text:
Adios Meh-he-co

Do we have to go? Tell me we don’t!

After the amazing food spread at Cirque, we passed up the buffets at the resort for some sit down dinners. First was the Brazilian like Fogo. Then my fav.

Hibachi! Who’s excited? This girl!

And these girls! They are pro-shrimp eaters!

Our waiter kept us entertained while the food cooked. His specialty, shots and napkins.

CS’s turn!

With our late reservation, we missed most of the night’s show, The Oscars. To my delight, the Madagascar mascots were still around! Then, they were drawn to the side where we were sitting. I like to think they *know* it’s me.

Next thing I know, they are all over dancing by us. I could not, not join in.

I don’t remember the pink tu-tu in the movie, but I love a character! As they start to retreat to the back, the zebra is kinda hanging out. I asked CS, who was closer to it, to ask the zebra if I could put his head on. This resort is sooo accommodating!

He even posed with me.

Oh man. Definitely a top 5 moment of the trip. After the show, we made our way to the discotheque for our last night of dancing. Dancing like idiots.

These things may or may not have happened at the disco:
* Skip around the dance floor
* Join the conga line
* Keep alcohol away from that guy
Bye Bye Iberostar. You were amazing and we will be back. Swear.

To amuse myself on the way home, I tried some origami courtesy of the Southwest magazine. Mom tried by throwing a crumpled dollar at me.

Mexico has different marriage laws. No clue how I talked CS into this one!

Love these people!

Next up: Video footage

In all the research I did prior to this trip, nothing mentioned that one of the greatest shows on Earth was around the corner from our resort: Cirque Du Soleil @ Vindanta Riviera Maya.

We were in the shuttle headed to the resort on day 1 when we passed a Cirque billboard. I questioned the driver to see what the deal was. The show opened in November of last year in this venue that was built just for the show.

There was no question. We were going. I’ve seen 2 of these in Vegas, so when you know the place was built for it, it was going to be magnificent. Since Mom didn’t go on the excursions with us, I made sure she was included to get out and see something new!

You walked through a lounge and bar to get to the main stage. Every corner was decorated to the nines.

When I ordered the tickets, I learned they offered a dinner experience before the show. I was going with 2 foodies in Mom and CS. I knew we had to go for that! We were serenaded by a wonderful reggae troupe while we devoured the food.

They claimed it would be a culinary experience like no other. I was ready for the adventure. Figured there wouldn’t be any chicken and pasta in store for us. Let’s try some stuff!

Mom loved the bread shaped like trees. She wouldn’t eat hers she loved it so much.

Our fixed menu was waiting at the table made of rice paper. Feed this woman already!

Our appetizer plate came with mango caviar, smoked fish, blue crab salad, goat cheese and cured ham. The flavors were incredible! Then they poured some “magic” in the pot at the center of the plate and smoke came out.

My little friend!

I didn’t eat all of it, but I did try each thing. I was pretty proud of myself! Before the main course, they brought out this spoon with “Dragon breath”. The server said you just take the whole spoonful at once. Ok, bottoms up!

It was freeze-dried fruit with a dollop of frozen whip cream that just melted in our mouth. It was sweet and delightful. The main course presentation…

I choose the salmon over the short rib.  It came with a fresh pineapple and fruit salad, mixed veggies, and an adorable butterfly crisp.

Are we done eating yet? Nope. Dessert time. In a book.

And 4 of them!

Each person got a book of tarts and cakes and creams. It was over the top! With our bellies full, we sat back and watched the magnificent show. No cameras are allowed so you can check out some videos online. It lived up to all my expectations. The set became alive with different pieces moving around to tell the story.

A grandpa had a magic story book that would come to life when his granddaughter Joya was around. So the acts revolved around stories from the book. A pirate ship came out of one part of the set! We were treated to hand balancers, trapeze artists, hoop dancing, partner acrobatics, and more. The finale was 4 guys doing a trampoline jumping act off of this 2 story platform. It was straight from AGT, which I love!

An experience worth every penny. Remember how I said Mom loved the bread? Mom made me save it so she could show the nieces back at the resort. The things we do for our loved ones.

Up Next, Part 4: Japanese in Mexico

Xcursion Time

Being the newbies on this trip, when B&K said they had a few excursions in mind, we were on board! Gave Nana some much needed rest time too. Welcome to the beautiful Xcaret, (zha-kaa-rhet).

We traveled 30 minutes south of the resort to visit an adventure-park-meets-a-zoo. This girl got right to the action. She was ready to hold a parrot! Cool thing was you scan your wrist band at a bunch of picture stops, then you can view them all at the end of your trip.

Our first adventure together was the cave passage. You would float and flipper your way through an open air and underground cave system. The water was a bit chilly but felt so good on my sunburned Midwest skin. First time in the sun for the season, should probably not have been so close to the equator. The nieces took some coaxing getting in. “IT’S COLD”. Only because our skin was on fire!

At your own pace, you made your way through beautiful open air parts, waterfalls and enclosed caves.

We started at the south west end of the park and floated our way to the north east. Perfect spot for us to start our foot travel to see the sites. But then they had these amazing hammock camps beckoning you to lay in them.

Ok. I’ll rest. Notice my towel. You could have fried an egg on my skin.

Photo opt @ the big hammock!

Mexico 2015

One of the really cool attractions was the sea turtle exhibits. Of course I would love that! They had separate pools with increasing sizes of turtles. From babies…

… to the size of a dinner table. It did take me back *cough* 22 years ago when I got to swim with a wild sea turtle in the Caribbean. If I could have only smuggled him back in!

One of the interactive exhibits at the aquarium is to hold sea urchins. Of course! Syd took some persuading.

Then it was really cool to do!

After lunch, we all relaxed near the lagoon and you could swim up to the dolphin enclosures.

It was at this point that my skin was boiling. The girls had all got UV reflecting shirts that morning. It was time for me to follow suit. Instantly I felt 20 degrees cooler with the thing on. I believe it saved me from sun poisoning but it couldn’t save me from these natives.

Devils and dolls were in every gift shop too. This place also had ruins to climb.

Burial grounds to traverse.

And an amazing aviary full of parrots that you could reach out and touch, but we didn’t try.

Even a turkey vulture just hanging out.

At the end of the day, we took the aerial tour to see all the ground we covered. 5+ miles around this place.

2 days later, we traveled 60 minutes south to Xel-Ha, (Zell-ha). Holy goodness sea of turquoise!

This excursion started with another lazy river type event. This time we got innertubes, then you could dismount and partake in all kinds of activities along the way. Snorkel, cliff jump, rope course, zip line. It was awesome! Let’s get started!

Grab a toe Syd! Awesome floating through mangroves.

We did some cliff jumping. Video forthcoming. Then stopped at the ropes and zip line. Life in the water!

I tested the zip line adventure. Short and fun with a water landing.

We made our way to the back bay to start our real snorkel adventure.

Mexico 2015

Enough people were there to join us but it never felt crowded.

Mexico 2015

So clear from above the water,

Mexico 2015

and below. Fish as big as dinner plates.

Our first snorkel together!

Mexico 2015

All the Fuller’s were in on the action. Never seen a 5 year old mermaid before. Her name is Kayla.

Mexico 2015

Highlight of my trip was seeing a sting ray while snorkeling. We’d seen a trainer working with it in the open bay earlier in the day. I was hoping we’d be able to see him in action. Can you spot him below?

I hovered for a few minutes just in awe. He clearly wasn’t in the mood to be seen in public. Another memory from my first adventure in Stingray City. Thanks Xel-ha for the memories! We will certainly be back!

Mexico 2015

Up Next, Part 3: Take Nana out for date night

Take Me Away

The time finally arrived. I bought myself a passport for my 30th birthday. Figured if some rich hot thing came my way to swoop me off to some foreign land, I should be prepared. Fast forward 7 years, and I have my first stamp! Hola Mexico! You know they take their cerveza seriously when it’s painted on the airport observation tower.

They have employed a game show-esque event to enter the country. Press a button. If it’s green, you get to go through. If it’s red, you have to have your bag checked. Seemed very very random. CS was lucky to win the red game.

I hired a shuttle service to take us to the resort. I wasn’t risking being the next story on Criminal Minds. Eduardo was ready for us. This was the last time my hair would be straight for 9 days.

The Indiana clan met up with the Colorado clan on the beach a few hours later! Let Spring Break begin!

The resort we stayed at had a nightly performance for kids and adults. Not quite a mascot, but he’ll do for our first night. El Diablo. Each night they would have staff dress up as the characters that would be preforming and walk the lobby.

This little cookie started falling asleep during the show the first night. Not on Spring Break! Let’s dance!

We woke to find packs of these guys wandering the grounds. They were gangs of 20 or more. Meet the Coati, pronounced quaw-tee.

Then you’d find these guys just chilling in the middle of the walkways. I finally got used to seeing them by the end of the week. For some odd reason they would startle me just being out in nature. Must have been because I was used to seeing them run my brother’s childhood bedroom like their own.

I did a quick lap around the main part of our resort. Less than 2 miles but it was hot at 9am.

I promptly went back to bed using my favorite sign of the trip.

I was refreshed for some pool time!

Mexico 2015

You could find Nana like this most days!

Mexico 2015

Besides tanning at the pool, the resort offered a shopping plaza. They even had “trolleys”, a.k.a. golf carts, that would pick you up and take you wherever you wanted on the resort. We were ready to shop!

The breeze at the beach was so refreshing!  We had plenty of things to occupy our time. Tanning.

Reading. Well I tried to read and it rained on us for 10 minutes (while the sun was still shining). I took that as a sign I was to do nothing work related on this trip and promptly put the book away.

What else can you do at the beach? Bury your niece.

Play in the water and wave jump.

Shop. Shop?! Yep, shop at the beach. Vendors up and down with hats, blankets, jewelry, etc. Anything you wanted. I think Mom stopped 5 different silver dealers over our trip.

My nieces always took a front row seat to the nightly show. This usually got them involved. Reagan got to go on stage during the magic show night.

A few nights they had games/questions reminiscent of the Newlywed game. This poor guy had a fallic cone on his head and his wife had to get him to cross the stage using verbal clues. Once he got close to her there was a circle he had to put the cone through. All the while, he is blind folded.  At the end of the show, they replayed the women’s instructions as if they were used their first night “together”.  Use your imagination. It was funny.

Another game was about balloon popping using only your bodies. That’s not what kept my attention. It was the balloons on the guy below.

He was no cupid, but he would do!

Except for 1 meal, which I will tell about later, the food was really fresh. We ate mostly at the buffets which offered Champagne. Why not?! If I have to deal with this monster for another week, I better!

Up next, Part 2: Adventures off the resort


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
Friday, April 24, 2009

Swedish Indie Rock & Electronic Jambands

A couple of great concerts in Northern Kentucky tonight...

In Newport...

Peter, Bjorn & John are playing the Southgate House tonight, along with openers, Chairlift.

Peter Moren, Bjorn Yttling and John Eriksson formed the band nearly ten years ago in Stockholm, with influences ranging from '60s baroque pop to new wave. But it wasn't until just a few years ago, that they began to garner worldwide critical acclaim, thanks to the whistling sounds of their single, "Young Folks."

Chairlift is an electronic, indie-pop band, that formed in Boulder, Colorado just a few years ago, where they set out to make background music for haunted houses. Soon after, they relocated to Brooklyn, where they continued to develop their hypnotic sound, while playing shows with bands like MGMT and Yeasayer.

The show kicks off at 9:30, while tickets are $25 at the door.

Also at the Southgate House tonight, is a free show in the lounge with The Seedy Seeds, The Toy Band and Love in October. They start at 9pm, and once again, it's free.

In Covington...

Summer festival favs, The Disco Biscuits, are also in town, playing the Madison Theater tonight.

Formed in Philly in '95, the band known to their fans simply as Bisco, they play long, extended jams, often playing songs backwards. Call them an electronic jamband, say they're trance-fusion, call it livetronica or even prog rock, say what you will. Bisco are at their best in the live setting, where they like to shake things up, all the while getting you to shake your ass to their delicious grooves.

The show is $18 and starts at 8:30.

No comments:

warcinfo:
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-149-109-157.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2018-05
operator: Common Crawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web for January 2018
publisher: Common Crawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf


WARC-Truncated: length

text:
Matt Tommey’s New Book: Every Basket Begins with a Walk in the Woods

Our hearty congratulations to NBO member Matt Tommey on the publication of his new book! “I’m excited to announce the publication of my 4th book “Every Basket Begins with a Walk in the Woods: Sculptural Works by MattTommey”…. Read More

Matt Tommey in Rapid River Magazine

Matt Tommey - Nested in Laurel

When asked to describe his work, Matt responded, “I describe my work as nature inspired sculpture that uses basketry and a variety of unique surface and assemblage techniques as my language of expression. I’m not sure where that… Read More

Press Mention : 2015 NICHE Award Finalists

Sponsored by NICHE magazine, the NICHE Awards program began in 1989 to celebrate excellence and innovation in American and Canadian fine craft. Artists are recognized in both professional and student divisions.

2015 Niche Award Finalists

Three Professional level members of National Basketry Organization have received notice of their acceptance of Finalist status in the Basketry Category of the 2015 NICHE Awards competition. Congratulations and best of luck to all as the judging continues to Dawna Ellis of Poulsbo, WA, Dorothy McGuinness of Everett, Wa and Matt Tommey of Fairview, NC.

All Things Considered VII

The exhibition coincided with the NBO conference Tradition and Innovation, October 8-13, 2013. A second venue for the exhibition was held at Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA, November 23, 2013-February 23, 2014. The show featured benchmarks in… Read More


text:
Backdoor Protectionism

Even though free trade is protected by a number of international organizations, there are still lots of sneaky ways for governments to impose protectionism by stealth.

The first quarter of this year has been a grim one for proponents of freer trade. While the G-20 will undoubtedly call for a successful conclusion of the Doha Round this week in London, no one expects it to happen. Last November the G-20 pledged not to engage in any protectionist policies, but as the World Bank pointed out last month, this was honored only in the breach. The Bank concluded that seventeen of the twenty countries had implemented a combined forty-seven measures to restrict trade at the expense of other countries. With the recession, global trade looks set to shrink for the first time since 1982. The WTO recently predicted a 9 percent reduction in cross-border trade for this calendar year.

Despite these depressing figures, most analysts do not believe that the global economy will see a reprise of the protectionist heydays of Smoot-Hawley. The Cato Institute's Dan Ikenson argued this month that, "Although some governments will dabble in some degree of protectionism, the combination of a sturdy rules-based system of trade and the economic self interest in being open to participation in the global economy will limit the risk of a protectionist pandemic." He has a point. After all, we live in a world of the World Trade Organization, the European Union and NAFTA. Even if there is some protectionist backsliding, no one is going to withdraw from the WTO. Absent that, what's the worst that could happen?

For the record, I believe this sentiment is correct-for now. With each passing month of contracting economies shedding large numbers of jobs, however, politicians will feel increasing pressure to use every tool in their arsenal to protect existing workers. It is an unfortunate rule in politics that industries vulnerable to imports are usually better organized than consumers.

This leads to an interesting thought experiment-could the major trading states enact high protectionist barriers while still complying with their WTO obligations? Unfortunately, this scenario is not too difficult to paint. Consider the following steps:


text:
The Rebirth of Realism and the Lessons of History: The British Example (1)(1)

Realists look to history and the structural nature of the world as their blueprint for conducting foreign policy.

Realists look to history and the structural nature of the world as their blueprint for conducting foreign policy. In the nature of the world they found themselves in, post-Waterloo Great Britain eerily mirrors the conditions facing the United States at the dawn of the twenty-first century. As these circumstances reflect the present American situation, a closer understanding of the methods of the time ought to lead to a template for present American action.

First, the United States of today and post-1815 Great Britain are in a strikingly similar historical situation. As the dust settled on the field of Waterloo in June 1815, Great Britain found itself, much like the United States after the Cold War, the preeminent power on the globe. Post-Waterloo Great Britain stood as the victor in a series of wars and as primus inter parus at the dawn of a new era; such a historical reality explains why it was a status quo power, wedded to the perpetuation of the post-Napoleonic international system. As such, British geopolitical strategy remained generically the same as all ordering powers since the dawn of civilization- to prevent the emergence of a global rival.

Second, the world the British found themselves in was uni-multipolar in structure, much like our own. In terms of military, economic, political, cultural, and diplomatic power, the British were first among equals but far from being the sole significant power. This structural reality required that the settlement of critical international issues required action by Great Britain, but generally with the aid of some combination of other major powers. For instance, when fighting alone against the Boers (1899-1902) the British found an adversary who threatened to erode domestic British imperial sentiment. But in a coalition with France and Austria-Hungary during the Crimean War (1854-1856), Britain easily defeated Tsarist Russia.

Coalitions of the willing, diplomatic combinations designed to secure a specific purpose, proved to be the diplomatic tool of choice. Hence, the British modus operandi was often a hybrid: to behave multilaterally where possible, and unilaterally where necessary. Harvey Sicherman has described Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister from 1874 to 1880 as knowing "how to create an international coalition around a common objective, and how not to lose his way in the warmth of its company." (2) Current U.S. strategy mirrors the British approach. Secretary Rumsfeld recently stated, "The mission determines the coalition, the coalition does not determine the mission."

Third, Great Britain and the United States' common geopolitical position has defined the emerging threats of their respective eras and identified the best way to defend against such a challenge. Both Great Britain and the United States are "islands" lying off of the main Eurasian continental mass, capable of offshore intervention. The threat of a rising hegemon that could dominate Europe formed the basis of British foreign policy, evidenced by British military opposition to the Spanish Armada, the Sun King of France, Napoleon's legions, Wilhelmine Germany, Nazi Germany and the USSR. Great Britain's outsider status rendered balancing the most effective diplomatic tool for arresting the appearance of a European hegemon. Thus, Great Britain always politically supported the secondary power or grouping of powers, hoping to halt the dominance of a rival with the potential to unite Europe against the island power. For example, Great Britain led a coalition of Russia, Austria-Hungary and Prussia against the mighty Napoleon, then advocated generous peace terms to a defeated France in an effort to balance against Alexander II's powerful Russia, before eventually joining with France and Austria-Hungary to defeat Russia in the Crimean War.

Given the British geostrategic position, British military domination was founded primarily on the strength of the Royal Navy, which from 1860-1910 was as strong as the next three or four naval powers combined. This dominance was based on a particular military advantage-speed of reaction time in a crisis. Great Britain could bring more force to bear, more quickly and over more of the world, than any other great power of its time. For while Russia, China and France possessed vast land forces, only Britain had the ability to quickly transfer effective fighting forces anywhere, making it the world's only genuine global power in the nineteenth century. Given this overwhelming advantage, the statesmen of London remained confident that any challenge to their global predominance could be seen off long after it had presented itself, thus rendering a hyperactive foreign policy unnecessary.

Such a strategy was enormously economical. London had watched through the centuries as Spain, France, Austria and the Netherlands exhausted themselves in an endless series of continental wars. Great Britain, by contrast, had the luxury of only using military force in Europe when the international system itself was threatened. Ironically, Great Britain's great strategic mistake, beyond fighting an endless series of minor colonial wars that sapped its strength, came in recognizing far too late that it was a rising Germany, and not traditional colonial rivals France and Russia, that presented a hegemonic challenge to Europe in the latter part of the nineteenth century.

Today, in terms of geopolitics, America remains committed to preventing the rise of a hegemon although the definition of such a danger has expanded. As Henry Kissinger has observed, "The domination of a single power or either of Eurasia's two principal spheres-Europe or Asia-remains a good definition of strategic danger for America."


text:
Paul Pillar

Failing to Check Facts That Matter About Policy Toward Iran

Glenn Kessler's “Fact Checker” feature in the Washington Post performs a mostly useful service. With as many falsehoods as are customarily flying around in American political discourse, goodness knows we need as much journalistic calling to account of such dishonesty as we can get. Kessler's performance of this function often is deficient, however, in two respects. One is the arbitrary and unrepresentative way in which he seems to select statements to pounce upon; flagrant, serial misrepresentation doesn't get featured any more than statements that can be considered untrue only as a matter of nitpicking. The other is that he sometimes goes beyond the checking of facts and renders evaluations that are more a matter of policy or political judgment.

Earlier this week Kessler took President Obama and his speech-writers to task for a line in the president's West Point speech last month that referred to how against the background of an advancing Iranian nuclear program, the administration had since its beginning implemented a program of sanctions while “extending the hand of diplomacy” to the Iranians. Kessler thinks this was an unfair statement because starting in 2006 the George W. Bush administration was pushing anti-Iran sanctions at the United Nations Security Council while signing on with the Europeans to the concept of eventually negotiating a resolution of the Iranian nuclear question. Kessler gives the statement “Three Pinocchios,” which certainly is unwarranted in at least two respects. One is that the statement in the president's speech was not untrue; Kessler just doesn't think it was sufficiently fair politically to his predecessor. The other is that if Kessler is going to venture beyond fact-checking into judgments about policies toward Iran, he has missed completely the most important dimensions of what has transpired over the last several years.

Even after the Bush administration made its “major shift” (Kessler's words) in 2006, it continued to eschew direct dealings with Iran as if Iranian diplomats had cooties. That is a far cry from the engagement that the Obama administration has practiced, which included the direct involvement of the secretary of state in negotiation of the preliminary nuclear agreement last fall, and this week has had Deputy Secretary of State William Burns leading a U.S. team negotiating with the Iranians in Geneva. Observers of the nuclear negotiations nearly all agree that the most critical deal-making has to occur bilaterally between the United States and Iran.

Kessler erroneously assumes that working toward a nuclear agreement has been a constant progression in which events and policies of a few years ago built a foundation for the diplomacy of today. It has not been that. The story has instead been more one of opportunities either seized or missed, and of some events and decisions having hampered rather than helped today's diplomacy.

An early missed opportunity came in late 2001 and early 2002, when effective cooperation between U.S. and Iranian diplomats regarding Afghanistan could have grown into something bigger—until the Bush administration slammed a door in the Iranians' face by declaring the Axis of Evil. Another opportunity came in 2003, when Iran offered a bargain that would not only have addressed the nuclear issue (at a time when Iran had fewer than 200 uranium centrifuges, compared with 19,000 now) but also other concerns such as Iran's relationship with Hezbollah and posture toward Israel. But the Bush administration, around the time it was declaring mission accomplished in Iraq, wanted no dealings with Iran at all. Yet another missed opportunity was in 2005, when Hassan Rouhani, then Iran's nuclear negotiator, offered to the Europeans to freeze Iran's centrifuges at their level then of 3,000. The Bush administration, which refused even to sit at the multilateral negotiating table, made it known it would accept nothing other than zero.

Kessler makes no mention of the entire Iranian side of the political equation and how that has affected the coming and going of opportunities for the United States. The reformist Mohammad Khatami was president of Iran during the missed opportunities of the first five years of the Bush administration. Then came eight years of the love-to-hate President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. When Rouhani was elected president in a surprising first-round victory and succeeded Ahmadinejad last September, Obama's seizing of this new opportunity made it possible to meet Rouhani's goal of negotiating a preliminary nuclear agreement in his first 100 days in office.

Incredibly, Kessler describes U.S. policy toward Iran as “a model of bipartisan cooperation.” Paul Glastris at the Washington Monthly shows how ridiculous that characterization is. Much Republican opposition to the administration's Iran policy has come to resemble, as with the obsessive opposition to Obamacare, an effort to undermine whatever would be a significant achievement for the president. The resulting partisan pattern has been reflected, for example, in support for a deal-busting sanctions bill, S. 1881, that would violate the preliminary nuclear agreement and was beaten back, at least for the time being, with the help of an explicit presidential veto threat. All but two Senate Republicans (Rand Paul and Jeff Flake) became co-sponsors of the bill; only 17 of the 60 co-sponsors are Democrats.


text:
The Buzz

How Donald Trump Can Make the Pivot to Asia Great Again

Amid an endless stream of policy elite speculation over the greater meaning of a President-elect Trump, there are very real foreign policy challenges the next administration will need to tackle on day one — a long list of problems that the Obama administration failed to address time and time again.

I would argue there is no more pressing long-term challenge facing America internationally than the behavior of the People’s Republic of China. Beijing has made it clear that the regional order in Asia is not to its liking, and that it aims to change it. China pushes against Japan in the East China Sea, asserts that Taiwan is no more than a renegade province that needs to ‘come home’, and engages in endless so-called salami-slicingisland building in the South China Sea.

Such change runs directly counter to the vital national interests of allies Washington has sworn to protect, and it undercuts the freedom of sea and air lanes that bring job-creating trade to and from America’s shores. Indeed, if China were to reduce the Asia-Pacific to nothing more than a sphere of Beijing's influence, it is a near certainty that other nations — think Russia and Iran, for starters — would copy China’s tactics — tactics like creating borders around seas, pushing critical U.S. allies around, and bullying adversaries to change the global system as Beijing sees fit.

A Pivot that Petered Out:

Team Obama, in a slick piece of attempted grand strategy genius, declared what they called a pivot to the broader Asia-Pacific. While certainly well intentioned, the strategy suffered at its onset from the sheer weight of what was being proposed — if you pivot to one part of the world, other parts, by the very nature of what you are trying to do, will receive less attention. After a massive outcry from U.S. partners, mostly in Europe, the pivot was respun into the so-called rebalance, with the Obama administration attempting to make Asia its number one foreign policy priority. The policy started out strong, but it was undermined by a series of global disruptions such as Russian aggression in Ukraine, the rise of ISIS, Syria’s tragic civil war, and domestic political crisis. By failing to back words with action in other parts of the world — breaking a now famous redline pledge in Syria to strike Bashar Assad if he used chemical weapons against his own people — the administration sowed doubts throughout Asian capitals that the rebalance is anything more than talk, and a suspicion that it is backed by no real change in strategy or expended political capital.

A Trump administration has been handed a golden opportunity to make major positive changes in American foreign policy — something he declared in a speech to the Center for the National Interest, where I work. One such change should be to see to its logical conclusion a much more focused and calibrated pivot to Asia — no matter what the foreign policy crisis of the day is. I would argue for a four-part plan that has the following components:

1. Trump must Embrace an Asia First Foreign Policy:

Trump would be wise to make Asia is his number one foreign policy priority, and in fact to declare in the strongest possible language what I would call an Asia First agenda. The argument for such an approach is clear. Consider the two alternative top-tier foreign policy action items:

- Russia: While Russia might be flexing its muscles in Ukraine and in Syria, Moscow faces long-term and well documented demographic and economic challenges it will not easily overcome. And with big cuts coming to its military budget starting next year, we might be witnessing the peak of Russian military and diplomatic might.


text:
Inside Iran's Election Surprise

The kingmakers and the man they helped to prevail.

“Rowhani’s election is like resurrecting a dead corpse,” Mohammad Nourizad, Iranian dissident documentary filmmaker and journalist proclaimed, after Hassan Rowhani, the sixty-four-year-old moderate-conservative cleric, won the Iranian presidential election last Saturday in a stunning landslide. Up until about two weeks ago, Rowhani had been given little if any chance of winning a race that also included Saeed Jalili, Iran’s nuclear negotiator, who was widely believed to be the candidate of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. There was also Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, Tehran’s mayor and a retired brigadier general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who had consistently led all the polls until four days before the election.

Nourizad was not alone in his assessment. Many, including this author, had lost hope that the election would produce a president that could get Iran out of its current terrible state of affairs—a terrible economy brought about in part by the tough sanctions that the United States and its allies have imposed on Iran, measures that have hurt the lives of tens of millions of Iranians, and caused vast corruption, nepotism and political repression.

But, as is often said in Iran, “Iranians are the 90th minute people,” a reference to scoring the winning goal at the last minute of soccer, a sport loved by every Iranian. The recently concluded presidential election was no exception. How did the stunning turnaround come about?

There is little doubt, if any, that former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi is the most popular politician in Iran. But together with his wife Dr. Zahra Rahnavard, a professor of arts, and former speaker of parliament Mehdi Karroubi, he and these leaders of the democratic Green Movement have been under house arrest since February 2011. In their absence, Mohammad Khatami, a true reformist and a highly popular former president, was most people’s best hope for the presidency. But Khatami is despised by Iran’s fundamentalists and the security and intelligence forces, and was threatened repeatedly over his possible run for the office; thus, he never entered the race.

Next in line was another former president, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a centrist and a shrewd politician. But after he entered the race with Khatami’s backing, the Guardian Council, a constitutional body that vets candidates, disqualified him from running on the excuse that he was too old. A state of despair took over among the reformists, Green Movement supporters and moderate conservatives. Many, particularly among exiled Iranians, called for a boycott of the elections.

But Rafsanjani’s failed candidacy also created a huge national wave of support for him that he, Khatami and their aides were determined to exploit. There were still two candidates in the race for whom the wave could be used, Mohammad Reza Aref, 62, the Stanford-educated first vice president (Iran has eight) in the second Khatami administration (2001-2005), and Rowhani. Aref, a university professor and a truly good man, is a mild-mannered reformist.

Khatami and Rafsanjani, together with the two candidates, agreed that, based on their assessment of the race, one should withdraw from the race in favor of the other. Then, three nationally-televised presidential debates took place, and although the first two did not amount to anything, the third one was transformed into a serious confrontation between Aref and Rowhani, on one hand, and Jalili and Ghalibaf, on the other. Aref and Rowhani strongly criticized Jalili and Ahmadinejad, and even implicitly supported the trio of Green Movement leaders (something of a taboo these days in Iran). That turned the tide. Aref withdrew from the race on Khatami’s request, and the two former presidents threw their support behind Rowhani, which excited the nation. Many who had decided to sit the elections out instead voted. The rest, as they say, is history.

Who is Rowhani?

Born in 1948 in a town east of Tehran, Rowhani joined the movement against the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the most important U.S. ally in that part of the world, when he was very young. In 1966, Rowhani secretly crossed the border with Iraq to go to Najaf to meet with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had been exiled there the year before after the uprising that he led in June 1963 failed.

Ever since the revolution toppled the Shah’s regime in February 1979, Rowhani has been at the center of power in Iran, almost exclusively in the national-security domain. In addition to being a five-term member of the parliament and the chairman of its national-security and foreign-policy committee, Rowhani held important military positions during the war with Iraq from 1980-1988. When Iran’s Supreme National Security Council was formed in 1989, Rowhani was appointed to the Council, led it until 2005, and is still a member.


text:
The 17th Party Congress

At the Chinese Communist Party Congress this week, President Hu Jintao outlined his vision for the next five years. The highlights: an offer to negotiate with Taiwan, up-and-coming party leaders and Beijing’s space program.

The 17th Party Congress concluded in Beijing this week, introducing the next generation of Chinese leaders to their fellow party members and the world. Much like U.S. political conventions, the party congress sought to boost Party members' morale, reaffirm strategic vision and bring forward the Communist Party's next generation of leaders. A new leadership team was identified and named members of the Central Committee, Politburo and most-powerful Politburo Standing Committee. By all accounts, President Hu Jintao has consolidated his power, seeing close allies and protégés promoted and aging rivals retired. The most notable retiree, Vice President Zeng Qinghong, has stepped down gracefully, making way for two prominent members of the next generation of leaders, Shanghai Party Secretary Xi Jinping and Liaoning Party Secretary Li Keqiang. Barring major errors or scandals, these two will likely be named as president and premier at the 18th Party Congress in 2012.

President Hu Jintao opened the congress with a two-hour keynote address which set out his macro-vision for the next five years, encapsulated in the "scientific development" concept, which purports to "put people first" and aims to achieve sustainable economic development and social harmony. "Democracy" was often mentioned during the Congress and in Hu's speech, though political reforms are not being seriously considered, such as expanding the current system of village elections to encompass higher levels of government, including townships.

Notably, President Hu Jintao used his keynote speech to offer to negotiate a peace treaty with Taiwan, though the offer was conditioned by the insistence that talks are conducted under the "One China" principle. Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian quickly dismissed the offer, though both candidates in Taiwan's upcoming presidential election left the door open to future negotiations after the island's presidential elections in March 2008.

The 17th Party Congress itself is not likely to have an impact on U.S.-China relations. However, the Congress has provided Hu Jintao with a more secure political environment, which could provide him with opportunities to tackle issues he has previously neglected at the expense of domestic politics. A new Chinese strategy towards Taiwan would certainly affect U.S.-China relations, though China's course will undoubtedly depend on the island's election outcomes.  The retirement of two politburo members with economic portfolios, Vice Premiers Zeng Peiyan and Wu Yi, will make room for two new vice premiers to be appointed at the National People's Congress in the spring of 2008. Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan and Guangdong Party Secretary Zhang Dejiang, both recently promoted to the Politburo, are likely candidates. Current Minister of the State Development and Reform Commission Ma Kai was also promoted to the Politburo, giving the top leadership solid financial and industrial expertise. With Vice Premier Wu Yi's retirement, a new Vice Premier will be appointed to head the "Strategic Economic Dialogue" with the United States, though there are no indications that China's trade or industrial policies are set to undergo any change or even review as the next generation takes up their new responsibilities.

Celebrating the Party Congress' success, China's ambitious space program will launch a lunar orbiter later this week, marking another step in a growing space race between China, Japan and India. Fielding a successful space program is a key component of the leadership's objective to build China's "comprehensive national strength." The Communist Party's legitimacy remains closely linked to nationalism and the ability to deliver economic growth which will ultimately return China to the global status it once enjoyed prior to the 19th century. Fielding a successful space program with ambitious objectives to put a Chinese citizen on the moon before its Asian neighbors would be a key indicator in China's self-defined "comprehensive national strength" index. If all goes according to plan, China will have the Communist Party committee manning its lunar outpost by 2020.

Drew Thompson is the Director of China Studies and Starr Senior Fellow at The Nixon Center.


text:
A UK-EU Divorce: Bad News for America

And worse news for Britain, which would wind up on the wayside in Washington's transatlantic relations.

The recent unveiling of a bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the Capitol Building offered a reminder of the long-standing special relationship between Great Britain and the United States. But there is something that keeps the relationship special today which the British shy away from: Britain’s membership in the European Union.

Since the 1960s, successive American administrations—Democratic and Republican—have supported the UK’s participation in European integration, a project the United States encouraged in order to help unite Western Europe after the Second World War.

Today, both the EU and Britain’s participation in it are acquiring new importance. The emergence of a multipolar world and the decline of U.S. unilateralist impulses, mean Washington increasingly needs to work with like-minded allies. Gone are the days when Washington feared that a more cohesive EU would lead to a transatlantic divorce. To the contrary, a stronger EU with the UK at its core is now seen as the best way of ensuring that Europe remains a relevant American ally.

For all the talk of an ‘Asian pivot,’ the United States remains a European power and Europe remains vital to U.S. interests. The United States and Europe are the foundation of the world’s most powerful military alliance, and are linked by the most vibrant and deep economic relationship in the world. Shared values and ideals underpin the partnership and have enabled it to outlast the Cold War.

It is the potential—and ambition—to fully exploit the transatlantic relationship that lies behind the U.S.-EU negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a proposal that has strong British backing. If successful, TTIP would play a major role in modernizing a transatlantic partnership forged in the early days of the Cold War and in ensuring that Atlantic norms guide the emergence of a post-Western world.

Yet at precisely the moment Washington is looking to invest in U.S.-EU ties to renovate the transatlantic relationship, the UK is threatening to leave the union. British politicians overestimate the global influence they would have outside the EU and underestimate the harmful implications of their withdrawal on the long-standing ‘special relationship.’ It is especially ironic that the Conservative Party, which for decades has attached so much importance to the ‘special relationship,’ threatens to undermine the UK’s ties to Washington with a reflexive Euroskepticism.

What British advocates of a withdrawal fail to understand is that the United States would first and foremost assess the implications of a UK withdrawal by what it means for America’s relations with the rest of the EU. Relations with Britain would be an important, but ultimately secondary question, reflecting Britain’s reduced geopolitical standing from withdrawing from a relationship central to its international standing. Other powers such as Russia or China would follow the same path.

An EU without Britain would be a more difficult place for the United States to do business. Both the United States and the EU would suffer from the loss of one of the most Atlanticist, globally ambitious, and liberal economies in the Union. The departure of the UK would deprive the EU of a leading pro-reform voice at a moment when the United States is particularly keen on seeing the Union take important changes. It would also likely reinforce the inward-looking tendencies of the EU, which exasperate Washington. Finally, a UK departure from the EU—and therefore from the TTIP—would likely require the United States to negotiate and arrange for a separate trade agreement with the UK.

While the UK won’t vanish from European politics, its influence would diminish if it left the EU, meaning Washington will have to bypass London and deal with other EU partners. Despite recent tensions over NSA spying activities, there will be no shortage of applicants to be America’s new closest friend in Europe. Indeed, British backers of the special relationship with Washington should not overlook the fact that the United States has long-standing close relations with other EU members, including France. Germany, meanwhile, will exert much more influence in Washington by leveraging its position as a leader within Europe than London will by serving as America’s ally outside the EU.

Of course U.S.-UK relations would remain close in the event of a UK departure from the EU, with continued cooperation on nuclear weapons, intelligence and special operations forces. But the UK should be careful in overestimating its global influence as an independent power in the twenty-first century. Significant, sustained cuts to the UK defence budget have harmed London’s fighting capability and its credibility in Washington. The UK Parliament’s rejection of an authorization to use military force in Syria also caused doubts in the United States about London’s enduring will to use military force. The United States would be far more interested in seeing the UK strengthen transatlantic ties through close strategic and defense cooperation with France and Germany than by attempting to serve as a robust but independent ally outside of European structures.

For Washington, the future of the UK and the EU are inextricably linked together and are critical to the centrality and relevance of the transatlantic link. Whether Britain remains in the EU is, of course, a decision only the British people must make. But they should not be surprised if a vote to leave leads the United States to reassess just how special the UK-U.S. relationship can still be.


text:
Local rug cleaners Northern N1

Rugs are not only really beautiful and stylish decoration to your home, but they get more expensive with the time. Only the right maintenance could prolong their life. We know how to treat your rugs, so don't waste time and contact our Northern N1 cleaning experts and they won't let you down.

Local rug cleaners Northern, London N1

Nation Wide Cleaning 4U understands that your Oriental or area rugs are more than decoration but an investment. It is certainly something that you want to have maintained for as long as possible and to its best. Rely on our Northern N1 professional cleaners to take professional care of them.

Local rug cleaners Northern N1

Rugs are often Handmade Originals and their value increases with time. We have fully qualified and equipped Northern N1 teams to apply the right method to clean rugs but even more important, we have the knowledge to select the one that is best for each Design and Fabric. We are flexible to make our appointment in full respect of your personal schedule and to fits your family budget. Our aim is to make you fully satisfied from our work.

Rug cleaning methods Northern N1 cleaners use:

All these methods, combined with the experience we have, allow us to handle cotton rug cleaning, wool rug cleaning, afghan rug cleaning, persian rug cleaning or any other type of rug with the same care and success. Each material should be treated different way to be preserved and cleaned. Our Northern N1 cleaners will make a brief initial test in order to determine the best method that will best suit our goal in cleaning your rug from all the dust and dirt that you may not see but is surely there.

Nation Wide Cleaning 4U is fully licensed and insured so you won't have to worry at all.
Don't put it off any longer, please get in touch with one of our local Rug Cleaning Experts on 0800 1123430 or via our booking form  24/7 and get the best of the best when it comes to Rug Cleaning Services Northern N1.

We have used your service for couple of years now and you have never let us down. Thank you.

Samantha Miller, Brighton, 09/07/2007
My landlord was very happy. Thank you guys!

Margaret Brailey, Essex, 06/02/2010
More testimonials - local rug cleaners Northern N1? Sure, click here>>

Local rug cleaners in Northern N1

A List of all the services we provide in Northern:


text:
Seaton beach in the winter….

I like the sea and the beach at winter. In summer the beach is too over crowded don’t you think? Empty beaches during a cloudy and windy day have something magical, Don’t you think? I like to walk along an empty beach, listening to the waves, the seagulls and organise my thoughts. This weekend called for a road-trip to Seaton Beach near Hartlepool. We wrapped up warm with our scarfs, gloves and coats. I still manged to get a cold and currently dosed up on medicine covered in vapour rub Vic as I write this… We had some fish and chips, No […]

Continue Reading


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
Waring Pro Meat Grinder: Eat Healthy, Save Time, Save Money!

One one of the  biggest sources of stress nowadays is the constant worry about whether our food is safe.    The best way to ease  your mind when it comes to your food is to grow and prepare as much as you can at home.  That’s when a waring pro meat grinder can come in really handy.

Home Made Hamburgers

For instance, when you want to make a batch of hamburger,  you can buy 15-20 pounds of beef, trim off the fat, gristle, and sinew before grinding.  You can then add an appropriate amount of fat evenly to the meat chunks as you grind them.  You will be amazed at home much fun it can be, but above all, you will be eating healthy and saving time in the kitchen too!

You can also  wrap and freeze the freshly ground beef in one pound packages for future use.    But that’s not all.  You can make your own bulk sausage, using the recipes included with the grinder.  Get ready for a delicious treat!

Home Made Sausages

You can so the same thing with sausages.   Just buy 15 to 20 pounds of meat–pork, turkey, and/or chicken–and just follow the recipe.  You then wrap the fresh sausage freeze them in one pound packages, just as you did with the home made hamburgers.

Save Time & Money

The hopper can handle a large amount of meat.  All you have to do is keep piling on the large chunks, guiding them into the feed tube.  You won’t even have to use the  “pusher” because the grinding screw easily pulls the meat down and through. To save money just buy quality meats on sale and in bulk.  The savings add up fast.

Easy Clean-up

You can grind more than one type of meat and/or sausage in a session,  just be sure to clean out the grinder between products by simply running saltine crackers through.  That’s it!  Then you’re ready to continue with the next project!  Make sure to follow the instructions for cleaning and storing he unit to a “T” in order to prevent the cutting plates from rusting.  You can wash the plates and then dry them properly, oil them lightly with vegetable oil and wrap them in waxed paper.  If you following the cleaning instructions carefully, the grinder will serves you for many years to come with delicious home made food your family will love and enjoy!

Stress-Free Meal Preparation

With the waring pro meat grinder you will not have to worry about what’s in your food.  You can feel good about knowing EXACTLY what is in the ground meats/sausage  you  feed your family and friends, and how fresh it is! If you are looking for a dependable and powerful meat/food grinder, look no further.  This is it!!

Click on the images below to invest in your family’s health while at the same time saving time and money!

Image: Amazon.com


text:
How to install and configure dhcp server

How to install and configure dhcp server have got

How to install and configure dhcp server top of the amazing features, they have very helpful and friendly support, and I was even helped over Skype and phone a few times when needed. Most people don't have any issues with actual outages, or at least not that they've complained about publicly. I took the precaution of canceling my credit card and advised them not to make any charges to my credit card without my further cheap domain hosting web page hosting. I was using a shared hosting account for email and web services through JaguarPC ( ). If this is the case, you should avoid them like the free cvs repository hosting. You have the option to choose between three different data centers - Texas, Washington and Maryland -each offering premium bandwidth experience, speed and how to install and configure dhcp server at its best. What is a how to install and configure dhcp server VPS. After providing several pieces of ID, and confirmation of payment through PayPal, How to install and configure dhcp server was told to resolve this with the other party myself. Probably the reviews of bloggers makes a stronger impact. VPSSpeed - VPSSpeed provides unmanaged OpenVZ based VPS hosting with over 50 OS Templates, real 247365 support and fast US servers. Overseas providers is a completely different kettle of fish from Australian providers, but this thread is specifically for Australian providers either. If the cluster contains IPv6 nodes and the host names are not resolvable, the cluster must be static, not dynamic. Should I optimistically start with VPS rather than shared. В Dedicated serversВ provide many benefits, such as security, privacy, and a range of dedicated resources. This tutorial describes how you can set up CentOS based remote desktop on VPS ramserver Private Server). You must build applications and manage them with scalability in mind. Customers who purchase hostpapa web hosting get a free access to website builder, though the features available vary depending on the hosting plan you purchased. I hope our partnership will be there for many more years, but we will ms server 2008 r2 pricing to see how it it all evolves the upcoming years. So what you are waiting for, hurry up and start your hosting business now. Most offer a choice of operating system (typically some flavour of Linux). Email lacks extra security. 99 per month for millions of monthly visitors. Web Hosting Hub got started in 2010 and are part of the same company as InMotion Hosting which means they share the sameВ west and east coast data centers. As a web design, I can say that WP Engine is the best for WordPress. I have no issues with speed. In addition to high-quality infrastructure, we have a distinct passion for assisting and enabling our customers. If you need more powerful servers, chat with free virtual domain hosting to discuss dedicated server options. The information on this Web site is general in nature and is not intended as a substitute for competent legal advice. What about another small VPS with 50Go storage. After login to VPS, just launch Firefox browser from the taskbar below, browse to your broker site and download Metatrader. The company played a role in the internet's growth and now it's helping the growth of many online businesses.

02.10.2013 at 18:23 Vinris:
All not so is simple, as it seems

05.10.2013 at 09:48 Nikorisar:
It is a pity, that I can not participate in discussion now. It is not enough information. But this theme me very much interests.

13.10.2013 at 21:33 Kalmaran:
I can speak much on this question.

23.10.2013 at 21:04 Gardarg:
I advise to you to come on a site where there is a lot of information on a theme interesting you. Will not regret.

30.10.2013 at 13:43 Narr:
Logically, I agree

04.11.2013 at 19:54 Kigaran:
Bravo, this rather good phrase is necessary just by the way

10.11.2013 at 15:22 Mikagor:
I am sorry, that has interfered... This situation is familiar To me. I invite to discussion. Write here or in PM.

13.11.2013 at 19:25 Goltizilkree:
It can be discussed infinitely

18.11.2013 at 01:25 Nikojinn:
In my opinion you are mistaken. I can prove it. Write to me in PM.


text:
Marula Canoe Safari

Kariba to Chirundu
3 Days / 2 Nights

The Marula Safari starts 8km below the Kariba dam wall and ends in Chirundu covering a total of 59km from start to finish. The safari will travel 18km through the Kariba Gorge which is narrow and steep sided, after the Gorge the terrain opens up offering an abundant variety of birdlife and antelope, occasionally elephants and buffalo have be seen on this stretch of the river.

Safari Includes:
  • Services of fully qualified canoe guide.
  • Use of all camping and canoe equipment.
  • Road transfers from and to Kariba Town.
  • All meals, basic drinks (water, tea, coffee & imported wine with dinner).
Safari Excludes:
  • ALL NATIONAL PARKS FEES (contact Natureways or your agent).
  • Dinks not mentioned (soft drinks & alcohol).
  • Any personal expenses.


text:
Thursday, February 16, 2017

Review: Toothbrush Protective Sleeve Box from AliExpress in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

There was a Mega Sale on AliExpress on 11th November 2016, among the items we purchased were Toothbrush Protective Sleeve Boxes. There are only a few toothbrushes in the market which come with their own protected covers and those covers only cover the brush part. We travel a lot thus we were looking for a better solution. We came across these full covers, which looked like a good idea.

After some research, we ordered the following item:

Toothbrush Kit Travel Portable Toothbrush Ccase Germproof Ventilation Wash Tooth Brush Cylinder Protective sleeve box-in Storage Boxes & Bins from Home & Garden on | Alibaba Group
Cheap brush box, Buy Quality brush kitchen directly from China box Suppliers: Product name: Portable travel wash toothbrush box / toothbrush kit Weight: 0.018kg Packaging: OPP Bag Product Material
Clip Better…
View Now

Price: US $0.51 (SAR 2)

I opted for free shipping thus the item was sent via China Post Ordinary Small Packet Plus, which means the item was not trackable.

Purchased on : 11th November 2016
Destination : Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Shipped on : 12th November 2016 and tracking # was provided
Delivery Date : Before 11th January 2016

Tracking number could only track the item while it was in China:

  • 2016.11.19 20:26 (GMT-7): Successful departure from warehouse
  • 2016.11.19 20:24 (GMT-7): Successful package pick-up
  • 2016.11.12 01:00 (GMT-7): Shipment confirmation

Delivered on : 11th January 2017
Delivered in : 62 Days
Delivered at : My Apt
Delivered by : Saudi Post

We had ordered 3. The packing was good enough. I have been using it for a month and it is serving its purpose very well. Its size is good enough for any usual size toothbrush. I am planning to buy 3 more.

In this price, with this quality, this product is recommended!

  1. Hello brother, Thanks for sharing useful information in your blog .After looking at your experience for purchasing things from i also purchased two items in first week of January 2017 , both orders coming separately and i opted for free delivery option . One i received on 16-2-2017 but the other one has no any progress when i try to track my order . it just says arrived destination country as on 14-01-2017 but since then no any progress i checked with saudi post guys they say they don't have any information about my parcel. Did you have any experience like that if so then what shall i do now . Your reply will be highly appreciated. And thanks again for sharing such a useful information in blogs . JazakALLAH khair.

    1. Plz hav a look at the following posts:

      barakAllahu feq

  2. Brother noman. Thanks for the useful info. Wanna ask few things.

    1. How to make payment on orders at ali express?
    2. Do they offer free delivery even if not ordered in bulk?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...


text:
The Introduction of Vince Carter

Vincent Lamar “Vince” Carter, who was born on January 26, 1977, is an American professional basketball player currently being a part of the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA Jerseys Australia). He is 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) tall and is capable for playing both shooting guard and small forward.

Before entering the professional league, Carter played three years at the University of North Carolina. During his pre-cheap NBA basketball singlets career, he twice reached the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament before being selected as the fifth overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. The Golden State Warriors traded Carter to the Toronto Raptors right after selecting him. Carter’s talents and skills soon led him to becoming an outstanding player. He won the 1999 NBA Rookie of the Year Award and the Slam Dunk Contest at the 2000 NBA All-Star Weekend. In addition, he represented the United States in the Summer Olympics which was held in Sydney, helping the team win the championship and receiving a gold medal.

vince carter nba jerseys online for sale
vince carter nba jerseys online for sale

As the new season started, Carter quickly emerged as a league star, attracting and entertaining crowds with his leaping ability and slam dunks. By doing so, Carter has earned himself hype-surrounding nicknames such as “Vinsanity”, “Air Canada”, and “Half-Man, Half-Amazing”. Thanks to Carter’s excellent basketball skills along with his collaboration with other team members, the Toronto Raptors entered the playoffs for three times. This had never happened throughout the team’s history.

In 2004, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets, and he helped lead them to three playoff berths. In July 2009, Carter was traded to the Orlando Magic, and helped them advance to the Eastern Conference Finals before being traded to the Phoenix Suns in December 2010. He joined the Mavericks in 2011 and the Grizzlies in 2014. In 2017, he signed with the Kings.

As an eight-time NBA All-Star, Carter is one of only five players, along with Kobe Bryant, LeBron James jersey australia and Hall of Famers Julius Erving and Michael Jordan, to lead the NBA All-Star Game fan voting more than three times. vince Carter jerseys scored his 20,000th career point in 2011, becoming the 37th player in league history to do so. Carter is also one of six players in NBA history to average at least 20 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game in 10 straight seasons and was the fifth player in NBA history to record at least 2,000 career three-pointers.

As a teammate, Carter is highly adored by the other members in his team, which has led him to receive the Twyman–Stokes Teammate of the Year Award in 2016.

Outside the basketball court, Carter is a very caring and warmhearted gentleman. He has established his Embassy of Hope Foundation in 1998, assisting children and their families in Florida, New Jersey and Toronto. He was recognized in 2000 as Child Advocate of the Year by the Children’s Home Society, and received the Florida Governor’s Points of Light award in 2007 for his philanthropy in his home state.


text:
JANUARY 19, 2001                  tel. 1-202-822-8444, clements@nci.org

Washington, DC---The second sea shipment of U.S.-origin plutonium undertaken during the Clinton Administration is set to depart today from Cherbourg, France for Japan. In the last half of 2000, the U.S. Government secretly reviewed and approved security arrangements for the controversial transport, which consists of 28 mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel assemblies, containing about a quarter-ton of weapons-usable plutonium.

Shipping plutonium around the globe in lightly armed commercial vessels presents a security as well as a proliferation threat and results from a failed policy to curb burgeoning plutonium stockpiles, said Tom Clements, Executive Director of the Nuclear Control Institute (NCI) in Washington. NCI is a nuclear non-proliferation center which seeks to halt civilian commerce in plutonium. The security and proliferation risks of these shipments cannot be justified because there is no energy need for plutonium use in Japan, given the glut in non-weapons-usable uranium, said Clements.

The shipment highlights the failure of the 1993 Clinton non-proliferation policy aimed at halting recovery and use of plutonium and presents a challenge to the Bush Administration to readdress plutonium policy. Internationally, weapons-usable plutonium stockpiles have more than doubled under the Clinton Administration, to over 200 tons, with Britain, France, Japan, Germany and Russia holding the largest stocks of this material. Amounts of plutonium separated from spent fuel annually under the Clinton Administration dwarf annual figures for any earlier Administration, with the amount of civilian plutonium now rivaling stocks of weapons-grade plutonium held by the nuclear weapons states.

World Separation of Civil Plutonium Under U.S. Presidents

Click here for full-size color chart

Surpluses of weapons-usable plutonium continue to grow at an alarming rate given unrestrained reprocessing of spent fuel but limited use of plutonium as fresh fuel in European and Japanese reactors. Lack of constraint in plutonium stockpiling is a little-noticed non-proliferation failure of the Clinton Administration, said Paul Leventhal, President of NCI. Although the Clinton Administration turned its back on the proliferation dangers of the buildup of vast quantities of weapons-usable plutonium, we are hopeful that the Bush Administration will thoroughly review the national-security dimensions of this issue and adopt tough policies against plutonium stockpiling and use.

Under the 1988 U.S.-Japan nuclear cooperation agreement, shipments of plutonium are to be undertaken only with an armed escort vessel, but the State Department has reinterpreted the agreement to allow plutonium shipments without military escorts. According to the new interpretation, two British-flagged commercial transport vessels, the Pacific Teal and Pacific Pintail, equipped with light cannon, machine guns and carrying special police, will escort one-another on the 18,000-mile voyage. In order to meet the terms of the 1988 agreement, a shipment of 1.7 tons of plutonium took place in 1992, escorted by a specially-built Japanese coast guard plutonium escort vessel. The current shipment is expected to travel to Japan via South Africas Cape of Good Hope, though the route will not be announced until January 19, the day after departure.

Until recently, Japan shipped thousands of tons of spent fuel to reprocessing factories operated by BNFL and Cogema (France) for reprocessing. In addition to a vast quantity of high-level and low-level nuclear waste, Japan has accumulated over 32 tons of weapons-usable plutonium, with over 28 tons being stockpiled in Europe. Given the failure of earlier plans to use the plutonium in reactors called breeders, capable of producing more plutonium than they consume, plans in Japan and elsewhere have shifted to use of MOX in conventional light-water reactors (LWRs). Due to the poor economics of reprocessing and MOX use and given that LWRs were not designed for MOX use, the plutonium use program in Europe and Japan is coming under increasing technical and economic pressure. Also, the MOX program there is much-delayed and stalled in 1999 when irregularities were discovered in fabrication of the first consignment of MOX fuel shipped from British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. (BNFL) to Japan.

Currently, a shipment of highly radioactive reprocessing waste is being transported from France to Japan. The Pacific Swan, carrying 198 half-ton logs of glassified reprocessing waste, last weekend rounded Cape Horn, South America on a two-month voyage to Rokkasho, Japan, site of temporary storage of high-level waste. The vessel passed through the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of both Argentina and Chile in spite of an assessment by an expert in international maritime law and adviser to NCI which affirms that states have the right to force such vessels carrying ultra-hazardous cargoes out of their EEZs lacking advance consultation and consent by en route states. Such consultation is lacking for the MOX shipment as well, and the shipping states have also ignored pleas from en route states that environmental assessments, adequate emergency and salvage plans, and a comprehensive liability regime be prepared.

Documents on the sea transport of plutonium and high-level waste can be found on the NCI web site at http://www.nci.org/seatrans.htm

   Return to What's New Page

   Return to Press Release Page


text:
Student Scholarships since 1897

Community Service

March 26, 2011

Putting the Notre Dame spirit into action in the local community is another important function of Notre Dame Clubs around the world. The possibilities for serving others are almost endless from simply adding a food drive (or other creative donation drive) to another event, to getting involved with campus initiatives such as ND’s Breast Cancer Awareness Program, to a building project, education project or another type of community outreach.

The ND Club of Chicago aims to sponsor Community Service activities every month.

For more information and to Get Involved e-mail the Club Director at


text:
Bridget Talone

            Fastday. Me and my plastic hatchet. You and your surgical mask. The neighborhood with string was wrapped. Run over or run around. A pool of puke is not a prize drying. All the bees were stumbled—stuck inside of sticky cups. Day clouded by big dogs with dark eyes dripping looks at us. Mournful-hot looks, like Spanish women and children. These women would not say it to your face but they are angry about the ways you bullied me. I was thinking about our agreement. I fried it in butter and the words I was angry about pulled us apart. Needs must speak—but they way they bully me! Why do you continue to waste my time? I touch my lips to your heart-fingers, wet-fingers, fingers dipped in shadowliquor. When I pretend to be blind, when I tell you that yes, my mother dressed me, when I gigantize my other senses and I am pillow-under and so smothered—I do this in memory of the feeling that you stopped first.


text:
Congressman McCarthy makes pitch for American Health Care Act

Congressman Kevin McCarthy speaks to Eyewitness News via satellite on Thursday, March 16, 2017, from Washington, D.C.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) - Congressman Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, on Thursday pitched the American Health Care Act as a way to lower insurance premiums, help small business and put Medicaid on a path to sustainability.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office this week issued a report about the Obamacare replacement. In its summary, the CBO forecasts that the Republican plan will help lower the federal budget deficit and lower the average cost of health insurance, but would also result in millions more Americans going without health insurance.

McCarthy, speaking to Eyewitness News via satellite from Washington, pitched the plan as a boon for workers who were laid off or who saw working hours reduced when Obamacare imposed an insurance mandate on businesses with 50 or more full-time employees. Under the law, 30 hours a week is considered full time.

Citing figures that place the future cost of Medicaid -- referred to as Medi-Cal in California -- at $1 trillion a year, McCarthy said measures must be taken to curb federal entitlement spending.

He said the Republican alternative represents the best chance to save the federal safety net program for the nation's poor.


text:
St. Cecilia toppled by Neligh-Oakdale

Grant Schmidt (3) goes up for a shot against Neligh-Oakdale in the C2 semifinal, March 10, 2017 (NTV News)

One of the most dominant runs in the last 10 years of Nebraska state basketball came to an early end as Neligh-Oakdale stunned St. Cecilia 55-50 in the C2 semifinal.

Grant White had six three pointers, seven fourth-quarter free throws, and 30 points in the Warrior victory.

The Bluehawks raced out to an 11-2 lead in the beginning of the game. Blaine Boyd had 19 of his 25 points in the first half.

But there was no answer for White in the second half when he scored 18.

Saint Cecilia held Neligh-Oakdale without a field goal in the final quarter, yet the Warroirs went 12-for-19 from the charity stripe.

The C2 Nebraska state championship pits the Warriors up against Ponca, who topped Elmwood-Murdock, 50-45 in the other semi.


text:
Modern Craft II Earrings

Lizzie Fortunato

Modern Craft II Earrings

Out Of Stock

Sign up to be notified and we’ll send you an email when this product is back in stock.

Final Sale

Please note that this is a final sale item. No returns or exchanges will be accepted.

Drop earrings from Lizzie Fortunato.. Mother of pearl studs black seed beaded detail and linen fringe tassels. Post back with clutch closure. Made in USA with imported materials. Sold as a set.

• Gold-plated brass
• Linen tassels
• Made in USA
3.5" drop
1.5" width
Standard domestic flat rate of $7.95—free on orders of $100 or more.

Free return shipping within the US. Find out more.

View Domestic Rates

Priority international flat rate of $25.

View International Rates


text:
Twisted Pants in Jade Blue

Twisted Pants in Jade Blue

Out Of Stock

Sign up to be notified and we’ll send you an email when this product is back in stock.

Stylized jeans from Lemaire in Jade Blue. Zip fly with top button closure. Brushed silver hardware. Slanted front pockets. Back patch pockets with tonal button fastening. Straight leg with twisted seam detail. Tonal topstitching. Slightly dropped crotch. Mid rise.

• 12.8-oz Japanese denim
• 100% cotton
• Machine wash cold
• Made in Italy
14.75” waist
13.5” rise
26.5” inseam
38.5” outseam
11” thigh
9.5” knee
7.5” leg opening

Measurements taken from size 36.
Model wears size 36. Model is 5’10"
European sizes listed.
Standard domestic flat rate of $7.95—free on orders of $100 or more.

Free return shipping within the US. Find out more.

View Domestic Rates

Priority international flat rate of $25.

View International Rates


text:
Monday, November 9, 2009

Quick AASL Recap

The AASL conference in Charlotte, North Carolina was, quite simply, a blast. I met with fellow authors, an agent or two, and tons of smart, dedicated, committed librarians. They stopped by the Author Pit Stop on Friday to chat, laugh, share, and get cool swag. And two dear, kind-hearted souls took pity on Shani Petroff and I (as we sat glued to our signing station) by bringing us cupcakes and champagne!

I am also *thrilled* to report that SHINE, COCONUT MOON sold out by day two of the conference. I was ecstatic by the interest, but a little sad for the librarians who stopped by hoping to buy a copy. I did sign bookmarks and postcards for them and, though it's not quite the same as a signed book, everyone went away happy.

The food in Charlotte was delicious, the people friendly, the nightlife bustling . . . but the company of fellow authors was what made the whole experience really sparkle. It is one I will definitely cherish.

Check back for pictures; coming soon!

Doret said...

Congrats on selling out.

Neesha Meminger said...

Thanks, Doret! Would love a booksellers' convention where I got to meet fine folks like yourself :).

zettaelliott said...

woo hoo! sold out AND cupcakes AND great company!! Congrats!

Neesha Meminger said...

Thanks, Zetta! Always nice when these things come together :).

Anonymous said...

so happy your books sold out. hope the folks who couldn't get one went out and bought SHINE right away. :)

Post a Comment


text:
Monday, August 22, 2005

Meatballs, Volvos, Ikea, oh my!

Let me start off by saying that Sweden has, by far, the best looking women I've seen on my travels anywhere. Period. I wasn't sure at first if that was going to hold true, but looking around today, all I can say is wow. There is no need to do any sightseeing here in Stockholm, all you have to do is stand on a random corner and watch women go by and you'll be happy. Good stuff. The conventional 1 through 10 rating system just doesn't work here, because every woman is between a 6 and 10 (of course there are outliers), with the average around an 8. I'd encourage any single guys out there to move to Sweden immediately, find a lady (or two or three) and love life.

As for the guys, I haven't been checking them out so much (sorry, maybe Mia can fill you in) but I did notice a strange phenomenon - they seem to travel in threes. This wouldn't be strange in itself, but many of them have long, blond hair, so it looks like there are leagues of Hanson's roaming around the city. Very disconcerting.

Anyway, today we got up late and did a little tour of the city. Went to the oldest open-air museum in the world. I would describe it as a mix between colonial Williamsburg (I've never been but I'm guessing, and of course, it isn't colonial American, but rather 19th century Swedish) and a zoo. (Note to BrownBear if you're still reading this thing - we saw some brownbears at the zoo. They are called BrunBjorn, so I think now I will call you Bjorn. That amuses me, and probably upsets you, which, in turn, amuses me. Okay, sorry for the tangent.)

Then we walked around some more and saw more of the city. It's actually built upon one of the worlds largest archipelagos for all you geography buffs out there, and for the rest of you, it's a lot of islands. That's it for now. We're here in Stockholm for most of tomorrow and then off to Prague, the land of cheap, good beer. I'm looking forward to that.

1 comment:

brownbear said...

I am amused that you are amused. But at least Bjorn has a clever story. Much better than "it was on a sitcom"


text:
Doug Bailey

Chairman of the Compensation Committee

Mr. Bailey has held numerous leadership positions over nearly 40 years and is the co-founder of American Bailey Corporation (ABC), a closely held private equity firm of which he has been President since 1984 and Chief Executive Officer since 1996. He began his career as a mechanical engineer with Foster-Miller, Inc. in Waltham, MA. In 1978 he joined Corning, Inc. where he held a variety of positions in manufacturing and marketing prior to founding ABC. He was a founding director of VideoStar Connections, Inc., a successful satellite communications start-up company now part of Sony Electronics. Mr. Bailey also founded American Bailey Ventures (ABV), which has made venture capital investments in early-stage businesses, including Endocyte.

He has also served as CEO of a number of companies previously affiliated with ABC or ABV through acquisition or investment.

Currently, Mr. Bailey is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fuel Tech, Inc. (NASDAQ:FTEK), which is engaged in the worldwide development, commercialization and application of state-of-the-art proprietary technologies for air pollution control, process optimization, and advanced engineering services. These technologies enable customers to produce both energy and processed materials in a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable manner. He has been a director of Fuel Tech since 1998 and has overall responsibility for the strategic, operational and management performance of the Company.

Mr. Bailey is also a director of GNP Management Corporation, the general partner of Great Northern Properties L.P. (GNP), co-owned by American Bailey Mining, L.P. and the principals of Quintana Minerals Corporation. GNP is a private partnership that is the largest holder of coal reserves (20 billion tons), behind only that of the U.S. Federal Government. Certain of GNP’s properties were placed in a master limited partnership, Natural Resource Partners L.P. (NYSE:NRP), prior to NRP going public.

Mr. Bailey holds a B.S., a M.S. and an Engineer’s degree, all in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He has served on the MIT Corporation Development Committee since 1998 and is the current Co-Chair of the New York Metro Region. He also was the r ecent Chair of the Annual Fund Board and a member of the MIT Alumni Association Board of Directors. He has led classmates through four reunion gift campaign, three of which were record breaking for MIT. Through his service at MIT he was named the recipient of the Henry B. Kane ’24 Award in 2003 and the Marshall B. Dalton ’15 Award in 2009. In 2012 he received the Bronze Beaver Award, the highest honor that MIT bestows upon any one of its more than 127,000 current member Alumni Association. Established in 1955, this award has been given to only 305 alumni.

As his pastime, Mr. Bailey is a competitive ballroom dancer at the Open level and regularly participates in competitions throughout the US. He and his wife, Sara, reside in Westport, CT.


text:
Design, Synthesis, and Characterization of Folate-Targeted Platinum-Loaded Theranostic Nanoemulsions for Therapy and Imaging of Ovarian Cancer.
Patel NR, Piroyan A, Nack AH, Galati CA, McHugh M,Orosz S, Keeler AW, O'Neal S,Zamboni WC, Davis B, Coleman TP
May 24, 2016
Molecular Pharmaceutics

EGFR Targeted Theranostic Nanoemulsion for Image-Guided Ovarian Cancer Therapy
Ganta S, Singh A, Kulkarni P, Sawant R, Patel NR, Davis B,Ferris C,ONeal S, Zamboni W, Amiji MM, Coleman TP
March 4, 2015
Pharmaceutical Research

Pathogen-inspired drug delivery to the central nervous system
Rebecca L McCall, Joseph Cacaccio, Eileen Wrabel, Mary E Schwartz, Timothy P Coleman, Rachael W Sirianni
August 7, 2014
Landes Bioscience

Formulation development of a novel targeted theranostic nanoemulsion of docetaxel to overcome multidrug resistance in ovarian cancer
Ganta S, Singh A, Rawal Y, Cacaccio J, Patel NR, Kulkarni P, Ferris CF, Amiji MM, Coleman TP
June 5, 2014
Drug Delivery

Development of EGRF-Targeted Nanoemulsion for Imaging and Novel Platinum Therapy of Ovarian Cancer
Ganta S, Singh A, Patel N, Cacaccio J, Rawal Y, Davis B, Amiji M, Coleman T
March 2014 (e-pub ahead of print)
J Pharmaceutical Research

Nanoemulsions in Translational Research—Opportunities and Challenges in Targeted Cancer Therapy
Ganta S, Talekar M, Singh A, Coleman T, Amiji M
February 8,2014 (e-pub ahead of print)
AAPS PharmSciTech

Gene Expression in Uterine Leiomyoma from Tumors Likely to Be Growing (from Black Women over 35) and Tumors Likely to Be Non-Growing (from White Women over 35)
Selected for F1000Prime as being of special significance in its field
Davis B, Risinger J,Chandramouli G, Bushel P, Baird D, Peddada S
June 13,2013
Plos One

Loss of expression and altered localization of KAI1 and CD9 protein are associated with epithelial ovarian cancer progression

Houle C, Ding X-Y, Foley JF, Afshari CA, Barrett JC, and Davis BJ
Gynecological Oncology

Tumors in Rats Induced by Chronic 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p- Dioxin Treatment

Davis BJ, McCurdy E, Miller B, Lucier G, Tritscher A
Cancer Research


text:
Sunday, February 28

potential for fuck up.

I think I've perhaps let too much of my real self come through with Work Guy. Nothing bad has happened. There's now a stock of vegetarian friendly foods in his house, on top of everything else (DISLIKE. Last night I got just stirfried vegetables, on their own, because the sauce he'd bought for the noodles etc was a Pad Thai full of fish sauce. I was perfectly happy with that). But it's got to the quite-a-few-dates stage where he's like 'yeah, you don't eat anything/you're really fussy/are you sure you don't want more? Really? Take more. Please'.

I hate this stage - having been here before, I know it's awkward, and I have few options:
- I can choose to ignore it, but then have him probably be a bit pissy and confused because I refuse to eat anything he gives me/turn down lunch etc.
- I can buy food and take it to his, then cook and control portions for myself, but I'm not doing that all the time, basically because it's an expensive fuss, and I'm a bit cheapskate and lazy.
- I could just not eat around him, but that will probably end up with me raiding cupboards for handfuls of raisins and uncooked baguettes at 5am.

Or, sadly, I could go with the truth. That when I was younger I was so unadventurous I ate solely carbohydrate and apples. Then I branched out my diet and developed late, sudden puppy fat. Then I stopped eating altogether. Then started again at an alarming rate. And now I'm all fucked up, somewhere in between the two, with the fussiness of vegetarianism thrown in for a laugh.

I think I'm going to hold on the truth, though. My competitiveness and general OCD were introduced last night with a game of Monopoly, in which I kicked ass, the notes were all facing the same way, and I gave change to the bank (like, need to pay £35? Give a £50 and a £5 and take £20 back. As if I was at work at the shop).

I have been branded a loser - fortunately with affection, at least for the moment. Crazy needs to be released in small doses, I think.

  1. Lol keep the truth hidden at all costs! Men don't have the capacity to with the specifics of woman-kind craziness.

  2. or the other option that ive used on most people

    the mysterious dodgy stomach tell him if you eat to much in one go you cant digest it so you prefer to eat little (truth) an often(lie)
    and say certain things dont agree with you mention they gie you the runs or something i doubt hes gna ask for any more details


text:
Deadly Gardens: Catchweed

Deadly Gardens: Catchweed

This installment of the Deadly Gardens-series clocks in at 5 pages, 1 page front cover, 1/2 a page SRD/editorial, leaving us with 3.5 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

We begin this installment of Deadly Gardens with the twigman fetish, which can generate a wooden construct, which then may be directed by the user to attack and otherwise idles. I like this item per se very much, though the interaction of the item with save-prompting spells and effects make it a bit flawed – I assume auto-failure, but I’m not sure.

The pdf also features two terrain types: Razor Shale is EXTREMELY hard to climb and requires similarly high Ref-saves to prevent taking damage while doing so. Worse, it damages ropes… Shifting dunes move targets on them, necessitating Acrobatics-checks to remain standing…neat.

The titular creature herein would be the pretty neatly-drawn CR 10 catchweed, which is a Large plant that not only may grapple foes, it may also engulf them. It is also pretty quick and creatures trampled may similarly be grappled by the catchweed. Worse, being grappled makes you subject to not only constrict, but also blood drain…and it regrows rapidly when it can drain blood…. More nasty: Creatures caught within this carnivorous, oversized tumbleweed must save or be nauseated, further diminishing chances to survive the harrowing experience. An all-around cool critter.

We also get natural items this time around – the classic 8. These include soporific xtabay spore pods, the fortifying powers of wyvern adrenal glands…and more: Viper vine glands enhance bite etc. attacks to include a horrid fascination effect that dazes foes hit; leucrotta mandibles can yield non-fragile bone weapons, while thunderbird pinions, when added to flight-related spells and effects as additional material components, can yield temporary respite from the unpleasant effects of storms. The thorns of catchweed can yield bleed-inducing darts or ammunition and assassin vine berries can induce vomiting-based respite from ingested poisons – though the rules here represent a disjoint between fluff and crunch – RAW, the vomiting target isn’t even sickened. Finally, gryph ovipostors can help inject poisons into targets. Apart from the one hiccup and a type (Mmedium size), that is the best array of natural items in quite a few of these installments. Kudos!

Editing and formatting are good, bordering on very good – while not perfect,  the pdf does try to represent some cool operations and stumbles a bit here and there, but I’d rather have a cool idea with slight imperfections than perfect blandness. Layout adheres to the 2-column full-color standard of the series and is pretty printer-friendly. The artwork is pretty cool and in b/w and the pdf, in spite of its brevity, comes fully bookmarked. Kudos!

Russ Brown and Matthew Carroll deliver one of my favorite critters in the line here – the catchweed is damn cool. Similarly, I really like the fetish, in spite of the save-issue. The terrain options are nice as well and the natural items offer some really cool tricks. That being said, the minor hiccups do drag this down a bit, which is why my final verdict will fall just short of my seal of approval. Still, this is very much worth getting and receives a final verdict of 4.5 stars, rounded up for the purpose of this platform.

You can get this nice pdf for just one buck here on OBS!

Endzeitgeist out.

More articles you may enjoy:

Facebook Comments

About Endzeitgeist

Reviewer without a cause


text:
Thursday, July 13, 2017

Release Blitz ~ 100 Days by Alexis Angel

Title: 100 Days
Author: Alexis Angel
Genre: Romance

Think you're a true player? Take the challenge and try not to fall in love for 100 Days...

100 Days - a matchmaking game for the wealthiest circle of New York City's elite. Pay $100 million and enter yourself to find a soulmate. If you don't fall in love with someone they send in 100 days, then you win the combined entry fee of everyone that's come before you.

No one has won. Love has conquered them all. The pot has grown to $4 billion.

But all that's about to change. Because the game has a new player. Me.

As the wealthiest hedge fund manager on Wall Street, I got the cash. As a former SEAL, I've got the body. And with 12 inches of lust muscle between my legs, no one goes home unhappy.

I don't plan on losing. Until they send the creator of the game herself - Athena Hawke.

This curvy blonde is sent to bring me down and make me lose. She opens up a side of me that I never even knew existed.

Now I'm dealing with a lust and passion that could bring me and my business crashing down.

I've never lost at anything.

But will I still want to win this game of love against Athena in 100 days?

Come play the game of love with Alexis Angel in this full length standalone romance! No cliffys or cheating, but filled with super duper scorching scenes. HEA? You know it, babe ;)

Alexis Angel writes steamy contemporary romance about bad boys for the bad girl in all of us. She is still single at 30, in case anyone is interested to know, and still very much looking for love. Her favorite things in the world are flowers, chocolate, lingerie, high heels, lipstick, perfume, and the credit card award miles that she gets from buying all that. Prior to writing, Alexis used to be a financial analyst in New York City. She quickly decided that working for a faceless corporation run by men was not her dream job. So she began to write. And as she began to write, she began to use those credit card award miles to travel all over the world. Alexis is still single, in case you forgot from above. She spends winters in California, fall and spring in New York City, and summers in Europe.

No comments:

Post a Comment


text:
What is a android touchpad tablet computer

Following are what is a android touchpad tablet computer Samsung

He'd watched the smartphone market for a couple of years, and finally pulled the trigger on his first Android handset when ATT launched the Galaxy S II last October. Android apps are deployed in Dalvik bytecode, which is portable, unlike native code. It requires a VERY hefty smartphone. consumer confidence reached levels not seen in 15 years in December. Each phone from mushabelly app for android of videos facebook app android from Samsung writes a new story of success for the brand. As far as some of the loose strings, I don't put my real name on this because this is the Internet. There is great creative potential here, and the forms are evolving. The Pixel C comes with 64GB of internal storage, but it doesn't support MicroSD cards. Players encounter other survivors along the way, and by helping them, acquire commputer clues as to what has happened and how to survive. Android is open source, powered by the big boys at Google and is on track to take down the iPhone OS in a few short years. Gynoids in science fiction are often built by men, attempting to create the perfect woman. It is just the basic find my phone androir with all the common features as in the Android device manager to reset your phone and make it ring and let you track the device location. The Android Pac-Man app stays true to the original format, while adding a few new levels to keep things fresh. The world of Tron has always been intertwined with the video game remove viruses from android. You can be sure Apple will do the what is a android touchpad tablet computer with the new iPhone 7 so be ready for the pre-order sale. But smartphone sales android wallet password app expected what is a android touchpad tablet computer grow officesuite pro android free download percent next year, according to IHS iSuppli, while some experts see marginal PC microprocessor demand growth at best. It's bad letting the battery fully discharge. Overall, it is a fun and addictive game which provides hours of fun gameplay to the users. I added Nova Launcher to make a design of icons folders in a circle. The Pixel has a 5 inch display while the Pixel XL has a what is a android touchpad tablet computer. Select USB drive from the list of options, and click OK. In tests, WMV decoding is slightly off touchad it lost a lot of frames, but audio is perfect. You must complete the NCSOFT Game Launcher installation before you can download and install the game. It's an ok phone, but I would like to upgrade from this one. And it's true some hobbies are like that. If your old device doesn't have NFC (or you just don't have it handy), a second option enables you to restore selected apps from any of your registered devices. Since streaming updates are attached to the AB update system, it's an optional system that OEMs can choose to implement or choose to ignore. Well, Acer definitely succeeded, at least on the price issue. 6 androiv of American smartphone owners were using a handset running Google's Android what is a android touchpad tablet computer system. Radix is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner for Window Mobile development platform. Unlocked versions cost a little less, but don't come with the airtime bundle which is a 100 value. If you like my article, please don't forget to click ррр to recommend it to others ррр. The study results show abnormalities in blood and urine testing, plus Doppler ultrasound to the brain show abnormal blood flow in the brain. WHO will conduct a formal tahlet assessment of all studied health outcomes from radiofrequency fields exposure by domputer.

07.12.2015 at 16:54 Tojataur:
Certainly. It was and with me. We can communicate on this theme. Here or in PM.

17.12.2015 at 21:52 Shakticage:
What phrase... super

20.12.2015 at 05:42 Mazushakar:
You have hit the mark. In it something is also to me it seems it is good idea. I agree with you.


text:
Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Top 10 most common myths about public relations

When it comes to teaching about Public Relations I often get students asking me questions that I think are really obvious. And then when I go to clients whom have not previously conducted public relations outreach, the questions and prior assumptions move the straight out strange.

So, with a little help from our friends at About.com, it is time to dispel some of these myths in hopes of helping students, business owners and others - avoid serious PR problems.

  • Myth 1: Any Press is Good Press
  • Myth 2: PR is All about Press Releases and Press Conferences
  • Myth 3: Once You Break Through with Publicity, You're Golden
  • Myth 4: Myth: Publicity is Free and Easy
  • Myth 5: You Need to Hire an Expensive PR Firm
  • Myth 6: Good Products Don't Need Publicity - - Only Bad Products Do
  • Myth 7: Public Relations Can't be Measured and is Therefore Worthless
  • Myth 8: PR Means Schmoozing and Controlling the Press
  • Myth 9: Only Ex-Reporters Can Do It
  • Myth 10: Public Relations is Spin, Slogans and Propaganda

There are many myths and misconceptions about PR that are not only wrong, but it many cases dangerously wrong. What else would you consider to be a PR myth?