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Bhutan Dreamtrip

About Us

Please allow me to present to you a destination which would be of a great interest for your agency to propose: Bhutan, the Thunder Dragon Kingdom, popularly known as the country of GNH.
Located in Asia between the two giant countries - India and China, Bhutan continues to be unknown for many parts of the world although it has a great number of attractions to discover. Nestled in the Eastern region of Himalayas, Bhutan is a small country, roughly the size of Switzerland and fondly referred as Druk Yul (Land of the Thunder Dragon) by the Bhutanese. There is a place on earth that even the most seasoned travelers consider a privilege to visit. And although it is voted one of the world’s top travel destinations, very few make it. This is Drukyul, Bhutan, the Land of thunder Dragon.
Perched high on the mighty Himalayan range, the Kingdom of Bhutan has defied globalization and chosen to remain a hidden place. Bhutan is marked by raw natural beauty where the dense foliage changes dramatically as the sub tropical jingles at sea level merge into a fertile temperate zone and rises up to the great northern glaciers. The pristine environment is home to exotic wild life and is the last refuge for endangered species like Black-Necked crane, the Blue sheep, the Golden Langur, the Takin and even the royal Bengal Tiger.
The kingdom of Bhutan today remains as one of the last un-ventured destinations. And Bhutan does not have traffic lights even today.That is how Bhutanese people would like to keep it. Thus the carefully managed tourism policy of the government based on “High value, Low impact”, in essence: “take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints.
Bhutan has remained a country where age old customs and traditions are still part of everyday lives of the people, even while modernization, development and the strains of global influence are felt more and more. Ideally located in the Himalayas between India and China, Bhutan has a rich historical heritage and cultural values which Bhutan still continues to preserve.
Thanks to the generation of Kings and our forefathers who helped to Unify and strengthen Bhutan. Between the Valleys and the mountain, Bhutan Dreamtrip offers everything, from adventure for the sport passionate to cultural visits and many customized tours depending on the interest of the clients. Following are the different kinds of customized tours that Bhutan dreamtrip offer for our tourist:
1. Adventure Tours( How you find happiness in Adventure)
• Enjoy bicycling on some of the world’s highest passes.
• Plough a field with a pair of oxen.
• Challenge yourself in paddy plantation.
• Hit the bull’s eye with the traditional bow and arrow.
• Bike through medieval trails
• Meet monks on hilltop monasteries.
• Experience art of preparing traditional tea-Suja.
• Experience bolted rock climbing.
• Romance the untamed rivers.

2. Culture Tour (How you find happiness in Culture)
• Sleep under the rafters of an ancient farmhouse.
• Cook Bhutanese dishes and lose your palate to the taste of Emadatsi.
• Savour the locally brewed alcohol, Ara, fried in eggs.
• Rest by bonfire to drift away to the soothing melody of folklore music.
• Make a wish by building a miniature stupa out of mud or flour.
• Get married in Bhutan like a royal couple.
• Renew your wedding vows the Bhutanese style.
• Milk a cow and try your skill in cheese and butter making.

3. Festival Tour. ( How you find happiness in Festival)
• Join the locals in their finest attires and relish their festival meals.
• Realize the meaning of life through the acts of dances.
• Meet and take selfies with the Atsara, the life of the festival.
• Let the sight of giant scroll (thongdrel) enliven your spirit.
• Receive blessings from rare display of scared relics.
• Dress in Bhutanese costume by choosing your favorite color.

4. Spiritual Tour. ( How you find happiness in Spiritual)
• Spread merit by hoisting prayer flags.
• Practice yoga amid the serene environment.
• Sooth your soul reading your favourite book by the river side.
• Sit with monks through the chanting of prayers.
• Discover your inner-self with meditation.
• Take part in annual rituals with the locals.
• Take lessons on Buddhism from Buddhist master.
• Light thousand butter lamps and make a wish.

5. Wellness Tour. ( How you find happiness in Wellness)
• Rejuvenate with herbal and hot stone bath.
• Heal your mind with yoga and meditation
• Immerse in natural Himalayan hot spring.
• Try our indigenous therapies.
• Experience undisrupted calmness of nature.
• Try your skill with organic cooking from a selection of your favorite organic food.
• Enjoy a session on meditation with a renowned master.
• Treat your lungs with a breath of fresh air every day.

6. Trekking Tour. ( How you find happiness in Trekking)
• Unwind at yak herder’s camp with hot butter tea.
• Wade through fresh mountain creeks.
• Experience the medieval ambience of nomad lifestyles.
• Embark on the thrills of Himalayan trek routes.
• Traverse the trails of wild blossoms.
• Earn a reward of breathtaking landscapes.
• Challenge yourself on snowman trek.
• Find happiness by having a meal by a river.

7. Nature Tour. ( How you find happiness in Nature)
• Feel the fresh grass under a blanket of stars.
• Add 565+ species of birds in your ornithology dictionary.
• Spot wildlife from a boat on the Manas River.
• Take a leisurely walk through the pristine forest.
• Hike through the tapestry of Bhutanese colours
• Explore the wild array of flora and fauna.
• Scroll through protected national parks.
• Relieve city stress in natures lap.

Cloistered in the lap of the towering Himalayas, Bhutan is a perfect getaway where one can experience serenity in its truest sense. Bhutan is still, in many ways, a magical kingdom of the past. Our customers to Bhutan were very happy to have discovered Bhutan and would want to go through this experience again!
The Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB), Tourism Business regulating agency of the Royal Government of Bhutan, fixes the Tourist Tariff rate. This rate is valid for all the inclusive tour packages.

The tariffs for tourists visiting in a group of 3 persons or more are as follows:
A) Peak Season Rate:
(March, April, May, September, October and November) Cultural Tour /Trekking – US$ 250/per person per night halt

B) Low Season Rate:
(January, February, June, July, August and December) Cultural Tour /Trekking- US$ 200/per person per night halt.

These minimum daily package rates are inclusive of the following services:
1. Accommodation on twin sharing basis in the tourist standard hotels
2. All transfers and sightseeing within Bhutan
3. Services of accompanied guide
4. All meals and evening tea
5. Royal Government Royalty of USD 65 per person per night halt.
6. Riding ponies and pack animals on treks
7. All entry fees/permits to museum, monuments and parks.

Note: The tariff excludes gratuity/tips, alcohol, beverages, laundry and any communication. Luxury hotels like Aman Kora, Uma, Zhiwaling, Hotel Taj Tashi and Termalinca Resort are not included in the above price. An individual will have to bear the extra room expenses should they wish to stay in the above hotels. For further information on the above hotels, kindly email us on: / or contact at +97577122223
These rates are applicable per tourist per night halt in Bhutan. On the day of departure, the local agent’s obligation shall be limited to breakfast only and any extra requirement shall be payable on an actual basis.
The above rates shall apply irrespective of location, tour type and type of accommodation provided/asked for. All accommodation establishments used shall be approved by the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB).

Individual tourists and smaller groups of less than three persons shall be subject to the following surcharges:
1.Single Individual: US$ 40/ per night halt on addition to US$ 250 per night halt.
2.Group of 2: US$ 30/ per person per night halt on addition to US$ 250 per night halt.
The agency commission payable to agents abroad shall not be deductible from the surcharge.
The surcharge will not be applicable to representatives of foreign travel agents on business study or promotional visit duly approved and cleared by TCB.

The quoted package rates are valid for accommodation on twin sharing basis and following supplements will be applicable incase of single room accommodation: –
Festival season = US$ 50 / per single room per night
Other season = US$ 35 / per single room per night

A. There shall be no charge for CHILDREN up to the age of 5 years. However, those between the ages of 6-12 years accompanied by a guardian shall be given 50% discount on daily rates and 100% discount on Royalty. This Royalty is currently set at $65 per day.

B. Full time STUDENTS below the age of 25 years, holding valid identity cards from their academic institutions, shall also be given a 25% discount on the Royalty.

C. A discount of 50% on minimum daily package shall be given to one person in a group of 11 people. 100% discount shall be given to one member in a group exceeding 16 persons.

D. A 50% discount on Royalty shall be provided after the 8th night and 100% discount on Royalty shall be provided after the 14th night.

E. Visitors availing discounts under Sections A & B shall not be eligible for discount under D.
you can also leave us message to know more about it here.

Visa processing
Bhutan visa is pre-processed by the agent company on the receiver of the payment, so you need to send your passport copy scan to us through our e-mail ID provided. Once the visa is processed we will send you back the electronic visa on your mail. After receiving the electronic visa through email you need to print and carry while you fly to Bhutan. At the airport immigration authorities will stamp on your passport. Your passport must be valid for more than 6 months at the time of travel in Bhutan.
Note: There are regular flights from Kathmandu Nepal, Bangkok Thailand, and Delhi India to Bhutan. So you can contact us for your bookings at least three months before your trip to Bhutan.

You are provided with two options for your Bhutan tour payment:
1. Transfer only 20% of the Bhutan Tour Cost together with the whole Drukair/Bhutan Airline fare ( if flying to Bhutan by Drukair/Bhutan Airline) soon after you have confirmed your Bhutan travel schedules and then transfer the rest of the amount together with your visa processing fee of US$ 40/person 3 weeks before your actual Bhutan travel date

2. Transfer your entire Bhutan tour cost together with your visa processing fee and Drukair/Bhutan airline fare ( if flying by Drukair/Bhutan Airline to Bhutan) at once as Bhutan Tourist visa processing is approved by Tourism Council of Bhutan only after we have received the full payment( have confirmed your Bhutan tour schedules)
For high season travel (March, April, May, Sept, Oct & Nov), it is advisable to remit payment for Druk Air/Bhutan Airline flights at least 3 months in advance. This will help us to obtain confirmed seats on the requested flights.
Bank Wire Transfer Information.

To transfer money to Bhutan National Bank, Thimphu from any place outside Bhutan and India, Please request your bank to remit money as follows:
1. Correspondent Bank Address: Standard Chartered Bank Ltd
One Madison Avenue, New York
NY 10010-3603
Swift Code: SCBLUS33
CHIPS ABA No: 0256
FED ABA 026002561

2. Beneficiary Bank Account Number: 358-202-171-9001(USD A/C)

3. Beneficiary Bank: Bhutan National Bank Ltd
Post Box No-439,
GPO Building, Changlam, Thimphu
Swift Code – BNBTBTBT

4. Ultimate Beneficiary (Name): Bhutan Dreamtrip
P.O.Box- 01597
Thimphu, Bhutan
Mobile No: +97577122223

Note: Once the wire transfer is complete, please email scanned copy of the same via to confirm/trace the payment. Please have a look at our website to view our services and amazing tours that we offer, or write to us via email at or call +97577122223 for inquiry or information.
Thanking you and I hope to hear from you soon.

Passang Tshering
Bhutan Dreamtrip
Email Id:
Skype ID: passing.tshering
Wechat ID: passangtsheringps
Watsapp ID: +97577122223
Location: Kabesa, Thimphu,Bhutan
Mobile: +975 77122223, +975 17272703
P.O. Box: 01597

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text: Why are Senator McCain and so many others so afraid of universal healthcare? Would McCain and other opponents of universal healthcare have opposed the national interstate highway system instituted under President Eisenhower? The interstate highway system is a nationwide system funded by tax dollars. It has, for better or for worse, made possible of the tremendous growth of the United States economy since the 1950's. It is a publicly funded investment in our nation's economic health.  Imagine such a system made up solely of privately funded highways with tolls every several miles! That is what our current healthcare system is. Why not look at our highway system as a kind of model for healthcare? We have a publicly funded interstate system that is indispensible for transportation and commerce, but we also have toll highways for those who are willing to pay extra in order to travel on better maintained, less cluttered highways. Our healthcare system can provide similar options. Make everyone invest in a universal plan that provides good healthcare for everyone, but give those who are willing to pay the option of more expensive private care. I have seen universal healthcare in action in Germany, and there is no question in my mind that the United States is far behind the curve when it comes to providing good healthcare to its citizens. I see no excuse for objecting to a program that provides better healthcare to its citizens at lower cost. By expressing his unequivocal objection to universal healthcare Senator McCain is allying himself with the moneyed interests of Big Pharma and the insurance companies rather than the citizens he is sworn to serve.

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text: While suicide bombing is a major obstacle that must be overcome, I would argue that Mr. Dershowitz misses the point by equating fundamentalism with and being happy with their lives. Look where the suicides are taking place. Just because the Islamic world does not have a new SUV and an i-Phone does not mean they are not happy. Money does not equate happiness. If this were the case, the majority of the world would be experiencing severe depression. The problem is not fundamentalism born of out of poverty; it is fundamentalism of last resort. Look to Carter’s Peace Not Apartheid. Fundamentalism is a major challenge. Poverty is not the cause. Happiness is not the cause. Dogma is the culprit.


text: A new study exposes public myths of energy conservation, such as turning off lights and hanging clothes up to dry. In reality, making machines more efficient saves more energy. "Which is the more effective way to reduce your household's carbon footprint—turn off lights and appliances when you are not using them, or switch to more energy efficient devices? Environmental experts say the latter will have a far greater impact on the greenhouse gas emissions that your home is responsible for, but research published this week suggests few of us realise it. Over half of the 505 people questioned chose steps like turning off lights and gadgets or driving less, while only 12 per cent mentioned more effective efficiency improvements such as swapping incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs, or using more efficient household appliances or cars when renewing."


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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Time for Tights

It was lovely this morning- the radio proclaimed 61 while I was getting dressed. After a trip and a couple of bouts with insomnia, I finally slept well in my own bed- it  was perfect "sleeping weather" with the windows flung open- just cool enough to be tucked in under a light blanket.

I decided to break out a pair of harlequin tights that I bought what seems like months ago, and which have been waiting for it to be cool enough.  The nice thing about opaque tights is that it no longer matters how high your skirt hitches up, you're still covered!   Tights of various weights are a real fall and winter staple for for me, because they still breathe when I get warm, but  are just enough warmer than bare legs when I venture out into the chill of the morning.

Yes, they're a bit wild,  but paired with a simple black dress (and probably better with a pair of non- T strap shoes)  they were the perfect shot of color to catapult me through one of those busy post-vacation day days.  I got lots of comments on them, ranging from "rawr" from the office manager to "nice stockings" from another rider.

  1. I love them !!! please tell us that they are still available somewhere

  2. @ anon- I got them at DSW, don't know if they're still available.

  3. love em.

    I wore tights today, too, black lace :) I am happy about this weather.

  4. They are, indeed, awesome. Glad to hear there is sleep after vacation. :)


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News & Announcements

We are deeply saddened to tell our extended families that Uncle Billy has passed. We have lost a legend of love and laughter. He was 92 years young.

We can only imagine the party that Steve Allen and The Men on the Street are having at that big writers room in the sky. WOULD YOU BELIEVE... Don Adams is crashing that party, too.

A memorial is being planned and we thank you for your love and support.
A full obituary has been posted by Bill's biographer and our goddaughter Jenni Matz at the Television Academy: Remembering Bill Dana

- With love and grace, Evy Dana

For Press articles, click here.

There is a documentary about Bill's life and career in the works. For more information, click here.

Past Appearances:

June 20, 2009
Bill Dana was honored with the Comedy Legend Award at the American Comedy Festival in Norfolk, NE.

April 18, 2009
Grand Marshall of the annual Doo Dah Parade in NJ!

October 11, 2007
Bill was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award during the Boston Comedy Festival’s gala in Boston. Fellow award recipients included Lewis Black, Shelley Berman, and Mort Sahl.

June 7-9, 2007
Bill was a featured celebrity at the 2007 Kennedy Space Center Convention and Autograph Show, FL

May, 2007
Bill was one of seven speakers honoring his friend astronaut Wally Schirra, one of the seven original Mercury astronauts at a memorial service and “Celebration of Life” at the San Diego Air & Space museum.
On May 2, Bill was interviewed at the San Francisco Performing Arts Library for an special guest series “A Conversation with Bill Dana” curated by Brad Rosenstein.

January, 2007
Bill attended the South Beach Comedy Festival and met with some fans you may have heard of: Jon Stewart (who headlined the festival) and from the show “Reno:911” Thomas Lennon and  Robert Ben Garant.

November, 2006
The DVD box set Get Smart was released. The “TV Appearances and Spots” section starts off with the 6 minute “Bill Dana Show (1964)” clip that has Adams doing a “Would You Believe?” gag (and also has a commentary by Dana).

June, 2006
Bill performed and conducted a lecture for students and visitors at the Emerson College Alumni Weekend.

January 20, 2006
Bill performed a one-man show in Laguna Beach, CA at Leisure World.
You can see a clip from that show here.

January 20, 2006
Bill received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters at the Sportman’s Lodge in Los Angeles. On the dais were Jayne Meadows, Gary Owens, Betty White, Tom Poston, Howard Storm, Jack Riley, Hal Kanter and Shelley Berman.

From November, 2005 until June, 2007 Bill interviewed many of his friends and colleagues in the comedy world for the American Comedy Archives.

Bill and friends Shelley Berman, Dick Cavett, Dick Gregory, Louis Nye, and Mort Sahl tour the U.S with their “Comedians” tour.

For a full biography about Bill, click here.

For information please contact:

The Dana Team

© 2008 Bill Dana Enterprises All Rights Reserved


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Major Changes to Liturgy

The Roman Catholic Episcopate is set to introduce sweeping changes to the Latin Rite liturgy during its General Synod, October 2 through October 23, 2005. According to the agendum for the synod, which Catholics should read here, the following points will be addressed:

  • Intensive catechesis on the importance of keeping the Holy Days of Obligation, particularly the Sunday requirement.
  • Dignity, due preparation, and faith in the mystery of the Eucharist
  • The secularization of salvation and religious relativism
  • Understanding that "participation" in the Mass centers on receiving the Body and Blood of Christ the Redeemer, not standing in the sanctuary with your hands in the air in imitation of a priest.
  • Excessive creativity in the liturgy drawing undue attention to the celebrant and away from God
  • The documented decrease in understanding of the mystery of the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, due in large part to the irreverent treatment of the sacrament by both clergy and laity
  • Lack of proper liturgical vestments for Eucharistic Ministers and inappropriate dress of the clergy
  • Use of profane music during the liturgy
  • Improper use of communion in the hand
  • Lack of reverence before, during, and after reception of the Eucharist
  • Lack of appropriate gestures, such as genuflexion, before the Eucharist
  • Scant architectural quality of churches and lack of religious art
  • Integration of other religions into the liturgy
  • At its heart, the document reflects a profound reawaking in the church of the ancient ideal, lex orandi, lex credendi, meaning our faith follows our prayer. If we treat the mass, the liturgy, and, most importantly, the Eurcharist as a Wednesday night men's beer league softball game, we will eventually come to believe the Eucharist is nothing more than fourth inning home run. In my view, most Catholics in the United States have arrived at that point.

    Since 1965, the liturgy has become increasingly secular and decreasingly sacred. It is now, in most Latin Rite churches, a profane extension of popular culture, right down to the hooker-wear on young women and hoodlum-wear on the young men. Every Sunday that I go to the non-Tridentine mass, I see men in their 40s, 50s, and 60s wearing shorts to receive communion. My parish is full of golfers who should know that their church attire is prohibited on many golf courses; these men pay more reverence to a game than to the Creator of the universe Who will determine their eternal position in heaven or hell.

    As, then, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger pointed out, incultration is responsible for much of the loss of dignity in the mass. The Intrumentum Laboris, the Synod's working document, agrees:

    Various responses mention certain problems in attempts at liturgical inculturation. Though done in good faith, some can cause shadows in relation to the Eucharist. For example, local elements, such as songs, dance and attire, do not sufficiently undergo a process of purification, ensuring that only what is suitable for Eucharistic worship is incorporated into the celebration of the liturgy. Many cases of liturgical adaptation, promoted in good faith but without an adequate knowledge of local culture, are causing scandal among the faithful, who remain confused at the Eucharist by seeing inappropriate meanings attributed to familiar actions in some of their rites.

    Further, the working document points out that some of these changes to the treatment of the Eucharist are not well-meaning but misapplied reforms. Some, indeed, are malicious attempts by renegade priests to undermine the church:

    Where some liturgical rubrics are treated with mistrust, others seem to be adopted to provoke changes inspired by ideologies or theological misconceptions, not a few of which come from movements and groups seeking changes in the liturgy.

    It seems, then, that the church may finally be ready to rid itself of these heretical priests like Fr. Richard McBrien, Brian Joyce, and Joseph O'Leary.

    In one of its boldest statements, the working document clearly intends to take up the issue of crappy, profane music at mass.

    The faithful need to know the standard Gregorian chants, which have been composed to meet the needs of people of all times and places, in virtue of their simplicity, refinement and agility in form and rhythm. As a result, the songs and hymns presently in use need to be reconsidered . . . Gregorian chant fulfills these needs and can therefore serve as a model, according to Pope John Paul II.88 Musicians and poets should be encouraged to compose new hymns, according to liturgical standards, which contain authentic catechetical teaching on the paschal mystery, Sunday and the Eucharist.

    As for musical instruments, the document unquestionably favors the organ.

    Some responses particularly mentioned the use of musical instruments, referring to the general guidelines contained in the Constitution Sacrosanctum concilium.89 In this regard, a certain appreciation was often voiced in the Latin tradition for the organ, whose majestic sound adds solemnity to worship and is conducive to contemplation.

    Another problem that many Catholic bloggers have addressed recently is the questionable theology expressed in many liturgical lyrics written in the past 40 years.

    In other responses some lamented the poor quality of translations of liturgical texts and many musical texts in current languages, maintaining that they lacked beauty and were sometimes theologically unclear, thereby contributing to a weakening of Church teaching and to a misunderstanding of prayer. A few responses made particular mention of music and singing at Youth Masses. In this regard, it is important to avoid musical forms which, because of their profane use, are not conducive to prayer. Some responses note a certain eagerness in composing new songs, to the point of almost yielding to a consumer mentality, showing little concern for the quality of the music and text, and easily overlooking the artistic patrimony which has been theologically and musically effective in the Churchs liturgy.

    In keeping with the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum concilium,90 the suggestion was made that, at international gatherings, the liturgy be in Latin, at least the Eucharistic Prayer, to facilitate a proper participation of the concelebrants and those who are not familiar with the local vernacular language.

    If the Synod responds to each of the challenges presented in the Instrumentum Laboris for this fall's meeting, we should come out of it with a restoration of the dignity of the mass--something long overdue.

    Living with a very intelligent, philosophically trained catechumen, I have come to a deeper understanding of the difficulty the church has created for its congregations by degrading the sanctity of the mass. My wife and I, who attend the Tridentine Mass approved by his Excellency Archbishop Raymond Burke, have difficult times reconciling the perfect holiness of that mass with the secular, irreverent, and profane actions, words, and music at the new mass in our home parish. To someone entering the faith, it takes her intellectual powers to reconcile the two. A less-astute non-Catholic who witnesses our new mass would be unable to understand that we witness a miracle each mass. Imagine telling an Pentecostal that we enter into the real presence of the crucified and resurrected Christ wearing golf shorts and exposed belly-button rings. The Protestant must conclude that either Catholics don't really believe in the Eucharist or they have no respect for their Savior. Either way, we look like idiots, idolaters, and hypocrites.

    Let us pray that the bishops adopt the reforms suggested in the working document, and let us pray further that those same bishops have the backbone to enforce the changes.

    See also:

    RomanCatholicBlog "Benedict XVI, Vatican II, and Modernity", part I and part II


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090717 Editorial Cartoon.jpg

The answer to transparency in Montana's government is easy; it's politicians who make it hard.

The state continues to drag its feet about preserving communications, specifically texts and emails, from public officials doing the business of Montana citizens. They'd like you to believe preserving email and texts is impossible in this digital age.

We're not sure why it's such a hard or nuanced concept to comprehend, but it's pretty simple. It just says that communications, presumably electronic ones, should be preserved for a certain, prescribed length of time. However, politicians from both parties want to make it seem more complicated than it is. That leads us to wonder: What don't they want us to see?

It's ironic that in Monday's Billings Gazette, there was a story about Montana moving toward email preservation, and in a story right below that, a write-up about memos from the state budget director revealing possible cuts. One of those cuts being considered was eliminating a few permanent firefighting positions -- not something we'd guess public officials would willingly share unless compelled by law.

The irony, of course, is that without open and public records from state officials, we'd be in the dark about what kind of budget cuts those in charge would be contemplating. In other words, one story would not happen without the other.

However, Montana, like many states, continues to struggle with how to preserve mountains of mostly mundane email and texts. The electronic age which was meant to usher in a paperless society ironically created tons more of it. In other words, it preserved — in writing — most communications which would have otherwise been conducted on a phone, jotted down on a scrap of paper, or simply not said at all. After all, a lot of texts are inconsequential and exist because picking up the phone and sending a message was all too convenient.

This increase in communication has created a headache for state officials who have been used to only keeping something written, like a letter. Technology always outpaces practice.

We would argue that Montana, especially because of its state constitution which allows citizens to observe the decision-making process as well as participation in governing, has an obligation to save all of it. That means all email and all texts.

Politicians whine about the sheer volume and they argue that someone should get to decide what is important, and what can be tossed or kept out of the public's eyes.

Here's why all of it must be preserved.

All of it.

We believe that emails, texts and some messenger services (think Facebook messenger) need to be preserved because they are the written record of deliberation for the government. Officials who want to get hung up on what service is being used, for example, a private email vs. a state-issued account, are arguing semantics. It is like a bureaucrat arguing that a letter isn't a letter because it wasn't typed on heavy-bond typing paper.

Yet, the format doesn't matter, it's the content. And that can only be judged when all the information is stored and preserved.

Sometimes, information doesn't become relevant or useful until years later when some other bit of information is uncovered or revealed. Therefore, purging some records without preserving them could have a terrible effect on transparency.

Government officials, for example Secretary of State Corey Stapleton, whose job includes preserving records of public officials, said the task is huge — and he's right. It's going to take a thoughtful approach, including discussion of how long some records are preserved, and whether all the records of every employee are saved. Those are legitimate questions that need answering.

We'd point out that with the advent of digital storage, finding room is no longer an issue. We don't need climate-controlled warehouses and reams upon reams of paper to make preservation happen. Instead, we need decent technology.

We just checked the ads in The Billings Gazette, and a 6 terrabyte external hard drive costs less than $200 at a local retailer. By our calculations, just one of those drives could store more than 20 million emails.

In other words, storage of electronic records is both cheap and doesn't take much space — certainly not the kind of warehousing that reams of paper would consume.

Other than the state's hit-and-miss approach to keeping these important public records, we're also concerned that the discussion could lead to the worst kind of decision, as epitomized by Stapleton in a recent interview with Lee Montana Newspapers.

Stapleton favors restricting the scope of Montana's law.

"We create so much information on a daily basis that didn't used to exist. We don't need to save all of it," Stapleton said.

That's exactly the problem, though.

We do indeed create a lot of information — especially on paper. However, it's also equally important that we maintain all of it because Stapleton or any other public official may not know when and if that information will be significant. If, as Stapleton said, Montana law is retooled and restricted, it will be the residents who pay because they cannot see what their elected officials are doing on the citizens' behalf. They cannot see what got preserved and what got tossed. We would have to simply trust that our officials are acting properly.

And that's precisely the purpose of public documents: You don't have to trust what your elected leaders are doing; you can see it in writing, with your own eyes.

If lawmakers or state officers were given the power to decide that some information isn't worth keeping, who are the people with that much power? Who gets to say what's important and what information can be trashed, nevermore to become part of the public record? We believe a system that allows for such human judgment would be very scary and open to abuse. Could picking which emails survive create a system open to political dirty tricks? Could an elected official delete items that may be damning to a friend? Or call attention to a passage in another that would damage a political rival? We also believe such a system would be imprecise, cumbersome, possibly unfair and time-consuming.

We agree that there must be some kind of sideboards or parameters. Most public records repositories have purging policies related to when and how records are disposed.

However, when it comes to information from your government: Always, always, always demand more.


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Survey:what do you pay for insurance in Florida(m) (archive)

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Posted by Brian on April 25, 2000 at 18:16:45:

I am moving to Miami I am 20 I have a clean record(except for one accident last year that I am waiting for my court date on wich I will win hopefully).I pay 3990 a year in Mass.What should I expect to pay in Miami??Wich insurance compay should I go with?Any help is appreciated.

95 M3

My car is a 95 M3

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BioSolar Signs a Joint Development Agreement with Leading Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturer

Joint engineering efforts with Top Battery will focus on developing electrodes, cells, and batteries utilizing the Company’s low cost silicon alloy nanocomposite anode material

Santa Clarita, CA – June 6, 2017 – BioSolar, Inc. (OTCQB:BSRC)(“BioSolar” or the “Company”), a developer of breakthrough energy storage technology and materials, today announced that the Company has executed a joint development agreement with Top Battery Co., Ltd. (“Top Battery”), a leading manufacturer of advanced lithium-ion battery solutions, based in the Republic of Korea.

This agreement follows the Company’s previous announcement that it had successfully completed the laboratory phase of its silicon alloy nanocomposite anode material development with data suggesting its technology can achieve significantly higher capacity with lowered costs. The Company has also recently commenced the engineering phase that focuses on designing and testing the electrodes based on the Company’s anode material, as well as full cell design and evaluation with commercially available high capacity cathodes.

BioSolar, with its proprietary technology relating to silicon alloy nanocomposite anode material for lithium ion batteries, believes Top Battery is a natural fit as a developmental partner. Top Battery possesses experience in incorporating technologies such as BioSolar’s anode material, and in designing and manufacturing lithium-ion electrodes, cells and battery systems for customers. BioSolar and Top Battery have agreed to ongoing, collaborative efforts to assess, develop, manufacture, and/or market high power high energy lithium ion batteries integrating BioSolar technology and Top Battery technology.

“We are excited to partner with BioSolar, a company whose technology represents tremendous upside in the field of lithium-ion battery manufacturing,” said Dr. Whan Jin Roh, CEO of Top Battery. “We are hopeful that BioSolar’s focus on silicon alloy nanocomposite anode material development will yield results that ultimately reduce costs and improve efficiencies, a series of objectives that would immediately be of interest to the global market.”

“We are pleased to have Top Battery as a development partner, given their experience in incorporating innovative and developing technologies such as our own, and bringing them to market,” said Dr. David Lee, CEO of BioSolar. “We are confident that this partnership and its subsequent results will continue to demonstrate not only higher performance but also better price points, strengthening BioSolar’s commercial viability and market potential.”

About BioSolar, Inc.

BioSolar is developing a breakthrough technology to increase the storage capacity, lower the cost and extend the life of lithium-ion batteries. A battery contains two major parts, a cathode and an anode, that function together as the positive and negative sides. BioSolar initially focused its development effort on high capacity cathode materials since most of today's Li-ion batteries are "cathode limited." With the goal of creating the company's next generation super battery technology, BioSolar is currently investigating high capacity anode materials recognizing the fact that the overall battery capacity is determined by combination of both cathode and anode. By integrating BioSolar's high capacity cathode or anode, battery manufacturers will be able to create a super lithium-ion battery that can double the range of a Tesla, power an iPhone for two days straight, or store daytime solar energy for nighttime use. Founded with the vision of developing breakthrough energy technologies, BioSolar's previous successes include the world's first UL approved bio-based back sheet for use in solar panels.

To learn more about BioSolar, please visit our website at

About Top Battery Co., Ltd.

Top Battery develops and produce lithium-ion batteries and materials for application in electric vehicles (xEV) and energy storage systems (ESS). With more than 20 years of experience in the lithium-ion battery industry, Top Battery Co. has solutions for materials, cell design, and automatic production engineering.

To learn more about Top Battery, please visit the company’s website at

Date : Tuesday, June 06 2017

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Sunday, May 27, 2012

The Nutrition Of Sanity: Using food to reduce the intensity and frequency of bipolar symptoms

People living with mental illness know that the little pills that come along with sanity make a difference to feeling good or bad. But it is good to know that food, yes food, can also help our brains function at a much more even keel. What we put in our mouth really does matter to whether or not our moods stay in check.

First, without thinking on what type of food we should eat, we should generally eat a healthy meal several times a day. That is a meal with lots of color: fruits and vegetables. But what foods and vegetables make our brains healthy while making our bodies happy.

In keeping with one of the principles of this blog, I will not make a long list (I can add more later) nor use technical scientific language nor give you a long page to read. If you know of other nutrients, other research or I have misrepresented something, please let me know by sending me a note in the comments section. And follow me on my Psychology Today blog as well where I write more generally about mental health.

So here are some nutrients to consider. I will acknowledge that I use Vitamin D and Omega 3 supplements in addition to other pharmaceuticals, as recommended by my doctor. I think they make a difference in reducing the amount of medication I need but who knows. My body utilizes these micronutrients for other good things so it can't harm.

1. VITAMIN D. Free from the sun but in the winter its harder to get and the 'stay-out-of-the-sun' recommendations from the dermatologists may be interfering with our manufacture of this very essential micronutrient. One of the side effects of taking anti-epileptic drugs is to reduce Vitamin D in the blood (Ovsiew, 2004) which can lead to osteoporosis in people living with mental illnesses who take atypical anti-psychotics like olanzapine for the treatment of bipolar disorder. At the very least, being in the sun will make you feel better whether science understands exactly how it works or not. Vitamin D3 is found in fatty fish and because it is so important to our bodies it is added to many foods such as milk and some juices.

2. OMEGA 3 Found in cold water fish and seeds such as flaxseed, omega 3 fatty acids are not only great for glowing skin but lubricates our brain's machinery and keeps it running smoothly.  Omefa 3s can be found in cold water fish, like salmon and vegetable sources such as flax and chia seed. Jerome Sarris (2011) and a team of researchers did an analysis of studies that looked at 'nutraceuticals' and how their effect on bipolar disorder symptoms and found that though there were mixed effects of omega 3's on symptoms, there was a mostly positive effect on depression but not on mania.

3. COFFEE AND ALCOHOL: Avoid these substances because they have been overwhelmingly proven to alter mood in ways that are unclear and as our moods are already problematic, it is best to avoid these so that we can also get good sleep at night. If you really need a cup of brewed beans to get you started in the morning it is best to drink before noon so that the effects wear off before night.

4. L-TRYPTOPHAN: Sarris et al. (2011) and his team found that this nutrient had a positive impact on moods. This amino acid is used by the brain to make serotonin that is mainly linked to depression. Some foods that contain L-Tryptophan include nuts, seeds, eggs, meat, fish, tomatoes and cheese among other foods.

Ovsiew, F. (2004). Anti-epileptic drugs in psychiatry. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, (75) 12, 1655-1658

Sarris, J., Mischoulon, D., Schweitzer, I. (2011). Adjunctive nutraceuticals with standard pharmacotherapies in bipolar disorder: A systematic review of clinical trials. Bipolar Disorders, 13 (5-6), 454 - 465.


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Select Choc Chunk Cookies

  • Four Stars
    Select Choc Chunk Cookies

    These Woolworths ‘Select’ branded cookies are a traditional chocolate chip cookie. They are average sized cookies with a fair helping of chocolate chips in each one. These are fairly good biscuits. The dough, chocolate chips and price all combine to make these a good buy.

    The dough balances the crunchiness and softness of the cookie perfectly. This is helped by the large amount of chocolate chips that each cookies contains. The chocolate is not of a very high quality, but the amount of it makes up for this shortcoming. The box that the cookies are packed into also looks like a premium product, with subtle gradients and rich colours.

    Compared to most other cookies available, these are comparatively very good. If you are after a large box of decent chocolate chip cookies these are a good choice. The quality is definitely up there for a supermarkey biscuit, and these are definitely the best biscuits that i have tried from Woolworths to date.

    • Price per packet: $3.79
    • Biscuits in the pack: 21
    • Weight: 310g
    • Energy (100g): 2020kJ
    • Total fat (100g): 21.7g


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Monday, July 19, 2010

Chordata and CLAM

Chordata is a simple but powerful application that analyses the chords of any music file in your computer. You can use it to travel back and forward thru the song while watching insightful visualizations of the tonal features of the song. Key bindings and mouse interactions for song navigation are designed for the musician with an instrument in hand. This is perfect for flushing out those chords that may well elude you without a tool of this nature. Tools of this type usually suffer from a lack of accuracy, that is not however the case with Chordata as it genuinely gives you accurate results. It is free and highly recommended find it here.

While we are on the subject of Chordata, it was created with another very interesting piece of software called CLAM. CLAM is a software framework for research and application development on the audio and music domain. It provides means to perform complex audio signal analysis, transformations and synthesis. It also provides a uniform interface to common tasks on audio applications such as accessing audio devices and audio files, thread safe communication with the user interface and DSP algorithms recombination and scaling.
You can use CLAM as a library to program your applications in C++ but you can also use graphical tools to build full applications without coding. For those of you looking to try your hand at programing this allows for you to get your feet wet without having to full on learn C++. While this program will take some time to learn, it bears much promise and is capable of building software such as Chordata. CLAM can be found here.

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Brooklyn Winery Wine Bar

Our wine bar offers a relaxing environment where you can enjoy wine, beer, and food. We offer Brooklyn Winery wines by the glass and bottle as well as flights of wine to encourage exploration and help you discover which varietals you like best. Our knowledgeable staff is on hand to answer your wine-related questions and to offer friendly guidance in the world of wine—no wine snobbery allowed! All of our wines are also available for retail purchase and can be take to-go.

The 1,200 square foot wine bar is perfect for gatherings both small and large, offering communal table seating as well as more intimate space in the Portrait Room. The wine bar is designed predominantly from reclaimed materials, including a decorative wall made from barn wood, World War II ammo boxes standing in as wine racks, vintage industrial lighting, and beautiful 1940s wallpaper. The bar itself is clad in wood reclaimed from church pews and topped with zinc.

We also offer a delicious food menu. Stop into the wine bar for a glass of wine and a plate to share sometime soon!


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Monday, June 30, 2014

The Other Dawn Patrol

cobwebs inside the helmet
crows feet on the face
caffeine on the teeth
surf on the mind
The other dawn patrol

Saturday, June 28, 2014

One of my entries in the latest #finshackcomp on #Instagram run by The Fin Shack surfshop in Cornwall UK.
According to their wwwBlurb they stock everything from George Greenough (see above) to TCSS, FCS, Nine Plus, True Ames, Beyond, Futures, Gul, Rainbow Fin Company, Captain Fin Company, Skip Frye, Almond, Salty Merchants and full range of Accessories.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

F stop

Analogue nights avoiding
spider bites
in a home made dark room
trying to sight
some briney delights
stopped at F8
or smaller.
This one's for Fstopper. Keep the verses flowin, buddy.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

the road not taken

"I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference."

from The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
Today's post is for #everydayleis and everybody else who gets out of their warm comfy beds on dark, cold mornings to go to work, feed their kids or do the dawn patrol or some other exercise.
You are my heroes.

Monday, June 23, 2014

Blinded by the Light

"Mama always told me
not to look into the eye's of the sun
But mama,
that's where the fun is"
from Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann's Earth Band

Today's post is for my brine brother Mick who is having an eye operation tomorrow.
Bust out the old time music and sit in the sun buddy.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Some things don't change.
The winter solstice is poking bit of slanty sub-tropical light further back into the Brinecave than usual and I notice my work shoes need a lot of spit and polish. Well, a lot of polish and buff.

The smell of the boot polish reminded me of the shoe shine boys in Marrakech, sleeping on the streets at night and plying their trade by day.
I was reminded of my own boyhood, where we all had to polish our own school shoes and the teacher would give us a whack if they weren't shiny enough.
And I thought, some things are beyond technology and apps and downloads. The shoe shine smell is the same as it was when I was a kid. And Mondays still seem like they always did.
At least the solstice has passed.
The days are slowly getting longer.
And the sun is shining.

Fabric inlay fin from Classic Malibu. Thanks for the free wax.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Tax Deductible Donation

PKL on a wooden board he made himself
I'm riding my Electra cruiser bicycle 200kms over two days as part of the 2014 Riotinto  Ride to Conquer Cancer It's a fund raising ride to raise money for cancer research so  consider yourselves "hit up". I'm aiming at raising $2500 AU.
My niece is now a widow in her 30s and has organised a family team in memory of her hubby who passed away earlier this year from brain cancer. I lost a 22 year old niece last year as well. So I know first hand  the impact on family.

If you want to make a tax deductible donation please follow this  basic formula

go to the site, click Donate in left hand column

type in my name

donate and organise your tax receipt

Ta and many thanks

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

So long ago

This 35mm film shot was taken so long ago that I can't remember. The camera was a Nikonos V, which I used in the mid to late 80's. Interestingly, those old Kodak transparencies still hold their colour. Not sure that I will be able to say the same about digital in 30 years time, with all the format and constant compatability upgrading required every other year - USB, Firewire, Thunderbolt, Lightning Bolt . . .

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Throwback Mick

A throwback three months to the Noosa Festival of Surf when days were longer, tales were taller and the air way way warmer. King of the charcoal BBQ, Mick Hendersen setting some trim on a 10' McTavish Redline while sporting one of his famous thrift shop caps. (Deus are you listening?)

Below, an African thumb piano from the now defunct Noosa African Shoppe - the perfect instrument for those wanting a break from texting. Amp it up to a loop box and voila, instant beatz.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Been unwell, so here's a quick throw back to four years ago and a film camera designed by a Frenchman who didn't surf but who changed our understanding of underwater - Jaques Costeau.

Monday, June 9, 2014

I had a fun surf late yesterday at this spot using a battered old board my brother found under a pub when they were demolishing it.
Like a classic old Strat, this board can still glide and is a dream to paddle (especially after punching through the shories on the open beaches on a shortboard the day before.)
Pic below of Caloundra photog Darryl Meredith riding a Hayden quad which now has a a five fin setup.

Friday, June 6, 2014

GoPro selfie care of Matt Lingard. A long time ago, he creaed the cartoon below. Keep charging kid.

Technical Hitch

The brinecave is swimming in wires as I grapple with finding the cause of our internet and email demise.
Turns out it was the modem which probably got bashed when my clumsy foot tripped over one of the numerous cables dangling out of various devices designed to give me more "leisure time".
A week without internet and email starts to get liberating after you get used to a new routine. Suddenly there are all these extra hours in the day.
Go on, turn the computer off and put the phone in the drawer.
How long can you last?

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Monochrome Monday (Hello Winter)

Hello winter
rubber suits
and crisp offshores

"Winter came down to our home one night
Quietly pirouetting in on silvery-toed slippers of snow,
And we, we were children once again."
Bill Morgan, Jr.


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Bez kategorii

We have been thinking for some time about doing this, time has come to act. We decided to use as the platform has international range and thus - is perfect for companies operating in global environment. We already have an experienced blogger in our team. Black Pearls VC Venture Partner Ewa Treitz has written a few interesting texts dedicated to VC/innovation industry in Poland and CEE, as well as on robotics (one her fields of expertise). Also, Black Pearls VC Managing Partner Alexander Lubański made his debut recently and commented on the newly-published Polish Startups Report 2017. Expect more of our activity on Medium in the following months, we hope you will find it interesting to know us a little bit more.

We had a great pleasure of joining the infoShare's Digital Healthcare Hackathon. Our Venture Partner Piotr Pągowski was a Jury member and CFO Hubert Szczołek was a business development and financing expert. After two days of working with great startups  our representatives decided to distinguish some teams and their projects (StethoMe, Laparo and CardioCube) for their compliance with our Life Quality Technologies principles and invite them for further talks regarding future cooperation. Black Pearls VC supports innovations improving the quality of human life to address most pressing social changes, particularly within the scope of demographics (aging societies), labour and business. With our LQT Fund II recently established with support of National Centre for Research and Development, we are looking for top-quality R&D projects to develop and commercialize.

Another step in the implementation of Black Pearls VC growth strategy has been taken. We have become a member of Invest Europe (previously EVCA) – the association representing Europe’s private equity, venture capital and infrastructure sectors, as well as and their investors. The organisation is guarding the industry’s professional standards, demanding accountability, good governance and transparency from the members.

When Black Pearls VC is expanding the team – it always comes to the big names. We are proud to announce that Piotr Pągowski has joined us recently as a Venture Partner. Piotr will strenghten our potential in the field of innovative IT projects development, bringing elite expertise and experience that he has gained at Intel, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard on international level. His assets will complement Black Pearls VC international expansion strategy.       A graduate of Warsaw University of Technology Faculty of Electronics, Piotr Pągowski has been associated with the IT industry since 1993. He started his career at Baza and Westwood. Since 1995, he was working for Intel, where he was responsible for development strategy with sales and marketing for Central Eastern Europe region. From 2006 to 2011 was working for Microsoft where he subsequently held the positions of Country

September 2016 will be long remembered as a very important day for the Polish space sector industry. Two of our initiatives aimed at developing space technology projects had their great finale at Gdańsk Science and Technology Park, where Space3ac and POSITON programmes Demo Day was held on the 8th of September.

Space3ac DemoDay vistorious team with Black Pearls VC Alex Lubanski and Wojciech Drewczynski.

Space3ac DemoDay vistorious team with Black Pearls VC Alex Lubanski and Wojciech Drewczynski.

Eight teams have made it to the final phase of the space industry accelerator Space3ac. They now have one and a half months to brush up their projects and prepare a presentation for investors. The winners will take 50 thousand PLN to spend on scientific research and will have a chance to obtain investments worth even as much as 2 million PLN(approx. 450 thousand EUR).

Where you work influences how you work – and we are here to prove this to be true. The Black Pearls VC offices are located at an extraordinary venue: Olivia Business Centre in Gdańsk is a thrilling conglomerate of startups, large corporations and science people. All that accommodated in a setting of contemporary architecture. Oh, how we love such combinations!


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The quality of life can be expanded across multiple areas of human life, ranging from healthcare and ecology to international development and culture. And technology already plays a major role in all of these sectors. However, it has not always been like that. Technology has been commonly linked to coldhearted robots, convoluted devices and dangerous machineries. Nonetheless, recent breakthroughs such as smartphones and wearable devices have earned their places in our everyday lives so much that they have become indispensable. Healthcare is one of the fields that have adopted technology at a slower pace. The amount of novelty and data was overwhelming. Still, placing technology at our disposal has seemed to serve us well. Today, with the use of wearables & userfriendly devices we measure our blood pressure, monitor our sleeping and sports activities, evaluate sun exposure and air quality, which allow us to make

In the last few decades, the demographic structure has undergone a radical change. The elderly constitutes majority in the society due to the fact that less and less children are born. Moreover, the fast development of medicine and technology makes the average life span longer. Not only are people older, but the pace of life and lack of time are also burning issues. Our ageing population living in the world deprived of time needs technologies and devices that would make their lives simpler and more comfortable.

On Tuesday, 9 June, Sopot’s horse-riding track became the heart of eco-friendly technological solutions used in modular construction. Our portfolio company – Rebel Module – organized a conference titled “Modular construction – from an idea to implementation” (“Budownictwo modułowe – od idei do realizacji”), an event whose main aim was to present an alternative way of building houses and convince people of its safety and efficiency. Among speakers, there were crucial partners of Rebel Module – companies like Cembrit, Fermacell, Steico and Structview, which provide certified elements used by the host of the conference. Participants could also listen to the conference’s patron the President of Sopot – Jacek Karnowski. In an opening speech, he admitted that he is fond of the development of energy-efficient construction and willing to support initiatives whose aim is to make people aware of its value and long-range importance.


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Thursday, March 21, 2013

Loot Crate Highlight of the Month - Darth Vader Vinyl Bobble-Head

About a month ago, I decided to give Loot Crate a try. For those not familiar with the program, here's the idea: for a nominal fee, you get a box packed with items intended to appeal to geek and gaming culture. The items that will be in the box are not revealed in advance, so there's admittedly a risk involved that you might not get anything that particularly appeals to you. The upside is that there is an opportunity for a little bit of Christmas once a month when the package arrives, and since you know that the items are geared toward geeky interests, if those interests apply to you (and if they don't, why are you reading a nominally Transformers-themed blog?), there's a pretty good chance that you can get some really cool stuff.

The company hasn't even been around for a full year yet, but it has already generated a fair bit of buzz due to people posting videos of each "unboxing," as they show off what's in that month's crate, and the Loot Crate folks themselves have embraced the idea as a way to get free promotion of their service. Me, I'm not really into videos, and don't want to just do the same thing other folks are already doing online already, so I'm looking to just feature one highlighted item from the half-dozen-ish items that arrive in each box, at least for the next few months (after which I will determine whether or not I myself want to continue with the service).

Each month's Loot Crate attempts to group items around some kind of a theme. I gather that the themes are fairly loose, but it's still a cute idea. The theme for March is "Cosmos," and the item I'm highlighting out of the box is the Darth Vader Vinyl Bobble-Head from Funko. I never really knew that Bobbleheads were a thing when I was growing up (the more recent resurgence of their popularity not having started until almost the turn of the millennium), but they date back to at least as early as the 1950's. Nowadays, it's practically a sign that someone (or some character) has "made it" to have a Bobblehead made after their likeness. Certainly, Darth Vader is a prime candidate for such a distinction!

If you're interested in learning more about Loot Crate, you can do so via this link. While exploring, you can also check out videos that other Loot Crate subscribers have posted detailing the boxes they've gotten in a given month. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to next month!

Saturday, March 2, 2013

Reactions to the 2013 BotCon Box Set

So, now we know (cue "and knowing is half the battle" response).

Over the past few weeks, fans have been treated to previews of the toys that will be featured in this year's BotCon box set, based off of the old Machine Wars line.

Long-time followers of BotCon will, of course, already know that these five toys won't be the only exclusive toys to come out of BotCon 2013. These are simply the ones that we can order in advance (actually, there will one more toy you can order in advance if you want to this year. For the first time ever, the toy that will be made in the Customizing Class will be available to everyone in an unpainted, but assembled, form. But we won't know what that toy looks like until the convention itself. And, of course, there's also the attendee-only exclusive...). Even so, these revelations have caused plenty of reaction so far on the online boards, and not all of it has been positive.

I am not here seeking to defend Fun Publications (henceforth, "FunPub," for the sake of brevity), although I hope not to denigrate them, either. I myself am particularly disturbed that the character that most needed a remolded head (Megaplex, because pretty much the only thing known about the original Machine Wars version of the character is that he's a Megatron clone, and thus he shared Megatron's head shape) is the one toy that doesn't get such a head. FunPub has explained how this came to pass, and while I still wish that another decision had been made, what's done is done, and the mold being used for Megaplex itself is very appropriate for the character. It just needed the Megatron-y head to finish the homage. That said, to get as many as four of the five figures in the set with new heads is unprecedented!

I do think a lot of the negative response arises from fans holding either of two different, but related, ideas: 1. a misunderstanding of FunPub's intentions (this isn't a reworking of Machine Wars concepts so much as a "second series" of Machine Wars figures), 2. a feeling that a set that purports to be Machine Wars-themed should more closely resemble the original line than what was actually done, regardless of what FunPub's intentions were (although noting that Strika and Obsidian are from Beast Machines is not to be ignored). To the extent that fans have misunderstood, both FunPub and other fans need to do a better job of explaining the reality in ways that people can hear (although this is undoubtedly an uphill battle). To the extent that fans simply think that FunPub should have done something else... well, there's little to be done on that account. Opinions will always differ.

Like many fans, I'm also a bit put off by the ever-increasing prices attached to the set (up $25 from last year, for a set which has one less figure than last year's had), but acknowledge that the prices of toys at retail venues have gone up quite a bit (to use the easiest example, most fans still have a lingering mindset that Deluxe-sized toys should go for about $10, even though that hasn't been true for several years now. The current around-$15 price reflects a huge increase from those levels). That said, I've done calculations for the "retail multiplier" of exclusive toys on the data pages, and these suggest that this set actually is more expensive than last year's, even accounting for retail inflation. This year's price is better compared to the "retail multiplier" a couple of years ago, but considering that I calculated that set as the highest such multiplier of all time, that's not necessarily high praise.

Ultimately, the question comes down to whether or not fans will buy the set regardless of whatever deficiencies it is perceived to have. As long as these sets continue to sell out, neither FunPub nor anyone else has any real reason to change the current pattern.
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Saturday, 28 November 2009

Story Telling in Games wk8

Sometimes players play a game plays a game for a sheer laugh, although talking about a game and its story sometimes it can be said that a game doesn't really have a story. Take for instance yourself on holiday in the UK perhaps Skeggy (yes mike, you with shorts and a hat on away from your favourite ceiling!!) your walking around enjoying the sights and that 99 you just can't go without and you go to an arcade. Knowing today's arcades there's plenty of 2p machines ect, but of course were all interested in those arcade game, take for instance the Tekken series, yes there is a story there but its not particularly in depth, but you do enjoy playing it because of the sheer satisfaction of beating the crap out of a giant bear named Kuma! Moving on to another game Time Crisis, again it has a story but its not quite full on, its entertaining but not Bafta award winning, and so do you see what I'm getting at? Some games are made for different purposes like short entertainment. Games such as these are also made to keep the user playing so the game play and the story has to be interesting enough to keep the player paying his money.

Of course these examples are arcade games, but overall it is still a type of gaming. It is more noticeable that storylines are produced in console titles it is also noticeable that everyone is entitled to an opinion, defining a story is often overshadowed by the rating of the game becuase of it graphics or soundtrack for instance sometimes games should just be rated on storylines as well as aesthetics.

My favourite story has to be that of Resident Evil, it has tested itself against time, and has produced over 15 titles, the story itself has many twists and turns but the vast amount of games produced, all add to the overall amazing story without ruining it with too many titles. Twists and turns also improve he general story like Wesker being alive after being killed by the Tyrant :O everything in the game adds to its entertainment and replay value.

An Introduction To Art Direction For Games wk7

Ahhh Art direction, so... the direction of art inside of a gaming company, sounds pretty simple, probably really hard!!

It was noticeable that the main link : wasn't actually working, (wells it dead) so i scouted some other links.

Anyway back to the point, merely to be considered as an art director, someone must have a minimum of 5 years experience as a technical artist or some other form of artist from the gaming community, so obviously they have to be good at what they do, as a director they have to evaluate the work from their different specified teams so production can be moved on and dead ideas can be improved upon or removed from the production process. They have to make a lot of important decisions about the work involved in their company's creation pipeline and they also have to have an understanding of the open market as a whole to see what the customer likes and wants. They themselves need to be creative and produce good pieces of artwork to inspire their artistic community, but I believe there main responsibilities are to evaluate and guide fellow employees.

I imagine there are many differences between a game art director and a film art director, but I suppose there could be many similarities as well. Game art directors have to have a large understanding of graphics programmes, as well as an understanding of other computer programmes like photoshop (I'm sure film art directors also use programs like photoshop etc) it is likely that game art directors have to have an understanding of the market and the wants of the customer, knowing this they also probably have to have understanding of environments that the customer wants to see in a game. Film art directors have to have a deeper understanding of areas and environments, they also have to have an in depth understanding of camera angles and the use of filming technologies and equipment.

Lots of skills would have to be improved to become an art director, evaluation skills would need to be improved greatly, an art directors decisions can sometimes make or break a company the right decisions have to be made to make a good computer game. Drawing and perspective work would also probably need to be damn near perfect (no surprises there with what we have to do on this course!!)

From Pong to Next Gen wk6

Well to begin with there are definite connections between that of Pacman and Fear but only in loose comparison, both games are similar in one particular way, as they both have an outcome or ending. Both games are also played in a competitive manner E.G. the player wants to gain satisfaction from playing and completing the game, or achieving certain goals. The main difference between the games are that one is produced now in the present and the other one was produced in the past, and so there is bound to be a difference in the quality of the outcome, obviously one game will have better graphics because of the time it was produced at.

Another way in which a past game and a present game can be similar is that of their own particular genre, take for instance "golden Axe" and "Legend of Zelda" or "World of Warcraft" the premise is very similar, as the genre denotes the game to be an adventure, the story is also that of a warrior (compared with Legend Of Zelda) or the choice of different characters with different area of expertise such a wizardry for instance (compared with World of Warcraft). The way in which games like Golden Axe and other fantasy games are played are even more similar the main aim of the game is to defeat the enemy, story is perhaps of no consequence it just differs throughout time from past and present.

There always has to be a winnable side to attract players into games, this is somewhat different nowadays because of online play, older games were always pitted against an A.I. opponent, this does produce a winnable scenario but the player is only ever beating the computer. Different from A.I. is that of online play on the Xbox 360 for instance, one game that certainly sometime feels unbeatable is that of "Command and Conquer Tiberium Wars" when played against certain seasoned veterans, being beaten multiple times deters players from a game but is also a big difference from playing against an A.I.

I suppose the choice of the genre is all down to the design brief itself, the outcome of the game all falls down to the chosen direction in which the company wants to follow, further development comes from the artists and this influences the outcome of the game from the development of art shows how the game should look or feel. The outcome of the game is greatly influenced by the artwork produced in the preliminary stages but many areas of the production influence the final outcome, the production of a game should be emphasised as a team effort!!

Looking back at the past of gaming and then looking to present of gaming, there are obvious differences but then there are not so obvious simularity's, gaming may have come on leaps and bounds but looking at the development of an idea and the process of creating a game, the old is somewhat closer to the new than you might think.

The games review

Sooo continuing with our radical studies we are asked to produce a games review. As a majority of people may well know I chose to do Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising. Voiding myself from repeating the information on the review I think I should groan on about the experience itself and my opinions.

So the general task seemed simple enough to me, write a games review and present it to the class, and so I went to the task of writing and editing my power point. I won't lie to you I thought that it was going to be a simple feat to produce and present a power point to the class, and I thought it would be a breeze, (well how wrong was I) the easiest part was making the slides and thinking about what to say, but actually getting up there and presenting my review to the class was well daunting... It was perhaps noticeable that I froze at one point in my review, which probably shot me down a lot...

So all I have to say is well done to those who produced good to the point presentations unlike me who whittled on abit with too many notes and not enough decisiveness. We are all human, and I suppose being on game art design the majority of us are well, for a better word sometimes "socially impaired" in some situations (notes Chris's comment about us staying inside avoiding the outside world as much as possible!!) . So when looking at the teachers and perhaps thinking wow they've got it easy teaching us fools, I shall probably look back and think actually presenting any form of presentation is actually quite hard and yes they may have had a lot of practise but one day maybe i'll be as good as them at giving people feedback on certain topics and information!!

Sunday, 1 November 2009

Writing about games

Multiple issues face games reviewers, I believe the most obvious constraint is that of actually getting employed into the business itself, how do you become a game reviewer for any self respecting games magazine or company? Perhaps most working in this sort of field study Media or English, I suppose its not just the general writing skill that is necessary its an interest in the gaming market itself, you have to enjoy what you work as else there's no point in doing it...

I would imagine that writers must have a general interest in the history of computers, gaming and the games industry itself. Without this background knowledge I'm sure they wouldn't be very good at reviewing games from the present market, everything they reviewed would just hold a typically similar rating from their part, they would either rate a game good, mediocre or absolute shit, but i suppose that rating a game in such a fashion is the base of the job they have anyway, they are basically paid to pass judgement on something created from the gaming industry. Having a job is one thing but keeping a job is another, as long as their judgement is concice against the game they are reviewing I'm sure readers will remain interested with the opinions of the magazine, after all the readers pay the wages of the writers all though this is similar to most other jobs out there...

Above all it should be noted that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, professional writers and amateur writers must be allowed such an indulgence. So... how do we class a review as good? Well that's hard to say... a good review is perhaps rated by how someone rates the game, but there has to be strong points that back the rating of the game up. Another way of knowing someone is a good reviewer is by stating what is good and bad in the actual game they are reviewing. A game cannot just have positive points, no matter how good the game actually is!!!

I would say that when I talk about games I'm a very subjective person... I make my opinion known but back my points up with the facts from within the game, if a game is good for one reason but bad for another I would say why and give my own opinion.


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Friday, May 11, 2012

Three Tips for Building Community in Your Online Course

"The shift from traditional classroom education to computer-mediated distance learning poses enormous challenges to instructors and learners. The concept of the classroom where students meet to interact with other learners and the instructor no longer exists in the virtual model. The instructor can no longer “look” around the room to see if students are attending to the material, are bored or confused, or are even present.  Since learners are now engaged with the computer instead of other learners, they lack a natural social outlet which can lead to feelings of isolation." - Melanie Misanchuk and Tiffany Anderson, Building community in an online learning environment: communication, cooperation and collaboration

It's true: online classes and online classrooms are lonely, isolated places if we don't do something about it. Here are some tips from my favorite practitioners.

Use the Webcam to let students know there's something there at the other end of the line.

Allowing students to come to the virtual classroom early (or stay late) so that they can chat informally without interrupting your teaching gives them a sense of community.

Take advantage of the strengths of this technology: immediate feedback, the ability for students to interact with one another, and the opportunity to ask questions either vocally, with text, or using the "hand-raising" tool.

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Sunday, March 3, 2013

Can the Bill of Rights be voted away?

In our Declaration of Independence (1776), our founders announced that
...all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed....
A few years later (1787), the founders established a new government to protect our natural, God-given rights. They designed the US Constitution with clearly-limited authorities and roles. To further clarify the limitations imposed on the central government, they quickly amended it with the Bill of Rights (1791) to protect "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" from imperfect government officials.
The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections. — Robert H Jackson, US Supreme Court Justice (West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), 319 US 624)
Nobody is the perfect elected official or civil servant. Some are more flawed than others. Too many are clearly evil.

Their relentless assault on a clearly defined constitutionally-guaranteed human right which "shall not be infringed" (unless they can get the majority vote feared by Justice Jackson) place congressmen Dianne Feinstein, Charles Schumer, Frank Lautenberg, Carolyn McCarthy, Barbara Boxer, Nancy Pelosi, Nita Lowey, and others firmly in the "evil" category.

Some Americans aren't particularly concerned about some of the rights protected by the Constitution. One might not be concerned about being forced to house occupying soldiers (Third Amendment), or having to pay excessive bail (Eight Amendment), or having property taken by government agents without just compensation (Fifth Amendment), or being forced to give up the best means of self-protection -- a gun -- (Second Amendment) because these events are so rare nowadays or because one doesn't have a gun.

But, anyone who would ignore, tolerate, or encourage the loss of any natural right of any other person is subject to the loss some or all of the rights they cherish themselves. We all must be willing and prepared to fight for, and demand that government protect -- not infringe, all the natural rights of each other, regardless of whether we personally use or think we need those same rights.

Think of the US Constitution as a "Power of Attorney" wherein one person authorizes another to do certain acts on his or her behalf and which prohibits other specific acts. The Constitution is a "Power of Attorney" to do certain specifically-enumerated things on behalf of the States and the People. If the central government goes beyond that authority or if it fails to do anything it is required to do, it is in violation of the Constitution (Power of Attorney).

A key feature of the Constitution is the requirement that each of the above imperfect public servants (elected, appointed, and employed) swear an oath of loyalty to the Constitution -- not to an agenda, political party, or to any person (including voters). They swear to comply with the Constitution ("Power of Attorney") and to protect it from anyone who would violate it. That oath doesn't seem to mean much to most public servants nor to a very large portion of the American voters.

If our public servants follow that Constitution, "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" are protected for all Americans and visitors. If it is not followed, only the elites have Liberty -- just as in feudal England, the former Soviet Union, or Mao's China -- so long as they aren't hanged by rivals for power or by the People -- just as in feudal England, the former Soviet Union, or Mao's China.

Unfortunately, the Constitution isn't self-enforcing. Experience has proven that the three branches of the central government cannot be relied on to enforce the Constitution nor to limit the usurpation of power by the central government.

Only one person can enforce the Constitution: the voter. We need smarter voters.

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Home » » Trip Through the Halls Of Time

Trip Through the Halls Of Time

Written By Justin on Thursday, October 11, 2007 | 3:38:00 PM

When I was playing for Borehamwood FC in the Ryman League in season 1990/91, I kept a detailed record of every game I played. As soon as I got home from each game, I'd write down everything that had happened in it, and rate my performance on a scale of 1-10. I still have them, and they make (for me) amusing reading. Here, condensed for space, is an entry from Feb. 2, 1991.

Borehamwood vs Baldock Town
Weather: Cold & grey
Pitch: lovely and firm
Wind: negligible
Crowd: Small, maybe 300
Result: Borehamwood 1 Baldock Town 0

Baldock had a lovely pitch and a nice little ground, and it put us all in the mood. We dominated the first half, but didn't score. They barely got near me, though once their left winger got behind and shot wide from a tight angle...
Harry was actually pleased at halftime, but when the second half kicked off they were all over us. I had to make a good save when one of them got onto the end of a long ball. He had to collect it somewhat wide of goal to my right and I could have stayed, but I didn't like the idea of him settling it and strolling in on goal. So I raced out and spread myself and saved his shot, and it dropped nicely for me to collect...
I had a mix-up with Graeme Boy when he wanted me to come for a long cross, but I thought he was shouting at me to stay on my line. Fortunately the guy shot well wide...
With about 2 minutes left we got a succession of corners. Harry got up to one and headed it off the bar. Alan Hunter followed up and also hit the bar, and it fell to Carlton Campbell who finally rammed it home. Right after the restart one of them found time and space to curl a 20-yarder towards the top corner, but it had no pace and I was able to get across and hold it. Then another hit a 25-yard-rocket which went just over, although it was straight down the middle and I had it covered. It ended 1-0 and I was happy to get my 2nd clean sheet in a row.

My rating: 7. Not enough actual saves to merit anything higher, and I did have that misunderstanding with Graeme. A few important saves, though, and kicking was good. Cumulative rating (12 games) 6.67.


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The Designer’s 4 Step Guide to Securing WordPress

The Designer’s 4 Step Guide to Securing WordPress

WordPress has become the world’s most popular CMS. Because it is so popular, this is even more of a reason to enhance WordPress security if you are using it for your website. Most people understand how to make their page itself secure, but if you are not focusing on the the security of your WordPress site by limiting access to important files and folders, then you are still at risk. To do this you will not be making any changes to WordPress itself, but rather altering how WordPress runs on a server and how much access users have to its files.

WordPress sites are comprised of a series of files and folders, each with their own unique URLs, which means if someone were to type in the correct URL they could access or alter sensitive files that run your site. One of the most common targets for this kind of hacking is the wp-includes folder, so we are going to add some additional code to the server configuration file to beef up security and prevent these kinds of threats. When we are done with this, anyone attempting to access these files gets redirected back out.

To start you will want to open up the .htaccess file for your site. You can do this through any text editor, doesn’t matter which because all we are doing is adding a little snippet of code to the file. You will notice that the file already has code in it, generated by WordPress. In one of the early lines of code, you will find a line that says # BEGIN WordPress. Directly above this code, we are going to add the additional lines of code, which will fortify the site’s defenses by restricting access to the wp-includes folder.

  • # Blocking web access to the wp-includes folder
  • <IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
  • RewriteEngine On
  • RewriteBase /
  • RewriteRule ^wp-admin/includes/ – [F,L]
  • RewriteRule !^wp-includes/ – [S=3]
  • RewriteRule ^wp-includes/[^/]+\.php$ – [F,L]
  • RewriteRule ^wp-includes/js/tinymce/langs/.+\.php – [F,L]
  • RewriteRule ^wp-includes/theme-compat/ – [F,L]
  • </IfModule>
  • Afterward, you simply need to re-upload the file to the server and you’re done. While the changes here seem minor it can have a large impact on your site’s defenses. Because many of the advanced functions of WordPress are located within the wp-includes folder, they are a major target for hackers to go after. With these changes implemented, when users attempt to access this folder, they will instead be automatically redirected to the front page of your site.

Our next step to fortify WordPress security is to limit access to the wp-config.php file. When you first created your WordPress site, you had to create a database name, username, password, and table prefix, which is contained in the wp-config.php file. The reason you want to protect this file is because it contains the information WordPress needs to talk to the database, and in the long run, control your site.

To protect your wp-config.php file, you will just need to do a few simple steps. First, we will want to open up the .htaccess file again. Next, we will want to copy the snippet of code below and paste it into our .htaccess file just like we did with step 1.

  • # Blocking web access to the wp-config.php file
  • <files wp-config.php>order allow,deny
  • deny from all
  • </files>

Finally, save and re-upload the file.

As you can see with steps 1 and 2, the .htaccess file can be intrinsic to defending your WordPress site from malicious external threats. That is why in this step we are going to protect the .htaccess file itself, preventing hackers from removing the protections we’ve already put in place.

To do this we will again open up the .htaccess file. Next, insert the code below in to the existing code.

  • # Securing .htaccess file
  • <files ~ “^.*\.([Hh][Tt][Aa])”>order allow,deny
  • deny from allsatisfy all
  • </files>

And with this simple addition, your .htaccess file is protected from outside threats.

For the final step we are going to be denying hackers access to one of the most destructive tools they could get their hands on: the Editor inside the WordPress dashboard. It allows you to edit your theme files, which is helpful but can be dangerous. If a person, other than yourself would get access to this, then they could change your code and break your site.

With this project, we will be removing the  Editor from the WordPress dashboard. Rather than accessing the file through WordPress, I recommend that you access it through an ftp client such as FileZilla, which is better for site integrity.

So to do this project we will first want to open up the wp-config.php file. Once we have that open, we are going to go to the end of the code, here you will find the text “That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging.”. Right before this text we are going to add the code below to remove file editing entirely from WordPress.

  • define(‘DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT’, true);

Once you have added the code, save the file and re-upload it to the server. Now your WordPress site is safe from anyone gaining access to your site and trying to manipulate the code.

If you follow all of these steps, your site should be much safer. By reducing the amount of access hackers have to the files important to running your site, you have increased your WordPress site’s overall security.

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WWE News: The Rock Confirms That He Will Be on 1,000th Episode of Raw

Gone Baby GoneContributerJuly 9, 2012

Courtesy WWE.com
Courtesy WWE.com

Huge news comes from the Twitter-verse as none other than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has stated that he will be on the 1,000th episode of Raw.

His tweet stated:

This is probably the biggest star to announce their return yet. To me, The Rock's tweet also makes it seem as if he will be inserted into the Money in the Bank Match for the WWE title. And, if that's the case, the WWE is really trying to make sure that fans not only watch Monday's Raw but also turn into potential buyers of July's pay-per-view offering.

Ultimately, with so many stars returning for the 1,000th episode, one has to wonder what the end game is for that show. I personally feel that they can't further many current story lines that night and will probably have to make this a reunion show of sorts.

However, with several injured and suspended stars rumored to return that night, they could set up some new feuds and build up off of that night.

In the end, I guess we will have to watch and see where the WWE is going with this special episode of Raw.


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Michael Phelps' Mom's Desire for Son to Compete in 2016 Olympics Is Good Sign

Tyler BrookeSenior Analyst IINovember 22, 2013

OMAHA, NE - JUNE 30:  Michael Phelps poses for a photo with his mom Debbie and sisters Hilary and Whitney afterthe medal ceremony for the Men's 200 m Individual Medley during Day Six of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Swimming Team Trials at CenturyLink Center on June 30, 2012 in Omaha, Nebraska.  (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Al Bello/Getty Images

While it seemed that Michael Phelps' swimming career had already come to a close, the world-famous swimmer is back in the pool, and his mom is hoping that he can compete in the 2016 Olympics.

Nicole Auerbach from USA Today reported that Phelps underwent drug testing in order to be eligible to compete once again.  The report goes into detail about what that drug testing would mean for Phelps competing:

By subjecting himself to testing, Phelps has set himself up for a return to competition next spring and possibly an appearance at the 2014 U.S. national championships. He'd also have plenty of time to get in shape by the 2015 world championships in Russia, a meet which will serve as a tune-up to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics the following summer.

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 04:  Gold medallist Michael Phelps of the United States exits the pool after the United States won the Men's 4x100m medley Relay Final on Day 8 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre on August 4, 2012 in London, E
Clive Rose/Getty Images

While Phelps has yet to confirm that he will be planning to compete in Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Olympics, the training is a good sign.  What's even more promising is that his mother, Debbie Phelps, says she hopes the two will be able to go.

According to Chris Mascaro from SI.com, Debbie was interviewed by WBAL News, and she had this to say about her son's future:

“I don’t know if we’re going to Rio, but I know that, according to the Baltimore Sun and out there in social media, Michael did make an announcement about being back in the pool,” she told WBAL News. ”Where that leads him, I don’t know. I’m hoping it does lead us to Brazil.

“But, you know, athletes, children, composers, artists have to love what they do. Michael has a love for his sport, a passion for his sport. I know when he went to Barcelona for world champs last year [July 2013], I watched his face. He has such eagerness about where the sport of swimming is going to go. I’m supporting him all the way as his mom.

“I would love to go Rio.”

LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 04:  Gold medallists (L-R) Brendan Hansen, Matthew Grevers, Michael Phelps and Nathan Adrian of the United States pose following the medal ceremony for the Men's 4x100m medley Relay Final on Day 8 of the London 2012 Olympic Games
Al Bello/Getty Images

Phelps already has the most medals in Olympic history, grabbing 22 total medals and 18 gold.  He broke Mark Spitz's record with eight gold medals in a single Olympic Games back in 2008 in Beijing.

At this point, Phelps doesn't have much to prove.  He's done everything you can ask for from an Olympic athlete.  However, even though he's such an accomplished swimmer, he could still probably perform at a high enough level to earn at least one more medal, if not more.

Although it felt like Phelps couldn't run the tables during the 2012 Olympics in London, he still did.  He earned six total medals, four gold and two silver, and he proved anyone that had any doubt wrong.

However, at 28 years old, Phelps will be in his 30s in the next Olympics, and age could slow him down.  At some point, age combined with a lack of desire could keep him from competing at a high level.

Desire could be an issue in regards to coming back and competing in the Olympics.  After the 2012 Olympics, Phelps said that he was done swimming, and he confirmed he had no plans to return back in June of this year.

Still, considering the fact that he's back in the pool and his mom is wanting him to return, it's safe to say that the odds are good that we will see Phelps going for gold in 2016.