new favorite treasure, mind blowing experience seeing her live for the first time 🥰 (my girlfriend and I babied this poster during the show lol)

New research shows the number of outdoor pickleball courts in the 100 most populous American cities went from 420 in 2017 to 3,182 in 2024, a 650% increase - source: https://thekitchenpickle.com/blogs/news/pickleball-cities-usa-courts-per-capita
Impressive. But then, the research also showed the top 10 cities with the most courts per 100,000 people. I'm honestly rather surprised that states like Utah, Arizona, and Texas aren't represented in the top.
Full list:
Top 10 cities with the most courts per 100,000 people:

1. Louisville, KY (3.8)
2. Madison, WI (2.3)
3. Honolulu, HI (1.9)
4. St. Petersburg, FL (1.8)
5. Port St. Lucie, FL (1.6)
6. Bakersfield, CA (1.6)
7. Boise, ID (1.5)
8. Albuquerque, NM (1.4)
9. Virginia Beach, VA (1.2)
10. St. Louis, MO (1.2)

http://www.anthonyflood.com/hakimreflections.htm
I was born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1919; my family was musical. My grandfather is still the only black man to have conducted his own compositions with the Duluth Symphony Orchestra. But I didn’t get serious about playing until I went to Los Angeles, after my high school graduation (1937) to visit my father. There I met Dexter Gordon, Illinois Jacquet and other fine young players. When I went back to the Mid-West to go to the University of Minnesota (only one year), I also played with Oscar Pettiford’s family band. The whole family, his father, even his sisters, played on several instruments.
In 1938 I went to Peoria to play with Fats Dudley, a 300-pound trumpet player and singer who played and sang like Louis Armstrong. Morris Lane the noted tenor player was also there at that time. He had to leave town not long after I came because of his involvement with a white girl. In 1940 I myself was run out of Kankakee, Illinois, for the same reason—the daughter of the President of Kresge’s Department Store. These were very prejudiced times and places.
Fortunately Chicago was only 50 miles away. I remember playing with many great musicians there, including the young Wilbur Ware and a tenor player named Buster Brown who accompanied himself on sock cymbal with his foot. I went to work with Jesse Miller, a trumpeter who had been with Earl Hines. A. K. Atkinson the arranger who later became A. K. Salim and who introduced me to Islam, was on alto; Goon Gardner was the other alto. The drummer was Ike Day, a kid, only 15. Ike Day was playing two bass drums then; out of sight; a big influence on Max Roach and others. (He died of an O.D. in New York a few years later).
This group was playing at a club on 63rd and Cottage Grove called Joe Hughes’s Deluxe. The featured acts were female impersonators backed by (real) chorus girls. One night we were playing Stompin’ At The Savoy for the chorus girls when, out of the blue we heard this horn from the front of the club playing over the top of the band. I looked up and saw Charlie Parker. He never stopped playing, just walked right through the chorus girls and came and stood over by the piano. Jesse Miller, who had played with Bird when Bird played second tenor for Earl Hines, had told me that Bird’s ability drove Hines’ first tenor (Bob Crump) to quit playing. A. K. and Goon had also been telling me about Charlie Parker. At that time, of course, Benny Carter and Johnny Hodges were my main men on alto. After hearing Bird that night I forgot about all other alto players.
I started hanging out with Bird in Chicago. (This was years before I recorded with him in New York.) Bird got a gig at the Rum-Boogie, a club on 55th Street and Central Parkway (now Martin Luther King Drive). As my gig with Jesse Miller started later than Bird’s, I would go with him to hear his first set. The band, about ten pieces, was led by an old man who played violin. Marl Young, the pianist, wrote the music for this band—very, very hard but good music. (Marl Young lives in L.A. now and writes for the movies.) Eddie Johnson, a great tenor player, was in the band; Gale Brockman and Billy Orr were on trumpets.
Anyway, Bird was never there for rehearsals. The band would rehearse all afternoon, Bird was never there, and the other members of the band were mad and didn’t like Bird. But the leader, the old man, did like Bird, which is why he never got fired. I remember this incident like it was yesterday. I went by with Bird to hear his first set. He always came about two or three minutes before the show hit. He’d look at the third alto part, glance at his part (he was playing lead); when the curtain came up, Bird was playing that music like he owned it plus adding things to the part. Well this night, Jimmy Dorsey was playing at the Sherman Hotel in the Loop, and he came down to hear Bird. The old man, Bird’s bandleader, knew what was happening. He called Cherokee, which featured Bird. Bird, of course, played like a man possessed. Jimmy Dorsey came back to the dressing room, introduced himself, and said to Bird, “Here man, you need this much more than I do,” and gave Bird his brand-new padless Selmer. I was with Bird the next day when he put it in pawn. I begged him not to. His own horn was a wreck, held together with tape, gummed paper, etc. This didn’t matter to him.
At that time there was a great club on the South Side, the Club De Lisa. The leader of their 12-piece band was a great show drummer, Red Saunders. Chicago was wide open then. You could buy liquor in drug-stores, and clubs were open 24 hours. On Saturday night and Sunday morning, every-one would go to the De Lisa—all the biggest sportsmen (pimps), the top whores, top Mafia hoods who would make the all-time Mafia list, if I could remember names. (I guess it’s better that I can’t). Well, I’d get off my gig at around 4:30 and, with Bird and other cats, go to the De Lisa. Bird would sit in with Red Saunders’ band, which included altoist Nat Jones, a great player in the tradition of Johnny Hodges. Also playing was a great tenor player from Texas, Tom Archia. Billy Eckstine was on the show; this was before he formed his first band. Also the tap dancer Baby Lawrence, who I heard trade fours with Bird on a Limehouse Blues, way up-tempo. This was taken down on a wire recorder, a classic. I don’t know who has this wire recording, which must be worth many thousands of dollars by now. Incidentally, the greatest comedian George Kirby was a bus boy in the De Lisa and got his start there by filling in with comedy.
I remember hearing Art Tatum with Bird in Chicago. After his gig in the Loop, Tatum would come down to a club on the South Side, drinking beer after beer and playing for five or six hours. All piano players in the city would be there. I remember Bird telling me then, “I wish I could play like Tatum’s right hand.”
I did work a gig with Bird in Chicago. For a while we played at the Sherman Hotel with Hot Lips Page opposite Boyd Raeburn’s Big Band. The second day of the gig, we couldn’t find Bird at all for the second set. We went up to our suite in the hotel, where we found Bird out cold in the bathtub. We got him together, he came down, and his playing just scared everyone to death. Charlie Ventura was with Raeburn’s band. The more Bird played, the paler he got.
When Bird left Chicago I rejoined Jesse Miller at the Downbeat Club. Red Allen was also playing there, with J. C. Higgenbotham on trombone. Ben Webster came in from New York to play as a guest artist with Red Allen. But he liked our rhythm section better. We’d play on the one the radio one hour, six nights a week. (It was so very hip then). Well, when Ben left to go back to New York, he told our rhythm section (Rail Wilson, bass; Hillard Brown, drums) he would send for us to come and play with him on the Onyx Club on 52nd Street. We thought he was kidding, but in about a month he sent us first-class sleeping train tickets.
This was in 1944. I was with Ben for 15 months on 52nd Street. Brown and Wilson went back to Chicago when the brownouts came in 1945. New York was it for me. The rhythm section at the Onyx Club became Eddie Nicholson (drums), Gene Ramey (bass) and myself. Many times Roy Eldridge would play with us, or Stuff Smith, or Bob Dorsey, a great tenor player. Then it was Bird—always late. Mike Weston, the Onyx Club owner, would be frowning as Bird came in late, but after a couple of Bird’s choruses, he’d be smiling. One night Bird was very, very late. Bird came in while Ben Webster was drinking at the bar; the rest of us were trioing. Bird picked up Ben’s tenor and said I Cherokee. He played that tenor like he owned it, and Ben was shook. He just kept saying “Give me another double.” The thing about this was that nobody could get a sound out of Ben’s tenor but Ben himself, due to the thickness of the reed, etc. I saw many great tenor players try-Prez, Buddy Tate, Ike Quebec, no good!
During this time I played the Ko-Ko date with Bird as I was living with him at 117th Street and Man-hattan Avenue, in Harlem. I was sent to the land-lady, Doris Schneider, because we were both from Chicago. I introduced Bird to Doris, and a week later he was living there. Later, for a while, they were married. Billie Holiday and her man, trumpeter Joe Guy, also lived in this eight room pad. Bird drew people like Thelonious Monk, Miles, and Dexter Gordon to the scene. Why this place didn’t get busted, I’ll never know. Everything was happening there.
About the record date; Bud Powell was supposed to be the pianist, but he was hung up in Pennsylvania and didn’t get back. Incidentally, the first pianist I heard playing like Bird was not Bud, but Elmo Hope. But Bud played so strong, he just took that style over. Bud was not easy to get along with, kind of a ferocious guy. He’d throw shoes at his little brother, Richie, when Richie tried to listen to us playing. He’d say things like, “Get up off that piano stool, you blind mother----!” to people like [Art] Tatum and [George] Shearing. He and Bird, despite their mutual love and respect, did not get along; their personalities clashed. But I hung out a lot with Bud. I think he liked me because I didn’t try to copy him. Naturally, I learned his tunes, but I didn’t slavishly imitate his solos.
With Bud, as I said, in Pennsylvania, Bird brought me to the record date, and I played on all the tunes except Now’s The Time and Billie’s Bounce. That was Dizzy (who happened to be recording with another group in the same building). For many years I didn’t get credit for this date on the liner notes, which have now been straightened out. Nor did I ever get paid for it. This is because I was still on transfer from the union in Chicago. The union delegate at the studio said that I couldn’t play, but as soon as he left, Bird told me to come out and play. My first paying record date was with Dexter Gordon. At this time (1945) I also recorded with Ben Webster, Big Sid Catlett, Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Bill DeArango.
My association with Bird and Bud helped to bring the new music on to 52nd Street. Bud would sit in at the Onyx Club while I worked there. Most of the musicians there didn’t understand Bud or Bird. Roy Eldridge would take me outside to smoke (everyone smoked then, we called it “gage”) and ask me about what Bird and Bud Powell were doing. I couldn’t tell him, all I knew was that it sounded great, made musical sense, and swung like no other music I’d heard. It made all the other music sound stiff and unswinging. This is what I’d tell Roy. The one exception was Prez, Lester Young.
I had always dug Prez. He used to come to Minneapolis with Count Basie before I left that area. I first heard Prez with his own group at the Spotlite Club on 52nd Street. He had just come from L.A. after his stint in D.B. (the army’s disciplinary barracks, thus the tune D.B. Blues). He had Kenny Kersey on piano. When Prez decided to revamp, I got the gig. Shadow Wilson was on drums (Lyndell Marshall on the road), Prez’s friend Rodney Richardson on bass, Bennie Harris on trumpet. Bernie brought Bud Powell to Prez as we were boarding the plane for our first road gig, but Prez said, “I’ve already got Lady Dense.”
That was me. My name at the time was Argonne Dense Thornton, and Prez called everybody “Lady” (most famously, Lady Day [Billie Holiday]). He had, incidentally, his own lingo for everything, and it took me several months to understand him. But it was all appropriate. The police he called “Bob Crosbys.” If something was a real drag, he called it a “von Hangman.” His most famous expression, “I feel a draft,” could mean that he detected racial discrimi-nation or that he felt bad since you wouldn’t drink and smoke with him. Reefer he called “Ettuce.” Whites he called “grey boys.” (I don’t know if he originated that term.) Blacks were “Oxford greys.” The bridge of a tune he’d call a “George Washington.” When we hit a new town and Prez would go looking for an old girlfriend, he’d say he was going to see “a Wayback.”
This gives me a chance to correct two en-tirely false rumors about Prez. One, he was not a faggot, not at all. Two, he was not into heroin or cocaine: he just smoked and drank. He was a great human being as well as one of the greatest jazz soloists of all time: responsible about money, generous with his possessions, natural, friendly, gentle, as well as creative.
With Prez I recorded the famous hit Jumpin’ With Symphony Sid, which in fact is my composition. The studio man came in and asked us, as we were warming up, to do something with Symphony Sid’s name in it, as we were going back to the Three Deuces on 52nd Street and the disc jockey had his radio show from there. Meanwhile, I was playing this blues melody off the top of my head. Prez said, “We’ll play that,” and we did it in one take. The A&R man just assumed that the tune was Prez’s.
While I was with Prez, the drummer, Lyndell Mar-shall, had a nervous breakdown. At my suggestion, the great Roy Haynes came into the band.
I remember a couple of things about Bird that happened while I was with Prez. Prez and I were in [Washington] D.C. at a club called Caverns, and Bird was also in town with Duke Jordan on piano. Bird asked me to join the band (not, I’m sure, because he didn’t like Duke’s playing, but for personal reasons, which my reply explains). I told Bird, “I love you, but I can’t put up with your not paying people and leaving them stranded in different places. If you did that to me I’d have to hurt you or try to, and I’d hate to have that happen because I love you. I’d rather be your friend and listen.”
Another time when I was with Prez, we had a week off before a gig in Chicago, so I went to Chicago ahead of time to hear Bird and Miles. The saxophonist who had the house band at the club where Bird played was named Eddie Wiggins. Wiggins had a long line of reed instruments up on his bandstand—clarinet, flute, bassoon, alto, tenor, English horn. Bird came in, early for once—no one else in his band was there. He had left his horn at the club. Now Bird had very good connections in Chicago, but this time he had apparently forgot to pay them. He opened his horn case to find all the keys torn off or broken. Without blink-ing an eye, Bird asked Wiggins if he could play the first set with Wiggins’ group. Then he proceeded to play all those instruments, a few choruses on each one, even the bas-soon. Of course, I was dumbfounded; Bird never ceased to amaze me. I remember him astounding some Afrikaaner mathematicians by suddenly solving a problem they were discussing; they couldn’t believe that Bird didn’t have an advanced degree in math. Same thing with chess. Tadd Dameron and Max Roach would be playing up at Dizzy’s, Bird and I would come in, Bird would walk over to the board, make a move and say “Checkmate.” And Bird is the only person who knew me before I became a Muslim and changed my name who never, after I told him my new name, called me anything but Sadik Hakim.
One thing Bird and Prez had in common; I remember both of them cutting Benny Goodman and embarrassing him. When I was with Ben Webster at the Onyx Club and Bird was across the street at the Spotlite Club, I’d go over to hear Bird as soon as our set ended. One night Benny sat at a front table as Bird began his set with Dizzy Atmosphere—way up-tempo. When he looked over and saw Benny, he changed to Dizzy Fingers (a feature of Benny’s). In the first eight bars, Benny turned red, green and all kinds of colors.
Later, with Prez on tour in L.A., we played opposite Benny at the L.A. Auditorium. (Frankie Laine was the between-sets act). Funny thing, Prez played his silver metal clarinet all night, never touching the tenor. He blew Benny away. All of us broke up as Benny turned red and a few more colors once again.
(The story is that Benny gave Prez this old metal clarinet, so maybe there was another reason for Prez to play it that night-Ed.)
I used to play Sunday afternoon gigs with Bird in Philly. The house band at this club had John Coltrane playing alto. At that time the very young Trane was probably the second best altoist in the world. I also played with Sonny Rollins back in the 40s. We both worked in a group led by trumpeter Louis Metcalfe, an older man who had played with Ellington. I used to marvel at how Rollins could get such great solos out of the corny tunes we had to play. He was playing tenor then, but I had known him even earlier, when he was playing alto. (In 1961, I closed Birdland with Sonny) [Birdland closed in 1964.—T.F.]. I also remember some great, unknown saxophonists whose careers were tragically cut short. Like Henry Pryor, an alto player in the style of Bird, who got killed by police in Chicago while breaking into a church to get money for dope. A great waste. Or Lank Keyes a tenor player influenced by Prez, also very great, who O.D.’d in Chicago.
There have been and still are, many great saxo-phonists—Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Johnny Hodges, Sonny Stitt, and today, George Coleman, Junior Cook, Clifford Jordan, Johnny Griffin. Still, no one has had a story to say like Bird and Prez. When I was working at the Onyx with Ben Webster, and Prez was across the street at the Spotlite Club, Dexter Gordon would march up and down in front of the Spotlite with a huge sign saying, GO IN AND HEAR THE TRUTH. Maybe THE TRUTH is what we should have called it. (Bird hated the name Be-Bop, which was Dizzy’s concoction.)
I will take this opportunity to get one other thing straightened out. The tune Eronel, attributed to Monk, is another composition for which I should have gotten credit. When I was at the Onyx Club with Webster, I met a beautiful 17-old lady from Kansas City named Lenore. We were together about a year. The tune I wrote for her was her name spelled backwards. Monk came over to my house one day, saw the music on the piano, played it and liked it, even suggested a chord change (which I rejected). I went to Montreal for a year in 1949, and when I returned, I heard the same exact tune, credited to Monk, on a record he made with Milt Jackson. Monk told me that he just forgot to tell the record company the tune was mine. Incidentally, anyone should be able to tell that Eronel does not sound like a Monk composition.
Monk is, of course, a great genius, and continued on he showed me many of his tunes. Earl Hines and Nat Cole were among the first pianists I really dug. Then Elmo Hope and Bud Powell. My favorites in the last two decades: Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan—they’re even in my book. In the new breed I like Cedar Walton, Mickey Tucker, John Hicks, for sure Kenny Barron, and Herbie Hancock—when he was playing piano. Electronic music is garbage to me. Everything is too loud to swing and, as Duke said 50 years ago, It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing. Among women pianist, I like Boo Pleasant, Shirley Scott, Terry Pollard. Among the less well-known, Willie Anderson, from Detroit, without peer, and Charles Fox from St. Louis (whatever happened to him?). But don’t let me forget Barry Harris, Walter Davis, Walter Bishop, Bill Evans, Horace Silver, Oscar Denard, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, Oscar Peter-son—so many great players, I can’t name them all.
Although I once watched Prez and Coleman Hawkins drink next to each other at a bar (the Spotlite Club, owned by the late Clarke Monroe) for two weeks without speaking, it seems like the musicians were closer in those days. Playing with Prez for those two or three years was one of the best times in my career. And I’ve had many good ones.

Prehistory - 2600BC - 1958AD
Plenty of good games - however they are all traditional card games, abstract strategy, and dexterity games. Too many to list - many of these games have slight variations based on the country they're played in.
Stone Age: 1959-1994
Dont get me wrong, some of the best games of all time are on this list - but they really are few and far between, and many games from this era require half a dozen (or a dozen) people and half a day (or a whole day) to play. You can see this change coming into the 90s though with breakout designers such as Knizia, Kramer and Garfield.
Diplomacy (1959), Acquire (1963), Cosmic Encounter & Squad Leader (1977), Dune, Magic Realm & Junta (1979) Civilization & Can't Stop (1980), 1830 & Die Macher (1986), Space Hulk & HeroQuest (1989), Republic of Rome (1990), Tichu (1991), Modern Art (1992), Magic The Gathering & Lifeboats (1993), RoboRally, Jyhad & 6 Nimmt! (1994)
Silver Age: 1995-2003
Board games for the whole family! Most of these games easy to learn, quick to play, are engaging and interactive. The Silver Age begins with a lot of great area control, bidding and trading games as well as some of the best abstracts ever made, but towards the end you can see more complex euros like Puerto Rico and Age of Steam start to emerge.
1995 - El Grande, Catan, High Society, Medici, Condottiere
1996 - Netrunner, Hannibal: Rome vs Carthage, GIPF, Serenissima, City of Chaos
1997 - Tigris & Euphrates, Bohnanza, For Sale, Lowenherz, Fresh Fish
1998 - Through the Desert, Samurai, Liberte, Verrater, 1849
1999 - Ra, Bus, Tikal, Lost Cities, Chinatown
2000 - Carcassonne, Citadels, Battle Line, Web of Power, Princes of Florence
2001 - Hive, DVONN, Wilderness War, Funkenschlag (Power Grid), Medina
2002 - Puerto Rico, Age of Steam, Wallenstein, Mexica, Hammer of the Scots
2003 - YINSH, Hey That's My Fish, Santiago, Duel of Ages, A Game of Thrones
Golden Age: 2004-2007
These years had it all. Breadth, depth, variety, you name it. We see modern euros like Caylus and Agricola hit the market - games that will likely never be improved upon. So many great titles are now being released that some of the best of all time (Konig von Siam, Neue Heimat) are barely noticed until being rereleased a decade later.
2004 - War of the Ring, Memoir 44, Ticket to Ride, Antiquity, No Thanks, Struggle of Empires, Reef Encounter, Blue Moon, St. Petersburg, Friedrich
2005 - Twilight Struggle, Caylus, Glory to Rome, Indonesia, Twilight Imperium 3, Nexus Ops, Shadows over Camelot, Empire of the Sun, Shadow Hunters, The End of the Triumvirate
2006 - Through the Ages, Imperial, Commands & Colors, Combat Commander, Neuroshima Hex, Here I Stand, Thurn and Taxis, Warrior Knights, Taluva, Yspahan
2007 - Agricola, Brass, Race for the Galaxy, Galaxy Trucker, Starcraft, Container, Konig von Siam (The King is Dead), Neue Heimat (The Estates), Chicago Express, Age of Empires III
Iron Age: 2008-2011
The quality is still there, but the quantity is not. There are still great games being made, and mechanically innovative games are still being released (Dominion) but these years don't have the depth of say, 2005 or 2007.
2008 - Dominion, Pandemic, Space Alert, Le Havre, Battlestar Galactica
2009 - Hansa Teutonica, Summoner Wars, Jaipur, Dungeon Lords, Maria
2010 - Dominant Species, Innovation, Troyes, 7 Wonders, Lords of Vegas
2011 - Eclipse, Mage Knight, King of Tokyo, Dungeon Petz, Tragedy Looper
Bronze Age: 2012-2017
The eurotrash starts to creep in. 2012 isn't too bad, but Terra Mystica and Tzolk'in are omens of what's to come - still good games, but poorly balanced with an emphasis on aesthetics. Both require errata to be playable. 2013 sees some stinkers (Caverna, Glass Road) from the once infallible Uwe Rosenberg who unfortunately never makes a good game after Patchwork. Games like Concordia and Lewis & Clark are fine, but noticeably lacking interaction. Russian Railroads on the other hand is a snoozefest and Viticulture is plain broken. By 2015 we are near the death knell for board gaming, but luckily designers like Vlaada Chvatil, Phil Eklund, Reiner Knizia, and Michael Kiesling still have some gas left in them. We see a double whammy of Kickstarter slop (Kingdom Death Monster, Blood Rage, Scythe, 7th Continent, Too Many Bones) and Legacy Games (Pandemic) hit the market, as well as some truly awful euro designers making their enterance - Lacerda, Pfister, Shem Phillips, and a long list of Italians. Gloomhaven, the worst game ever made, hits #1. Things are looking bleak folks.
2012 - Keyflower, Kemet, Targi, Mage Wars, Pax Porfiriana
2013 - Hanamikoji, Tash-Kalar, Cuba Libre, A Study in Emerald, Two Rooms and a Boom
2014 - Patchwork, Alchemists, Three Kingdoms Redux, Roll for the Galaxy, Valley of the Kings
2015 - Codenames, 7 Wonders Duel, Pax Pamir, Arboretum, Argent
2016 - Inis, Captain Sonar, Pax Rennaissance, Sakura Arms, Clank
2017 - Azul, The Quest for El Dorado, Sidereal Confluence, Rumble Nation, Fantasy Realms
Dark Age: 2018-????
A small number of good games are still being released - The Crew & Res Arcana (2019), Imperial Struggle & Dune Imperium (2020), Botanik (2021), and Pagan (2022) - but these are few and far between, with many flying under the radar.
Euros now dominate the BGG top 100, games like Wingspan, Ark Nova, Cascadia, Everdell, Obsession, Underwater Cities, various West Kingdom games, Arnak, On Mars, Beyond the Sun, etc. which for the most part have some common denominators - no new mechanics, zero interaction, solo modes abound, and (bad) themes and art taking precedent over gameplay. Games that you make even their biggest fans realize how awful they are when you play them with a full 4 or 5 people, and realize 75 or 80% of the game is sitting there twiddling your thumbs waiting for your turn to come back around.
A wave of ripoffs & second editions also hits, including truly terrible stuff such as Root (a worse version of Vast), The Search for Planet X (a soulless Alchemists), Brass Birmingham (a horrific remake of Brass from the morons behind Dice Throne), Spirit Island (Pandemic for pseudointellectuals), and Pax Pamir 2e (remade for the Stonemeier audience). You also have blatant cash grabs such as Eclipse 2e and Kanban EV, and not so blatant cash grabs such as Nemesis, Tainted Grail, Cthulhu Death May Die, Oathsworn, and Frosthaven which unlike the first two do not even bother providing you with a decent game after ripping you off for hundred(s) of dollars.
Unsurprisingly, modern audiences are increasingly driven back to remakes of older games - El Grande, Ra, Through the Desert, Quo Vadis, Puerto Rico, Age of Steam, Chinatown, Ethnos, Libertalia, Castles of Burgundy, etc. Unfortunately, they take their horrible tastes with them - hideous pastels, Ian O'toole "art", and less problematic themes such as furries, furries, & more furries. And, of course, lots of plastic and $100 price tags. Gone are the days of "Z-Man Games 9th English Edition".
When will this dark age end? Who knows - it sure doesn't seem to be any time soon.

Yard well in St. Petersburg

Tourist Areas in Florida
Florida is a popular tourist destination for people of all ages. The state has a wide variety of attractions, including beaches, theme parks, museums, and historical sites.
Beaches
Florida is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The beaches are white-sand and the water is crystal clear. There are many different beaches to choose from, so you can find the perfect one for your needs.
Theme Parks
Florida is also home to some of the most popular theme parks in the world. Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort, and SeaWorld are just a few of the many theme parks that you can visit in Florida.
Museums
Florida has a number of museums that are worth visiting. The Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg is home to the largest collection of Dalí's work outside of Spain. The Museum of Science & Industry in Tampa is a great place to learn about science and technology.
Historical Sites
Florida has a rich history, and there are many historical sites to visit. The Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine is a 17th-century Spanish fort. The Kennedy Space Center in Titusville is where the Apollo missions were launched.
Tips for Planning Your Trip to Florida

• Book your flights and hotel in advance, especially if you are traveling during peak season.
• Consider renting a car so that you can easily get around the state.
• Pack light clothing, as the weather in Florida is warm year-round.
• Be sure to bring sunscreen, sunglasses, and a hat to protect yourself from the sun.
• Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated.
• Take advantage of the many free activities that Florida has to offer, such as swimming, sunbathing, and hiking.

Expedia
Expedia is a great website to use to book your trip to Florida. You can find flights, hotels, and rental cars all in one place. Expedia also offers a variety of vacation packages that can save you money.
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Saint Evmenios (Eumenios), in the world Constantine Saridakis, was born January 1, 1931 in the Cretan village of Efia, to the family of the pious George and Sofia Saridakis. He was the eighth and last child in this poor family, which lost its breadwinner early. The difficult years of Nazi occupation in Greece did not allow little Constantine to receive an elementary education. Nevertheless, the boy stood out not only for his intelligence but also for his special piety. A wondrous event had a decisive influence on the future elder’s choice of path in life. It happened in 1944. During a festive dinner an extraordinary, blinding radiance appeared, which, as Fr. Evmenios later related, penetrated deep into his soul. Amazed and shaken by the divine light, the youth cried out, “I will become a monk!” Constantine’s path in life was foreordained. As the elder himself said, “If a person has a calling from God for something good, then God works and helps him.”
In 1951, Constantine Saridakis entered the monastery of Prophet Elias not far from his village. In that monastery, besides the abbot there labored two elderly, blind monks, whom the young novice served with great love. Three years later Constantine received the monastic tonsure with the name Sophronios.
In 1954, Monk Sophronios was recruited into the army, as was mandatory according to Greek laws of the time. Just as in the monastery, in the army the young monk did not disdain to do any kind of work, showing respect and obedience to his superiors, but at the same time trying to fulfill his monastic duties as well. But in the army Fr. Sophronios was hit by a great temptation, accompanied by demonic attacks—he got a fever that would not go down despite all the doctors’ efforts. The drafted monk was transferred to Thessalonica in serious condition, and there they found the terrible cause of this strange illness: leprosy. Thanking the Lord for this heavy cross, the sick monk was taken to the Athens leprosy hospital, where fortunately the treatment was successful and he completely recovered. But having tasted the bitter taste of that terrible illness, he decided to remain in the leper colony and serve the suffering. And there were over 500 of them in that hospital! The hospital administration gave the monk a small hut near the hospital church dedicated to Sts. Cosmos and Damian. It was here that the elder spent the rest of his life. The monk spent his days in the leper colony in spiritual ascetic labors, in care for the bed-ridden lepers, and in church services.
It was a great blessing for Fr. Sophronios to meet St. Nicephoros the Leper, who was infected with leprosy while still very young and lived for forty-three years in the leper colony on Chios. In 1957, St. Nicephoros, by then blind and nearly paralyzed, was transferred to the Athens leprosy hospital. Until his repose in 1964, St. Nicephoros was Fr. Sophronius's spiritual guide, and the latter took care of the saint with great love until the end of the saint’s days.
In 1975, the forty-four-year-old monk was ordained a priest with the name Evmenios and became the father confessor to the leprosy hospital, which became a hospital for acute infections.
Having lived more than a half century in his humble hovel in the hospital yard, the elder ceaselessly served God and people—hearing confessions, serving at the holy altar, consoling, giving advice in complicated situations, working miracles and healing both spiritual and physical illnesses. Despite the serious illnesses that he also suffered, a smile never left the elder’s face, and boundless love for God and all people shone in his eyes. According to eye-witnesses, clairvoyance, working miracles, and seeing the saints were all ordinary business and par for the course for Fr. Evmenios. Generously endowed with grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit, the elder “hid himself” successfully behind the walls of the hospital. St. Porphyrios of Kapsokalyvia, who sometimes went to Fr. Evmenios for confession, called him a “hidden saint of our days" and said a saint like Elder Evmenios comes along only once every two hundred years.
After the fall of the communist regime in the USSR, Fr. Evmenios and his spiritual son, now Bishop Neophytos of Morphou (Cypriot Orthodox Church), made a pilgrimage trip to Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, where with great reverence he venerated the holy tomb of Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt. After returning to Athens, the elder’s health problems worsened: diabetes, weak vision, kidney problems and problems with his legs, which the doctors proposed to amputate. Battling against death over the next few years, the elder never interrupted his pastoral service of receiving a never-ending stream of people. In 1992, for his service to the Church, Fr. Evmenios was awarded the rank of archimandrite. In 1999 the elder was hospitalized in the “Evangelismos” hospital in Athens, where on May 23 he gave his soul into the hand of God. The blessed elder’s body was buried in his native village of Efia. In our days, at the prayers and intercession of the blessed elder Evmenios, the Lord works a multitude of miracles of healings and spiritual consolation for the sick and suffering.
(by Gevorg Kazaryan)

Saint Evmenios (Eumenios), in the world Constantine Saridakis, was born January 1, 1931 in the Cretan village of Efia, to the family of the pious George and Sofia Saridakis. He was the eighth and last child in this poor family, which lost its breadwinner early. The difficult years of Nazi occupation in Greece did not allow little Constantine to receive an elementary education. Nevertheless, the boy stood out not only for his intelligence but also for his special piety. A wondrous event had a decisive influence on the future elder’s choice of path in life. It happened in 1944. During a festive dinner an extraordinary, blinding radiance appeared, which, as Fr. Evmenios later related, penetrated deep into his soul. Amazed and shaken by the divine light, the youth cried out, “I will become a monk!” Constantine’s path in life was foreordained. As the elder himself said, “If a person has a calling from God for something good, then God works and helps him.”
In 1951, Constantine Saridakis entered the monastery of Prophet Elias not far from his village. In that monastery, besides the abbot there labored two elderly, blind monks, whom the young novice served with great love. Three years later Constantine received the monastic tonsure with the name Sophronios.
In 1954, Monk Sophronios was recruited into the army, as was mandatory according to Greek laws of the time. Just as in the monastery, in the army the young monk did not disdain to do any kind of work, showing respect and obedience to his superiors, but at the same time trying to fulfill his monastic duties as well. But in the army Fr. Sophronios was hit by a great temptation, accompanied by demonic attacks—he got a fever that would not go down despite all the doctors’ efforts. The drafted monk was transferred to Thessalonica in serious condition, and there they found the terrible cause of this strange illness: leprosy. Thanking the Lord for this heavy cross, the sick monk was taken to the Athens leprosy hospital, where fortunately the treatment was successful and he completely recovered. But having tasted the bitter taste of that terrible illness, he decided to remain in the leper colony and serve the suffering. And there were over 500 of them in that hospital! The hospital administration gave the monk a small hut near the hospital church dedicated to Sts. Cosmos and Damian. It was here that the elder spent the rest of his life. The monk spent his days in the leper colony in spiritual ascetic labors, in care for the bed-ridden lepers, and in church services.
It was a great blessing for Fr. Sophronios to meet St. Nicephoros the Leper, who was infected with leprosy while still very young and lived for forty-three years in the leper colony on Chios. In 1957, St. Nicephoros, by then blind and nearly paralyzed, was transferred to the Athens leprosy hospital. Until his repose in 1964, St. Nicephoros was Fr. Sophronius's spiritual guide, and the latter took care of the saint with great love until the end of the saint’s days.
In 1975, the forty-four-year-old monk was ordained a priest with the name Evmenios and became the father confessor to the leprosy hospital, which became a hospital for acute infections.
Having lived more than a half century in his humble hovel in the hospital yard, the elder ceaselessly served God and people—hearing confessions, serving at the holy altar, consoling, giving advice in complicated situations, working miracles and healing both spiritual and physical illnesses. Despite the serious illnesses that he also suffered, a smile never left the elder’s face, and boundless love for God and all people shone in his eyes. According to eye-witnesses, clairvoyance, working miracles, and seeing the saints were all ordinary business and par for the course for Fr. Evmenios. Generously endowed with grace-filled gifts of the Holy Spirit, the elder “hid himself” successfully behind the walls of the hospital. St. Porphyrios of Kapsokalyvia, who sometimes went to Fr. Evmenios for confession, called him a “hidden saint of our days" and said a saint like Elder Evmenios comes along only once every two hundred years.
After the fall of the communist regime in the USSR, Fr. Evmenios and his spiritual son, now Bishop Neophytos of Morphou (Cypriot Orthodox Church), made a pilgrimage trip to Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, where with great reverence he venerated the holy tomb of Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt. After returning to Athens, the elder’s health problems worsened: diabetes, weak vision, kidney problems and problems with his legs, which the doctors proposed to amputate. Battling against death over the next few years, the elder never interrupted his pastoral service of receiving a never-ending stream of people. In 1992, for his service to the Church, Fr. Evmenios was awarded the rank of archimandrite. In 1999 the elder was hospitalized in the “Evangelismos” hospital in Athens, where on May 23 he gave his soul into the hand of God. The blessed elder’s body was buried in his native village of Efia. In our days, at the prayers and intercession of the blessed elder Evmenios, the Lord works a multitude of miracles of healings and spiritual consolation for the sick and suffering.
(by Gevorg Kazaryan)

2024-05-23 -- St. Helier
Anna Krutikov appointed as new CSR of Glencore
About Glencore: We are one of the world largest recyclers of end-of-life electronics, and a major recycler of complex secondary copper, nickel, cobalt, gold, silver, platinum and palladium bearing feeds... We were founded in 1974, initially focused on the marketing of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and minerals, c..
Website: glencore.com

2024-05-23 -- St. Helier
Derrick Crowley appointed as new CHRO of Glencore
About Glencore: We are one of the world largest recyclers of end-of-life electronics, and a major recycler of complex secondary copper, nickel, cobalt, gold, silver, platinum and palladium bearing feeds... We were founded in 1974, initially focused on the marketing of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and minerals, c..
Website: glencore.com

2024-05-23 -- St. Helier
Steven Kalmin appointed as new CFO of Glencore
About Glencore: We are one of the world largest recyclers of end-of-life electronics, and a major recycler of complex secondary copper, nickel, cobalt, gold, silver, platinum and palladium bearing feeds... We were founded in 1974, initially focused on the marketing of ferrous and non-ferrous metals and minerals, c..
Website: glencore.com

I save my old light bulbs, batteries, paint, herbicides, etc. and take them to the Lawrence Household Hazardous Waste facility on North Iowa St. You have to make an appointment first. I take my old electronic equipment to Best Buy. https://lawrenceks.org/swm/hhw/