
How do you stand out in Eternia when you aren't half-skunk, covered in moss, half robot-elephant, or have a telescoping neck? You get in the garage and build yourself a giant mechanical clamp! And that's exactly what Clamp Champ did! As one of the Deluxe figures, he comes in a larger vintage-styled card for his extra goodies. The TechnoClamp has been renamed the Power Pincer, which leads me to question why he isn't called Pincer Champ, but whatever. I love the larger card and bubbles. It makes it look like an old timey rack toy. Sadly, these are not collector friendly, so let me get with the ripping!
Naturally, Champ uses the standard MOTU hero buck, and as this line is modular, he can be pulled apart at all the usual points. My figure actually has a pretty weak connection at the waist, so he will sometimes pull in half when I'm messing around with him. Werid. Clampy has some nice silver paint on his wrist bracers and belt, and some red paint on his furry diaper and the fringe at the tops of his black boots. He wears a rubbery plastic vest, which makes him look rather swol, but also adds some blue to the costume deco, and his color is painted with more of that scrummy silver. He's a great looking figure!
I was surprised to see that Clamp Man comes with two heads, one with a serious clamping expression and one smiling. I really dig them both, and it's going to be a tough call on which one to go with for regular display. Maybe the smiling one, since all the other figures look so serious all the time. I'll note here that Sir Clamp also comes with an extra accessory-holding left hand. I'll likely go with this one all the time, since his relaxed hand has the fingers kind of warped. It's like he was testing the clamp on this hand and things got out of control.
Wow, and that brings us to the clamp itself. Even in the batshit crazy world of Eternia, this is one of the most impractical and ungainly weapon I've ever seen. He can barely hold it comfortably, let alone wield it in any convincing fashion. And all that makes it so incredibly wonderful. He grips it from a simple peg underneath and there's a switch on the top that deploys the fluorescent orange pincer claws. I'd like to think that Champ's backstory is he had planned to get this thing as a cybernetic replacement for his right arm, but then didn't want to cut his arm off, so he just carries it around.
The claw is perfectly sized to fit around the waist of your average Eternian ne'er-do-well. And since they're spring loaded they stay put pretty well. I'd like to think Champ's favorite one-liner is, "Looks like you brought a gun to a clamp fight." Actually, I take that back. His catch-phrase should be, "You mess with the Champ, You get the Clamp!"
Clamp Champ also comes with a smaller clamp weapon, so it's like he planned for the big thing getting too heavy to carry all day. This is a non-articulated accessory of a smaller and more lethal looking clamp, with serrated claws.
I'm a little surprised that they got to Clamp Champ so soon in the Origins line, but then again they are turning out these figures pretty damn fast. As I haven't picked up the Battle Armor He-Man and Skeletor yet, this is the first of these Deluxe figures in my collection. At $19.99, these Deluxes are about five bucks more than the regular ones, which still feels like a pretty good value, as there's a lot of extra plastic in here.


Nice and Bright one bedroom apartment with high ceilings and wooden floors. Unfurnished with a great view at the canal and very closeby Central station.
Bright and spacious living area , fully equipped kitchen, good master bedroom with plenty of wardrobe space, bathroom with a bathtub and a shower.
The canal building is located in one of the oldest and characteristic part of Amsterdam. There are many shops, bars, restaurants and cultural highlights close by. Public transport to several directions is on a walking distance.
Since Relocation Advisers was founded in 1984, we have become extremely successful in finding suitable accommodation for the employees and their families of national and international companies.


Especially for goalkeepers: Functional goalkeeper overalls. Preferred by many goalkeepers for their daily training, even more and more amateur goalies appreciate these special suits for keepers. Find your suitable overall with our filter options. Choose your favored properties and you receive a clearly arranged overview of interesting overalls for you.


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text:
Ageless, Bearded Mountaineer Jared Leto to Star in Hugh Hefner's Biopic
by Justin Fenner
On Tuesday, less than a week after the death of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, the news broke that his life will be turned into a biopic starring none other than Jared Leto.
The Academy Award-winning actor is in the early stages (so early that there's neither a release date nor a title for it just yet) of making a movie about Hefner's life with producer Brett Ratner, who's slated to direct. "Jared is an old friend," Ratner told The Hollywood Reporter. "When he heard I got the rights to Hef's story, he told me, 'I want to play him. I want to understand him.' And I really believe Jared can do it. He's one of the great actors of today."
Leto isn't just an actor: he's also an avid mountain climber (albeit one who scales the slopes wearing copious amounts of Gucci) and the frontman of the band 30 Seconds to Mars. Word has it he never had the opportunity to meet Hefner in person, but that shouldn't stop him from turning out a great performance. Hefner lived his life in full view of the public for well over 60 years, and with talk shows, reality shows, and even movie and TV cameos, his mannerisms and personal style should be easy for Leto to capture. And if Ray, The King's Speech, and Braveheart are any indication, this film has a good chance of setting him up to win another Oscar. In the meantime, his next movie, Blade Runner 2049, will premiere on Friday, Oct. 6.
Take Years Off Your Life in Weeks With Advice From 'Younger You'
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Netflix Drops New 'Jeen-Yuhs' Teaser Trailer for Upcoming Kanye West Documentary
Zachary Zerk Is at the Forefront of Guiding Millennials and Gen Z Toward Financial Freedom

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Het Klooster van Tussenbeke (ook: Klooster Tussenbeek) is een voormalig klooster in de tot de Oost-Vlaamse gemeente Wichelen behorende plaats Serskamp.

Geschiedenis
In 1151 werd een Norbertinessenklooster gebouwd vlak bij de parochiekerk van Serskamp. Omstreeks 1258 werd dit klooster overgeplaatst naar een naburig terrein bij Billegem. Het heette sindsdien Klooster van Tussenbeke. Dit lag weliswaar op het grondgebied van Schellebelle maar kwam, na een grenswijziging, in 1810 opnieuw op het grondgebied van Serskamp te liggen.

In 1783 werd het klooster op bevel van Keizer Jozef II afgeschaft en in 1785 werden de gebouwen openbaar verkocht. In 1798 werd ook de kloosterhoeve, aan Billegem 54, verkocht. De huidige hoevegebouwen zijn grotendeels 19e eeuw en jonger. Het 19e eeuwse bedrijsgebouw bevat nog onderdelen, zoals moerbalken, die van de oorspronkelijke hoeve (herbouwd in  1738) afkomstig zouden zijn.

Het bij de kloostersite gelegen Nonnenbos verwijst nog naar het vroegere klooster.

Tussenbeke
Onroerend erfgoed in Wichelen
Norbertinessenabdij
Voormalig klooster in Vlaanderen

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


If there's one thing I've learned from being in business for myself, it's this: there are times when things can get pretty chaotic. Between looming project deadlines, a constant push to market yourself and your services, trying to make customers happy, keeping up the books, and everything else necessary to running a small business effectively and efficiently, it can sometimes feel pretty overwhelming.
It's kind of like being in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean when a storm strikes. You start rowing as fast you can to try to get to the safety and security of shore, but instead you feel as if you're going in circles and you've got no other option but to hunker down and simply try to weather the winds and rain as best you can.
At times like these, it's important to remember that, while you can't control everything that is going on around you, you can still control a lot. In other words, just because things feel chaotic at the moment, that doesn't mean that you have to be chaotic too.
In fact, when you find some sense of calm amid the chaos, you can often get the world around you to slow down a little bit too, which makes you more productive and effective and a better small business owner. So how do you do that?
When there's a lot going on around you, it's easy to lose your place because you're distracted by all of the commotion, whether actual or just in your mind. Therefore, spending some time alone in complete silence can help reduce the chatter and set yourself at ease.
To make the most of this time, you could do some breathing exercises, such as the 4-7-8 exercise suggested by Dr. Andrew Weil. This involves breathing in softly through your nose to a count of four, holding for a count of seven, and then exhaling loudly through your mouth to a count of eight.
Another option is to meditate or do yoga, two exercises suggested by Psychology Today for their calming effects. For the best effects, they recommend doing these types of activities 4 to 5 days a week for at least a 30-day timeframe.
If you feel as if you're no longer in control and that is what is giving you the feelings of chaos, then it's time to put your situation into perspective. Once you do, you'll likely realize that you aren't actually immersed in chaos, it just feels like it at the moment. Plus, going through this exercise helps you see your circumstance more clearly so that if there are some areas you could exert more control over and improve your situation, you can do so more effectively.
One way to achieve this is to ask yourself if the things that have you feeling stressed or worried are really as major as they feel. If they aren't, then you may be better off letting them go. And if they are, then at least you know that you need to focus on these particular areas in order to start feeling better about your business and the direction it is headed. From there, you can create a plan to deal with them head on. Do this and you'll notice the positive effects almost instantly.
Sometimes it isn't your own chaos that is threatening your calm, but the chaos coming from clients, partners, employees, or sometimes even family. This makes setting boundaries critical to protecting you from other people's drama before it starts to seep into your life and threaten your own mental state, and therefore your business.
For instance, if you have a client who constantly needs things yesterday, you may want to advise them that you require at least one to two weeks' notice to accommodate their requests. If they don't do as you ask after that, essentially disrespecting the boundaries you've set, then you may decide that they're not worth the chaos that they're putting in your work life and have to let them go. Of course, it helps if you have a new client set up to take their place first, but even if you don't, sometimes the stress isn't worth the money you make from them.
If everyone else is pulling at you, telling you what they need, there is a high likelihood that your own needs have taken a back seat (if they're even still in the car). Therefore, one way to help reestablish the calm is to do relaxing things that you enjoy, and do them just for you.
Oftentimes, we feel guilty for doing for us because, in business, you have to be very in tune to everyone else's needs and wants. However, taking care of yourself is necessary if you want to be your best for everyone else.
Some activities that may relax you include reading, listening to soothing music, going for a walk, chatting with a friend, sitting by the water, watching your favorite TV show or movie, or anything else that leaves you in a state of calm. It doesn't matter so much what it is as long as you feel calmer after doing it.
Do these types of things often and you'll likely see that you don't get as stressed as fast as you used to, which will make you a better person and a better business owner.
What do you do when things get chaotic in your business life? Feel free to share them below so that others can use them to increase the calm in their work life too.


Mama's got a brand new bag - Stop staring and start sewing!
I love my old bag but it's really been showing signs of wear (since I take it wherever I go) and finally this last week one of the magnet snaps just ripped right out. So I've been working on a new bag for a few days now and I'm really glad I took my time because Joey kept giving me super ideas to make this a really great bag. For the shape (curved at the top instead of straight across) I was inspired by some bags I saw on ebay and I was tempted to bid on those because they were so pretty, but I really needed a pocket situation that was practical for me.
Here is the finished look. I used some of my favorite fabrics and then added some butterflies as an afterthought (but before the final assembly) and I think they really add a touch of whimsy. I used some heavyweight decorator fabric for the bottom (the same print I used on my ironing board cover) to give it more stability and stain resistance where it's really needed.
But what I really really love about this bag is the inside. I don't need tons of pockets, just the right kinds of pockets. So I made a couple of pockets for things like pens and pads (both the paper kind and the "feminine" kind).
But my favorite pockets are the ones Joey recommended. First is the one for my sunglasses. It's lined with flannel (pink polka dots but you really can't see it) and I used one of my precious scraps from Amy Butler'sTemple Flower line just because it makes me happy. I placed it at the end of the bag so I can just reach in and grab it without digging around and this way they won't get crunched in with my other stuff.
If you look at the where the strap is attached to the bag you can see my secret "Joey pocket" (this pocket was his idea when he saw the little space there on a previous bag and I thought since a kangaroo has a baby joey and it sleeps in a pocket...well you know). So I keep my cell phone there and this way I'm not digging frantically for it. I added a little elastic to snug it up a bit. I love it!
Here's the backside of the bag. I wanted a pocket there but I didn't want it to be out in the open so this way if I put something in there it will be on the side facing me. Another cute butterfly!
I'm so happy with the way it turned out! It's both pretty and practical and allowed me the opportunity to use lots of my favorite fabrics in one item. Snazzy! This was a really cheap (and actually quite relaxing) way to spice up my sad wardrobe.
Eventually I would like to post a pattern and tutorial for this but in the meantime I highly recommend getting a simple pattern and some great fabric (it doesn't take much) and play around with it. Fun!


Strong Economic Start. No Signs of Slowing.
The economy's underlying fundamentals remain solid, underpinned by a robust job market. An average of 202,000 new jobs were created every month in 2018—more than the monthly averages in both 2016 and 2017. Stimulus from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 will keep demand for office space growing at a strong pace. Office-using job growth in Q1 2018 was stronger than the 2017 average. Industrial output rose 3.2%—the largest 6-month growth rate for any period since 2010. Retail sales for March recorded an increase at auto dealers, furniture and home stores, and electronic and appliance sellers.
Read Cushman & Wakefield's analysis of 2018 first quarter commercial real estate results by clicking on the links below.


Tip: Use scarves like above and you don't have to finish all the edges.
A kaftan is simply a cover up, perfect for the beach or pool. I made this simple pattern that explains everything. You can use scarves, fabric, even a large blouse like I did.
Basically it's 2 rectangles sewn together.
Allow for 1/4 inch seam allowance to finish the edges. You will place front/back with wrong sides together. Begin by cutting a scoop for the front and back neckline. If you want a v-neck, cut that only on the front piece. Finish edges and Add trim down the front and along the neckline -optional-.
Next place them right sides together and sew along the top next to the neckline. As shown in the picture.
Flip out again so wrong sides are together. Top stitch front and back together on both sides 5 1/4 in. from each side. Add a button hole at the top point.
Use a sash through the button holes and tie back or front.
Finish all edges 1/4 inch.
To lengthen or widen just change the measurements.
Waoooo!!!! very cool tutorial...I try!!!
You should know how to write a descriptive if you want to be successful student. It will help you to get a high grade.


text:
Q: single sign on with google auth passport Short:
Hi,
I want to do single sign-on with nodejs express passport google oauth
Maybe someone has a good tutorial or sample code
Long:
Basically:

*

*User goes to my site Login page www.mysite.com/login

*Click on "Sign In with Google"

*Passport does the work and the user is logged in
Now up to here everything works fine and
I have user logged in and they are in session;
I can access with req.user but:

*User goes to another site www.mysite2.com/home

He needs to be already logged in.  But it not working.
Also if I click again on "Sign In with Google" in login page www.mysite.com/login
 the google login page shows again and asks the user to supply email password.
I expect that Google will know that they already authenticated the user
and send me a code (/auth/google/callback?code=4/SwCR3zt89...)
to my callback route (www.mysite.com/auth/google/callback) for example.
Here is part of the code:
server.js
var express = require('express');
var passport = require('passport');
var GoogleStrategy = require('passport-google-oauth').OAuth2Strategy;

passport.serializeUser((user, done) => {
    done(null, user);
});
passport.deserializeUser((user, done) => {
    done(null, user);
});
passport.use(new GoogleStrategy({
    clientID: configService.getGoogleClientId(),
    clientSecret: configService.getGoogleClientSecret(),
    callbackURL: "http://localhost:3000/auth/google/callback"
},
 function (accessToken, refreshToken, profile, done) {

    User.findOrCreate({ googleId: profile.id }, function (err, user) {
    return done(err, user);
  });
}
));

var app = express();
app.use(session({
  secret: configService.getSessionSecret(),
  resave: false,
  saveUninitialized: false,
  //cookie: { secure: true }
}))
app.use(passport.initialize());
app.use(passport.session());

app.get('/auth/google',
  passport.authenticate('google', { scope:
['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/plus.login'] }));

app.get('/auth/google/callback',
  passport.authenticate('google', { failureRedirect: '/login' }),
  function (req, res) {
    res.redirect('/home');
  });

login.html:

  Sign In with Google

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Quintana Impresses in Cubs Debut
The Chicago Cubs made a move with the intentions of bolstering their rotation, and that move paid off for at least one start on Sunday afternoon. The Cubs completed the sweep of the Baltimore Orioles out of the All-Star break with an 8-0 shutout victory behind the arm of Jose Quintana. The former White Sox hurler lasted seven innings and struck out 12 in his first start for the defending champs. The ace-caliber pitcher allowed three hits and did not walk a batter, joining Matt Garza as the only Cub pitchers to strike out 12 in their team debut. He also got plenty of run support, as Chicago's bats stayed hot with 15 hits, including long balls from Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. The win puts the Cubs over .500 for the first time since June 29th, as their torrid offense combined for 10 home runs this weekend in Baltimore. Wilson Contreras had a career-high four hits on Sunday against Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez, who fell to 4-5 on the season. The Cubs pulled within 4.5 games of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central, and will head to Atlanta to battle the Braves on Monday.
Dodgers Sweep Marlins, Win Ninth Straight
The All-Star break has not changed a thing for the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers, as they have not slowed down in any way this weekend. Justin Turner went deep on Sunday to key a 3-2 win over the Miami Marlins, completing the series sweep. They also recorded their ninth straight win, as Turner added a single on the day to raise his average to .374 on the season. His bat led the Dodgers to their fourth one-run win during the streak, Rich Hill lasted five innings in his sixth win, as five Dodger pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts in the win. Kenley Jansen got the final four outs of the afternoon, earning his 23rd save of the season. The NL West leaders have won 29 of their past 33 games, improving to 35 games over .500 for the first time since 1977, and now hold the franchise's best record through 93 games since 1955. Chris O'Grady suffered his first loss in his second career start for the Marlins, who have dropped six of seven to the Dodgers this season, Los Angeles will enjoy Monday off before heading to Chicago for an interleague matchup with the White Sox.
Yankees, Red Sox Trade Shutouts in Doubleheader
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox capped off their weekend series with a doubleheader at Fenway Park on Sunday, with both teams recording shutouts on the day. First, C.C. Sabathia allowed just two hits over six scoreless innings in a 3-0 Yankees' win in the early game. Didi Gregorius added run support with a long ball, as the Yankees won consecutive games for the first time since a six-game win streak from June 7-12. They had gone 8-19 since then. Boston went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position in Game 1 and stranded 10 runners against Sabathia, who recorded his eighth win. In Game 2 of the doubleheader, it was David Price who had the upper-hand, as the lefty threw eight shutout innings and struck out eight in a 3-0 Boston victory. Price allowed seven hits, but stranded all baserunners, as Mookie Betts backed him up with a two-run home run. Jackie Bradley Jr. played a big role in the field, robbing Aaron Judge of a two-run home run with a leaping catch in center field in the eighth inning. Judge has now gone just 1-for-18 since his Home Run Derby performance. Masahiro Tanaka gave up just three runs on eight hits in 7.2 innings in what was his ninth loss of the year. It was the first time this season that the Yankees have been shut out, making them the final team to do so. They will head to Minnesota for a series with the Twins beginning Monday. Boston remains home to host the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.


DIRANG, May 5: The revenue generated by the state government in the last few years has been outstanding and the increment trajectory every financial year has been exponential, informed Chief Minister Pema Khandu here on Saturday.
The state government's commitment to plug revenue loopholes and streamline financial transactions has resulted in increased revenue generation of Rs 1253 crore last financial year as compared to Rs 900 crore in the previous year, the chief minister said.
"We generated Rs 300 crore more than the previous year immediately after we came to power. This financial year, we generated Rs 1600 crore and in the next (2018-19) we aim to cross Rs 2000 crore. Such a growth trajectory has never been witnessed in the state since its inception," he said during a developmental meeting here in West Kameng district.
Pema assured that the money is being judiciously and equally utilized for developmental projects in every assembly constituency and the districts.
He said sufficient funds under SIDF are being distributed to each assembly constituency – irrespective of party affiliation of the incumbent MLA – first to complete all unfinished projects and then take up new projects.
The chief minister said the government is committed to decentralize the administration and therefore set up divisional commissioner offices for Western and Eastern zones besides setting up zonal offices of all line departments. He announced establishment of a PWD chief engineer's office at Tawang.
He said besides decentralization of governance, formulation of schemes and projects are also being decentralized. Henceforth, all schemes and projects would be decided at the district level through consultations and forwarded to the state government, he informed.
In order to bring in fair and impartial recruitment system, Pema informed that the state government is processing to constitute a Staff Selection Board that will be mandated to conduct recruitment of all group C posts. With the APPSC already in place, the newly created board will plug all practices of illegal or 'back door' appointments, he affirmed.
He appealed to the people to avail the benefits of flagship programmes like the Swavalamban Yojana. Expressing concern over lesser number of beneficiaries from the area, he exhorted government officials to spread awareness amongst the people on all such schemes.
The chief minister welcomed the proposal to shift the old additional deputy commissioner office to a new location at Chuk Valley and called on the locals to donate land for the purpose. He assured funds for construction of a mini-secretariat at the new location and also announced a fire tender establishment at Dirang.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju, who also joined the programme, announced Rs 75 crore for construction of a double lane road from the 9 Mile diversion-point to Nafra besides establishment of an ITBP Sector HQ in Sangti. He also announced Rs 2 crore for development of Thembang village as a smart village.
Rijiu emphasized on proper coordination between the state and the centre for developmental projects to accelerate.
Earlier, the chief minister dedicated the Zhangdongrong Mini Hydel project (2×500 KW) to the people. The mini-hydel project constructed by the State Hydro Power Development department will supply power to about 19 villages in the area.
Parliamentary Secretary (Hydro Power Development) Phosum Khimhun assured to provide a transformer.
Meanwhile, Rijiju laid the foundation stone for the Tchang Ringbu RCC bridge (Built at a cost of Rs 18 crore) in presence of the chief minister and parliamentary secretaries Phosum Khimhun, Kumsi Sidisow and Phurpa Tsering.


Known as pyrography which literally means "writing with fire" woodburning is a rewarding art that is practically infinite in its applications. This book shows you everything you need to get started in this fun and expressive craft.
Award-winning artist and pyrographer Simon Easton takes you from basic woodburning concepts to tips and techniques that encourage your creativity and help you develop your own individual style. His expert lessons teach you all of the essential techniques from making simple marks to texturing lettering shading and finishing.
Learn to Burn offers fifteen step-by-step projects for making decorative giftsfrom spoons and spatulas to bangles bowls and bookmarksillustrated with clear how-to photographs. Each pyro project can be completed using ready-made materials that are easy to find at your local craft store.
Fifty bonus patterns will allow you to unleash your creativity on hundreds of additional woodburning projects. This a book that you'll come back to again and again as you develop your expertise in an innovative art form.


text:
package rescuecore2.messages.control;

import java.util.List;
import java.util.Collection;

import rescuecore2.messages.Control;
import rescuecore2.messages.AbstractMessage;
import rescuecore2.messages.components.EntityListComponent;
import rescuecore2.worldmodel.Entity;

import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.IOException;

/**
   A message for signalling a successful connection to the GIS.
 */
public class GKConnectOK extends AbstractMessage implements Control {
    private EntityListComponent world;

    /**
       A GKConnectOK message that populates its data from a stream.
       @param in The InputStream to read.
       @throws IOException If there is a problem reading the stream.
     */
    public GKConnectOK(InputStream in) throws IOException {
        this();
        read(in);
    }

    /**
       A GKConnectOK with a specified entity list.
       @param entities The entities to send.
     */
    public GKConnectOK(Collection<? extends Entity> entities) {
        this();
        world.setEntities(entities);
    }

    private GKConnectOK() {
        super(ControlMessageURN.GK_CONNECT_OK);
        world = new EntityListComponent("Entities");
        addMessageComponent(world);
    }

    /**
       Get the entity list.
       @return All entities.
     */
    public List<Entity> getEntities() {
        return world.getEntities();
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
NauruPNGSamoaTongaVanuatu
Google unveils Stadia, a gaming competitor to PlayStation, Xbox and PC
BY: Loop Pacific
Google is entering the gaming industry with Stadia, a cloud gaming service promised to let users play, watch and build games on 'any device'.
The tech giant says users will need just a Wi-Fi connection to stream games onto devices like TVs, laptops and phones, using a controller of their choice.
Stadia was announced at an event in San Francisco during the Game Developers Conference hosted by former Sony and Xbox executive and current Google gaming boss Phil Harrison.
"To build Stadia, we've thought deeply about what it means to be a gamer and worked to converge two distinct worlds: people who play video games and people who love watching them," says Harrison.
"In a world where there are more than 200 million people watching game-related content daily on YouTube, Stadia makes many of those games playable with the press of a button. If you watch one of your favorite creators playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey, simply click the 'play now' button. Seconds later, you'll be running around ancient Greece in your own game/on your own adventure - no downloads, no updates, no patches and no installs."
Google says its goal is to make games available on Stadia in resolutions up to 4K and 60 frames per second, with HDR and surround sound. However, Google has not announced how fast a user's internet connection must be in order to enjoy the high performance Stadia is boasting.
At the presentation, further tech specs were shown off, including a massive 10.7 GPU teraflops - versus the PlayStation 4 Pro's 4.2 and Xbox One X's 6.0.
While gamers can use other controllers or a mouse and keyboard with Stadia, Google has also developed a Stadia controller.
Harrison says the controller itself has a direct connection to Google's data centre through Wi-Fi.
"The controller also includes a button for instant capture, saving and sharing gameplay in up to 4K of stunning resolution. And it comes equipped with a Google Assistant button and built-in microphone."
Stadia will launch later this year, first in the US, Canada, the UK and Europe. How much it will cost and what games will be available at launch will be announced at a later date.
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Forza Horizon -- Behind the Scenes Episode 1
Welcome to the first episode of our "Forza Horizon – Behind the Scenes" video series! Over the next few weeks leading up to the release of Forza Horizon starting on Oct. 23, we will be lifting the curtain on the making of the biggest racing game of the year! Here, in the inaugural episode, we introduce you to some of the creators of the game and talk about what makes Forza Horizon such an incredible new expression of the Forza series. You'll learn about the world of Forza Horizon's Colorado, the unadulterated joy that is night racing, and lots of other cool details to whet your appetite for the game. But don't take our word for it, check out the first episode here:
In the coming weeks, we'll be diving deep into the world of Forza Horizon to give you detailed looks at the features that make Forza Horizon one of the most anticipated games of 2012. If you like what you see and can't wait for more information on Forza Horizon, we've got you covered. If it's car information you're looking for, make sure you are dialed into the official Forza Twitter and Facebook feeds, where we are announcing cars on a daily basis. In the coming weeks, we'll have updates to everyone's favorite Forza Motorsport Web site (that's this one, of course), with more details on the Forza Horizon Cars and World pages, and, finally, stay tuned to today's Week in Review for a wrap-up of the week that was in the Forza universe!


Identification: The pm7's are large fried eggs easily recognized by position and by the line they form with pm6 and a neuron. pm7D is on the dorsal midline, straight posterior from pm6D. pm7VL and pm7VR are subventral, stright posterior of pm6VL and pm6VR.


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Environmental Management Systems (EMS)
An Environmental Management System (EMS) relies on a cycle of continuous improvement consisting of four steps – Plan, Do, Check and Act. This model serves as a framework for installations to clearly identify, prioritize, manage, and check progress toward meeting environmental objectives and targets, minimizing environmental risks, and identifying areas for continual improvement of mission support and environmental performance. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) developed the ISO 14001 standard to provide a set of internationally recognized criteria for EMS. The Army adopted the ISO 14001 because it provides a proven, systematic approach to managing the environmental risks associated with an organization's activities, products and services. ISO 14001 offers flexibility, allowing the organization to pursue its own performance goals as long as they are consistent with its environmental policy. Organizations commit to continuous improvement, prevention of pollution and compliance with legal requirements.
Establish the system processes and set objectives to develop programs necessary to deliver results in accordance with the installations environmental or sustainability policy. For example: "Set objectives targets and programs to increase availability of training lands." "Review the environmental aspects of the installation's activities, products and services."
Implement the system processes through defined roles and responsibilities, systematic communication, training and documented controls, including: "Procedures in place to ensure current shop operational controls are in place at the point of use." "Cross-functional teams guide work toward EMS/sustainability objective or goal."
Monitor and measure results by periodically checking compliance, auditing the system, and ensuring effectiveness of corrective or preventive actions such as: "The installation maintains its Installation Corrective Action Plan to ensure the effectiveness of preventive actions." "Environmental officers and environmental inspectors evaluate compliance and ensure effective communication."
Take action to continually improve the performance of the EMS. For instance: "The Environmental Quality Control Committee guides the EMS and ensures its continued suitability, adequacy and effectiveness."
EMS uses the Environmental Performance Assessment System (EPAS) program to provide external audits and support internal audits that help Army commanders attain, sustain and monitor compliance with federal, state and local environmental laws and regulations, and DoD and Army requirements. EPAS audits provide the external check on an installation's EMS that supports continuous improvement of the management system.
Executive Order 13423 has been revoked by Executive Order 13693, which calls for the agency to continue maintaining EMSs "where effective." The Army is evaluating future EMS policy.
ISO 14001:2004 is no longer the current ISO 14001 standard, it was replaced by ISO 14001:2015, which requires Army leaders to decide if the Army will adopt ISO 14001:2015 or pursue another path forward.
An EMS applies a methodical approach to identifying risks, focusing resources, measuring performance and meeting mission requirements. Through an EMS, an installation can manage the full scope of its environmental programs. Many installations integrate strategic sustainability efforts with their EMS. This ability to incorporate diverse initiatives into one encompassing system, along with the information power it provides, enables garrison commanders to meet their responsibilities to strengthen Soldier and Family readiness, enhance installation sustainability, improve infrastructure and enable business transformation.
ISO 14001:2015-Environmental Management Systems
Environmental Management and Assessment Requirements (Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Installation Management (OACSIM) Memorandum, Oct. 12, 2010)
Army EMS Model
Army Commander's Guide to Environmental Management Systems
Environmental Management Systems Implementer's Guide
Environmental Program Internal Assessment Guide
Article: Environmental Management Systems Qs and As from Public Works Digest, Oct/Nov/Dec 2012 edition, pages 17-18
Article: EMS to manage fiscal constraints from Public Works Digest, Apr/May/Jun 2012 edition, pages 38-39
Environmental Management Systems Aspect and Impact Methodology for Army Training Ranges
Incentive Programs for Implementing Environmental Management Systems
Instructions for Implementing Executive Order 13423, Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, March 2007
Information to Implement Executive Order 13514, Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, March 2007
EMS on the Defense Environmental Network Information Exchange (DENIX) public site
EMS on Army Knowledge Online (AKO account required)


We aim to have you 100% satisfied with your product. If for any reason it does not meet your satisfaction or there is a defect or problem with the decal we will replace it or exchange it for something to the same value.
We strongly recommend you read all instructions which will be enclosed in your package and also can be found here on our website before you make any attempt to put a decal on the wall.
Items which are damaged due to incorrect handling and application to the wall will not be refunded or replaced.
For a refund the item must be posted back to us in the same condition it was sent out to you and the postage will be at the buyers expense.
It is also recommended that you apply tracking to the product being sent back to us.


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Comparing Failed, Foiled, Completed and Successful Terrorist Attacks
Investigators:
Erik Dahl
Margaret Wilson
Martha Crenshaw
The current research provides a new database recording failed and foiled jihadist plots against the United States and selected overseas allies occurring between 1993 and 2017. The data are thus extensive in terms of time period covered and countries included. This report outlines some of the key findings, focusing on trends and case studies from the data collected. First, the attacks against the U.S. homeland are considered, both in terms of the nature of all attempts and in terms of the difference between those attacks that succeed and those that do not. Since the failed and foiled plots project also collected data on countries that are members of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as well as Australia and New Zealand, the second section of the report provides some international comparison of the threats emerging in recent years. This section takes the data from 2010, when there was a steep increase in threats to the United States, through 2016, the last complete year of data collection, to provide a general picture of the threat to the West and permit comparison between the United States and other western democracies. The analysis draws on work completed in the early years of the project with the development of a detailed coding framework and a test of the reliability of the coding scheme.
It is certainly the case that in the United States there are more jihadist plots that are successfully disrupted than terrorist attacks that can be said to have achieved some kinetic effect. How plots come to fail or to be foiled is therefore of great importance to the study of terrorism and to the development of counterterrorism policy. There can be no comprehensive picture of the threat without analyzing what violent jihadist adversaries planned to do as well as what they actually managed to accomplish. Examining failed and foiled plots is essential to understanding their intentions as well as their capabilities. Nor can the validity of public concern be judged without an evaluation of what extreme jihadists aspired to do. A balanced view of plots, successful and unsuccessful, is essential to public appreciation of the threat. The current data therefore allow an insight into the aspirations of those who target the United States and allied countries as well as an understanding of how plots came to fail or were successfully disrupted.
Since the February 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, there have been 121 jihadist-linked plots to use violence against the American homeland. Only 15 of these plots were completely successful, with an additional seven that were partially successful and partially foiled; one that was partially successful and partially failed; and two that contained elements of success, with further aspects of the attack that were both failed and foiled. The number of attempted and successful plots has increased in recent years, both in the United States and in the other countries studied, with a steep increase after 2010. However, most U.S. jihadist plots were completely or partially foiled (82%), and most of those foiled plots involve government surveillance and/or government informants who enter the plot at an early stage. Surveillance is also the most frequent route to disruption outside the United States. Despite the dominance of early government intervention, in 13 cases, community tip offs and in three cases, family tip offs, set the investigation in motion. Of the 16 cases that involved a failure of plans, six failed completely, three had elements of success, and seven also involved interventions that foiled the plot.
The dataset used in this project was constructed from public sources on successful, as well as failed and foiled, jihadist attempts to use violence against the homelands of the United States and its Western allies since the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993. These sources include not only news outlets but also government documents including Department of Justice and FBI statements. For U.K. cases, Crown Prosecution documents were also consulted. It is acknowledged that any data derived from public sources may omit information known only to intelligence agencies; however, such are the constraints for research in the public domain.
July 2012 to December 2017
Al-Qaida and Affiliated Movements Global Security Homeland Security Education and Training
Violent Groups and Movements Countering Violent Extremism
Jihadist Terrorist Plots in the United States (Research Brief)
Jihadist Plots in the United States: Interim Findings Infographic (Research Brief)
START Annual Meeting 2016: Quick-Fire Presentation - Counterterrorism, Countering Violent Extremism, Deradicalization (Presentation)
It's not Big Data, but Little Data, that Prevents Terrorist Attacks (Discussion Point)


NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the County of Colusa is requesting bids from licensed Contractors for the procurement and installation of duct work to duct exhaust from portable AC units in the Transit shop to the outside of the Colusa County Transit located at 715 D Street, Colusa, CA. This is a public works contract subject to payment of prevailing wage.
Bids shall be delivered to the Clerk to the Board of Supervisors Office located at 547 Market Street, Suite 102, Colusa, CA 95932 by February 13, 2019 no later than 3:00 p.m. At that time the bids will be opened and recorded by the County. There is a mandatory walk-thru scheduled on Tuesday, February 5, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. sharp at the Colusa County Transit System located at 715 D Street, Colusa, CA. Those not in attendance or late will not be permitted to bid.
The bid must be made on the bid forms furnished by the County. Bid forms are available at the office of Purchasing and Procurement, 547 Market Street, Suite 110, Colusa, CA or by download at www.countyofcolusa.org in the Bids and RFP's section of the website.
Bids will only be accepted on the forms provided by the County's Purchasing and Procurement unit.


Nowadays, the Spreadsheet program is popularly used to perform the calculation, integrate information from different applications and analyze the data. Excel is a widely used application and used in various official workplaces. The user can easily maintain separate worksheet for individual drafts of any works, complex and multiple calculation are done in just one click and statistical representations of work can be perfectly shown in different diagrammatic forms.
I keep having a problem while saving a particular .xls excel 2007 file. It is also being saved in 2003 compatible file format. When I attempt to re-open the file after saving I get the message "fileName".xls File format is not valid. When I press Control shift & I, I get the error code 100109 displayed.
I cannot locate the error code shown so I am at a loss as of where to go from here other than recreating the file again, has anybody any clues as to the error code and how to correct as I get this problem about once a month. Thanks in advance!!!
What is ".XLS File Format is Invalid" Error?
The file format is invalid error keeps haunting the excel users. The appearance of this error can easily be recognized when the concerned XLS file doesn't open. Each time when the user tries to open XLS file format, they will get a dialog box pops-up branding ".XLS file format is invalid" error.
This clearly indicates that the concerned excel XLS file extension is not recognized by the software and therefore it is declared as invalid. It is very irritating and the recovery of the original file format is almost impossible.
To deal with the XLS file format is not valid error here follow the manual solution to rectify this error message and regain access to your excel sheet.
Go to My Computer > browse Tools > Folder Options > File Types.
Make sure that the 'XLSX' extension is included there or not.
If not then rename this file and change '.xlsx' to '.xls'.
If the above-given workaround won't help you to fix the error, the make use of the inbuilt Open and Repair utility.
Open the Excel workbook > go to File > Open option.
Choose the file which you want to open but don't make double click on it.
Now check the error is fixed or not.
Well in some case it is found this inbuilt utility fails to repair the severely damaged file or errors so it might happen that still the error is not fixed. Then, in this case, you need to make use of the third party repair tool to fix the error automatically and recover data.
You can make use of the professional recommended MS Excel Repair Tool. This is a special tool specifically designed to repair any sort of issues, corrupted, damaged and errors in the excel files so that one can easily continue to work in that file. It can easily restore all corrupt excel file and also recover everything which includes cell comments, charts, worksheet properties and other related data. The corrupted excel file can be restored to a new blank excel file. It has the ability to recover the complete data from the file and restore them even without modifying original formatting.
Hope in this article you get the complete answer to your query related to the ".XLS file format is invalid" error. Here we have tried our best to provide the reliable solution to fix the error. If the manual solution won't work to fix the error. Then, in this case, you can make use of the automatic solution to get rid of The file format is an invalid error.


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Hybrid cars: Which is most fuel efficient?
By Jordan Lite on October 21, 2008
If your wallet is taking a beating from high gas prices and all this talk of green energy has inspired you to shop around for a hybrid car, new fuel-efficiency ratings may help you.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ranked 10 hybrid vehicles. Topping the list: the Toyota Prius, which gets 48 miles (77 kilometers) per gallon on city streets and 45 mpg (72 km) on the highway.
The Honda Civic Hybrid is next, racking up 40 mpg (64 km) for city driving and the same as the Prius on the freeway. No. 3 is the Nissan Altima Hybrid, which takes you 35 miles (56 kilometers) per gallon in the city, 33 miles (53 kilometers) per gallon on the expressway.
Tied at fourth for providing 31 to 34 mpg (50 to 54 km) per gallon are three cars: the Ford Escape Hybrid FWD, Mazda Tribute Hybrid 2WD and Mercury Mariner Hybrid FWD
Two Smart Fortwo models — the Convertible and Coupe — rank fifth, offering 33 to 41 mpg (53 to 66 km)
At sixth is the Toyota Camry Hybrid, at 33 to 34 mpg (53 to 54 km)
The Volkswagon Jetta and the Jetta Sportswagon, both stick shifts, are seventh, at 30 to 41 mpg (48 to 66 km)
The companion automatic Jettas are eighth, at 29 to 40 mpg (47 to 64 km)
The Toyota Yaris stick shift is ninth, with 29 to 36 mpg (47 to 58 km)
Rounding out the list: the automatic transmission Toyota Yaris, which gets 29 mpg (47 km) in stop-and-go traffic, and 35 mpg (56 km) on the highway. Most hybrids are automatic, but a few manufacturers offer stick-shift versions.
The EPA didn't rank the efficiency of other alt-energy cars, such as those powered by hydrogen fuel cells. But you can check out their mileage — as well as their "greenhouse gas score," here. The hydrogen-fueled Chevy Equinox, test driven for a Scientific American article, received a 5 out of 10 on the EPA's greenhouse gas scale (and got 17 to 24 miles, or 27 to 39 kilometers per gallon). The EPA did not rate another hydro-car, the 2008 Honda FCX Clarity, also featured in that piece.
For more on clean-running cars, see Steven Ashley's take on the Clarity, part of our new in-depth report on green energy.
(Image by iStockphoto/John Bloor)
Jordan Lite
Stephen Hawking still hospitalized, but "comfortable"
NIH issues new stem cell research guidelines
Money for cheaper herb-based malaria meds
Meet my genome: 10 people release their DNA on the Web
By Susannah F. Locke on October 21, 2008
India launches first moon rocket, tailing China


We are a one shop stop for all the building solutions which include architecture, structure, interiors & project management.
We constantly strive to achieve optimized designs that transform the existing spaces in synchronicity with the environment & the surroundings.
Our motto is to make every client's vision a reality.


It's a word that is heard all too often by way too many people. It is very rare to find anyone who has not been touched in some way by cancer, myself included.
To raise the money to beat the monster that is cancer there are walks and runs of all shapes and sizes all over Canada and the world. I've donated to several of them in the hopes that one day a cure will be found, this past weekend July 24-25 I walked in my second Weekend to end Women's Cancers.
The two-day event has participants walking throughout the city streets and park paths in the name of cancer research for women's cancers. In Calgary alone this year 2.7 million dollars was raised for the Alberta Cancer Foundation, in the past money raised has gone to fund a mobile mammogram unit that can travel to rural places where mammograms weren't offered in the before. Money raised this year goes towards to two new chairs for women's cancers, one breast, one ovarian in Calgary and Edmonton.
So on July 24, my Simply Brawesome teammates, Lesley, Vicki and Des and 1110 other walkers set out.
People walk everyday, piece of cake you might say. Well, it is…for the first ten kilometres or so. Then your feet start to ache a bit, you might get a blister or two and your body starts to give you hell for walking with little rest. Not that rest isn't offered of course, every two to four kilometres there would be rest stops with fresh water and Powerade, snacks and medical supplies.
I'm 27, in pretty good shape and try to workout every now and then, so whenever I felt like complaining or wanted to sit down and have a nap I just thought about the reasons I had for walking in the first place. I had personal reasons but it was also the women walking around me, some with cancer, some that had beaten cancer, some that were three or four times my age, some walking with canes… and it gave me the oomph to keep walking.
Having my teammates around helped as well, although on a walk like this, everyone is a teammate. It's not just the nurses and EMT pedalling beside you that ask if you're alright, it's the women (and men) walking around you that are also checking on your well-being all along the way.
Finishing 32 kilometres on day one felt exhausting but the camp set up at the Currie Barracks provided a great dinner and some Wild Rose beer. A medical station was on hand to treat my lovely blisters and tents were set up by the fabulous volunteers.
When you wake up for day two, you wonder how it is even possible to walk another 28 kilometres when your muscles ache and your feet are crying for reprieve. It's The Little Engine That Could frame of mind really, in your head you're thinking, "I think I can, I think I can," over and over.
The fabulous people along the way, both in the pit stops as well as homes that provide water, cool sponges, watermelon and freezies urging you on with cheers and sidewalk chalk messages also give you that boost.
And in the end, while you know cancer will still show it's ugly face around the world, you've done something to eventually give that ugly face the boot.


BOSTON – Massachusetts welcomed Copa Airlines to Boston Logan International Airport today as the Star Alliance member began offering daily nonstop service from Panama's Hub of the Americas at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City with convenient connections to more than 55 other destinations in Latin America.
"Nonstop service to Latin America will open up new opportunities to allow Massachusetts businesses to compete in the 21st century global marketplace," said Governor Deval Patrick. "The service will increase tourism here at home and connect our residents with friends and family in Latin America.
"The approximately 5 ½-hour flight 718 is scheduled to depart Panama each day at 11:46 a.m., and arrive in Boston at 6:16 p.m. Flight 719 is scheduled to depart Boston Logan International Airport daily at 9:54 a.m., arriving at Copa's Hub of the Americas at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City at 2:28 p.m.
"The arrival of Copa Airlines and their non-stop service from Boston to Latin America not only connects our many diverse residents and visiting students to their families but increases our global presence in business and tourism," Mayor Thomas Menino said. "We welcome them to our city and congratulate Massport for helping Boston continue its strong growth."
"Copa Airlines is very pleased to begin its new daily nonstop service, which will provide Boston-area business and leisure travelers the fastest and most direct way to fly from Boston to Panama, as well as unsurpassed connectivity throughout Central and South America and the Caribbean," said Pedro Heilbron, CEO, Copa Airlines.
In addition, as a member of Star Alliance, Copa Airlines will provide passengers around the world with more benefits and travel options throughout the Latin American region. Overall, the 28 member airlines of the Star Alliance network offer more than 21,900 daily flights to 1,328 airports in 195 countries, with passenger access to more than 1,000 VIP lounges.
The new Copa service is eligible to participate in Massport's International Air Service Incentive Program, which applies to new nonstop international service to destinations in Asia, Central America, South America, Africa, and the Middle East. The program includes landing fee credits and joint advertising opportunities. Massport's action is not designed to subsidize a service that is not likely to be self-sufficient, but to help minimize the initial business risk of the air carrier. In doing so, Massport also expects to improve utilization of Boston Logan's international Terminal E, as Asia, Latin America and Middle East flights would operate during current off-peak hours. Massport is undertaking the program to compete with other airports around the country, most of which offer some type of financial incentive to attract new international air service.
Copa's Hub of the Americas in Panama City offers flights to more international destinations than any other airline from any other hub in the Latin American region. Passengers can make convenient connections to destinations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, without customs/immigration waits for in-transit passengers. In particular, Copa's new Boston-Panama flight offers the most convenient connections to Brazil, Colombia; San Jose, Costa Rica; Lima, Peru; and Santiago, Chile.
Copa will operate a Boeing 737-700 Next-Generation aircraft on the flight, with seating for 12 passengers in Business Class and 112 in the main cabin. On-board service includes complimentary meals and beverages, including wines and spirits; a 12-channel audio-visual entertainment system in English, Spanish and Portuguese, with new movies monthly and complimentary headsets. Flight attendants are bilingual.
The airline operates one of the youngest fleets in the industry and its on-time performance above 90 percent is among the best worldwide. Passengers may purchase tickets at copa.com in U.S. dollars, as well as 10 other currencies and can earn rewards through the MileagePlus frequent-flyer programs shared with alliance partner United Airlines.
"Copa continues its steady and profitable growth in 2013, strengthening our leadership position in Latin America through our Hub of the Americas – the most successful and efficient hub in Latin America," Heilbron said. In each of the last five years Copa has grown by an average of 16 percent in available passenger seat miles and 12 percent in daily flights to/from Panama.
Panama will become Logan's 33rd international destination and Boston is the 65th destination served by Copa. The airline currently flies nonstop from Panama to eight US destinations: Miami, New York City (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), Washington, D.C. (Dulles), Orlando, Chicago (O'Hare), Las Vegas and Boston.
Copa Airlines and Copa Airlines Colombia, subsidiaries of Copa Holdings, are leading Latin American providers of passengers and cargo services. The airlines provide service to 65 destinations in 29 countries in North, Central and South America and the Caribbean, operating one of the youngest and most modern fleets in the industry, consisting of 86 aircraft: 60 Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft and 26 Embraer-190s. Copa Airlines joined Star Alliance in June 2012. For more information, visit www.copa.com.
Boston Logan, 15 minutes from the intersection of Route 128 and I-90 and five minutes from downtown Boston, serves as the gateway to the New England region and offers nonstop service to 73 domestic and 32 international destinations and in 2012 handled 29.3 million passengers. Boston Logan is the Air Line Pilot Association's Airport of the Year for 2008 because of its commitment to safety. Over the past decade, the airport spent $4.5 billion on a modernization program that includes new terminals, public transportation access, parking facilities, roadways and airport concessions, and has been transformed into a world-class 21st Century facility. The airport generates $7 billion in total economic impact each year. You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/bostonlogan and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/bostonlogan.