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ASCon Systems is one of the #Top50Startups in Germany
By M. RastoderJanuary 28. 2021March 12th, 2021No Comments
Press release 27 January 2021
Top 50 Start-ups: Innovations made in Germany
▪ Top 50 startups chosen from more than 700 winners in 2020
▪ Start-up economy shows potential: experiments in space, vaccines based on the modular principle, comfortable period underwear or the Tesla of agriculture
▪ Thanks to innovative business ideas, start-ups defy the Corona crisis and look ahead to 2021 with confidence
The Top 50 Start-ups Ranking: Popular brands like FOND OF, mymuesli, true fruits or industry unicorns with a billion-dollar valuation like Celonis have one thing in common: they also look back on numerous awards in start-up competitions. The early stages already reveal the SMEs of tomorrow, which are already making big things happen today. That's why we have been analyzing the results of well over 100 startup competitions since 2014. From the many hundreds of award winners, the top 50 start-ups of the year are determined on the basis of various factors using scoring. Following the annual publication as a PDF magazine, the top 50 start-ups now have their own portal at www.top50startups.de.
Start-ups active on land, sea and in space
The business models of the Top 50 Start-ups reflect the megatrends of our time such as the environment, health or mobility. Whether solutions for space, agriculture, higher energy efficiency, against infectious diseases or the use of blockchain – the Top 50 Start-ups 2020 are active in many areas of our lives. This is illustrated by the following examples:
▪ Yuri (Rank 2): The start-up enables more cost-effective experiments in weightlessness, for example on board the ISS on behalf of Nasa.
▪ Ooia (Rank 7): Innovative products for women, such as the self-developed period underwear, which stimulate discussions and make their everyday life more carefree.
▪ Airstier (Rank 19): Development and production of an electric motor that can save up to 50% energy.
▪ inveox (Rank 25): Improve the safety and reliability of cancer diagnoses by automating and digitizing sample receipt in the laboratory.
▪ PVT (Rank 32): The core product is an Orf virus-based vector platform for generating next-generation vaccines.
▪ Bracenet (Rank 46): Freeing the world's oceans from plastic: Salvage ghost nets and handcraft them into new products.
To the complete ranking of the Top 50 Start-ups 2020
"The Top 50 Start-ups of 2020 show us a wealth of ideas and innovation coupled with initial entrepreneurial successes," summarizes René Klein, CEO of Passion4Business GmbH. More facts, figures and data on the top 50 start-ups and their regional origins are shown in the infographic in the appendix and a data analysis on the plattform.
2/3 of startups achieve or exceed annual targets despite Corona crisis
According to the results of the survey of the top 50 start-ups, the Corona crisis has not had as strong an impact as it has for many classic companies. Only one third of the start-ups did not achieve their annual targets. Despite the crisis, half of the companies were able to achieve the targets set for 2020 and 16 percent even exceeded them.
Namely, founders from the health & life science and related sectors such as medical technology and biotechnology were able to take advantage of market opportunities: "As a quick response to the global pandemic, we already expanded our supply chain in March 2020 to include the supply of medical supplies that are currently urgently needed everywhere, such as Sars-CoV-2 test kits and protective masks," says inveox from Garching near Munich. (Ranked 25th in Top Startups 2020 and 1st in 2017).
We have summarized how other start-ups were able to launch new products or optimize processes in the Corona Special of this year's issue.
The outlook for 2021 is extremely positive: 49 of the top 50 startups are "very optimistic" or "optimistic" about business development; only one was "pessimistic".
The upbeat mood carries over to hiring plans. Almost two-thirds of the start-ups expect to hire up to 10 employees. Twenty-two percent even plan to increase staff by double digits. Only 14 percent see the number of employees remaining constant in 2021.
About the portal Top50Startups.de
The aim of the new platform www.top50startups.de is to create visibility for innovations and networks in the start-up economy. At the heart of the platform is the eponymous annual ranking of the Top 50 start-ups, based on the results of well over 100 start-up competitions.
The Top50Startups.de platform belongs to Passion4Business GmbH, in which the F.A.Z. publishing group also holds a stake via F.A.Z. Business Media GmbH.
Commerzbank and LEXROCKET are involved as the platform's main partners.
• Commerzbank supports start-ups with a high-performance business account. Services such as CashRadar help them grow. At the start, the bank is offering a start-up package with discounted terms.
• LEXROCKET is Lexware's start-up support initiative. Its goal is to provide start-up assistance to founders and young entrepreneurs throughout Germany and to lead them to long-term success.
The KfW Award Gründen is the platform's main competition partner.
• KfW Bankengruppe has been honoring young companies with the KfW Award Gründen since 1998. The focus is on innovative business ideas, original products or services, job creation and sustainable entrepreneurship.
René Klein
Passion4Business GmbH
Phone: +49 30.8510 3146
presse@passion4business.de
www.top50start-ups.de – a brand from www.passion4business.de
https://www.top50startups.de/fileadmin/top-50-startups/PR/Pressemitteilung_Top50Startups_2020-21.pdf


For years and years, I have tricked my husband with some April Fool's Day prank or another. This year he really got me good. Since we work together, this morning he told me that we lost one of our biggest clients. He told me to come and see the email for myself. I went over by him to look and he pointed at April Fool's Day written on his calendar. Dang! Now I need some good ideas to get him back..
When I was in grade school, there was this girl that stood year after year by the entrance of the school. She held a little cardboard jewelry box with a finger in it. She told everyone that the finger was her dad's. He cut it off in some gory work accident. Everyone wanted to touch "his" finger that was gently wrapped in tissue paper. I remember the finger being cold and clammy. All the girls would shriek. Best grade school joke ever.
Every year one of my kids puts a rubber band around the sprayer on the kitchen sink. I will have to be careful of that later when they get home from school.
One of the favorite pranks that my husband pulled was on a friend of his a long time ago. He used to host a Bible study for men at our house. The first thing that one of the guys would do when he showed up was run into the bathroom to change his clothes. It was kind of a strange routine. It was not as if we would care if he wore his work clothes, etc..So we knew the first thing that he would do was go to the bathroom to change. Paul got the idea to video tape an empty bathroom. When the man went into the bathroom to change, we all laughed loudly. When he came out of the bathroom, he saw the empty bathroom on our TV screen. Terrible prank!
So over the years I have tricked him with little things like "I'm pregnant" or "you have something on your shirt." I have the hardest time keeping a straight face!


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Legends of Murder Download (1989 Role playing Game)
Role playing Games:
Download full Legends of Murder:
Download (63 KB)
Download - Easy Setup (1.41 MB)
Legends of Murder screenshots:
Legends of Murder is a fantasy/role-playing/murder mystery game. In Volume 1 of the series you, Inspector, have been summoned to a small castle near the harbor city of Erdwyn to investigate the murder of the King. Hired by the advisor of the deceased King, an elf named Ash, you set foot in the castle after a long journey across the sea, and the game begins...
The ultimate purpose in the game is to discover the murderer of the King. The character is walking on a tiny map sized in 1/5 of the screen, and when he comes inside new room, the description is written. There are numerous riddles and puzzles to solve along the way, as well as many people to meet and places to explore. It is very important that you talk to everyone you encounter, search all rooms of the castle you enter, and make note of what you learn for later reference.
The Inspector (of Fighter/Mage class) has a number of personal attributes, common for RPGs, which affect the play of the game. Spells must be learned from special books. The higher a character's level, the more powerful the spell he can learn.
Legends of Murder is a fun fantasy RPG/murder mystery game designed by Jamie (later James) Schmalz, who would years later be famous as one of Unreal designers. Similar to MicroProse's The Legacy, the game combines RPG and adventure elements into an engrossing game, even if the graphics are primitive. The storyline and basic gameplay are as follows:
"As the Inspector, you have been summoned to a small castle near the harbor city of Erdwyn to investigate the murder of the King. This castle -- the site of the murder -- is a day's journey across the Northern Sea from your own kingdom. Hired by the advisor of the deceased King, an elf named Ash, you set foot in the castle after a long journey across the sea, and the game begins...
Your ultimate purpose in Legends of Murder is to discover the murderer of the King. There are numerous riddles and puzzles to solve along the way, as well as many people to meet and places to explore. It is very important that you talk to everyone you encounter, search all rooms of the castle you enter, and make note of what you learn for later reference."
With an excellent blend of elements from both RPG (character statistics, casting spells, gaining levels) and adventure (puzzle solving, exploration) genres, Legends of Murder is one of the more memorable releases on SoftDisk's "Big Blue Disk" monthly. The writing is also above-average, and the game is quite atmospheric. One notable anecdote is that the game was programmed entirely in Assembly language (!). The only complaint I have is that the game is a tad too short, and the character a tad too small. Other than that, you'll probably enjoy this old game if you like RPG hybrids that place more emphasis on gameplay than graphics.
This game has been set up to work on modern Windows (10/8/7/Vista/XP 64/32-bit) computers without problems. Please choose Download - Easy Setup (1.41 MB).
People who downloaded Legends of Murder have also downloaded:
Legends of Murder, Volume II: Grey Haven (1991), Legend of Faerghail, Leygref's Castle, Lord of The Rings 2: Two Towers, Legacy of The Ancients, Lord of the Rings 1: Fellowship of the Ring, Magic Candle 3, The, Laxius Power 3

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Due to Administrative issues our last site was lost and recovery of its data was unsuccessful. As a result we were and have been without a site for quite sometime. We are now in the process of creating, building and soon will be publishing another site.


Book Reporter educational software is designed to be used in the classroom to teach students computer skills, keyboarding, reading, and language arts skills in one activity. The teacher's section is password protected and, if the teacher wants to, the teacher can assign each student their own password. The program can be used for any kind of reports or in conjunction with virtually any existing unit.
Book Reporter educational software has a simple, easy-to-use interface that not only makes it easy to enter book reports, but also makes it easy to browse, sort, grade, printout, track, and comment on reports. The students can enter reports by chapter, section, or all at once. Students can also read and edit old reports.


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és un pilot de bob anglès, ja retirat, que va competir durant les dècades de 1990 i 2000.

S'inicià en l'atletisme, on destacà com a velocista. El 1988 guanyà la medalla de bronze al Campionat del Món d'atletisme júnior de Sudbury en la prova dels 4x100 metres. En no aconseguir classificar-se per disputar els Jocs de Barcelona de 1992 passà a practicar el bobsleigh. No aconseguí classificar-se pels Jocs de 1994, però quatre anys més tard, als Jocs de Nagano, guanyà la medalla de bronze en la prova de bobs a quatre del programa de bobsleigh. Formà equip amb Sean Olsson, Dean Ward i Paul Attwood.

Referències

Medallistes als Jocs Olímpics d'hivern de 1998
Corredors de bobsleigh britànics
Esportistes londinencs
Velocistes anglesos

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Many of our customers have facilities that offer birthday parties and group events. We've put a lot of effort into designing a system that not only organizes waiver forms, but ensures that the flow of collecting them is as fast and painless as possible. The idea of WaiverFile has always been to make the process easier and faster! So after reviewing customer feedback and much careful planning, we are excited to announce the launch of our new check-in dashboard.
What is the Check-In Dashboard?
The check-in dashboard allows you to keep track of who has arrived for an event or for general admission. Using this view is simple and straightforward. When you have check-in mode enabled, you will see a checkbox next to the name of each participant. When they arrive, simply check their name. This change will be saved automatically so you can continue to click around through the dashboard – there's no need to specifically click a save button.
Under each event, there is a row displaying totals. The number of people who have checked in, the number not checked in, and the total for that event. The same thing applies for general admission and advance signups. The totals there simply reflect the number of people being selected for the date range you have chosen.
You can choose if you want to show or hide those who have checked in. On the left-hand side of your screen, you can choose to view all participants, or just those who have checked in, or not checked in. The view will update accordingly based on this selection.
Now you're ready to start tracking checkins!


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Woman killed in Maplewood Sunday morning
Submitted by admin1 on Mon, 08/24/2015 - 10:25pm
Erin Hinrichs
Holly Wenzel
Todd Larry Tennin
Police name suspect: Todd Larry Tennin
At 6 a.m. Sunday, gunfire at the Trails Edge Townhomes in Maplewood claimed the life of 41-year-old April Marie Tennin, a mother of three.
Case investigators have issued a probable cause warrant for pick-up for the suspect, identified as Todd Larry Tennin. Also known as "Larry Todd Tennin," the 31-year-old is also wanted on a warrant issued by the Department of Corrections for violation of the terms and conditions of supervised release.
According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections' website, Tennin was released from prison May 12, 2014. His supervised release was due to expire mid-September 2015.
Criminal background
In a Hennepin County District Court case file, Tennin unsuccessfully challenged the state for convicting him as a prohibited person in possession of a firearm.
According to the report, Minneapolis police had responded to numerous calls from residents reporting multiple gunshots at the 3300 block of Russell Ave. North on the night of Dec. 9, 2009.
Police found Tennin inside the house, along with others and a semi-automatic handgun on a couch in the basement.
While no one claimed ownership of the weapon, neighbors identified Tennin as one of the shooters. Police arrested Tennin, who was found guilty of being a prohibited person possession of a firearm, and sentenced to 60 months in prison.
A search of public records shows Tennin's criminal history dates back to 2001, when he was convicted of felony assault in the second degree.
According to a 2006 case record, Tennin was tried for domestic assault by strangulation, but the case was dismissed. Nearly six months later, he was convicted of malicious punishment of a child.
His other offenses include two fourth-degree DWIs and two accounts of disorderly conduct.
"Under the current circumstances and based [on] Mr. Tennin's extensive history of involvements with the criminal justice system, we regard him as a risk to public safety," Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell said in a press release.
Children were in home
Further, reports said all three of April Tennin's children, ages 12, 15 and 16, were present in the home when she was shot.
"Preliminary information suggests there was an argument between the deceased woman and the adult male a short time before the shooting," police said.
Emergency responders declared her dead at the scene.
May have been pregnant
An "April Tennin" and "Larry Tennin" of "Saint Paul" are listed on a baby registry website with a due date of Sept. 14.
An April M. Tennin had also filed for bankruptcy July 27, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court records, with the most recent case notes added Aug. 17.
According to online resources, April Tennin worked for Ramsey County in the financial assistance department.
The townhomes at 1700 Woodland Lane where the shooting occurred were constructed in 2007 by CommonBond and St. Paul's Benedictine Monastery as affordable housing for low income families. They are located just aeast of the monastery and Hill-Murray School, off Century Avenue, in Maplewood.
Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Todd Larry Tennin is asked to call the Maplewood Police Department at 651-249-2600 or 9-1-1. Information can also be anonymously provided by texting the keyword MAPLEWOOD followed by the tip information to TIP411 (847411).
—Holly Wenzel and Erin Hinrichs


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The online Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction is designed to enhance teachers' knowledge and skills with the goal of preparing educational leaders of the future. The program design uses best practices of online learning such as building a virtual learning community, active learning, both formative and summative assessments, a variety of assignments, and varied formats for sharing course content. Course topics include principles of differentiating instruction, multicultural education, literacy strategies for struggling readers, and adolescent literacy.
The Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction application requires an official copy of your transcript, two recommendations, a personal statement, and a résumé or curriculum vitae.
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The program is a part-time graduate program with courses offered in 11-week terms. Two courses are offered each fall, winter, spring, and summer term. All coursework is conducted online. The program requires the completion of 10 courses, and by taking two courses per term, your degree can take as little as 15 months to complete.
The Department of Education is composed of faculty members who have broad experience in classroom teaching. They bring great expertise to the task of guiding established teachers in their professional development. Our emphasis is on building personal relationships, addressing individual needs, and helping teachers attain a higher level of performance in their work. You'll be taught in small, interactive classes by experienced professors who take a personal interest in your progress. All full-time faculty members in the program have doctoral degrees and impressive academic credentials. They also have significant on-the-job experience as teachers in public and private schools.


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Fifty years of Led Zeppelin
| March 4, 2019
50 years ago, McCartney dropped "Lennon" and went solo…
A comprehensive look at the history of Money-in-the-Bank
Wrestling Blogs
Money-in-the-Bank is a phrase used to describe something that is guaranteed to succeed in life. Whether that be in a business venture or just something in your everyday life, Money-in-the-Bank is something that cannot and will not go wrong, it is a metaphorical hall pass to success. In WWE, there is no greater success or accolade than being a World Champion and, for the last decade, the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase has paid off for fourteen of its seventeen winners. For those unfamiliar with the Money-in-the-Bank concept, it is arguably one of WWE's best original ideas as the annual Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match pits a number of Superstars in a Ladder Match where the goal is to climb a ladder and retrieve the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase hanging high above the ring. Inside that briefcase is a contract that guarantees its holder a shot at a World Championship at any time they see fit for up to one year and, for the past ten years, the words "any time" have spelled doom for many a champion. Though the booking of "Mr. Money-in-the-Bank" and, in some cases, the subsequent title reign has been questionable, to say the least, in recent years, there's no denying that the existence of the Money-in-the-Bank concept creates an heir of unpredictability and excitement in WWE as fans speculate and eagerly anticipate the inevitable cash-in and, more often than not, a Money-in-the-Bank cash in is always a welcome surprise for the fans in attendance as well as those watching at home.
The Ultimate Opportunist Sets The Pace
Arguably, no Superstar has earned the nickname "The Ultimate Opportunist" more than WWE Hall of Famer Edge, who racked up eleven World Title wins in his illustrious career and two of those title wins were thanks to the Money-in-the-Bank contract. Supposedly the brainchild of Chris Jericho, the first ever Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match took place at WrestleMania 21 with Edge, Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Kane, Christian, & Shelton Benjamin taking part in the inaugural melee for the briefcase. At the end of the match, it was the title-obsessed Edge who would become the first "Mr. Money-in-the-Bank" in history. At the time, all we knew was that the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase could be cashed in at any time for a guaranteed shot at the WWE Championship; it was a fresh concept with a ton of uncertainty surrounding it.
Then, on January 8, 2006 at WWE New Year's Revolution, fans would witness what the Money-in-the-Bank contract is all about. After a bloody Elimination Chamber Match for the WWE Championship where John Cena outlasted Kane, Carlito, Chris Masters, Shelton Benjamin, & Shawn Michaels to hang onto his WWE Championship, "The Champ" was not even on his feet when Vince McMahon would come out and proclaim that "this night is not over", instructing the ring crew to raise the Elimination Chamber structure. The Chairman then explained that "this individual is cashing in his Money-in-the-Bank privilege that he earned at WrestleMania" before Edge would come out, briefcase in hand, with Lita by his side and, in one of the most iconic and surreal moments in WWE history, "The Rated R Superstar" would hand over his Money-in-the-Bank briefcase and the impromptu WWE Championship match would get underway with Edge chomping at the bit for his first World Title in WWE.
While the bloody champion would kick out after the first Spear from Edge, the second would do John Cena in as Edge would size up Cena and deliver a second Spear, securing the three-count and becoming the WWE Champion for the first time in his career. Edge would grasp the WWE Title with tears in his eyes as the Albany crowd erupted over the crowning of a new champion with Joey Styles putting it best by proclaiming "Edge has shocked the world". Sure, Edge would lose the WWE Title back to John Cena a few weeks later at the Royal Rumble, but it was that moment on that night in Albany that Edge introduced the world to just how important it is to be in possession of the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase. That cold night in Albany would only be the start of Edge's Rated-R era in WWE and Edge's arrival as a main event Superstar all began thanks to Money-in-the-Bank.
Money-in-the-Bank Gets Taken to the Extreme
Often viewed as one of the best wrestlers in the world to never win a World Title in his career, that would all change for Rob Van Dam in 2006. After defeating Ric Flair, Finlay, Matt Hardy, Shelton Benjamin, & Bobby Lashley in the Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania 22 to win the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase, the second "Mr. Money-in-the-Bank" in history would make history as, unlike his predecessor Edge, RVD would let WWE Champion John Cena know ahead of time that he would be cashing in his Money-in-the-Bank contract at ECW One Night Stand, giving the ECW Original the clear, home field advantage for his title match. Before The Zombie, Extreme Expose, and Vince McMahon as the ECW Champion, there was a lot of anticipation of the return of ECW as a third brand in WWE and that anticipation was evident at ECW One Night Stand 2006 (which, at the time, was WWE's yearly tribute to the original ECW), especially after RVD made his intentions known to walk out as the new WWE Champion. In the infamous Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City where many a ECW star shed blood in their hardcore careers, WWE Champion John Cena would walk into a hostile environment the likes of which he had never seen before. With the rabid ECW fans solidly behind Rob Van Dam to the point of bringing signs such as "If Cena Wins, We Riot" and chanting derogatory things at "The Champ", there was no doubt that the world was about to witness a momentous night.
In true ECW fashion, the WWE Championship match would be contested under Extreme Rules, meaning that anything goes and that would come to fruition in a hardcore championship match for the ages. What ensued was a match that initially resembled a pure wrestling match between champion and challenger, but would soon devolve into the extreme with RVD using his agility, not to mention the crowd's overwhelming support, to combat John Cena on the outside. No stranger to taking things to the extreme (just see his "I Quit" Match against JBL at Judgment Day 2005), John Cena would hold his own in the championship match, taking some of RVD's best shots and still staying in the fight while delivering some hardcore punishment of his own. At one point in the match, the ECW referee would show his bias towards Rob Van Dam and John Cena would respond by leveling the referee with a clothesline. Then, just when it looked like Cena had everything under control after delivering the F-U to RVD to the outside, it was Edge who would be the difference maker as "The Rated R Superstar" would emerge from under the ring, delivering a Spear to John Cena through the table. RVD would then hit Cena with the Five-Star Frog Splash and, with ECW mastermind Paul Heyman counting the pinfall, RVD was crowned the brand new WWE Champion, celebrating with the fans and his fellow ECW Originals alike, ushering in a new era in WWE.
On the premiere of ECW on Sci-Fi two nights later, the new WWE Champion was set to turn the WWE Championship into the new ECW World Heavyweight Championship, but Rob Van Dam would decide at the last minute that he wanted both championships, making "The Whole F'n Show" the first and only competitor in history to hold both the WWE Championship and the ECW World Heavyweight Championship at the same time. RVD would defend both titles separately against the Superstars of RAW and ECW, respectively, including a successful WWE Title defense against Edge at Vengeance. However, after Rob Van Dam and Sabu were arrested for drug possession on July 2, RVD would lose the WWE Championship to Edge in a Triple Threat Match on RAW that also featured John Cena. The next night on ECW on Sci-Fi, RVD lost the ECW World Heavyweight Championship to Big Show before both RVD and Sabu were suspended by WWE for 30 days.
The 'Forgotten' Money-in-the-Bank Winner
It's no secret that Mr. Kennedy had a difficult time during his WWE tenure as injuries and suspensions cost Kennedy push-after-push, but Kennedy's biggest bit of bad luck had to be after he won the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase at WrestleMania 23. Defeating Edge, Finlay, Matt Hardy, Jeff Hardy, CM Punk, Randy Orton, & King Booker to win the briefcase on "The Grandest Stage of Them All", Mr. Kennedy was set for, potentially, the biggest push of his career as the holder of the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase. Upon winning the guaranteed title opportunity, Mr. Kennedy would waste little time in setting his sights as high as possible, announcing the next night on RAW that he was going to cash in his Money-in-the-Bank contract at next year's WrestleMania. Unfortunately for Mr. Kennedy, he would never get that opportunity as, a week later, Kennedy would put his Money-in-the-Bank briefcase on the line in a one-on-one match against Edge and Edge won the match, giving Mr. Kennedy the dubious distinction of being the only "Mr. Money-in-the-Bank" in history to lose his briefcase in a match. After this match, it was revealed that Mr. Kennedy had torn his right triceps muscle and would be out of action for five-to-seven months (though it was later revealed that the injury was not as serious as initially thought).
The decision to have Edge win the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase from Mr. Kennedy would make Edge the first Superstar to be a two-time Money-in-the-Bank winner and the first (and only to date) to win the briefcase in a one-on-one match. "The Ultimate Opportunist" would waste little time in cashing in his newly won opportunity as, just a few days later, Edge would cash in the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase on The Undertaker moments after The Undertaker retained the World Heavyweight Championship in a Steel Cage Match against Batista and was on the receiving end of a post-match assault by Mark Henry. Despite being a RAW Superstar, Edge would swoop in and defeat "The Phenom" to become the brand new World Heavyweight Champion.
CM Punk Makes Money-in-the-Bank History
Before he was the sixth longest reigning WWE Champion in history and his, not one, but two times walking out on WWE, CM Punk was a back-to-back winner of the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase. Punk's first Money-in-the-Bank victory came at WrestleMania 24 when he defeated Carlito, Mr. Kennedy, John Morrison, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, & Chris Jericho in the annual Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match, earning the then ECW Superstar his guaranteed shot at either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship. A couple of months later, CM Punk was drafted to the RAW brand in the 2008 WWE Draft and "Mr. Money-in-the-Bank" would not wait long to make an impact as a RAW Superstar as, on his first official night as a RAW Superstar, CM Punk would capitalize on a vulnerable Edge, who had just been on the receiving end of a beat down from Batista, cashing in his Money-in-the-Bank opportunity, hitting the GTS and pinning Edge to become the new World Heavyweight Champion. Later that same night, CM Punk would make his first defense of the World Heavyweight Title, defeating JBL to retain the title. After only a little over two months as the World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk would be the victim of one of the most questionable booking decisions in history. Prior to that year's Unforgiven event, CM Punk was scheduled to defend the World Heavyweight Title in a Championship Scramble Match against Batista, JBL, Kane, and Rey Mysterio. However, that very same night, CM Punk was attacked in the backstage area by Legacy as Randy Orton punted CM Punk in the head, writing the World Heavyweight Champion out of his scheduled title defense. Punk was replaced in the Championship Scramble Match by Chris Jericho, who went on to win the match and become the new World Heavyweight Champion with Punk failing to regain the title from Jericho in a rematch the following week.
Throughout late 2008 and early 2009, CM Punk would not be a part of the World Heavyweight Title picture, but would have a reign as the World Tag Team Champions with Kofi Kingston and a reign as the Intercontinental Champion in early 2009. However, "The Straightedge Superstar" would find himself in a familiar situation at WrestleMania XXV as he was a part of the Money-in-the-Bank Ladder Match with Kane, Finlay, MVP, Christian, Mark Henry, Kofi Kingston, & Shelton Benjamin and this is when CM Punk would make Money-in-the-Bank history by winning the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase for the second year in a row, becoming the first and only Superstar to date to do so. Much like the year prior, CM Punk would switch brands in the WWE Draft and would find himself on SmackDown and, a month after winning the Money-in-the-Bank briefcase, CM Punk would cash it in at Extreme Rules, capitalizing on a weakened Jeff Hardy mere moments after Jeff had just won the World Heavyweight Championship in a Ladder Match against Edge (this would give Jeff Hardy the dubious distinction of having the third shortest reign as World Heavyweight Champion in history. Punk's second reign as World Heavyweight Champion would arguably begin Punk's true run as a main event star in WWE. Despite losing and regaining the World Heavyweight Title over the next couple of months (CM Punk's three reigns as World Heavyweight Champion would total up to 160 days as champion while just his second reign as WWE Champion a few years later would crush that record at 434 days), CM Punk's transformation during this time would establish him as a top level star in WWE.
Alberto Del RioCM Punkdamien sandowDaniel BryanDolph ZigglerEdgeJack SwaggerJohn CenaJon MoxleyKanemoney in the bankmoney-in-the-bank ladder matchmr kennedyRandy OrtonRob Van DamSeth RollinsSheamusThe MizWWE Money-In-The-Bank
Your SO OF COURSE preview of WWE Money in the Bank 2017
Money in the Bank and making a main-eventer
Money in the Bank: The PPV Years
Money in the Bank: The WrestleMania Years
Five Things You Probably Didn't Know About Money-in-the-Bank
Sheamus III: Revenge of the Troll Doll — The Money in the Bank edition
Straight to the Top: Money in the Bank WWE DVD Review
By Henry Higgins


LOS ANGELES – The man who oversees the cadaver program at the University of California, Los Angeles (search), has been arrested on suspicion of grand theft, but authorities would not say what he is accused of stealing.
Henry Reid, director of the willed body program (search), was taken into custody Saturday at his Anaheim home by the UC Police Department, following an investigation that has reportedly focused on whether employees stole and sold body parts from cadavers donated to the university's medical school.
UCLA said in a statement that the investigation is continuing and "more arrests are likely," but provided no further details.
Reid, who was put on leave in the past two weeks, was being held on $20,000 bail, said Deputy David Cervantes of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (search). He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.
UCLA said one other employee had also been placed on leave, but did not identify that person.
Reid's home and a nearby shed were searched by UC police investigators, said spokeswoman Nancy Greenstein.
Reid, 54, was hired by UCLA in 1997 to revamp the willed body program after a 1996 lawsuit in which relatives of people whose bodies had been donated sued the medical school and the University of California Board of Regents. The suit, still pending, charged that thousands of cadavers had been illegally disposed of.
UCLA attorneys said in court papers last month that they believed Reid had instituted needed reforms at the program, and a court commissioner ruled Feb. 10 that there appear to have been improvements.
The Los Angeles Times, citing people familiar with the case, reported that dozens of cadavers donated to the willed body program were believed to have been sold.
"We are cooperating fully with the Police Department, and will share more information as soon as police assure us it will not jeopardize their investigation," Dr. J. Thomas Rosenthal, associate vice chancellor of UCLA's medical school, said in a prepared statement.
Former Gov. George Deukmejian agreed Friday to oversee a reform of the program, which was one of the first in the nation when it was established in 1950.
The program, which receives about 175 bodies each year for medical research and education, first came under scrutiny in 1993 when hazardous medical waste was discovered inside boxes of cremated human remains, something school officials said should not have happened.


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The story centers on the Chinese Special Police Unit, from their hard training to their first mission.
Director: Ding Sheng
Actors: Chang Rong, Jia Nailiang, Jin Chen, Kevin Lee, Leon Zhang, Ling Xiaosu, Liu Junxiao, Liu Wenbo, Robert Knepper, Wang Bowen
A recently released ex-convict and his loyal wife go on the run after a heist goes wrong.
Blood: The Last Vampire
On the surface, Saya is a stunning 16-year-old, but that youthful exterior hides the tormented soul of a 400-year-old "halfling." Born to a human father and a vampire mother, she…
Seven years after the Monsterpocalypse, Joel Dawson, along with the rest of humanity, has been living underground ever since giant creatures took control of the land. After reconnecting over radio…
A few individuals in the medical profession are murdered or kidnapped, and the cop investigating the case suspects a doctor and arrests him. But is he the one who is…
A mild-mannered father is transformed into a killing machine after his family is torn apart by a violent act.
SMOKED is a controversial dark comedy about the misadventures of three gutter punk stoners whose housewarming party ends in flames. In their desperation, they create a half baked plan to…
Kill Mode
It is the year 2027, eight years after the first outbreak of The Sickness, a highly contagious, adaptive and lethal virus. The world is now run by a pharmaceutical corporation…
Looking for a brighter future in metropolitan Manila, Oscar Ramirez and his family leave their miserable life in the rice terraces of Banaue, in the northern Philippines. In the sweltering…
William Thatcher, a peasant, is sent to apprentice with a Knight named Hector as a young boy. Urged by his father to "change his Stars", he assumes Sir Hector's place…
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance
The Rooftop
Wax and his friends are the happiest kids in the city of Galilee. Living on the rooftops of this bustling metropolis, sometimes life can be tough, but they still churn…
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama
The Siege
The secret US abduction of a suspected terrorist from his Middle East homeland leads to a wave of terrorist attacks in New York. An FBI senior agent and his team…
A nurse is forced to spring a wounded murder suspect from the hospital when the man's brother kidnaps his pregnant wife and wants to make a trade.
Powered By MyMovieHits


text:
package eu.proteus.producer.utils;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class ListsUtils {

	/**
	 * Returns a copy of the given list
	 * @param list A list containing some values
	 * @return A copy of the given list
	 */
    public static <T> List<T> copy (List<T> list){
        return new ArrayList<T>(list);
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


points off the high at 4465. Spread-betters profited as they had been predominantly buying earlier in the week.
Certainly, support for the large-cap index persists, with traders now targeting the psychological 4500 area and then 4575. Technical analysts seem to concur that bias is now positive with downside risks reduced.
MARKET volumes were light with many traders focused more on the holidays than the stock market.
However, Sainsbury is one of the few stocks in the market that continues to attract speculation.
This weekend saw an article in the Observer newspaper stating that US buy-out specialist Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is stalking the troubled UK retailer. Traders quickly seized on the news, buying shares up by several pence.
On reflection, it's more akin to vultures circling prey, as Sainsbury's recently admitted that its core business is in trouble.
FOREX continues to hold spread-betters attention, especially battle of the US dollar versus the pound. Last week saw sterling firm against the greenback, trading as high as $1.85 to the pound with traders taking profits from previous purchases.
They were quickly rewarded as the US data release added weight to currency which currently trades at around 1.82 ½. Spread-betters are targeting 1.80 as the next buying level for the pound.
• This column is courtesy of easy2spreadbet. Listen to live audio commentary and views at www.market-buzz.com.


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Getting the news via PR
Most consumers of news probably haven�t been aware of it, but a gradual and subtle shift has been taking place over the past 10 to 15 years in who sets the news agenda in this country. It used to be that the news media alone decided what stories to publish or broadcast. But increasingly, public relations managers � in government as well as in private industry � are assuming a larger part of that role.
Last May, the online journalism site ProPublica issued a report titled �PR Industry Fills Vacuum Left by Shrinking Newsrooms.� It examined the rise of public relations at a time when traditional journalism is continuing to contract, largely because of falling revenues. The report quoted New York Times investigative reporter David Barstow�s description of the shift thusly: �The muscles of journalism are weakening and the muscles of public relations are bulking up � as if they were on steroids.�
Citing several books and studies, the report found the number of newspaper reporters and editors in the United States fell 27 percent between 1990 and 2011, to 41,600, with much of that loss coming since 2007. Meanwhile, the number of employees working for independent public relations agencies increased 30 percent between 1997 and 2007, to 50,499 � not counting those working for large companies, lobbyists, advertising agencies and government.
�The dangers,� ProPublica wrote, �are clear. As PR becomes more ascendant, private and government interests become more able to generate, filter, distort and dominate the public debate, and to do so without the public knowing it.� That�s of particular concern when it comes to public relations operations in the tax-supported public sector.
On Saturday, The Oregonian newspaper in Portland published a front-page report on an investigation it launched last year into the amount of money being spent by eight state agencies to employ �public affairs specialists.� It found that there were 125 such employees receiving an average annual salary of $60,000, not including health insurance and other benefits, for a total cost of $7.5 million per year. Adding the cost of designers and other ancillary employees pushed the total to $13.5 million, the newspaper said. And outside companies and consultants were paid another $10 million for �public outreach and advertising� campaigns, not including the Oregon Lottery.
Similarly, Willamette Week, a Portland-based alternative newspaper, looked into governmental public relations spending in the Portland area. Its report, published last May, found that the area�s seven largest governmental agencies employed 84 public affairs specialists being paid an average of $75,000 per year.
Representatives of the public agencies examined by the newspapers defended their PR spending as necessary to keep citizens and taxpayers informed about governmental programs they need and use, noting that their stepped-up efforts have become even more important at a time when traditional journalism is having an increasingly difficult time keeping its commitment to full and complete public affairs reporting.
But readers and viewers should be concerned about, and wary of, the trend toward more governmentally initiated and controlled reporting. It�s not in most public agencies� best interests to put out false information or to deliberately mislead their constituents, but it�s often also not in their best interests to reveal the entire story, especially when it may reflect negatively on the agency distributing the information.


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October 23, 2019 4:17pm Comment Zachary Wander
Navigation Gestures 1.20.16 released with even more bug fixes and features
It's been less than a month (barely) and we're back with another Navigation Gestures update. Just like with the release of 1.18.4, the focus here is primarily on stability and performance. That doesn't mean there aren't new features, though. We've spent a while making sure this release is as stable as we can get it (as you can tell by the high patch-version number).
First up, here are the highlights:
We've completely redesigned the gesture detector.
We've added a bunch of new gestures.
There are a couple new compatibility options to help you fine-tune Navigation Gestures for your device.
You can now search for specific settings.
The sensitivity issue using Split Pill has been fixed.
Here's the full list of changes:
Better App-Change Detection
First up, we've added a setting for better app-change detection. This option makes use of Android's Usage Stats API to more reliably detect the app that's currently on-screen. Enable it by going to Settings > Experimental Settings and tapping "Improved App-Change Detection." Just note that it may result in worse battery life.
Complex Gestures
There are also 8 new "complex" gestures:
Swipe Up & Right or Right & Up (+ long variant)
Swipe Up & Left or Left & Up (+ long variant)
Swipe Down & Right or Right & Down (+ long variant)
Swipe Down & Left or Left & Down (+ long variant)
These new gestures work in both normal and split pill modes.
Repeat Long-Swipes
We've also added an option to allow long-swipes to repeat until you lift your finger. For example, if you have a long right-swipe set to increase the display brightness, keeping your finger down will cause the brightness to continue to increase.
Settings Search
This next feature should be particularly useful. As you may or may not know, Navigation Gestures has a bit of an overload of options. It can be hard to find something you're looking for when it's surrounded by dozens of other options. Well, we've added a Settings Search feature in this version. Simply open the settings, tap the search icon in the top bar, and type in what you're looking for.
While there are plenty of new features, there are also a bunch of changes to how Navigation Gestures behaves that we've made.
Clear Settings when Restoring Full Backup
Navigation Gestures has had a Backup & Restore feature for a while now. This can be useful if you're moving over to a new phone or performing a factory reset. In this release, we've slightly tweaked the behavior for restoring a full backup. The process will now clear all of your current settings before writing the ones from the backup. This is just to ensure that the backup properly restores. In most cases, you won't notice a difference.
Per-App Pill Color Reliability
In the last stable release, 1.18.4, we introduced a new Experimental feature: Per-App Pill Color. In Navigation Gestures 1.20.16, we've improved its reliability. It should now be less prone to flickering when opening apps, or when having a status bar clock showing seconds.
Redesigned Gesture Detector
Per-App Pill Color isn't the only thing we improved, though. We've completely redesigned the gesture detector for the pill. The first thing you'll notice with this new detector is that the pill now moves both horizontally and vertically at the same time. This means you could start a swipe-up gesture, but change your mind and drag the pill to the right instead (of course, if you have the Right & Up complex gesture enabled, that'll execute). This new gesture detector also opened the door to the new complex gestures. Overall, the experience swiping the pill should be vastly improved.
Pill Hiding/Fading
The next improvement involves the pill hiding and fading behavior. We've redesigned the logic behind these features, so they should be much more reliable and responsive. We've also made it so you can have the pill hide and fade at the same time.
Don't Move Pill when Keyboard Shown
We've also fixed up the "Don't Move Pill when Keyboard Shown" option to work more reliably on more devices.
Since different Android devices can be so vastly different from each other, it's impossible to make an app like Navigation Gestures work properly on all of them automatically. That's why we've added new compatibility options as time goes on. In Navigation Gestures 1.20.16, there a couple new ones to help you fine-tune Navigation Gestures for your device.
Switch Apps Delay
The first new option involves the Switch Apps action. Android unfortunately doesn't have a direct method for switching to the previous app, so Navigation Gestures has to simulate a double-tap of the Recents button. We've played around with different delays between the two simulated taps, but none have worked reliably on all devices. This option allows you set the delay between the two taps yourself. Experiment with longer and shorter delays to find what's best for your phone.
Accessibility Event Delay
The other option also involves a delay. Navigation Gestures relies on events reported to an Accessibility Service to know when the screen content has changed. These events aren't reported every time they're generated, though. Android allows a minimum delay between events to be set. The shorter this delay is, the faster Navigation Gestures can do things like update the pill color or hide the pill. Unfortunately, a shorter delay also means worse battery life and performance. A longer delay means slower responses, but less effect on battery usage and speed.
Luckily, Android allows this delay to be set dynamically, so we've added an option so you can set it yourself. The default delay is 500ms, but if you want the best performance, you can set it as low as 100ms. If you're trying to save battery, it can be set all the way up to 2000ms.
Cut-Off Volume Dialog
Android Pie redesigned the volume dialog, moving it to the side of the display. Because of this, when using a fullscreen app in landscape on Pie, the volume dialog will be partially offscreen. There's a new compatibility option which will temporarily show the navigation bar when the volume dialog is on-screen under thee specific conditions.
Bugs/Miscellaneous
Aside from everything mentioned above, there are quite a few bug fixes and miscellaneous changes that should improve your experience using Navigation Gestures.
Crash Fixes
Being a low-level personalization app, Navigation Gestures has its fair share of crashes. Since 1.18.4, we've fixed quite a few crashes, and the overall experience should be much more stable.
Again, with how much Navigation Gestures has to do in the background, there are quite a few times when Navigation Gestures freezes up, especially on older or lower-end devices. A lot of work has gone into performance for this release, fixing quite a few instances where Navigation Gestures stops responding.
Hide Pill when Keyboard Shown
At some point, we broke this option. Well, now it's fixed, and should work reliably again in 1.20.16.
During the development and testing process between the release of 1.15.10 and 1.18.4, the gesture sensitivity was decreased greatly when the pill was aligned to the bottom of the screen. It could be worked around by enabling Full Overscan, but not all devices are compatible with that option.
After a lot of investigation, we found the reason behind this issue, and it should be fixed now. If you had turned on Full Overscan in 1.18.4, you can disable it if you want to.
Make sure the Show NavBar with Keyboard option is disabled when Overlay NavBar is on
Make sure holding the pill to show the navigation bar while screen pinning is active actually works
Fix up some animations
Developer: XDA
Navigation Gestures Premium Add-On
So that's it. As promised, there's a whole bunch of new stuff: features, behavior changes, bug fixes…. what more could you want?
If you haven't tried Navigation Gestures before, there's no better time than now to go install it. If you have tried it before and you uninstalled it because of issues you experienced, give it another shot, and then uninstall it because you'll still probably have issues. Report any problems you have, though. You can send an email to navigationgestures [at] xda-developers [dot] com or create a ticket at https://support.xda-developers.com to let us know.
Tags Gesturesnavigation
XDA » News Brief » Navigation Gestures 1.20.16 released with even more bug fixes and features
Zachary Wander
I write articles and develop apps for XDA. I'm also the developer of SystemUI Tuner. Yes, I'm bad at writing self-descriptions.


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Get Your COVID-19 Booster
Boosters help fight Omicron so make your appointment today. Everyone age 12 and older is eligible.
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Stanford Cancer Institute Redesignated Comprehensive Cancer Center
The Stanford Cancer Institute is one of 51 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer centers, which must meet rigorous standards for improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Stanford Health Care named top teaching hospital by Leapfrog Group
Leapfrog Group, a leading watchdog organization focused on the quality and safety of U.S. hospitals, named Stanford Health Care a top academic medical center and gave an A for safety in its semiannual assessment.
$31 million in research grants to accelerate treatments for stroke, heart failure, brain cancer
Stanford Medicine physicians will launch pioneering stem cell clinical trials to treat common, debilitating diseases with funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Stanford Medicine earns top ranking for quality, safety from Vizient
Vizient, a national health care performance improvement organization, ranked Stanford Medicine in the top 10% of comprehensive academic medical centers for inpatient and outpatient care.
A Legacy of Innovation
Access to tomorrow's therapies through clinical trials
Clinical trials are critical to progressing medical
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Learn more about the opening of the new Stanford Hospital.
Minimally Invasive Outpatient Procedure Eases Prostate Enlargement
Learn more about Urology at Stanford Health Care.
Imagine learning that you have a rare cancer, but limited treatment resources where you live. That was Cami's experience, until she connected with Stanford Health Care's Online Second Opinion Program. From the comfort of her home, she accessed highly-specialized expertise and new options for treatment.
Learn more about the Second Opinion program at Stanford Health Care.
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When Monica's dad died suddenly at age 68, it was a wake-up call for Monica and her siblings. She was referred to the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease.
Learn more about the Center for Inherited Heart Disease at Stanford Health Care.
Opening Celebration of the new Stanford Hospital
Stanford's Online Second Opinion Program: World-Class Expertise. The Convenience of Home
Artist paints again pain-free after robotic spine surgery.


Julie's Guide to ... Airport Dining.
Sometimes, you don't have time to read my entire blog. I get it. You just want a quick reference. Thus, I bring you the "Julie's Guide To ..." series.
This is your guide to airport dining, including airline lounges, food courts, and sit down restaurants inside the airport. To see all my airport reviews, dive into the full list.
American Airlines Admiral's Club: Standard Admiral's Club. (**).
Stay tuned! More coming soon.
Giants Clubhouse: Good kale salad! T3, post-security (****).
Samovar Tea Lounge: Good enough salads, but pricey. Good coffee. International Terminal, Pre-Security (***).
Where not to get octopus: Cat Cora's Kitchen. T2, post-security (*).
Delta Sky Club: Fairly standard, modern space, eh to food. (**).
KLM / Air France Lounge, so very mediocre. Unless you like iced carrots?
Knowing my love for snacks, and popcorn in particular, and kettle corn even more specifically, one of my family members got me a bag of White Mountain Kettle Corn, from my home state of New Hampshire.
White Mountain Kettle Corn is a family owned company, making small batches of popcorns. The popcorn is "all natural", nut-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, etc, certainly promoted as a healthier snack alternative. They make a single flavor, just kettle corn, described as "ever so lightly sweet and salty".
I wanted to love it, since I do really love kettle corn. And I wanted to support my home state. But ... yeah, not very interesting popcorn.
This was, sadly, pretty boring kettle corn.
It was not super sweet, nor salty, the two things you look for in kettle corn. I guess they do advertise it as "ever so slightly" sweet and salty, but, uh, really, what is the point if you don't go all out?
It was also not very fresh tasting, which makes sense, since it is bagged popcorn, who knows when it was popped.
Baladie is a Mediterranean cafe near Union square. I swung in one day to grab a few items to go. Not because I particularly like Mediterranean food, but Ojan does, and I was looking for a couple small items to supplement a meal we had waiting for us at home.
I don't have much to say about the place, besides the fact that the name "Gourmet Cafe" is a bit misleading. Not entirely sure what would be considered gourmet here. It was not good.
Once I ordered the falafel, I heard a microwave start up. Not a good sign. The falafel are not prepared fresh to order, and it was obvious.
It wasn't crispy on the outside, and was fairly spongy throughout. The flavor was ok, but overall, being microwaved lead to a pretty crappy product. Maybe this wouldn't have mattered as much inside a wrap? But as an a la carte item, microwaved falafel was not a winner.
The dolma was equally disappointing. It was very soggy, both the filling and the wrapper. The rice inside was just mush. It was also incredibly oily.
Definitely would not get again.
While in Zürich attending a conference last year, a large group of us decided to get dinner after the final day of the conference. Since there were so many of us, we opted to do something simple and nearby, rather than seek out an amazing location. Emil, who lived in Zürich before, suggested Weisses Rössli, a place he knew that was nearby, and suggested we go early so that they might actually be able to seat our large group without a reservation.
So, right around 6pm, 10 of us tentatively made our way inside, to find the restaurant entirely empty. As in, literally, devoid of patrons. Perhaps not the best sign, but, it was early, and they could seat us, although they looked a bit bewildered by our group, and suggested we stand around the bar and have a drink while they came up with a table arrangement for us. This sounded like a reasonable suggestion, except, the bar had space for perhaps 3 people total, so really, the lot of us just ended up standing in the doorway with flutes of champagne.
The menu sounded fantastic. Classic french, with a slew of items I wanted to order. I was glad when Emil agreed to split things with me, so I could try more dishes.
Since I was in a large group dining, and was there as part of my work and wanted to focus on the conversation around me, I didn't take notes during the meal, and wasn't planning to write up a review. But, bored on the flight home, I decided to write this anyway. I apologize for lack of detail and anything I get wrong, I really *wasn't* trying to be a critic, for once.
Short version? The food looked and sounded good, but was highly mediocre.
To start, we were presented with an amuse bouche.
It was salmon tartar, on top of what I think was cucumber, topped with sprouts.
I didn't care for it. The salmon tasted a bit fishy, and it was rather mushy. The dish really needed a creamy component.
Starter: Foie gras maison served with strawberry chutney.
Since we were at a French restaurant, and we were out of California, we of course had to order the foie gras (yes, foie was still banned at this time). Nearly every person at the table picked a buddy to split a foie gras starter with. We were clearly deprived.
The kitchen nicely split the foie gras for us onto individual plates.
The foie was a slice of terrine, served too cold. It wasn't easily spreadable, and had a very unappealing fat layer around it. It wasn't particularly creamy, or seasoned either. Disappointing.
The accompaniments were better than the foie itself.
The little dish contained strawberry chutney, and the sweetness paired well with the foie. It was garnished with the same onion sprouts as the amuse bouche (which didn't really make sense here).
Also on the plate was a slice of strawberry and a raspberry, along with clear gelee. I'm not entirely sure what the gelee was, but it tasted alcoholic.
The best part of the plate was the large grains of salt to add some seasoning.
I liked how the dish was designed for you to create your "perfect bite" with foie, chutney, gelee, and salt, but, it didn't really do it for me.
Overall, this wasn't bad exactly, but it was one of the weakest preparations of foie I've had at a restaurant, and, even though I was missing foie gras, I didn't really care to finish it.
The foie came with baskets of toasted brioche. The bread was only lukewarm, but I appreciated the choice of brioche, always my favorite with foie gras.
Main: Stir fry fillet of char served on a orange hollandaise with home made gnocchi and asparagus.
The menu had three seafood dishes, all of which sounded good. I had a hard time settling on a choice, but was drawn in by the fact that not only did I want the seafood in this one (char), I also really liked both sides that came with it (gnocchi and asparagus).
Sadly, soon after I ordered, the waitress came back to tell me they were out of gnocchi. How that was possible, given that we were the first table seated of the night, was beyond me. She asked if I'd like risotto or rice instead. Um, no. I hate rice. I asked what else was possible, thinking some other pasta or vegetable might be offered, but the only other suggestion she had was mashed potatoes. I just wasn't in the mood mashed potatoes, and they seemed a bit heavy to have with my fish. I asked for just more asparagus instead, since I'd been really enjoying it throughout the trip. I was amused when me dish arrived. Instead of just doubling up the asparagus on my plate, the regular portion was served, plus an extra side of it on a separate plate.
The fish was mediocre. Served skin on, cooked ok. It wasn't too dried out, but was still more cooked than my liking. Served as two large filets, a very generous portion.
The orange hollandaise I was excited for, since I'm a serious sauce person, even though I don't love orange. It was a fairly mediocre hollandaise, it seemed kinda like it had been sitting a long time. The orange flavor was ok, and there were a few orange segments in the dish too.
The asparagus, both on my plate and in my extra side dish, was good, not too overcooked. I liked the seasoning and the leeks(?) in the side dish version in particular. I expected to want to smother this in the hollandaise, but since the sauce wasn't great, I didn't, and ate it as it was.
If you've read my blog before, you know that I have a serious thing for desserts, for puddings and custards in particular, and that I have very strong feelings on creme brûlée specifically. After such a mediocre meal you'd think I would know better than to order the creme brûlée, but honestly, I can't resist it when it is on a menu. When done right, it can be so, so good.
Spoiler: this was not done right.
First, the tap test. When I tap on the top with my spoon, it shouldn't just bust through, there should be an actual layer of caramelization there providing resistance. But, it shouldn't be so thick that it is hard to get through. This was too thin. Strike one.
Next, the temperature test. I should be able to feel some heat on the outside of the top of the vessel, and the top layer should feel hot, indicating that it was freshly brûléed to order. The rest should be cold. This was all one temperature, room temperature. Strike two.
Next, consistency. It should be thick, like a custard, but not jiggly like a panna cotta. This was runny, like a poorly set pudding. Strike three.
Finally, flavor. It should have … some. Ideally, real vanilla bean used, with flecks visible. This tasted like nothing. Strike four.
There was absolutely no redeeming quality to dessert, and it was about as far from a good creme brûlée as one can get. I certainly wouldn't get it again.
Yeah, I went back to Taco Bell. For breakfast no less.
Remember a few years ago, when Taco Bell did a promotion that if anyone stole a base during the World Series, they'd give away free Doritos Locos Tacos? Well, that was my first time ever having Taco Bell. I uh, wasn't impressed. I didn't return. Until now.
Why? Because Taco Bell did it again, only this year, they offered up free breakfast. Since I can't resist a chance to try silly freebies like this, you know I eagerly headed off to Taco Bell the morning of the promotion.
But I didn't head to just any Taco Bell. Nope. I went to the fancy new Taco Bell Cantina in Soma.
Still obviously a Taco Bell, but, the seating is certainly upgraded. They even have a big communal table in the middle. So hip.
The menu is still standard Taco Bell, and the kitchen I'm sure is a similar set up, but at the Cantina the kitchen is open, so you can watch orders being assembled, more like being in a real taqueria.
I hear that they do have some additional menu items, mostly sharable appetizers.
The soda machine is also a fancy cantina branded one.
But besides that, it is Taco Bell. You order a register, you wait for your number to be called. Or, if you are fancy, you order online first.
Eventually this location is supposed to serve beer, wine, and sangria, but when I visited they still had a petition near the register to sign to convince someone to let them.
Anyway, the food. So yes, Taco Bell serves breakfast (and has for about a year and a half).
You can likely guess most of the menu, different spins of breakfast burritos. Much like the lunch/dinner menu, the breakfast menu reads like a mis-mash of a few different ingredients, just assembled differently. The basic building blocks are scrambled eggs, bacon/sausage/steak, hashbrowns, and cheese.
The simplest option is the "Cheesy Burrito", stuffed with scrambled eggs, cheese, and your choice of meat. The "Grilled Breakfast Burrito" seems to be a small step up, offering nacho cheese sauce instead of shredded cheddar cheese. I imagine it is also grilled, per the name, but they photos don't look it. Next up is the "Grilled Breakfast Burrito Country", with scrambled eggs, potatoes, southern gravy, and your choice of protein. Going bigger still is the "Grand Scrambler", with scrambled egg, cheese and nacho cheese sauce, potatoes, pico de gallo, sour cream, and your choice of protein.
If you prefer tacos over burritos, go for the "Biscuit Taco", a fluffy taco shell, filled with scrambled eggs, cheese, and your choice of meat. Or the "Sausage & Cheese Biscuit Taco", with just a sausage patty and cheese, sans egg. The final taco offering is an "A.M. Grilled Taco", a traditional flour tortilla, stuffed with, you guessed it, scrambled egg, cheese, and your choice of meat. It really looks more like a quesadilla though.
The last section of the breakfast menu is devoted to the most unique item: the "A.M. Crunchwrap". These are full burrito size flour tortillas filled with not just scrambled eggs, cheese, and your protein choice inside, but also a full hash brown patty and sauce. And they aren't just folded over, they are formed into a hex shape, and then grilled. It is the Crunchwraps that Taco Bell was giving away this time.
You can get your breakfast sandwich as a combo with a drink and either hashbrowns or little Cinnamon Delights (fried dough balls, stuffed with icing, coated in cinnamon and sugar). The sides are also available a la carte.
I ordered my Crunchwrap, and stepped back to watch it be assembled. The staff moved efficiently, with one person adding eggs and proteins, the next putting on the correct sauces and folding them up, and the final person put them into the press to be grilled.
Although there was a line, and mine was made to order, it still only took <3 minutes before my number was called out, and my piping hot bag was handed over. Fast food man, it really is fast.
So, for the free item, I could select a Crunchwrap. The standard offering comes with scrambled egg, cheese, bacon, a full hash brown, and creamy jalapeño sauce. You can sub out the bacon for a sausage patty free of charge, or opt for steak for a slight price increase.
The other Crunchwraps on the menu still have the base of scrambled eggs, cheese, and hashbrown, but the "Country" version uses southern gravy instead of creamy jalapeño sauce and defaults to a sausage patty, and the "California" version throws in some guac and pico de gallo.
I didn't realize the other versions were included in the promo, and hadn't looked them up, so I had no idea what was in them (and the signs at the Taco Bell itself don't actually say). So, I opted for the regular Crunchwrap.
Except ... I don't really like eggs, even good eggs, and I've had enough fast food eggs at this point to know better than to even try (like the flavorless rubbery eggs in the otherwise good Starbucks breakfast sandwiches) So, I opted for no egg, just like I did at Panera.
The standard version uses bacon, but I wasn't really interested in the greasy little bacon crumbles they use for bacon, so went for the sausage patty. This substitution was free of charge. I was pleasantly surprised by the sausage patty at Starbucks (not so much at Panera), so I though it stood a chance here.
So, my order: Sausage A.M. Crunchwrap, no egg.
I pulled it out of the bag, and was a little surprised to see that it did indeed match the photo I had seen online. Hex shaped, grilled. Hmm.
It was really hot, clearly fresh from the grill press. The outside was crispy from the contact points. Hmm, not bad, actually. I continued.
Sausage A.M. Crunchwrap, no egg: inside.
Once I took a few bites from the edge to get past the plain tortilla, I got to the insides.
I took a few bites of it all together, rather ... enjoying it. This thing wasn't bad, actually.
The hashbrown was indeed a full patty. It wasn't too greasy or oily. Sure, it was a frozen hashbrown, but I grew up on these (the kind you throw into a toaster? I used to slather them with ketchup or syrup and be quite satisfied).
The sausage however wasn't great. When it was combined with everything else it was fine, but on its own, it was obvious that it was rather rubbery and flimsy, and didn't taste particularly good. Not that I was expecting high quality at this price point, but the Starbucks one was considerably better.
The cheese was basic shredded cheddar cheese, but it was nicely melted. I would have liked more, as there really wasn't much. Extra cheese is an option for customization, for a fee.
And lastly, the creamy jalapeño sauce. I appreciated the creamy component, but, this just made no sense at breakfast for me. It had a little kick, which was nice for some flavor, but, random mayo-y sauce wasn't really what I wanted.
After reading about the Country Crunchwrap, I do wish I had gone for that instead (sans egg of course). It would have been the same as what I got, but with gravy instead of creamy jalapeño sauce, which just makes a lot more sense for breakfast to me. Plus, mmm, sausage and gravy!
I obviously can't evaluate the egg, since I had it left out. I did find the whole thing a bit lacking in flavor, but luckily they have a slew of different hot sauces and ketchup available, so I was able to slather mine in sauce and add whatever kick I wanted. I saw most other diners doing the same.
So overall, it really wasn't bad. It was freshly made. I liked the crispy exterior. The cheese was melty. It was hot inside. Hashbrowns are tasty.
Do I want another? Well, no, but I was glad to give it a try.


The ministers pointed to Russia's development of the Novator 9M729 ground-based cruise missile, which violates the terms of the treaty and poses "significant risks" to the security of the region.
The prospect of a U.S. withdrawal has rattled some European allies, including Germany and France, who see a constellation of U.S. and Russian arms reduction treaties as critical to Europe's security. It has also heightened the risk of an arms race between the United States and Russia, according to some arms control experts.
Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association, said the 60-day ultimatum gives the United States and its allies little diplomatic breathing room to negotiate a solution with Russia. "Failure to do so risks the start of a new missile race in Europe that will undermine European security," he said.
Kimball noted that Russia has expressed concern about the U.S. "Aegis Ashore" system in Romania, the land-based version of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system mounted on U.S. cruisers and destroyers, which Moscow says could be used for offensive missions.
U.K. Defense Minister Gavin Williamson indicated on Saturday that Britain and other European nations had been trying to buy time to bring Russia back into compliance. In a roundtable with a small group of reporters at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, ahead of Pompeo's announcement, Williamson said European nations need to pressure Moscow in "the next few weeks" to abide by its treaty obligations.
But Williamson was unwavering in his support of the Trump administration's stance given Russia's "flagrant disregard" for the agreement.
Others have praised the Trump administration for coordinating its ultimatum in lockstep with NATO. "There's actually action in NATO on something everybody knew was true," said Rachel Ellehuus, a former Pentagon official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The statement, Ellehuus said, undercuts the line coming out of Moscow that it is the United States, not Russia, that will kill the INF Treaty by announcing its withdrawal first.
The U.S. ultimatum on the INF Treaty follows a series of twists and turns in past weeks that has become emblematic of a chaotic policymaking process in the Trump administration. The president caught U.S. allies off guard when on Oct. 20 before a rally in Nevada he said he was going to "terminate" the agreement and pull out. Days later, National Security Advisor John Bolton appeared to try to walk back the statement, saying in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that the administration would instead consult with allies further before making a final decision.
In the weeks since Trump's surprise announcement, the State Department and Pentagon worked behind the scenes to corral allies into issuing a joint NATO statement on the subject to showcase alliance unity on Russia's violations of the treaty, even if they disagreed on the merits of the United States withdrawing from the agreement, according to four current and former U.S. and European officials. The State Department last week told at least some allies, including Germany, France, Norway, and Italy, that Pompeo would announce the ultimatum at the meeting in Brussels on Tuesday.
Current and former officials say some European allies still extracted minor concessions from the Trump administration, reflected in the parts of the NATO statement that tout the importance of dialogue with Russia and clarification that allies are "firmly committed" to arms control measures.
Now, as NATO indicated, the onus is on Russia. "We would welcome a Russian change of heart," said Pompeo. "And so over the next 60 days they have every chance to do so.


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5 best Spider-Man games for Android
Spider-Man is one of Marvel's oldest comics. Practically everybody knows the story of Peter Parker, the fated spider bite, and everything that happened afterward. There are movies coming out all the time and fans debating on what movie is the best. Thankfully, mobile gaming is a lot more simple than that. Here are the best Spider-Man games for Android!
Here are some more Android games you might find interesting!
15 best action games for Android! (Updated 2019)
15 best adventure games for Android
Gameloft Spider-Man games
Price: Freemium
Gameloft has the license for Spider-Man specific mobile games it seems. That's a bit of a drag, but it is what it is. The company had a bunch of them, but it seems like Spider-Man Unlimited is the last game standing from its Spider-Man collection. The game is a runner style game with some fighter elements. You swing your way through cities and collect various items. The game also includes boss fights, comic book-style graphics, and classic Spider-Man villains. You also get multiple playable characters and a story mode with 25 missions and five boss fights per issue. There are a ton of issues as well as a global leaderboard for the game's unlimited mode. It's a freemium game, but it's not bad for a freemium game.
Price: Free with in-app purchases
Marvel Contest of Champions pits various Marvel heroes against one another. Yes, that includes Spider-Man. It's a fighting game. That means it'll be you versus an opponent one and one. It features online mechanics, alliances with other players, and more. There is also a campaign to fight through, various heroes to collect, and more content is added as the game ages. It's a classic freemium fighter style game. That means it'll depend more on luck than skill a good percentage of the time. Still, it's not a terrible experience among Spider-Man games.
Marvel Future Fight is one of the most popular Spider-Man games. Or at least, one of the most popular games that include Spider-Man. This one is a third-person beat-em-up game. You collect heroes, use them to advance through the story line, and more. It also includes three vs three online PvP with other players. It's a freemium game. That may disappoint some. However, it does fairly well at letting you play your favorite super hero while also mowing down bad guys. We'll call this one satisfying rather than judging it on a scale of good or bad. Marvel Strike Force is another game that is a lot like that as well.
Price: $0.99 with in-app purchases
Marvel Pinball is one of the more casual games with Spider-Man in it. It's actually just pinball game themed like Marvel characters. Thankfully, it's actually a pretty decent one. It boasts pseudo-realistic graphics, pinball tables themed like many Marvel characters, and even Android TV support. The game is a pay-once game with in-app purchases. However, the in-app purchases unlock new pinball tables. That's a lot better than gems. It's also friendly for all ages and fairly easy to play. About our only complaint is that the game hasn't been updated since 2016. Thus, if you find bugs, they likely won't get fixed.
Marvel Puzzle Quest
Marvel Puzzle Quest is pretty much like every Puzzle Quest game. It's a match-three puzzle game. Each time you complete a match, your characters do damage to the opponents. It also has RPG elements, online multiplayer, alliances, and a story line to play through. Spider-Man is one of the characters so it counts kind of. It's a casual sort of game similar to ones like Candy Crush. It's also a freemium game so prepare yourself for that.
Thank you for reading! Here are some more games to check out!
15 best Android games of 2019!
15 best puzzle games for Android
If we missed any great Spider-Man games for Android, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists!
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by Joe HindyJuly 5, 20191272 shares


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Alchemilla arvensis (syn. Aphanes arvensis), known as parsley-piert, is a sprawling, downy plant common all over the British Isles where It grows on arable fields and bare wastelands, particularly in dry sites. The short-stalked leaves have three segments each lobed at the tip. Flowers April–September. The tiny green flower has four sepals and no petals, the fruit is oval pointed. Stipules form a leaf-like cup, enclosing the flower. The name of parsley piert has nothing to do with parsley. It is a corruption of the French perce-pierre, meaning 'stone-piercer' and was given to the plant because of its habit of growing in shallow, stony soil and emerging between stones. As in the case of saxifrage (from the Latin meaning 'stone-breaker') it was wrongly assumed that the plant could pierce stones; and it was thought that a medicine made of parsley piert would break up stones in the bladder and kidneys. Old folk-names for the plant include 'colicwort' and 'bowel-hive-grass' (hive meant inflammation), showing that it was also used for intestinal ailments.

The 17th-century herbalist Nicholas Culpeper, recommended parsley piert for use in salads, although it would be difficult to gather sufficient quantities of such a tiny plant for a reasonable meal. Culpeper also recommends the plant to gentlemen for eating as a winter pickle in addition to the pickled samphire to which they were accustomed.

The previous genus name of Aphanes comes from a Greek word meaning "unseen" or "unnoticed", which precisely describes this tiny plant. Nevertheless, parsley piert is a very common and widespread weed of cultivated ground, whether acidic or not.

Description
Alchemilla arvensis is 2–20 cm high, leaves fan -shaped, short-stalked, with 3 deep-toothed main lobes; leaves only 2–10 mm long. Flowers minute, less than 2 mm, in dense clusters in leraf-axils, surrounded by cups formed by leaf-stipules; 4 sepals, epicalyx, but no petals; stamens usually one. Flowers April–October.

Habitat
On arable land, bare ground, on paths, on dry or chalky soils.

Distribution
Most of Europe, including Britain, east to Iran.

Gallery

References

External links

arvensis
Flora of Asia
Flora of Europe
Medicinal plants
Demulcents


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Home Archive Carl Frampton defends Commonwealth title against Kris Hughes
Carl Frampton defends Commonwealth title against Kris Hughes
Belfast powerhouse Carl Frampton defends his Commonwealth super bantamweight title against Scotland's Kris Hughes in an intriguing clash at the York Hall in Bethnal Green on Saturday.
The powerfully built Frampton is one of the most promising boxers to come out of Northern Ireland in many a year, and is managed by the country's biggest ever boxing star – Barry McGuigan. The 5'11" Hughes is no slouch however, and will enjoy a six-inch height advantage over the champion. The only loss on Hughes' record was a close decision defeat against fellow Scot Jamie Arthur in 2010.
Frampton vs Hughes looks to be a classic matchup between the short, powerfully built slugger and the rangy, skillful boxer, and could be an outstanding early season encounter, with the winner gunning for a crack at British champion Scott Quigg or European title holder Kiko Martinez. Frampton v Hughes will be screened live on Sky Sports 1, the action begins at 9 PM.
24-year-old Frampton [11-0, seven KOs] was an outstanding amateur for Northern Ireland, winning over 100 bouts and losing just eight. He was a multiple Irish national champion, and a silver medalist in the 2007 European Union Amateur Boxing Championships.
Frampton turned professional in June 2009 under the watchful eye of manager – former WBA featherweight champion and Irish boxing legend Barry McGuigan. Frampton has progressed smoothly against a diet of solid opposition. In December 2010 Frampton stopped Gavin Reid in two to win the Celtic super bantamweight title, his first scheduled 10 rounder. He defended that belt last July with a 10 round decision over Welsh prospect Robbie Turley.
Last time out, Frampton powered his way to a fourth round TKO over Australian Mark Quon to win the vacant Commonwealth super bantamweight title. The Irishman is a squat, powerful looking figure that packs a lot of muscle on his short frame. He is somewhat limited by his 62" reach, but makes up for it with excellent speed and reflexes.
Frampton's opponent on Saturdayy night will be Scotland's 24-year-old Kris Hughes [15-1, one KO], another talented UK youngster with ambitions of getting to the top. Surely one of the tallest super bantamweight's on the world stage at 5'11" and a southpaw to boot, Hughes turned professional aged just 17 in October 2006, but fought just three times between 2006-2008, and his career didn't really take off until 2009 when he fought seven times, including a first-round stoppage over the dangerous Welshman Dai Davies and an eight round decision over the tricky Youssef Al Hamidi.
In October 2010, Hughes lost a close 12 round decision to Jamie Arthur in a fight for the vacant Commonwealth super bantamweight title. There was no disgrace in losing to Arthur who had been a top British prospect earlier in the decade after winning a Gold medal in the 2002 Commonwealth games in Manchester, and was on a successful comeback that had included ending the unbeaten run of the highly touted Akaash Bhatia the year before. Arthur is scheduled to fight British champion Scott Quigg on February 4th.
Since the loss to Arthur, Hughes has bounced back successfully, scoring three wins in 2011 including a 10 round decision over James Ancliff for the Scottish Area featherweight title. Although 126 lbs would seem to be better suited to Hughes' beanpole-like frame, he clearly believes that he has the beating of Frampton who he claims has boxed nothing but "bums and journeymen", and jumped at the opportunity to fight for a major title.
The super bantamweight class is particularly buoyant in the UK, with British boxers holding six of the top 10 slots in the current E.B.U rankings [Spanish slugger Kiko Martinez is the current champion.] Rendall Munroe remains highly ranked in the world, and British champion Scott Quigg was one of the success stories of 2011.
Carl Frampton looks to have the talents and the tools to become one of the best super bantamweights in Europe. Whether he can fulfill his potential and become a world champion remains to be seen in a division where the outstanding Cuban Guillermo Rigondeaux has just become WBA champion, and will soon see the debut of budding superstar Nonito Donaire.
Of course Hughes' sheer physical advantages give him an outside chance of pulling off an upset. If he can keep the Irishman on the end of his southpaw jab for twelve rounds, a shock result could be on the cards.
Nevertheless, Frampton should have way too much power for Hughes on Friday. It would be a victory of sorts for the Scot if he could last the distance against the Irishman, but I cannot see him keeping Frampton at bay for 12 rounds, and I think by round eight Frampton's bombing attacks to the head and body of Hughes will force the referee to intervene.
Frampton by TKO in eight.
Carl Frampton
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Quantum Leap -- Episode 86: Return of the Evil Leaper
Sam Leaps Into:
Arnold Watkins, a college student who dresses up like a superhero and attempts heroic acts.
Take on a fraternity and its dangerous hazing rituals. Convince Arnold not to take so many risks (Al's objective).
North Falls, New York
Would you relax? I guarantee within five minutes I'll have Arnold's slide rule fully extended. ~Alia
I enjoy both the "discovery" scenes, first when Zoey and Alia discover that Arnold is actually Sam, and then in the library when Alia is revealed to Sam.
I was very bummed that Sam didn't open up a can of whoop-ass on Mike (Neil Patrick Harris's character), an annoying, whiny, scrawny, little twit who had it coming.
Back-handed complement alert: despite it being a little hard to picture Harris as an imposing frat boy (since he's looks and talks like he's 14), he does a great job in the role.
The Quantum Leap Wiki says the episode takes place in New York, but in Sam's dorm room there's a Florida State jacket hanging up (though maybe it is New York and one of the two guys is a Florida State fan).
Strange that Sam's roommate would tell him about his car racing pledge considering he'd know Sam would try and stop it. And then pretty impressive that Sam (aka The Midnight Marauder) was later able to outrun about 20 guys at the race.
Harvey Laidman, episode director
Most of this show was written by Don Bellisario "on the fly." I am a director who strongly believes in preparation. I usually have an entire show worked out visually several days before the start of shooting. It doesn't mean that I can't or won't improvise, but I'm well prepared to be flexible. The "game of chicken with cars" came about as a last minute rewrite, and everyone scrambled to put the stunt together on the Friday before the Monday of shooting. I insisted on going out to the rock quarry site on Saturday with the stunt coordinator and key crew members. Harker Wade was understandably concerned about the cost of this weekend "scout." But I insisted for safety's sake, which did not endear me to Universal.
The scene in the library was written as we waited for Don, who grabbed a chair and wrote for several hours. It's a great tribute to the actors, who memorized the long scene in minutes and did a great job. Neil Patrick Harris took the job, because at the time he was considering a directing career. He was supposed to "shadow" me during the production, but I don't think it was a really good example of organized directing. There was a lot of improvising and last-minute decision making for better or worse. Anyway, I'm glad he did it, and he's since gone on to bigger and better things.
This episode is a ton of fun and I'm ranking it 16 out of 86, 7 slots below the first Evil Leaper episode. And some sad news: when the New Year rings in, Quantum Leap will be leaving Netflix. The same thing happened to MacGyver recently but then it came back on in a few days (maybe there was some contractual bargaining going on?), and hopefully QL similarly will return very soon.
Posted by Nicholas Sweedo at 7:51 PM
Highlander_II December 31, 2016 at 9:38 PM
NPH was 19 at the time, but until he turned about 25, he looked 'baby faced'. He would've just finished up with Doogie Howser about the time of this ep too.
I was not a fan of the evil-leaper episodes at all.
Mark January 1, 2017 at 4:54 PM
I liked the first evil leaper episode but this encore didn't work for me, especially the second hour where I was pretty checked out. There was some fun to be found with the Grease-style frat boy culture and Neil Patrick Harris was particularly charismatic in his role, but Sam's sympathetic air towards Zoey and Alia were misplaced. The first episode earlier this season was a clever gimmick that worked for a single episode and should have ended with Zoey and Alia spending the rest of eternity with their enabler. Wasting two full hours on a sequel for a show that they knew was winding down in a couple of months strikes me as malpractice, especially since it took away from whatever fun the storyline with Neil Patrick Harris' and his fraternity brothers could have been due to the bait and switch that rendered their storyline an afterthought by the hour's end. The schizophrenic treatment really felt like amateur hour to me. The fact that it was all put together "on the fly" shows.
And the less that's said about the second part, the better, other than I think 1987 was as recent of a leap as we've seen isn't it? "Doogie Howser, MD" ended in March 1993, so NPH must have just barely been available for new projects when this "Quantum Leap" opportunity came along for him. I'll rank this one between "Play It Again, Seymour" and "Future Boy".
Nicholas Sweedo January 1, 2017 at 7:36 PM
I wouldn't say that Sam was sympathetic to Zoey, but I agree that he was overly concerned about Alia given what she did to him last time. I'm doing a separate post for the second part since it's technically its own episode.
I really like these evil leaper episodes -- I think it's a creative premise and fun characters, and Zoey makes for a good villain.
Elizabeth April 21, 2017 at 10:29 AM
One aspect I don't think has been noticed. In the subplot, Arnold is pegged as being someone who does dangerous stunts to help other people because he is emotionally wounded. Sound like someone we know?
Whatever you think of the main plot -- I feel it is much better than "Revenge" -- Bellisario, Pratt, et al. are trying to make this script serve the themes of the series.