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Thursday, November 21, 2013

Robin Mahle - An Author Interview in the HBS Author's Spotlight

Today our blog puts the Spotlight on bestselling Mystery and Suspense Author Robin Mahle. She is an author the Redwood Violet suspense series.

Author Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Crime

Website: Robin Mahle
Author's Blog: Robin Mahle
Twitter: @RobinMahle
Goodreads: Check Out Goodreads
Google+: Check Out Google+
Facebook: Check Out Facebook
Pinterest: Check Out Pinterest

Author Description:
"I write because my characters tell me to!"

Robin's short story, LONG JOURNEY HOME, was released in 2011 and became an Amazon Bestseller, both in the US and the UK. And with the release of her debut novel, REDWOOD VIOLET, the first in the series, she is thrilled that it too, has become an Amazon Bestseller.

Now, the fans of the Redwood Violet series can look forward to the release of book two, ALL THE SHINY THINGS, set to launch on September 27th, 2013!

Bestselling Author, Robin Mahle, lives with her husband and two children in Arizona. Robin found her passion for writing, which later became her second career, after spending nearly 20 years in the construction industry.

Having always been a lover of books, Robin attributes her creativity to the wonderful overseas adventures she has shared with her husband of 14 years. Backpacking (or certainly close to it), throughout Europe and having lived in England, opened her mind and with that came a steady stream of story ideas inspired by her author- idols in the thriller/suspense genre.

SPOTLIGHT Questions and Answers with the Author

Congratulations on your book: All the Shiny Things. What do you have on the drawing board next? Can you tell us the timeline for its release and give us a little tease?

I am working on another mystery/suspense now, but it is still very early days. All I can say is that it is a departure from the Redwood Violet series in the sense that it has a supernatural theme. I’m really excited about it and my goal is for a February release. I’ll have to keep you posted as I’m not quite ready for any teasers just yet.

You have a good following on twitter. How important have your social media relationships been? How did you build your following in your niche? Did you use forums, newsletters and methods like that?

Social media is certainly a challenge and I do struggle to stay on top of it. As far as building a following, I work very hard at the relationship aspect of Twitter. I think the best way to gain followers is to engage other users, talk to them, makes your posts informative and interesting. I rarely ever tweet about my books unless it’s to inform of a new release or a temporary sale. I’m not one to spam my followers with links to buy my books. I think that makes a difference. Sometimes I get annoyed when my timeline is filled with advertisements. I don’t think I’m quite as good at staying on top of my Facebook page posts, though. That is strictly fan-based and I only want to put interesting information on my wall and to be honest, the life of a writer isn’t all that interesting, right? Well, not my life, anyway ? I do truly enjoy replying to the readers though. I get so excited when I get comments.

Do you do book signings, interviews, speaking and personal appearances? If so, when and where is the next place where your readers can see you? Where can they keep up with your personal contacts online?

I haven’t done a book signing just yet, but I am working something out with one of the main libraries in my city. I have just recently been approached, so we’re still coordinating on dates. But, once I have something set up, I will announce it on my Facebook page and Twitter. I admit I am very nervous that no one will show up (LOL!). As far as keeping up with any events I have scheduled, my website is a great place to start! The great thing about social media is that there are no shortages of ways to get in touch with me. I have a contact form on my website and of course I have Facebook and Twitter.

You have great covers. They carry a theme and your brand with them. How does your book cover creation process work? Do you hand over the basic theme or do you have more of a hands-on approach? Do you get your readers involved in its development?

You know, I have an absolutely fantastic cover artist, Laura at LLPix Photography. I really only give her a basic idea of what I’m looking for and she sends over the most fabulous covers. To be honest, I think I only had two revisions to my last cover. She nailed it pretty much right off the bat. I love that she has developed a theme as it relates to the font style she’s chosen for me. I think I will carry that theme, at least, part of it, to the next cover. As you know, branding is everything and if people recognize my name on one of my covers because of the style, then I’ve accomplished my goal! I seem to be learning a lot as I go along, so maybe the next time I will try to engage my readers and perhaps ask for input on my covers. That is a great way to get them involved in the process.

You have a great book trailer. (See link below.) It looks very professional. Do you know how much impact it has had on your book’s success? Tell us about the process that you used to create your trailer? Do you use the trailer in your character development? Are the pictures and background the way you see your characters and scenes?

Thank you. But the biggest challenge has been in getting views of the trailer. I struggle with promotional tools and their effectiveness. It’s really one of the hardest things for an indie author, I think. After all, I wasn’t a Marketing major and I can’t say it has really contributed to the book’s success. I managed my way through its creation and I do like it; I think it sets the tone for the series. The images are what I believe the main character, Katie, would have seen in her dreams. But, I’d love to learn how to utilize it as a true marketing tool.

You have published a short story. Can you tell us if it had an impact on the sales of your novels? Are shorty’s one of your styles of writing or are they created to give readers a sample of your work?

My short story, Long Journey Home, was really my first work of any real length. Prior to that, I wrote articles and moved up to essays and then the short story. I wouldn’t say it’s had much impact on sales of my novels, but I can tell you that since I’ve published the second book in the Redwood Violet series, sales of my short story have increased fairly significantly. I enjoy writing them, but I don’t know if I’ve got another in me; not right now, anyway. It was sort of like dipping my toe in the water. Now, I’m all in!

What writer support groups do you belong to? Do they help with the writing, marketing and the publishing process?

I hate to admit this, but I don’t belong to any writer groups. I hope to someday, though. I have a hard time keeping up with my day job, my family, social media and actually writing novels. I’m stretched pretty thin right now, but I can see light at the end of the tunnel and once I’m there, I plan on taking full vantage of those resources because I believe they are invaluable. I want to learn from those that came before me and publishing is a brave new world that I wouldn’t choose to tackle alone!

What has been your experience in giving your books away free? Have you been involved in any other type of giveaways and how did that work out? What was your main goal in doing this? Did you run into any obstacles?

I’ve run free promotions through KDP twice. The first time was about a month after I released book one in the series. It was moderately successful, but since I didn’t have any other novels published, any following I could have gained just withered away. The second time was at the release of book two. That was, what I would classify, as a major success. Redwood Violet reached number 2 in the Top 100 free on Amazon and was downloaded a whopping 53,000 times! I was honestly shocked. And, that really propelled book two where it still remains fairly high on the rankings, even six or so weeks later. I do believe that BookBub played a major part in the success of the free offering the second time around. I haven’t really tried any other type of giveaways, except when I was running my book blog tour, but I would like to find other advertising tools that are effective both from a cost standpoint and sales standpoint. I know there is some disagreement in the indie community about offering freebies, but for me, since I only have two books out and I am building a readership, it has been a great tool and I will do it again.

You have a great blog. You do a great job keeping readers informed, marketing your books and providing useful information to other writers. What is your primary goal? And where in the world do you find the time to create great novels, take care of the social media and maintain your blog?

Boy, you make me sound like some kind of author-superhero! Thank you! But it is difficult and I’m not nearly as up to speed with the whole blogging thing as some of my colleagues. I should be posting much more often, but I need to write novels or all the blogging in the world isn’t going to do me a bit of good. My goal is to simply give readers a glimpse of who I am and tell them a little about my writing process. If they like what they read, maybe they’ll pick up one of my books. It’s all about building relationships!

Do you publish your books in other languages? How is your audience abroad? How do you reach your audience in the UK?

Not as of yet, no, I don’t publish my books in other languages, but it’s something I’d like to explore. My audience abroad consists of a few family members I have in the UK, but I hope it will grow! I’m active on Goodreads and I have met quite a few British and Canadian folk on there. Maybe they will help to spread the word?

What is your method of getting reviews for your novels? Do you seek professional reviews, use social media or do you rely on your reading audience to supply them?

I hired a book blog review tour host for book one and I was extremely disappointed with the results. Not that I got bad reviews or anything, it was just that there was little follow through. After that, I just relied on reader reviews. They really are the best kind. They don’t feel the need to draft a synopsis of the entire story in their review; they just tell it like it is, good or bad. I doubt I would seek professional reviews; they are far too costly for a newbie like me.

Author's Book List
All the Shiny Things - Redwood Violet II
The endless nightmare has been brought to life and it’s too late to turn back, but Katie and Marshall are no longer fighting the battle alone.

In this second installment of the Redwood Violet series, the last piece in this horrifying puzzle has been revealed and the case grows beyond what they could have imagined. Now, the FBI wants control of the investigation.

While Katie enters into a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the man who taunts the authorities at every turn, her frustration grows. Soon, an unexpected alliance forms as Katie takes matters into her own hands.

But Marshall knows she’s risking too much and sides with the FBI. Protective custody seems to be her only option as her abductor develops a new found interest in those she holds closest to her heart.

Now the authorities have precious little time to find the killer before he takes another life. Who will it be this time?

Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble
Redwood Violet
Katie Reid is living the quintessential Southern California life. A dream job and her college sweetheart Spencer, top it all off. But the nightmares that have been haunting her for months are getting worse.

After seeking help from Dr. Reyes, it becomes apparent that Katie is dealing with something much deeper and much more sinister. Her only solution is to delve into a past that no one wants her to remember.

With the horrific discovery of a secret kept hidden for years, Katie is drawn into a world mired in evil and lost innocence. And only with the help of Detective Marshall Avery will she be able to channel her pain and anger.

But, will he be able to contain Katie’s desire for vengeance that has begun to unravel her perfect life?

The first in a two-part series, Redwood Violet will keep you firmly in its grip and refuse to let go!

"Redwood Violet is one of those books you should not open unless you have time to read it because you won't want to put this book down. From page one I was hooked on this fascinating mystery/crime solving read." Susan S.

Book Trailer: Redwood Violet

Order the Book From: Amazon - Barnes and Noble
Long Journey Home
Emma Williams was eager to start her new job at the Queen’s Head pub. Soon after, however, she finds herself caught in the middle of its diabolical past. Now forced to face the surreal events arising in the present, she must find the courage to help Jamila; the young victim from a bygone era.

With the help of her best friend Sarah, the quest begins as they unravel the dark and unsavory history of the old English pub.

In the midst of everything, Emma falls for the handsome chef, Liam. Reluctantly, she lets him in this supernatural world in which she is now involved.

Order the Book From: Amazon
Author Recommended by: HBSystems Publications
Publisher of ebooks, writing industry blogger and the sponsor of the following blogs:
HBS eBook Author’s Corner
HBS Mystery Reader’s Circle

Check out the index of other Spotlight authors. Spotlight Index.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you so much for hosting me today. It was great fun and I'm honored to have been chosen!


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Monday, April 27, 2009

Cultural Health Literacy

Our gardener is from Honduras but he speaks excellent English as a second language and has lived in the U.S. for many years. Despite this, his understanding of medical issues is quite limited, both by language and education. Today we were talking about the Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico and I was giving him what I thought was simple education. The conversation switched to immunizations and that is where I realized even simple explanations didn't work.

Raul believes he had a vaccination for Tuberculosis at a local community clinic before he recently returned to Honduras for a visit. He also had another vaccine that he has no idea what it was. I explained the TB skin test to him and the fact that there are no vaccinations for TB. (Actually in some foreign countries they do vaccinate with a drug called BCG but it is not used in the U.S.) He insisted that he tested negative for TB but was given 8 months of pills to take as a vaccine.

I am clear what happened. Tuberculosis exposure is treated with INH (Isoniazid) pills daily for 6-8 months. He probably had a positive TB skin test and because he travels back and forth to a TB endemic area he was given INH for "latent" TB and to prevent active infection.
This is not what we know of as a vaccine. Even more worrisome is the other vaccine that he received for unknown reasons. It could have been tetanus, polio, yellow fever or measles. And we have no idea what preventive immunizations he is missing.

Very few patients, no matter where they are from, remember when and where they were vaccinated. As a comprehensive Internist, I keep a record on my patients but fewer and fewer patients have a continuity physician. Patients who are seen at various emergency rooms, urgent care, travel clinics or other community clinics have no real records to fall back on.

At the very least, patients should be given a laminated card to carry in their wallets that list immunizations and dates. This should be standardized across the U.S., much like a drivers license. Is that so hard to do?

Anonymous said...

The laminated card is a really great idea!!

Anonymous said...

At the very least, patients should be given a laminated card to carry in their wallets that list immunizations and dates. Although this is great for most people try getting an illegal to get immunated never mind carrying a card. They move from place to place, state to state spreading whatever it is they are carrying putting health care workers and the public at risk.

jenny said...

Swimming: the Sport to Gain some Height
Swimming is one of the healthiest sports that are available today. It helps in a lot when it comes to the cardiovascular system and the pulmonary system. With swimming, the heart is strengthened, making it more capable of pumping blood into the rest of the body. If you have a good heart, you are less likely to have high-blood pressure and cardiac arrest. With swimming, your lungs are also improved, which is important since a body needs to maintain clean fresh oxygen to work properly.
Truly, swimming has a lot of advantages. But did you know that swimming can also help increase the possibility of a person way beyond his puberty age to grow taller? Yes, it can! One of the basics of swimming is the stretching of the legs and arms during the swim. The freestyle, the butterfly and the breast stroke all involve the complete stretching of arms and legs, especially breast stroke. For more information, visit here .
Not only has that, swimming helped you to improve posture. We know that many short people are guilty of not maintaining the right posture. If you stand properly – straight and proud – you will notice that you will actually gain some height. Many people realized that once they have improved their posture, they grow at least an inch taller.
Furthermore, will floating in the water, the body experiences less gravity, being buoyed up by water itself. This relaxes the bones in your body, especially the spine.
Aside from utilizing this sport, it is also necessary to have a balanced diet, have enough sleep and have a daily dose of growth enhancers such as Growth Flex V Pro System. Go to .

flin said...

Nutrients for Growth
One of the reasons why a person fails to grow taller as he should is because of poor diet. Without the proper nutrition, the body will not be able to produce the right amount of hormones that the body needs. The body’s defenses are lessened and the ability to the various activities is likewise decreased. If your body could not even keep up with its daily activities, how much more would it be able to properly produce growth hormones that one needs to grow tall? Being deficient in nutrients can inhibit a person’s growth.
Having the right amount of nutrients is then necessary for growth, whether you are in your teens, in your twenties, thirties and forties. The six essential nutrients that the body needs are vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates, proteins and of course, water. When the body has enough of these, you can be sure that the body will function well. Furthermore, you will increase the possibility of growing a few more inches. Go to .
It is important to note that the body needs a balanced diet; this means you should not take any more than what is necessary. Too much of anything can be bad. Food that has been fried in oil has too much fat, same as with junk food. To make sure that you have the right nutrients for growth, check the label in the packaging of the food.
It would also be better if you can have some dietary supplements. Remember, since they are supplements, they cannot be used as replacement for real food. A regular dose of growth enhancers such as Growth Flex V Pro System can help. For more in details, go to .

Anonymous said...

Generic Cialis

Rural Nurse Diagnoses and Treats His Own Heart Attack

Here is a remarkable feel good story as reported in the letters section of The New England Journal of Medicine.  A 44 year old male n...

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Thursday, 6 September 2012

GUTGAA: Critique partners and BETAs

Hey guys, if you're here for the meet and greet part - firstly, thank you! and secondly, it's the next post down.

So in spirit of the critique partner day, I'm going to post a little something out of my current WIP so anyone stopping by can scope out my stuff and work out if it's something they'd be willing to dedicate a lot of time and energy to.

I totally appreciate if it's not your taste but if it is, and you're keen to team up, let me know! Also, anyone and everyone can feel free to tear this to shreds. I'm way used to it by now and it actually helps a lot.

So here is a short (completely random) snippet from ILLUSION OF A MAJESTY.

 My eyes flew open as I shot up in bed but instead of the scream I expected, chokes strangled my throat. Water flew across my bed and my lungs burnt while my whole body heaved up what felt like the Pacific Ocean. My head grew tight as I gasped down air and the hands I pushed to my forehead were shaking.

 My breaths were short and ragged and if I didn’t know any better, I could have sworn I almost drowned. But for that to have happened…

 I threw my legs over the side of the bed and began pacing. I couldn’t stop running my hands through my hair until it got so knotted I had to untangle myself. But there was no untangling my twisted insides, because my dream… I’d seen it before. I just had no idea where.

 I took another great shuddering breath and swiped at the tears on my face. The clock on my desk told me it was already seven in the morning but the sky outside was still dark and the clouds that hugged the distant mountaintops threatened rain.

 I dragged my hand through my hair again but this time a sharp pain shot through my thumb. I jerked my hand back, slapped on the light and inspected the long, clean cut. Just like a razor. I quickly checked my arms and legs but that seemed to be the only one there. I looked from it, to the wet splotches on my bed and felt my whole body cool with fear. What was happening to me?

 It's pretty much the moment Jenna realises she's joined la-la land. Not really sure why I chose this part but it's what I opened first, so I'm just going to roll with it. Admittedly, it doesn't really give the best sense of what my book's about but that's pretty much the writing style.

 Hope you enjoyed.

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Tuesday, 25 December 2012

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

This is just a super quick post to wish all you amazing people a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Thank you so much for following my blog, this last year has been amazing and it really does mean the world. I've been quiet this last month or so because of personal excitement and replanning/rewriting one of my WIPs but I look forward to the more glorious adventures in the coming year.

Take care for the holidays.

Much love, Heather.

  1. Glad you're back in the blogging world Heather. Good luck on your WIP's and hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

THANK YOU for commenting! It means more than you know :)


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Thursday, February 11, 2010

Running Playlist

You can click on the lists to make it bigger.
I got a IPOD for Christmas. My playlist has to be long, prefer it be up to 10 hours long and I don't like most slow songs. Here is my list (so far, constantly adding) It is 137 songs, 8.6 hours. I like to use the shuffle option, makes things different each run.

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Just leave me a message or a comment. Thanks~!

Sankaku Complex Feed

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Im not dead.

I just dont post much.

1 comment:

  1. Hello, fellow person who lives in Conroe~ I saw this on your MyAnimeList lol. You haven't posted on here or been on MAL in a while D: Anyway, it's nice to know I'm not the only one in Conroe who is an anime fan :3


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Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Review: Nuts by Alice Clayton

Nuts (Hudson Valley #1)

About The Book:

Title: Nuts
Series: Hudson Valley #1
Author: Alice Clayton
Release Date: October 20, 2015
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Gallery Books

From New York Times bestselling author Alice Clayton, the first in a brand-new romance series telling the humorously sexy tale of Roxie, a private chef who gets a taste of love—but is it to stay, or to go?

After losing almost all of her clients in one fell swoop following an accident involving whipped cream, private chef to Hollywood’s elite Roxie Callahan gets a call from her flighty mother, saying she’s needed home in upstate New York to run the family diner. Once she's back in the Hudson Valley, local organic farmer Leo delivers Roxie a lovely bunch of walnuts, and soon sparks—and clothing—begin to fly. Leo believes that everything worth doing is worth doing slowly…and how! But will Roxie stay upstate, or will the lure of West Coast redemption tempt her back to Tinseltown?

Kirstin's Review:

Nuts (Hudson Valley, #1)Nuts by Alice Clayton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kirstin's Review:

Nuts by Alice Clayton 5 out of 5 stars

Love Alice Clayton! For this book, think Gilmore girls in print! Witty dialogue, crazy quirky characters, and a small town setting. But, this version of Gilmore girls actually comes with a super hot farmer and some amazingly unique sex scenes!

You will laugh, you will be amused, you won't be able to put it down!

In this one, Roxie is the small town girl who escaped to the big city but is forced to return home. And Leo is the sexy local farmer who sweeps her off her feet with a crooked grin, a yummy beard, and a low slung set of faded jeans! Who could blame her right? I want a Leo! Life is so unfair! Boo!

So, I guess we will all just have to live vicariously through Roxie. Enjoy!

About The Cocktail Series:

Cocktail #1: Wallbanger

Cocktail #2: Rusty Nailed

Cocktail #3: Screwdrivered
Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Gallery Books

Cocktail #4: Mai Tai'd Up

Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Gallery Books

About The Author:

ALICE CLAYTON worked in the cosmetics industry for over a decade before picking up a pen (read laptop).

She enjoys gardening but not weeding, baking but not cleaning up, and finally convinced her long-time boyfriend to marry her.

Now, about that Bernese Mountain dog...

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Fireball Spotted by Helderberg Residents 12/03/2013

There has been reports today from residents in the Helderberg Basin who spotted a fire ball shooting across the sky this is one resident's comment from facebook:

seriously what was that ball of fire over the Helderberg this afternoon??? does anyone know?? or am I losing my mind??

If any one else has spotted the fire ball or knows what it was please let us know!

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous16/4/13

    Looking at the HD7 and its Windows Phone 7 devices -- but let's be honest, you should be good to sex cam sell.

Thank you, for visiting The Helderberg Basin Blog


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Since starting in 2011 as the first ever full-fledged proposal planning and imaging company, we are proud to have come a long way since. Our biggest thanks goes to each and everyone of the gentlemen who have trusted us and entrusted us with planning and capturing the biggest question that they ever popped. The beauty of the process and moments drove us along to give our best for them, and now, for you!

31 Dec 2011 – Set Jen and Kim on journey on a lifetime together. Our very first marriage proposal, a success!

Feb 2012 – HYM was featured as the first professional marriage proposal planner in Singapore, on Straits Times RazorTV.

Feb 2013 – HYM teamed up with on Valentine’s Day to create three unique proposals as part of AsiaRooms’ Love Train campaign. The proposals were featured on Channel 5, Channel 8, The Straits Times, 联合早报 and other national media. It was  the first collaboration of its kind.

Sep 2013 – Launched HYM’s wedding planning service with Jen and Kim’s carnival-styled wedding at Fullerton Hotel. Especially sweet as they were the very first couple who had their proposal with us! It is a great motivation when many guests commented that it was “the best wedding they have been to”

Aug 2013 – 1st feature on MyPaper and 2nd feature on Shin Min Daily. Our “Mission: Impossible” proposal was featured!

Dec 2013 – Our 50th proposal, and our 50th ‘Yes’!

Mar 2014 – Jermaine and Evelyn’s vintage European garden wedding was featured on Style:Weddings! HYM is proud to have planned their dream wedding!

Apr 2014 – We have 1 million views (and counting) for Jen and Kim’s proposal video on Youtube. Looking at the 800+ comments on the video, we are really glad to have inspired people all around the world that sometimes a little love and effort goes a long, long way!

Aug 2014 – HYM’s photography team did a maternity shoot for Jen and Kim’s first baby! It’s really heartwarming how things came a long way and how Jen and Kim become our good friends 🙂

Jan 2015 –  We are on national TV! HelpYouMarry’s co-founder, Lee Minghui, is the resident Proposal Architect for Mediacorp Channel 5’s “The Proposal”! It is a 10-episode series featuring 10 very unique, inspiring marriage proposals by 10 different individuals. Minghui and the HelpYouMarry team planned and executed the proposals in the show, guiding each individual every step  of the way!

Jan 2015 – The HelpYouMarry team had its first radio interview on Kiss92 FM’s Maddy, Jason and Arnold in the morning! Minghui and Derica attended the show to share insights on our interesting jobs as marriage proposal planners on the segment “How We Do”. We had a great time and all three of them are awesome DJs!


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 Fay Henexson | Suits me to a T

Suits me to a T

August 03, 2017  •  1 Comment

abstract, "fort Casey", photomontageSuits me to a TPhotomontage

The month of August had turned into a griddle where the days just lay there and sizzled. - Sue Monk Kidd

Well, we’re firmly entrenched in the dog days of summer.  These are droopy, wilted days with roiling thunderclouds that offer little relief and rob us of cool morning breezes.  Air conditioning is a blessing - until the utility bill arrives.

It’s definitely not my favorite season for photography.  But it is the perfect time to have fun with photomontage, so I’ve been playing with my abstract images and combining them with subtle textures, to enhance their otherworldliness.  Heat - thunder - humidity - flash flood warnings - I was in the mood for some cool hues today!

Jonathan Merage(non-registered)
Nice post!
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Saturday, March 19, 2016

Power Rangers Dino Supercharge - Home Run Koda - Episode Review

Episode Summary:
The gang shows Koda and Ivan modern sports when Fury spies on them. Koda hits a golf ball into the coffee of the baseball coach nearby. Game Face monster comes and attacks them. The baseball bat glows. Viviks hit tennis balls and footballs that explode. The Baseball coach watches. Koda takes the glowing bat and hits the bad baseballs and knocks Game Face away. Coach Ted introduces himself and says he coaches the big leagues Earthquakes. He offers a job to Koda. Riley convinces him to do it. Heckyl is mad at Gameface in the ship. Fury defends Gameface. Heckyl tells Gameface he has one more chance.
They do a baseball press conference in the café at the museum and ask Koda questions. Kendall is concerned if this is what Koda really wants. During the first game, Riley gives Koda shoes. The pitcher throws the ball and Koda hits it out of the park. Koda runs. Meanwhile, Game Face trains the Viviks for his 'doom squad.' Riley trains Koda with healthy food and early morning drills. At the games, they call him "Home Run Koda."
Dino Victory Charger is made by Kendall, making a final strike with 5 energem powers. They ask Riley and Koda to test it out. Riley says no, that they have to train and takes Koda away. Tyler says the GameFace is still out there. Koda says he's sorry. Later, Riley tells Koda they will go to the championship. He scores and everyone cheers. Koda is visibly not happy. Back at the base, Kendall says there is a lot of Vivik. The Championship is coming up soon, Riley makes excuses. They leave RIley and Koda. Koda says he doesn't feel right. The others watch that the Viviks are training. Game Face says his bat has explosive force. Wrench broke it, saying it is an ordinary bat. GameFace figures Koda has his bat, the others see this.
GameFace says the Bat is an explosive as well, he can detonate it. Tyler calls Riley and Koda but they don't hear it as the coms are in their gym bags. The Rangers reunite and take the bat. Riley says they have a game to win. Koda says it is just a game. Riley says he dreamed of winning a champion game but didn't have the ability that Koda has. Koda says the Rangers are their team. Riley is reminded. The Rangers face Gameface and Koda throws the detonating bat in the air. Koda realizes the bat was magic and maybe he had no skill.
They morph and the Viviks change and they fight. Fury and Wrench leave. The Viviks bash the Rangers with a basketball. Purple Ranger comes in and gives them the Victory charger. Gold Ranger finishes off Viviks. Red goes Super and does the Victory final strike with the others. GameFace is then grown. Purples goes Super Dino Drive. The big Viviks are in baseball uniforms and are quickly dispatched by Ptera Charge. Dino Charge does baseball moves. Plesio-Rex is made and Koda does the final strike destroying the monster.
Back at the game, coach tells Koda to do a homerun. Koda worries about the bat. Riley tells him to use his instincts. Koda takes off his shoes. He does a caveman pose. The pitcher throws the ball. Koda hits it out of the park, everyone cheers. The teammates carry Koda.
Everyone called this a filler episode and it sure does that but it has nice character development for both Koda and Riley. Riley always has a jerk behavior, so covering an episode again (last time using the energem for personal gain) in a different way is defendable. At least it is not like Megaforce and an Noah episode covering again his insecurities physically. Seeing Koda in the modern world is interesting.


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Saturday, March 18, 2017

Power Rangers Ninja Steel - Gold Rush - Episode Review

Gold Ranger fights a monster. The Rangers try to get to him but lose him. They have been trying to track him down. Galvanax says weeks have passed and is mad at Madam Odius. Ripcon wants to go to Earth. Galavanax wants to know who the traitor was. Levi Weston is a country star, everyone is in line for signatures. Hayley says he is cute and Calvin pouts and she says he is cute too. They are all dressed as cowboys except for Brody. Victor and Monty are dressed as a horse. Ripcon attacks and Brody saves Levi. The Rangers morph and fight the villains. Levi's manager bumps into Ripcon, the Gold Power Star comes out of his briefcase. Ripcon sees it, the Rangers blast him and the Manager runs off with it.

Levi hires Brody as his bodyguard as long as the friends get backstage passes. Red joins the fight on the beach and rip off Ripcon's horn. Madam Odius arrives. The Rangers finds out they are targeting the Gold Ranger. Manager asks for more bodyguards when he bumps into Ripcon. He gets kidnapped. At a warehous,e the villains find the Gold Power Star. Ripcon knows Odius held him in the ship he says. Brodya nd Levi get food. He says his brother used to like burgers. They see a woman and her son in trouble with car. Brody looks at the car. Levi gives the kid the food as he is starving. Brody owes him an apology, saying he is normal, thinking he was a jerk. He say they could be friends as he treated him normal.

Brody gets called and runs off. The Rangers bat up he grunts in their ninja outfits. The Rangers run into Ripcon. The five morph. A net captures them. Red blasts the star from him and frees the manager, who doesn't know what is going on. He runs off. Ripcon is stopped and Levi picks up the star. He morphs into the Gold Ranger. He fights Ripcon. He frees the other Rangers. He continues fighting Ripcon, who wants to know who captured him. He does a Rock Storm Blast attack. The Rangers do Ninja Blast Final Attack on Ripcon. Levi followed Brody and surprised to see him transform into Red. Skullgators are called.

The Rangers call the zords and don the Master Mode (including Gold) in the megazord cockpit. They fight Skullgator. Pink gives them Ninja Stars to clone like she made in the last episode. They make Megazord clones and they fight the Skullgator. Red does an attack with his zord. He gives Gold the Ninja Master Blade and Gold does the finishing attack. Hayley fawns over Levi. Back at the ship, Odius asks Ripcon if he found the traitor. He is mad. She claims he is the traitor and she leaves. Mick and Redbot see a vision of a spaceship from the Lion galaxy in the prism. Levi enters the base. Mick gives him the Storm Star and the Zord Star for his zord. Brody asks him about the Gold Power Star.

Levi was working on his new album with his guitar when the prism came to him. The Gold Power Satr glowed and he grabbed it. Odius came and kidnapped him. His mind was messed with and driven insane. The Astro Zord saved him and he got the star and left. He had the manager Tom hold the gold power star for safe keeping. They are happy to have them. The winner of the biggest fan is the little girl Victor made fun of, who now has a similar costume. He is blown away when his fan is turned on.

Episode Review:
I must say, as a gay man, I am really smitten by Levi. Never before has a Power Ranger (in a long time) looked like a cowboy all-American manly man. He is an 'aww schuks' kind of guy. Maybe I am just into that kind o guy. But he is also very built, more so than the other male Rangers this season and even the movie. Tyler last year was manly man body wise with all the facial hair but not his personality. Anyway, a good ep. This is the classic Red Ranger and Sixth Ranger become friends episode and then we never see them bond again. I do like that the Pink Ranger's clone device from last episode was referenced. I do feel it is too soon for the Lion zord to be revealed as it should be in the second season. I mean, that's almost all the zords. The Loud House episode that aired afterwards had a 3-minute Behind the Scenes preview of the movie.

Power Rangers Ninja Steel - Hack Attack - Epiosode Review

Episode Summary:
Sarah trips over Mick with a bunch load of things in the school. She signed up for four different clubs that meet at the same place. In the ship, Madame Odius visits the teen victim. The transger is almost  complete and she plans to throw the human away. Sarah beats Brody in track club, she beats Preston in chess club, out dos the others in the camp and shows her new boomerang arrow to Victor, Monty and the principal at the archery club. Victor shows off a Robin Hood outfit and shoots and arrow with mixed results. Later the five are in suits, she shows a new attack with her Ninja Blaster when Hacktrack arrives with Kudabots. Sarah's hologram .starts flickering and enters a ball gadget.

At the base, the Rangers find Sarah. She created a Holo Projector, which clones her. They ask if the monster could do something with her holo projector, she thinks about it. The monster absorbs the technoloy and makes giant holo clones. They put a device on Galavanax and make a giant clone. The Rangers see 8 Galavanaxes. Sarah thinks of a plan while the others leave to fight. She activates four other Sarahs and they have things to do. Mick notices something. The Rangers use the whiplash attack to no avail.

The clones pull her apart and Mick starts playing four instruments at once. Sarah berates him at doing four things at once when she realizes her fault. She hugs Mick's instrument. She takes away the clones and focuses on a plan. She comes with a new gadget and the monster steals it. Hacktrack malfunctions do to a virus. The giant clones disappear and the Rangers fight the monster.  The monster is made big and the zords are called. Astro Zord is called and has a ninja mode. Astro Ninja Steel Megazord is formed. It goes into space after the monster, fight shim and destroys him. Sarah quits the archery club to the principal, who tells her any college is lucky to have her. Monty flies into the air and crashes into the target due to Victor's slingshot. The Rangers leave to the base. The Astrozord blasts the ship, the teen is freed, gets his Ninja Star and becomes Gold Ranger and blasts Ripcon. He enters the ship and lands a the city plaza. The Rangers see the Gold Ranger come out on the TV, They wonder who he is.

Episode Review:
Sarah has more gadgets and inventions than Rose of PROO and Billy of MMPR. But her personality doesn't seem to go along with it. Her personality reminds me of Alyssa of PRWF. And Mick didn't notice her using the holo projector in the same base that is not that big?


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Listen live to Hermitage FM 99.2     Hermitage FM Popup

The Colin Park Show

On air: Sundays 11-12 Noon

My great love of music was born in the late 1950s. Although I was far too young to be a real part of it, the pub across the road from our house blasted out carefree, wild, rock ‘n’ roll and I loved it. My taste has been expanding ever since.

I guess it was the late 1960s when I first became aware of my developing tastes. As the 1970s approached I found myself listening to what I fancied depending on my mood rather than the trend. However, Abba and Peter, Paul and Mary were then out of the question – drowned out by the likes of Led Zeppelin and seemingly belittled by the meaningful lyrics and mesmerising, psychedelic sound of Pink Floyd.

Nowadays I appreciate comparitively recent rediscoveries from the very roots like Woodie Guthrie and Hank Williams. Leonard Cohen continues to reflect my experiences of life, Van Morrison too. The list goes on with liberal sprinklings of country, motown, jazz and folk.

To sum up I have developed an extremely wide taste in music. And yes I do now listen to Abba and Peter, Paul and Mary – not only that but I love ‘em!

So you never know what you’ll hear on my Sunday show. Please join me for a rummage together through the genres and the decades. Choice of music will be influenced by what was high in the charts in that particular month and which musicians birthdays coincide with that week.

Amid chat about trivia that happened around that time back in history, there’s always a Mystery Lyric and Mystery Intro to guess too.

I look forward to your company.

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Saturday, July 12, 2008

A Look Back At Doom and Gloom

A little history about where we've been and where we're going.

Studies of the settlement ecology of pre-industrial Europe have revealed some interesting data about grain and firewood, two essentials of daily life in settlements and urban centers. It has been suggested that a settlement of 10,000 people would need about 30 to 50 tons of firewood each day for cooking and heating needs. The same settlement would require about 10 tons of grain, based on one kilo of grain per person, per day. It does not take much imagination to visualize the amount of smoke, dung in the streets and how the combined odors from the aforementioned, would assault the senses of every citizen. In 1300, London was estimated to consume over 386 tons of wood each day. In Milan, 150,000 cartloads of wood each year were needed to fuel their 2276 bake houses and shops. Basis sanitation was non-existent, streets served as garbage dumps and sewers and death by disease stalked every living soul.

Time travel ahead to the 19th century.

To San Francisco or any major city in the industrial age. The primary method of moving goods within the city remained draft animals with their attendant fertile street deposits and flatulence. Wood stoves and coal fired furnaces fueled the energy needs. The assault on the senses and health, was the same as the earlier examples of 14th Century London and Milan. Sanitation was better, but still rudimentary compared to today's systems. Disease was slowly pushed back with new vaccines to cure small pox and rabies and knowledge about bacteria.

Fast forward to 1950's and 60's

I can recall my own experience in growing up with the fear of imminent nuclear holocaust imprinted on your mind every time we were instructed to "duck and cover" in a civil defense drill. Smog alerts were almost a daily summer occurrence in 1950's Los Angeles. Diseases like polio were such a threat that public swimming pools were closed at times. Within a few years, a vaccine was found for polio, improved fuels and engines and bans on burning trash improved air quality by vast measures. Nuclear holocaust was mostly diffused by the realization by all major holders of these weapons that the end result would leave everyone a loser. My point is that for every challenge to humanity we have found a way to overcome and move civilization forward, so that more and more humans can live their lives with a purpose more that mere survival.

The quotes I posted below, are from two men who share the common experience of growing up in the past decades where we were reminded daily of impending "End of the World." predictions. Their prospectives introduce a series of links that discuss the current hot issue of energy, global warming, and what course should be followed. I offer them as a way of stimulating thought and thinking about the issues.

Global whatever

Now we are lectured that climate change is threatening civilization and we must do this and that. Twenty years ago I remember it was the Aids epidemic that was just about to break out among the heterosexual population in the fashion it had devastated the San Francisco gay community. Thus we needed to quit envisioning the virus as largely specific to gays and IV-drug users, and instead mobilize to protect the entire population from a mass epidemic. A few voices in the wilderness who argued that the mechanisms of so-called normal heterosexual sex (while perhaps conducive in their unprotected modes to all sort of venereal diseases) were nevertheless often different from both the apparent frequency and nature of homosexual sex practices, and very different from the blood exchanges of shared-needles, were derided as either illiberal, homophobic, or unhinged.

The country seems to go through these ‘we are on the brink of extinction’ panics about every 20 years or so. We all remember the 1960s population bomb and how 3-billion-person India would be starved into oblivion by now, or Ronald Reagan’s desire for a nuclear winter (remember the made-for-TV movies about a Reagan-inspired nuclear holocaust), or again the take-over of Japan, Inc. as everything from Rockefellar Center to Pebble Beach was lost to the Yellow Peril. I remember my high-school science teacher lecturing about a global ice-age to come, and we humans going the way of the dinosaurs.

I don’t think our planet overheating in the near future is going to kill off billions, but I wonder whether the entire neglect of energy questions for last 20 years, especially the need to develop shale, tar sands, more clean coal, nuclear, and drilling oil to transition us to cleaner fuels, has nearly bankrupted American civilization. Our dependencies have siphoned off trillions from our productive economy in de facto cash grants to very unproductive exporters, who see as their birthright $140 a barrel oil that cost them $4-5 to pump—after someone else provided them the know-how and expertise to find, pump, and ship it.
We seem to panic about imaginary beasts, when real monsters quietly devour us.

Victor Davis Hanson, 2008

Thomas Barnett offers this tart commentary.

Watched "Forbidden Planet" (50th anniversary edition) tonight and then spooled through a host of trailers for films of that era (early fifties) and they were all about the end of the world by various tragedies, typically unleashed by (gasp!) NUUUUUUUUUCLEAR POWER!
Biblical prophecies fulfilled! Man's worst nightmares unleashed! The seeds of our own destruction ... what were we thinking?
Just goes to remind you that when we enter an era of new rule sets, like that ushered in--in many people's minds--by 9/11, we endure a long silly season of such prognostications.
To point out that fact is to be--of course--horrifically naive or, worse, tragically afflicted by man's hubris! And if you cite the fallacies of the fifties, then your opponents will retreat to other ages and you're quickly into hypotheticals of the most amazing, Fox-TV sort. But people have such a strong internal need for the "end times." You can't reason them out of it, and the secular versions are just as strong, always invoking man's arrogance instead of his usual venal sins.
I can't remember how many documentary films I sat through at Immaculate Conception that said way back when that we'd all succumb by now to disease, or bugs, or pollution, or the widely predicted ice age.
Then there was the ozone hole we could never fix, except we did.
The environment is the usual lead example today, with predictions of millions upon millions of deaths being possible, and so all sorts of dramatic changes are proposed at huge costs, when, of course, for pennies a year we could save the same numbers from all sorts of early childhood diseases or make all sorts of advances in combating this or that affliction right here and now.

Barnett continues.

The Chicago Boyz, weigh in with this tongue and cheek observation.

Power Myths and the Onion

Economist Martin Wolf of Financial Times offers his thoughts.

Steve DeAngelis, Enterra Solutions , adds more food for thought.

Enterprise Resilience Management Blog: Global Warming and Resilience

Enterprise Resilience Management Blog: Energy Resilience & Path ...

Hopefully the above posts and links will help to stimulate thinking about some of the challenges that we face. The future will have new challenges, but for now these are the ones we have been handed, I am totally confident that we will meet them and the end product will be a better environment for everyone.

Dan tdaxp said...

An important post, tying together similar posts that many (including myself) would have missed. Good job!

historyguy99 said...

Thanks, I value your comment.


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Saturday, October 31, 2009

1952: OBIT Jim "Skip" Porter HHS 1952

From "THE TIMES," October 31, 2009

James Porter "Skip"

James 'Skip' Porter PENNINGTON- James "Skip" Porter, 74, devoted husband, loving father and grandfather, passed away peacefully at home. Born in Hamilton Township in 1934, Skip lived most of his life as a Hopewell Valley resident. He enjoyed summers on Long Beach Island and winters in Hobe Sound, FL. He was a graduate of Hamilton High School West, four year class president and four year captain of the Hamilton High School football team. He spent a year as a post graduate at Hun School of Princeton then attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA, where he was a part of the undefeated 1954 football team. He was a U.S. Army veteran involved with the Second Guided Missile Group at Fort Bliss, TX. Skip enjoyed being a part of his community, serving as the president of the YMCA, coaching many athletic activities in the township and enjoyed serving as a deacon of the Pennington Presbyterian Church. He was instrumental in initiating the boys basketball and girls softball leagues, and enjoyed coaching in these leagues as well. Son of the late Robert S. Porter and Mae Porter, he is survived by his wife Janet; son, James Thomson, his wife Debbie and grandchildren Hunter and Jessica Porter of Port St. Lucie, FL; daughters, Jill Ellen Jones, her husband Randall and grandchildren Randall and Tyler of Titusville, and Janiene Elizabeth Baxter, her husband Gary and grandchildren Jeffrey and Paige, of Titusville; also surviving are brothers, Robert Porter of Browns Mills, William Porter of Whiting and Earl Porter of Walla Walla, WA. We are so appreciative of the many hours of care given to Skip over the past three years by Kris Niepsiej, a loyal and dedicated caregiver and friend. A special thanks to our many friends that always gave Skip a helping hand, a smile and constant support. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to The Parkinson's Alliance, P.O. Box 308, Kingston, NJ 08528-0308. A celebration of life service for James Porter will take place at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6, at The Pennington Presbyterian Church, 13 S. Main St., Pennington, NJ 08534. Calling hours will be from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5 at The Wilson-Apple Funeral Home, 2560 Pennington Rd., Pennington, NJ 08534.


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जन्म दिन 20th Century
Normal clothing {{{clothing}}}
Friends with Nobita Nobi

Fuko (フーコ,Children of Wind) is a character in the 23rd movie titled Nobita and the Wind Wizard. She is a wind spirit.

चित्र:65401ca71c0b62eb2b3476634dfd399f.avi snapshot 00.13.24 -2013.08.10 21.28.20-.jpg

In the film, Fuko is one Mafuuga's parts that was splited by Noajin in order to seal the demonic beast. After Noajin sealed the most dangerous and evil part into red egg deep within the volcano of the forbidden island, the other two was also sealing along with Uranda's body in his tomb. However both eggs was revived thanks to the Storm and the Arashi Tribe attempt to revive Uranda. Both eggs each went on their way, very, very far away.

चित्र:Fuko ori.jpg

Later, after the storm claim down, one of the egg is found(tripped) by Suneo when he attempt to play with his toy car, results in the shell breakage and a wind-like spirit emerges from it and also Suneo's toy broken. The spirit then flew away with Suneo chased after it. It later noticed Nobita licking his ice cream and took a like to it. As he refused to share his ice cream, the spirit steals it from him and begins to taste, only to be frozen momentary because of the coldness, and drop the ice scream. Unfortunately, some of the ice cream fell on Gian's head and Gian, thinks that Nobita did it, attempt to punch him but the spirit came to rescue by using its wind power to blow Gian away into nearby trash can. Feeling bad, it then attempted to follow and give back a Nobita his ice cream(that fell on the floor) with Nobita running away in disgust with Suneo witnessed the spirit's power in distance and followed them.

At Nobita's house, Doraemon is quite surprised in the spirit's appearance and discovered that the spirit is something akin to a "child of typhoon". While they were researching the spirit starts to create mess in the room, including pulling out Nobita's failed test papers. In an attempt to calm it down, Nobita gave it a name "Fuuko" which mean "child of wind" with Doraemon questioned about the feminine name choice. When Nobita's mother starts to notice their actions, Doraemon suggests Nobita to release Fuuko with the latter suggests the other way and pleads to keep her. Left with no option, Doraemon brought out Adjustable Size Stuffed Toy Camera which Fuko can wears to conceal her identity. After choosing "Dorakokko" as her costume, Fuko then put the costume on and helped Nobita and Doraemon clean up to room. They escape the house before Nobita's mother reach there with Bamboo Copter, not noticing Suneo on the street looking for her which Suneo doesn't notice them either.

  • Her name come from Fuuko(風子), meaning child of wind. Her name may also be a pun on the creator Fujiko F. Fujio name as well.zh-tw:風子


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Family Values Spokesperson Sarah Palin Adds Another Recent Divorce In Her Family, Highlight Hollywood News

Sarah Palin’s son, Track Palin, isn’t the only member of the family who is calling it quits on his marriage, no way. The Palin train just keeps on running.   According to TMZ, the former Alaska governor’s sister-in-law Wendy separated from husband James Palin in July after 12 years of marriage. James and Todd Palin, Sarah Palin’s husband, are brothers.
The estranged pair is now in the midst of resolving a custody dispute over their 10-year-old daughter.Earlier this month, Track Palin filed for divorce from his high school sweetheart, Britta Hanson, after less than two years of marriage.  The former couple has already decided how to  split their property and custody of their 1-year-old daughter.  Track will keep his gun collection and a $30,000 bank account, while Hanson will walk away with her jewelry collection and a $2,500 bank account.
2013 is sure to deliver even more bad news for Palin, as FOX News insiders are reporting her contract will be drastically cut back, her salary at least by 50 percent, and even less airtime for the Fox News propagandist.
You can follow us at
Written By: Tommy Lightfoot Garrett
Photographs are Courtesy: Fox News
Follow us on Twitter @HighlightHwd or @LightfootinHwd


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Second day

Non stop rush. First job go to car and load up rest of stuff with two emptied suitcases. Took ages to get there on the vaporetto and then repacking and then return around the lagoon to saint Marco. We also had a big rolled up rug to make the flat look homely. So we rang our son Tom who met us at saint Marco, took a heavy suitcase then promptly twisted his ankle so badly that we spent the afternoon in casualty. My husband and I left him waiting while we did a food shop, got spare keys cut after having walked around for more than an hour looking for a place that does them. Tom ok bought bin and cooking utensils and came home exhausted. Lovely sunny day now to cook meal. Tomorrow must get proper residents vaporetto passes.


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Our economic development and workforce development strategy practice combines the firm’s strengths in strategy and facilitation with content expertise in economic development to provide a unique focus in the workforce development arena.


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Waitrose opts out of Ickenham Shell store move as petrol station shuts for 2 months

Shell in High Road Ickenham - courtesy of Google Maps Shell in High Road Ickenham - courtesy of Google Maps

Waitrose has told Hillingdon is Here that it will not be opening a new store in Ickenham at the Shell petrol station – which is set to be shut for two months.

The supermarket confirmed it did hold discussions about a new shop within the forecourt but had opted not to move forward with the idea.

Shell, meanwhile, revealed that it will not reopen until the end of September, having shut in the middle of July. The forecourt is cordoned off with metal fencing as construction work takes place.

Shell is one of three petrol stations in Ickenham within one kilometre. The company formerly occupied the smaller forecourt, where BP is now situated.

In a statement, Waitrose told Hillingdon is Here:“We did have discussions about opening a little Waitrose forecourt shop at the Shell in Ickenham, but this isn't an opportunity we are progressing.”

Waitrose already has a long established store close by in Ruislip, pictured below.

Waitrose in Ruislip - courtesy of Google Maps

In a statement, Shell told Hillingdon is Here: “Shell Ickenham, Ickenham High Road, will be closed until late September for renovation works to be carried out.

“The works include the replacement of underground pipes and more modern fuel pumps, this involves the digging up the forecourt and replacing with a new concrete forecourt.

“We apologise for the temporary inconvenience and look forward to welcoming our customers when the service station reopens.”

Hillingdon is Here asked if there would be new services or a new mini supermarket but Shell offered no details on this.

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EarthGang – Robots Prod. by AnonXmous

October 10, 2017 0

robots-1-493x500 EarthGang - Robots Prod. by AnonXmous

Dreamville’s, EarthGang, does not disappoint as they keep their momentum going into Q4. With their “ROBOTS EB” arriving on October 20th, the Hip Hop duo preview what’s to come on their AnonXmous produced single, of the same title, “ROBOTS.”

Soulful raps and hefty production with slightly psychedelic soundbites boom through your headphones on this one. Hit play below.

© 2017, . All rights reserved.


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… the truth will make you free

John 8:32

The Church

Women in Ministry

About Us

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We are Scott and Annette Brians residing in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Scott started walking with Jesus when he was 8 years old. Annette, a former atheist, was born again at age 21. Scott is U.S.-American, Annette is German. God has blessed us with three children. We both grew up in traditional church settings. God called us out of the church system in the year 2,000 and we have been loving Jesus “outside the camp” ever since.

Regular church meetings are described in 1 Corinthians 14:26: “What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” The kind of meeting Paul describes here is that every member of the Body of Christ (that is all the brothers and sisters) are free to function in their God-given gifts. Each one has been given a spiritual gift, and each one serves in the capacity they have received for the common good (1 Corinthians 12:7). It is here that mutual submission comes into play (Ephesians 5:21). We submit to Christ speaking through our brothers and sisters.

This kind of meeting is impossible in a traditional church setting where a few people “run the show” and basically only one or two people speak. We have been privileged to experience the reality of 1 Corinthians 14:26 and all the gifts of the Spirit. It is "Jesus live" through His body of believers. It is God’s will for His church that we stop elevating a few men and women and all enter into our calling as spiritual people who know their God and who are able to correctly "teach and admonish one another" (Colossians 3:16).

Our heart longs to see the church function under the leadership of Jesus who is the only Head of the church. This will bring the true anointing of the Holy Spirit. The goal is neither anarchy nor democracy, but to be led by the Holy Spirit which necessitates discerning what the Lord is actually saying (Romans 8:14). Not everyone who says “Thus saith the Lord” is truly prophesying. It would probably be correct to say that most aren’t. We only need to look at the amount of contradicting doctrines in the Body of Christ to realize that in no way can all be led by the same Spirit of truth.

The church today is being flooded with demonic teachings that lead away from the cross of Jesus and the simplicity of devotion to Christ (1 Timothy 4:1, 2 Corinthians 11:3). False gospels have been introduced (Galatians 1:8) and unfortunately many are accepting them. One of the most destructive lies today is the teaching that we must not judge. Jesus actually commands us to "judge with righteous judgement” (John 7:24). We must “examine everything carefully” (1 Thessalonians 5:21) and are told that “he who is spiritual appraises all things” (1 Corinthians 2:15). The refusal to judge right from wrong and to test the spirits has led to the tolerance of unclean spiritual foods and practices of all kinds. It is one of Satan’s most effective tools to destroy the believers and ruin the church.

May this website contribute to the edification of the Body of Christ, until "we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man", because "we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming" (Ephesians 4:13-14).

Scott & Annette Brians

Questions, Comments


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7:37 AM EST

3/22/2018 8:37 AM EST
Horse page, show results, and tattoo manager are all now on the new template. I have also added $ as an accepted symbol in horse names.
3/21/2018 9:29 AM EST
I am updating tattoo image urls today. Log out and back in if they appear broken/missing.
3/19/2018 8:48 AM EST
Watercolor sale ends tonight! Don't miss out. Also state of the game post now on the forum.
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The option to buy and sell tattoos will be shut off at the end of the month as secure sales will no longer be feasible.
3/5/2018 2:30 PM EST
As part of our image generation updates we are saying goodbye to the old tattoo creator. Tattoos can now be created in an image editor and uploaded directly!

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The New Legend of Shaolin (1994)
Reviewed by: ewaffle on 2005-10-23
While parts of “The New Legend of Shaolin” are covered with the paw prints of Wong Jing, it by no means is typical of most movies he has both written and directed. Wong is a craftsman-like director when his job is to make sure that the actors hit the mark and say their lines—as long as they are lines written by someone else. It is when he is auteur mode, both writing and directing that his films become gag-fests. And I mean “gag” meaning a bad joke done repeated much too often and also “gag” meaning to make someone choke or vomit. In this film Wong forgoes many of his adopted conventions. There are heroic women and children, a hero so concentrated on killing that he allows his son to live only after he is convinced the infant will also be a killer and a trio of villains who are fierce and single-minded opponents.

Action director Corey Yeun provided the structure for several very brutal and bloody fights. The movie begins with a horrific tableau as Hung Hei Goon, played by Jet Li, arrives at his ancestral home to find his entire extended family slaughtered. Men and women are hanging from trees, have been run through with spears or sliced with swords. The children haven’t been spared—their bodies litter the courtyard. Hung does what is expected at first, bewailing the fate of his family, but then becomes a remorseless, implacable killer. He offers his son, who escaped the carnage, the choice between his favorite toy and a sword. If the kid takes the toy he will join his mother in heaven, but if he chooses the sword he will accompany his father on a mission to hunt down and kill those responsible for the atrocity. Hung is the toughest of the tough guys, a man with no room for emotion and little use for other people. His son is an accomplished martial artist—he is adept at unarmed combat and can wield a spear almost as well as his father. He tries to be as cold and uncompromising as his father but is still enough of a young boy to want to befriend the gang of kids they encounter—after beating them up, of course.

The action in the movie is motivated (to the extent there is any reason for it) by an attack on the Shaolin Temple by imperial troops, apparently to find a map that leads to a hidden treasure. Instead of doing what other movie characters do when they have treasure to be hidden—burying it, drawing a map from nowhere in particular to the location of the treasure, then losing the map—the monks inscribe the map on the backs of five young novitiates. For all their skills in calligraphy and kung fu, the monks of Shaolin could have taken a few lessons from Long John Silver or Captain Jack Sparrow on long standing film conventions for hiding bags of gold. The temple is destroyed and most of the monks slaughtered although the five boys with the maps on their backs escape. A more personal reason for Hung to take notice is that not only has his family been killed but there is a significant reward for his capture—a reward that two minor villains try to collect and pay with their lives for the attempt. The first is a particularly nasty specimen, a former comrade in arms of Hung who kills with steel claws and is supported by a small army of black-clad imperial thugs. The second is Hung’s uncle—or maybe his brother—who plays upon the family ties. Hung uses his retractable spear to dispatch each of them and their cohorts.

Two of the main villains are stock characters—an imperial official who takes pleasure in carnage and destruction and his superior, a eunuch who finds the whole affair a bit boring. The eunuch is underplayed to good effect by an uncredited actor. The government man is killed in a showdown in a back alley with Deannie Yip, the mother of Red Bean. Red Bean’s mom is part of a confidence trick that she runs with her daughter, played by Chingmy Yau. Both women continue their scam—or try to—even while becoming key parts of the resistance by protecting the Shaolin kids. The main villain is the poison juice monster, a bad guy who everyone thought had been killed—apparently burned to death—but who has been made invincible by a witch’s spell. The last adult character that is important to the plot is the waxmaker who at first seems to have wandered onto the set from a horror movie but becomes essential to the climax of the film.

Hung’s son is a well written and developed character, a martial artist of skill and cunning far beyond his years but who also wants to be a kid along with the other kids, both those from Shaolin and the brats who are indigenous to the area. He is portrayed by Tze Miu with all the aplomb of a veteran and can’t help but steal almost every scene he is in.

Reviewer Score: 7


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Island of Fire (1990)
Reviewed by: ewaffle on 2006-01-17
Summary: Dreadfully derivative and dull
There are several ways to avoid going to prison. Most of us chose the easy way—don’t commit crimes. Others, who make their living as criminals, try to avoid it by not getting caught—or if they do get caught, testifying against accomplices or other ways to make deals. In “Island of Fire”, however, both Andy Lau and Tony Leung Ka-Fai want to get into prison. Both succeed in perfectly parallel ways. Leung is a police officer who beats up a bunch of criminals and waits to be arrested. Lau is a criminal who beats up a police officer.

Once in prison the inmates, including Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan are overwhelmed with conventions and cliches that have been mined from the rich vein of jail movies and dropped, in some cases almost without alteration, into this one. Chungking Cash mentioned the Sean Penn movie “Bad Boys”. In addition to the similarities he pointed out, the main indoor set is taken directly from “Bad Boys”—it could have been the same set. It is a two tiered jail, with cells on the bottom floor surrounding a large bullpen area, all enclosed by heavy chain link fencing, with more cells on a mezzanine overlooking the bullpen. Also like “Bad Boys” (and like a lot of other prison movies) new inmates have to walk a gauntlet of tough convicts when they are first brought onto the unit. Other scenes, including even the old-as-nitrate-film-stock searchlight on the prison wall, the armed guards circulating among the prisoners and the tough convict who actually ran things, have been seen in “I Was a Fugitive from a Chain Gang”, “Angels With Dirty Faces” and “White Heat”, among others. Many others. Somehow the script writers missed “Reform School Girls” and “Chained Heat”, but probably not by much.

The main source for “Island of Fire”, though, is “Cool Hand Luke”, to the extent that Strother Martin would not have seemed terribly out of place telling the newly arrived inmates that “any man loud talking spends a night in the box” and “any man caught smoking in bed spends a night in the box”. A scene in which the convicts on a chain gang doing road maintenance finish early is from the Newman picture, as is the appearance of a comely lass with car trouble, an attempted escape while “shaking that tree, boss” and the egg eating (here rice eating) ordeal, plus, I am sure, several more that I missed. Foo Laap, Yip Wan-Chiu and Chu Yen-Ping really liked “Cool Hand Luke”. One direct reference is to another prison movie, when Sammo Hung’s cellmate tells him “I’ve seen The Great Escape and you aren’t Steve McQueen”.

“Bonnie and Clyde” shows up when a car is riddled with bullets in slow motion and even “Gallipoli” takes a turn very late in the movie when Jackie Chan and Andy Lau are stopped (dead) in a freeze frame as bullets slam into them.

Finding references to other movies was the only way I was able to make watching “Island of Fire” entertaining or even endurable. The very able cast might as well be sleepwalking through their underwritten roles. Jackie Chan’s part was obviously tacked on—he had almost no interaction with the other characters other than a mega-gunfight at the end and a knife fight with Andy Lau earlier. Lau never connected with the movie—one of his strengths as an actor is his coolness, his ability to play a part while not completely inhabiting it. In this case he just showed up and said his lines. Sammo may not be capable of giving a truly bad performance—he was able to transcend the wretched triteness of this script. Jimmy Wang Yu took time off from producing the flick to be a properly repellent prison boss who also set up contract murders and ran drugs from Southeast Asia.

Reviewer Score: 1


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House of Flying Daggers (2004)
Reviewed by: Gaijin84 on 2006-02-03
Summary: A worthy follow up to Hero...
Although not a perfect film, the criticsm of House of Flying Daggers has seemed a bit overdone. The film itself is incredibly well choreographed and beautifully shot, with the colors almost becoming overwhelming in some parts, but adding to the aura and emotions. There are scenes, after which the audience cheered (the Echo dance), that will leave you speechless and anxiously waiting to see what Zhang Yimou will do next. All three leads (Ziyi, Lau and Kaneshiro) were great in their roles and the love triangle aspect was developed well and had some force behind it. The fight choreography was also crisp and exciting, with the special effects adding (unlike some Hollywood pieces) to the enjoyment of the action.

The only glaring criticism that could be fairly leveled at the film is the ending, which unfortunately (without giving anything away) becomes unbelievable and silly. However, those 10 minutes should not subtract from the movie as a whole, which is an overall success.
Reviewer Score: 8


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Astronomy Photos ByAcian

Optical Telescope

Writer：55 Cherry

When it comes to astronomical instruments, what would you think of immediately? Telescopes? You might have heard of them for many times. But do you know that indeed they can be classified by their various characteristics? Telescopes aid the observations of distant objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation1 such as infrared, visible light and ultraviolet. To categorize them, therefore, we can make use of the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation they are sensitive to. For example, optical telescopes are telescopes that gather and focus mainly visible light to form brighter and finer images of the objects by the principle of optics2. Optics employs one or more curved optical elements, which are usually made of glass lenses and/or mirrors.

Main Types
There are three main types of optical telescopes: refractors or refracting telescopes which use lenses as objectives (dioptrics), reflectors or reflecting telescopes which use mirrors as objectives (catoptrics) and Schmidt which use mirrors as objectives but also use correcting lenses to correct for some problems that observers might encounter during their observation (catadioptrics). All three types of telescopes adopt more or less the same principle of optics. Light goes in telescopes as parallel rays. Then, it converges, crosses and diverges. It is finally refracted by an eyepiece back into a narrower bundle of parallel rays before entering the eye. This is because if the light rays are too strongly divergent, the eye cannot focus. Also, if the light rays entering the eye are parallel, the eye is most relaxed and the amount of light collected by the eye is maximized. So, to collimate the light into parallel rays, the eyepiece should be placed at where its focal point3 coincides with that of the objective.

The above picture shows a Schmidt telescope.

Main Functions
It is time to talk about the three main functions of telescopes. First, telescopes are light collectors. The telescopes when compared to the eye can collect light hundreds or thousands of times more. Second, they provide us with an angular magnification of the images. However, they do not sharpen the features of the images. Third, they give higher resolution of the images. But it should be aware that higher magnification is totally different from higher resolution. Images look larger but not finer after being magnified. Conversely, more details from the object can be received by higher resolution even though the telescope is under the same magnification.

The above photos of Jupiter illustrate the difference between low (left) and high (right) resolution under the same magnification.

The functions of collecting light and higher resolution are directly related to the (aperture) diameter of the primary objectives of the telescopes. The larger the objectives, the more light the telescopes can collect and the finer details they can resolve. One extra piece of information to note is that the sizes of telescopes refer to the diameter of their primary objectives.

The upper left and upper right pictures are the world's largest refractor and reflector respectively.

Though telescopes sound so powerful, there are still a number of problems in the images formed by them. They are called optical aberrations. There are altogether six different kinds of optical aberrations, namely field curvature, spherical aberration, coma, astigmatism, image distortion and chromatic aberration.

Field Curvature
Light rays striking the lens at increasingly larger angles to the principal axis4 focus in a curved surface instead of a plane. A flat object normal to the optical axis cannot be brought into focus on a flat image. Currently, many photographic lenses are designed to have a focal length that increases with the ray angle so as to minimize field curvature.

Spherical Aberration
Light rays striking near the edge of a spherical lens suffer greater refraction than those striking near its principal axis4. These rays then focus at a point closer to the lens along the principal axis4.

Spherical aberration can be reduced or avoided by making the surface of the lens flatter such that light rays which strike closer to the edge of the lens and those which strike closer to its principal axis4 suffer similar refraction. The shape of lens can be parabola, which completely eliminates spherical aberration.

It is also called comatic aberration. Light rays striking at an angle to and at different distances from the principal axis4 focus at different points along and at different heights above the principal axis4. The resulting image is elongated which looks similar to the coma of a comet. It occurs even for parabolic surfaces. Comatic aberration becomes even worse for light rays striking at increasingly larger angles to the principal axis4 and near the edge of a spherical lens.

To reduce coma, the lens can be machined to an aspheric lens, which is not a shape resembling any conic section. Besides, this shape can also eliminate spherical aberration.

Changing the shape of the mirror to a hyperbola, which does not suffer from spherical aberration, can reduce coma. Nowadays, all research-class reflecting telescopes employ hyperbolic mirrors, both primary and secondary, known as the Ritchey–Chrétien design.

For incident light rays not along a single plane but at a given angle to the principal axis4, the rays are foreshortened differently and do not present symmetrically. Light in different planes focus at different positions. If there is no common focus, we would choose the circle of least confusion, where the image projection is circular. Lenses that have different radii of curvature in different planes can often correct astigmatism.

Image Distortion
Distortion is a deviation from ordinary projection, which straight lines remain straight in an image. It arises from a difference in image scale across a field of view. There are two different types of distortion: barrel distortion and pincushion distortion. In barrel distortion, image scale decreases at the edge of the field. The visible effect is that the center of the image appears to bulge outward. In pincushion distortion, the image scale increases at the edge of the field. The apparent effect is that the corners of an image appear to bend outward.

Chromatic Aberration
Chromatic aberration is also called achromatism or chromatic distortion. Light rays striking from the same direction but of different wavelengths focus at different positions. This is because a lens has different refractive index for different wavelengths of light.

To reduce or avoid chromatic aberration, an achromatic lens (objective and eyepiece) comprising two individual lenses with different dependences of refractive indices with wavelengths can be used. It brings two wavelengths (typically red and blue) into focus in the same plane. Besides, an apochromatic design, which usually makes use of different dispersive properties to obtain crossings of different colours, can also bring different wavelengths to a common focus on the same plane.

Are you interested in optical telescopes after reading all these? Do grasp the chance of using an optical telescope if you are given so in the future!!!

1: Electromagnetic radiation is the flow of energy at the universal speed of light through free space or through a material medium in the form of the electric and magnetic fields that make up electromagnetic waves such as radio waves, visible light, and gamma rays.
2: Optics is the branch of physics that involves the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it.
3: A focal point is a point where parallel light rays originating from a point on the object converge and focus.
4: A principal axis is an axis that passes through the center of curvature of each surface of the lenses and/or mirrors of an optical system.


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Hönger AG
Präzision mit Leidenschaft - Precision with passion

Precision diopter

Match diopter 461 for air gun, small calibre and 300 m gun. The ultimate precision instrument for the highest demands! Ball-bearing-mounted longitudinal guides, torsion-resistant aluminium housing, as well as double-ball-bearing adjustment knobs allow for play-free adjustment and guarantee an extremely long service life with consistently high precision.

Available in two versions: rigid and rotatable around the longitudinal axis.

Available through our sales partners


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The Hen House

Seclude yourself from the hustle and bustle of the arrival of your guests. As your day begins you will want and need a private space where you can prepare for the daylong events. The Bride’s Parlor is a beautifully appointed private guest house, with luscious soft furniture, a stunning fireplace and all the necessary accommodations to make you feel completely at home.

You and your maids will cherish the time spent and your secret hide-away. This will be the last few moments you have with your girlfriends before the day begins. So relax, have a toast, get dressed and make yourselves beautiful as you prepare for your grand entrance.


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Dear Holiday Place/ Kim OReilly,
We have just returned from a weeks Nile Cruise (Radamis II, 2-9th October) We had an excellent time, very well looked after by the crew and Eastmar Travel." />

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text:
Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Sun every day with no rain!! 8ins of snow

Dear John and Gillian
Had a great time. The weather after the first couple of days was fantastic. Sun every day with no rain!! Took your advice though and never left without a brollie. The landscape was amazing. The highlight was getting lost on one of the mountains. The snow covered the foot path and we trod through 8 inches of snow. A little scary at times, but we made it back safe. Cottage was lovely. Very clean. Well situated. Slept very well, not sure if it was the fresh air, the exercise or the comfortable bed !! Hope to do it all again may be later in the year or next year.
Thanks Ruth and Andy
The short e-mails from guests can give you the greatest pleaseure sometimes
Award winning photo by GW Clark posted on Flickr Thank you fer permission. Rannoch Moor, obviously.

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