Some Good News Finally

My daughters car finally passed it's emissions test.<br /><br />What a colossal pain in the ass that thing has been.<br /><br />First it was the front oxygen sensor.<br />Then it was the downstream oxygen sensor behind the catalytic converter.<br /><br />Then the check engine light came on again and this time it said the catalytic converter wasn't operating "efficiently" enough.<br /><br />That one really pissed me off.<br /><br />Of course when I was dicking around with the fucking thing it was dark and raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock.<br /><br />I took the little fucker out and hot rodded the shit out of it trying to make sure the converter got hot enough to "light off".<br /><br />They have to get to a certain temperature and then they get so hot they actually do light off inside and start burning any deposits and such inside.<br /><br />I have seen cars driving at night with plugged up converters that look like they have neon lights on underneath they get so hot.<br /><br />I didn't really want to go fast, like I said, it was pouring rain, but I did want to work that engine hard.<br /><br />There is a really long and really steep hill nearby.<br /><br />The trick is that it is usually a very busy road with lots of accompanying police watching for future revenue sources.<br /><br /><br />I had my scanner hooked up to it and waited until the coast was clear, came to a dead stop in the road at the bottom of the hill, put the fucker in low gear and slammed the hammer down.<br /><br />It's a racy little fucker, I'll give it that.<br /><br />Even though I had it locked into manual low, at about forty miles an hour and a gazillion RPM's, the fucker upshifted into second gear just before I quite crested the top.<br /><br />The front tires actually broke loose and the whore slut bitch got all kinds of squirrelly.<br /><br />It's a good thing no one was nearby.<br /><br />After I thrashed on the sonofabitch a few more times I brought it home and checked for codes again.<br /><br />This time it had a code pending, the light wasn't on yet, for the evaporative solenoid circuit.<br /><br />I'm on to this horseshit right here.<br /><br />I don't know how many people have had this happen to them but some clever bastard who designed the electronic codes put this in there as a gift to the automotive repair industry.<br /><br />This particular code can mean two very different things.<br /><br />One, the solenoid to the carbon cannister is bad or two, the much more common culprit.<br /><br />The fucking gas cap isn't tight.<br /><br />How many people have had to pay a dealer a hundred bucks because the check engine light is on and they don't have a clue, they panic, go to a dealer, the mechanic scans for codes, sees this one and opens the little door and tightens the gas cap.<br /><br />So after I tightened that up, I went on another thrash run.<br /><br />No light, no codes.<br />I tell her to take it to get tested BUT, if that fucking light comes on, call me.<br /><br />The place ain't open on Monday so last night, bigger than shit, I get a text message.<br /><br />The light is on again.<br /><br />Bring it over today.<br /><br />Again with the code for the evap solenoid.<br /><br />I asked her if she stopped and got gas.<br />Yes.<br /><br />Tighten the cap, erase the code, kiss her on the head and send her on her way.<br /><br />Twenty minutes later, I get another text.<br /><br />It passed.<br /><br />Fuck you, ya miserable fucking bastards.<br /><br /><i><b>I WIN!!</b></i><br /><br />She will be getting a new gas cap shortly but I can cross that miserable sonofabitch off my list.<br /><br />Finally.<br />

Some Good News Finally

My daughters car finally passed it's emissions test. What a colossal pain in the ass that thing has been. First it was the front oxygen ...

Read more »

Autumn colors at top of Beech Mountain Ski area in NC

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9F28AskGADjbuD8-jFwk21qzYySMUpel832hvK58dcw7Deqa7i7RQetKXi40ZcVFoZPnMpTnsstK5tME94zrjtrWgVhhyphenhyphendfWeeoaOLt9hR2IyAxbR5oEzi_DQx-APtgyy7rzizqusIuAs/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9F28AskGADjbuD8-jFwk21qzYySMUpel832hvK58dcw7Deqa7i7RQetKXi40ZcVFoZPnMpTnsstK5tME94zrjtrWgVhhyphenhyphendfWeeoaOLt9hR2IyAxbR5oEzi_DQx-APtgyy7rzizqusIuAs/s400/5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">This was the view Sunday looking from over 5,000 feet elevation on top of <a href="http://www.beechmountainresort.com/">Beech Mountain</a> in western North Carolina. One of my stomping grounds during my years in Carolina, it is the highest incorporated city east of the Mississippi River. Almost heaven!</div><br />Photo by Lynn R. Mitchell<br />September 29, 2013

Banner Elk Beech Mountain Ski Resort North Carolina Ski Country western North Carolina Autumn colors at top of Beech Mountain Ski area in NC

This was the view Sunday looking from over 5,000 feet elevation on top of Beech Mountain in western North Carolina. One of my stomping grou...

Read more »

INTERVIEW: David Tennant And Gregory Doran Talk Richard II On Front Row

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZufASB0rcRKgMl5fqfXS-DiFsueJZOuk5lzqh28PniYRGAxyiBx32Wv89bzF4QUZsv2jXggzeJX32jzjfN7HcC0fJiCsMjIXVwlg9f4bbM7dsbRtey-BNVNNGh5wxzHm4pMHEraXA7ak/s1600/FrontRow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZufASB0rcRKgMl5fqfXS-DiFsueJZOuk5lzqh28PniYRGAxyiBx32Wv89bzF4QUZsv2jXggzeJX32jzjfN7HcC0fJiCsMjIXVwlg9f4bbM7dsbRtey-BNVNNGh5wxzHm4pMHEraXA7ak/s1600/FrontRow.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David Tennant and Gregory Doran were interviewed by Mark Lawson on BBC Radio 4’s arts show Front Row this evening about their preparations for the new Royal Shakespeare Company production of <i>Richard II</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mark Lawson mentioned that he had read that David turns up to rehearsals having learned all of his lines and one all of the work. In that case what else does he have left to do?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“I wish that were true,” responded David “I suppose the sooner you know the lines the better I think because it allows you to play with it which, particularly with classical texts, it’s about wrestling them into your own kind of soul, really. It’s about finding away that those words feel they come from you. It’s partly through repetition, partly through investigation and partly through experimentation in the rehearsal room.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Greg added, “We take the text around the table and nobody speaks their own lines for however long it is and we put it into our own words. And somebody will say something which will explain a line in a way I’d never thought of it before. And it also means that people kind of invest in the production because their contribution is a collective understanding of the whole play.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mark Lawson had watched a rehearsal of Act 3 Scene 2, where Richard loses his power and was intrigued by mention of improvisation and how that had helped the development process</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David explained, “We just ran through the scene without staging it where we used what we could find in the rehearsal room to physicalise what we were talking about – other company members, chairs and prop swords, whatever else that felt appropriate within the moment – again just a way of unlocking the words really.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Greg reminded David that at one moment he had built himself a defensive ring of plastic chairs</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“With two weeks to go before we go on stage,” joked David, “That’s how I’d like to spend my life.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mark moved on to the political context of the play and how much David believed it still relates to modern politics, especially as he had recently played a cabinet minister in <i>The Politician’s Husband.</i> Does King Richard act in ways that modern politicians still do? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Yes,” agreed David, “And he thinks he’s entirely justified and right to do the things that he does because he’s been put there by God – for God, read the electorate -  absolutely, he believes he has the ultimate power and should never be challenged and I think that’s some thing we can all recognise from the politics of today.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mark mentioned new that audiences were coming to the <st1:place w:st="on">West End</st1:place> because they had seen many of the stars, like David and now David Walliams, in other shows such as <i>Doctor Who </i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David replied, “That’s almost not for me to say. It’s not something I set out to proselytise about, if that happens, then great. Certainly with <i>Hamlet</i> there was a lot of talk before we opened the show that there would be people in some way spoiling it. It’s this weird differentiation between High Art and Low Art and the two should never mix; the assumption within that being that <i>Doctor Who</i> is Low Art which I refute, highly. That never happened. It never happened in <i>Hamlet</i> once. In <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i> it was often quite uproarious which was led by the play. It wasn’t like I popped out of a blue door and Catherine Tate came on with a sonic screwdriver and the house roared. If people want to come and see you in something because they’re interested in your career because they’ve seen you in something else, then fine. We’re all whores!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Greg agreed, “The audiences that came in for <i>Hamlet</i>, there was a sense that they would be rustling their sweet papers when David was off the stage but that never happened so that must be evidence of that.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“<i>Doctor Who</i> fans tend to be rather intelligent, so you don’t have any worry about <i>Doctor Who</i> fans spoiling and audience,” added David</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mark moved on to the live broadcast  and whether it would be tackled as screen acting or stage acting. In acting terms will David just do it as a stage performance?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“I’ve never done it and I guess you do,” said David “I’ll be honest, I’m not without some nervousness of it. I think you just have to …it’s worth a go…”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, there’s an audience in there,” explained Greg. “What I don’t want it to be is a second hand experience of ‘If only I was sitting in that theatre’ that wouldn’t be a first hand experience. Back at the Barbican we filmed the production we were doing of <i>A Winter’s Tale</i> and you had to solve the problem of how the camera was going in for a close up on an actor who was still trying to hit the back of the Barbican Theatre, and that’s a conundrum in a way. The trick is not to put backlight, because that’s the only thing that makes you see all the spit!”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A clip of rehearsals revealed that David will be using an English accent to play King Richard. Mark commented on the accent and ease with which David switched between his stage voice and natural accent.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“I suppose I’ve done it quite a lot, it’s just part of the game I guess. And it’s not an accent I particularly have to reach for, I suppose because I have used it a lot.” David admitted. “Maybe if I was doing South African or something I’d be slightly more worried about it. “</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Greg was asked about how he balances the dual role of director of the play and artistic director of the RSC.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He explained, “I had a bit of time to adjust to being artistic director by myself, but what I’ve got is a fantastic team. Every day there is something that has to be dealt with, but as long as you can teach yourself to focus when you’re there, it seems to work so far.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally Mark asked David an apparently easy question – would he be in the second series of <i>Broadchurch</i>?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David flailed a bit and avoided a straight answer. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“You’d think it was easy, but I have no idea. You’d need to ask Chris Chibnall. He’s writing it as we speak.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But was he available? “Um...I..I..I ..I will see what I can do. The first series I very much enjoyed so I’d like to be involved in series two”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mark also asked if, with him being one of the few with the knowledge of the outcome he had been banned from going and placing a bet at the bookies on the series killer.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“No we weren’t, nobody said that. I thought of it, and I had friends who strong-armed me,” laughed David. “I think the idea that it might get traced back to you would play so badly that I think you realise that you have to be quite careful.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Richard II</i> will open at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, <st1:place w:st="on">Stratford-upon-Avon</st1:place> on 10th October 2013 and will run until 16th November 2013. It will then transfer to the Barbican Theatre in <st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city> from December 9th 2013 until 25th January 2014. The cast includes David Tennant, Emma Hamilton, Nigel Lindsay, Michael Pennington, Jane Lapotaire and Oliver Ford Davies and it is directed by Gregory Doran. Both the Stratford-upon-Avon and <st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city> runs are now sold out.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The production will be filmed and streamed live from the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre into cinemas around the <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region> on Wednesday 13th November, and subsequently into <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region> schools and to cinemas worldwide in screenings running until February 2014.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://news.david-tennant.com/2009/id194.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Find out more about Richard II starring David Tennant on our website</span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Tonight's edition of <i>Front Row</i> will shortly be available as a podcast - <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4"><span style="color: blue;">click here for details</span></a></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

BBC Radio 4 David Tennant Gregory Doran interview Richard II Royal Shakespeare Company INTERVIEW: David Tennant And Gregory Doran Talk Richard II On Front Row

David Tennant and Gregory Doran were interviewed by Mark Lawson on BBC Radio 4’s arts show Front Row this evening about their preparations f...

Read more »

Why You Should Make Treadmill Your Personal Coach

<div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawbyline'>By Randy Boomer</div><br /><br /> <div class='uawarticle'>Need For Exercise<br /> <br /> Today's times are becoming more modern and high-tech every second, but the same can't be said for health in general. Exercise is extremely important to burn the excess fat, lower cholesterol levels and build immunity and stamina. If you find it hard to add regular fitness and exercise into your tight schedule, a treadmill at home can offer the flexibility of exercising at whatever time is convenient. A good place where you can get some beginner material on fitness is a <a href="http://guidetofitness.bravesites.com/fitness-trainers">treadmill review</a>.<br /> <br /> Treadmills And Their Perks<br /> <br /> What sets the treadmill apart from other machines is its ease of use-simply hop on it, and you're good to go. The treadmill focuses on cardiovascular workouts compared to other machines, and these help lower your calorie count. Depending on your objective, there is a treadmill program for you whether you want to build some muscle or just improve your endurance. The treadmill's simplicity of use and wonderful benefits make it the top choice for anyone who wants to up their health and fitness level.<br /> <br /> Know Your Treadmill Better<br /> <br /> All treadmills come with a speed-adjustment feature. Aside from speed adjustment, most models let you fine-tune their parts and features to help you meet your fitness goals more quickly. These treadmill features also make workout routines interesting and motivate you to continue exercising daily.<br /> <br /> Latest treadmill models include built-in exercise programs. You can select the program for weight loss, athletic training, muscle building or general body toning before the belt starts moving. There's no need to tinker with the treadmill as you exercise because it automatically does its adjustments for you. This can be a steady increase or in a predetermined mixed pattern.<br /> <br /> If you wish to observe your heart rate while having your workouts, there are built-in programs intended for that purpose in conjunction with a heart rate monitor. This monitor may need to be clipped to your body or held in your hand. Strapping your monitor on is more hassle-free though, hence this is what the modern treadmills come with. A heart monitor rate takes note of your cardiovascular and workout levels all at one time, a convenient feature.<br /> <br /> To conserve time, you can save your chosen workout settings in your treadmill so you don't need to punch them in every time you work out. If other individuals are using the treadmill too, you are certain to love this feature. Some treadmills also store your workout history; you can track your fitness progress with time and boost your previous performances.<br /> <br /> One high-tech feature that makes treadmills great workout venues is the iFit Live. This useful feature lets say, athletes prepare for the next race that takes place in another venue. This piece of technology lets you see how you stand up with other individuals on different treadmills-maybe even across the world-but also exercising on the same course. For this to operate, you only need a treadmill compatible with iFit Live plus an Net connection. Highly developed treadmills likewise have full-color LCD touch screens and a music player to keep your rhythm going while you exercise.<br /> <br /> The Treadmill Anatomy<br /> <br /> The very key of the treadmill is its conveyor belt. Because the belt is made to move backward, you need to move in a forward motion and suit its pace so you stay on it. Because the belt extends up to the frame of the treadmill, you get to stay on it regardless of your body weight. You can increase or decrease the deck's angle as preferred. This gives you a good cardio exercise and brings variety to your program.<br /> <br /> Damping elements are positioned underneath the deck to help in shock absorption. A cushioned belt reduces the jarring effect on your feet while moving; the tension in the cushioning can be tweaked for your comfort and resistance requirement. As a group, the motor, belt, deck and rollers control a treadmill's quality and efficiency.<br /> <br /> You are able to fold the treadmill frames back or not. If you will be employing the treadmill at home, the foldable model is your best choice. Foldable treadmills, with the deck reaching the arms when folded up, are all about being small in size. You might want to pay more for a strong foldable treadmill that lasts a long time. But if you are considering a treadmill that's meant for the everyday grind, go for the non-foldable types.<br /> <br /> Treadmills And Their Variants<br /> <br /> Treadmills are also designed with their users under consideration. It helps to note what the treadmill is for because some treadmills-like those for runners, for example-cost more than, say, treadmills for walkers. More body weight can cause more bearing and wear on the treadmill; it needs a much more powerful motor to assist heavy users and thus comes at a higher price. A person's height is an additional angle to think about when picking treadmills. How often will the treadmill be used, and how many persons will utilize it? If the treadmill is for several individuals, opt for the more stable units that can bear the daily wear and tear.<br /> <br /> Wrapping It Up<br /> <br /> The countless health and fitness features about a treadmill make it an essential piece of equipment for your home gym. However, there is more to choosing the right treadmill than you would think. Throw in the user types, regularity of usage, and purpose into the mixture of choosing the right treadmill for you. Buy the treadmill that not only accommodates<br /> <br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawresource'><br /> <div style='font-style:italic;' class='uawabout'><br /> About the Author:<br /> </div><br /> <div class='uawlinks'>Searching for the ideal fitness machine is often a frustrating task. <a href="http://www.kiwibox.com/haddiethornton/blog/entry/109112001/trendy-fitness-units/?pPage=0"> treadmill websites</a> are excellent areas to start with. Check out what consumers have to say and you'll see that these products are best rated of their class.</div><br /> </div><br />

Why You Should Make Treadmill Your Personal Coach

By Randy Boomer Need For Exercise Today's times are becoming more modern and high-tech every second, but the same can't be s...

Read more »

Poll proves John McCain correct about shutdown blame falling on GOP

A new Quinnipiac poll reporting 72% of Americans blame Republicans for shutting down the government has proven that Senator John McCain was <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/poll-indicates-gop-has-been-deeply-damaged-by-shutdown-fight">correct in his assessment</a> that a shutdown would not be good for Republicans:<br /><blockquote>Senior Republicans like <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/mccain-to-gop-we-will-lose-the-shutdown-fight" target="_blank">Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)</a> have long maintained that a government shutdown is a political loser for their party, an argument backed by polling. A CNN/ORC International poll released Monday showed that more Americans <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/poll-congressional-gop-will-receive-more-blame-for-government-shutdown-than-obama" target="_blank">will blame the GOP</a> than Obama for a government shutdown.</blockquote>Now this senior statesman who was a Vietnam War prisoner of war is the subject of a recall petition in Arizona, apparently activated by <a href="http://www.dailypaul.com/299048/recall-senator-john-mccain">Libertarians</a> and <a href="http://freedomoutpost.com/2013/06/arizona-voters-look-to-recall-sens-mccain-flake-following-amnesty-vote/">tea partiers</a>.<br /><br />With 72% of Americans blaming Republicans for the government shutdown, these factions may want to listen to the experience of John McCain ... but I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen.

government shutdown John McCain Libertarians tea partiers Poll proves John McCain correct about shutdown blame falling on GOP

A new Quinnipiac poll reporting 72% of Americans blame Republicans for shutting down the government has proven that Senator John McCain was ...

Read more »

Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park closed due to government shutdown

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjCRGWPtxU8G4VEir4MevRSp0Z9uM4vJqGUFNpR_rgk9M0BHH00q326EZPdw16IcVfqKrmTx3Ia7Cxh3cy11-H0iDRwrg00iryuLFTIsY1QPX-v3yvKBEhjs2Zzf4CS7EwItdPVdZtYrWu/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjCRGWPtxU8G4VEir4MevRSp0Z9uM4vJqGUFNpR_rgk9M0BHH00q326EZPdw16IcVfqKrmTx3Ia7Cxh3cy11-H0iDRwrg00iryuLFTIsY1QPX-v3yvKBEhjs2Zzf4CS7EwItdPVdZtYrWu/s400/1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> If the government shutdown that began today continues through October, these are scenes you won't see this year. Just as leaf season is about to arrive, Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park are closed to visitors. Peak weekend usually hits about the third week in October.</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbyEMUNNIrIZU5Qzb1w_bF8uca_jfhCrmpfJZSFbY4H2yudWiA0sIAy4WPiPjYmipmEGy8CZSRkonagT01L4uvahhytOSp4uKymNYU9rarHaHulWRlpGXH59syjeGIY_FOms91mh5qW2l-/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbyEMUNNIrIZU5Qzb1w_bF8uca_jfhCrmpfJZSFbY4H2yudWiA0sIAy4WPiPjYmipmEGy8CZSRkonagT01L4uvahhytOSp4uKymNYU9rarHaHulWRlpGXH59syjeGIY_FOms91mh5qW2l-/s400/2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhry4AmNpopqRK-lVbme7e_uf9BJh8vT0d6uiW66heteNXygH_y44SLKvkdoxKu8CY6YC8krGNrvm0O4pgk41G2HRWrVOR7zm4Q6sFdQerc6qusUVXcAE87BYAnWTYhQZ8Q7gQW1wcnc2IZ/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhry4AmNpopqRK-lVbme7e_uf9BJh8vT0d6uiW66heteNXygH_y44SLKvkdoxKu8CY6YC8krGNrvm0O4pgk41G2HRWrVOR7zm4Q6sFdQerc6qusUVXcAE87BYAnWTYhQZ8Q7gQW1wcnc2IZ/s400/3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcB0pW8vEDlm1isMD3QfTXrIGrEVfDkWtoSBYzPUre9dv7l3snOteCoc5YGfgKJc2KmSVfgT4NPAiEDA1n0gLtD-VLUCu_ubXC4EvJHmn2-ORJ4TsAb4f8mjVcNLuIwlFuAJWp-i3cf3WP/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcB0pW8vEDlm1isMD3QfTXrIGrEVfDkWtoSBYzPUre9dv7l3snOteCoc5YGfgKJc2KmSVfgT4NPAiEDA1n0gLtD-VLUCu_ubXC4EvJHmn2-ORJ4TsAb4f8mjVcNLuIwlFuAJWp-i3cf3WP/s400/4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI1Z6Z1-CKxJq2rc3tGNxSFiLRRlKjqpr52vcbtTGFhJqw_Nl5OAVHNxdSNybIOcgLdU7T79TPI0s6l55EAWkYAg_bk4-RZmChk7540SrL8TTHdeKhaXA-3XQ7dFy8-R9rRVJ1B82F1W-e/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI1Z6Z1-CKxJq2rc3tGNxSFiLRRlKjqpr52vcbtTGFhJqw_Nl5OAVHNxdSNybIOcgLdU7T79TPI0s6l55EAWkYAg_bk4-RZmChk7540SrL8TTHdeKhaXA-3XQ7dFy8-R9rRVJ1B82F1W-e/s400/5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVKw3B784FV8cuEevXYJMi8EjyNGGG7CNbrCAoOKU2dxJIMgNx3JmRpityEqV2SOEByRVufUNn45kwdU6vxfktpYvTlZNt6711dX4X4f5IbMb9RA4wEg5wZBeDeuJi3stEZY_9jDA7hmaQ/s1600/6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVKw3B784FV8cuEevXYJMi8EjyNGGG7CNbrCAoOKU2dxJIMgNx3JmRpityEqV2SOEByRVufUNn45kwdU6vxfktpYvTlZNt6711dX4X4f5IbMb9RA4wEg5wZBeDeuJi3stEZY_9jDA7hmaQ/s400/6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtaSJ1K8NMClabYKvEizQO3pUOc4Ioc4BcRh01grSIcccyYH4H0KRFVRc0TxW2PLEvAmToJbVo99j9s7Em7rkUrq0K2F0Gtdcr8AWS00M5msR31QT9o2TcDCyXxzlaCwGn6AFX9f41bMbs/s1600/7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtaSJ1K8NMClabYKvEizQO3pUOc4Ioc4BcRh01grSIcccyYH4H0KRFVRc0TxW2PLEvAmToJbVo99j9s7Em7rkUrq0K2F0Gtdcr8AWS00M5msR31QT9o2TcDCyXxzlaCwGn6AFX9f41bMbs/s400/7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRjqr90Xw59aGQGH8kzKJ-0UDshAbF4nb_uy8giCiEW6jlXqtI2HQqahKxlgZMqmVBFxr1giJxw2cyVn_346Sx7XDAyG_PrKbeaVp7unjCFCjNoScdJOvHvPuGFsFPUI5_N3f9HnBEgvsu/s1600/8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRjqr90Xw59aGQGH8kzKJ-0UDshAbF4nb_uy8giCiEW6jlXqtI2HQqahKxlgZMqmVBFxr1giJxw2cyVn_346Sx7XDAyG_PrKbeaVp7unjCFCjNoScdJOvHvPuGFsFPUI5_N3f9HnBEgvsu/s400/8.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZhZajYde2EKfSfIXKr9UsbRRTpmpg-zhhYTLXLyjs-0MNDbqSO0H9glkhs2I4564d9hbKS-l9RFDJse3n0-ikDbfhpo_8yo99JjRnfFNjFW1CBoE9E0lWdcnbh0L21-Wi_Gj-1OfGee5O/s1600/9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZhZajYde2EKfSfIXKr9UsbRRTpmpg-zhhYTLXLyjs-0MNDbqSO0H9glkhs2I4564d9hbKS-l9RFDJse3n0-ikDbfhpo_8yo99JjRnfFNjFW1CBoE9E0lWdcnbh0L21-Wi_Gj-1OfGee5O/s400/9.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMboFGucF7-TD1WKxiL2A1JlSRGoHFfHI1rDK_xfqrzqv0zD1B5TTCoIJm0U-gNFSWG3wqkmzE9gX2kkstBXqKaFMXYTgKSs9pdh-fLipDTUMO9Kk-FwQLn6WAAP4cknnJRqvlya33iRCS/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMboFGucF7-TD1WKxiL2A1JlSRGoHFfHI1rDK_xfqrzqv0zD1B5TTCoIJm0U-gNFSWG3wqkmzE9gX2kkstBXqKaFMXYTgKSs9pdh-fLipDTUMO9Kk-FwQLn6WAAP4cknnJRqvlya33iRCS/s400/11.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6a17Phw0DVrwKjGjpa-NtNMDF-GFiP4JHzILNR9U13QNfhmtQmNG3VQ62Z4WI353yhJNomry7FcOuFA1gi_C9Eurp_4EUXbfT9EaQgoxVn7GEhhqEynRqt650HQW3Hb-JFTSL3bVoMfu/s1600/13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij6a17Phw0DVrwKjGjpa-NtNMDF-GFiP4JHzILNR9U13QNfhmtQmNG3VQ62Z4WI353yhJNomry7FcOuFA1gi_C9Eurp_4EUXbfT9EaQgoxVn7GEhhqEynRqt650HQW3Hb-JFTSL3bVoMfu/s640/13.jpg" width="588" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJjTOwF25RT9T8oZ8KkdSIBW-qa3osF7Jpa4d94HwUKe5XxUMkTVAx6UtQKHkK5eeSYsBe6ph24YwIVIEXaNIMK8g8_uql11jNGXTjHr8DCfhyXEIgAkhPcjqhlpUSaq7NlRQEFh4YSgtL/s1600/18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJjTOwF25RT9T8oZ8KkdSIBW-qa3osF7Jpa4d94HwUKe5XxUMkTVAx6UtQKHkK5eeSYsBe6ph24YwIVIEXaNIMK8g8_uql11jNGXTjHr8DCfhyXEIgAkhPcjqhlpUSaq7NlRQEFh4YSgtL/s400/18.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_wxA_ZlyXcoQos-we6eYfc7y3tSxIyhnFByZhT9aI2TrgAQYL2BSLAw99DUYxcs1-rdHj5AO5oXXN0IqXd9qdinAd-tt6KtwzJvQxh3AuRaFs2BmX6_n4_lMb3cSYbVCeNqPb_oRFzwD1/s1600/20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_wxA_ZlyXcoQos-we6eYfc7y3tSxIyhnFByZhT9aI2TrgAQYL2BSLAw99DUYxcs1-rdHj5AO5oXXN0IqXd9qdinAd-tt6KtwzJvQxh3AuRaFs2BmX6_n4_lMb3cSYbVCeNqPb_oRFzwD1/s400/20.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrI8N5aXUkSiU35lA0fA-C9juI4qP2xt1FsDmSI_G3xr3zFzoJ-RUJdDGZXiZ6mEBBMZz4ILS2V1blMGEcoUvKqLtUg5urnHDOx-MBety5ZcGcrYJbjp1oHc3Hn1CfissJyV5shqSB9byU/s1600/21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrI8N5aXUkSiU35lA0fA-C9juI4qP2xt1FsDmSI_G3xr3zFzoJ-RUJdDGZXiZ6mEBBMZz4ILS2V1blMGEcoUvKqLtUg5urnHDOx-MBety5ZcGcrYJbjp1oHc3Hn1CfissJyV5shqSB9byU/s400/21.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHDARr5hWn618oEY5ZjYxQaP52ClkC9TVOPaKs7x9Js1RY-G6OXOZ1W-a9MPHostbgh2wkktrOA2cGoshT4QqJNsonTWvT78WhSElYjPgyQ2NgQcetcK9yqa0k5QALL2WIdICgyzmiaTg0/s1600/28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHDARr5hWn618oEY5ZjYxQaP52ClkC9TVOPaKs7x9Js1RY-G6OXOZ1W-a9MPHostbgh2wkktrOA2cGoshT4QqJNsonTWvT78WhSElYjPgyQ2NgQcetcK9yqa0k5QALL2WIdICgyzmiaTg0/s400/28.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKw0foK6T_zFJ-cNovPSqKkC1U2-iORl3h0C25R_1xgFI13gMLJxSXCMPeS9cr36R0-hRfc05m3Zny3QxfsVqOM_YRNB_S-IDAKi3OkjVfdjcFeCaBxEcBw2rquwrhsnjqeYwgXLPpQJb/s1600/30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKw0foK6T_zFJ-cNovPSqKkC1U2-iORl3h0C25R_1xgFI13gMLJxSXCMPeS9cr36R0-hRfc05m3Zny3QxfsVqOM_YRNB_S-IDAKi3OkjVfdjcFeCaBxEcBw2rquwrhsnjqeYwgXLPpQJb/s400/30.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjav5Ltx1ACdGPUIqPJvQXPCt9UorpPyz6yd2SJpZedbpScQEgbD8r4BUxUXqT8Lnl5k8hk60Vcceeg33mce-bfLa1YlK9bjuugRVTSkN1vmr4QC99zk9sZ0UWW3a7XVU7g_rDTMngTRIiO/s1600/31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjav5Ltx1ACdGPUIqPJvQXPCt9UorpPyz6yd2SJpZedbpScQEgbD8r4BUxUXqT8Lnl5k8hk60Vcceeg33mce-bfLa1YlK9bjuugRVTSkN1vmr4QC99zk9sZ0UWW3a7XVU7g_rDTMngTRIiO/s400/31.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><a href="http://www.dailyprogress.com/newsvirginian/news/local/shenandoah-national-park-to-close-if-shutdown-happens/article_37420cb0-2a29-11e3-a5d7-001a4bcf6878.html">Shenandoah National Park to close</a> by Bob Stuart <br /><a href="http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/article_5e17bf58-2a4f-11e3-b9a9-001a4bcf6878.html">Area parks, services to close in government shutdown</a> by Ray Reed<br /><a href="http://www.roanoke.com/news/2265842-12/blue-ridge-parkway-will-allow-traffic-not-attractions.html">Blue Ridge Parkway will allow traffic, not attractions, in shutdown</a> by Ralph Berrier, Jr.<br /><br />Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell<br />Shenandoah National Park

Blue Ridge Mountains Blue Ridge Parkway government shutdown Lynchburg News and Advance Roanoke Times Shenandoah National Park Skyline Drive tourism Virginia Is For Lovers Waynesboro News-Virginian Skyline Drive and Shenandoah National Park closed due to government shutdown

 If the government shutdown that began today continues through October, these are scenes you won't see this year. Just as leaf season is...

Read more »

Shutdown isn't affecting TPP talks

The <a href="http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/10/01/government-shutdown-what-stays-open-whats-closed/" rel="nofollow">government shutdown</a> is costing 400,000 civilian employees part of their paychecks. Small businesspeople won't be able to apply for federal loans, nor will students or homebuyers. Retirees won't be able to apply for Social Security. All national parks and federally funded museums are closed.<br /><br />Here's one thing that won't shut down: negotiations for job-killing<strike> corporate giveaways</strike> trade deals like the <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/03/tpp-power-grab-by-corporations-and-1.html" rel="nofollow">TPP</a> and <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/07/tafta-delay-good-for-workers.html" rel="nofollow">TAFTA</a>.<br /><br />According to an email from the people who bring you these job-killing <strike>corporate giveaways</strike> trade deals, the U.S. Trade Representative's office:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Due to a lapse in federal appropriations, as of October 1st, USTR will be unable to carry out normal operations. As of today, in hopes that the lapse will be brief, USTR plans to participate in the upcoming meeting of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Trade Ministers as well as the APEC meetings taking place in Bali, Indonesia from October 3-8, 2013. USTR also plans to participate in the upcoming 2nd round negotiation of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) taking place in Brussels, Belgium from October 7-11, 2013. In the event of a prolonged lapse in funding, plans may change and we will inform you accordingly.</blockquote>'T-TIP' is their term for TAFTA, which they don't like to use for obvious reasons.<br /><br />In other words, ordinary people are getting screwed by the shutdown -- twice over.

government shutdown TPP Shutdown isn't affecting TPP talks

The government shutdown is costing 400,000 civilian employees part of their paychecks. Small businesspeople won't be able to apply for ...

Read more »

Exciting - the unexpected....

<br />Happy Tuesday fellow bloggettes - <br /><br />As I mentioned last week, Money is really tight.  I usually pick up my Belviq on the 1st of the month but with rent, etc., it's just not happening.  So, I prepared - I cut myself down to 1 pill a day to stretch out until the 16th when I can fill my new RX and start back at 2 a day.  I was hoping to just maintain my current weight - not expecting to lose and hoping to not gain anything back.<br /><br />Today I went to the doctor for a follow up on something else and I was pleased to see I actually lost 2 pounds.  My scale at home confirmed it as well, but I always like to check on the "original" scale.  Sorry there is no video because I did not expect any loss at all.  I just expected status quo.  <br /><br />That makes a total of 33 pounds lost to date.  Do you know what this means?  This means - NO PLATEAU!  I am 17 pounds from my 1st short term goal of 50 pounds and I am only 10 pounds away from moving down that one bracket on the doctor scale.  I CAN DO THIS!!!  <br /><br />I just wanted to give you all an update.  I can't wait until the 16th rolls back around and I can start 2 a day.  I may not have hit my 50 pound mark for my HS reunion that will happen on the 19th of this month, but I did pretty good!!<br /><br />

Exciting - the unexpected....

Happy Tuesday fellow bloggettes - As I mentioned last week, Money is really tight.  I usually pick up my Belviq on the 1st of the month but ...

Read more »

Tenth Doctor Month Poll - Who Is Your Favourite Companion

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kpgjfvGYqggu_z2LoEZqYcmcNVwQrO0T-bclEjWT_mCWTd1dvs3KJ2USrL6YPCOd4HUG_sr5Nzjy30-eStwOFOOZa2p-zFY_emghb9f3YH-XTon_H_6dMCTg7qbyOgZHaCaf5oMuM9s/s1600/companions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kpgjfvGYqggu_z2LoEZqYcmcNVwQrO0T-bclEjWT_mCWTd1dvs3KJ2USrL6YPCOd4HUG_sr5Nzjy30-eStwOFOOZa2p-zFY_emghb9f3YH-XTon_H_6dMCTg7qbyOgZHaCaf5oMuM9s/s1600/companions.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As we celebrate Tenth Doctor month as part of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary year celebrations we would like to know who your favourite companion to travel with David Tennant's Doctor is?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can vote below and also leave your comments on out <a href="http://www.facebook.com/davidtennantcom" target="_blank">Facebook page here.</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We will reveal the winner on Tuesday 8th October so get voting!</span><br /><br /><br /><style>#qp_main34339 .qp_btna:hover input {background:rgb(150,150,150)!important}</style><br /><div id="qp_main34339" style="background: rgb(255,255,255); border-radius: 6px; border: 1px solid rgb(150,150,150); margin: 10px; padding-bottom: 12px; padding: 10px;"><div style="background-color: #2c2c2c; border-radius: 6px; color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 10px;"><div style="padding: 10px;">Who was your favourite companion of the Tenth Doctor?</div></div><form action="http://www.poll-maker.com/results34339xd480B1Dd-2" id="qp_form34339" method="post" style="display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" target="_blank"><div style="border-radius: 6px;"><div style="clear: both; color: black; cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><span onclick="var c=this.childNodes[0];c.checked=(c.type=='radio'?true:!c.checked);" style="display: block; padding-left: 30px;"><input name="qp_v34339" style="float: left; height: 18px; margin-left: -25px; margin-top: -1px; padding: 0px; width: 25px;" type="radio" value="1" />Rose Tyler</span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><span onclick="var c=this.childNodes[0];c.checked=(c.type=='radio'?true:!c.checked);" style="display: block; padding-left: 30px;"><input name="qp_v34339" style="float: left; height: 18px; margin-left: -25px; margin-top: -1px; padding: 0px; width: 25px;" type="radio" value="2" />Mickey Smith</span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><span onclick="var c=this.childNodes[0];c.checked=(c.type=='radio'?true:!c.checked);" style="display: block; padding-left: 30px;"><input name="qp_v34339" style="float: left; height: 18px; margin-left: -25px; margin-top: -1px; padding: 0px; width: 25px;" type="radio" value="3" />Martha Jones</span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><span onclick="var c=this.childNodes[0];c.checked=(c.type=='radio'?true:!c.checked);" style="display: block; padding-left: 30px;"><input name="qp_v34339" style="float: left; height: 18px; margin-left: -25px; margin-top: -1px; padding: 0px; width: 25px;" type="radio" value="4" />Donna Noble</span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><span onclick="var c=this.childNodes[0];c.checked=(c.type=='radio'?true:!c.checked);" style="display: block; padding-left: 30px;"><input name="qp_v34339" style="float: left; height: 18px; margin-left: -25px; margin-top: -1px; padding: 0px; width: 25px;" type="radio" value="5" />Wilfred Mott</span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><span onclick="var c=this.childNodes[0];c.checked=(c.type=='radio'?true:!c.checked);" style="display: block; padding-left: 30px;"><input name="qp_v34339" style="float: left; height: 18px; margin-left: -25px; margin-top: -1px; padding: 0px; width: 25px;" type="radio" value="6" />Sarah Jane Smith</span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><span onclick="var c=this.childNodes[0];c.checked=(c.type=='radio'?true:!c.checked);" style="display: block; padding-left: 30px;"><input name="qp_v34339" style="float: left; height: 18px; margin-left: -25px; margin-top: -1px; padding: 0px; width: 25px;" type="radio" value="7" />Captain Jack Harkness</span></div><div style="clear: both; color: black; cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 5px;"><span onclick="var c=this.childNodes[0];c.checked=(c.type=='radio'?true:!c.checked);" style="display: block; padding-left: 30px;"><input name="qp_v34339" style="float: left; height: 18px; margin-left: -25px; margin-top: -1px; padding: 0px; width: 25px;" type="radio" value="8" />Other</span></div></div><div style="clear: both; padding-top: 10px;"><a class="qp_btna" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=400753648428227326#"><input name="qp_b34339" style="background: rgb(200,200,200); border-radius: 10px; border: 1px solid rgb(150,150,150); color: black; cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; height: 30px; margin-right: 5px; width: 80px;" type="submit" value="Vote" /></a><a class="qp_btna" href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=400753648428227326#"><input name="qp_b34339" style="background: rgb(200,200,200); border-radius: 10px; border: 1px solid rgb(150,150,150); color: black; cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; height: 30px; margin-right: 5px; width: 80px;" type="submit" value="Results" /></a></div><a href="http://www.poll-maker.com/" id="qp_a34339" style="color: black; float: right; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; margin-right: -5px; margin-top: -2px; text-decoration: none;">www.poll-maker.com</a></form></div><script language="javascript" src="http://scripts.poll-maker.com/3012/scpolls.js"></script>

David Tennant Doctor Who Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Poll Tenth Doctor Month Tenth Doctor Month Poll - Who Is Your Favourite Companion

As we celebrate Tenth Doctor month as part of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary year celebrations we would like to know who your favourite com...

Read more »

David Tennant Reads Brush Up Your Shakespeare For BBC Radio Berkshire

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlngFJZySr16Vm0BMxDAK-XPCy2V0Q0Kru1cQuFioILB062BZ-94yCxpVmXGubZwzLOnF6Xh-wmbT9-N0o_1s1DLJOywNclP-zzh4bwAt3C__75pdn_Sj2sX0Y_IYc7BEw-IFkWOcXG4/s1600/Radio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlngFJZySr16Vm0BMxDAK-XPCy2V0Q0Kru1cQuFioILB062BZ-94yCxpVmXGubZwzLOnF6Xh-wmbT9-N0o_1s1DLJOywNclP-zzh4bwAt3C__75pdn_Sj2sX0Y_IYc7BEw-IFkWOcXG4/s1600/Radio.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David Tennant has contributed the reading of a poem to BBC Radio Berkshire's Poetry Week celebrations in the run up to National Poetry Day on Thursday.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David read <i>Brush Up Your Shakespeare</i> by Cole Porter<i>,</i> which was played on the Mike Read show this afternoon. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://news.david-tennant.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/brushup.mp3"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Listen to David reading here</b></span></a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Other guest readers on the show included David's <i>Duck Patrol</i> and <i>Believe It! </i>co-star Richard Wilson.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">National Poetry Day 2013 takes place on Thursday 3rd October and this year's theme is Water, Water, Everywhere. The nationwide celebration of poetry for everyone, everywhere, is a chance for people to use poetry to say things that can’t be said in prose. <a href="http://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/national-poetry-day/">Find out more here</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Source: With thanks to <a href="http://triny123.tumblr.com/post/62809752044/brush-up-your-shakespeare-read-in-american">Tennant_Untitled by Triny on Tumblr</a> </span><br /> <div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

David Tennant Poem Radio David Tennant Reads Brush Up Your Shakespeare For BBC Radio Berkshire

David Tennant has contributed the reading of a poem to BBC Radio Berkshire's Poetry Week celebrations in the run up to National Poetry D...

Read more »

Blue Ridge Parkway Fall Colors Tracker

<iframe frameborder="0" height="450" src="http://blueridgeparkwaydaily.com/FCT.html" width="600"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://blueridgeparkwaydaily.com/blue-ridge-parkway-fall-colors-tracker">Detailed Blue Ridge Parkway Fall Fall Foliage Report</a></small>

Blue Ridge Parkway Fall Colors Tracker

Detailed Blue Ridge Parkway Fall Fall Foliage Report

Read more »

World of Warcraft: Raiders, Raiding, and Communities

<p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-YalVtmfykd8/UkrlmfY7uTI/AAAAAAAADHA/GOnXEpFz538/s1600-h/WoWScrnShot_092113_212806%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img alt="WoWScrnShot_092113_212806" border="0" height="435" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-nxi27Wr-DYI/Ukrlm2QVA9I/AAAAAAAADHI/EnzXwE1QnXE/WoWScrnShot_092113_212806_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline" title="WoWScrnShot_092113_212806" width="924"></a> </p> <p></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3">I never wanted to be a raider.  My game time and enjoyment was never derived from aspiring to be in a raiding guild.  But I knew that meant I missed out on story that could only be seen in a raid, sucked but I accepted it.  Then the LFR (Looking for Raid) tool was introduced and I dipped my toes into a raid for the first time at level 90.  For the most part my LFR experiences have been smooth, drama free, and wipe free.  That may be in large part because I tune out the bitchiness and whining that comes from twenty-five random people thrown together.  </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3">I have started running Recount only for my own dps numbers, I don’t care what numbers others produce.  I especially am amused when healing by the sheer amount of overhealing that occurs, especially when the top overhealer is so very proud of their hps.  I laugh at them in the privacy of my office.  I know that damage/healing meters are inaccurate.  Hubby and I can be in the same raid and have wildly different numbers for both of us, we are in the same office and use the same connection, and yet somehow we’ve seen dps differences in excess of 10k at times.  So yeah, meters are meaningless.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3">What I have noticed in LFR is the utter disdain from the progression raiding community that feels free to do LFR and smack talk the people that are appropriately geared for the raid.  Vastly outgearing content and being smug about your damage or healing meter is very sad, and even sadder when you feel the need to publically humiliate those that can’t keep up with your numbers.  </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3">LFR is a more than decent tool implemented by Blizzard to give a broader range of the community access to raids.  What it is for a small percentage of the player base is a tool to boost their low self-esteem at the expense of other players.  My ignore list is growing and what these people fail to comprehend is that when I’m healing and it’s one of “those” LFR groups, all my direct heals and shields will go to those players that haven’t seen fit to publically berate other players (and yes I apply this rule to tanks, healers, and dps).  I run Healbot/Vuhdo and I will blacklist players from heals, I don’t think twice about it.  I have no patience for spoiled children who think they are the best thing since sliced bread.  </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3">Truth be told, when raiding with hubby my heal priority is always hubby, tanks, healers, and then dps.  Doesn’t matter, hubby will always get a heal if he needs it before anyone else.  Don’t like it, then I suggest you don’t act like a preschooler that missed his nap.  </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3">Our recently created, or in my case rerolled, Horde characters have joined a guild founded by a deaf player.  So far the guild is awesome, they are friendly in chat and don’t seem to be full of what we consider the “typical” Horde players to be.  You might be wondering why two non-hearing impaired people joined such a guild?  Because by definition, the guild has to be able to communicate effectively in chat without relying on voice chat to communicate ideas.  That alone was reason enough to try out the guild.  I am looking forward to raiding with them on the Horde side.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="3">Our Alliance guild is open to accepting new members for the first time.  But be warned, drama is not welcome and we will never be a progression raiding guild.  If we get enough members to run raids then it will be for fun and laughs and to see content, old and new.  It won’t be to massage egos and claim bragging rights.  I’d love it for more people had a willing attitude about figuring things out while raiding rather than expecting to face roll all content immediately.  If you reside on Silvermoon and are interested, send me a DM on </font><a href="https://twitter.com/GamingCouples" target="_blank"><font size="3">Twitter</font></a><font size="3">.</font></p> <div id="scid:0767317B-992E-4b12-91E0-4F059A8CECA8:f8cb08a3-c546-4e93-b24e-6b3cb8d273ba" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" style="float: none; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-left: 0px; margin: 0px; display: inline; padding-right: 0px">Technorati Tags: <a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Blizzard" rel="tag">Blizzard</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/World+of+Warcraft" rel="tag">World of Warcraft</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/WOW" rel="tag">WOW</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/LFR" rel="tag">LFR</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/raids" rel="tag">raids</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/raiders" rel="tag">raiders</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Healbot" rel="tag">Healbot</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Vuhdo" rel="tag">Vuhdo</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Recount" rel="tag">Recount</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/raiding" rel="tag">raiding</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/guilds" rel="tag">guilds</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tags/Silvermoon" rel="tag">Silvermoon</a></div>

Blizzard MMO World of Warcraft WOW World of Warcraft: Raiders, Raiding, and Communities

I never wanted to be a raider.  My game time and enjoyment was never derived from aspiring to be in a raiding guild.  But I knew that mea...

Read more »

'In Gross Rebellion' - The Latest Richard II Production Blog From Illuminations Is Now Live

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNzp6ZxYxwVatSNtcNRbXq-ofl56gz5wTGKmU3T1k4lYz6cMUWGJwajV8Hy6SYlunahnhGUfwc5K_iVdYYmSTW3hM3ix_1X3Fjb4tAT3qFHCiiB7FvWJg3zGggvRFyUwAMA8cDgalLLE/s1600/WoS5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLNzp6ZxYxwVatSNtcNRbXq-ofl56gz5wTGKmU3T1k4lYz6cMUWGJwajV8Hy6SYlunahnhGUfwc5K_iVdYYmSTW3hM3ix_1X3Fjb4tAT3qFHCiiB7FvWJg3zGggvRFyUwAMA8cDgalLLE/s1600/WoS5.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John Wyver of Illuminations has posted the latest in his series of blogs detailing the progress of preparations for the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of William Shakespeare's <i>Richard II</i>. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Previews of <i>Richard II</i> starring David Tennant and directed by Gregory Doran, begin in Stratford-upon-Avon in just nine days. The company worked their way right through the play for the first time on Friday, and will be moving from their London rehearsal rooms to the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre next week. John, who will be seeing a run through for the first time this coming Friday, describes the <i>Richard II</i> set as 'complex'.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John's blog this week also says:</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">David Tennant and Gregory Doran will be guests on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03brkf5"><span style="color: blue;">BBC Radio 4's Front Row</span></a> at 7.15pm BST tonight</span></li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">United States venues have started selling tickets for the <a href="http://onscreen.rsc.org.uk/"><span style="color: blue;">Live From Stratford-upon-Avon broadcast</span></a></span></li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are rehearsal photos by Kwame Lestrade now available on the <a href="http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/richard-ii/rehearsal-photos.aspx"><span style="color: blue;">RSC website</span></a></span></li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Composer Paul Englishby and the production’s musicians have recorded the music for a CD and digital download release</span></li></ul><ul><li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The animated trailer trailer for Young Shakespeare Nation featuring David Tennant <a href="http://www.rsc.org.uk/education/young-shakespeare-nation/trailer.aspx"><span style="color: blue;">has been released</span></a></span></li></ul><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/2013/10/in-gross-rebellion/"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Read the full blog post by John Wyver here</b></span></a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The latest video production diary, released last Friday, features Professor James Shapiro who reflects upon the reception of the play within the political climate of the time of its first performance.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/SLsBPbz2-RI" width="420"></iframe></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Richard II will open at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, <st1:place w:st="on">Stratford-upon-Avon</st1:place> on 10th October 2013 and will run until 16th November 2013. It will then transfer to the Barbican Theatre in <st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city> from December 9th 2013 until 25th January 2014. The cast includes David Tennant, Emma Hamilton, Nigel Lindsay, Michael Pennington, Jane Lapotaire and Oliver Ford Davies and it is directed by Gregory Doran. Both the Stratford-upon-Avon and <st1:city w:st="on">London</st1:city> runs are now sold out.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The production will be filmed and streamed live from the stage of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre into cinemas around the <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region> on Wednesday 13th November, and subsequently into <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region>schools and to cinemas worldwide in screenings running until February 2014. More details are available via the Live broadcast link above.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://news.david-tennant.com/2009/id194.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Find out more about Richard II starring David Tennant on our website</span></a></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>

David Tennant Gregory Doran Illuminations Richard II Royal Shakespeare Company Theatre 'In Gross Rebellion' - The Latest Richard II Production Blog From Illuminations Is Now Live

John Wyver of Illuminations has posted the latest in his series of blogs detailing the progress of preparations for the Royal Shakespeare Co...

Read more »

Ethical Tradition Meets Economics In An Aging China | WBUR & NPR

<base href="data:">The sound of Buddhist chants wafts through an annex of the Songtang Hospice, the first private facility of its kind in Beijing. A group of lay Buddhists is trying to ease the passage of a recently departed soul of a patient.<br><br>When I first visited this place nearly two decades ago, the average patient stayed just 18 days. Now, it caters to people who are not terminally ill, and the average stay is about five years.<br><br>China is home to the world's largest aging population, and its attitudes and treatment of the elderly are changing. In the past, there was little mention in China of the rights of the elderly. Instead, ancestor worship and Confucian respect for the elderly were the norm.<br><br>But since this summer, Chinese law requires adult offspring to visit their elderly parents and look after their emotional needs. A number of cases of parents suing their deadbeat kids for emotional support have gotten heavy play in the Chinese media.<br><br><b>Law Meets Reality</b><br><br>Upstairs at the hospice, Huang Xuebing is visiting his mother, who has now been here for around five years and whose health is declining. Huang visits her here every day, but he still blames himself for not taking better care of her.<br><br>"In China, when you take care of a parent, you take care of him or her in your home, and you take care of them until they die," Huang says. "We call this filial piety. If you put a parent in an old age home, many people consider this unfilial. But we have no choice."<br><br>Huang says he tried to take care of his mother at home, but the caregivers he hired all quit. Huang's family comes from northeast China, and his mother's medical insurance will only pay for her treatment in her home province. So Huang uses all of his mother's pension, plus contributions from his siblings, to pay for his mother's stay at the hospice.<br><br>Huang admits he's struggling to reconcile his obligations to his mother versus those to society.<br><br>"I come here every day, but I have to take time out from work for it," he says. "When I come here to sit by her bedside and look after her every day that means that I haven't contributed to society in any other way, right?"<br><br>The challenge of caring for China's elderly is evident in the demographics. As of last year, China had about eight working-age people for every senior citizen. By midcentury, there will be only two people supporting each senior. This is because people are living longer, and they're having fewer children, in part because of China's one-child policy.<br><br>In another room of the hospice, I met a cheerful-looking 94-year-old retired teacher named Lian Yicheng. She says her daughter visits her just twice a month, and that's just fine by her.<br><br>"If there's nothing wrong, I don't ask her to come here," she says. "It's a three-hour round trip for her, so a visit takes up half her day. I tell her I'm fine, I'm alive and kicking, what's there to come over and see?"<br><br>She was separated from her children first during World War II. When the Japanese army invaded her home town of Wuhan, she fled to the wartime capital of Chongqing, then known as Chungking. She was separated from them again during the chaos of the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, so she got used to fending for herself.<br><br>Lian believes that how each person looks after his or her parents is a matter of individual character. She doesn't think it's something you can regulate by law.<br><br>"It's something you have [to] cultivate gradually. You can't force it," she says. "My daughter has her work and her own activities. She can't live in the past, according to the feudal thinking and Confucian ways of my generation."<br><br><b>Holding On To Tradition</b><br><br>Confucianism held filial piety to be the most important ethical principle in human relations and the model for other relations; between husband and wife, ruler and minister, etc. Confucian respect for the elderly remains a powerful force in Chinese society, but it's a far cry from what it used to be.<br><br>In the past, for instance, many Chinese learned respect for the elderly from a 13th century collection of stories about 24 models of filial piety. One example is a man named Guo Ju, who was so poor he couldn't afford enough food for his elderly mother and young son.<br><br>So he decided to bury his son alive in his backyard. He could always have more children later, he reasoned, but he could never have another mother. The story ends happily, with heaven rewarding Guo for his filial attitude, so that both his mother and child survive.<br><br>A century ago, this interpretation of Confucianism was already being criticized. The idea of sacrificing a child to save a parent was lambasted as inhumane and the basis for a slavish deference to authority.<br><br>Given the residual influence of Confucianism, says Songtang Hospice founder Li Wei, the problem of caring for China's elderly is mainly an economic one, not an ethical one. He says it's not realistic to expect parents to sue their children for emotional support, and this is why there have been so few cases going to court.<br><br>"An 80-year-old who is no longer independent, who can no longer walk, how can they go sue someone in court?" he says. "It's never happened, because our citizens don't have a history of being litigious."<br><br>Li knows a thing or two about caring for the elderly. During the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, Li served as a "barefoot doctor," treating the ill and dying with little training, medicine or equipment. Since he founded Songtang more than two decades ago, he's seen off more than 10,000 patients from his hospice. He has even named himself after his own institution and now goes by "Li Songtang."<br><br>Li argues that most of the people who bring their parents to his hospice are not unfilial children.<br><br>"The ones who are really unfilial are those who put their old folks in a coffin made of four concrete walls," he says. "They go off to do their work, and leave the old person all alone and lonely. This kind of thing happens all the time."<br><br><a href="http://www.wbur.org/npr/227876034/ethical-tradition-meets-economics-in-an-aging-china">http://www.wbur.org/npr/227876034/ethical-tradition-meets-economics-in-an-aging-china</a><br><br>

Ethical Tradition Meets Economics In An Aging China | WBUR & NPR

The sound of Buddhist chants wafts through an annex of the Songtang Hospice, the first private facility of its kind in Beijing. A group of l...

Read more »

Friday: Homeschool Day at Frontier Culture Museum

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdrhKK3wv4txTqCGBEtvyYpHb-TZEnVW4wTCoUWOdVSY2HJuA49Tztxr206gYFO66zL1s9Tuuf6fuRqPwdRj7rhdRULTiA5KowORYiYc-B926Fh_4wU3yzIJQ4CK8h-83JemP4csSzSLN5/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdrhKK3wv4txTqCGBEtvyYpHb-TZEnVW4wTCoUWOdVSY2HJuA49Tztxr206gYFO66zL1s9Tuuf6fuRqPwdRj7rhdRULTiA5KowORYiYc-B926Fh_4wU3yzIJQ4CK8h-83JemP4csSzSLN5/s400/1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Friday is Homeschool Day at the <a href="http://www.frontiermuseum.org/fall-homeschool-day-2/">Frontier Culture Museum</a> in Staunton. Each fall, this popular event  offers the opportunity for homeschool families from throughout the Commonwealth to enjoy hands-on history offered by historical exhibits and costumed interpreters. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqbGWNO_kdJrDo6TmSySB0PE8mLrKry6rG9ts00Q0cXjfMyqvqqyMoUpmZP8JYjBg1kSAMt5Usgz2VE4m_FKsS3qyGty7veozNMBmUhNzBP-qzV_xnBFf56V4NkBwCH7WxRATslzvshH_L/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqbGWNO_kdJrDo6TmSySB0PE8mLrKry6rG9ts00Q0cXjfMyqvqqyMoUpmZP8JYjBg1kSAMt5Usgz2VE4m_FKsS3qyGty7veozNMBmUhNzBP-qzV_xnBFf56V4NkBwCH7WxRATslzvshH_L/s640/2.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGHAQ85uXJykvzr29-6byaUwGhKxLw2Y9we1q8AY3cr2IhIKI0BK57GAA3d2I1TVgEAHOWG7Wi-PeRcG7ik5Q7MoTRkCJWGgD9Bn8EDf8sBd3iqMx4hAUutpdvx4QbrJjchjtqBeje3yc7/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGHAQ85uXJykvzr29-6byaUwGhKxLw2Y9we1q8AY3cr2IhIKI0BK57GAA3d2I1TVgEAHOWG7Wi-PeRcG7ik5Q7MoTRkCJWGgD9Bn8EDf8sBd3iqMx4hAUutpdvx4QbrJjchjtqBeje3yc7/s400/3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Demonstrating daily routines of early American immigrants who traveled to the New World from England, Ireland, Germany, and Africa, some activities that can be observed include cooking, gardening, woodworking, flax and wool spinning, and school house lessons. Children of all ages will enjoy the animals who live on the farms -- ducks, chickens, pigs, cows.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtoNu14WQ3kZpTahEXfNy-JaNLNjRfkjmCzu5G6A0OdyNSXziohL2xvuF1wd6xdBxOJvxKof7WS-l2aYByJikAurHBo6cb187hBWUVgOPG0CPy_wSzCkjmmmRKS14E3yHhdAHS5U5RgWhi/s1600/11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtoNu14WQ3kZpTahEXfNy-JaNLNjRfkjmCzu5G6A0OdyNSXziohL2xvuF1wd6xdBxOJvxKof7WS-l2aYByJikAurHBo6cb187hBWUVgOPG0CPy_wSzCkjmmmRKS14E3yHhdAHS5U5RgWhi/s400/11.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0mEoVR8eF4AWu_8pC0Ki5Fz44P8cabTK2eLQKBRf-YK4ai0Yqz8kp70Nej6BrHe99BdOn8atyijrE5_XNdBjpW2woKqVRiCqLMi0zx8UhgO1nhnm1HWgezq7JZhLHZVeMN8XRmKZxypaT/s1600/18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0mEoVR8eF4AWu_8pC0Ki5Fz44P8cabTK2eLQKBRf-YK4ai0Yqz8kp70Nej6BrHe99BdOn8atyijrE5_XNdBjpW2woKqVRiCqLMi0zx8UhgO1nhnm1HWgezq7JZhLHZVeMN8XRmKZxypaT/s640/18.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZryzm0ecdTlrIiwkrDQY-rIPnsd2h9obCYsOVrTi6ahDF7NDiQlV3dV_XfeyAnOuTsLuo3jluYXR85cV1kUqfICSRzXjVrE0AuWzStnqvJSQKmLzGBVIkbn18MXKt0q7RLNu8frxCnDP/s1600/19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxZryzm0ecdTlrIiwkrDQY-rIPnsd2h9obCYsOVrTi6ahDF7NDiQlV3dV_XfeyAnOuTsLuo3jluYXR85cV1kUqfICSRzXjVrE0AuWzStnqvJSQKmLzGBVIkbn18MXKt0q7RLNu8frxCnDP/s400/19.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Homeschool Day will take place from 9-5, rain or shine. Bring a lunch and take advantage of the picnic tables under shelter or outside. Nearby restaurants include Burger King, McDonald's, Chili's, Cracker Barrel, Martin's supermarket cafe, Five Guys, KFC, Firehouse Subs, and Starbucks.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOQCFnuHMM10_j8gXyXeIGmp33EraTrJ8lxv04GJHs3wtEtpekjev-R0UOWxk_AHXgCeIAjiiJmwnz85kbAdJ1eusV135mLcpAp1hMs5boqoAK-l1Oi05m7TxWtSbkHukcoQbmKRtgMP5z/s1600/20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOQCFnuHMM10_j8gXyXeIGmp33EraTrJ8lxv04GJHs3wtEtpekjev-R0UOWxk_AHXgCeIAjiiJmwnz85kbAdJ1eusV135mLcpAp1hMs5boqoAK-l1Oi05m7TxWtSbkHukcoQbmKRtgMP5z/s400/20.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ6wb62xreoGlmuM7m8_sBqkOJQpo3-t7n3wOjYU8TwIuAhwN1MlG8Zr15Mj3GI0NNPqLL1ulPVt31jkNLsHxL68ty_HIPFgcJEdAWQM3_MwSm6YpBg_dJUIkrSm2Vi4dqJ6ZkznNmajKE/s1600/21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ6wb62xreoGlmuM7m8_sBqkOJQpo3-t7n3wOjYU8TwIuAhwN1MlG8Zr15Mj3GI0NNPqLL1ulPVt31jkNLsHxL68ty_HIPFgcJEdAWQM3_MwSm6YpBg_dJUIkrSm2Vi4dqJ6ZkznNmajKE/s400/21.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ3IdEQfsJrqSrm2HX2SIqCHsdoGXpwnzCjB2G0ivlDRrkXwwno8QXik5lj75EZ4riG7sYaI5JlOEnXsAUYUse24GzhMPXVNA78DqtZzqvz97gFTVbZ4ayishf98ijkHEScKt8bwhmkt1L/s1600/22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ3IdEQfsJrqSrm2HX2SIqCHsdoGXpwnzCjB2G0ivlDRrkXwwno8QXik5lj75EZ4riG7sYaI5JlOEnXsAUYUse24GzhMPXVNA78DqtZzqvz97gFTVbZ4ayishf98ijkHEScKt8bwhmkt1L/s640/22.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYnF5YQKHxwRinXhnTnDfCuwaLVVzCJF9QRsFqoaFX6ynUPN8r1trJA-Mxnbljnl7KcSWpjI1D-G4vkaFuvNOiTsDQ6yE0Cn6WHdJutYFhXraWFqrh4V5oowqM8zrDZjpAVEUybFOnOSXb/s1600/23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYnF5YQKHxwRinXhnTnDfCuwaLVVzCJF9QRsFqoaFX6ynUPN8r1trJA-Mxnbljnl7KcSWpjI1D-G4vkaFuvNOiTsDQ6yE0Cn6WHdJutYFhXraWFqrh4V5oowqM8zrDZjpAVEUybFOnOSXb/s640/23.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiunHsveznSNa4p7vs9jmZ97MXGe8GRaUq9vkmuQfNwyF76vWm_pMCc3tvaVtlKSK8CxrnNf_IJZiRYTVvZwhYKp0qLslt6xIF3wYFSrcM3ozEqmKIcV7syG15EOeaR3ainKKqrI5NrzYfH/s1600/24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiunHsveznSNa4p7vs9jmZ97MXGe8GRaUq9vkmuQfNwyF76vWm_pMCc3tvaVtlKSK8CxrnNf_IJZiRYTVvZwhYKp0qLslt6xIF3wYFSrcM3ozEqmKIcV7syG15EOeaR3ainKKqrI5NrzYfH/s400/24.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Q1mqJ7NIJVk9-Bt28GJPKm7korzHUG5iwwikSDretLxnKWgtlAfG4SQUjoWIZ0fgMitt5zxLwW7JkeIcYxp12_cUzufR_rGV1JrgEF3gsiwibLVK5_NIndEtVVxfiV-eF8Hqdi00gCk0/s1600/25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Q1mqJ7NIJVk9-Bt28GJPKm7korzHUG5iwwikSDretLxnKWgtlAfG4SQUjoWIZ0fgMitt5zxLwW7JkeIcYxp12_cUzufR_rGV1JrgEF3gsiwibLVK5_NIndEtVVxfiV-eF8Hqdi00gCk0/s400/25.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuIhg5JcrDm5eYRTWEtKIL0Ll9yczTFASY53jQ3vm2NFv0b5-OnvqCgdp8fCtXmDXT8I5bY-XbPvSA1q8rEni6vY3bezSurKK9g-J9vWKwp_ojSedArlei23CKR2WZ-K7EBmenuaj3tlzs/s1600/26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuIhg5JcrDm5eYRTWEtKIL0Ll9yczTFASY53jQ3vm2NFv0b5-OnvqCgdp8fCtXmDXT8I5bY-XbPvSA1q8rEni6vY3bezSurKK9g-J9vWKwp_ojSedArlei23CKR2WZ-K7EBmenuaj3tlzs/s400/26.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCw06DnccOPqPUZ9MZkw2J5MpCknufQAMQxBvvt1-jcGWqzp4Cz5R-7dwyf7JG4oYgFoNVkB99ojbHY3M_Rg_a_KpBrUsa9La685QBtYgDTp1mnBca-a2V31tj15vo1aAdHfNf0QAB-wz/s1600/27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCw06DnccOPqPUZ9MZkw2J5MpCknufQAMQxBvvt1-jcGWqzp4Cz5R-7dwyf7JG4oYgFoNVkB99ojbHY3M_Rg_a_KpBrUsa9La685QBtYgDTp1mnBca-a2V31tj15vo1aAdHfNf0QAB-wz/s400/27.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhceOPy26Vl9SgLciI6FDdxuAPI70RVCgKEObNMvhRA75raDEwetFPoZS5nMav9aAuQ4jEjJR1fNFqSv68CCegaXifiMYnZrgfdtAoeKNO6woj-v7MzSau_tVpwSMJn-QKs763poUG-fkZ_/s1600/28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhceOPy26Vl9SgLciI6FDdxuAPI70RVCgKEObNMvhRA75raDEwetFPoZS5nMav9aAuQ4jEjJR1fNFqSv68CCegaXifiMYnZrgfdtAoeKNO6woj-v7MzSau_tVpwSMJn-QKs763poUG-fkZ_/s400/28.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFg_qiX4VnVO5n_UuOCGaGqusDDX7FtySFeYwVArBZHrOabgAYFioSezUyqwLQulS5ou3VEGeqlAAlRA6wxFwOHgMuJzZfUJV0CR_NnyrsAO82KlZFdVvLTHgrF39RaJlovhnwpjeYUJHL/s1600/30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFg_qiX4VnVO5n_UuOCGaGqusDDX7FtySFeYwVArBZHrOabgAYFioSezUyqwLQulS5ou3VEGeqlAAlRA6wxFwOHgMuJzZfUJV0CR_NnyrsAO82KlZFdVvLTHgrF39RaJlovhnwpjeYUJHL/s400/30.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkrbENmCwgm-0BO1CbWlguTWD047UOXnoudfFnFBBV_Z2ri0n2XaW6ju54VVGfVHJ8L0ekrPr6rDXnmmbCO4NI18rSRnOSVbC9fU6uGMlDiklZu2Zv-13C4AumgNTNywXNM0STzKBsx95/s1600/32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivkrbENmCwgm-0BO1CbWlguTWD047UOXnoudfFnFBBV_Z2ri0n2XaW6ju54VVGfVHJ8L0ekrPr6rDXnmmbCO4NI18rSRnOSVbC9fU6uGMlDiklZu2Zv-13C4AumgNTNywXNM0STzKBsx95/s400/32.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDA0Adz-9VO4pzVIdd1rBEqZfIGpmTbzIg4kVG7xDqpLohJAPWXj7_Qa0-GVP0WTjCpHrVtcL2smYHAdAo11qBx2z4LGqyLPKV8J4_qPf1JAMH8ks2hSw_T_B2dEikphpPrHDKokNv6C5F/s1600/46.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDA0Adz-9VO4pzVIdd1rBEqZfIGpmTbzIg4kVG7xDqpLohJAPWXj7_Qa0-GVP0WTjCpHrVtcL2smYHAdAo11qBx2z4LGqyLPKV8J4_qPf1JAMH8ks2hSw_T_B2dEikphpPrHDKokNv6C5F/s400/46.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Tickets for the day are $7/adults and $5 for children 6-17. Children under 5 are free. Come join the fun!<br /><br />Photos by Lynn R. Mitchell<br />August 2013

Frontier Culture Museum Homeschool Day Friday: Homeschool Day at Frontier Culture Museum

Friday is Homeschool Day at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton. Each fall, this popular event  offers the opportunity for homeschool ...

Read more »

The Checkup - Slate and WBUR

<strong style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(40, 27, 33); font-family: sl-ApresRegular; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><em>The Checkup is a new health podcast, a collaboration between Slate and</em></strong><a href="http://www.wbur.org/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 51); text-decoration: none; font-family: sl-ApresBold; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><em>WBUR</em></strong></a><strong style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(40, 27, 33); font-family: sl-ApresRegular; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><em>, Boston's NPR News Station. You'll find all six episodes on </em></strong><a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/slate-presents-checkup-from/id694147933?mt=2" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 51); text-decoration: none; font-family: sl-ApresBold; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong style="font-weight: bold;"><em>The Checkup's individual feed</em></strong></a><strong style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(40, 27, 33); font-family: sl-ApresRegular; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><em>.</em></strong><br><br><a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/the_checkup.html">http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/the_checkup.html</a>

The Checkup - Slate and WBUR

The Checkup is a new health podcast, a collaboration between Slate and WBUR , Boston's NPR News Station. You'll find all six episode...

Read more »

Tenth Doctor Month: Meet The Companions - Rose Tyler

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0vT6S_vTMIo2GEiLp3Zku5zs9z5tItinGyR_tRQ64efVTxXh9P6eF9CGuwwLCEhlZFgvuQ11UGd7Hn1UiFaEhOLtEFlaed68aiT3kKXHz7DsaF5IJ4KErQKVx3BjQtiken15bSV1WWO4/s1600/doom9.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0vT6S_vTMIo2GEiLp3Zku5zs9z5tItinGyR_tRQ64efVTxXh9P6eF9CGuwwLCEhlZFgvuQ11UGd7Hn1UiFaEhOLtEFlaed68aiT3kKXHz7DsaF5IJ4KErQKVx3BjQtiken15bSV1WWO4/s640/doom9.bmp" width="582" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The only daughter to Pete and Jackie Tyler, Rose grew up with her Mum on the Powell Estate in South East London, her Dad, Pete was killed after being hit by a car when she was just six months old.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rose left school to live with Jimmy Stone, who left her £800 in debt and broke her heart, she left him and moved back home to live with her Mum. She then rekindled her romance with mechanic Mickey Smith and found herself a job as a shop assistant at Henrik's department store. It was whilst working here that she first met the Doctor in 2005.</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After she helped the Doctor defeat the Nestene Conciousness ('Rose') she was invited to join the Doctor on board the TARDIS. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During her travels in the TARDIS Rose met Charles Dickens and was made a Dame by Queen Victoria. She saw the war-torn London of 1941 and the post-war London of 1953. She and the Doctor took a trip to the 2012 London Olympics and she visited a spaceship 3,000 years after her own time. She chatted to a French aristocrat 250 years before she herself was born and had a narrow escape from Japan's 14th century capital Kyoto. </span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She also saw what would become of television in the 200.001st century and a future for the human race badly at odds with the Doctor's description of a 'great and bountiful Empire.'</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSItAvqABYWnVViFF5jqTitXhK2bi40uWW3Y__YlQdX5PQA3jOvYeAym0Q_gHJHUcJ5cyEVtpWT-xIyXXYUsldteCT1tLwsPq3dZnxHksWqSrVNOLvoEU_Idw9rBQAcon75eiiWppE6JQ/s1600/rose3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSItAvqABYWnVViFF5jqTitXhK2bi40uWW3Y__YlQdX5PQA3jOvYeAym0Q_gHJHUcJ5cyEVtpWT-xIyXXYUsldteCT1tLwsPq3dZnxHksWqSrVNOLvoEU_Idw9rBQAcon75eiiWppE6JQ/s640/rose3.jpg" width="416" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the very start of their travels together the Doctor had hoped to impress her with the prospect of watching the world end from the safety of an orbiting space station some five billion years in the future ('The End Of The World'). They later made a return trip to that era, and visited the New Earth that the human race had gone on to establish. On each of these trips Rose encountered a selection of alien races of all shapes, sizes and colour, her early wariness quickly evolving into appreciation for the different wonders that the Doctor could show her. On one visit to an unnamed alien world the Doctor asked her long she would stay with him, her answer was "Forever".</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However many aliens that Rose encountered with the Doctor were less friendly, among them the Gelth, Raxacoricofallapatorians, the Jargafess, Roboform Santas, Sycorax, a Werewolf, Krillitanes, Clockwork Droids, the Wire, the Beast and the Abzorbaloff.  She also endured bodily possession by the self proclaimed 'Last Human' Lady Cassandra O'Brien ('New Earth').</span></span></div></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFNVQ0wXW92sVFGUErYZ3kljBQztrAZunpSNydsupfBkfjzbrYtkGt02K4outCb6k2ajU7qgrzmi529NiKebjKA6HccIaTLkssS9er3Lokh_RQ72Md4j8vZFVVMNihQZKUk9_OeFM1DeI/s1600/rose4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFNVQ0wXW92sVFGUErYZ3kljBQztrAZunpSNydsupfBkfjzbrYtkGt02K4outCb6k2ajU7qgrzmi529NiKebjKA6HccIaTLkssS9er3Lokh_RQ72Md4j8vZFVVMNihQZKUk9_OeFM1DeI/s640/rose4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Early in their adventures, the Doctor and Rose returned to the Powell Estate to find that they had been missing for a for a whole year and a distraught Jackie Tyler thought that her beloved daughter had been murdered. Jackie pleaded with Rose not to return to the Doctor and go on further adventures with him, but this had no effect on Rose's decision to keep travelling with the Doctor. Rose did however stay in touch with her Mum, the Doctor upgraded her mobile so that she could call her from any time or place and she returned home on frequent visits.</span><br style="line-height: 19px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Rose pleaded with the Doctor to take her back to 1987 (Father's Day) as she wanted to be with her father when he died. He did as Rose asked but she couldn't resist saving Pete's life and created a wound in time which let in the Reapers, which rampaged across the planet until Pete sacrificed himself for the sake of saving the world.</span><br style="line-height: 19px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Later when Rose travelled to a parallell  universe (Rise Of The Cybermen / The Age Of Steel) she discovered an Earth where Pete was still alive and had become a successful business man - she however had never been born and, much to the Doctor's amusement,  her mother Jackie doted upon a small dog named Rose instead. It was only after Jackie had been converted into a Cyberform that Rose revealed her true identity to Peter but he was confused by her claims and shunned her.</span><br style="line-height: 19px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Rose was to meet with this version of Pete again when the 'Pete's world' Cybermen  attacked Rose's Earth. The breach that they used also let through the Daleks...</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2VkKfb3G6ZaVdCNIyH9XW44BLuM-UIagDkwfs_Tii_GXM4UQUx_hII1qW6a0v1u4-w1viCI5vziK9f8H-nn3uCL8RzYfSdTNvoo84LMffDiztb9t99-CNJT1lck1k1d55jBxscwDIUqU/s1600/rosedalek.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2VkKfb3G6ZaVdCNIyH9XW44BLuM-UIagDkwfs_Tii_GXM4UQUx_hII1qW6a0v1u4-w1viCI5vziK9f8H-nn3uCL8RzYfSdTNvoo84LMffDiztb9t99-CNJT1lck1k1d55jBxscwDIUqU/s640/rosedalek.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Rose had first encountered a Dalek in 2012 in an underground museum in Utah ('Dalek'). Unaware of it's true nature, Rose has initially felt sympathy for the imprisoned creature and had inadvertently allowed it to absorb her DNA, enabling it to regenerate. As the Dalek killed the inhabitants of the base, Rose used her connection to the Dalek to end the slaughter, ordering it to commit suicide in the process.</span><br style="line-height: 19px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Some time later, the TARDIS crew, were transported onto the Game Station in the year 200,100, shortly before it came under attack from a huge Dalek fleet. The Doctor sent Rose home in the TARDIS, condemning himself to death alone. Desperate to return to his side, Rose forced open the ship's console hoping to communicate with the heart of the TARDIS. Instead she absorbed the Time Vortex itself, granting her mastery over the whole of time and space and allowing her to return to the Game Station. Here she confronted the Dalek Emperor and divided it's fleet into atoms. The power though was killing Rose and the Doctor absorbed it from her, with a kiss, sacrificing his own life to save her from a certain death.</span><br style="line-height: 19px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">This was the first time that Rose 'lost' the Doctor - the Vortex energy triggered his regeneration and Rose found herself with an apparent stranger. The second time also involved the Daleks..</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8s_NdnMzuqivZ_AnO0oHqyh5tYR5sOelWLMkCUmjbavzpK1O94_PNLRH-jWm5hzoMV0uL9HYJIIG_fLoV3lgNuUAbreMLSA1H585w6wT0cL85ZDab9b3BjInnHzRzz8eqzPBlkZfBsgY/s1600/doom1+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8s_NdnMzuqivZ_AnO0oHqyh5tYR5sOelWLMkCUmjbavzpK1O94_PNLRH-jWm5hzoMV0uL9HYJIIG_fLoV3lgNuUAbreMLSA1H585w6wT0cL85ZDab9b3BjInnHzRzz8eqzPBlkZfBsgY/s640/doom1+(1).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">As the Cult Of Skaro and the Cybermen from the parallel Earth battled at Canary Wharf, the Doctor devised a plan that would seal both species into the Void. Rose made the decision not to accompany her family in to 'Pete's World' and chose the Doctor over them.</span><br style="line-height: 19px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">As Rose helped the Doctor to activate the Levers that opened the breach and sucked the Daleks and the Cybermen into the Void, she slipped and fell towards the opening, but she was saved by Pete Tyler. She was transported to 'Pete's World', where she joined Jackie and Mickey. Rose now had her whole family around her, with Pete and Jackie reunited and expecting a new baby. But the the breach was closed and she could never see the Doctor again. Rose was inconsolable and sobbed uncontrollably. It became clear that Rose was madly in love with the Doctor and she was beyond heartbroken at being parted from him.</span><br style="line-height: 19px;" /><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">Sometime later Rose began to hear the Doctor's voice calling her. She told her family and they all followed the voice to Bad Wolf Bay in Norway where a projection of the Doctor appeared, <span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">he was harnessing the power of a supernova to transmit through one of the final breaches.</span></span><br style="line-height: 19px;" /><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Because the breach was to close permanently in two minutes, the pair share one last but very brief conversation. Rose broke down as she confessed to the Doctor that she loved him, but just as the Doctor starts to reply, the breach closed and he was gone from her life forever. The last we see of Rose Tyler is her devastated figure sobbing against the bleak landscape...</span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfMpoBmEaxsen6YWRcwfasYrDkP_YvgSJHTvFzqUTqe8HxR65Dxmti6NcWMOVXsu6c7bg4VVAL5JrmGBCUXjlCNBhEg0NjVNLR35ZFypIlp7C_VW7a5DPk6yrxJEv25UUYa1iDyI95d0/s1600/JEND1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfMpoBmEaxsen6YWRcwfasYrDkP_YvgSJHTvFzqUTqe8HxR65Dxmti6NcWMOVXsu6c7bg4VVAL5JrmGBCUXjlCNBhEg0NjVNLR35ZFypIlp7C_VW7a5DPk6yrxJEv25UUYa1iDyI95d0/s640/JEND1.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">But it wasn't to be Rose's final meeting with the Doctor by a long shot. Using a Dimension Cannon, she made her return to Earth for the first time, arriving in Brook Street just as Donna was preparing to leave with the Doctor (Partners In Crime). She attempted to make contact with the Doctor first via the scanners in the TARDIS (The Poison Sky) and then on Midnight, via Crusader 50's video screen, but he didn't notice her and the signal wasn't strong enough to allow audible contact. Ironically, Rose was one of the things the Doctor mentioned to Sky Silvestry on Midnight which she repeated back at him (Midnight). </span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Rose finally made contact with the Donna of an alternative timeline and gave her a message to pass on to the Doctor when that Donna died and time was put back on course: 'Bad Wolf' (Turn Left).</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">After her Dimension Cannon took her to the Noble's home in Chiswick, Rose watched as Harriet Jones contacted all of the Doctor's other friends, but was unable to join in with their online conversations. After Harriet was killed Rose made one final jump - and was finally reunited with the Doctor when a Dalek shot him!</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv3QVIdlEudCZmJ-UhgxswS3Sg31iCsyRj8fjgrnQxZIp3aJcFdwnbEySfyuzEKVDP_x6stKwYBXVZ0ytZR7nh3h5VIMpPs_1op56BFz01xDVKRBotBMzaxSiUeMfL5FCtmr3AhlwWqYI/s1600/321.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv3QVIdlEudCZmJ-UhgxswS3Sg31iCsyRj8fjgrnQxZIp3aJcFdwnbEySfyuzEKVDP_x6stKwYBXVZ0ytZR7nh3h5VIMpPs_1op56BFz01xDVKRBotBMzaxSiUeMfL5FCtmr3AhlwWqYI/s640/321.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">After he used his regeneration energy to heal himself, the Doctor took Rose, Jack and Donna to the Dalek Crucible in the Medusa Cascade, where they discovered the Daleks creator Davros was building a Reality Bomb. After helping defeat the Daleks, the Doctor returned Rose and her mum Jackie to Pete and her new brother Tony on 'Pete's World' - but he left behind a part human Doctor, created by his regeneration energy mixed with Donna's human DNA. This Doctor could confess that he loved Rose, and the two began a new life together - the Doctor and Rose were together at last. (The Stolen Earth, Journey's End)</span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZATQbG1MiMjDQC9XMWdel2OZ7BRMHOtieRG6352xFwRqsWSPWSIDnhs0mBUh3APQK_o3ya8llB0Qjj18qY08cTflXQrI1yDTxofR8lfnQItzvw5WpUlXvHqeR9cmknTG9Pb-HPxeQco/s1600/50+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFZATQbG1MiMjDQC9XMWdel2OZ7BRMHOtieRG6352xFwRqsWSPWSIDnhs0mBUh3APQK_o3ya8llB0Qjj18qY08cTflXQrI1yDTxofR8lfnQItzvw5WpUlXvHqeR9cmknTG9Pb-HPxeQco/s640/50+(1).jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: #fafafa; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">On New Year's Dy 2005, just after midnight, the Tenth Doctor spoke to Rose Tyler before she even met the Ninth Doctor - as his way of saying a last goodbye before he regenerated...</span></span></div>

Billie Piper David Tennant Doctor Who Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Rose Tyler Tenth Doctor Month Tenth Doctor Month: Meet The Companions - Rose Tyler

The only daughter to Pete and Jackie Tyler, Rose grew up with her Mum on the Powell Estate in South East London, her Dad, Pete was killed af...

Read more »