Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

There's always one in every Hearthstone set. A card so ridiculous that the community freaks out at first sight and starts theorycrafting decks for it. In past expansions the likes of Emperor Thaurissan and Reno Jackson filled the role of one-card marketing campaign, while Yogg-Saron also ticked many of the same boxes, going on to become perhaps the ultimate meme cardwe just didn't realise how powerful it was at first.

All your decks are belong to us.

Now we likely know what "that card" is going to be for Knights of the Frozen Throne. The expansion is due out next month and Blizzard is currently in card spoiler mode. Last night it revealed a Priest Legendary called Archbishop Benedictus which is absolutely bonkers. The text reads: "Battlecry: Shuffle a copy of your opponent's deck into your deck." That's right, when you play Benedictus your opponent's entire remaining deck gets added to your own in a random order.

Great. The most kleptomaniacal of all Hearthstone's classes can now steal every single card in your deck at once. Given that control Priest decks often look to drag games out interminably long, it means you're almost never going to run out of cards before your opponent doesunless they're playing Jade Druid, in which case you can both "go infinite" with Jade Idol.

The reaction from streamers, pros and the wider community has been a mixture of excitement and bewilderment. Here's what Jason "Amaz" Chan, long considered one of the most prominent Priest players in Hearthstone, had to say last night: "At the airport coming back home, and then open Twitter to find this. Oh. No." And here's the verdict from 2016 European Spring Champion Thijs "Thijs" Molendijk:

Meanwhile, the thread on r/hearthstone dedicated to the card has cruised past 1,800 comments, the second most popular of which reads: "They've gone mad". Over on r/CompetitiveHS, where more sober heads reign, the general sentiment was that the card sounds like incredible fun but is almost certainly bad in terms of high-ranked play. There were some dissenters, though, such as user BlueTigerOrpheus, who admonished the buzz killers:

"I'm utterly flabbergasted by and disappointed with the lack of imagination in this thread, to be frank. Benedictus is a clear value-oriented legendary, meant to be dropped roughly a bit after halfway through the game. It enables Priest to run a heavier draw engine, grab a mix of the opponent's threats AND removal from any deck that's mid-range or slower and perhaps similar to Entomb and Elise gain the ability to forego running a multitude of top-end at all in favor of anti-aggro tech. Benedictus IS the Greed You Need."

I don't think it's ever going to actually be good outside of a metagame full of matchups that are regularly decided by fatigue.Brian Kibler

Bold words, and with an effect this unusual, it's tricky to evaluate the power level accurately. I decided to askBrian Kibler, popular Hearthstone streamer and no stranger to greedy Priest decks, what he thought. "Archbishop Benedictus is one of the weirdest and craziest cards we've ever seen in Hearthstone, but I don't think it's ever going to actually be good outside of a metagame full of matchups that are regularly decided by fatigue," Kibler told me. "That won't stop me from playing with it for some hilarious moments, though."

Implicit in Kibler's evaluation is the unlikelihood of a fatigue-based meta ever developing. Fatigue happens when you run out of cards and begin taking exponentially more damage on each subsequent turn, but Blizzard is on record as saying it prefers a shorter average game length than matches which go to fatigue. Hearthstone's core mechanics have also meant that tempo-based aggressive decks are always strong, and there's no reason to think that won't be the case with Knights of the Frozen Throne.

What plenty of players also fail to realize is that in a card deck more does not necessarily mean better. In fact, given the choice you would usually benefit from running a smaller deck, because the logic is that you would remove whatever your weakest cards are (some will always be worse than others), and therefore draw your best, and most synergistic, cards more reliably. Which also begs the question, what kind of Priest deck wants to dilute its potential draws with all the stuff your opponent is playing. If you're up against a greedy control Mage then pulling his Alexstraza or Ice Block might be sweet, but against a Token Shaman do you ever want to be top decking Flame Elementals?

So no, my gut feeling is that Archbishop Benedictus is not a good card. In terms of winning games, it's probably a spectacularly bad one. But it's also the kind of effect that those of us who love Hearthstone will get a rush from seeing happen, especially on those occasions when it ends up giving the Priest player a hilariously lucky series of stolen cards. Will it make the cut in our best legendaries list? Almost certainly not. But praising Yogg is so 2016. This year the memers will be praying to Benedictus.

See the original post here:
Hearthstone's new Priest legendary is the most ridiculous card since Yogg (and players already love it) - PC Gamer

You wouldnt think it by looking at his face or watching his show, where he constantly laughs at mild stuff he thinks is too inappropriate at PG-13, but Jimmy Fallon is close to 43 years old. The host of The Tonight Show has always kept a youthful heart, wearing it on his sleeve especially when it comes to gaming. He has been at the forefront of mainstream acceptance of gaming and has even worked major gaming device reveals into his show.

Instead of playingMario Kart 8 with NASCAR drivers or debuting the PS4 with Ice Cube,Jimmy Fallon has taken to his shows YouTube channel to debut some mobile gaming content; going through hisClash Royale account to show off his decks. In this video, Fallon shows us what makes up his ultimate 2v2 deck, showing more genuine commentary and enthusiasm than he does interviewing guests on his talk show.

His main deck contains a Level 6 Poison, Level 8 Muskateer, Level 8 Giant, Level 5 Witch, Level 10 Minions, Level 11 Zap, Level 5 Prince and Level 5 Baby Dragon. You could almost say the most valuableClash Royale card Jimmy Fallon has is his credit card, as he also demonstrates all the investments hes made in cards he doesnt even use anymore, such as Goblin, Ice Golem and others.

To be fair, even though he has likely thrown a lot more money intoClash Royale than I have, Jimmy Fallon certainly knows how to play the game. He demonstrates it with a 2v2 match with a random against a random team, knowing when to take out towers, knowing what damaging spells to use and how to get the drop on opponents with his late-game Giant.

Its funny to think that Jimmy Fallon might have a better personality as a gaming enthusiast than anything else right now, as he shows the right amount of cynical sarcasm and game awareness to separate himself from the rest of the YouTube gaming pack. At least hell always have a fallback!

View original post here:
Jimmy Fallon breaks into YouTube gaming with Clash Royale deck vid - App Trigger

Posh floors Ltd is one of the premier floor restoration and maintenance companies that render its restoration, cleaning and polishing services for all the types of natural and man made stone surfaces. Our working location is the destination where your search for a result-oriented and professional cleaner comes to an end. Our services are suitable for all sorts of facilities whether it is a home or house or office building or retail shop or restaurant or hotel room or shopping mall. If you have a query, we have an accurate and correct answer.

Being a specialist in various aspects of floor maintenance like limestone cleaning, granite cleaning, travertine cleaning, marble cleaning and polishing, terracotta cleaning, terrazzo restoration, marble restoration etc., we make a marble neat and clean as well as healthy. Whether you are looking for a solution to commercial or residential cleaning needs and wants, you get customized and user friendly resolutions to bring marble surfaces back to their original appearances. Our services are ideal for diamond grinding, honing and polishing, protection and sealing, grout cleaning and re-grouting, stain removal, worktops repaires, crystallization and maintenance, lippage removal and stone restoration work.

Serving all of our new and existing clients with timely, flawless and hassle-free marble cleaning services, we have gained reputation and goodwill in the cleaning industry. We own a professional and fully trained staff that knows how to make a customer satisfied with output of his/her choice. Our staff listens you carefully and works seriously to register a smile on your face. We use state-of-the-art technologies and techniques that are latest and updated making the process of floor cleaning, polishing and restoration easy and convenient. We provide various options to refurbish your damaged floors with the help of marble restoration, Terrazzo restoration, marble floor restoration, marble polishing etc. Whether your need is for marble cleaning or marble floor cleaning or cleaning marble fireplaces, we leave no stone unturned to make you happy and contented.

The satisfaction of customers is our first and the foremost motto that prompts and urges us to do our best to satiate them. By putting your faith in our expertise, experience and professionalism, you can make a difference and can restore natural beauty and sparkle to all sorts of stones in a style and perfection. We use certified abrasives and polishers to bring natural and long lasting shine to your floors. All these services are rendered by us to our agreed customers on an affordable price range that suits all pockets.

Call us now on 0845 652 4111 or click here to Contact us.

Link:
Home - Professional Natural Stone restoration Company In UK

Home Canning Tips From the Food Safety Blog A government blog recently published a number of tips for people interested in home canning this summer's produce. The blog lists vegetables with a low acid pHs that are not acidic enough to prevent the growth of botulinum bacteria. Some vegetables in this category include asparagus, green beans, [...]

Home Canning Tips From the Food Safety BlogA government blog recently published a number of tips for people interested in home canning this summer's produce. The blog lists vegetables with a low acid pHs that are not acidic enough to prevent the growth of botulinum bacteria. Some vegetables in this category include asparagus, green beans, and potatoes. The site also provides a list of medical conditions that individuals suffering from foodborne botulism exhibit. To learn more about home canning safety, click on https://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/2017/07/home-canning-and-botulism.html. I wonder if President Trump's budget provides funds for these types of blogs. Just saying.

Military Research Homes In On Vision and Hearing LossAccording to the website Armed with Science, a Defense Department science information site, DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, recently awarded five research grants to develop a high-resolution neural interface as well as to develop systems supporting sensory restoration. Sounds like Star Trek medicine to me. Brown and Columbia Universities as well as the University of California, Berkeley and two additional research facilities will focus on hearing and vision by linking these body functions with the brain to treat sensory loss. To learn more about this fascinating research project, surf over to http://science.dodlive.mil/2017/07/24/darpa-launches-program-that-could-one-day-treat-vision-hearing-loss/. The Pentagon supports this research as part of the Pentagon defense budget appropriation. Your federal taxes at work.

New Research Finds Rising and Shrinking Income Cities The website Wall St 24/7 recently published a list of 10 cities where personal incomes are shrinking the fastest. While some areas of the country are booming, cities such as Peoria, Ill. and New Bern, N. C. are now experiencing dropping personal incomes. The article mentions a number of causes for the decline. Drops in construction, as well as government payroll cutbacks, caused an average income drop of $1,000 in New Bern, N.C. The report also lists 10 cities where rising incomes are the norm. Merced, Calif., for example, experienced an income growth of 14.3 percent from 2008 to 2013. To learn more about income levels in these 20 cities, click on http://247wallst.com/special-report/2015/07/14/10-cities-where-incomes-are-growing-and-shrinking-the-fastest/2/.

Old Ironsides Restoration Nearly CompleteEvery school kid knows that the USS Constitution, a Revolutionary War vessel, is the oldest ship still commissioned in the U.S. Navy. The ship has now returned to its birth in Boston after a two-year restoration that included replacement of 100 hull planks with the required caulking as well as repair of the ship's rigging. To access a picture of the ship as well as the resulting account of the renovation, visit http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=101588. Some military hardware becomes icons for the nation. Any visit to Boston should include a visit to the Charlestown Navy Yard.

Cancer Patients With Inexpensive Health Plans May Be Denied Access To Top-Tier Cancer CentersConsumers who choose less expensive health insurance plans may forego access to top-tier physicians caused by a 'narrow network' health plan limitation. These 'narrow network' plans may systemically exclude treatments by NCI-affiliated physicians. This possible exclusion may adversely impact treatment of rare or difficult-to-treat cancers. To learn more about this health issue, click on https://medlineplus.gov/news/fullstory_167327.html. Just so you know.

A New Book Tells The Story of The Library Card CatalogA Library of Congress employee recently published a book on the history of the card catalog. According to author Peter Devereaux, the card catalog proved to be one of the most versatile and durable technologies in history. Devereaux relates the story of S. N. Cramer, a Sumerian historian who found a piece of a cuniform tablet about 2 inches by 1 inches that served as a clay library index card. Cramer found the tablet near the ruins of Nippur and dated the tablet to 2000 BCE. For those contemporary students used to looking up references on a library computer, this book provides a picture of how earlier societies organized information. To read the interview, click on http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2017/07/inquiring-minds-the-unheralded-story-of-the-card-catalog/. And so it goes.

View post:
Home Canning Tips; Researching Hearing, Sight Restoration; Where Income Shrinks; Old Ironsides Restoration ... - Steuben Courier (blog)

By Julia Halsey

After a five-year period of restoration, East Hamptons first artists studio is open once again.

The charming cottage called Moran Studio, built by painter Thomas Moran in 1884, is not only a local landmark, but a nationally designated one as well. While it served as workshop for Moran and his wife, Mary Nimmo Moran, the studio was also a family home with a flourishing garden.

The home was occupied by the Moran family until Thomass death in 1926. It was privately owned until 2004, when it was given to Guild Hall, the theater and museum in East Hampton Village. Then in 2008, the Moran Studio was given to the Thomas Moran Trust Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of the studio, to undertake the restoration of the building, which began in 2012 and is set to be complete next June.

Five years after beginning the project, plaster is now being put up on the studio walls, something that Moran Trust Fund Executive Director Jill Malusky said people have been dreaming about. The studio will be open to the public for the first time in several years at the Moran Trusts gala on Saturday, August 5, when all proceeds will aid the final stage of restoration.

To be in the final phase is meaningful, Ms. Malusky said. For people who are aware that Thomas had a studioeven when the studio was in private handsthey always had an interest in it because they knew how important Moran was as an artist, and the fact that he lived in East Hampton was very special.

The restoration will bring the home back to how it appeared in the 1800s and debut a 19th century gardeninspired by Mary Nimmo Morancreated by the Garden Club of East Hampton.

The Moran Trust raised the necessary funds through annual benefits and appeals and received help from individuals interested in art who are passionate about the studio.

On their journey, the members of the restoration team found more than they bargained for. Just a couple of weeks ago, they came across a giant piece of well-preserved fabric wallpaper that Moran had put up himself.

Ms. Malusky and the Moran Trust also witnessed first hand how much Moran loved to salvage items throughout his home. For years, there was a wooden panel above the fireplace that was missing, explained Ms. Malusky. As it turned out, Moran had taken that panel and used it as a door. The missing piece was right there all along, she said.

Once the studio is complete, the Moran Trust is planning on working with the National Park Service to display an art exhibition including Morans paintings of Yellowstone Park, which helped push the site toward becoming a national park. The trust is also set on using the building as a museum and educational arts center, which will feature classes, workshops, tours and lectures.

The Thomas Moran Trust Party will be held on Saturday, August 5, from 6 to 8 p.m., and will feature the unveiling of the Mary Nimmo Moran-inspired garden. Tickets start at $150. Free walking tours of the studio will be held on Friday, August 11, Friday, August 18, and Sunday, August 27. For tickets and more information, call 631-324-0100 or visit thomasmorantrust.org.

More here:
Moran Studio Will Celebrate Final Stages Of Restoration On August ... - 27east.com

A historic home in Ste. Genevieve will be restored over the next year after a local congregation succeeded in raising over $200,000 toward that goal.

The house was originally constructed by French Canadian silversmith Antoine Oneille around 1820, according to Chairman of the Oneille Task Committee for Restoration Becky Millinger.

It is an Anglo-American style home, which is different than some of the historic houses in Ste. Genevieve because it was moving away from the French style to a more American style, Millinger said.

She said Oneille is recognized as one of the top silversmiths of the early 1800s, with many of his pieces remaining today.

He was a silversmith who came down through the French corridor from Quebec to Detroit, then into Vincennes (Indiana) then here in Ste. Genevieve, she said. He died here and his buried in the Ste. Genevieve Memorial Cemetery.

After Oneilles death, the house was lived in by many others down through the years. The house weathered two floods and one fire in 1982, which resulted in the top floor being removed and replaced, giving the home the appearance of a more French Creole style.

The owner of the home sold it to Ste. Genevieve First Presbyterian Church in 2006. Millinger said the church has had plans since that time to renovate the building for church use, and were approached by an organization called the Jeffris Family Foundation about working together to restore the building.

Its an organization in Wisconsion that contacted us in 2013 and said, Can we help you restore that building? said Millinger. I dont know how they found out about us.

The foundation supports restoration projects across the Midwest, often with Capital Campaign Challenge Grants as was offered for the Oneille House.

They paid for half of the structures report, and then invited us to write a grant for the capital campaign, which we started June 30, 2014 Millinger said. It went until June 30 of this year, so we just finished. We were tasked with raising $200,000 to receive $100,000. We accomplished that, and its all been verified by the foundation. Now we are able to proceedright now were in the process of collecting bids from contractors for the restoration of the house.

Millinger said the past three years have seen many fundraising projects and initiatives, with support from local and national organizations.

We began with asking for contributions from people in the Presbyterian congregation, Millinger said. But weve also done fundraisers.

One of the sources of funds for the project is a book written by Millinger, compiling photos of all the known silverwork of Oneille. A local silversmith named Jill Kenik also designed and produced jewelry inspired by Oneilles work, which was sold for the benefit of the project.

We also had a sign a shingle campaign, where people could sign one of the cedar shake shingles that will be installed on the house during the restoration, Millinger said. So their names will be there for however long that lastsmaybe thirty or forty years.

The project has also been supported by contributions from the Foundation for Restoration of Ste. Genevieve, the French Heritage Society, as well as other organizational and private contributions.

Millinger hopes the restoration work will begin in September, with the project taking around a year if everything goes smoothly. Two major original portions of the house will remain after the restoration: the exterior chimney and some beaded beam joists.

The work on the buildings exterior will be overseen by the Heritage Commission of Ste. Genevieve. Millinger said the house is unique because it is the only historic structure in Ste. Genevieve constructed by an artist.

When the home is restored it will only be open to the public during certain event days throughout the year, though a gala will be held when the work is first completed.

For more information, or to keep up with the restoration projects progress, visit The Silversmith's House Restoration Project on Facebook.

Follow this link:
Effort underway to restore historic home - Daily Journal Online

PHOENIX Arizonas Verde Valley will soon enjoy a little time in the television limelight as the focus of a historic home restoration show.

The Camp Verde Bugle reported that Boomtown Builders, hosted by Jerome resident Tim McClellan, would film 13 episodes in the area pending the success of Tuesdays pilot episode on the DIY Network.

The show is about resurrecting historic homes in American boomtowns: Towns that quickly boomed in population from a flurry of mining, then busted when the resources went dry, and are now booming once more, he told the newspaper.

The pilot episode was scheduled to air Tuesday at 5p.m. In it, McClellan will help Jeromes chief of police renovate his 1912 home while keeping itshistorical bonesintact.

The pilot was filmed in the spring.

McClellan earned the hosting gig after winning Ellen DeGeneres show, Ellens Design Challenge, in 2015.

However, the judges ruled McClellans winning design was a copy of another piece of furniture. McClellan denied the accusation andDeGeneres later told him she didnt believe he intentionally copied the design.

In addition to his television appearances, McClellan owns Western Heritage Furniture and was the co-founder of Verde Biofuel, a company that specialized in creating mobile biodiesel processors.

Originally posted here:
Arizona's Verde Valley to be focus of historic home restoration show - KTAR.com

By: Tommy Hall

The first ever successful captive holding program for Palauan Megapodes has concluded with a release of the birds to their home, Ngeanges Island. The success of the captive holding program is a major milestone for the restoration of the ecosystem on Ngeanges, and paves the way for future restoration work in Palaus stunning Rock Island Southern Lagoon.

The story began in May 2016 when we collaborated with the Koror State Department of Conservation and initiated the Ngeanges rodent eradication project. To safely carry out operations, we needed to house the islands sensitive native megapodes. To this end a planning committee was formed including Island Conservation, Palau Conservation Society, the Balau National Museum, and the Palau International Coral Reef Center. The group designed and built aviaries on a nearby island with careful consideration to create a habitat these birds would feel comfortable in. The Conservation Officers worked days and nights to capture megapodes from Ngeanges; they used a variety of different methods to safely trap the birds. Once they were transported across the lagoon on boat and placed in their aviaries, the birds were monitored and fed by the Koror State Rangers who worked around the clock to ensure the preservation of the Rock Islands.

During post-implementation monitoring, and on subsequent visits by our partners in Palau, the Department of Conservation and the Belau National Museum observed an apparent increase in the activity of megapodes on Ngeanges. There was no shortage of megapode sightings, and observers noted what they perceived to be more abundant signs of megapodes scratching through leaf litter and nest mound building activity. Although it is still too soon to confirm the long term success of the rat removal, these sightings could very well be due to the lack of competition from the invasive rats that abounded on the island only months before

There was no shortage of megapode sightings, and observers noted what they perceived to be more abundant signs of megapodes scratching through leaf litter and nest mound building activity.

Megapodes are fascinating birds; the subspecies we are working with is endemic to Palau and listed as Endangered. The name is descriptive of the massive size of their feet and legs in comparison to the size of their body. They use their powerful feet to build giant nest mounds on the forest floor by kicking soil and leaf litter into a pile that sometimes exceeds six feet in height!

The females lay and bury their eggs in a hole that they dig into the center of the mound. The egg is then incubated by the heat produced by the microbial decomposition of the leaf litter. When the chicks hatch, they dig their way out of the mound and are on their own to fend for themselves. They must forage for food alone and one day build nest mounds of their own.

Megapodes share their island home with a variety of wildlife; the forest is flush with songbirds, Palau Fruit-doves, terns, fruit bats, Emerald Tree Skinks, and the occasional nesting sea turtle.This project marks a huge success for Island Conservation and our work in Palau in both restoration and capacity-building.

This project marks a huge success for Island Conservation and with our partners in Palau in both restoration and capacity-building.

We are excited to keep the momentum going and we are already making progress towards planning a rat eradication on the main island of Kayangel Atoll in the North of Palau.

Featured photo:Micronesian Megapode on a branch. Credit: Island ConservationVersin en Espaol/Spanish transcript

Go here to read the rest:
Restoration Allows Megapodes to Return Home - Island Conservation News

How much does it cost to pave a driveway?

One of the easiest ways to make a driveway is to simply clear the land, compress it with heavy machinery and begin using it to gain access to and from a home or building. Is this the best way to go about creating a driveway? Not really, and this is because seasonal conditions and soil erosion will quickly degrade the path and make it either boggy and muddy or bumpy and full of rocks and impediments. It might also be outside of local building codes and regulations too. This is the reason that most home and property owners will eventually pave their driveway with one of several reliable materials.Before the paving process can begin, however, the space must be suitably prepared for the work. This requires clearing the area of debris, grading the soil in order to receive the paving materials, creating a base, and then adding the pavement. Clearly this means that paving a driveway is not a DIY option.

For the purpose of this discussion we will consider thecosts of paving a driveway that is roughly 12'x50' (or 600 square feet)in size, which averages $1,500.

According to the RSMeans cost calculation software a standard paving project will include costs such as:

Engineering - whenever driveways have any sort of slopes, curves, or angles in them it usually means that costs are going to increase. Generally this is due to the need for engineering to allow runoff to properly drain away from the home and into the street, and it usually also means more labor in preparing the surface. Additionally, sloped and curved drives involve more materials which only increases the total costs too

Read this article:
Cost to pave a driveway - Estimates and Prices at Fixr

Serving All of New Jersey

D & R Paving is a third generation business in Northern NJ and our family has been operating in residential and commercial paving services throughout New Jersey for 40-Plus years. Our state-of-the-art paving, asphalt, and concrete equipment ensures we are up to date with all the latest technology to make sure your paving project is done right. Included with any proposal you will find a copy of our NJ insurance. However, the best insurance of all is that the owner, Daniel Thomas, is on every job site helping to install it professionally and to ensure the customers complete satisfaction.

We are reliable, trustworthy, and every phone call is answered with a smile because we are pleased to help you and want you to think of D & R Paving for years to come. We are especially proud about our testimonials from past clients as referrals are our biggest source of new business.Contact us today to discuss your paving or asphalt project.

$100 Off

One Coupon per customer. Void with other offers. Internet Only.

Originally posted here:
Asphalt Paving NJ, Driveway Paving NJ, Commercial Paving ...