One of the greatest inventions since sliced bread is undoubtedly remote computer support.
Have you ever been struggling with a computer problem that your computer-savvy friend or relative can fix in the blink of an eye, but your friend just isn't there?
Ever spent countless hours trying to figure out how to share your printer in your home network? Configure your e-mail software? Get your anti-virus program working?
Your computer-expert friend mailed you the instructions, which you are following to a tee, but you just can't get the thing working.
If that sounds familiar, then you will probably want to hear about remote computer support solutions.
How much easier would it be if the tech person could just connect to your computer screen from a distance and solve your problem with a few clicks of the mouse?
Logmein is one of the many choices you have to set you up with remote support. And the good news is: they even offer a free version.
Go to www.logmein.com, click on the link that says "create an account" and look in their list of products for the category "Personal Remote Access". Select "LogMeIn Free" and sign up. You will have to enter your email address and a password. This is your logmein account password. You will have to pick a computer access password later on as well, but we'll get to that in a second.
No need to worry about your privacy when allowing someone to remotely connect to your computer. Access to your computer is protected by two passwords. You can always change your logmein passwords at any time. The person connecting to your computer will always have to know both your passwords in order to get in.
Your computer will then start downloading the LogMeIn software and the setup program will guide you through the installation with a setup wizard. Just follow the on-screen instructions.
The wizard will want to know if you want to perform a "Typcial" or a "Custom" installation; please select "Custom". That will allow you to choose a computer access password, which prevents problems in case your regular Windows account has a blank password.
During the rest of the setup wizard it's ok to accept the presented defaults.
When the installation is completed, your computer is set up for remote computer support. You can now use any other computer with an internet connection, go to www.logmein.com, log on with your logmein account email address and password, and you will see your "remote computer support enabled" computer listed under your LogMeIn "My Computers" section.
You can then remotely control that computer simply by clicking on its link.
And so can your techie friend, provided that you tell him or her your two passwords of course.
Just keep in mind that the person who is providing remote computer support will be able to see everything that's going on on your screen. And will even be able to control your computer.
Your privacy is guarded though, by two passwords. Additionally, whenever someone connects to your computer through LogMeIn, you will see a pop-up appearing on screen, informing you that someone is remotely connected. Just so no one can spy on you without you knowing.


The Mud Room is Hiring!
We are always looking for friendly, creative, and hard-working people to join our team!
We offer a creative and fun work environment, and are currently looking to fill one or more part-time long-term positions.
Please fill out an online application. NO PHONE CALLS.
Do you like meeting new people? Hosting parties? Spending time with kids and families? This might be the position for you! The Mud Room is currently looking for more Studio Staff!
Our team is outgoing and hard-working. Our environment is creative, fun and family-friendly. We are looking for someone to work with our customers at our hands-on art studio.
This job is great for teachers, college students, stay-at-home moms, retirees or anyone interested in working in a fast-paced creative environment and with children and families. We do our best to work around your school, home, or current work schedule to help you maintain a balanced life. Must be available on weekends!
Are you super organized? Are you a cheerful, enthusiastic person who loves busy days working with people? We want you on our team this holiday season!
The Mud Room Host/ess position is a part-time, seasonal position with opportunity for sustained employment and growth for the right person.
All applicants must be available to work weekends, available to work during Christmas break, and full of Christmas cheer! Age 18+ preferred, but ages 16-17 will be considered.
Are you super organized? Do you like making your list and checking it twice? Do you enjoy jigsaw puzzles, packing a lot of stuff into a small suitcase, or creative problem-solving? This might be the job for you!
The Mud Room is currently looking for a Kiln Room Assistant. This job is great for anyone who enjoys being neat, organized, and working independently. If you are task oriented, good with time-management, and like working with deadlines, you will love this job. We do our best to work around your school, home, or current work schedule to help you maintain a balanced life. But you must have some weekend availability!
Unlike many retail positions, you will not just collect a paycheck at the Mud Room.
There are many benefits including gaining experience in order management and team relations.
This job begins as entry-level, but there will be plenty of opportunities to grow and gain new responsibilities for long-term team members.


text:
Golmaal: Fun Unlimited () is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Rohit Shetty, written by Neeraj Vora, and produced by Dhilin Mehta under Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Limited and Parag Sanghvi under K Sera Sera Private Limited, with AA Films as distributor. The first installment of the Golmaal film series, it stars Ajay Devgn, Tusshar Kapoor, Arshad Warsi and Sharman Joshi along with Rimi Sen and Paresh Rawal. Golmaal was released on 14 July 2006. It is considered as a modern cult film.

The film is based on Mihir Bhuta's Gujarati play Aflatoon which was based on Harsh Shivsharan's Marathi play Ghar Ghar which had earlier been adapted into the 2001 Malayalam film Kakkakuyil. The opening comedy sequences were later used in the Kannada film Mast Maja Maadi (2008). Upon release, the film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. The film was commercially successful, grossing ₹467.2 million worldwide against a budget of ₹150 million.

Plot
The story revolves around the lives of Gopal, Lucky, Madhav and Laxman.

Laxman is a brilliant student who is diverted from his studies by his mischievous band of friends, Gopal, Madhav, and Lucky. Gopal is the muscle of the group, Madhav is the brain, and Lucky is the right one but a mute. The three friends use Laxman's hostel room for their mischievous activities. Laxman is peer-pressured into running a series of scams to earn himself and his friends some money and is punished by being thrown out of college. The foursome are indebted to a criminal/garage owner named Vasooli, who is constantly pursuing them. During a short halt in the woods, each one of them reveals their past. Laxman's mother used to work as a maid for a government officer. Madhav had a rough childhood, having been a witness to the constant fights between his parents. Lucky's father had abandoned him and his mother and remarried. His stepchildren used  to ridicule Lucky's mutism. Gopal reveals that he is an orphan who was raised in the Jamnadas Orphanage. Vasooli and his gang track down the group in the woods and chase them. The naughty foursome then finds refuge in the bungalow of a blind couple, Somnath and Mangala, who are waiting for their grandson, Sameer, inheriting their paternal grandparents' treasure chest hidden in the old couple's house. Gopal pretends to be Sameer returning from America, and enters the house, while the other three friends sneak in hidden.

A cat-and-mouse game unfolds as Laxman's body and Gopal's voice make up Sameer. Each time the blind couple comes amidst them, hilarious situations arise. Enter Nirali, the saucy girl-next-door, and the group now have time, place and 'resources' to fall in love. Their efforts at winning the lady's heart fail. Apart from their romantic interests, there is a quest for the chest. There is also a gangster named Babli who wants to steal the chest from the couple's bungalow. All his attempts are unintentionally and unknowingly thwarted by the foursome.

After the foursome finds a chest hidden behind an old painting in the house, despite Laxman pleading not to open the chest, Somnath reveals Sameer's death to Gopal, Laxman, Madhav, and Lucky. The real Sameer, along with his parents, was killed in a car crash on their way to India to meet his grandparents, after Somnath's son learned that Somnath and Mangala were permanently blinded in an accident. Somnath, with help from his friend, a police commissioner, went to America and lit the pyres of his son, daughter-in-law and grandson, the ashes of whom he later kept in an urn, as per the Hindu tradition, which he kept in the chest. Mangala overhears the entire story and is shocked; she breaks into tears and condemns her husband for lying to her all those years and not allowing her to cradle her grandson or light the pyres, while also criticizing the foursome for tricking her and hurting her feelings.

Babli then arrives with his gang and later reveals that he hid the diamonds in the urn Somnath was carrying as he returned to India. Pandurang, an assassin previously sent by Babli as an undercover servant, later joins Gopal's side on hearing about Sameer's truth and fights the gangsters off, with the fight finally ending with Gopal being accidentally stabbed by Babli in his butt with a knife, and falling unconscious soon after, but not before warning Madhav, Lucky and Laxman to not touch the knife, leaving the three friends in laughter. Babli also falls unconscious after seeing blood flowing from Gopal's butt.

After being admitted to a hospital, Gopal finally has the knife removed from his butt, and Babli is arrested for his crimes. Laxman, Gopal, Madhav and Lucky are then rewarded with ten per cent of the original value of the diamonds for arresting Babli. Nirali then chooses Lucky as her husband-to-be, saying that she wants a partner who only listens to her, and she found true love and loyalty in him and him alone, leaving the remaining three disappointed.

Cast
Ajay Devgan as Gopal "Gopu" Kumar Santoshi, who voices the fake Sameer.
Tusshar Kapoor as Lucky Gill
Arshad Warsi as Madhav Singh Ghai
Sharman Joshi  as Laxman Prasad Sharma, who acts as the fake Sameer's body.
Rimi Sen as Nirali
Paresh Rawal as Somnath Bhardwaj, Sameer's grandfather.
Sushmita Mukherjee as Mangala Bhardwaj, Sameer's grandmother.
Manoj Joshi as Harishchandra Ramchandra Mirchandani a.k.a. HaRaMi, Dean of Laxman's institute.
Mukesh Tiwari as Vasooli
Sanjay Mishra as Babli Bhai
Farid Amiri as Monty, Nirali's friend.
Vrajesh Hirjee as Pandu Ranga, Somnath and Managala's ex-servant
Siddhartha Jadhav as Sattu Supari, Babli Bhai's contract killer.

Release

Critical reception
Sukanya Varma of Rediff said the film was "one wacky, goofy, paisa vasool ride" and that "the humour isn't exactly family audience material, and is more likely to be lapped up by college-going folk", rating the movie 3/5. Subhash K Jha of Sify wrote that "Golmaal's neatly structured ambit of asinine anarchy tickles the funny-bone, but it finally says nothing about the quality of modern life that we haven't already heard in all those blasts from the past that have come in recent weeks trying to create a ripple across our sense of humour." Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama said that "Golmaal is a thoroughly enjoyable fare, the film has all it takes to hit the bull's eye" rating it 3.5/5.

Box office
Golmaal grossed  worldwide. At the end of its run, Golmaal was considered a success. It was declared a hit at the box office grossing about 290 million on a budget of 12 million.

Impact
Shortly after the film's release, Microsoft's video messenger platform Skype decided to include an emoji for Golmaal as well as several other Bollywood emojis in an effort to appeal to users in India and to honour Indian culture.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is composed by Vishal–Shekhar, with lyrics by Kumaar; Vishal Dadlani wrote the lyrics for "Aage Peeche".

Sequel
The film spawned a sequel titled Golmaal Returns, which released on 29 October 2008. The sequel received mixed reviews from critics but had a bumper opening in India and grossed a total more than the original, and was declared a Hit. On 5 November 2010, the third sequel titled Golmaal 3 was released, which broke many records. The film was declared a blockbuster, and was the highest-grossing installment in the Golmaal film series until the fourth, Golmaal Again, came out on 20 October 2017.

Legacy
Golmaal Again, the fourth installment of the series and the film's third sequel, has many references lifted from the film; among these, however, the recurring reference of the "Jamnadas Orphanage", which was used in the film and its second sequel Golmaal 3, is explored in detail in Golmaal Again as part of its core plot. Devgn, Warsi, Kapoor and Mukesh Tiwari reprised their respective roles in all of the four films, while Vrajesh Hirjee and Sanjay Mishra have appeared in all four films as different characters.

Notes

External links
 Official Movie Website, archived from http://www.golmaalthefilm.com

2006 films
2000s Hindi-language films
2000s action comedy-drama films
2000s buddy films
Films scored by Vishal–Shekhar
Films directed by Rohit Shetty
Indian action comedy-drama films
Indian buddy films
Films scored by Sanjoy Chowdhury
Films shot in Goa
Films set in Goa
Indian films based on plays

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Every Tuesday at BYU, more than 200 clubs gather to celebrate a gamut of interests, from hip-hop to vegetarianism.
In his inaugural address, President Kevin J Worthen articulates an upward climb both challenging and exhilarating.
After nearly two decades and more than 800 sporting events, BYU's radio announcer is still perfecting his game.
Learn what happens when a computer learns to cook.
BYUtv Studio C's Scott Sterling—"the man, the myth, the legend"—overtakes YouTube.
Journalism student Kristina Smith ('15) won the first-place prize in 2014's George H. Brimhall Memorial Essay Contest.
With help from alum Aaron Sherinian, #GivingTuesday is taking the charitable world by storm.
Tackling mountains or marathons, the Harper family shares a passion that runs deep.
When showing BYU pride, some fans go all out.
There's a rainbow streaming across the BYU Museum of Art lobby, an installation 80 miles of thread in the making.


MLS® 19010723 is located at 16 Jamaica Drive in West Ashley, SC. This house offers 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and is 2650 square feet.
This beautiful home in the heart of South Windermere was just completely remodeled and is move-in ready. The new chefs kitchen opens up to a large family room with gas log fireplace. The kitchen boasts quartz countertops, 36 inch dual fuel range, carrara marble backsplash and an eat-in island. The master bedroom is located downstairs with an en-suite bath featuring carrara marble tile, double vanity and a large walk-in shower. Also downstairs are the beautiful light filled formal living room with gas log fireplace, dining room, an additional bedroom, full bathroom and a charming sunroom which could be great for a playroom or home office. Two large bedrooms are upstairs with an adjoining Jack-and-Jill bathroom and plenty of closet storage.Marble tile throughout with designer lighting and beautiful refinished oak hardwood floors. There is a detached two car garage with electricity. Upgrades include new HVAC, new ductwork, new electrical, a reconfigured functional floor plan perfect for entertaining and family living. Convenient location, 5 minutes to downtown Charleston. Coveted shadowing oaks surround the newly landscaped and fenced-in backyard. Walking distance to South Windermere shopping center and St. Andrews Elementary School.
What specific questions do you have about 16 Jamaica Drive, Charleston, SC, 29407 (MLS® #19010723)? What date and time would you like to see this property? Please keep in mind that it usually takes 24hrs to make appointments with the sellers.


The pictures of Zhang Fangbai (born in 1965 Hengyang, Provinz Hunan/ China) confront the viewer unmediated and with overwhelming force. They seem mighty in the physical sense of the word.
A dream and the reality of life…..
Delson Uchôa (born 1956) and José Bechara (born 1957), both Brazilian artists, despite all differences between them, are connected by their sense for form and rhythm.


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Everything Peter Jackson added to The Hobbit — with PROOF!
Meredith Woerner
Now that it has been officially confirmed that Peter Jackson will be making a trilogy out of The Hobbit, everyone is asking one basic question. How is that possible? The Hobbit just isn't as big as Lord of the Rings. But Jackson has sworn up and down that there's plenty of material in the book's appendices that allowed him to expand Middle Earth. So what material is Jackson talking about specifically, and where does that fit in with The Hobbit? We picked through the appendices, Jackson's interviews, and the recent trailer to show you exactly what we think will end up on the big screen.
Confirmed: The Hobbit will now be a trilogy
Peter Jackson has finally confirmed what he told us at Comic Con: his Hobbit movies will officially
More Gandalf and friends (The White Council)
Gandalf the Grey is not in The Hobbit very much. In fact sometimes the wizard just vanishes only show up later yelling orders for no discernable reason. But in this trilogy, Jackson has promised that Gandalf isn't going anywhere. In an interview with IGN Jackson reveals the first big addition to the original material from Tolkien's appendices, "In The Hobbit novel Gandalf disappears for long periods of time, you never know where. But in the appendices Tolkien explains exactly what he was doing and where he was going. So we're able to incorporate all of that together." Boom! So where is he? Meeting up with the most powerful people in Middle Earth (the White Council) and helping to reveal the true face of the nefarious necromancer character, AKA Sauron. After beating up Thorin Oakenshield's dad and then telling the awesome elf Elrond (you remember him from LOTR — Agent Smith with a crown) about his experiences at Rivendell, Gandalf calls on the White Council to get to the bottom of these recent dark deeds.
This White Council is made up of Elrond, Galadriel, Saruman and a ton of other excellent Tolkien characters. We've already seen Galadriel in the trailer, so we know she's coming back. And Christopher Lee has already been confirmed to be returning to his role as Saruman. So buckle up for some excellent bickering between Lee and Sir Ian McKellen. Of course eventually Gandalf convinces the council to invade the Necromancer's fortress at Dol Guldur. Which leads to...
The Battle of Dol Guldur
In his statement on Facebook confirming the trilogy Jackson singles out The Battle of Dol Guldur as something he couldn't capture without breaking the book into three parts. This is the battle where Galadriel kicks a lot of ass. They fight orcs who ride werewolves and giant spiders, so yeah, awesome. But Galadriel just rips down the walls. It's impressive, and helps explain why everyone is so petrified of her awesome power in LOTR.
Legolas' Backstory
We've SEEN Legolas shooting arrows in the behind-the-scenes video diaries, and it's rumored that The Hobbit will be fleshing out a bit of this character's backstory. How so? By bringing in his dad! King Thranduil appears in The Hobbit and the Mirkwood elves are a big part of the journey to Lonely Mountain (they kidnap the dwarves and combine forces in the Battle of Five Armies). It's a fairly safe bet that whatever happens to Legolas during the final battle will only motivate his character's allegiance to the Fellowship of the Ring in the future. Don't forget Gimli's father, Glóin, is also on this expedition, and there better be a joke there at some point.
Best Behind-the-Scenes Hobbit Video Yet... With One Amazing Cameo
Peter Jackson has released the seventh video from The Hobbit set in New Zealand. Each one keeps…
Gandalf Vs. Thrain
It's no secret Jackson loves a flashback-centric prologue (the birth of Gollum continues to haunt us). So why not use a flashback from an appendix to pad out the story and strengthen the relationship between the journey to Lonely Mountain and the epic battle of Dol Guldur? The keen eye of Dizastrus revealed this image from The Hobbit of what could be Thrain (father to Thorin Oakenshield) and Gandalf fighting. One is clearly Gandalf, and the other is too short to be a human, and has the mark of a prosthetic forehead. This could be the scene where Gandalf discovers King Tharin, driven mad by Sauron and forced to hand over the dwarf ring of power (something the audience learned in LOTR). This is also how Gandalf gets the map and key to the Lonely Mountain where Bilbo and the Dwarves of Erebor eventually end their journey. It ties the two stories of Dol Guldur and the Battle of Five Armies together. Also it demonstrates the dark matters at work and excuses Gandalf from the primary mission of Lonely Mountain, because Sauron's back... bitches. Even if Gandalf wasn't aware that the Necromancer and Sauron are connected, the outlandish actions of the Dwarf King and a dark stranger's interest in the rings should lead to the eventual alert of the White Council.
The Story of Smaug and his Gold Belly
We have no proof that this will happen (sorry), but wouldn't it be rad if it did? We can't imagine Jackson will show the dragon face of Smaug until (at the latest) a cliff hanger ending of the second film. And once he's been introduced, doesn't this greedy dragon deserve a bit of backstory? Hell yes he does.
On top of all the actual Tolkien appendices and notes, Jackson added new characters into the mix. Evangeline Lily (Lost) is playing Tauriel, a Mirkwood elf, who has some sort of romantic ties to Kili (played by Aidan Turner, the vampire from BBC's Being Human). As we stated before, Mirkwood elves appear twice in this story, even though Tauriel doesn't appear in the original Tolkien. It's already confirmed that Kili will be pursuing Tauriel... but on the battle field, in the woods, inside a barrel? That's another large Mirkwood plotline that doesn't appear in the books.
General Dwarf Fleshing Out
Did you spy the remnants of a spider attack in The Hobbit trailer? If that reveal means the giant spiders will be in the first movie, the majority of the first flick will be an on the road epic with a gaggle of dwarves and Bilbo. We need more personal dialogue and action to flesh out each character, so you care if Bofur is almost sliced open by a Goblin. Oakenshield's ego can't hog the spotlight the whole time, so you can bet that there will be plenty of silly little drunk dwarf moments that will flesh out the gang. Richard Armitage even promised a bunch more dwarf drinking songs!
The Hobbit's Thorin Oakenshield tells us what happens when you get a dwarf drunk
The Hobbit's Richard Armitage plays the stoic Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of the dwarves and a…
Big Beautiful Battles
The Battle of Five Armies is not fleshed out in the books — in fact, Bilbo spends most of it unconscious. That won't stand for Jackson. He's got to top Helm's Deep. But then again, this is a battle with five armies. Plus this is the unification of the races: it's the first time that the humans, dwarves and elves stop squabbling over money and join together to fight evil. It's a massive moment both for the characters and just with the sheer size of it. There's no way this doesn't last for at least an hour. That's a lot of fleshing out and additional writing Jackson is going to have to dream up.
io9Movies

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: What's the canonical way to put a read timeout on a stream in PHP? Here's some sample code:
<?php
$fp = fsockopen($host, $port, $errno, $errstr, $connectTimeout);

if (!$fp) {
    echo "$errstr ($errno)<br />\n";
} else {
    echo "connected\n";
    while (!feof($fp)) {
        echo fgets($fp, 128);
    }
    fclose($fp);
}

I've seen
stream_set_timeout($fp, 5); and
socket_set_option($fp, SOL_SOCKET, SO_RCVTIMEO, array("sec"=>5, "usec"=>0));,
but the read never times out.
I've seen several caveats in the PHP docs for stream_set_timeout():

This function doesn't work with advanced operations like
  stream_socket_recvfrom(), use stream_select() with timeout parameter instead.

I'd rather not use select() or a loop. What is the canonical way to have a blocking read with timeout?

A: socket_set_option is for sockets created with socket_create.
stream_set_timeout is for streams, like created by fopen or fsockopen.
Php docs contain example code on how it can be used with fsockopen.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This is lightvesselautomatic 2.0. New, improved, with sharper teeth and a glossier snout. Please do not be alarmed.
lightvesselautomatic now has nice, friendly URLs – because you are not a computer. So, /diary.html is now /diary/. So: please update any bookmarks or links you might have. I promise to keep the new URLs intact for as long as lightvesselautomatic is active. I don't, however, promise that the old version's URLs will still work. That is bad of me, and I am sorry. From here on, though, everything is future-proof.
There is now an 'rss 2.0 feed' – up there at the top of the page – for those of you who know or care about these things. God knows I don't: I just made it because I can, because I know how, and that makes me feel powerful. What 'rss' means is that, if you have the right software, you can subscribe to this site, and when I put something new up – so long as I also remember to update the feed – then you will be notified, because your software will check the site regularly and automatically so you don't have to. The latest version of Opera, for example, can do this.
what makes you think there's something on my mind?
I remember before I was born, wounded up like a fur ball in the highly overrated fetal position, luckily I'm not claustrophobic, but on rainy days I still feel a tightness in my left shoulder. So now that my stepmother's pregnant, I understand what the baby's going through, and I'm not jealous at all, really, not at all.
Which should also lay to rest the idea that these t-shirts are made by people who don't speak English. Whoever wrote that knew exactly what they were saying.
Image: either Japanese tv, or a photo I took in a dream. I don't remember any more.
I wrote this a while ago, and have been putting off putting it here because it's not about Japan, and it says nothing especially new. And besides, what right do I have to talk politics at you, when you've come here to look at pictures of Okinawa? None in particular, I know. But I'm going to, just because I have a voice, and feel an obligation to use it. Not because anything I can say can be of much consequence, but just because I can – because that's all I can think of to do. To add another voice to the angry electronic chatter.
I haven't been updating much recently. There are a number of reasons for this – partly, I've been busy; partly, I haven't taken many photos recently; partly, I've been redesigning the whole site to make it prettier, nicer, cleverer (soon, soon…). Part of the reason, though, has been that every time I have access to an internet connection, I've been more inclined to read the news than to write about fun, trivial things I've been doing on my small, safe island. Every time I read the paper, the blue skies and tree-covered hills I can see from my desk seem to fade out, and I feel the horrible fascination of seeing something terrible unfold before one's eyes.
Living on small island, I've had time to catch up on a lot of reading – to read big, fat books that were too daunting when I lived in a city, to read classics that were never quite as appealing as whatever detective novel happened to be to hand – and one book I finally got around to reading earlier this year was 1984. And although it's more-or-less become a cliché to describe that book as 'perenially relevant'… today when I read the news, I read about torture in the name of human rights, indefinite imprisonment without charge in the name of freedom, occurring against the backdrop of a war in the name of peace, and I can't help but think there's some serious doublethink going on.
One interesting thing, reading 1984, was realising that book's name has become so synonymous with certain of its warnings – state surveillance of the individual, political control of language – that others often tend to be forgotten. One theme in 1984 concerns the political usefulness of endless war in rallying the public behind a corrupt regime. I wonder, though, whether any previous episode of history could have been a better model for 'endless war' than the current War on Terror – not a war against any particular country or organisation, not even a war against a particular doctrine. A war that can be allowed to go on as long as it's useful, and struck up again whenever there's trouble at home. What could end the war on terror? The end of al-Qaeda? I'm still not clear what the final, settled-on reason for the war in Iraq was (other than "he was a bad, bad man"), but even Bush and Blair long ago gave up trying to draw any connection there.
1984's direst warning is that, given the right conditions, a regime could exist that, once in place, would be impossible to bring down. I am not suggesting that any regime today has quite that ambition, but I do think that a lot of the ways in which the world is being changed could pave the way for worse to come. In both the US and the UK – and many other parts of the world – politicians are scrabbling more frantically than ever to please and appease politically unaccountable, usually commercial, interests, and in the process very important freedoms and rights are being trampled on: the right to a fair trial, for example. Freedom of speech. The unacceptability of torture of anyone, whether they be a 'prisoner of war' or an 'unlawful combatant' (the difference words make: the former are covered by the Geneva convention, and thus torturing them is a no-no. But here the 'war on terror' comes in handy again: since it's not a war on any concretely-definable enemy, that provides a fair bit of room to play around with what you call your prisoners. Finding international law a little inconvenient? Just redefine your terms! Another game that Orwell understood).
I feel vaguely ill at writing all this, shaking my fist from a tiny island at something so massive and far away, and the only people hearing me are… a bunch of my friends, who probably agree with me, have probably heard and thought it all before, and almost certainly came here to see some photos of Japan. Who do I think I am? The best excuse I can offer for getting all political is simply that I feel speaking out isn't a right but an obligation – the more people who stand up and scream and shake their tiny fists at the outrages committed by their governments, the more chance there is that things might change.
Well, I'm now finally a full member of the island's taiko-drumming group, and my first performance was on Saturday, which completes an arc of weirdness that began two years ago in London, when, completely by chance, I saw them performing on the South Bank along with my two predecessors – the only other two westerners to have lived on this island, in all likelihood (I've told that story previously here). It's complete madness: in a London street, I watch and enjoy a band from a small island on the other side of the world, and then I walk off without even finding out their name. Two years later, by pure coincidence, I am living on that small island, and my next door neighbours run the band. A few months after that, and I'm a member.
When I first arrived here, I was shocked at the bureaucracy. Of course, a new arrival in a foreign country probably gets a particularly big exposure to that country's bureacracy, but what really shocked me was the realisation that a country that in my mind was the most futuristic, technologically advanced place on the planet in fact relies for the most part on paper stamped in triplicate and the postal system in situations where almost all developed countries (and frankly, probably a fair number of developing countries, too) would have a computer system in place, and that it seems to flag behind Britain (and probably most of Europe) in pretty much all non-gadgety implementations of technology. If you want phones with built-in 1.3 megapixel video cameras and megabytes of memory, Japan is the place to come. Just don't expect cash machines that are open outside office hours, is all (they're mostly manned, apparently…) Liquid crystal tvs in cars? Yes, but don't expect to buy one with a credit card: Japan is cash only, in all but large hotels and department stores. The prevalence of the office, and of the shuffling and stamping of forms, came as a surprise and a puzzle to me. Recently, though, I discovered something about Japan's bureaucracy – something which has led me to see a lot of the things around me in a new light.
At the beginning of April, there was a big staff change in the board of education. I didn't think much about it at the time – lots of teachers change schools at that time, too, because it's the beginning of the academic year (like I said before, none of the teachers stay on my island for longer than three years). But over the last couple of weeks, I began to notice that other places seemed to have had a change of staff, too. I didn't put two and two together until T-sensei, the maths teacher, said yesterday that school dinners have got better this year, now that S-san is running the school dinner center. And then it clicked: everyone has changed jobs. Almost without exception, everyone on the island with a public-service job – the village office, the board of education, the school dinner center, and so on – has swapped jobs with someone else, in a different office. Dozens of people, changing jobs after one year.
At the time, that just seemed surprising, but I thought "fair enough – I suppose it's a way of limiting the damage that anyone who's really bad at their job can do, by shuffling them somewhere else after a year." I could see how that could work. But I kept coming back to it, puzzling about it, and I realised that it also means a number of other things. It puts very tight limits on the extent to which anyone can learn from their mistakes, or get useful experience at anything other than shuffling paper. It also means that for the most part roles that could be filled by someone with some level of experience in the field in question (education, say, or environmental management) are presumably filled by people who can really only bring to it general-purpose experience of office work. Suddenly, the huge amount of paperwork and bureaucracy that I've been seeing everywhere began to make sense, and I began to think again about some of the things that have struck me or bothered me since coming here.
My island is a place in decline. The population is less than half what it was thirty years or so ago, and if you spend an afternoon walking around, you see the signs all over the place: coastal footpaths and paths through the hills that are now overgrown and impassable in places; picnic areas whose toilets are out of order and which are clearly rarely tended, let alone used. At first, this all just seemed sad – a sign of the changing times, an unfortunate consequence of Japan's (or for that matter, any country's) technological and commercial development presumably having been that people leave relatively poor rural areas for the big city, and don't come back.
But recently, I began to wonder to what extent it is a sign of this. I began to notice that all over the place there are signs of staggering mismanagement. Picnic areas stand virtually unused on the hills, but meanwhile they appear to be constructing new ones along the coast. With car parks. On the north coast of the island, there is a viewing tower shaped like a monstrous voodoo face. It's about five-stories tall, and it's made of sculpted concrete that looks like fibreglass. The effect is like something that's been lifted out of a third-rate would-be Disneyland, and the main appeal of climbing to the top is that that is the one place in the vicinity where your view of the next island isn't obstructed by a grotesque voodoo tower. Around the tower's base are an adventure playground – again, overgrown with creepers, although it's probably only a few years old – and a car park, in which I have never seen a single car parked.
The whole thing makes me think of the cargo cults that arose on some islands in the South Seas. The islanders, realising that the source of all the Europeans' cargo (and therefore wealth and power) were aeroplanes, set about constructing full-size runways in the forest, so that the planes could deliver their cargo to them, too. This island also seems to have been developed with an 'if you build it, they will come' philosophy in mind: What do tourist attractions have? Picnic areas, car parks, giant concrete faces. Therefore, if you build these things, you will have a tourist attraction. And so a beautiful, semi-tropical island is concreted over at a cost the local council can't afford (the village office is widely rumoured to be in very serious debt), in an effort to make it a tourist attraction.
The coral reef that surrounds the island is dying, too. At first, I assumed that this was due to climate change, since coral reefs are now calcifying and dying at a fairly rapid rate all over the world. But a couple of months ago, I learnt that the neighbouring island, which is larger but less populated, has an intact reef, less than two kilometres away. No-one knows why the reef on this island is dying, but I've heard a number of people blame it on the huge amount of construction work (and consequently deforestation and stirring up of sediment) on and around the island.
But if the people in charge of development here are only in their job for one year before being shuffled to some other department, if the only useful experience they bring to the job is whatever office skills they have, is it any wonder that things are as they are? The philosophy behind this annual job-shuffling would seem to be that managing children's education, managing commercial and agricultural development, and managing the environment are all essentially just managing something. Unfortunately, the extent to which educational management is anything like environmental management seems to be indicated by the dying coral reef, the acres of empty car-parks, and a monstrous concrete face.
Of course, I live on a small island in a rather atypical corner of Japan, and so I can't really generalise to the whole of Japan. Next, I have to find out how widespread the practice of everyone swapping jobs is. If it's peculiar to my island it wouldn't go far as an explanation of Japan's bureacracy, but I know that a certain amount of job-swapping happened in the (local government) office where Kim works at the same time… I strongly suspect this is a Japan-wide thing.
It's a sad fact that one of my reasons for wanting to scuba-dive is to experience a beautiful thing while it still has some glory left in it. The things I've seen lately have made me begin to fear that learning Japanese might turn out to be a similar exercise. I hope it doesn't, because I want to hold on to my belief that the world has things to learn from Japan, but the more I see of Japan, the more pessimistic I become about it.


The City of Rovaniemi sits on the Arctic Circle, the capital of Finnish Lapland. Around the world, people know Official Hometown of Santa Claus as the perfect destination for children of all ages. But Rovaniemi also features romantic Northern Lights vistas, award-winning hotels, an authentic and lively culture, and always: wilderness weaving through and waiting just beyond the city streets.
Perhaps the greatest dilemma a traveler has is when they leave the airport: should you start with Santa? Head downtown? Dive right into the grand wilderness that awaits in literally every direction? Luckily, Santa Claus Village lies only 4 minutes from the airport. 8 minutes to the south is Lapland's largest city, Rovaniemi. Santa Claus Village is open all year-round, and Rovaniemi boasts urban conveniences and comforts. And of course, the boundless nature of Lapland can be seen as soon as you step off the airplane.
Santa Claus Village literally lies on the Arctic Circle. When you visit the small theme park, you can follow the line that separates the Arctic from the rest of the world. It travels through Santa Claus Office, through the shops, all the way to the highway. At Santa Claus Village, you can meet Santa for free every day of the year. It's also a great inlet into your Lapland experience: reindeer rides through snowy back forest, snowmobile safaris across great white marshes, and snowshoe hikes wherever the urge takes you. In summer, visit reindeer and husky farms under the Midnight Sun, or organize a hiking trip on the edge of the Arctic.
At Santa Claus Village, in addition to the Santa- and Christmas-themed shops, pick up a handmade silver necklace from Taigakoru. Try on a jacket made of reindeer leather. There are a number of factory outlets and local workshop stores to ensure you won't leave empty-handed. Santa Claus Village offers extensive shopping and eating options all-year-round.
As strange as it may sound, Rovaniemi is actually the largest city in Europe by size. And as a growing tourist destination, the capital of Lapland combines shopping, dining and accommodation with wilderness experiences you can't find elsewhere on the continent.
The city of Rovaniemi is a few kilometers to the south of the airport (or a few hundred kilometers north of Helsinki). Because of the character of her people, her buildings and her atmosphere, she is sometimes called the Berlin of Finland. Every other street boasts a café–in case you didn't know about Finns' adoration of all things coffee. Culture aficionados can visit the Rovaniemi Theatre, which stages more than 200 performances per year. The building itself is designed by the most famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto.
As a cultural hub, the city hosts a number of cultural and international events. There are also a broad number of museums and exhibitions throughout the year. Get your science on at the Arktikum Science Center or learn more about northern forests next door at Pilke Science Center. Enjoy a multitude of classical compositions with the northernmost professional orchestra in the world, the Lapland Chamber Orchestra. Or spend an afternoon exploring the Rovaniemi Art Museum at Korundi, a northern treasure trove of modern and contemporary art.
If you'd rather spend your time checking out Marimekko and Iittala originals, the capital of Finnish Lapland also has shops galore, with three downtown shopping centers, as well as dozens of shops and markets. Those looking for a less material experience can take advantage of the dozens of wellness companies and activities organized in and around Rovaniemi and her ubiquitous natural spots.
While downtown Rovaniemi bustles with experiences, you need only take a few steps out of town to find room to breathe, space to move, and broad expanses of rolling land and clear skies. In summer, hikers roam the hillsides and forests of Ounasvaara–only a five minute walk from downtown, or the riverside trail at Koivusaari, the Arctic Circle Hiking Area and more. Swimmers and canoers paddle the Kemijoki River, while those looking for more speed hop on a jet ski. In fall, sweet berries and delectable mushrooms emerge from beneath the falling leaves on every hillside and in the forest that wraps around the city and throughout the municipality. Winter brings snow and ice to cover the land, and the snowman sentinels begins guarding Santa Claus Village. The unique Lapland spring combines frosty weather and bright sunshine, turning Rovaniemi in the perfect place to ski for hundreds of kilometers, sled down cityside fells, ice skate in city parks, snow-shoe through vast and endless wilderness … you name it. In late spring, the ice in the rivers breaks up, making for dramatic photo opportunities.
Looking for something more substantial than milk and cookies? Because Rovaniemi eats. Locals and travelers alike love the variety, quality and convenience of the cafes, restaurants, bars and nightclubs on offer in the city. Those looking for good food in a relaxed atmosphere will love the burgers and pizzas at Kauppayhtiö and the unique Lapas (Lapland Tapas) creations at Café & Bar 21. Koti Hostel Restaurant serves up a healthy lunch in a refitted old bank.
As a cultural hub and mixing pot, Rovaniemi is also home to many international restaurants. The Chinese restaurant Hai Long is practically a landmark. Downtown also offers Indian, Thai, Sushi, Mexican, and French food, among others.
Sometimes, only fine dining will suffice. For those seeking exquisite cuisine and exceptional service, Rovaniemi has multiple choices. Restaurant Nili and Arctic Boulevard combine traditional Lapland decorations with delectable northern dishes. The Sky Kitchen atop Lapland Hotel Ounasvaara offers an unparalleled view of the city and the river.
From hole-in-the-wall pubs where you can get a pint and relax in a booth to nightclubs where the music never stops, Rovaniemi nights are always alive. In the summer, downtown terraces are full of laughter and cheer, and in winter, the party moves indoors where it's always warm.
Every year, the number of beds, apartments and cabins grows in and around Rovaniemi. At Santa Claus Village, there are dozens of new wooden cabins, combining luxury and sleek Scandinavian design, all within walking distance of the forest or Santa Claus—your choice. Near SantaPark, the award-winning Arctic TreeHouse Hotel offers luxury and a unique vision, both of sleek Scandinavian design and of the Arctic landscape from your bedroom window. Downtown Rovaniemi boasts many hotels, from the top-rated Santa Claus Hotel in the city square to the Arctic Light Hotel, a modern boutique hotel located in the former City Hall. There are many accommodation options spread throughout the municipality, each with its own charms, conveniences and access to Lapland's boundless natural offerings.
Rovaniemi is also home to more glass igloos and glass wall accommodations than any other place in the world. There's no better way to experience the Northern Lights weaving and waving in the sky.
Rovaniemi is your gateway to Lapland and Arctic wilderness. As the most connected place in Lapland, Rovaniemi has an international airport with connections to other airports in Finland, Europe and the world at large. There is a bus terminal and train station with dozens of daily connections, both within walking distance of downtown. Additionally, there are plenty of private tour operators ready and willing to take you on the tailored Lapland experience you've always dreamed of.
Need more Rovaniemi? Visit www.visitrovaniemi.fi, and follow the stories in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.


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The founder of Botany Bay Ecotours educates locals and visitors about Edisto's natural and cultural resources
Lauren B. Johnson
Caroline Matheny Photography
Learn how the tour company promotes Gullah-Geechee culture
More about Meg Hoyle, Born: 1969 in Greenville - Lives: Edisto Island in a house her grandparents purchased in 1964 - Career: Founder and owner of Botany Bay Ecotours - Volunteers: With Kiawah Island Diamondback Terrapin Research Project and as a mentor for middle-and high-school students
Meg Hoyle has studied sustainable hunting in Kenya and Zimbabwe, researched tropical ecosystems in the Australian rainforest, tracked sea turtles through the Caribbean, and followed guides through the Galapagos Islands. While adventures abroad have shaped the conservationist's passion for ecotourism, Hoyle's ethos flows from a deep connection to the Lowcountry creeks where she grew up. "I've traveled to Kenya, Zimbabwe, the Great Barrier Reef, and we have something just as amazing right here in our salt marsh system," says the founder of Botany Bay Ecotours. "It's easy to appreciate the beauty of the Lowcountry from a distance, but I want to get people out in these estuaries for an up-close look."
Aboard a 24-foot Carolina Skiff, Hoyle immerses visitors and residents in the ecological and cultural treasures of the sea islands. Beyond dolphin pod observations and sunset cruises, the captain also partners with local entrepreneurs to offer unique Gullah-Geechee experiences. "With 250,000 acres of the ACE Basin under permanent conservation easement, there's always something to explore," she says. "The world is our oyster, so to speak."
Botany Bay Ecotours offers dolphin tours, sunset cruises, and more.
CM: What drew you to ecotourism?
MH: I grew up on John's Island before the local food movement, steeped in a tradition of gardening, fishing, shrimping, and crabbing. The only way to protect that lifestyle is to continue guarding our natural resources. People have used the ACE Basin's natural resources for 5,000 years. This land and these waterways are not untouched—they've been touched for generations—we just need to choose to do it sustainably.
CM: How can we balance tourism and environmental responsibility?
MH: We need to accommodate visitors to the coast but also put limits on it so they understand what they're seeing and don't destroy it in the process. We can't dump people on a beach to walk through nesting shorebird habitats and disrupt them without even knowing it. I love the simple charge of picking up a piece of trash. My glamour job at the DNR was necromancy—figuring out why sea turtles were washing up dead. One had a Coca-Cola can in its stomach. When I see a piece of litter, I think, "What if I never picked that up?"
CM: How does Botany Bay Ecotours promote Gullah-Geechee culture?
MH: My friend Marvetta Hutchinson is an amazing cook, but in Edisto, she couldn't get a job paying more than minimum wage. So, when my customers said, "show us more," I asked if she'd share her cooking. These foodways came from West Africa into Charleston and then spread across the country. People love good local food, but it's important that the history be involved.
CM: How have you seen Edisto Island change?
MH: Since I came to Edisto in 1999, there has been more and more development. The island used to be almost entirely African American; now, it's primarily Caucasian. And when you pave more than 10 percent of an area, it starts impacting the surrounding waterways. DHEC has already closed all of the internal creeks for shellfish harvesting because they're no longer safe.
CM: What sorts of challenges did your company face through the pandemic, and how did you navigate those?
MH: It was tough because our number-one selling tours were public tours where people buy a seat. I could sell 12 tickets with people sitting next to each other, but we couldn't do that anymore. We had to go to private tours, which I never wanted to do because I wanted it to be accessible to anyone. I was overwhelmed at the response. People wanted to get outside and be outside with their families to enjoy time together in a place where they felt safe. We're back now to public tours, but I think we can ride this as it comes and goes.
CM: How does your experience as an endangered species observer last year feed into your work?
MH: A lot of it helps me see the global connection of where we are. When I was in the Galapagos, I got to see a shorebird called a whimbrel that feeds in our marshes for a short time so it can make it from the Arctic to South America. I got to see their incredible migration firsthand. We have just as many amazing examples of just wildlife, flora and fauna, right here in the Lowcountry. I enjoy the opportunity to travel and go to new places, but it's nice to come home and remember that wildness is right here in the ACE Basin. You don't have to go around the world to see the importance of our area. We're not removed from that larger system, but connected through the water and flyways.
CM: Why do you feel it's vital to educate people about the Gullah/Geechee culture?
MH: Because historically, they've been ignored and shamed for their culture. It was a way to try to erase it. We know how environmental justice goes. There's a very vibrant Gullah-Geechee community in the Lowcountry. We need to make sure that those same sort of systemic racism decisions aren't going to overwhelm and wipe out those communities. We can't remove their culture, that's inside of them, but they can be removed from their homes. It would be nice if that stopped.
CM: What knowledge do you hope to share with tour-goers?
MH: An understanding of our connections—not just with the animals in the marsh, but to the history, culture, and people of this place. Like the pluff mud that once fertilized cotton growing on plantations—those stories still impact us today as we address economic disparities in communities where people's ancestors were once enslaved.
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Catching up with Stanfield Gray 10 years after he hosted his first DIG SOUTH tech summit
Learn how the Charleston market has evolved for start-ups during the past decade
Unearthing history with the director of the Center for Landscapes at the College of Charleston, James Newhard
James Newhard works to discover Charleston's past and clues to its future
Meet Charleston Waterkeeper Andrew Wunderley, who's on the job advocating for the health of one of our greatest assets
Find out about a collobrative exhibit with Mary Edna Fraser urging residents to take action to protect the waterways
Dr. Powers' History Lesson
From Omar Ibn Said to Mary Jackson and Tim Scott, Bernard Powers tells Palmetto State history through its people
How the new Avery Research Center director wants to engage with history
Dr. Tamara Butler, who grew up on John's Island, returns home to lead the Avery
Southern Charm alum Cameran Eubanks Wimberly offers real talk about relationships and motherhood
The reality TV veteran recently released a new book, One Day You'll Thank Me
Playing the wild card with rising tennis star Emma Navarro
The local makes a second appearance at the Volvo Car Open
Jeff Stone, superintendent of Kiawah's The Ocean Course, explains what it takes to get PGA Championship ready
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Learn about the successful Around the Bend outdoor concert series and what's to come
Following The Good Road with Earl Bridges, co-host of the PBS travel documentary
The show comes to Charleston in Season 2, which premieres next month
Meet Kara Stewart, the new Neighbors Together executive director who has a plan to prevent homelessness
Get details about the short and long-term vision and learn how you can help
The Lowcountry's "Beach Santa" Howard Hogue spreads cheer while picking up litter from local beaches and streetscapes
Find out how many pieces of trash he's documented picking up
Local Seen: Best-selling author Brad Taylor draws from his special ops experience to write a series of military thrillers
His latest release, End of Days, comes out this month


[[p. 580]] I wish to offer a few remarks upon Mr. Wallace's kind and appreciative review of my work on the "Colour-Sense" in Nature, vol. xix. p. 501. Mr. Wallace attributes to me "many errors" and inaccuracy as to matters of fact; but I do not think the instances he alleges are sufficient to justify the statement. Had I said in every case what Mr. Wallace makes me say, I should, doubtless, have been misrepresenting facts; but it seems to me that in most of the passages to which he refers he has slightly misconceived my meaning. I should not attempt to oppose so distinguished a naturalist on points of biological inference, but I venture to defend the accuracy of my statements of fact.
1. "Scissirostrum Pagei does not 'belong to a family generally dull,' while it is itself decidedly dull-coloured." The first statement will be correct if we place Scissirostrum among the brilliant starlings; but Mr. Wallace himself, following Prince [[p. 581]] Lucien Bonaparte, puts it next to the West African Buphagæ. Now the Buphagæ are certainly dull birds, while Scissirostrum is described in the "Malay Archipelago" as "almost entirely of a slaty colour, with yellow bill and feet, but the feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts each terminate in a rigid glossy pencil or tuft of a vivid crimson" (i. 430). I wrote with this passage of Mr. Wallace's under my eyes, and refer in a footnote to his volume for the vivid crimson. I did not say the bird was brilliant, I merely noticed the colour of its tail and beak. The case really stands thus: If Scissirostrum was differentiated from a generic ancestor generally resembling Buphaga, we have to inquire, why did it develop these ornamental adjuncts? and my answer is, because while Buphaga pecks the parasites of the backs of mammals, Scissirostrum feeds off "grains and fruits."
2. "Santarem, of which it is said 'the pastures are destitute of flowers, and also of animal life, with the exception of a few small plain-coloured birds,' is one of the richest localities for flowering shrubs in South America." Now, this passage to which Mr. Wallace takes exception is not mine, but is a textual quotation from Mr. Bates ("Naturalist on the Amazons," p. 183). It is given in inverted commas in my text, with reference to the original in a footnote. I was, of course, aware that the Brazilian woods generally were full of brilliant birds, and that "the butterflies in the adjacent forests were gorgeous in the extreme." What I wished to point out was that in particular spots like these meadows, where the general aspect of the flora was not bright, the purely local fauna was likewise dull. We may find great varieties in this respect nearer home in a meadow, an adjacent warren, and a moor or swamp behind it. Moreover, the passage was professedly quoted, simply as showing the general impression left upon my mind by reading various books of travel. May I add a sentence from a private letter of Mr. Darwin's, which helps out the same view on a larger scale? "The contrast," he says, "in the colour of the birds in Patagonia" (where he had just noticed "the sombre aspect of nature"), "and on the bright green flower-decked plains of La Plata is very striking."
3. About a certain squirrel, described in the "Malay Archipelago" as having a tail "ringed with gray, yellow, and brown," and as to looking "exceedingly pretty," Mr. Wallace now says it "is one of the dullest of the group," while he did not "say a word about its feeding on 'bright-coloured fruits.'" But he did say that it would eat "any fruit" (i. 192), and I presume, therefore, that it sometimes eats "bright-coloured food."
4. "So far from the colours of caterpillars being 'mostly protective,' every entomologist knows that a large number of caterpillars in every part of the world are conspicuously coloured." True; but Mr. Wallace himself was the first to suggest that these conspicuous colours were themselves protective by giving warning of inedibility; and I am at a loss to understand what he means by thus going back upon his own words. I took my statement from Sir John Lubbock's lecture "On Certain Relations between Plants and Insects," pp. 23-24, where this fact of universal protective colouring in larvæ is very clearly brought out.
5. "Again, the ground-feeding pheasant family are passed over as containing only one brilliant bird, the peacock, whereas it abounds in species of the most gorgeous colour." But my words are very different from this--"Even among the pheasants themselves," I say on p. 176, "many species are far from brilliant; and when we come to compare the whole family with that of the parrots or the humming-birds, we shall find that the peacock alone can fairly come into competition with the typical fruit-eaters and flower-feeders." Mr. Wallace goes on to mention (amongst others) the "Impeyan pheasant of the Himalayas," and "the intensely-brilliant fire-backed pheasants of the Malay countries," as among the most brightly-coloured species. Any one would suppose from his review that I had totally overlooked these cases; but in the very same paragraph with the sentence which Mr. Wallace blames the following passage occurs:-- "The forests of the Himalayas and the Malay Archipelago, with their great brilliant fruits and flowers, and their exquisite insects, form the haunts of the most beautiful species of pheasants" (p. 177). As a matter of fact, before writing that paragraph I had carefully compared all the living phasianidæ in the Zoological Gardens, and all the preserved specimens in the British and Oxford Museums; and I feel sure that any one who does the same will agree with me that the peacock alone can be placed in the very first rank of brilliant colouration.
6. How much the subjective element enters into these questions may be seen from the following remark of Mr. Wallace:--"The tigers, the zebras, the beautifully-marked antelopes, and the spotted deer and giraffes, which are really among the most brightly-coloured of all mammals, are passed over as less beautifully coloured than the squirrels and monkeys." Now I confess myself simply astounded at the statement that the zebra, of all animals in the world, is brightly coloured--a creature without a tinge of anything but creamy white and black about its body. Quite apart from the nature of food or surroundings, I call a panda a brightly-coloured mammal; or a mandrill; or a Rhesus monkey; or a Canadian chipmonk; but certainly not a tiger, a zebra, or a giraffe, none of which has a single tinge of scarlet, blue, green, or bright yellow.
No one who knows anything of Mr. Wallace could for one moment imagine him capable of intentionally misrepresenting the humblest opponent in the smallest particular; and I owe him many thanks for much kind and appreciative criticism both on this and several previous occasions. Yet I cannot help thinking that in these instances, and others with which I will not burden your space, he has unconsciously permitted mere differences of opinion unduly to assume the appearance of positive errors in fact.
1. Scissirostrum Pagei is universally placed in the starling family. Its affinity to Buphaga is very doubtful, while its crimson-tipped tail-coverts are very different from "a tail of vivid crimson" which Mr. Allen gives it (p. 184).
2. I object altogether to founding theories on chance expressions of travellers. It is curious, that in my "Travels on the Amazon" (p. 157) I refer to these same Santarem pastures as follows:--"There were some boggy meadows here, more like those of Europe than one often sees so near the equator, on which were growing pretty, small Melastomas and other flowers. The paths and campos were covered with flowering myrtles, tall Melastomas, and numbers of passion-flowers, convolvuluses, and bignonias." These open meadows and campos really exhibited more conspicuous flowers than the woods and forests which swarmed with brilliant butterflies and birds.
3. I referred to the squirrel, because it was the only example given by Mr. Allen which I could at the moment test.
4. My argument is, that the colours of caterpillars are often as varied, as vivid, and as beautifully arranged as in birds and winged insects. This is not necessary for protection by conspicuousness, for which purpose any tint contrasted with foliage, such as black, or white, or ringed with black-and-white, would have sufficed.
5. The "pheasant" question I leave, as Mr. Allen has placed it, for the consideration of naturalists.
6. Here it seems to me Mr. Allen is himself changing his ground. His main argument is that the æsthetic tastes of the higher animals are the same as ours, yet he objects to the elegantly-marked and intensely-contrasted zebra and tiger being called "brightly-coloured." Surely they are more beautiful than the mandrill or the Rhesus; while among animals white is as much a colour as among flowers.


Sure to bring a smile to your table, Vagabond House's little pewter bear is dazzled with delight at the treasure of honey he has found. Wearing an expression of pure joy, the happy cub will bring memories of the adventures of Pooh. A magical breakfast table conversation inspiration for kids and adults.
Crafted with signature attention to the attitude and detail of wild creatures, the 3-D pewter bear holds a round glass honey pot with a pewter lid. A delightful honey bee adorns the pewter lid of the pot, which has a slot for the flower topped honey spoon included with the piece.


It's is one of our favourite times of the year, and this Christmas will be full of magic and fun here at Hobbledown.
Our Grotto will be open from Saturday 24th November throughout selected dates until December 24th 2018.
Back by popular demand will be our Christmas Toddler Brunches and Lunches, and Tea with Santa for slightly older children too (Click HERE for details or HERE to book).
This year's Grotto price is £12.95 per child and includes your visit to see Santa, a wrapped gift and a candy cane. Accompanying adults are free.
Grotto prices are on top of general admission rates. If you want to solely visit the Grotto and not include Hobbledown admission the cost is £14.95 per child.
Hobbledown Annual Passholders get 10% off the booking price.
Early Bird Grotto Rate for visits on November 24th is £9.95 per child or £8.95 for Annual Passholders.
is correct at time of printing, but subject to change without prior notice.
Grotto entry does not include general admission to Hobbledown.


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Shoot! What you wrote was exactly my feeling whenever I used "being busy" as an excuse for not keeping in touch with family and friends….
If guilty feeling can kill, I'd die more than 10 times by now.
Letting a connection go is so easy and the only payback is pain when it can never be resumed.
Maintaining a connection takes deliberate offert and self-sacrifice but the payback is almost alway instantaneous and heartwarming.
It's so good for the heart to reach out first and to be embraced in return. At death's door, this may be the only worthy deed remembered before everything fades into black….
Wish you a fruitful 2009!


St. James's Place (LSE: STJ) isn't having the best of it right now, but thanks to its gigantic dividend yield, I think it's still worthy of your attention today.
The asset manager's performance remains resilient despite weakness across global investment markets and total inflows in 2018 rose 8% to £15.7bn, according to financials released last month. But inflows slowed markedly in the final two months and pointed to a much tougher climate that it'll have to navigate this year.
What's encouraging, though, is the way St. James's Place is able to offset the worst of these tough conditions through its impressive client retention skills. It's one of the reasons why City analysts still expect earnings to keep growing this year and next. And in my opinion it's in great shape to keep growing profits over the long term as it expands its operations to latch onto growing demand for investment advice in the UK.
Dividend chasers will be cheered by news that dividends are expected to keep growing over the medium term too, and a chubby 5.4% for 2019 is available to tap into right now because of the anticipated 51.5p per share total payout.
Airlines have been suffering from increased fuel costs over the last year, putting immense pressure on margins. International Consolidated Airlines Group (LSE: IAG) is expected to see earnings flatline on a year-on-year basis by City brokers in reflection of these obstacles, with the cheap airfare environment in Europe predicted to add some strain too.
Despite this, the FTSE 100 flyer is still anticipated to keep raising the annual dividend and a total reward of 31 euro cents per share is being tipped, a figure that creates a gigantic 4.2% yield. Its increasing exposure to the rocketing budget segment is setting it up to deliver strong profits growth in the years ahead, as are the measures it is taking to boost its fleet size and route network. I'm confident that it will have the confidence and the strength to continue hiking dividends long into the future.
Its failure to snap up Norwegian Airlines may have been disappointing but tough conditions for Europe's budget flyers will no doubt present fresh opportunities for IAG to expand its operations through acquisition activity.
Concerns over developing oversupply in the containerboard market may have smashed Smurfit Kappa Group's (LSE: SKG) appeal with investors last year, but its rising share price more recently suggests that the investment community has finally woken up and smelt the coffee.
The threat of rising supply from Chinese producers is a setback but it's by no means catastrophic for the likes of Smurfit Kappa. Through the strength of its market-leading products, as well as its broadening geographic footprint (it made significant acquisitions in France, The Netherlands and Serbia last year alone), it can continue to command strong demand from its customers, in my opinion.
Besides, it's doubling down on efforts to boost profit margins and helped by recovering input costs, these jumped 280 basis points in 2018 to 17.3%, providing more reason to be optimistic over its long-term growth prospects.
City analysts are predicting additional dividend raises for 2019, to 102 euro cents per share. And this creates a tasty 3.9% yield.


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text:
The KGB has infiltrated the NRA.
Subject: The KGB has infiltrated the NRA. Mon Jul 16, 2018 10:20 pm
Subject: Re: The KGB has infiltrated the NRA. Mon Jul 16, 2018 10:57 pm
Fascinating stuff and times Frank. It's a bit like the old McCarthyite witch hunts, but this time it's not the communists, it's the fascists the system is concerned with.
Or, perhaps, it's the system that the fascists are concerned with?
Rickler
Location : Inside the mind...
Subject: Re: The KGB has infiltrated the NRA. Tue Jul 17, 2018 4:57 am
beesrus wrote:
Fascinating stuff and times Frank. It's a bit like the old McCarthyite witch hunts,
Rickler Q and A
Q..Rickler, care to tell everyone how many times you've visited Home Park in the last 20 years, or even any away games ?
A.. 60 home and 12 away.
Q.. And just what do you know about Central Park and the club's place in it ?
A.. Awaiting answer.
Oh dear...
Republican Senator John McCain said press conference in Helsinki was one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.
John Brennan, a former director of the CIA added "It rises to & exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes & misdemeanors.' It was nothing short of treasonous"
Subject: Re: The KGB has infiltrated the NRA. Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:50 am
It's interesting to see Franks sources again, Fox news? Aren't they somewhat right of Hitler? Any port in a storm eh? And those poor old rifle owning Americans being controlled by the Ruskies, that's sooooo sad.
Are you now looking at gun ownership as a way of preventing Brexit?
Subject: Re: The KGB has infiltrated the NRA. Tue Jul 17, 2018 12:02 pm
Thats precisely why he's used that as a link. The BBC reported it as well as The Guardian and other media outlets.
Its proving how adept the Russia have been at infiltrating various political groups for their own ends. Like what they did helping to turn UKIP from a party of "fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists" into a disruptive electoral force.
I'm well aware of that Hugh I was being mischievous. It's just like calling all leavers closet racists and then constantly referencing scare stories about how the far right are comeing to get us all? It's all so similar to what Hitler did to the Jews and Gypsies he didn't just take office and gas them all he spent many a year painting them as a threat to society, people that couldn't be trusted, people with dark ulterior motives.
It's something that happens time and again through history when people with a controlling nature get into power. Now it's the leavers, although a minority I think with their massive use of the media to sway opinion and being backed by the establishment, big business and the banking industry (espec. USA obvs) that they are the biggest threat to democracy that we have ever faced in this country.
Remoaners shorely
Sorry the last para is a little muddled it's the remainers trying to paint the leavers in a right wing racist light, supported by dark forces from across the pond. But it's the remainers that are the threat to democracy, that was my gist.
As I thought Ears, taking a chance mentioning the jews again too, lol.
I did it once before but I think I got away with it......
Subject: Re: The KGB has infiltrated the NRA.


I'll be speaking at Dev Days 09 in a couple of weeks. I'm excited to be doing a pre-conference day on WF and WCF 4 as well as "Dublin". then I've got two WF sessions during the conference, one on building custom activities with WF 4 and another on moving from WF 3.x to WF 4.
After the show, I'll try to get some screencasts up of a few of my demos, and you can check out our Pluralsight On Demand! where I'll soon be publishing some modules on "Dublin".
I recently took the plunge and upgraded my 64 bit desktop from Vista to Windows 7 RC and for the most part I've been very happy with it. So far the only compatibility issues I've had were with some CD / DVD mounting tools and Live Mesh. I quickly realized how much I've come to rely on Live Mesh to keep files in synch between my desktop and laptop. All of my presentations and writing that I do live on both machines and I have a Tools folder with small utilities like .NET Reflector, Notepad2, etc. So when Live Mesh kept crashing under Windows 7, I got a little miffed.
I started by trying to set the compatibility to Vista or Vista Service Pack 1, but that didn't fix the problem. I kept getting errors that the Mesh Operating Environment had stopped working and after closing it, it would restart, only to fail again in a few minutes. So, I did what any self-respecting developer does when they have a problem they can't fix: I searched the web. Nothing, no love at all. I saw a few things about recent updates, which I'd installed already, and some registry hacks for the Win 7 beta, which were already incorporated into later builds of the product. So finally, I did the only logical thing, I uninstalled Live mesh, logged into Mesh.com and got the installer, and re-installed. A quick reboot, and all seems well. So, for those of you out searching the internet for a fix, hopefully this helps you out.


text:
A Story About Scale
By Kascha Semonovitch From Issue No. 3
The body of the spaceship is a tree making love to an animal. The kiss, endless. Exhale carbon, inhale carbon. Claws grip bark, vines wind around flesh. Double secure. Self-repairing. The tree grows slowly into the body of the other and the other indents its body so that release would be destruction. Like an oak wrapped around a fence, you might say, if it were still a century when such things were left to happen.
At the other end, babies are made. The babies grow in the womb and are harvested and consumed before they smell air. The unit is entirely self-contained. A self-pollinating flower in the womb, both fetal and reproductive. The flexible polymer egg is a shell that knows when it is ready to be broken.
When the creature system is ready to give birth to itself, only it will know. But it is already two, of two minds—if mind is in life—and so can talk to itself, which is what thinking is called, someone said. This life had to be created with the notion of difference within it because it would be so alone when it came to consciousness. Alone at the edge, not even of this universe, but when it unfolds into one outside this one.
If she were a man, they would have said she had a god complex. Because she was a woman, they said she had a mother complex. That was true. The lab was referred to as The Womb. The launch pad, The House.
She said to a journalist, Parenting is giving everything so that eventually the children need nothing from you.
Wisdom is earned. Clichés are dead language. Dead like the leg of a table is a dead tree.
She also said this to journalists. But they preferred the soundbites.
She was in her third year of graduate school when she realized she could create life. She, within her own chaos of behavior, could cultivate the motion for a new behavior. Molecules pressed on one another do strange things. More molecules, certain molecules, pressed on one another in the right situation do stranger things. They live. This was what she was doing.
The understanding rose within her and then changed the course of her work, as a boulder shifts a glacial river to a landslide. She needed a mentor and a new lab. She couldn't get one. She kept cutting the tails off frogs for another year. Watched them regrow, had a mouse then a leopard do the same. Regrow but not grow. But then she saw it.
I had a vision. She could say that to herself in the dark when she watched on the screen. But she couldn't tell anyone because visions weren't science. But the point wasn't science. The point was that science was only a flagellum wagging its tale at this scale. At that scale.
One night before bed she saw this: that the gaps within the atoms and the gaps between the molecules were the same as the gaps between the stars and the gaps between the galaxies. This wasn't a dream, just a waking vision. She didn't imagine it. She saw the proportions laid out like trigonometry set beside geometry for the first time. This equation meant this figure. So it was clear that as at some scale atoms gave birth to molecules that held together and molecules that tipped their way to enzymes and life, that at another scale, stars would nudge to galaxies and galaxies to their own. Life. Yes, in a not-metaphorical, not-transferring way, galaxies would become alive. They would grow to consume each other, pursue each other, cling and reproduce. We were the subatomic unpredictability of that scale. Our invisible wiggles would translate no more than that: the quantum unpredictability to the Newtonian punch-the-clock. At some other scale, macrocosmic someone else was saying god does not play dice and we were the dice.
We had to roll ourselves.
When she woke, she didn't lose the vision. She wrote it down. She wrote out the actual equation she saw floating above herself in the bed beside her unvisionary husband. She kept it and it permeated every action of every day after.
She couldn't tell this to journalists. She couldn't tell it to a therapist or a friend. She could only work it out. Let the work escape her. Escape all of them.
So when she went back to her work, her hopes were at a new scale. Life was at a new scale.
She knew soon that she could make spaceships.
She wrote the paper herself at a time when papers had thirty authors. No one would publish or give her a grant, even after the peer review showed no flaws. Finally, the Midwest made an offer. Then East Coast Number Two. Then Number One. Then she was courted, almost dragged, to and fro across the professional association conference floor to hear this and that possibility.
In the Midwest, which she chose because they were politely first and had the largest facility, the lab tripped over itself to make room for her and her grants. She could hardly get anything done, answering the press calls and grad students and requests for collaborations. She threatened, withdrew, worked at night. She succeeded at some small things but not the thing. What she wanted to make was not research, not theory. She wanted to make a thing and set it free.
She met Lesko in a coffee shop on a Tuesday. She wanted to start on neutral ground. He twitched like a big horse in a new stable. She hated him, and she wanted everything he had. He took her by car to his office. The plans for the new building were spread across the table. She could have that. And that. And this money and hire everyone and everything she ever wanted. "Eloise," he would say and point at something she could have, but she didn't have a name anymore, not at that scale.
But did he understand that what she was making was never coming back? He did not.
She took up the offer. Outside the university, she had to speak to no one. Publish nothing. Attend no meetings. The day started and ended in a solar-powered lab self-contained in the unromantic plain, roll of soy rumpled by on ramps. She hated Lesko and she never wanted to leave. He would take care of her and her baby grew. The work succeeded. Fusion, life. She didn't care. It was still at this scale. Lesko could have all the energy and money that life could take from nonlife. He knew what do with it.
She didn't care. She only wanted to make the ship. She had all the money from this new work. She had all the money, it seemed. Money was no longer a concrete convention she exchanged, but a wave she pushed across the stock markets. She felt smart but not ready for that economic responsibility. So she drew the capital toward her and told her colleagues and the papers that the future of the species depended on the creation of the ship.
But it wasn't at all the future of the species. This species would never go farther than its type. Dirt-bound, molecule-scale, single-origin. They were lucky to be molecules of the microbiome in the belly of the universal beast.
The controversy was—is—that the ship is not one of us. Not one of our own children will ever feel the warmth of a different star. Instead of visiting aliens, she created aliens and sent them out to have life. Who was going to pay for this? In the end, it wasn't put to a public choice. That's the strength and failure of capitalism. No one gets to ask the retainer of capital what she's going to do with it. She can just burn it all up and throw it at the stars.
For years, the push to space was adventure. Willful, vertical shots to see if something could be put there. Then, drive was escape. A concrete will for survival. Either we would die here, single-planet species, or we would diversify into space-travel.
Then, death seemed avoidable. The species, indeed many species, might survive the Anthropocene. Pleasure in the present planet grew and space seemed the dream of an era that only wanted to destroy and escape.
But after that and now, some, including her, came to want to give birth. What is the push to make children? Immortality, yes. The drive to reproduce the self, as if there could be more self. But having children breaks from this. Children escape and do not give back or repeat or even iterate. At this scale, no one sees you die. When your gut microbe wax and wane, do you, their universe feel a thing?
She said this to journalists but they did not take it down. They were under 30. At 30, Sartre said one's understanding of time changes. In any case, they didn't see it. So they only noted the diversity of the ships functions, its self-regulation, its composite materials, the self-replication structure. The ship could have happened without the vision. But it would not have. Technologically, they were approaching the components. But understanding of the situation was not there yet.
But we cannot wait for understanding, she told the journalists. Understanding does not stop totalitarianism, death, or temporality. Only human action can unfold something new.
They wrote down that part but it wasn't what she meant. She meant something new at that scale.
People took notes, took note, and she kept working, dictating. The ship had to contain and exceed everything at this scale. This scale was a mere preparation, a mere finger exercise for the multi-part chorale they couldn't hear.
Inside the space ship, a throb. The heart was beating. At home, there would be a cheer, later, after the many years it took to register anything that happened there. But in the ship it was silent, even silent without reflection. It had only known this beating. There had never been another beat like its. Slow, we might say. Years slow, metabolism epochal. But we were not there. Only the ship heard itself thrum, a womb in the endless night.
In the womb, did you miss others? You did not yet cry for your mother even though you dreamed. So the ship felt the starlight, neutrino winds, the rush of galaxies as its own rightful home and sensation did not exceed the internal loop of self, mother.
On the other side, the tree felt the rapid wriggle of animal life. Rapid to it, not to us. For the tree grew at a pace that even the great animal could not sense with its great mouth breathing and kissing and fucking the tree. The rhythms followed the same meter but the great bass enfolded the rapid flight of the treble by whole notes held thirty-seconds with tremolos. A single thing only because one pair of hands plays it.
The thing about trees is they are not singular. We see a single line of phloem and xylem rocket up in the sky but for the tree, it is not like that. Threads of life strain down and around. This tree was a nurse log. Grow around its friend here for millennia and then, its babies, itself reproduces itself on its back. While animals fucked and consumed themselves.
How would the animals find these new threads of life? She didn't know. The designers did not know. They did not know if they would or if so, how they would. That is how a.i. works. You input the starting conditions and the desired output and the things find the way in between.
The life shifted through the interior. The universe could not yet feel its motion. Not for sixteen light-years at least. The ship was so small. Even if it was bigger than anything we had ever made.
The universe remained unaware of its own fertility, the not-star floating through its dark womb.
The spaceship, for its part, didn't know of the universe. No consciousness was necessary yet. But there was consciousness anyway. Life exceeds necessity. The beating body knew of its own heart. It wriggled and thought of the only other it knew. Wood body. Sturdy body. Slow body. Twin. The metal alloy shell flexed with its wiggling. Its beak would know when to peck.
Would it? She would never know. The point of having children is that they outlive you. She would watch it on this screen until she died and she would never know of its success. Happiness can only be seen in a whole life, completed and lived through descendants, from the outside, someone said. Someone whose name would not be—could not be—written at the scale of the new universe.
She saw some things on the screen but she only imagined most of it.
When the launch came, she stayed in her office. She saw them cheering outside but she didn't join. She shoved off all interviews. She watched it float through the dark. She watched on her phone. She put the screen on at home. She stayed up late with the lights off and watched what she could see of it floating for years. She watched with her husband when he would let her. But his interest refocused. She could only see the ship. The ships. Sometimes she thought of them as twins. Sometimes she thought of them as cells. Sometimes she thought of them as one cell that had just almost but not quite split, from material into pattern, quantities into self.
After the launch, time split. There was the time before and after, yes, but more, there was time for it, at that scale. Time there and time here had split: the lag of distance, the lag of understanding, immeasurable gap between action and consequence.
So here she was. Watching the life that had exceeded her on a dark screen, waiting for the birth that she couldn't control, that she would never see. She wasn't a mother; she was fertile dirt that had vibrated with other dirt and made a thing larger than anything it could ever see.
This ship would never report back. It would never return and carry them or their children in its womb to a safe haven by a different star. It would never return because it was a fetus that would initiate and turn inside-out this entire celestial womb.
ELECTRO-SHARE THIS WORDWORK
About Kascha Semonovitch More From Issue No. 3


text:
IT Management Services
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About MCCS
American Dental Association sends malware-infected USB drives to its members
Marc St-Pierre
While fewer than 10 incidents have been reported thus far, the event sheds light on security awareness in the healthcare industry.
The American Dental Association unwittingly sent malware-infected USB thumb drives to dental offices nationwide, the ADA confirmed today in a statement.
In a statement supplied to Healthcare IT News, the ADA, which represents more than 159,000 members, said it began distributing its 2016 manual of CDT dental procedure codes, "which included flash drives in the back pocket," in late 2015.
A "small percentage" of those drives "were found to contain malware, which was transferred to the flash drives from a subcontractor of an ADA vendor during the manufacturing process," according to the association.
"Upon learning that some flash drives contained malware, the ADA promptly informed all customers via email or letter of the potential problem. The ADA also worked with our resellers and distributors to make sure their customers were notified."
ADA officials told customers that "anti-virus software should detect the malware if it was present," but that "customers who had not used the flash drive should discard it."
If the flash drive had already been used and it "worked as expected (that is, it displayed a menu linking to chapters of the 2016 CDT manual), the flash drive was not infected," according to the statement.
The USB media were reportedly manufactured in China and some 37,000 of them have been distributed, according to Krebs on Security.
DSL Reports Security Forum first discovered the issue when "Mike" from Pittsburgh, a forum member, decided to test the integrity of the ADA USB drive. Upon inserting it into his computer, he discovered a code inside of one of the files that attempts to open a webpage notorious for malware distribution.
"D'oh… haven't watched the Simpsons in a while, when did Homer leave Springfield nuclear power and go to the ADA?" wrote another forum member in response.
Of course, malware-infected USB drives are nothing new – "which is why the ADA's decision to use them is so disconcerting," said Bob Ertl, senior director of product management at Accellion, a provider of private cloud security tools, in a statement sent to Healthcare IT News.
"Like sharing passwords, connecting untested thumb drives to information systems containing sensitive data like personal health information violates the most fundamental rules of InfoSec," he added. "The healthcare industry – which includes dentistry – is fraught with data breaches."
With secure cloud technologies now commonplace, he said, "organizations should abandon the USB drive once and for all."
All ADA customers were provided with an alternative link to the 2016 CDT manual to replace the USB drive. According to the ADA, only 10 people have reported an infected flash drive to the organization.
Credit:http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/american-dental-association-sends-malware-infected-usb-drives-its-members
mccs
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It really is intriguing how lots of people tend to be uninformed with regards to the fundamental comprehension of metal roof covering. However, this is under stable since most people have been naive in one time or another. That is why this article is written, to shed some light about whole metal roofs. Soon after reading through these points you may gain a much better comprehension, and admiration regarding metal roofs.
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Misconception 2: Metal roofs make a great deal of noises if it rains.
Fact; you might be thinking of outdated cheap metallic roof covering the barn which used to seem like a machine gun fire is happening whenever it is pouring down rain. Present day metal roofs are normally mounted over plywood, sturdy sheathing, or over the current roofing. It is going to create no more noise compared to normal asphalt shingle roofing. In many cases, metal roof is going to be quieter than the usual non-metal roofs, and may shield the noises coming from rain and undesirable climate.
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Fact; it might appear like it does, but the truth is, it is not! You might be shocked, but metal roofs really costs a lot less than the asphalt shingle roofing. Should you remain in your property long enough, not only can it enhance the value of the property, but it will also save you resources on cooling expenses. Metal roofs may result in approximately 50% savings when it comes to energy costs in the course of summer season.
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