By Cara Sulieman

TRAVEL experts are expecting record numbers of people to go on a cruise next year….stark naked.

Nudist cruises have been on the rise for the past decade, but organisers say that next year is when they expect them to really take off.

Desperate to encourage Brits to jump aboard, companies are looking for ways to tempt the niche markets.

And offering the opportunity to chart the open seas in the buff seems to be one that is catching on.

But some travel agents don’t think the trend will appeal to Scots, saying there “would be too many goose pimples”.

“Clothing-optional”

At the World Travel Market conference last month, the general manager of Norwegian Cruise Line said that nudist cruises would take off as companies try and diversify.

Stephen Park said: “Niche cruising is something we will be seeing a lot of in the future. Whether you’re a music lover, a nature lover or a naturist, there will be a cruise for you.”

There is already a dedicated “clothing-optional” cruise provider based in the US, who have run the holidays since 1991.

With most of their clients ranging from 45 to 55 years old and including professions as diverse as CEO’s to priests, they put on three cruises a year around warm climes.

But Scottish travel company Barrhead Travel isn’t convinced that the Scots will be as enthusiastic.

“We don’t have too many exhibitionists”

The company’s founder, Bill Munro said: “I would say it’s not going to catch on in this country because there would be too many goose pimples.

“There are cruises catering for all demands and for all types of people – there are gay cruises for example.

“I guess there are enough people in the world who want to do it.

“But I don’t think Barrhead Travel’s clientele would be particularly interested. I don’t think we have too many exhibitionists on our clientele list.”

When asked if the company would consider offering nudist cruises in the future, Mr Munro said: “We would like to think we cater for all tastes as long as it isn’t offensive.”

“Why not?”

And it’s a similar tale in the rest of the UK, with companies hesitant about the idea.

The chairman of MSC Cruises, Pete Pate, said: “Given the rate at which we are growing and the range of cruises offered it’s an idea which cannot be ruled out.

“However, MSC Cruises has no plan to launch a nudist cruise at present.”

But experts aren’t ruling out the buff boats just yet.

Fiona Jeffery from World Travel Market said: “The cruise industry is growing so fast that it needs a variety of themes to attract new holidaymakers to the sector.

“Nudist beaches are popular all over the world, so why not naked cruising?”

See more of our pictures at our Flickr site and videos at our dedicated channel,  Deadline TV.

Free Buff headwear when you give a gift CTC membership!

Quote from the CTC weekly email newsletter:

“CTC Festive Gift Membership is the perfect present that lasts all year and it comes with a free Buff® worth £18. It is the ideal present for a cyclist as it includes all the benefits of being a CTC member. Prices for CTC membership start at just £12. To order CTC Festive Gift Membership, simply call 0844 736 8451, quote ‘Buff’, give us the details of the lucky person and we’ll do the rest! For delivery in time for Christmas please call before 15 December.”

Second day from the beach today.  Good times were had.  Not big fish, but lots of them.  This isn’t flats fishing or sight fishing, but it is a lot of fun on a family vacation.  Must have landed 25 or so little Jack Crevelle, just myself, out there at the river mouth all by myself.  Came back and my daughter wasn’t up from her nap yet.  Nice.

Basically, I go to the river mouth here in Vallarta and throw a sly line on my 7 wt. with a clouser and… well… it is fun.  Not big fish, but lots of them.  Great for a family vacation where the focus is on pool time with my daughter and wife.

I got a Buff for this trip (and for the Bahamas in January).  I was worried it would be too hot.  It isn’t.  It = Totally Ruling.  No sunburn on my neck or on my nose or… anywhere.  I’m pretty frigging impressed with Buffs.

Lots of these make for a fun time.

Courtesy Dominic Hobbs of WoW.com

Create Soulstone: The cooldown on this spell and duration of its buff have been lowered from 30 minutes down to 15 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

I’ve always felt that the cooldown on this ability was rather long, and it’s nice to see it’s being shortened to bring it in line with the fact that instances these days are much shorter and faster than they used to be. More wipe recovery is good, no?

Affliction

Improved Drain Soul: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.

There have always been issues with Warlock threat, whatever Blizzard have said, and hopefully this will address some of them. The main problem is often that we can’t simply just let our dps drop to 0 to prevent any threat being generated, as our DoTs will continue to tick. Obviously this problem is therefore especially apparent with Affliction, which relies heavily upon DoTs, and so 20% less threat from two points in this talent will help out the spec quite a bit.

Improved Felhunter: This talent now also reduces the cooldown on the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 2/4 seconds.

The developers are pushing quite hard for the Felhunter to be viable again (so Affliction will use it instead of the Succubus or mana battery Imp) and allowing the puppy’s main attack to hit more often – leading to increased damage – is a good way of doing it.

Shadow Mastery: This talent now also increases the damage done by the felhunter’s Shadow Bite ability by 3/6/9/12/15%.

As above – the more damage done by the pet, the better. Whether or not we’ll see the Felhunter become the de facto Affliction pet again I’m unsure, but it’s certainly going to be more of an option.

Demonology

Decimation: Redesigned. When Shadowbolt, Incinerate or Soul Fire hit a target that is at or below 35% health, the cast time of Soul Fire is reduced by 20/40% for 8 seconds. Soul Fires cast under the effect of Decimation cost no shards.

Right, wowee, some major changes happening here. So the current effect needs SB or Incinerate to hit a target at 35% health or less to activate it. This will be the same with the new effect, except Soul Fire will also proc it, which is nice. However, the current effect will reduce the cast time of the next Soul Fire by 60% (assuming two points), whereas the new effect will reduce the cast time of the spell by 40% for 8 seconds.

What this means is you’ll be able to cast more SF spells per proc – the number depends on your haste – meaning more dps per proc, despite the relatively slower casting times compared to the current effect. I would also assume that casting SF then refreshes the effect, so you can just keep going and spamming it, providing you don’t have to move or do anything else for more than 8 seconds. I haven’t tested this on the PTR, but if correct, we can say goodbye to the weaving technique of mixing SB and SF, and hello to constant SF spam under 35%. It’s simpler, but less interesting. Of course, we still don’t get charged any shards for Decimated SF spells.

Demonic Pact: This talent now also increases the warlock’s spell damage by 1/2/3/4/5%.

A simple buff to give us some more damage, since we Demo Warlocks are often bullied into speccing into this by our raid leaders for the bonus to raid dps, and it’s only right we should have some personal gain.

Molten Core: Redesigned. This talent now increases the duration of Immolate by 3/6/9 seconds and provides a 4/8/12% chance to gain the Molten Core effect when Corruption deals damage. The Molten Core effect empowers the next 3 Incinerate or Soul Fire spells cast within 15 seconds (Incinerate: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and reduces cast time by 10/20/30%; Soul Fire: increases damage done by 6/12/18% and increases critical strike chance by 5/10/15%). Molten Core now has a new spell effect.

Another pretty large change to dissect. The effect today (with 3 points) gives our Shadow and DoT spells a 15% chance to increase the damage of our Fire spells by 10% for 12 seconds. Lots of numbers there, but lots more coming up. So the new effect is firstly going to give our Immolate spell a longer duration – this is nice; more dps for less mana usage and less time casting. The next part of the redesigned effect will give our Corruption spell a 12% chance to trigger MC; we therefore have less chance of proccing it, as it can only be from one spell and the % chance is less, although admittedly it’s a spell we should all have up anyway.

When we do trigger it, instead of a bonus to Fire damage, we’re going to get a reduced cast time and more damage on the next three Incinerate spells cast in 15 seconds. Alternatively, we get more damage and crit chance on the next three SF spells within 15 seconds. Obviously you can cast either spell and get the respective effect, up to three times. What this change means for you in terms of dps depends on the fight really, but I suspect in general it will be a dps increase when the effect procs – the downside could be its chance to proc, which is less than it is now, as mentioned. It does definitely mean that we need Corruption up when we’re Decimating under 35% however, for the SF bonuses.

Destruction

Conflagrate: Redesigned. This talent now consumes an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the enemy target to instantly deal damage equal to 9 seconds of Immolate or 8 seconds of Shadowflame, and causes additional damage over 3 seconds equal to 3 seconds of Immolate or 2 seconds of Shadowflame. In addition, the periodic damage of Conflagrate is capable of critically striking the afflicted target.

This is a nerf unfortunately, but let’s be fair, Conflagrate was getting pretty crazy, especially in PvP. The fact that the DoT damage (which only lasts 2-3 seconds) is a slight relief, but it looks like you Destruction folks will just have to spec Demo live with it.

Destructive Reach: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.

Similar to the threat reduction given to Affliction really.

Ruin: This talent now also increases the critical strike damage bonus of the imp’s Firebolt spell by 100%.

More dps from the pet favoured by most Destro Warlocks in PvE, whilst not increasing damage in PvP too much. This is simply balancing.

Pets

Avoidance (passive): Now reduces the damage your pets take from area-of-effect damage by 90%, but no longer applies to area-of-effect damage caused by other players.

More balancing of PvE with PvP – your pets will die far less often to those nasty bosses, but still will be killable by those nasty players.

Doomguard/Infernal: These pets now innately have Avoidance like all other warlock pets.

Again, just a balance to bring these pets on par with the regular ones.

Inferno: The cooldown on this summoning spell has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Good for those few of us who use this pet to finish a fight with, or for if you need a really quick AoE stun, as we can now use it more often.

Shadow Bite: This pet ability now does 15% increased damage for each of the warlock’s damage-over-time effects on the target.

Summon Imp: This ability is now available from the trainer for level 1 warlocks and no longer requires a quest to learn.

Glyphs

Glyph of Life Tap: The effect of this glyph now has a chance of activating when Dark Pact is used.

While you should always be proccing this with Life Tap, because it’s frankly better and doesn’t prevent your pet doing damage, it will be nice to proc it “by accident” when you do use Dark Pact. I’m struggling to find any solid numbers on this, but I’ll give a more in-depth explanation.

Right now, the max level Dark Pact ability takes 1200 mana from your pet and gives it to you. Life Tap takes 1490 (modified by Spirit) of your own health, and gives you an equivalent amount of mana. Unless for some reason you have a negative amount of Spirit, Life Tap will therefore always return more mana than Dark Pact, so it really depends on your health and your pet’s mana as to which spell you use. With the new changes to the Felhunter and its Shadow Bite ability (which returns mana to the Felhunter if talented), the issue of draining this pet’s mana won’t be so much of an issue as it can keep doing damage, so if it does become the major Affliction pet, we could see Dark Pact become more prevalent than it is now. If you’re using another pet however, I would still recommend Life Tap to proc this effect; it’s also worth noting that Dark Pact only has a chance (numbers to follow) of activating the effect whereas Life Tap activates it 100% of the time.

Glyph of Quick Decay: This glyph allows for the warlock’s haste to reduce the time between periodic damage effects of Corruption.

A thrilling new glyph which looks set to help Affliction back up from the bottom of the spec pile, having this will allow your Corruption to tick faster according to haste, so while the effect will run out faster and require renewing, your dps should increase as it literally is more damage per second. Expect to need to make some changes to your Affliction rotation to allow for more regular refreshing of this spell.

Bug fixes

And to finish, a whole swathe of bug fixes…

Conflagrate: This spell will no longer benefit inconsistently from the talents Emberstorm and Improved Immolate, as well as the Glyph of Immolate and Tier 9 set bonus. Just as for Immolate, all stacking percentage increases will be applied additively instead of multiplicatively (+10% and +20% make +30% instead of +32%). In addition, Conflagrate used with Shadowflame will now scale properly from spell power.

Curse of the Elements: Rank 4 has been increased to 11%, up from 10%.

Drain Soul: This spell now deals 4 times the normal damage for all ranks. Previously it was only ranks 6 and above.

Glyph of Conflagrate: Now updates the tooltip of Conflagrate to remove reference to Conflagrate removing an Immolate or Shadowflame effect on the target.

Glyph of Siphon Life: This glyph will now modify the tooltip on Siphon Life correctly.

Glyph of Unending Breath: Now updates the tooltip on Unending Breath to indicate it increases swim speed.

Hellfire: Dealing damage to another player with this ability will now put the Warlock in combat.

Improved Shadow Bolt: This talent no longer causes a bug that removes all resilience from pets.

Soul Link: Damage transferred via this ability can now be prevented by damage absorption effects.

Suffering (Voidwalker): Ranks 5-8 had the incorrect taunt radius of 5 yards and have all been adjusted to a 10-yard radius.

Overall, it’s pretty good, and where it’s bad, it’s needed for balancing. I’m looking forward to testing the new Demonology changes in particular, and expect a report once 3.3 hits as to how everything is working. For detailed information on how the different raiding specs will perform with these changes, see the WoW.com article here.

Feel free to comment on anything I’ve missed or gotten wrong with regard to the changes. Also, what are you looking forward to most?

Vel.

Last week I blogged about the Christmas Lights turn on as an event. I did give the impression I would be watching this event.

 Sadly, I have let down go outdoors followers by not going to watch the lights with half of the city, but instead opting to go to the cinema. This was on account of the rain, which whilst not as treacherous as the fall seen down south, was a bit rubbish. Sadly, my choice to go to the flicks meant that opposed to being stuck in the rain, I was instead stuck  in a sweaty auditorium with the other half of the city’s occupants who had the same idea as myself and the mister. (And who munch food. Very loudly. Ergh.)

It did give me a good idea for a relevant blog however, involving how to look good in the rain- If you absolutely have to head out, and don’t have a car, a friendly boy to take you to the cinema, or a bag full of excuses for not doing things…

Granted, if you live in Britain, you may well have spent your life adapting to a life of carrying around spare brushes and bobbles for hair freakouts courtesy of Mother Nature, but here are some ideas for looking good, without the look of a mountaineer, so whether it’s a cute winter walk, an autumnal date, or just Christmas drinks, be prepared.

(Don’t be the girl with her hair under the hand dryers in the ladies loo. Not cute.)

1.Already said it – carry a brush or a comb. Just for the ladies, this one, a man with a comb in his pocket strikes me as, politely, a fool. I’d rather see a syringe poking out of a pair of skinny jeans than a shiny silver comb I’m afraid.

2. Hair bands. Perfect for slicking back drowned rat hair, a hair band can keep the drips out of your eyes, hide the bulk of the dampness, and if you scrunch the main ‘body’ of hair at the back, you get a nice ‘I meant to look like this’ effect. We have just got in a huge batch of (cheap) and pretty awesome Buffs, which come in every style imaginable. (If you have a tasteful imagination mind- the range comprises heaps of colours and designs, skulls, roses, polka dots, flames, mountains… You name it.) These also dry off really quickly, so if you, like me, raced into the cinema with a drenched head, you can whip it off and it will be dry and snug by the time the end credits roll.

3.Gloves. Nothing is less attractive than bright red hands. It gives the look of lobster, and makes your manicure look, claw like. I should know- with a hefty dose of poor blood circulation from my gene pool, I need a glove to keep in some of my skin’s yellowness.

BUT you don’t want to offset your tulip skirt and cute military chic look with hoiking great padded gloves. Look at Thinsulate gloves, which shield you from the weather, without padding you out. Super soft and quick drying, these are perfect for inviting a spot of hand holding. PG fun all round.

4. A cute waterproof jacket is the perfect cover up. Team it with some jeans, go for classic cuts and tones and you have a winner that will last season after season. Sure, flouncy funnel necked styles made from 100% cotton may look cute on the hanger in the shop, but team the wrong coat with rain and you get the scent of wet dog, bobbling and a heaviness to rival Hulk Hogan.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, The Marmot Furlong is uber cute, and it comes with fake fur detailing. It comes in a gilet too, if you plan on making snow angels. And who isn’t?! We also have some new Nike jackets in, which look quite nice and urban. (My body is the first picture in that link, in the little fuschia number. The buyers will see it again. Soon. Ish. )

To avoid chav connotations of the Nike brand, my advice is to wear it, because they look good, and fit the weather (win) but simply avoid styling it up with trainers and a baseball cap. Oh, and stay out of underpasses. And don’t kick pigeons. Or old people.

5. Which leads me on to – hats. If you aren’t a headband girl, go for a super cute beanie hat. Dare 2B have gorgeous named hats like the Liplock, which I would buy for the name alone. Tassles, toggles, pom poms and cute colours, perfect for a cute cover up that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Wear with sleek jeans (That don’t reach the floor- no-one likes to see mud wedged into denim) your classic waterproof jacket, slim gloves and you have a gorgeous, cute, weatherproofed look. And if you refer back to number 1, when you whip off your headband or hat, you can whizz through your mane with a quick brush and you’re good to go.

A perfect, 5 step solution to keeping your cool in the rain. I love it when a plan comes together.

:]

Enjoy.

Elaine x

Do you think being famous will go to their heads?

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post called “Northern Express” about my interview with Noah Fowle discussing my chickens, and the growth of urban chicken farming since Traverse City changed its ordinance to allow residents to keep four hens.  Well, I’m excited to announce that the article has arrived!

Noah interviewed several chicken owners, soon-to-be chicken owners and city representatives, and discusses the many reasons people are interested in urban chicken farming from sustainable food to their novelty as pets.

If you’re in Traverse or the surrounding areas, keep an eye out for the latest edition. You can pick them up FREE all over town but it’s only out for a week, so get it while you can.   I plan to pick up a few copies for myself and my out-of-town family members.  But, you can also read the article by clicking here.  Enjoy!

Paiya(2009) 320Kbps HQ ORIGINAL ACD RIP:

Banner: Thirupathi Brothers
Cast: Karthi & Tamanna
Direction: Lingusamy
Production: Subash Chandrabose
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Lyricis: Na.Muthukumar
Language : Tamil

Buff adalah keahlian/kemampuan tambahan dalam permainan FS. Buff bisa didapatkan dari sesama pemain, baik memintanya ( biasanya teman satu guild ), membelinya dari pemain lain atau membeli dari Auction House ( rumah lelang ) berupa potion.
Dalam permainan FS ini buff merupakan sesuatu yang sangat penting, bahkan seperti saya katakan sebelumnya dapat diperjualbeilkan (dengan gold maupun FSP/Fallen Sword Poin ) antara sesama pemain FS. Untuk buff tertentu yang jarang biasanya diperjualbelikan dengan harga yang cukup mahal.
Kita sendiri sebenarnya juga bisa memberikan buff; baik kepada diri kita sendiri maupun kepada pemain lain. Untuk dapat memberi buff kita harus pada level tertentu, seiring berjalannya permainan dan semakin banyak quest yang kita selesaikan, akan semakin banyak pula ” skill point ” yang kita miliki. Skill point inilah yang dapat kita gunakan untuk mendapatkah keahlian buff itu

As you may know, I love Healbot. Getting started with the mod can seem like a daunting task for a priest.  We have a lot of spells to program, but once you get it done, healing is cake.

There is a pally in our guild who would not use mods.  He shunned them to heal it old-school.  Recently, he gave in, and Healbot blew his mind!  I remember him saying something about not having his heals sniped anymore?

/grin

When you download the mod, several of the spells are pre-programmed to your mouse buttons; however, you can change them to your liking.   Here’s a screenshot from the developer’s website (click for larger pic):

I am using a five-button, wireless mouse from Logitech. Nothing fancy! Each button is programmed to a series of spells to be used in conjunction with SHIFT, CTRL and ALT.  

• My “Auto Trinket” is tied to my Circle of Healing using the most awesome Talisman of Resurgence trink. 
• The “unique spells for each spec” is nice.
• I’ve never seen “SmartCast” work.  If any of you have, please comment and share!

Oh, those little bars

You can configure the look of your healbot however you like.  They have added a skin that looks a lot like Grid.  You can control the size of the boxes/bars and where they sit on your screen.  Below is a pic from an FTA raid on the horde.  I resized the boxes so all 40 would fit without driving me crazy.  My 25-man setup is less cumbersome.  You can also tell Healbot to hide your party frames which gives me a lot more screen space.

No More Decursive (or anything else to clutter your screen)

I have actually been able to replace Decursive with Healbot due to the fact the developers have been very good about adding new debuffs to track with each new version.  Debuffs like “Snobolled!” and “Napalm Blast.” I use LEFT+CTRL to dispel; RIGHT+CTRL to cure disease. 

You can pick the colors that will display for each type of debuff so you know exactly what spell to cast.  You can also manually add any debuff that it is not currently tracking under the “Cure” tab.  Just add it under “Custom Debuffs” using the exact name of the buff.

Buff-alicious

You can also set it up to tell you who in the raid is missing a buff by color coding the bars under the “Buffs” tab.  I keep an eye on the obvious priestly buffs: 

• Power Word: Fortitude (white)
• Shadow Protection (purple)
• Divine Spirit (blue)
• Inner Fire  (It is possible to track only you or all priests.) (red)

If just one person is missing a buff, I have programmed the single target versions of each buff in my mouse.

Find the right mod for you

I always see people searching for answers on forums about which healing add-on to use- if one at all.  I have found that it really is up to you trying them out for yourself.  I recently tried Grid+Clique for one day.  Then, I went back to Healbot.  Of course, there are people who swear by Grid, and for the day I used it, I could see why they loved it so much.  I chose to go back to Healbot because my priest was “raised” on it.  She doesn’t really know anything else- which is sad.  And when the raid gets in a tight spot, I don’t need to be in “practice mode” on a new mod. LOL  I may give Grid another try, but for now, “Domo Arigato, Mr. Healbot-O!  You have served me well.”

Happy Raiding, peeps!

Exxy

Başlık sanki çelişkiliymiş gibi mi geliyor? Bir şeyin hem renkli ve eğlenceli hem de yalın ve işlevsel olabilmesi mümkün müdür? Bu soruya “hayır,” yanıtını verdiyseniz henüz Buff yaşamınıza girmemiş demektir.

Bir Ekşi Sözlük yazarı Buff için “atkı, bandana, saç bandı, bere, toka, fular, bileklik, balaklava ve maske olarak kullanılabilen bez parçası,” demiş. Yerinde bir tanım.

Daha uzun bir tanım: Rüzgâr geçirmeyen, nefes alabilen ve koku önleyen polyester mikro fiberden dikişsiz, tek parça silindir biçiminde dokunmuş; bandana, eşarp, atkı, bere, kar maskesi, alın bandı, saç bandı, toka, bileklik… gibi birçok işlevi olan bir giyim eşyasıdır. Buff, renkli ve eğlenceli olmasını kumaşın özelliklerini bozmayan özel bir yöntemle yapılan baskılara borçlu.

Banu da ben de bu ürünü kullanıyoruz. Kaskın altında çok işe yarıyor. Ayrıca soğuk günlerde boynumu, ağzımı, burnumu koruyor (bkz: Yazıdaki foto), tozlu ortamlarda eksiksiz bir maske görevi görüyor.

Buff, hemen herkesin işine yarayacak bir ürün. Doğa sporları malzemesi satan dükkânlarda rahatlıkla bulabilirsiniz.

- Yıldıray

BULUŞMA NOKTASI

The reason why werewolfes are cool now

We all know that werewolves had a huge image boost lately and we got to admit they seem pretty cool. They’re there to save you from nomadic vampires and whole armies of newborns trying to kill you. They will find you in case you ever get lost in a wood and carry you home. They rescue you if you nearly accidently commit suicide by jumping off a cliff. And as if that wasn’t enough already, they are also the perfect guys to hang out with in their free-time when they’re really buff Indian teenagers wearing nothing but jorts rather than wolves. They can teach you how to ride motorcycles or distract you from your supersexy vampire boyfriend that ran away lately.

Absolutely undazzling wolf-shirts, in stores NOW

So as far as we know werewolves are indeed great. But honestly, was that necessary? Are you kidding me? A few days ago I walk through the city and what do I see just about everywhere that I look? Wolf-shirts. Ugly wolf-shirts. I mean really horribly ugly wolf-shirts! To all the crazy ones who have already bought one: wolf-shirts are not cool and haven’t even been so since…wait! Have they ever been so? Well, no! At least not that I know of and that means quite a lot. So if you already got one, don’t wear it. Ever. Put it away in the bottom of your closet and never get it out again. There’s no way you gonna wear this to the New Moon premiere, honestly! Don’t even think of it! Everyone will recognize you as one of the crazies. You do not want this, believe me. And btw just in case you haven’t noticed, the shirts are ugly! Awful! Horrible!

Zelda sporting one of our favorites

They all are, don’t pretend yours is “one of the nice shirts with a beautiful brown wolf on it”. The only way you could get away with wearing one of those is if you are a fifty year old trucker or President Obama. In case nothing of that applies to you, just don’t. There are other ways to show your devotion, trust me! You can thank me later, like on november 20th when the people sitting next to you don’t cringe away because they think you’re one of those crazy fangirls screaming, crying and then again screaming throughout the whole movie. Okay, maybe you’ll cry and you’ll most definitely scream…but at least they won’t expect you to do so…

And as a special gem for you, here comes the Obama wolf-shirt picture! Yep, you heard me right. Guess you thought I made that one up, but I didn’t! I would sometimes never make things up just to make a post more interesting for you. So now here comes the evidence, enjoy it!

a

Off to buy my New Moon premiere outfit not involving a wolf-shirt

Saveyoursoul

So what are you gonna wear to the New Moon premiere? Or do you already have a wolf-shirt? Are you busy hiding it under your bed now the way we told you to? Leave us a comment or e-mail us pictures!

(images: google and me!)

This daily driven Stagea belongs to the owner of Dragon Performance in the UK. Hence it has a usable 400bhp at a safe 1 bar of boost, and if anything, the power is MORE than sufficient for the twisty B roads in the UK. What gets me the most is how buff the car looks and the fact that it is a daily driven car with an RB motor swap AND that it is a wagon! This car shows that you do not need a roll cage or a 900hp car to turn heads. After all they do say that 400hp is about all you need on the streets. Not to mention, practicality is almost always what you’re looking for in a daily driven street car, isn’t it? On the other hand, this doesn’t mean I am putting forward the point that street cars should be mildly tuned – NO WAY, I love big powered crazy cars just the same. It’s just that a practical car can be awesome too.

Fact: Sleepers are cool. Nuff said.

ENGINE

R33 GTR RB26DETT ENGINE CONVERSION
HKS EXHAUST SYSTEM
HKS HARDPIPE KIT
HKS INDUCTION HARD PIPE KIT WITH FILTERS
GT-R INTERCOOLER
TRUST OIL COOLER KIT
APEXI AVCR BOOST CONTROLLER
APEX SAFC FUEL COMPUTER
REMAPPED ECU FOR UK FUEL

TRANSMISSON

FULL R33 GTR TRANSMISSION CONVERSION
CONSISTING OF GEARBOX AND FRONT,CANTRE AND REAR DIFFS
TWIN PLATE CLUTCH UNKNOWN MAKE

BRAKES

ALCON 6POT FRONT 343 DISC BIG BRAKE CONERSION
R32 GTR REAR 2 POT
ABS REMOVED

SUSPENSION

RACING LOGIC COILOVERS
UPRATED TOP MOUNTS
IKEYA FORMULA ROSE JOINTED FRONT ARMS

WHEELS AND TYRES

10X18 ROTA BOOST ALLOYS IN BLACK WITH R888 255/35/18 ALL ROUND

EXTERIOR

FULL MASA MOTORSPORT R34 GTR FRONT END CONVERSION
CONSISTING OF FRONT BUMPER,GRILL ,
HEADLIGHTS, WINGS,NISMO GTR BONNET,
MASA SIDE SKIRTS REAR BUMPER AND REAR WING.CUSTOM FLARED ARCHES.AUTECH 260RS REAR LIGHTS REAR WIPER REMOVED

Ah – who says good things can last forever! It is with great sadness that I must announce the departure of Alcopop Records and Stagecoach, due to a significant change of direction. You see, in love as we are with these charming Americana indie gents from the rolling hills of surrey, we just couldn’t commit to releasing their new single – which their drummer, Matt, dropped on our doorstep today (video can be seen by clicking here, still below), before flexing a sinewy bicep and thrusting himself powerfully away.

We loved a bit of dub-step, acoustic was awesome with us, and pop is of course much loved in the Alco quarters… But the ‘sexy fun’ direction they had taken just didn’t quite lay entirely in tune with our current roster.

In better news however, The Coach have signed up with former early 90’s dance star, and one-time muso Ray Slijngaard, formerly of 2 Unlimited, and failed record label owner Kevin Campbell, and are working on a disco/ R&B album of anthems. A change in direction perhaps, but expect it to be topping the charts pretty soon….

ps: Hehe Back in real life, look for a new release from Stagecoach a-coming (albeit with less biceps and more guitars) muy, muy soon… You’re seriously going to love it!

Question:  “Hello, I’m a reenactor in a company portraying Beverley Robinson’s Loyal American Regiment (http://www.LoyalAmericanRegiment.org), raised in the lower Hudson Valley and eventually settling near Fredericton.  Since we portray light infantry marksmen, we’ve been wearing cut-down “coatees” in green with madder red facings (our “early war” impression).

We’d like to have late-war uniforms, and have had conflicting information regarding the facing color.  We’ve seen portraits of Col. Robinson and Lt. Anthony Allaire showing dark blue, but we’ve read that madder coats with green facings were also sent from England for Provincial troops.  Do you have any information on what the LAR was issued, were wearing at any particular time, or turned in after the war?  Any suggestions who else we could ask?

Thanks very much for your time …”

Answer:  “Greeting from Fredericton; … Like most Loyalist Regiments, the LAR started with wearing a green uniform, but when permission was given to Loyalist Regiment to wear the British regular “scarlet” uniform for 1778 campaign season – being considered an honour – the LAR took to wearing the red uniform.  To the best of my knowledge, the facing for the LAR uniform was buff.  As a reference, I refer to Charles M. Lefferts book “Uniforms of the American, British, French and German Armies of the American Revolution”.  I believe him to be a pretty solid authority.

You have selected an interesting regiment to reenact.  I live close to the sites of both the homesteads of Beverley Robinson and Anthony Allaire homesteads.

I note on your website that it states Captain Joshua Barnes “received no land grant and disappeared to an unknown fate.”  I offer that Captain Joshua Barnes from Philipsburg, NY, settled after the war on the Long Reach of the St John River, King’s County.  (That is between Saint John and Fredericton).  He died there in 1817.  Regards,   Bob Dallison”

Reply:  “Buff facings is quite a coincidence, since I also reenact the 3rd East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) in the 1812 era.

Thanks, Bob, for the bonus information on Joshua Barnes. Keep an eye on the events schedule on our web site; we often go to Stony Point SP (not too far from the site of BR’s house) for their big weekend in July.”

While we here at HMG believe that everyday should be a handsome day, we find that Halloween is a good gateway drug for those whose are too shy to let their inner handsomeness shine on a daily basis.  It’s a sad day for us at HMG when a man ignores his handsomeness potential in his daily wear, but Halloween is often a particularly disappointing day for us.  So, to help, here is a list of HMG approved Halloween costume ideas.

P.S. At HMG we encourage you to dress as/use as inspiration any of these men everyday.  Obviously.

The BeeGees

Mr. Darcy – always handsome, but particularly so emerging from a lake (we suggest re-wetting your shirt every 30 minutes for an optimal handsome effect)

Big Hrithik – learning his brand of pelvic thrusting will help give an air of authenticity to the costume

speaking of Big Hrithik…a Greek statue

Freddie Mercury

Heathcliff - bonus points for incorporating the moors as part of your costume.

Michael Flatley- flute and chess board optional

Rod Stewart

Fabio - a classic costume choice

Morrissey - skinny, awkward and 100% HMG (oh and lets not forget that he embodies one of the most HMG traits of all – vegetarianism.  make your costume authentic and remember (and remind others) that meat is murder).

Have a happy, safe, and very HMG Halloween!!!

Nude lips, especially those buttery soft tones are like plain old English tea to me – indispensable, basic, comforting.

The trick to wear nude /beige without looking “washed out” is to select the right undertone. I find blue / pink undertone most unforgiving; thus i always stick to those with mauve  or brownish hue.

I loves my Bobbi Brown Nude palette, unfortunately it was a limited edition item. It contains:

Bare, Beige, Brownie Pink & Cocoa lip colours – I mix & blend these, sometimes with concealers to achieve my perfectly customised barely there nude tones.

Buff  & Nude Shimmer Wash, Bare  & Naked eye shadows – great for subtle eye make over.

I also find beige lips with creamy /glossy finish more contemporary than those with matte or frosty  finish. I always couple barely there lips with a healthy flush of bronzer over the cheeks.

This is a short guide to help people get started raiding. Much of the advice is not class specific, however it was inspired by an email I got from a fresh level 80 hunter, who had never grouped for an instance.

Depending on the activity of your server (and your guild, and your playtime), you may get to level 80 with a minimum of instancing, and never learn the basics. This can hinder you if you want to raid in the end game.

Agro

• NPCs (like raid bosses) keep track of who they see as the largest threat, and they will almost always attack whoever is highest on threat. They track this by keeping a “threat table”, and every time someone does damage to them, they add threat to their entry on this table.
• Healing someone on this table also adds threat to the healer.
• Tanks are a special type of class that are good at both generating more threat than their group mates, as well as being able to survive the punishment these bosses can mete out. Most tanks can “taunt”, which puts them automatically to the top of the threat table, however this can be resisted, and has reduced effectiveness as it’s used more often on the same target.
• Many classes (especially hunters) have abilities that reduce their threat. Hunters can feign death, which takes them right off the threat table.
• “Pulling agro” means doing so much of whatever you do that the boss decides you’re a bigger threat than the tank, and decides to eat you instead.
• There are typically very few tanks in a group, however the loss of a single one will often result in a wipe, unless cooldowns are used to recover.

Healing

• As the tank (and other members of the group) take damage, a healer can keep them alive by casting heals on them.
• This causes threat, however many healing classes can mitigate their threat with abilities.
• Healers are almost universally very squishy, and will die if hit by the boss.
• There are less healers than damage dealing classes in a typical raid group, however they are equally important, so the loss of any one healer is much more likely to cause a wipe than the loss of a damage dealer.

Damage Dealing

• Often called “DPS” (damage per second). You can refer to, for example, a hunter as a “DPSer”.
• The goal of all PvE raid groups is to kill a boss (or group of bosses) as quickly as possible. These days, most bosses have an “enrage timer”, which when expires, causes the boss to enrage and become many times as powerful as he was to start with.
• The goal of all DPS players is to do as much damage as they can.
• A dead DPSer does no damage, so if there is an aspect of the fight (like a fire or void zone on the ground, or a direction from which the boss can not be safely attacked) that can kill DPS players without requiring them to pull agro, they must carefully avoid it.
• Of all the people in a raid, a DPSer is generally the most expendable.

Crowd Control

• For raiding, don’t worry about it.
• It’s an obsolete tactic by which some of the raid’s targets would be rendered harmless temporarily while the raid focused on another target.
• These days, we tend to use area of effect damage instead of crowd control, other than for a few fights.

. . .

Now that you know the overall dynamics of raiding, let’s talk about how to be a good DPS player, and some of our goals.

Goal: do not pull agro.

• Accomplish this by knowing how much threat you have built up on a boss, and making sure you never pass the tank.
• The default blizzard interface will flash your screen red around the edges if you pull, and will display a small percentage number above the target’s frame telling you what percent of the tank’s threat you have.
• If you are at range, you have more leeway, however if you stray into melee range, you will need less agro to pull off the tank. The percentage number will update based on distance.
• There is also an addon called omen that will show you everyone’s threat.

Goal: survive the encounter, and continue doing your job the whole time.

• Before you do an encounter, know it’s mechanics. If it has avoidable damage, be aware of it.
• Install an addon like scrolling combat text, and configure it so that it’s obvious when you are taking avoidable damage.
• Have cooldowns available if survival is in question. If the healers are busy keeping the tank alive through a spike in damage, it can help for you to have a health potion off cooldown if you make a mistake. As you get better, you’ll make less mistakes, and you’ll be able to use that potion cooldown to replenish your ability to do DPS, or to temporarily increase your DPS.

Goal: be able to focus fire.

• If an encounter has a mechanic that makes it important to all attack the same target, get good at paying attention and attacking the right target.
• You can use the default blizzard raid framed- shift click on a name from the raid tab, and drag a person onto your main screen. Right click, and check “show target”. If you set another DPS player (or a tank, or the main assist player) up this way, you will be able to target their target very easily by simply clicking it.
• You can also use the game’s “focus” feature. If you set a tank or main assist player as your focus and have configured your user interface to show you their target, you can click on a focus’s target (as above), or even create macros that will target your focus’s target with abilities. This allows you to have one thing targeted, but use your abilities on another target. Google “focus macros” for more details.
• Learn to remember kill orders. If your raid leader marks things with a raid marking, and then says “kill skull then X”, don’t rely on seeing who other raiders are targeting, just switch to the next target. You can also, optionally, download an addon called Magic Targets. This will let you see all the marked targets. It also shows you who is attacking which targets.

Goal: be able to do your main job and remain aware of your surroundings.

• As a DPS player, you will have a priority list of shots, or possibly a rotation, and will be watching for procs, cooldowns, and who knows what else.
• You can not afford to be staring at your ability buff bars if it will cost you awareness of what’s happening around you.
• Consider filtering your available data and moving the important parts to an area of the screen that will allow you to keep an eye on your surroundings, team mates, and opponents. I use a bar mod called bartender, which I’ve configured to show me my abilities while in combat around my character as a heads up display. I also have power auras set up to show me a heads up warning when I need to be aware of things (like the presence of a proc, or the fact that I’m out of mana)
• [edit: thanks Eidotrope] Install deadly boss mods. It’s not optional, and gives you invaluable insight into the mechanics of a fight. Here’s a good guide on how to use it.
• [edit: thanks Darkbrew] Read this post on raid awareness.

Goal: put the raid’s well-being ahead of your own.

• If a tank dies and the boss heads for a healer, try to sacrifice yourself to buy the healer some time. They might just be able to pull off a miracle, preventing a total wipe.
• If you have the ability to bring a buff to the whole raid (or you group) that would bring more utility overall than what you sacrifice for it, do so. For example- hunters tend to pick one person and have them spec for improved hunter’s mark, which increases all hunter DPS at the cost of a little DPS from one player.
• Learn how to do the advanced skills of your class, in case they are ever needed. Many DPS classes can, for example, kite, which means holding the attention of something and prevent it from killing you.

That’s my guide to raiding 101. I think I covered the bases, but if you guys can think of anything obvious that I missed, just leave me a note.

 Mathias Lauridsen may not be a name recognisable to the general public, but his face certainly would be.  Mathias is a very high-profile made model, and has appeared in major advertising campaings for Gucci, Jil Sander, Givenchy, Hugo Boss and Dior Homme.

Born in Copenhagen in Denmark on 13 January 1984, Mathias was discovered on the streets of Copenhagen at the age of 18.  (As Mathias himself said, modelling was not a career that he’d even though about, before being offered an opportunity by a total stranger).  Mathias made his debut on the catwalks of Fashion weeks in New York and Paris in September 2003, modelling for Lacoste, Miu Miu and Marc by Marc Jacobs.

Whis his nordic blonde style, and unique look, Mathias has an alluring presence, winning admiring glances from many fans.  The scar of his left cheek (the result of an accident with a broken when he was younger) helps bring an extra something to his face.

Since 2003 Mathias has starred in a multitude of promotional campaigns, fashion runways, and editorials, appearing regularly in the top fashion magazines L’Uomo Vogue, GQ, Vogure Paris and Numéro Homme . He’s been the face of Hermès, Tomy Hilfiger, Christian Dior, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Kenzo, Perry Ellis, DKNY, Lacoste, Gucci. and Hugo Boss.

At the moment Mathias is on the books of Scoop in Copenhagen, New York Model Management in New York, and Ford Models in Paris.

Mathias loves sport – soccer is passion.  He also likes drawing, listening to rock music, and riding his bike round his home town.

Favorite Matias Wallpaper (from 100 Best Everything)

More pictures can be found at -
AtliPhoneBlog
TomsParoxysm
CoveredInBlack

Best Looking Men’s ratings for Mathias Lauridsen : Talent 4 stars out of 5 – Looks 5 stars out of 5 – Achievement 3 stars out of 5.

It’s Twilight’s Taylor Lautner in the latest issue of GQ. To check out more pics from his shoot click here.

Pick your poison – MCR or HKS?

Well, since I was bullied by BOOSHY to BE in the BUFF challenge. Ha, just kidding! I voluntarily offered myself as a sacrifice to participate, FOR MY OWN GOOD. Yes indeed.

Please, see my BUFF-TOBER page, and join the challenge. This time of year (the last three weeks) in October is soooo hard. No you DON’T need to buy trick or treat candy a few weeks early. Take my word for it, the store will NOT run out!

Some of my friends know my story about my previous buffiness, for those that don’t, here is the walk of shame recap.

January 1st, 2006 at noon (yes, I remember the exact time), I smoked my last cigarette. A habit formed at age sixteen in France, and from watching my mother smoke my whole life, was finally (heh) snuffed out.

Now, I had been told to form a NEW habit in place of the old. Preferably a good one and not like a crack pipe or something. So, I began exercising and drinking water.

Craving a cig? Down a glass of water and exercise. It worked. I was hooked. I joined E-diets, began a challenge team, and started posting on the message boards for support.

Eventually (okay, six months), I lost 47lbs. I became captain of a diet/fitness team, started training for a half marathon, began moderating my own message board, and was a success story – featured on the front page.

Life was FAB. I had it all down. Then, I divorced and everything went downhill. Not all at once, but gradually, and I pretty much gained it all back, three years later.

I am not in as bad of shape as when I began in 2006, no way no how. I couldn’t have ran a mile by just walking out my front door (like I do now) with no training. However, I am far from my best fitness level. My stride is to regain my endurance, and began anew, a quest to lose what I gained. And gain what I lost, which was my drive and purpose.

If you need some support, join some fellow bloggers, and give it a go. HALF of October is already over, SEE, I made it easy for you.

Don’t delay! Walk, swim, bike, kickbox, and run to this challenge. I triple dog DARE you! Plus, I need all the support I can get. For me? Please?

Earlier this year the city buffed the famous SABRE burner on the L.A. River.

Yesterday officials began cleaning the M.T.A. roller piece on the L.A. River.

Contractor workers for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers begin painting over the gigantic letters, “MTA,” along the concrete bank of the Los Angeles River Thursday Oct. 8, 2009.

The cost of removing the piece has been estimated at just under $4,000,000.

FUCK THE BUFF!  WHAT A FUCKIN WASTE OF $4 MILLION DOLLARS.  KIDS NEED BOOKS AND TEACHERS NEED HIGHER SALARIES.
GOOD JOB L.A.!    FAIL!

I’ve had some posts kicking around in my draft box for a while and decided it was about time I started posting them before they became completely outdated. 

Out of the brooder and into the henhouse.

The girls had been sleeping in the hen house for several days before we finished the run because it rained every day and prevented construction.  But, that was actually  a good thing, because chickens aren’t very smart.  In order for a chicken to realize where her home is, apparently you need to keep her confined for three or four days.  Plus, since it was rainy and nasty, nobody wanted to be outside anyway.

Big girls in the big house.

Despite the weather, we finished the run with nearly perfect timing.  It was exactly four days after the coop was complete.  So with the run finally finished, I headed to the door of the coop to open the hatch.  The girls didn’t even wait for the hatch to open.  As soon as I got the main door cracked, they started trying to jump out.  (They were tired of being cooped up!) So we let them run around their new yard scratching in the little grass that’s growing there and eating what they could find until it got dark.  Despite the fact that they had been confined to the coop for four days, none of them figured out how to get back in on their own.  I tried placing them at various heights on the ramp with no success.  I finally gave up and started putting them in through the hatch. 

In the morning, the girls wouldn’t come down when I opened the hatch.  I tried to prod them toward it a little but they still wouldn’t climb down.  I finally got them to climb down by placing one of the girls most of the way down the ramp and another on the ramp just outside the hatch.  The other two seemed to figure out how to get down from that point.  For the next couple days I continued to place the girls on the ramp every time they needed to go in or out.  After a few days of coaching, the girls figured out how to go in and out on their own as if  they’d been doing it all along.