text:
People Matters
AdaptableHR
Aon HR Learning Center
TechHR 2020
Article: Culture: the fundamental pillar of a high-performance organization
AUTHORVallari Gupte
WEDNESDAY09OCT 2019
2.8KREADS
Culture: the fundamental pillar of a high-performance organization
A look at culture as one of the founding pillars of a high-performance organization.
Culture drives business results in any organization. A culture that encourages innovation, new ideas, transparency and provides a platform for exchange of knowledge across different levels of the organization is the one that leads to a high-performing organization.
A high-performance culture is nothing but a set of behaviors, norms and commonly accepted practices that enables employees and leaders to strive for excellence. It is a cultural guideline to unlock the potential from employees and ensure that they are the most productive and oriented towards growth.
A high-performance culture is reflected through the organizational structure, the people processes, the trust, the mechanisms in place to inculcate innovation and continuous learning, and transparency within the various tiers of the company.
Culture can also be considered to be the "immune system" that keeps unwanted and culturally unfit people, processes, and structures at bay and prevents any sort of wrongdoing in the workplace, according to Michael Watkins, Professor of Leadership & Organizational Change, International Institute for Management and Development, and the author of The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels.
A high-performance organization has a culture that is aligned towards getting the most and the best out of all the available resources at hand.
Some major traits of a high-performance culture include:
Collaborative teams
A major feature of a HPO is that the teams work as a team in its true sense. There is a sense of responsibility towards the business goal and the focus is on innovation. In order to move from an average-performing organization to becoming a high-performing company in the industry, the leadership and HR fraternity needs to establish a sense of belonging and the sentiment of having a meaningful purpose for the work at hand. When employees feel that they belong to a team and are engaged in work that is making a difference in the world, they are more likely to find solutions to the challenges and be unafraid to seek help and tap into relevant expertise whenever required and whenever available.
Collaborative teams that are open to sharing their knowledge and are courageous enough to break down the conventional mindset of working in silos are the ones that are going to be instrumental in the development of the business.
No idea is too big or too small. Providing a safe space where ideas are exchanged freely and new innovations have a chance to express falls under the culture building aspect of an HR leader's purview. In companies such as Apple, Amazon, new ideas are encouraged and employees of all levels can voice their strategies and solutions and this extends to all the platforms. When an employee feels heard and that her or his ideas are taken seriously by the management and the team, then they are more likely to become more engaged and productive within the organization. Thus, leading to a high-performance oriented behavior.
Transparent processes
Clear and open communication is key to building any relationship. The same goes for the relationship between leaders and employees. Be it related to performance reviews or compensation and benefits to the metrics and standards by which the employees' appraisals are going to be determined--organizations that are transparent about their processes are more likely to have a group of highly engaged employees.
According to the whitepaper titled The Ownership Culture: Expanding cost management from an event to a mindset" by Oliver Wyman, "a true ownership culture is one where employees feel a substantial, personal stake in the company's performance." An ownership mindset is thus fuelled by values rather than rules. And the person and teams become more productive and efficient when they think like the CEOs of their respective departments and roles.
Instilling a sense of ownership requires leaders to let go and empower employees to make their own decisions. A good culture of ownership can be fostered in the workplace when people are accountable for their decisions and have the mechanism to seek help and implement their decisions/strategy. A sense of ownership towards the work that you do also portrays an excellent work ethic and professionalism that is a valued trait across the board in any sector.
Research shows that a high-performing culture has robust communication channels between line managers and subordinates, CXOs and middle management, and even among peers. There is a two-way communication across different tiers of the hierarchy and the feedback is given and taken with a constructive mindset. A major tenet of successful communication in a high-performing organization is clarity followed by support, empathy, and trust.
Clarity becomes instrumental in order to ensure that your entire team is aligned to the same business goal. It will help team members understand what is expected of them, know how they're performing at all times and realize how their individual work factors into the entire organization's mission. Having a clear and precise understanding of what needs to be done, can help in bringing all the employees up-to-speed and on the same page.
As an HR leader, it is also important to understand the level of expertise that the team possesses and ensure that they get all the support that they need in order to achieve their goals. Another aspect of this communication is empathy which ties in closely with the transparency trait. Perhaps, to check whether the organization is a transparent and empathetic one, leaders can observe if their team members welcome and appreciate different perspectives, experience and show compassion and gratitude, and recognize the ways in which others help them in their respective work.
Topics: Culture, #ChangeTheGame
Vallari Gupte
Vallari is working as a Features Writer with People Matters. You can reach out to her via vallari.gupte@peoplematters.in
NEXT STORY: Rapid Fire with Eva Lorge, Country Talent Development Head, IKEA India
What kept you sailing through your work life in 2020?
Organizational empathy
Work From Home model
Increased focus on mental wellness
More investment in people technology
Randstad Sourceright's Top 10 Talent Trends for 2021
Non-negotiables of being a virtual recruiter
It is the time to challenge our limits, not limit our challenges: Terence Mauri
Stellantis merger complete, top execs appointed
Future of Work: Building a culture of innovation and virtual collaboration
Keeping up with the new reality: Handling policy & expense changes for the hybrid workforce
2020 made strong company cultures stronger: Milestone Systems' CEO
From structure to culture
ThuMar 04 People Matters L&D SEA Conference 2021 Online
E-mail address (you@example.com)
By clicking "Subscribe" button above, you are accepting our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
Copyright 2021 People Matters Pte. Ltd. All rights reserved.
This web-site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our web-site. By continuing you're agreeing our Terms & Conditions & Privacy Policy
How likely are you to recommend our content to a friend or colleague?
Selected Score :


BACK TO THE MARKET!!!! Perfect opportunity for first time home buyer , located in the heart of Santa Ana and near South Coast Plaza, near School, parks, malls, freeways.
I am interested in 2845 S Fairview Street UNIT C, Santa Ana, CA 92704.


Special Celebrations and screening of Superstar's "SIVAJI - THE BOSS" is scheduled for the Saturday, Sep 22nd 2007 at Park Theater, Fremont CA. By 22nd when the 100th Day celebrations begin this movie will be creating a new record by running 70 days only in Bay Area thus becoming the first Tamil Cinema to do so in America's history. Preparations are being done to give every fan attending the celebrations with a "Sivaji - The Boss" poster and FREE Audio CD until supplies last apart from the sweet distribution and a special video presentation on Thalaivar's path to "Sivaji - The Boss"


Rivaroxaban for the treatment of venous thromboembolism. The SWIss Venous ThromboEmbolism Registry (SWIVTER).
We investigated three-month clinical outcomes in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) treated with rivaroxaban or conventional anticoagulation in routine clinical practice. Between November 2012 and February 2015, 2,062 consecutive patients with VTE from 11 acute care hospitals in Switzerland were enrolled in the SWIss Venous ThromboEmbolism Registry (SWIVTER). Overall, 417 (20 %) patients were treated with rivaroxaban. In comparison to 1,645 patients on conventional anticoagulation, patients on rivaroxaban were younger (56 ± 18 vs. 65 ± 17 years; p<0.001), less often had pulmonary embolism (38 % vs 66 %; p<0.001), hypertension (26 % vs 41 %; p<0.001), cancer (10 % vs 28 %; p<0.001), congestive heart failure (10 % vs 17 %; p=0.001), diabetes (8 % vs 15 %; p<0.001), chronic lung disease (7 % vs 13 %; p=0.001), renal insufficiency (7 % vs 13 %; p=0.001), recent surgery (7 % vs 14 %; p<0.001), and acute coronary syndrome (1 % vs 4 %; p=0.009). VTE reperfusion therapy was more frequently used (28 % vs 9 %; p<0.001) and indefinite-duration anticoagulation treatment less often planned (26 % vs 39 %; p<0.001), respectively. In the propensity score-adjusted population, the risk of recurrent VTE was similar in patients on rivaroxaban vs conventional anticoagulation (1.2 % vs 2.1 %, hazard ratio [HR] 0.55, 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.18-1.65; p=0.29); the risk of major bleeding was also similar, respectively (0.5 % vs 0.5 %, HR 1.00, 95 %CI 0.14-7.07; p=1.00). Conventional anticoagulation is still frequently used for the treatment of VTE, particularly in the elderly and those with comorbidities. Early clinical outcomes were comparable between propensity score-adjusted patient populations on rivaroxaban and conventional anticoagulation.


20th-century dark brown leather, blind-stamped exterior including "S" monogram surmounted by a coronet; gold-tooled on the interior; purple watered silk doublures.
Luis de Strycker, Brussels, his or his father's monogram on binding; purchased by E. Clark Stillman around 1981; E. Clark Stillman Collection.
Ms. book of hours, use of Rome (Hours of the Virgin, Office of the Dead); written and illuminated in Belgium, ca. 1490.
Decoration: 14 small miniatures, 46 historiated borders, 7 floral borders on gold ground; on each text page are marginal fauna and flora, hybrids and grotesques.
fols. 1r-12v: Calendar -- fols. 13r-14v: Prayer to the Holy Face -- fols. 15r-24v: Hours of the Cross -- fols. 25r-33r: Hours of the Holy Spirit -- fols. 34r-42v: Mass of the Virgin -- fols. 43r-52r: Gospel Lessons -- fols. 53r-153v: Hours of the Virgin -- fols. 154r-182v: Seven Penitential Psalms, Litany, Prayers -- fols. 183r-246r: Office of the Dead -- fols. 247r-261v: Suffrages -- fols. 262r-279v: Prayers to the Virgin, including Obsecro Te and O Intemerata.
Textiles: purple watered silk doublures.


His parents separated when he was 2, and he was brought up by his mum, Ann Beverley. Ann was a drifter, and Sid never experience a settled home. This early turmoil resulted in a personality which was both stubborn and childishly naive, with a strong self-destructive streak.


To put it simply, a custom suit is the best way to get the perfect result. Every suit we make is a one off, cut specifically for each individual client and designed to their precise requirements. We offer infinite possibilities for the design of your suit, using only the finest cloths, linings and trims in our construction.
To ensure the finest quality from start to finish, we have developed our own software and refined our pattern using the most sophisticated and precise technology. With this software, our tailors can create a completely singular pattern, send it instantly to our cut room in London to be reviewed, and then on to our workshop to begin the construction.
We have kept our process simple and easy, and our team are expertly trained to guide you from the initial consultation to the final fitting. Once you have had a suit that fits you perfectly, everything else will feel like a compromise.


text:
Review by Morgan Deane, Brigham Young University–Idaho
Sun Tzu at Gettysburg: Ancient Military Wisdom in the Modern World
By Bevin Alexander
New York: Norton, 2011. Pp. xvi, 286. ISBN 978–0–393–07813–8.
Descriptors: Volume 2011, 18th century, 19th Century, 20th Century, Revolutionary War, Napoleonic Wars, US Civil War, World War I, World War II, Korean War Print Version
Written over 2,400 hundred years ago, Sun Tzu's[1] Art of War still captures the attention of scholars and general readers. In Sun Tzu at Gettysburg, the prolific military historian[2] Bevin Alexander (Longwood Univ.) seeks to show that modern leaders who inadvertently applied Sun Tzu's maxims succeeded, while commanders who did not suffered defeat (xi).
In his introduction, Alexander equates Sun Tzu's prescription "to avoid what is strong, strike what is weak" with guerrilla warfare and B.H. Liddell Hart's strategy of indirect warfare[3] (xii, also 235–36, n. 2). This sort of sweeping but lightly supported generalization is typical of the argumentation throughout the book. The introduction alone covers, besides Liddel Hart, the history of the translation of Sun Tzu into English and the influence of his maxims on Mao Zedong's doctrine of "People's War" in a mere six pages and three footnotes.
Alexander discusses ten battles, moving chronologically from Saratoga in the Revolutionary War to the Inchon landing in the Korean War. His narratives are clear and brisk, but do not make many connections to Sun Tzu. For example, chapter 7, on the German victory in France in 1940, begins as follows:
Although [Field Marshal Erich von] Manstein knew nothing about Sun Tzu, he was a brilliant strategist and he arrived on his own at one of Sun Tzu's most fundamental concepts: "make uproar in the east but attack in the west." Manstein saw that deception is the most dependable way of achieving victory. By staging an "uproar" at one place, a general can induce his enemy to commit his strongest forces there, and thereby ensure that the general's actual target somewhere else will be poorly defended or not defended at all. Manstein's idea was not original. It goes back to the beginning of warfare and is the intellectual foundation of Sun Tzu's concept of the orthodox, or direct, zheng force working in conjunction with the unorthodox, or indirect, qi force (141).
While this is a good description of Sun Tzu's principles of the orthodox and unorthodox, it constitutes almost the entire introduction for that chapter. Sun Tzu and his theories do not reappear till twenty pages later in the chapter's (too) brief conclusion. Moreover, the meat of the chapter is, Alexander admits, adapted from one of his previous books (255, n. 1). The other chapters feature equally small doses of Sun Tzu; the eight-page final chapter, "The Enduring Wisdom of Sun Tzu," simply summarizes some of the often repeated maxims.
The book is founded on superficial research: the selected bibliography lists no sources for Sun Tzu besides two translations.[4] A familiarity with several easily available sources would have greatly improved Alexander's work.[5] David Graff, for one, has discussed several instances of commanders applying Sun Tzu's maxims. He argues that, at the battles of Jingxing and Yanshi, Chinese leaders deliberately deployed their forces with their backs to a river, in an attempt to employ what Sun Tzu described as "fatal terrain": "Throw them into a place from which there is nowhere to go, and they will die rather than flee. When they are facing death, how could one not obtain the utmost strength from the officers and men? When soldiers have fallen in deep, they have no sense of fear."[6] With this in mind then, it is disappointing to find Alexander criticizing Robert E. Lee for backing his army against the Potomac River at the Battle of Antietam (105–6). Not having read the pertinent secondary sources, he misses a chance to show that Lee was acting in accord with one of Sun Tzu's dictums.
Alexander's book also suffers from lack of nuance in selecting translations of Sun Tzu. The Chinese characters translated as "orthodox" and "unorthodox" could also be rendered as "spiking" and "tilting"[7] in both tactical and strategic senses. But Alexander ignores the strategic meaning. Instead of noticing Lee's use of "fatal terrain," he criticizes him for leaving himself little room for his "tilt" or flanking maneuver. But if an enemy is expecting a flank attack, how "unorthodox" can that attack be? In short, "orthodox" and "unorthodox" are fluid terms, the meaning of which can change several times in the course of even a single battle. Sun Tzu's language is far more subtle and flexible than Alexander's terminology ("fix," "flank," and "repeat") denotes.
Alexander's stress on the common-sense quality of the maxims causes him to underestimate the complexity of the situations that both ancient and modern practitioners of war faced in making their decisions. For example, in arguing that those who applied Sun Tzu's teaching succeeded, he fails to examine sufficiently just why commanders acted as they did. He cites a violation of Sun Tzu's first maxim—"thoroughly ponder and analyze war"—as a reason for the British defeat in the American Revolutionary War (5). But contemporary debates among British policy makers clearly show that they did in fact ponder their war extensively. They simply arrived at a different conclusion from Alexander's! This lack of detail in exploring the strategic decisions of belligerents vis-à-vis Sun Tzu's maxims is disappointing.
Finally, there is the problem of using Sun Tzu himself. Part of his appeal lies in the wide applicability of his aphorisms. For instance, advocates of both direct and indirect strategic approaches to battle can find support in his text. The problem of this inherent ambiguity is worsened by Alexander's persistent characterizations of the adages as commonsensical (223), his reliance on only two translations, and his lack of acquaintance with the relevant secondary scholarship. We are left with a set of principles so oversimplified as to lose all value as military prescriptions. The Sun Tzu coating that Alexander applies to modern campaigns serves only to obscure underlying complexities.
Despite these problems and because Sun Tzu at Gettysburg is written in an engrossing, brisk style, unencumbered by dense footnotes, it is suited to those seeking a primer on modern battles that exemplify Sun Tzu's maxims. It may also serve as "the book that got me interested military history" for high school readers. But scholars of East Asia and the history of warfare, including serious undergraduates, will need to look elsewhere.
[1] Alexander prefers the Wade-Giles transliteration over the Pinyin Romanization system that superseded it in 1982. Hence, "Sun-Tzu" instead of "Sunzi."
[2] Author of Lost Victories: The Military Genius of Stonewall Jackson (NY: Holt, 1992), How Wars Are Won: The 13 Rules of War—from Ancient Greece to the War on Terror (NY: Crown, 2002), and How Hitler Could Have Won World War II: The Fatal Errors That Led to Nazi Defeat (NY: Crown, 2000).
[3] Strategy: The Indirect Approach [1941], 4th ed. (London: Faber, 1967).
[4] Samuel Griffith, trans., Sun Tzu: The Art of War (Oxford: Clarendon Pr, 1963) and Ralph D. Sawyer, trans., Sun Tzu: The Art of War (Boulder, CO: Westview/NY: Barnes & Noble, 1994).
[5] E.g., Peter Lorge, ed., Warfare in China to 1600 (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2005) is a valuable compendium of English language analysis of Sun Tzu: see therein, esp., Benjamin Wallacker, "Two Concepts in Early Chinese Military Thought" and Christopher C. Rand, "Li Ch'üan and Chinese Military Thought" for succinct and trenchant analysis of topics relevant to Alexander's subject.
[6] David Graff, Medieval Chinese Warfare 300–900 (NY: Routledge, 2002) 168–69.
[7] See Wallacker (note 5 above) 299.
Purchase Sun Tzu at Gettysburg

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Botanical name: Hydrangea macrophylla • Other names: French Hydrangea, Lacecap Hydrangea, Mophead Hydrangea, Penny Mac, Hortensia.
Hydrangeas are garden shrubs with heads of flowers in shades of pink, white or blue.They have pretty autumn colour and leaf shape.
Avoid exposed east-facing sites (cold winds may damage young spring growth) and avoid dry, sunny spots.


text:
RPG Crossing > Games > Mutants & Masterminds > Arbiters of a New Age M&M 3e > Archived
(Story) Build-a-Base Workshop (Archived)
Page 1 of 100 1 2 3 4 5 11 51 > Last »
WhovianBeast
So, Bluejack asked me if he could start roleplaying the base and recruitment for it while I'm gone. I agreed, and that's what this thread is for.
This thread is assumed to take place at no particular time, just after Bluejack asked Petran for a base and after the current missions. So no referencing whether or not the Organizer dies, whether or not the Hunter makes it, etc. Break is reformed and under Kringle's direction. Kali's wacky shenanigans have ended and is with Enoch and under his command.
All players can be present as their own characters. Graven can also control Kali if he wishes, Bluejack can control Break, Fathom, Gunther, and Epirus if he so chooses, hopefully as in-character as he can make them. Any other characters recruited should be human or approved by me,
The base is located: 55°07'09.8"N 83°03'06.2"W
That's in Ontario, Canada, near Hudson Bay.
Please do not leave the base except to go recruiting. Kodama can't visit her car, Wraith can't go find other children, etc.
Assuming a simulation room is fine, modern features like internet, plumbing, electricity etc fine, maybe a garage if you want. There are no active defenses, there are no magic portals. Each character should hopefully be able to roleplay pretty well by now. If you aren't confident doing that while I'm gone, well then just stick to your normal thread and wait for me to be online to sort things out.
Start your for post by how arrive at the base, along with NPCs if you have any (only Enoch and Kringle). The base is centered in a mountain, pretty much indistinguishable from the outside, and has no road leading up to it, only miles upon miles of Canadian forest.
Have at it! Try not to argue out of character. Posts should be in character.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.
Last edited by WhovianBeast; 08-08-2018 at 09:04 PM.
Send a PM to WhovianBeast
Find all posts by WhovianBeast
Mack Bitterbuster
Medgar Karrek
Pad Mistiweth
Ernie Wirebiter
Bluejack
Overlord of Imagination
Welcome to the Empyrean
Well here we are. Time to break the seal. Cord walked down the tunnel under the mountain and stood in front of their new base granted by Petran. They'd taken forever to get to the damn place given all the activity the Arbiter champions had been through lately. Gel poked her head from the Klaus Bag to look around. She's set up a small lair inside the bag for herself with her Star Wars figures. They'd watched 'The Force Awakens' (far too late for Cord's liking!) and Gel had found a package of figures from Chris in the hotel room Cord had collapsed in after the fight with a rogue Red Cap named Herr Decapitas. Gel was partial to BB-8.
Cord had taken Break and any other champion that would go along. He loved being the Invincible Icicle, but some of the other champions went at it like they weren't immortal. Thank goodness Cord had Kodama, Gunther and Fathom to balance out Break and Wraith. There was a lot of nasty, but Cord had come to terms with being an immortal demigod. It was a lot of fun. They had helped a lot of people. He'd solved the companionship issue with the discovery of a large number of acceptable and hot ever-living ladies. Reformed devils, angels, fey.
Gel lived up to her namesake and could be gel-lous, and cold. But when they found the super pretty reformed devil that also liked the sentient chain, Gel bought in. Leaving aside the fact that the border between the Chain and the Champion were slowly blurred when they were present in each others heads all the time, life had taken an upturn.
The beginning chapters were over. Time to settle in for the long hall. So Kringle had sent out the call to his allied champions. Time to get the team acting like a team. That started with the Empyrean. A massive underground base and now Kringle's home. Cord walked to the entrance with Fathom and Break at his side and Gel out of the Bag to look around.
"Welcome Break, welcome Champion Fathom, welcome Champion Kringle, welcome sentient chain, Blitzen." chimed the base in a faint British accent. Cord looked to his friends and smiled.
"At least it knows the pecking order, Frosty." said Break. Kringle had been surprised at how Break had maintained contact with him. She was still cynical as hell, but her encouraging smile let Cord know she was happy to have a safe place to lay her head that wasn't filled with magma, dust, sand, the like.
"It's alphabetical, Break." Fathom tossed her cold water on Break's enthusiasm.
"We need anotter accent. British accents fer computers are trite. An' we dinna need any more Irish accents fer sure!" Cord looked to the ladies for inspiration.
"Perhaps ancient Romanian?" Gel suggested.
"Hardy har, Gel." Cord chuckled. "Well it twas my boon, so it's ginna be a girl. How 'bout an Aussie? Margot Robbie, then. She needs a good job after tha disaster Suicide Squad. Computer, make Margot Robbie yer voice. Eh?"
Margot Robbie chimed in, "G'day mate!" There was definitely a slight mocking and humorous tone to the AI's voice. "No threats identified! Let's give it a gurl!"
"How about an Aussie slang level two of ten. If we need to send an alert it can't take forty-five minutes." Fathom was in a sour mood for some reason. Cord would have to get to the bottom of that eventually. Kringle walked forward with the others and his mouth fell open. A massive, space aged entry hall greeted the champions. In the middle a Margot Robbie-esque hologram appeared in a simple uniform.
"Welcome to the Empyrean." Kringle didn't move, taking it all in. Gel climbed onto his shoulder and gave Cord a slight squeeze of affection.
Well done, Callahan. Well done indeed.
To the Callhill 5E: To the Depths of Hel (PC), The Dark Citadel (PC) , SKT (PC), SKT: To the Triboar (DM), Dragon Heist 1/2 (DM), The Leilon Campaign (DM), Giants and Beyond (PC). Oath of Sangus.
Last edited by Bluejack; 12-15-2017 at 08:25 AM.
Send a PM to Bluejack
Find all posts by Bluejack
gravenimages
Life ain't easy
Enoch Enoch was beginning to regret a few things. Chiefly, and most recently, specifying to Plague not to put him 'right on top' of the base in Ontario. Very little detectable technology in the forest. If he hadn't had Steve with him, if Steve hadn't impulsively asked to be a helecopter and ended up a kind of cobbled-together spy drone... He and Kali would probably still be trekking about the endless Canadian wilderness. As it was, the young doctor had definitely had his fill of pine needles, 'fresh' air, and definitely of insects.
While they wandered, he had continued the ever-entertaining task of educating Kali about the modern world... While she asked the questions in his mind, he generally answered out loud when they were alone. It allowed the proper emotion to be conveyed with the answer. Most of the time:
No... No, Kali. I don't really know the Finance Minister of Nigeria.
Yes, I know it says it's from him.
Fifteen million dollars is a lot of money. Just delete it. Really.
Wookies were BIG and hairy. you're thinking of Ewoks.
I know, no cure for cancer and yet a billion pills out there to help old men keep... Ugh, Really?
A shared chuckle and the two of them pause in their aimless stroll a few moments. Flying Steve drops down from tree height and cheerily reports found it, boss. He zips away towards the tunnel, stopping and looking back every so often like an overexcited puppy. Eventually his two ground-bound companions make it to what appears to be the entrance. Enoch stands before it, looking around curiously. Hm... Speak 'friend' and enter? he quizzes Kali.
Reynolds? Dumbledore? No wait... Gandalf! she guesses.
"My name is 'Sue'! How do you do! Now you're gonna die!"
Last edited by gravenimages; 12-26-2017 at 09:29 PM.
Send a PM to gravenimages
Find all posts by gravenimages
Kringle and Enoch (and Kali and Steve and Fathom and Blitzen and Break)
The reinforced stone it's clean and dry granite, roughly 16 feet tall and wide, maybe 80 feet long.hallway to get in is brief, massive doors sliding back, camouflaged at the entrance to be nigh-indistinguishable from the rest of the mountain, right down to the lichen. For city-slicker Enoch, it's most easily distinguishable by the ever-so-faint background radiation the technology inside emits, and Kringle has more experience telling mountains apart than most people, but an average Joe could spend a year searching the mountain and never find it, much less be able to open it once he did so. The doors open automatically, the clash of stone-on-stone grinding through the crisp air.
As Kringle waits the few seconds it takes for the inner vaulted doors to grate open, an Australian accent pipes from behind him. "Welcome, champion Enoch, welcome, Kali Bat-Gibbor, welcome..." the computer hesitates for a moment "Steve."
A high-pitched buzzing grows clearer as Enoch, Kali, and Steve approach. "Hello computer!" Steve replies whimsically, flying high enough for his rotors to just barely scrape the edge of the stone. "I'm Steve! What's your name?"
"I'm the Empyrean," the blonde hologram replies, flickering to life on the ground below Steve as it looks up. "Neat!" Steve buzzes off to investigate the larger group. The hologram looks at Kali and Enoch with a cheery smile and wave. "Welcome to the Empyrean, mates."
'Not human, Matt?' Kali quizzes mentally, looking a little apprehensive as she gives a small wave in return. Your encouragement has helped her learn to manage new experiences much better than when you first met her, but she's still somewhat nervous meeting new people and beings, especially when she isn't sure if they're human, champion, or neither. That first proper meeting with Blitzen was... interesting, to say the least.
Fathom turns her head and raises an eyebrow at the new arrivals. She isn't surprised at the entourage (she's seen them before), but she hardly seems thrilled. "Hey 'Noch, Kali." A watery bat solidifies in her hand and she swats at Steve, who easily dodges and flies away further into the Empyrean.
Break turns and waves, "Hello," she greets. "I'm Break, good to meet you... both?" she dodges as Steve skims past her head.
As the larger group enters the Empyrean from the hallway, the reception area is very sleek and clean. White walls, floors, ceilings are all lit by fluorescent light. It's about 25 feet long and twice as wide. Embedded in the wall to your left and right are opaque white sheets of what seems to be glass, each labeled with a green One, two, three, four, five, sixnumber, each running from floor to ceiling. It's clean, but as Enoch notes to himself, at least there's WiFi here.
"Shiny," Gelvira notes. The hologram flickers to life a few steps in front of a gaping Kringle. "This is the reception area'r, those'r tha holdin' cells. Petran has given me everything Kringle asked for." She pulls up a floating map, roughly 2 feet in diameter, displaying a round floor plan of the building. Several blinking dots represent your group, a tiny spinning set of helicopter blades Steve. He's currently buzzing around the part marked 'observation deck'.
The Empyrean pauses before starting. "I can show you on the map, or I can give you the tour."
"Tour," Break votes. "Tour," Blitzen adds. Kali nods with a thin smile. Fathom rolls her eyes, "Fine."
The heavy stone doors behind you grate closed, a smooth shining white on this side.
OoC: For the purposes of the game, Kodama's room and Famine's room are switched, so Kodama is next to the conservatory.
Each square on the map is roughly 8 feet across. Or it is now, I don't know what it was supposed to be.
Enoch gives a rare smile at Steve's antics, watching the childlike machine spread his peculiar brand of chaos. At Kali's mental query, he considers for a moment. Not human, but a person nonetheless. Makes the system more accessible to those who aren't good with computers.
Speaking of which, I'll promise to limit myself to standard access unless there's an emergency. He mimes tipping a cap in the hologram's direction. He nods to Break, and offers a 'kids, what can you do?' shrug to Fathom after she misses the rambunctious drone with her waterbat.
Outvoted before he can speak up, he adds a nod of general consensus for the tour. Specific areas can wait awhile... This was probably as close as he'd get to a vacation for the time present...
Shylocke
Lies and Trickery
Kodama had arrived at the Empyrean before Enoch. She seen him make his way precariously, frustrated down the mountain with his timid but capable female companion. Rather, it would be better to say that she had arrived near the Empyrean. She'd yet to go in it at all. She'd seen the entrance through her plant senses but the contents didn't interest her as much as the surrounds. Out here was her domain and in there was a room with a bed and a door, basically. Well probably more than that but anyway.
She'd been spending her time starting to get to know the forest the way she knew the one at Banff. Get to know the trees and the animals that made their way by wing or paw through the area. She'd need a month straight probably, to know this place like she knew Banff. Her new career was going to make that difficult if not downright impossible. One thing she could guarantee though, was a place of her own, carved solely out of her will just like the grove that used to be a pillar of her being. On a grassy embankment near a river south-east from the entrance to the Empyrean, she finds a similar stone with a top that was smooth enough. Instead of building a circle of trees, she instead erects a singular massive willow tree whose gentle leaves ensconce her now mossy perch.
A new style for a new beginning.
With her preliminary tour complete and her own stamp pressed upon the forestry of the area, Kodama casually picks her way to the entrance of the Empyrean. In a manner she feels is disconcerting, the outer stone doors slide open like a villains lair from an early James Bond film and reveals a much larger party than she had anticipated.
"Welcome Champion Kodama." Intones a computerized Australian, which does enough to swivel the remaining heads of those present who hadn't noted the opening of the main doors.
"Oh. Hello. This is our new, secret, base right?" Kodama awkwardly greets those present already, most of the faces she knew, some she didn't.
Send a PM to Shylocke
Find all posts by Shylocke
Kodama and Enoch
"Tour it is," Kringle agrees cheerily, ducking Steve's erratic flight easily. This was his gift, and he couldn't wait to see what Petran had given him. He turns with a surprised smile and open arms to the recently arrived Kodama, calling out down the hallway. "It's tha druid lass! Good ta see ya Kodama!" He gestures at the lobby. "Dis is our new base. We were jes' aboot ta check it out. You wanta take a look-see with us?"
Break looks at askance at Kringle, but waves at as he fairly bursts with enthusiasm. Her usual welder's not that Kodama knows she wears onemask is nowhere in sight, likely tucked into her bag, but her tanned leather gloves and denim jacket seem to be especially dusty. She was even less familiar to the druid than the Asian and his blonde companion, but she seemed to be with Kringle. She'd seen them around the Arbiters once or twice, even if they'd hardly had the chance to introduce themselves. He was with Plague, she knew that, but the woman's status was less evident, and she only knew his name (Enoch) from the one time Kringle had dropped it on the way out of Barcelona.
Enoch in turn has heard of Kodama and likewise seen her around, (likely in the background of Ferocus' realm, he speculates), but he doesn't know her personally.
"If you'll follow me," the hologram announces,smoothly for a projection, better than commercial modern technology for sure turning and walking across the lobby. She gestures to the panels on the side. "These are the holding cells, warded to keep most magical beings inside without trouble, heatproof to 3000 degrees, and strong enough to survive a direct hit with an airplane." She gives Enoch a knowing look. "I was told that was an important feature."
She moves along the lobby toward the far door, her blue uniform rather snug from behind. Fathom scowls at Kringle, who shrugs, immediately knowing what the dirty look is for. "I cannae help wha' Lord Petran though' my subconscious want'd." Fathom rolls her eyes and follows the Empyrean, leading the group as she paces forward.
"Up next is the laboratory. Enoch, I am sure this will be of interest to you," the hologram calls behind her as the doors slide open.
To the left is an expansive laboratory and workshop, no less giant than the lobby, rows and rows of pristine counters, shelves underneath filled with all manner of chemicals, elements, spell ingredients, glassware, tools, and the smaller of lab equipment. To The wall adjacent to the gymnasium and virtuariumyour left hums banks of computers, Enoch recognizing the layout similar to that of bleeding edge supercomputers, screens embedded on each tower. In front of you, still in the lab area and adjoining the curving wall, is rows of the larger lab equipment, ranging from mass spectrometers to autoclaves, even a kiln. More shelves of raw materials are further beyond, running all the way to an opaque glass hallway. The Empyrean turns and gestures grandly. "Everything an inventor could dream of. Kodama, you will also find all but the most esoteric ingredients your summoning requires on these shelves."
Kringle looks around with a smile. Most of this is lost on him, but he knows its important to some of the others. "Leastwise we'll never need ta scrape an' beg fer somewhere we ken fix our things."
Break is politely interested but doesn't say anything, Fathom craning her neck to look at the shelves of spell materials but uninterested in the tech. Kali is following Enoch rather more closely than usual, a gentle but somewhat disengaged smile her default expression as she looks around, eyes never really focusing on any one aspect but occasionally alighting on a person, gaze quickly moving as soon as the person looks up.
To the right is what appears to be a fully functioning hospital, with familiar (to Enoch, from his days at the CDC) pods, white beds. Rows and rows of medicines and pharmaceuticals are locked behind transparent windows, but you can be sure everything short of a true panacea is to be found. The Empyrean doesn't mention the hospital, presumably that will be later on the tour.
Being addressesd directly brings the young man's eyes back to... Well... Eye level... Fairly abruptly.
His eyes are quickly drawn to the lab... Actually he presses his face against the glass like a kid in a candy store for several moments. The young man hastily wipes the glass with a sleeve as he steps back, looking slightly embarrased. Man... That's a lot more... Everything... Than we had even at the CDC. Might take a crowbar to get me out of there.
Kali cocks her head slightly sideways at this remark, brow furrowed. Yeah, figure of speech Enoch confirms hastily. Though I imagine there's probably an actual crowbar in there somewhere. He looks back longingly as the tour passes the area by...
Kodama rolls her eyes at the sight of the Empyrean and Kringle's locker room style explanation for it. Still, it was hardly surprising. Most of the Arbiters other than Athena presented themselves as masculine with the sole exception of Athena and as far as she was aware it was just Fathom and herself representing for the Champions. Pretty much a sausage fest.
Having lived in a cabin or dorm primarily for the last little while makes this place look especially modern, though compared to the ranch style decor of her childhood home it came off pretty cold. That didn't matter though, this could become a real home. Somewhere she could really feel safe to crash.
True to the word of the Empyrean, she finds the spell ingredients exceptionally useful. She makes a strong effort to commit the current stock to memory and mentally check it against her mental list to determine what is still left to procure.
Kodama whistles appreciatively. So far so impressive.
Enoch and Kodama
Moving through the lab, you move across the smoke glass hallway (a door to your right and left, unknown what it leads to) and into a much less 'sterile' room. There's a library to the left, a tiled kitchen on the far end, assorted wooden chairs and tables (four tables, 20 chairs) arranged on the brown carpeted floor, lit by warmer yellow lights than the harsh white in the lab and lobby.
The Empyrean walks in, stopping around the middle of the room and turning with a smile. "This is the Sanctum. The Library is on a rotation of books recommended by either Athena or the New York Times. The kitchen is kept fully stocked, and the automatons can cook if you doubt your own skill."
"What automatons?" Fathom interrupts. The Empyrean points to the third, empty wall, a small wooden panel sliding back to reveal an eight-inch tall silvered robot. "These. They can't speak, but they can perform basic tasks like cooking, cleaning, making the bed. There are ten, they respond to Robbie."
She smiles, "Anybody hungry? Just ask 'Robbie, make me-' whatever you would like to eat. Take care to keep your commands simple."
Kringle grins, "I could go fer a bite. Robbie, make me... a roast beef sandwich and a cup of coffee wit' one sugar."
With the whirring of gears, Robbie runs across the carpet toward the kitchen, one tiny step at a time. Kali looks visibly uncomfortable at the tiny machine and shies away as it runs in front of her, pale hands wringing in front of her. Fathom looks surprised, but Break chuckles. "Aww, look at it go!"
"While Robbie is doing that, let's look at the Lounge, yeah?" The Empyrean moves off to a door on the far side of the kitchen. Break, Fathom, and Kringle follow, each giving Robbie's actions a long glance as they pass. He's currently opening a door into a walk-in pantry, filled with food, another identical robot appearing from within, carrying two slices of sourdough bread.
OoC: Confession time: I have no idea what Bluejack wanted when he labeled the Sanctum differently from the lounge. I was kinda counting on him to describe this.
Oh. Hey. As they move towards the lounge, Enoch stops looking back at the computer lab long enough to recall that he hasn't met everyone here. A few quick steps and he falls into stride with the blond druid. Sorry for not introducing myself earlier. Computers. He shrugs as if that is an adequate explanation in his eyes. Enoch, Champion of Plague... For like ten* whole days now. His tone is somewhat derisive, but he offers a closed fist for a bump. And this is Kali, my... Uh... 'it's real complicated'.
OOC: *Your results may vary
This place was incredible and they were still going. Kringle had every right to be beaming proud of this place, it was so nice that the faux pas of a comic book style hologram could be looked past easily. After Kringle placed his order, Kodama hesitated but sprung up the nerve to get her own request in. "Robbie? I'd like a Hot Cider please." She makes the order, and watches another automaton spring from seemingly nowhere to handle the new project. "Very cute!" She'd have probably preferred trained monkeys to soulless machines, but she knows she holds a niche view on this subject. While she certainly plans to abuse the helpfulness of Team Robbie for meals in the future, she makes just as much of an effort to scope out the pantry as she did the spell list. She makes a mean blueberry pie and has a solid reputation for delicious (if not white-washed) burritos. Cooking for her fellow Champions is guaranteed to be an ice-breaker, just like welcoming new neighbours with home-made cookies. Plus, she's got some time now to hone the craft.
When Enoch falls in beside her she smiles warmly at him, she can certainly appreciate him making the effort. That warmth diminishes ever so slightly, but noticeably as he introduces himself as Plague's Champion. She can't help it really. Out of all the Arbiters she felt Plague was the closest to being anathema to Ferocus regardless of the alliance between them all. Plague's attitude didn't help much and even though she wanted to give each Champion a clean slate in order to build friendships, a little bit of that history snuck through into her expression. "Real complicated? Is that a new facebook status I haven't heard of?" She teases Enoch and awkwardly bumps his offered fist. Counting this one, she's still in single digits for number of fists bumped throughout her life and it shows.
"Champion Kodama" She re-introduces herself, matching the intonation and a decent attempt at the accent of Empyrean minutes ago. "freshly minted by way of the Beast King Ferocus. Pleased to meet you, and you Kali. This place is crazy, isn't it? I don't know what you all are used to but I feel like I'm watching a sci-fi movie or something just standing here."
It's not... very complicated. Kali begins hesitantly, abortively offering and then retracting a pale, thin hand. I'm his servant. Enoch rolls his eyes in a mix of affection and mock exasperation. We're still figuring that part out. He explains. Not everything is built on twenty-first century morals in our... He gestures aimlessly with a hand. New sphere of reference.
He looks around the kitchen, forward to the lounge. This is definitely a new thing. I think Kringle spent one of his boons on it, in fact. "Good trade" says I. Enoch snaps his fingers. Speaking of that, if you can stand to hang around him long enough, Plague might net you in on our communication thing. Built-in he points to his head. Planet-wide, no activation fees or contracts. I wouldn't try to change carriers though. He offers a grin. Pretty convenient for coordinating things, but you have to speak out loud. So using in a doctors office or church would be awkward.
Kodama raises an eyebrow at the definitively non-twenty-first century description of Kali and Enoch's relationship but accepts it with a simple shrug. Honestly, her fellow Champions could tell her the wackiest stuff and she'd take it on good faith. "New sphere of reference. Well put. I'm hoping it's a good story that could be shared over hot chocolate and powdered donuts, but if I'm prying or it's sensitive then never mind."
Kodama listens earnestly to Enoch's offer but shakes her head. "I hope you don't take offense, but I wouldn't really be comfortable with Plague fiddling with my flesh in any way at all. Sorry. Thanks for the offer though, I wish I had something from the Beast King's realm to make a similar gesture..." She trails off, looking sheepish. Kringle had spent a boon acquiring this amazing base for them, Enoch had spent one constructing some world-wide communication system. She'd gotten a fancy necklace and a better memory, just a little bit on the selfish side comparatively.
Last edited by Shylocke; 01-15-2018 at 12:12 PM.
The Robbie nods at Kodama's request, then runs off into the pantry. The extremely well-stocked pantry, you could feed an army of ravenous restaurant critics breakfast lunch and dinner with what's in there, and have enough for Christmas with all the in-laws to boot. Finding what you want for a meal will be a question of locating it, not worrying if you don't have it.
Kali gives the kitchen as wide a berth as she can while still being next to Enoch, putting the champion between her and it. She doesn't respond to Kodama's implied question with any more than a thin polite smile and looking down.
Moving into the lounge to catch up with the others, it's immediately evident that the Empyrean said 'lounge' and meant 'multi-million dollar rec room'.
The four sides of the room are divided into quarters, none of which look like they'll be especially productive. The door leads into an open area (North-west on the map of the lounge) with games tables: billiards, snooker, foosball, air hockey, ping pong, it's a little much to be honest. The next area (south-west) is furnished with overstuffed chairs, beanbags, a couple of couches, and two simply massive televisions, easily eight feet wide and four and a half feet tall each, set side by side with a few feet in between. Sets of wooden cabinets next to the TV likely conceal games and videos. The third area (south-east, furthest from the door you came in) holds a small bar and matching wooden tables, oriented to face the TVs and with a large collection of liquor on glass shelves. The fourth area (north-east) holds a series of round tables next to padded seats, also facing the television, but a record and CD player, array of speakers, and racks of music media let you know what this is meant for. On the far end (south) is another door leading to what is probably the medical bay.
Kringle laughs, "HA, score! This's great! I hafta remember ta thank Petran next time I see 'im."
Break's eyes open very wide at the array. Despite herself, Fathom gawks as well, jaw open as she surveys the room.
"This is the lounge, outfitted with some of the finest personal home entertainment to be had," the Empyrean announces. "When the doors are closed, it is also soundproof."
"Oh my..." Kali's own eyes open wide, looking awestruck at any of two dozen things she hasn't seen before.
Steve careens in through the far door, "Wheeeeeeeeeeee! This place is huge!" He has the good sense to stay out of Fathom's reach this time, buzzing over to Enoch and hovering about five feet behind him, humming from side to side, barely avoiding getting tangled in Kodama's hair as he flits.


2 Port HDMI splitter with UHD 4K Support. These splitters will distribute a HDMI source to multiple HDMI displays simultaneously. They are typically used in retail environments, clubs, business foyers, data control centres etc. HDMI 1.4 compliant.
HDMI to AV Composite Converter. Connect a HDMI source like a laptop or Blu-ray player to work with old CRT TV's or monitors equipped with RCA composite and stereo audio. The converter also supports either NTSC or PAL systems.
AudioQuest Headphone Plug Adaptor - Stereo 3.5mm to 6.35mm. Superior Materials and Firm Contact Pressure Ensure Ideal Signal Transfer.
Headphone Plug Adapter - Stereo 3.5mm Female to Stereo 1/4″ (6.35mm) Male. Silver plating directly over machined extreme-purity solid copper.


Littleapp provides you with variety of deals. Choose from a number of takeaway deals in Jabalpur.Offers that help you save more. We have a plethora of deals just for you.Want to visit the best takeaway in Jabalpur? Enjoy them with our wonderful deals.We present you with deals from wide variety of takeaway.Download our mobile app and enjoy the best deals from takeaway near you.Your feedback help us grow. Please write to us at hello@checklittle.com about your experience and any suggestions regarding our services.


Pedro Ávila graduated with a degree in Humanities from the Centro Universitario de Mexico in 1982. He spent one year teaching history and literature at the Instituto Nacional Para la Educación de Adultos in Mexico City before venturing into the field of advertising.
After learning the ropes in production, freelancing for various commercial production companies, Pedro concentrated his efforts in post-production, working as an editor and post-production supervisor on spots from 1984 to 1988. He spent the following three years as an assistant director, assisting such commercial directors as Greg Gold, Jean Marie Perrier, Sebastian Dewnsburry and Terry Bedford, as well as being first assistant director on several feature films shot in Mexico. In the interim, Pedro directed his first spots, accomplishing campaigns for the Tourism Bureau of Mexico and Grupo Ariken. In 1992, he joined the roster of directors at Filmosintesis in Mexico City, directing numerous campaigns.
In 1994 Pedro formed an association with Carbo Films and has since directed numerous U.S. Hispanic Market spots for clients such as Wells Fargo, General Mills, Bank of America, Verizon, Miller Brewing Co., H&R Block, Eveready Energizer, Kraft General Foods, California Lottery, U.S. Postal Service, Procter & Gamble and AT&T among many others. In 1997, Pedro became one of the founding partners at Metro Producciones in Mexico City, directing campaigns for such clients as Banamex, IUSA Cell, Mattel, PAL Airlines, Bayer, and Polaroid. Pedro Ávila is exclusively represented in the U.S. by Carbo Films.


In this day of lightning-speed online communications and globalization, the work force comes in all shapes, sizes - and all ages.
Being understood is more and more challenging, and trying to understand is just as challenging. A difference of say 10 years can be a big divide in this new world of digital distraction. As a man in his 40s, I sometimes struggle to understand guys in their 20s … their pants sag, their mobile phones are always in front of them, and they speak funny, sometimes using the word 'fleek'.
Don't try and talk like them, that's just not cool. Be yourself, speak like yourself.
Don't make fun of them either – live and let live. Make fun of yourself, but without putting yourself down too much and coming across as the techno-illiterate uncle who doesn't know how to reboot a laptop. Or acting like a bumbling Chevy Chase in the National Lampoon movies. If you know the movie reference, then you're definitely not in the younger category (you're with me). Just saying.
One thing is for sure, when people say, "Let's talk" they don't often mean face-to-face. You probably won't have a lot of luck with phone calls. Texts, WhatsApps, Twitter DMs, even a "please call me" on Instagram is more likely to get a response.
I am cool with all this digital tech, but up to a point. Tell your young friends to try speak to you, face to face, or over the phone - that way you will be in the same space. Otherwise it's often all gibberish, misunderstood and disconnected.
Don't diss their chat texts, but at some point, reply with "Let's talk on the phone – I will call you in 5 minutes" … give them time to pull up their pants, and then chat. It might even be a novelty to them.
In a meeting, consider an icebreaker like Mobile Flight Mood to freak minds out about destroying their precious smartphones. Or perhaps just try give them a buzz with Fly Bye.
Sit down, make eye contact and talk normally. Put away your phone, it may inspire them to do the same.
Treat them like adults, with respect. Never forget the fundamentals. Offer them genuine empowerment and interest in their input, not just lip service. As with everyone, people are willing to engage more when taken seriously. You could even show them some respect.
Brush up on what is trendy and cool, but don't fake it. Otherwise you will be talking about the original Ninja Turtles and being laughed at.
If all else fails, ask to get a selfie with them and tag them on social media. Consider having some social media presence, even if you're not active. It gives you a go-to contact point to share contact details with a younger crowd.
Like and favourite some of their pics and posts, but don't be too creepy about it.
Offer them swag. Consider handing over a gift like physical icebreaker prop.
Drugs are not good things, say no to drugs. And if you come from a private school, say no and thank you.
Seriously, each to his own - but bonding with the youth over narcotics is not a good idea. A beer is cool, a dozen beers is probably a bit on the dark side. When the party starts heating up, consider leaving, maybe. You don't want to have to get them to pay for your Uber home.
The youth are always misunderstood, especially wen dey speak like dis – r u following?
Hey, the new world is a scary place. No one seems to have time to bond – we are all so wired. Make them laugh. Icebreakers never go out of date and they are old world ideas that capture all ages of imaginations. Have fun, make fun of yourself, don't mock the youth culture. Remember, you were a youth once upon a time - remember the optimism and 'go with the flow' attitude. We all experienced what it was like to be a crazy monkey.


Christine Gietz has been teaching English literature for thirty years. A lover of literature her entire life, Christine studied Strand A English which concentrated on classic literature at the University of NSW where she also studied Drama and Modern History. She has been an invited speaker at the English Teachers' Association's annual conference and has been published in their journal.
She likes to write articles on educational theory and practice, course materials on pedagogies and strategies for teaching in the classroom and recreational writing of prose but her greatest passion is teaching. She is currently a literacy tutor with the University of Notre Dame.


text:
Beck for president? Glenn casually hints at possible presidential run in 8-12 years
Ted Tuttle
Was he just testing us to see if we were listening?
Or did Glenn really say he might run for president of the United States in 8-12 years?
Watch the clip below and see for yourself.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors.
GLENN: So we were talking, and Pat said he had the answer on how to solve the ISIS thing if he were president of the United States.
PAT: Yes, I'd go with the Marcus Luttrell plan.
GLENN: Uh-huh. Which is?
PAT: Which is Marcus gathers about 300 of his closest, most personal SEAL friends. You untie their hands. You remove all the rules of engagement. You say, "We're not going to pay a bit of attention to what you do. You just go." And they kill every single member of ISIS. You give them six months, and they kill every member --
GLENN: Now, Stu laughs at that.
STU: That's awesome.
GLENN: You're not laughing -- because that's exactly what I would do.
STU: Yeah, I mean, I don't imagine -- it certainly wouldn't happen under this administration.
PAT: No, it would not.
STU: Or probably, I mean, as far as no restrictions and we won't pay attention --
GLENN: I've told you guys this, I don't think I've said this on the air. In eight to 12 years, I'm thinking about running for president of the United States.
STU: Oh, yeah?
PAT: In eight to 12?
GLENN: In eight to 12.
PAT: You're going to be pretty old at 12.
STU: Yeah.
PAT: You might want to make it eight.
GLENN: Pretty old in 12? I'll be in my 60s.
STU: Yeah, that's actually pretty young for the Democrats.
PAT: Yeah.
STU: You think you can run as a Democrat because you'd be like the youthful alternative?
PAT: Wouldn't that be funny?
GLENN: For the love of Pete...
PAT: You would guarantee a Republican victory if you run as a Democrat.
STU: Yeah, that's true.
PAT: This is a really good idea. I say we investigate this. That's not what you wanted to hear.
GLENN: That's not what I wanted to hear.
JEFFY: Eight years. Let's get that done.
PAT: Yeah. You'll run in eight to 12 years. And?
GLENN: Then if there's anything left, that's when we will unleash Marcus and his friends. If there's anything left and we have eight years of -- of this --
PAT: Uh-huh.
GLENN: -- that's when we just unleash -- we unleash every SEAL. We dig them up. We dig them up and we restart their hearts.
STU: I think if you wait eight years with ISIS, they'll have about a quarter of the globe.
GLENN: Yeah, it will be too late. But. Honestly this weekend I was thinking, "If I was president, what would I do?" And that was part of it. But the other part is, we have to find a way to short-circuit their prophecy. And this is why when anybody says, "This has nothing to do with Islam," you have to impress on them, it has everything to do with Islam. And unless you understand that --
PAT: Especially to them.
GLENN: Yeah, you'll not be able to defeat them. If you keep denying this has anything to do with Islam, you will continue to miss -- like their latest video that talks all about the prophecy.


"The Ruins of Us" is a fast-paced work of contemporary fiction that explores the terrain of family relationships complicated by cultural conflict.
After more than 20 years of marriage to wealthy Saudi Abdullah al-Baylani, Rosalie, an American expatriate, discovers that her husband has taken a Palestinian second wife, which makes her contemplate escaping both the marriage and the country she has grown to love. Leaving will not be easy, however, given the country's restrictions on women and the needs of her teenage children – a headstrong daughter becoming increasingly westernized and a son succumbing to radicalism.
Keija Parssinen was born in Saudi Arabia and lived there for 12 years as a third-generation expatriate. She earned a degree in English literature from Princeton University and received her MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where she held a Truman Capote Fellowship and a Teaching-Writing Fellowship. "The Ruins of Us" is her first novel. Parssinen lives in Columbia, Missouri, where she is the Director of the Quarry Heights Writers' Workshop, a community for Columbia's creative writers.


text:
Tag: Nobel
Few people seem to know that although global warming and climate change are hotly debated topics right now (at least on the left side of the Atlantic) the effect of CO2 levels on the planet's surface temperature was investigated and calculated more than a century ago. CO2 is one of the greenhouse gases responsible for the greenhouse effect, which was discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824 (the effect, that is).
Let's start with a terminology clarification. Whereas the term 'global warming' was coined by Wallace S. Broecker in 1975, the term 'climate change' underwent a more fluidic transformation in the '70s from 'inadvertent climate modification' to 'climatic change' to a more consistent use of 'climate change' by Jule Charney in 1979, according to NASA. The same source tells us:
"Global warming refers to surface temperature increases, while climate change includes global warming and everything else that increasing greenhouse gas amounts will affect".
But before NASA there was one Svante August Arrhenius (1859–1927). Dr. Arrhenius was a Swedish physical chemist who received the Nobel Prize in 1903 for uncovering the role of ions in how electrical current is conducted in chemical solutions.
S.A. Arrhenius was the first to quantify the variations of our planet's surface temperature as a direct result of the amount of CO2 (which he calls carbonic acid, long story) present in the atmosphere. For those – admittedly few – nitpickers that say his views on the greenhouse effect were somewhat simplistic and his calculations were incorrect I'd say cut him a break: he didn't have the incredible amount of data provided by the satellites or computers, nor the work of thousands of scientists over a century to back him up. Which they do. Kind of. Well, the idea, anyway, not the math. Well, some of the math. Let me explain.
First, let me tell you that I haven't managed to pass past page 3 of the 39 pages of creative mathematics, densely packed tables, parameter assignments, and convoluted assumptions of Arrhenius (1896). Luckily, I convinced a spectroscopist to take a crack at the original paper since there is a lot of spectroscopy in it and then enlighten me.
The photo was taken in 1887 and shows (standing, from the left): Walther Nernst (Nobel in Chemistry), Heinrich Streintz, Svante Arrhenius, Richard Hiecke; (sitting, from the left): Eduard Aulinger, Albert von Ettingshausen, Ludwig Boltzmann, Ignaz Klemenčič, Victor Hausmanninger. Source: Universität Graz. License: PD via Wikimedia Commons.
Second, despite his many accomplishments, including being credited with laying the foundations of a new field (physical chemistry), Arrhenius was first and foremost a mathematician. So he employed a lot of tedious mathematics (by hand!) together with some hefty guessing along with what was known at the time about Earth's infrared radiation, solar radiation, water vapor and CO2 absorption, temperature of the Moon, greenhouse effect, and some uncalibrated spectra taken by his predecessors to figure out if "the mean temperature of the ground [was] in any way influenced by the presence of the heat-absorbing gases in the atmosphere" (p. 237). Why was he interested in this? We find out only at page 267 after a lot of aforesaid dreary mathematics where he finally shares this with us:
"I certainly not have undertaken these tedious calculations if an extraordinary interest had not been connected with them. In the Physical Society of Stockholm there have been occasionally very lively discussions on the probable causes of the Ice Age".
So Arrhenius was interested to find out if the fluctuations of CO2 levels could have caused the Ice Ages. And yes, he thinks that could have happened. I don't know enough about climate science to tell you if this particular conclusion of his is correct today. But what he managed to accomplish though was to provide for the first time a way to mathematically calculate the amount of rise in temperature due the rise of CO2 levels. In other words, he found a direct relationship between the variations of CO2 and temperature.
Today, it turns out that his math was incorrect because he left out some other variables that influence the global temperature that were discovered and/or understood later (like the thickness of the atmosphere, the rate of ocean absorption of CO2 and others which I won't pretend I understand). Nevertheless, Arrhenius was the first to point out to the following relationship, which, by and large, is still relevant today:
"Thus if the quantity of carbonic acid increased in geometric progression, the augmentation of the temperature will increase nearly in arithmetic progression" (p. 267).
P.S. Technically, Joseph Fourier should be credited with the discovery of global warming by means of increasing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in 1824, but Arrhenius quantified it so I credited him. Feel fee to debate :).
REFERENCE: Arrhenius, S. (April 1896). XXXI. On the Influence of Carbonic Acid in the Air upon the Temperature of the Ground, The London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science (Fifth Series), 49 (251): 237-276. General Reference P.P.1433. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14786449608620846. FREE FULLTEXT PDF
By Neuronicus, 24 June 2017
Posted on June 24, 2017 December 8, 2017 by NeuronicusPosted in 1896, 2017, Atmospheric sciences, Firsts, Humans, Neuronicus images, YearTagged atmosphere, carbon dioxide, carbonic acid, climate change, CO2, Firsts, Fourier, global warming, greenhouse, Ice Age, Nobel, Svante Arrhenius, temperature.
The FIRSTS: the discovery of the telomerase (1985)
Telomerase at work. Credit: Fatma Uzbas. License: CC BY-S.A. 3.0
A telomere is a genetic sequence (TTAGGG for vertebrates) that is repeated at the end of the chromosomes many thousands of times and serves as a protective cap that keep the chromosome stable and protected from degradation. Every time a cell divides, the telomere length shortens. This shortening had been linked to aging or, in other words, the shorter the telomere, the shorter the lifespan. But in some cells, like the germ cells, stem cells, or malignant cells, there is an enzyme that adds the telomere sequence back on the chromosome after the cell has divided.
The telomerase has been discovered in 1984 by Carol W. Greider and Elizabeth Blackburn in a protozoan (i.e. a unicellular eukaryotic organism) commonly found in puddles and ponds called Tetrahymena. I wanted to give a synopsis of their experiments, but who better to explain the work then the authors themselves? Here is a video of Dr. Blackburn herself explaining step by step in 20 minutes the rationale and the findings of the experiments for which she and Carol W. Greider received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009. If 20 minutes of genetics just whet your appetite, perhaps you will want to watch the extended 3 hours lecture (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
Reference: Greider, C.W. & Blackburn, E.H. (December 1985). Identification of a specific telomere terminal transferase activity in Tetrahymena extracts. Cell. Vol. 43, Issue 2, Part 1, pg. 405-413. DOI: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90170-9. Article | FREE FULLTEXT PDF
By Neuronicus, 25 October 2015
Posted on October 25, 2015 August 10, 2016 by NeuronicusPosted in 1985, Firsts, GeneticsTagged 1985, aging, cancer, chromosome, Firsts, genetics, Nobel, telomerase, telomere, Tetrahymena.


text:
National Council on Family Relations
Jobs Center
NCFR Report
CFLE Network
Research and Policy Briefs
CFLE Credential
What Is Family Life Education?
For Academic Institutions
TCRM Workshop
Journal of Marriage and Family
Journal of Family Theory & Review
Degree Programs in Family Science
NCFR maintains a comprehensive list of accredited institutions in the U.S. and Canada. Find the institution(s) that offer the areas of study, degrees, and accreditation that fit you best.
If you have a question pertaining to the Certified Family Life Educator (CFLE) credential, please email Maddie Hansen, NCFR's certification coordinator.
For Degree Program Administrators:
Do you need to make a change to your degree program listing? Use this webform to submit your change.
Would you like to add your degree program to our guide? Email Dawn Cassidy.
For more precise search results when searching for an institution, try using a key term from the institution's name (e.g. Missouri when looking for the University of Missouri) or writing the entire name of the institution in quotation marks (e.g. "University of Missouri").
(-) sc
Facet Facet: State - Accredited Institution
(-) Undergraduate
Facet Facet: Program Options - Accredited Institute
Early Childhood - Undergraduate
Family Science/Studies - Undergraduate
Facet Facet: Areas of Study - Accredited Institution
Showing 1 - 1 of 1 Resource(s)
Search Degree Programs
Accredited Institute
The Human Relations department is composed of four majors; psychology, behavioral science, social work, and child and family studies (CFS). The CFS program was instituted in 2000 and is composed of three tracks: 1) Administration and Management which prepares students to work in an administrative or management position in an agency of business providing services to children and families (e.g. child care centers, elder day care, nursing home administration, etc.), 2) Child and Family Research which prepares students whose primary goal is child and family research, and 3) Child/Family Intervention which prepares students for working in a social/family agency or attending graduate school for counselor education, social work, applied sociology, or child and family studies.
The discipline of Family Science is vibrant and growing. Visit Family.Science to learn more.
Stay informed with the NCFR email newsletter
My NCFR
661 LaSalle Street, Suite 200
© Copyright 2019 NCFR


Fidelity to God and His Word by believing; practicing; propagating; contending for the faith in accordance with our fundamental Baptist heritage; and by adhering to the founding purpose, vision, and mission of the institution (I Thessalonians 5:21; II Timothy 1:13; Hebrews 10:23; Philippians. 2:16; Jude 3).
A biblically-based process that includes study, discipline, listening, observation, and involvement to equip students to serve with competence in their chosen vocation (II Timothy 2:15, Ephesians 4:12).
Integrity, moral excellence, and a good testimony; students and college personnel living consistently according to biblical principles in the sight of God and men (II Corinthians 4:2; 8:21).
Charity and kindness to all (Luke 6:35,36; I Corinthians 13:4; Ephesians 4:32); using communications that are open, honest, and encouraging. When confrontation is necessary, messages are guided by principles of care and edification (Ephesians 4:29).
Service to God, the local church, and others; students and college personnel ministering and leading as a principle of life (Matthew 4:10; Luke 22:26-29; John 12:26; Galatians 5:13; Hebrews 9:14; 12:28).
Unity within diversity governed by the parameters of biblical truth; individual talents, gifts, and viewpoints are welcomed (I Corinthians 1:10; 12:11-26; Ephesians 4:16).
Educational balance which focuses on the whole person; improving the mental, physical, spiritual, social, and aesthetic dimension of the individual (Luke 2:52; 10:27; Mark 12:30).
Family-friendly attitude; recognizing the importance, role, and sanctity of traditional family life to the well-being of its personnel and students (Ephesians 5:22-23).
The pursuit of excellence; maintaining a bias towards positive change involving growth and maturity. College personnel and individual departments are expected to make systematic improvements as a natural outgrowth of performance feedback and institutional research (Philippians 3:13,14).


Own a piece of American history with these Civil War Era 2 cent coin cufflinks set in a sterling silver. The US Mint first introduced this 2 cent piece over 150 years in 1864. However, the concept did not last and it was discontinued the following year in 1865. Gift boxed with certificate of authenticity included. Makes an excellent gift and conversation piece.


Our vision is to be the quality leader in everything we do. We are relentless in our focus on 100% customer satisfaction and brand equity to achieve the same.
Our mission is to deliver superior quality products and impeccable services to our customers through leadership, innovation, professionalism and integrity in our business.
Commitment to excellence: We pride ourselves on our commitment to offering high quality products and superior service to our customers.
Integrity, respect and responsibility: We are committed to doing what is right without exception.
High performance: We are dedicated to maximum levels of performance and productivity in all areas of our business.
We strive continually to improve: We continuously make quality assessment to improve our business and keep innovation in our business ideas.


I had a very difficult time finding replacement hinges for our custom cabinets. After emailing pictures of them to customer service, I was guided to the corrrect hinge, and I am very happy with the product! I will be ordering more of these hinges for future remodels.
Good website Easy purchase Fast shipping Just what I needed, thanks!
I ordered 25 hinges (pack of 2) 2 weeks ago. I only received 5. Then I was told some will come in. I only received 5 the other 20 won't come tiljune. I feel that's a long time to wait. I hope to receive them sooner.


text:
Prime minister to inaugurate Salt Satyagraha Memorial
The zero energy project has been designed by IIT Bombay which was announced by Dr Manmohan Singh in 2005
Geetanjali Minhas | January 30, 2019 | Delhi
#Manmohan Singh #Government of India #Ministry of Culture #Gujarat #Dandi #National Salt Satyagraha Memorial #Narendra Modi #Martyrs Day #Mahatma Gandhi Death Anniversary #Mahatma Gandhi
On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 71st death anniversary, prime minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the "National Salt Satyagraha Memorial" at Dandi, Gujarat on January 30. The memorial is a tribute to the 80 marchers who accompanied Mahatma Gandhi from Sabarmati to Dandi in 1930.
A project of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial (NSSM) was announced by then prime minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, in 2005 during the 75th anniversary of the Dandi Salt March movement.
IIT-Bombay was assigned the task of designing, coordinating and implementing the project under the Central Public Works Department's supervision. The design of the NSSM has art and technological aspects that include statues of 81 marchers, 24 narrative murals, main statue of Gandhiji, an artificial lake, solar trees and a salt-making activity for visitors. In keeping with the Gandhian ideal of sustainability, the memorial is powered by solar energy which is generated from 41 solar trees developed by IIT Bombay and installed at the site.
The 5-feet high bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi has been created by eminent sculptor Sadashiv Sathe and intends to project the forceful forward march of a great leader leading the people towards freedom from exploitation and injustice. The NSSM also has 24 narrative murals depicting events from the march from Sabarmati to Dandi. The satyagrahis covered a distance of 241 miles in 24 days and stopped for rest in the villages along the Dandi path.
The salt-making pans designed by IIT Bombay in collaboration with potter Abbas Glawani, at Kumbharwada, Dharavi will enable visitors to make a pinch of salt and take it along as a memory. This salt making activity celebrates the strategic brilliance of the Mahatma who used the powerful metaphor of salt to lead the nation towards independence. For visitors, an E-tour is available as an app on smartphones. IIT Bombay is working for supplying treated water to the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial complex and the villages near Dandi.
The Salt Law, imposed by the British in 1857, right at the beginning of their rule in India, was one of the most exploitative and backbreaking rules in the context of the Indian masses. This was something that Gandhiji realised as early as in 1891 when he was a law student in London. In some of his writings for the Vegetarian Society, he narrates the poverty of Indian people and their food habits. He mentions that a large section of the people of India could not afford even two meals a day. Even the single meal they had was not accompanied with any vegetable or cereals. The Salt Law went on till salt was the only accompaniment and tastemaker, 'which was heavily taxed'. This engagement with the Salt Law went on 1930, where before the salt satyagraha was to commence, Mahatma Gandhi wrote several letters to the viceroy conveying his intent to start the movement and his willingness to give it up if the government was willing to withdraw. When all the appeals and requests failed, Gandhiji, with 80 hand-picked Satyagrahis started the historic 241-mile journey from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi and with a simple gesture defied the mightiest kingdom; a simple act that shook the British empire.
#Manmohan Singh
#Government of India
#Ministry of Culture
#Gujarat
#Dandi
#National Salt Satyagraha Memorial
#Narendra Modi
#Martyrs Day
#Mahatma Gandhi Death Anniversary
#Mahatma Gandhi
India's glitch-free vaccination gathers pace
The nationwide vaccination campaign launched Saturday, the largest such exercise in the world, has started setting new benchmarks, with vaccines administered to 2,24,301 beneficiaries in the first two days. "India has vaccinated the highest number of persons on Day1 under its COVID19 v
Maharashtra to spend Rs 2,500 crore to augment, develop power infrastructure
The Maharashtra government has announced a spending of Rs 2,500 crore annually to develop infrastructure of state-owned distribution company Mahavitaran (MSEDCL). Out of the total amount, Rs 1,500 crore will be spent on energisation of conventional agriculture pumps and Rs 1,000 crore
Launched: Largest vaccination drive in history
India on Saturday began the massive vaccination drive against Covid-19, as prime minister Narendra Modi paid tributes the 'corona warriors'. "Such a vaccination drive at such a massive scale was never conducted in history. There are over 100 countries having less than 3 cro
"TV not in business of news; it is in the business of polarisation"
Television news these days has a loose relationship with truth, says senior journalist, columnist and author Vir Sanghvi, adding that it is not telling the truth and polarising opinions. In a live webcast with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now, during the Visionary Talk series held by
How the colonial rulers combated "this insidious and growing danger" of dust and smoke
Dust and Smoke: Air Pollution and Colonial Urbanism: India, c. 1860-1940 By Awadhendra Sharan Orient BlackSwan, xxiv+320 pages, Rs 795 Air pollu
Unlocking the value of renewable energy assets through InVITs in India
India has been witnessing a sluggish demand growth for power amidst COVID-19. It has affected both thermal as well as renewable energy (RE) sector. While thermal sector (coal) plant load factor (PLF) is coming down continuously amidst no new generation building up, renewable energy held its ground through


This page lists microfilmed city directories available at National Archives Building, 700 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20408-0001, and at Regional Facilities in major cities around the country.This pool hall in Columbia offers a variety of entertainment including, shuffleboard, pinball, and pool, of course.
Find a state-of-the-art fitness center, indoor pool, whirlpool and plenty of good food and drink on-site at Crescent Kitchen.Our community of downtown Minneapolis apartments boasts an expansive list of impressive amenities, including a 24-hour fitness center and private yoga studio, outdoor sundeck and dining area, billiards room with a pool table and entertainment lounge, tech bar, business center, and enclosed parking garage with guest parking.
Club Billiard Parlor The 476 114Th Ave Nw Minneapolis 612-757-7150.
Enjoy amenities such as our Signature Bar, indoor pool and hot tub, and meeting facilities.
Visit Twin Cities is here to guide you to everything that Minneapolis, St.
Local Billiards in Minneapolis,MN with maps, local business reviews, directions and more. Come and enjoy some friendly games...My server Suzy, really was exceptional and helped make the time exceptional.
We love to provide quality service for your pool table moving, reclothing, rerubbering, set up or tear down, and refinishing.
Search or browse our list of Billiard Parlors companies in Minneapolis, Minnesota by category.
At Ozone Billiards, we know what players look for in billiard supplies because we are players, too.Our house instructor has years of professional playing and teaching experience in billiards.
Aug 27, 2018 to Dec 24, 2018: Each Mon 3pm to 8pm: Each Tue 3pm to 8pm: Each Wed 3pm to 8pm: Each Thu 3pm to 8pm: Each Fri 3pm to 8pm.
The Northeast institution, said to be the oldest pool hall in Minneapolis, fits the bill on all but two.


Christine Pompilio Realtor 1120 Townpark Ave Ste 1042 Lake Mary, FL 32746-7602 Office Phone: (407) 333-8088 Cell Phone: (407) 923-7671 Real estate agents affiliated with Coldwell Banker are independent contractor sales associates and are not employees of the company.
NAI Realvest is the Orlando-area representative of NAI Global, an international organization of real estate professionals with connections across the world.
Affordable Display Products, Inc. is a leading manufacturer and distributor of marketing displays and point of purchase displays and has been family owned and operated since 2004.
Page 2 | Find 107 homes for sale with swimming pool in Altamonte Springs, FL. Right now homes with swimming pool spend 61 days on the market, visit realtor.com®.


text:
Home Archive Top 10 Most Haunted Places in Southern Indiana
Top 10 Most Haunted Places in Southern Indiana
By Bedford at English Wikipedia - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18059671
Southern Indiana has a distinct geography from the rest of the Hoosier State, thanks to its proximity to the Ohio River. Here, the terrain becomes hilly and wooded. Tales of hearty pioneers and river barons date back to the early 1800s. At Mysterious Heartland, we have found many interesting ghost stories in this region, from the "Blue Lady" of Story Inn to the "Grey Lady" of Willard Library. Which place will prove to be the most haunted of them all?
10. Springdale Cemetery
Madison, Indiana
Scenic Madison is located along the Ohio River in southeastern Indiana. Established in 1839, Springdale Cemetery is the city's earliest still-active cemetery. It is located at the end of West 5th Street and runs along Crooked Creek. It features terraced plots and historic, stone lined drainage ditches. When the cemetery opened, bodies were disinterred from Old Third Street Cemetery located on the corner of Third and Vine Streets, which is now John Paul Park, and moved to Springdale. One of the most famous monuments in the cemetery is a white, Italian marble statue of a woman dressed in a semi-translucent shawl lifting her arms to the sky. Sculpted by George Grey Bernard for his parents, he named the statue "Let There be Light." According to legend, the statue's eyes bleed on Eastern morning. More incredibly, some local residents believe that the statue will step down off its pedestal and chase anyone who kisses its feet.
9. Witch's Castle
Utica, Indiana
Also known as Mistletoe Falls, legend and real-life horror cross paths at the ruins of this abandoned stone house in the woods off Upper River Road. According to legend, a coven of witches lived here in the founding years of Utica. It is unknown how many witches resided within, but numbers range from three to as many as nine. Terrified, the townspeople trapped the witches inside and burned them to death. Today, all that remains are the stone walls, cellars, and staircases overgrown with underbrush. Visitors have reportedly heard and seen the ghost of a raven-haired adolescent girl wearing a white dress. "Witch's Castle" has become a hangout for local teens and it is rumored that black rituals still take place there. In January 1992, these ruins were one of the places where four teenage girls tortured 12-year-old Shanda Sharer before ultimately stabbing and burning her to death.
8. Scott County Almshouse
Scottsburg, Indiana
Currently occupied by the Scott County Genealogical Society, the former Scott County Almshouse is located along South Main Street, north of Lake Road, at the periphery of the small town of Scottsburg, Indiana. This three story brick building served as the almshouse on the county poor farm from 1890 to 1960. Like other almshouses throughout the Midwest, it was home to the indigent and elderly with no family to care for them. "Mary" was typical of these county farm inmates. She lived out her life there, disturbing her roommates with constant babbling. To this day, visitors, tenants, and employees who have occupied the building report hearing phantom footsteps, doors opening and closing, and an elderly woman's voice babbling inarticulately. One several occasions, a bell rang as though someone came in the door, but no one would be there.
7. The One-Hundred Steps Cemetery
Brazil, Indiana
The One-Hundred Steps Cemetery is located between Terre Haute and Brazil, Indiana off N. County Road 675 W, just south of Route 40. Difficult to find because it is unmarked on many maps, this rural cemetery is home to an unusual legend. The cemetery itself holds graves dating back to the 1860s, but most visitors come to see a long set of concrete stairs. They are broken and sunken into the grass in many places, but it is said that secrets will be revealed if you make it to the top. According to legend, anyone who counts every step and reaches the top at midnight will be approached by the ghost of an undertaker. This grim figure will show you a vision of your death. If you fail to count the same number of steps on your way down, the vision will come true. If you walk up the side of the hill rather than the steps, a phantom hand will push you to the ground.
6. Schenck Mansion Bed & Breakfast
Vevay, Indiana
The beautiful Schenck Mansion sits at 206 West Turnpike Street in Vevay, a quaint town of 1,683 along the Ohio River in southeastern Indiana. A riverboat captain named Benjamin Franklin Schenck built this Second Empire-style mansion in 1874. It has four porches, seven balconies, and eight chimneys. In the middle of the 20th Century, the mansion was a clubhouse for the Switzerland County Saddle Club. Jerry & Lisa Fisher purchased it in 1998 and opened the bed and breakfast two years later after extensive renovations. According to Lisa Fisher, guests often complain about a rude "Amish housekeeper" who passes them on the stairs without acknowledgement. The Fishers, however, do not employ a maid. Others report hearing voices, footsteps, and seeing a lady dressed in white Victorian attire on the second floor. The Fishers acknowledge these spirits, but say they are harmless.
5. Laughery Creek Road
Dearborn County, Indiana
A quiet farmhouse used to sit along this road dividing Delaware and Ohio counties. Its physical remains are long gone, but the psychic scars from a gruesome crime cannot be disbursed as easily. In May 1941, a man who had twice married into the Agrue family confronted his in-laws with a shotgun. He brutally gunned down Johnson Agrue, his wife, and their two sons. Then he hid the shotgun in a hollow tree, but later confessed to the crime. Nearly 30 years later, in 1970, the farmhouse mysteriously burned to the ground. Since then, locals have whispered that Laughery Creek Road is haunted by the Agrue family, or perhaps, their killer. Even the bravest souls avoid driving down this road at night, just in case.
4. The Story Inn
Brown County, Indiana
"One inconvenient location since 1851" is not only this country inn's tagline, it is also an apt description. To get to the inn, visitors must make a 20 mile trek into the wilderness down State Road 135 from Nashville, Indiana. The Story Inn and its cottages is all that remains of a tiny mining town named Story, which went defunct in the early 1900s. The Inn was restored in the 1960s and now sits at the edge of Brown County State Park. For decades, owners of the Inn kept logs in each room so that guests could document their ghostly encounters. One of the most well-known ghosts haunting the Story Inn is known as the "Blue Lady." She is believed to have been a wife of Dr. George Story and can be summoned by turning on a blue light in one of the rooms above the restaurant. Literally hundreds of encounters have been recorded, from simply sensing her presence to witnessing and interacting with the apparition. The owner is a skeptic, but continues the tradition of inviting guests to share their stories.
3. Baldwin Cemetery
Vernon, Indiana
Tiny Baldwin Cemetery sits in the woods at the end of a drive off South County Road 25 W (Tunnel Mill Road), south of Vernon, Indiana. It is flanked on two sides by an exaggerated meander in the Muscatatuck River. For generations, local residents have searched for the grave of a woman named Mary Smith or Mary Crist, located somewhere in Baldwin Cemetery. The legend is so popular that every year the Jennings County Historical Society and Jennings County High School Drama Club include a vignette about Mary during their annual ghost walk. There are many stories about Mary, including one account claiming she was a witch who was hanged from the branches of a large tree in the cemetery and then buried beneath it. In 2003, a woman claimed to use a dowsing rod to locate Mary's grave beneath a large tree. According to the Jennings County Historical Society, Mary and her sister Gladys lived alone on a farm in the 1830s. One night, an unidentified assailant raped and murdered Mary and escaped into the darkness. Months after her burial, a drunken man was staggering through the cemetery when he tripped and fell over her grave. The ghost of Mary appeared wearing a bloody nightgown, and the man fled in terror. Many also believe that if you step on Mary's grave, blood will gush from the ground.
2. Willard Library
Willard Library's "Grey Lady" is the most famous ghost in Indiana. One of the oldest libraries in the Hoosier State, its imposing Victorian Gothic architecture certainly lends itself to ghost stories. This story, however, appears quite real. The Grey Lady was first spotted in 1937 by a janitor in the basement. Since then, hundreds of visitors claim to have seen her. She most often manifests as a misty, gray figure. Some have smelled her perfume or felt a phantom touch. She is believed to be the ghost of Louise Carpenter, daughter of the library's founder, Willard Carpenter. The Willard Library's staff have put up live feed cameras in three rooms so the public could monitor them for anomalous activity. Since then, the cameras have captured dozens of photos of a mysterious, amorphous figure.
1. Culberton Mansion
Culberton Mansion State Historic Site is located at 914 East Main Street in New Albany, Indiana, across the Ohio River from Louisville. William S. Culbertson built this three-story French Second Empire-style mansion in 1869. It was built on the site of a former Civil War hospital, which many believe contributed to its reputation as a haunted house. The State of Indiana purchased the Culberton Mansion in 1976, and since then staff have reportedly encountered unusual activity throughout the mansion. It mostly manifests after hours in the form of phantom footsteps, doors slamming, strange whispering, flickering lights, and moving furniture. One curator was shoved by unseen hands. Though most phenomenon has been non-visual, a few apparitions have been seen.
15 Surreal Images Of Abandoned Places Around The World
Creep Out In Lawang Sewu, The House Of Thousand Doors


Owen Hodges, age 14, and Peter Hodges, age 44, talk about Peter as a child.
I had a conversation with my 91-year-Old "adopted" mother who took care of me when I was in medical school.
Grove volunteers Scott and Bill discuss the WWII and TN Maneuvers Museum. Bill Schorndorf has been volunteering here for nearly three years, and we are lucky to have him!
In the following interview, Jennifer Mendez, interview Collin Matlock on his first date experience; he then proceeds to tell me his first date with his girlfriend.
In the following interview, I Jennifer Mendez, record Jason Morrell telling the story of his very first date.


WASHINGTON (CNS) — The Supreme Court's June 27 decision to strike down restrictions on Texas abortion clinics is having ripple effects on legislation across the country..
The impact of the ruling — which said Texas abortion clinics do not have to comply with standards of ambulatory surgical centers and their doctors are not required to have admitting privileges at local hospitals — was felt almost immediately.
That same day, Alabama's Attorney General Luther Strange said his office would drop its appeal of a federal district court judge's 2014 ruling that the state's admitting-privileges law, similar to the Texas law, unconstitutional.
"While I disagree with the high court's decision, there is no good faith argument that Alabama's law remains constitutional in light of the Supreme Court ruling," Strange said in a statement.
And the next day, the Supreme Court refused to review court rulings that blocked admitting-privileges requirements at abortion facilities in Mississippi and Wisconsin.
Supporters for the Supreme Court's decision in Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt — the court's first ruling on abortion in several years — predicted a swift wave of changes striking down similar restrictions on abortion clinics across the country. Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, described the court's ruling as the first step in opening more access to abortion.
Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life, doesn't see it that way.
"The abortion industry wants to set up this mirage that no laws are going to stand and they will try to intimidate or scare pro-life legislators," she said in a June 30 phone interview from New Mexico.
Tobias thinks the pro-life movement will be more invigorated in their fight after the court's decision.
"Pro-lifers are steadfast and determined," she said, noting that they are accustomed to taking a few steps forward and then some backward, but they will continue to vote for those who promote pro-life legislation.
"The court decision was a step backward but it does not change what we're doing," she added. She also said pro-life advocates have other issues they are emphasizing such as fetal health legislation that bans abortions at 20 weeks or later based on fetal pain.
Tobias said it is worth noting that one part of the Texas law, H.B. 2, that was not challenged was its prohibition on abortions after 20 weeks. Similar legislation has passed in 14 states and she believes other states will follow suit.
One such bill recently passed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
In the meantime, state Catholic conferences are taking a close look at laws on abortion clinics in their states. Ingrid Delgado, associate for respect life and social concerns with the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the Florida law for abortion clinics is similar to the Texas law that was struck down but it also has key differences.
In Florida, for example, medical directors at state abortion facilities have been required to have either admitting privileges at hospitals or transfer agreements, meaning patients could be treated at local hospitals, which was not part of the Texas legislation.
These basic requirements "should survive scrutiny," said Delgado, meaning Florida's law shouldn't be completely struck down.
Five states currently require providers of either medication-induced abortion or surgical abortion to have admitting privileges at a local hospital and another 10 require the provider to have either admitting privileges or another type of relationship with a hospital.
Florida — like Alabama, Idaho, Indiana and South Dakota — also has legislation taking effect July 1 that limits what can be done with the remains of aborted fetuses. The state also joins Mississippi and Missouri in adopting laws to stop tax dollars from going to Planned Parenthood.
An abortion restriction law set to take effect July 1 in Indiana was blocked by a federal judge June 30 saying the state does not have the authority to limit a woman's reasons for ending a pregnancy. The law would have banned abortions based on genetic abnormalities such as Down syndrome or because of race, gender or ancestry of the fetus.
North Dakota is the only other state with such a law in place.
The decision against the Indiana law "forbids extending the equal protection of the law to disabled unborn children facing the most lethal form of discrimination," said Carter Snead, a law professor and director of the Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame.
In a June 28 opinion piece for CNN on the court's Texas decision, Snead said it significantly took away states' decision-making authority.