Split (1)

train · 1.8M rows

text stringlengths 115 558k
Volume 78 - Number 35 / January 28 - February 3, 2009 West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933 Paying for Yankee Stadium is a major league error By Deborah Glick Tough financial times require tough choices. This is as true for the many New Yorkers who struggle to make ends meet at this time of record unemployment as it is for city and state government, each of which faces enormous budget gaps that must be closed. While each of us is tempted by luxuries, the more responsible individual prioritizes the use of scarce funding to first cover lifes necessities. Certainly, a family struggling to pay for care for an elderly parent would be wise to forgo purchasing a top-of-the-line, big-screen TV. Shockingly, when faced with a similar dilemma, the city did not make a responsible decision. After proposing a fiscal year 2009 budget that would entirely eliminate funding for social adult daycare programs for seniors with Alzheimers, slash the capital budget for schools, decrease police and fire service and close public libraries one additional day per week, the city chose to provide the Yankees with $370 million in additional funding. The Yankees have their own cable TV network, and the teams $207 million yearly payroll is, by far, the largest in Major League Baseball and will only be boosted by recent contracts, including an eight-year, $108 million contract. In considering this recently approved $370 million, it is important to note that the Yankees have already obtained nearly $1 billion in tax-free bonds. They have also directly received more than $575 million to build parking garages and stadium infrastructure, and they have saved nearly $350 million at the publics expense through interest-rate subsidies and by not paying sales tax and mortgage recording tax. While they will pay approximately $70 million for what should be property tax, the city will essentially hand over this entire amount to pay off the Yankees mortgage. The Yankees have maintained that the $370 million was a necessity. The necessities these funds will support include a top-of-the-line Jumbotron and audio-visual system, upgrades to Yankees administrative offices and luxury suites, and the replacement of concrete ramps with granite ones. In the words of Yankees President Randy Levine, upgrades of this type will make the stadium the most technologically advanced stadium ever built. Levine has also explained that such high-end details are necessary because everyone expects the best from the Yankees. If the Yankees are committed to making their stadium the most luxurious one ever built, they should find the resources outside of government to do so. In my testimony before the Industrial Development Agency board, the entity charged with approving the bond issuance, I urged that todays fiscal reality and the drastic cuts that the mayor proposes in response, be the backdrop against which the I.D.A. considered the Yankees funding request. Many of the cuts in the mayors proposed FY 09 budget are to core services for our community. For example, the Department for the Aging, whose total budget is just $300 million, is slated for cuts. These reductions would completely eliminate funding for social adult daycare, result in significant cuts to caregiver support services and eliminate other crucial supports, like escort and shopping assistance, which enable many seniors to remain in their homes. Had the city not provided the Yankees with more than $2 billion in benefits, the administration also might not have felt the need to propose a $1.6 billion cut to the Department of Educations capital budget. With $2 billion, the city could have created more than 26,000 new school seats which are even more desperately needed than before, given that class sizes increased at every grade level last year for the first time in 10 years. Or, with just a portion of that money, the city could have purchased 75 Morton St. and turned it into a desperately needed school. But instead of creating new school seats, the city has focused its efforts on creating stadium seats. Finally, the city could have channeled its zeal for economic development by instead contributing money to pay for needed infrastructure repairs at Pier 40, so that a community-friendly redevelopment of the pier would already be underway. It is an insult for the city to hand over taxpayer dollars to the Yankees for their field of dreams, when they cannot help us save ours. It is frustrating that the city and the Yankees have insisted contrary to numerous studies showing that stadiums net very little benefit for municipalities that the city will benefit greatly. The investment of $1.5 billion will result in a grand total of 59 full-time, year-round jobs. We will certainly lose far more than this amount if the mayors proposed cuts are approved. Further, while the new stadium has created constructions jobs, these jobs would have been created if the city was building new schools. Finally, while there have been claims that the stadium will produce millions of dollars in tax revenue from the sale of concessions and souvenirs, the old stadium was already generating similar revenue from these items. Elected leaders have an enormous responsibility to steward the city and state through this challenging time by prioritizing the use of scarce dollars. Unfortunately, the Bloomberg administration has failed average New Yorkers in this task by once again placing the needs of a wealthy interest above ours. I see no way that the city can justify its prioritization to a parent in my district whose child is in a classroom crowded with 35 other students, or to a constituent who no longer can access the social adult daycare program for her father that allowed her to work. The citys actions and the I.D.A.s approval are not just inexplicable, they are inexcusable and constitute a significant breach of the public trust. Glick is state assemblymember for the 66th District
In lieu of mother’s day and because my mom is the queen of the hot glue gun, I thought I’d share a DIY project. It’s called “How to Hide Your Fugly Extension Cord and Make it Look Cool and Bring a Little Texture Into Your Space”. It has a nice ring to it no? So here’s what you need and how to do it: extension cord (13 feet) - the longer the better 200 feet of medium weight jute rope (i got the thick stuff so i didn’t have to wrap as much) glue gun and glue sticks - prep all of your materials: cut the tags off your extension cord and fire up the hot glue gun. - add a dab of hot glue at the base of the plug nearest the prong end. - now here’s the hardest part, glue the end of the jute so that it is tucked under the first wrapped loop - it will look like the beginning of a loose knot. - wrap the jute over the end so it is completely covered. - continue wrapping 3-4 times, then add another dab of glue and repeat until you run out of jute. - but wait! when you are close to running out of jute rope, repeat the knot process from above. remember to add glue first so it stays secured. - now you repeat the knot process all over again (sigh…) because you are adding more jute rope riiiiiiiight? yes you are, so please repeat the above step. - continue wrapping 3-4 times and adding a dab of glue until you get to the base nearest the plug end. - guess what comes next? that’s right! the knot process again (hold your applause please). add the dab of glue, make the knot at the very base, and put the kibosh on this bad boy. viola! you are finished. That wasn’t so bad was it? Now dance around and celebrate that you no longer have electrical cord ugliness dragging down the beauty of all your sexy furniture. Not only do you no longer have to hide this thing, but you’ll actually want to show it off to people. And they will absolutely not think you are weird whatsoever for being so excited about an extension cord. P.S. It totally looks like my philodendron peed her pants in the second photo. P.S.S Design sponge had this kick ass and colorful version and Design Love Fest had this easy quick fix version. FYI: For those of you worried, this project is not a fire hazard. Yes you should always be cautious when working with wires or electricity, but you are not working with a live wire nor are you cutting the cords or exposing raw wire to fabric. This project is no more dangerous than putting your electrical cord near a rug.
Moti Mahal dinner and wine Not long ago I was invited to Moti Mahal for a Taittinger dinner and was pleasantly surprised by how well champagne went with Indian cuisine. Not long afterwards, I wondered how well Indian food went with other types of wine and so found myself invited back at Moti Mahal to see if it wasn’t just champagne that could stand up to the spicy flavours and aromas of India. Moti Mahal was originally established in Delhi back in 1959 where it was one of the few fine dining establishments in India. Moti Mahal came to Covent Garden in 2005 and Head Chef Anirudh Arora is very much inspired by the Grand Trunk Road of India. The Road is one of the oldest and longest roads in S.E. Asia, running Bengal to Afghanistan. As you can imagine, the cuisine varies as much as the road itself. Anirudh wrote a cook book highlighting the forgotton recipes of the road in collaboration with Hardeep Singh Kohli. The book is available online and Anirudh uses some of the recipes at the restaurant.It’s a beautifully photographed book and just leafing through my copy was enough to make my stomach rumble. But, I digress. The dinner we had was called the Awadh Menu and it’s a menu based on the Princely States. Tandoor glazed homemade fennel paneer, tandoor roasted jumbo prawn, spicy lamb kebabs, king fish simmered in tangy curry,stir fried chicken masala, black lentil dahl, crispy fried lotus stem and raita along with an assortment of breads and rice – phew! This was a meal fit for a King. We started the meal with champagne cocktails, I had the Bengal Tiger which listed cumin as one of it’s ingredients, along with Black Smirnoff Vodka and passionfruit pulp. It was deliciously fragrant and an indication of the flavours and aromas to come. The meal also came with a very fresh tomato and veg salad that you made yourself at the table. The ingredients were humbly presented on a wooden board. It was very simple but oh, so delicious. The wine pairings were not quite what I was expecting but the 2010 Hamilton Russell chardonnay from South Africa was a clear winner with the tandoori dishes. Despite having a good amount of oak, the wine is finely balanced and served to enhance the spices of the dishes. The fact that it was not overly acidic with a creamy mouthfeel also helped it. I didn’t quite think it went with the lamb kebab but with such a variety of dishes, you’d be hardpressed to find one white wine that could do it all. We had a Cotes du Rhone Domaine Les Aphillanthes 2007. While I do like Rhone reds, myself and my dinner companion didn’t quite think that this wine was a great match. On it’s own, the wine is great but other than with the fried lotus root with peanut and coriander, I would have preferred a lighter red, perhaps a Beaujolais cru – Chenas or Fleurie possibly. The Coteaux du Layon St. Aubin Domaine des Forges 2010 was served with a stewed pineapple and molasses, pistachio rice pudding. I’m not normally a fan of rice pudding but this one was not a soggy mess and was delicately but intensely flavoured. The Coteaux was not too rich with loads of ripe, rich tropical fruit notes but still retaining a healthy dose of acidity to wash everything away. I’d give Moti Mahal a big thumbs up for taking the chance on doing a food and wine pairing with their cuisine, the Hamilton chardonnay standing out head and shoulders from the rest. Of course, there is always the Taittinger champagne which I found to work across the board with the cuisine at Moti Mahal
A disgruntled Washington booster offered $100,000 to university president Mark Emmert six weeks ago if Emmert would fire coach Tyrone Willingham, the Seattle Times reports. The booster was identified as multimillionaire attorney Ed Hansen, a Washington alum and former three-term mayor of Everett, which is located north or Seattle. Hansen also asked for the termination of Todd Turner as athletic director in an email, which was among 1,000 or so the newspaper received under a public records request. Turner has announced his resignation, effective Jan. 31. When it was announced on Dec. 5 that Willingham would be the coach in 2008, not all fans agreed. One wrote: "Today is the single worst day I have ever experienced as a Husky. My hope is gone, and that is truly sad. I am 24 ... ." Although most of the emails were critical of Willingham, some were supportive, including one from Seattle Seahawk running back Shaun Alexander: "I want to tell you how pleased I am with the direction of the program and the character of the guys Ty has been bringing in." Former Seahawk quarterback Jeff Kemp also wrote to support Willingham: "This man has changed lives and the reputation of UW football player culture [of which there were too many sad embarrassments before]. He is building a foundation, and winning will result." Thanks to Image of Sport.
Contact Form - General Inquiries CVB General Request Form - General Requests to the CVB Visitors Guide Request Form - Free Woodlands Visitor Guide Discovery Guide & Savings Book Request Form - Free Coupon Book to merchants in The Woodlands Performer & Entertainer Request Form - Want to perform at one of the CVB events? Sponsor a CVB Event Request Form - Want to sponsor one of the CVB events? Submit Your Event - Post your event on the CVB event Calendar. Merchant Submission: Dining, Shopping, Accomodations - Are we missing your favorite merchant in The Woodlands? Meeting Planner Request Form - Do you have a group, convention, reunion, wedding coming to The Woodlands? We can help! Sponsorship Request Policy and Application - Send the CVB a request to sponsor your event in The Woodlands.
I had just spent 15 minutes unloading a bag of toiletries (shampoos, soaps, curling irons, creams, toothpastes...) that weighed more than Molly. Returning home from our long vacation late in the night, we fell in to our beds post haste leaving the mountain of unpacking for later. Unpacking brings with it such a mixed bag of feelings, every article removed from the suitcase and placed in its designated spot is attached to a specific memory of the time away yet returning the item to its rightful place sparks appreciation in my heart for my designated spot in this big world--HOME, my HOME in particular. (Have I ever mentioned that I get homesick sometimes while on vacation? with my family? and my books? and my very own coffee maker? I'm not sayin' it happened on this vacation, but it has happened a That I may have been beginning to feel drawn back home after 13 days away, doesn't mean I looked forward the end of our vacation time. Quite the opposite...the day we loaded up to head north was full of sad, miserable, excruciating, gut-wrenching good byes. Most of my children (save the one who, like her mamma, is emotionally lassoed to her home) mourned the companionship of their cousins and grandparents for the greater part of our 10+ hour journey home. Tears flowed profusely. It wasn't pretty. I too, am missing the easy companionship of my family, the extended one which didn't feel so extended while we lived vacation life for a week together. How then does one go about "returning" with a balanced perspective? My Man would suggest a list or maybe two... Reasons that make it difficult to face the end of vacation: ~the smell of coffee in the morning made by an early rising brother-in-law ~my Mom, willing to go the distance for a laugh (believe it or not, those sunglasses are not part of the joke!) ~rocking chairs on the deck ~built in playmates ~the ever-present scent of my Dad's pipe smoke ~a sister to scratch Molly's back...ad infinitum ~a sister to braid Kate's hair...over and over Reasons I'm Glad to be HOME: ~sharp knives (apparently these are not allowed in rental properties located anywhere near the beach!) ~my very own bed (nuff said!) ~smell of home (every place has its very own scent you know!) ~a friend greeting us with soup for the next day as we wearily pulled into our driveway ~the art gallery on our fridge, I missed its messy haphazardness ~we left on a hot summer day and returned to crisp fall air (ahhhhhh) ~grinning as the child who missed home exclaimed as we exited the interstate near her home "kank you, kank you, kank you for bringing us home!" Oh, we're going to be hitting our paces just fine shortly. One of the most distraught of our children entered the kitchen the morning after our return saying, "Hey! This cool fall weather makes me not as sad about vacation being over...but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna need to smell some pumpkin baking in here pretty soon." Her grandmother wisely reminded me as she was challenging herself not to dwell on the OVER but to focus instead on the happiness that WAS, "I'm determined to choose joy..." Sounds like a perfect way to bid farewell to summer and vacation and welcome all that is autumn... ...by choosing JOY... (and perhaps grabbing a slice or two of pumpkin bread wouldn't hurt either!)
My first 2013 Topps card I haven’t bought a pack of 2013 Topps yet, and probably won’t (unless my willpower goes kaput all of a sudden). Since I collect almost only Reds cards now, buying packs and blasters just doesn’t make financial sense to me. I would rather spend $3-5 for the team set on eBay than $20 for packs, of which I might find 3 or 4 cards that I like (including non-Reds). Thanks to awesome bloggers like Crackin Wax, I am still able to obtain new cards without buying new packs. If you go to his site and click on “Take My Cards” across the top, you will be directed to a password-protected page of cards that he is giving away for free…all you have to do is provide a SASE! When he posted his list of 2013 Topps cards, I knew I had to jump on all the Reds I could find…unfortunately most of them were already claimed. But I did come away with one, and it arrived in the mail today… Tony Cingrani appeared in 3 games, pitching 5 innings for the Reds late in the season. He was a third-round draft pick in 2011, and was actually featured on this blog that year as a part of the 2011 Reds (’92 Style) fun cards. It’s great to finally have a 2013 Topps card in-hand. And it’s great to know how far away Cingrani is from Nolan Ryan‘s strikeout record. smh
Perhaps you missed “planking” and thought “owling” was actually a joke, but now “horsemaning” is apparently here to prove that everything old is new again, especially when it comes to hipster photo memes. Supposedly a historical fad (what we called memes in the dark days before the internet) from the early 20th centrury inspired by Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” horsemaning is the act of taking a photo so that it looks like the subject has been beheaded. Although we at The Year of Halloween try to stay about the common fray when it comes to fads, horsemaning gets a big thumbs up for its blackly comedic depiction of decapitation, horror, and various levels of zombification. What’s more, a few framed shots would be a lovely low-budget finishing touch to your Halloween haunt decor. Read on for more photos and links.
The quieter side of Koh Phanyan The tiny shaven-headed nun stands, bows and leaves us. All 27 of us file silently out of the hall. Eye contact is avoided and fledgling friendships are forgotten as each guest begins to withdraw inside their own head. The gong marks the transition from sitting meditation to walking meditation. As the sun begins to rise I find myself walking very slowly down a sandy path. I am not going anywhere, when I reach the end I simply turn around and walk back. I do this for two hours. In a stolen moment I scan the faces of my fellow meditators, their heads are hung low and their faces are eerily empty. Tears stream down a muscular, bald-headed man's face, yet his expression doesn't change. Koh Phanyan is not a place that often conjures up images of such peace, calm and serenity. Better known for it debaterous full-moon parties, this pulsating little Thai island does in fact have a rather more peaceful side. Perched precariously atop a rocky peak stands Wat Kow Tahm. The unassuming Buddhist Monastery has been running silent meditation retreats for Westerners for 24 years. Now, I'm no Buddhist, while many aspects of the religion interest me, not once have I ever attempted to meditate. I'm not exactly the silent type either. I'm a talker, I like to laugh, I like to express myself. I also have the attention span of a chimpanzee. Why then, you may be asking, would I choose to spend 10 days in total silence, why would I choose to get up at 4am every morning after sleeping on a bare wooden bunk all night, why would I choose to walk along a sandy path that leads nowhere, why would I choose to sit still for three hours at a time with my eyes shut, concentrating only on the sounds of my breath? I do not really have answers for these questions except to say that I was, in some way drawn to this retreat while limping past a modest sign for the monastery, hung over, sunburnt and exhausted (the limp was the result of a drunken injury that I have no recollection of). And I really must have been drawn to it because I set about scaling an almost vertical mini-mountain in my fragile state to reach it. The entrance to the retreat is plastered in posters warning you how gruelling the schedule is. People who've never meditated are strongly advised to turn around and head home. I'm not that easily deterred though. The simple dining area at the entrance is strewn with grubby backpacks and teeming with fisherman pant-clad Westerners, all trying to squeeze in their last few words before we are all plunged into silence. While we are surrounded by each other, essentially we are alone, forbidden from eye contact, talking, smiling, touching or any other form or communication. According to our hosts, Steve and Rosemary Weissman, the silence is an essential part of the experience. Interaction with people creates thoughts, and thoughts create distractions. Steve, an American and Rosemary, an Australian started running retreats for Westerners at the monastery in 1988. Skinny and pasty, Steve wears his trousers far too high and looks like those sweet old guys in American movies called Herb, but pronounced ‘Erb'. Rosemary reminds me of a 1950s schoolmistress, with her waist-length grey pleat and totally climate-inappropriate ankle-length black skirt. They both look like they need a good feed, but they have this sort of loving, calming energy about them. We are woken at 4am by a bell and make our way to the meditation hall. I sit on a musty red cushion for two hours trying to think only about the sensation of air going into my nostrils and the sensation of air coming back out of my mouth again. A good 20 minutes of that time is spent sleeping, my face buried in my hands. The rest of it is spent trying to battle the relentless army of thoughts invading my mind. They are not going to be easy to defeat. Walking meditation, which involves walking up and down a track zombie-style, concentrating only on your footsteps, feels a bit like being a patient in a mental institution. Like we've been let out for our daily wander and are aimlessly staggering about wondering who the hell we are and what the hell we're doing. The first few days continue like this. We sit, we breathe in unison, we eat a lot of rice, we walk like zombies, we listen to talks from our ‘gurus'. Along with communication, reading and writing are also banned (although I cheated a little bit on the writing front). There is no escape from your own mind. Many people have emotional responses to being trapped inside their own heads. Some cry, some look so vacant I begin to wonder if their brain is still functioning. These first few days seem futile. I'm not one of the criers, nor am I one of the trance-induced zombies. I spend the vast majority of my day singing along to music that seems to play on repeat inside my head. Most notably, Queen's "I want to break free" (I wonder what inspired that), Usher's "Oh my god" and, more randomly Nena Cherry's "99 red balloons". Quite an eclectic mix I have going on. Night times in my room, which I share with another girl often prove to be quite awkward, shuffling around the tiny space and trying to negotiate light turning-off and door-locking times when you can't look at or speak to someone is quite a tricky task. I feel a bit like we've had a huge argument and can't bear to look at each other. This seems to trick your brain into thinking that you do not like this person and encourages you to view them in a hostile way. It's very strange indeed and really makes you appreciate just what a vital form of communication a friendly smile can be. So far I have been getting sporadic urges to pack up my bags and sprint off down the mini-mountain, screaming at the top of my lungs as I go. The thought of 10 days of this seems punishing at best and totally impossible at worst. I have a niggling worry at the back of my mind that I might go insane, that I might have to adopt a grubby old football and paint a face on it like Tom Hanks in Castaway, just so I have someone to talk to. And then came my ‘break-through'. The ‘break-through' is what Steve and Rosemary describe as the moment when everything seems to fall into place, you feel like you can meditate, your appreciation for things grows, you actually begin to enjoy the experience and start to feel the benefits. My break-through comes on day 3 when, while doing walking meditation, out of sheer boredom I begin staring at a red caterpillar on the ground. I watch in fascination at the intricate movements of its perfectly formed body as it rises and falls. I watch as it pounces on an ant, enveloping it in its body then devouring it whole. The process captivates me. It makes me feel happy. Never, in normal life would I notice this before. I am starting to appreciate the little things in life and how wonderful, yet overlooked they can be. I find I actually begin to meditate properly too. My battle with the invading thought-army continues, but they've eased off. I can go for at least six minutes at a time now without a single thought entering my head. Steve and Rosemary's evening talks are genuinely fascinating, it is like they've climbed inside our heads and are reading our thoughts. They tell us what we are feeling and thinking and they are so spot-on it's scary. How on earth do they know I was obsessing over the break-up of my last relationship rather than meditating this morning?! It's clear they really know their stuff. Repressing communication, I have decided, knocks off a good 20 years to my mental age. Things that you may have cracked a smile at before become the most hilarious experiences of your life. When I hear the tiny 91-year-old nun let out a humungous burp during walking meditation I am crying with laughter. I am literally in bits, shaking, tears of hilarity pouring down my face. As I hear the irritating ring of the familiar wake-up bell on the morning of day 10 I am filled with an odd mixture of emotions. I am relieved but I am scared. What if I've forgotten how to speak? What if my social skills have died a death? Being silent for this long is like being in a strangely comforting cocoon. There are no pressures to say the right thing, or worries about saying the wrong thing. You do not have the pressures of interacting with people. It is a deeply personal journey. The moment when Steve and Rosemary tell us we can speak is a daunting one. An Australian girl, who I'd been 100% sure was German asks me my name and I manage to croak it out, sounding shaky and broken. At least I can still speak. It's interesting to see just how wrong your judgments on a person's outward appearance can be. The crying man is an outspoken, smiley Dutch boxing coach. The Chinese woman whose chin was permanently attached to her chest now throws her head back with laughter. It is a different world. Steve and Rosemary's final talk clarifies everything I realise I have learnt from shutting up for 10 days into one small nutshell - appreciation. By learning to appreciate the tiniest things in the world, a perfectly formed insect, a beautiful flower, the hard work of an army of ants, you are able to really appreciate the bigger things, leading to a far more positive outlook on life in general. I'm not sure if my appreciation for these perfectly-formed insects and beautiful flowers was born out of literally having nothing else to do but stare at them all day or from accessing far-flung corners of my mind while deep in meditation. But whichever one it was, it seems to have worked. * * * * * Published on 5/1/12
At first glance, getting around New York City seems like a daunting task, even if you don’t venture out of Manhattan. But at some point on your trip, you’ll need to take public transit; whether you’re riding the subway or bus or hailing a cab, these tips will help you navigate the streets of NYC. Tag Archives: travel February 29, 2012 It seems New York City has inspired more classic songs than any other alpha city. Here are a few to pop on your iPod before you set out on your trip. After a long drive or plane flight, you’ll be glad you had a pick-me-up to keep you excited!
Friday, August 31, 2012 I've never associated pigs with Finland—except in the form of sauna sausage (mmm...sauna sausage)—so I'm not sure how we're ending up with a porcine theme here on Finnish Fridays, but let's go with it. This little piggy was some sort of giveaway from the bank Postipannki, and it's so wee it couldn't hold more than a dollar or so in pennies—not sure what its capacity would've been for Finn markka, or Euro for that matter. You can't open this bank because apparently only the bank staff had the key. I guess this was fun for kids? Seems like you'd be making a lot of trips to the bank. Anyway, according to wikepdia, Postipannki closed/merged in 1997 so this pig serves no purpose, except as a repository for money you don't plan to use. But it is pleasant to look at, don't you agree? Thursday, August 30, 2012 I believe I've mentioned a few dozen times that I was an English major in college. In those days, I favored the black-and-yellow Penguin Classic paperback editions of the books I was assigned to read; as a result their black spines fill several shelves in my guest room (you never know when a guest might want to peruse The Princesse De Cleves or Gargantua and Pantagruel poolside). But over the past few years of estate and library sale shopping, I've become a li'l obsessed with the piquant eye candy that is the Signet Classic paperback, the first printings of which date from the 1960s. I now find myself buying duplicate copies of books I already own just because I love the covers so dang much—and, lo, another paperback collection was born (see: Edward Gorey Anchor Doubleday). Of this batch, I've only actually read Defoe's Journal of the Plague Years, a fantastic book I recommend to all readers with a taste for the medieval and macabre. I'm sure I'll read Edwin Drood at some point, but it's at the bottom of my Dickens pile. And I like the cover, but I'm certain I'll never read Nostromo because Conrad is just not my bag (unless he's delivered to me in the form of Apocalypse Now). The Kenneth Grahame book is the most thrilling discovery, because for one thing, I never gave any thought as to whether the author of The Wind in the Willows wrote anything besides The Wind in the Willows. Apparently, he did, and the book jacket description suggests it's right up my street: In this series of tales of five orphaned children who live with relatives in an English country house, the author's superbly modulated prose captures the sensuousness, the mercurial temper, and the fantasy life of childhood. Neither sentimental nor condescending, with perfect sympathy and gentle humor, Grahame creates a world in which each child is a distinctive individual, adults are regarded as doubtful guests, and every passing moment brings the promise of rare adventures. Sounds pretty irresistible, am I right? To top it off, I'm convinced this cover was illustrated by the great Tomi Ungerer, or else by someone aping his style—though I doubt that: The Signet covers of that period were all done by super-accomplished illustrators, including Milton "I heart NY" Glaser. I'll feature some of his beauteous covers next time. Wednesday, August 29, 2012 Something I've noticed on my estate sale travels is that bookshelves stocked with Bibles, religious tracts and volumes devoted to Christianity are likely to be sharing equal space with books whose esoteric subjects were probably featured on Leonard Nimoy's 1981 TV series In Search of. The Prophecies of Nostradamus. Chariots of the Gods. Anything on Atlantis, the Bermuda Triangle, Bigfoot, Pyramid Power, poltergeists, UFOs, Easter Island and Nessie. I can't even tell you how often I've observed this Mysterious Phenomenon. What does it all mean? If only Leonard Nimoy would explain it to me. Tuesday, August 28, 2012 Thursday, August 23, 2012 I had the pleasure of accidentally stumbling across Clueless on cable a few months ago, something that rarely happens since I almost never deviate from what's on my Tivo. I don't think I'd seen it since it came out back in 1995, but let me just say, it totally holds up. No Jane Austen update/adaptation holds a candle to it (I'm looking at you, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies). Alicia Silverstone? Simply brilliant. Stacey Dash? So gorgeous, why didn't she go anywhere after that? Come to think of it, that was the apex of Alicia's career as well. Brittany Murphy, sigh. R.I.P. Only Paul Rudd has gone on to fame and fortune, though more often as the disaffected friend than adorable love object, which he so totally was as the uptight Mr. Knightley-ish ex-stepbrother Josh. I don't have so many laudatory things to say about this silly tie-in book, Cher's Guide to...Whatever by H.B. Gilmour ("based on the characters created by Amy Heckerling"). It's so awful I can't even bring myself to quote from it. But unlike the movie, which doesn't seem at all dated (well, maybe the Uptown Julie Brown cameo), the book is a time capsule full of quaint references to the ’90s, including: The Watchman (as in the hand-held TV), MTV (that it was once relevant), CDs, Christian Slater, Marky Mark, Buns of Steel, Smashing Pumpkins, Coolio, Nine Inch Nails, The Bridges of Madison County, Arsenio Hall, Prozac, The Body Shop, The Nature Company... Who knows? If the movie had come out when I was in high school as opposed to when I was 27, I might've dug the book too. Wednesday, August 22, 2012 I think I've sounded this theme often, but I'll reiterate in case you've not been taking notes: I don't like games. Board games are boring. I would always rather read. I might even prefer organizing Lindsay's recipes into clear plastic binders, or cleaning the birdcage. Anything else. But if I must play a game, I always choose Scrabble. Not this Facebook phone stuff that Alec Baldwin seems to enjoy so much; I'm as baffled by that when I see it cluttering my FB feed as I am by those games about jewelry and farm animals. Don't try to tell me how great it is, how addictive if you're a wordsmithy-type person—cuz I'd be too busy reading novels on my phone. The last adult I played Scrabble with was Lindsay. We were rusticating in Tobago, in a very austere cottage with lots of interesting insects and not a lot of intact mosquito netting. There was no nightlife to speak of; or at least not where a couple of Americans would feel welcome some six months after 9/11. We dined on the same fish special at the only restaurant in town every night. The service was grudging, if not hostile. When we revealed ourselves to be New Yorkers, we were grilled on our 9/11 experiences and informed that the whole thing was an American conspiracy, if it had even happened it all, which we assured everyone it did, since we were eyewitnesses, but they weren't impressed. (Later we'd learn that Hugo Chavez had found refuge in Tobago after a brief coup at the same time we were there. Like I said, Americans weren't too popular then—I wonder if anything's changed.) Given the circumstances, then, what choice did we have but to hang out in our cabin each evening, with a couple of genial stray dogs for company, drink gin and tonics and play game after game of Scrabble while tropical rain pelted the rooftop? A lovely Scrabble memory, except that maybe Lindsay vowed never to play with me again because I was "too cutthroat" and a "sore loser." Or something like that. So I didn't play until my kids got old enough to string some letters together and call it a word, and then to string some words together and call it a sentence. Have you ever seen the Scrabble Sentence Game for Juniors? Well, like most games made in 1973, it's pretty awesome (and there's plenty available on eBay for around 10 bucks). Like Scrabble for Juniors, the board has an easy side and an advanced side: The easy side just requires simple matching (good for learning sight words) and the hard side encourages the drolleries of fledgling Becketts, as you can craft all manner of absurd one-liners. If there's a scrabbulous or words-for-friends-like app for that, I might actually consider getting it for my kids. Monday, August 20, 2012 I did not buy this Igor painting because I'm not going to start collecting campy sex kitten art of the 1960s. This was one of a pair, however, and it seemed reasonably priced on the first day of this estate sale ($30), so I went back on the second day when it had dropped by 30% but I still didn't buy it because it was very grimy (its mate was water-damanged). Was it original? I spent a lot of time standing in front of it, conspicuously googling Igor Pantuhoff on my iPhone, but couldn't make up my mind. I resolved to return the next day, when the prices would be cut in half, and buy it if it was still there. I never went back. Probably for the best. Despite my affection for obsolete technology and especially old-fangled writing machines, I didn't buy either of these typewriters. I didn't even consider it for a moment. I just thought they looked so picturesque, relics strewn about in the grass, like a kind of typewriter graveyard—the sort of image that's just begging to be instagrammed. What about replacing garden gnomes with old typewriters? In the hands of the right design blogger, I'm sure this is an idea that could be sold in certain hipster enclaves in Brooklyn. Friday, August 17, 2012 Is the world divided between pickers and flossers? If so, I fall in the latter camp, though if I were a picker, I doubt I'd use toothpicks like these, since they're about the size of tongue depressors. Probably some indication here of the state of Northern European dentistry, circa the 1970s, when I think my parents received this as a gift. For decades it remained in some box, original packaging still intact, till it mysteriously arrived on my doorstep, and what am I supposed to do with it? Too cute to get rid of, like most Finnish things, even porcine toothpick holders. The word "kaivinkone" is stamped on the side, which seems to translate as a digger or excavating vehicle. I guess that's a play on the toothpick's purpose? Grody. One cool thing: The company that made this item, Nikkarien Oy, is still in business. They seem to specialize in cute home goods, mostly sauna paraphernalia, which I love gawking at even though a sauna would be the wrongest thing to have in South Texas. Sauna hats and sauna guestbooks—it's a whole 'nother world of things to buy. Thursday, August 16, 2012 Once upon a time, I watched MASH three times a day; four times on Mondays. It aired at 3pm when I came home from school; it was on from 7 to 8pm after dinner, and on Monday nights a new episode aired on CBS at 8 or 9. It goes without saying that MASH was my favorite show, and a formative influence on my sense of humor, such as it is/isn't, right up there with various BBC comedy series (Fawlty Towers, Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin) and Howard Stern. I know from Grape Nehis and stills, Toledo Mudhens and meatball surgery. I know that the MASH theme song was entitled "Suicide is Painless," because, along with "You Light Up My Life," it was the song I most enjoyed playing on my flute. I made a pilgrimage to see the MASH set at the Smithsonian. I went to see age-inappropriate movies like The Four Seasons and The Seduction of Joe Tynan just because I was such an Alan Alda fan. I have definite MASH opinions, some of which don't jibe with the popular view. BJ over Trapper John. Henry Blake over Colonel Potter. Frank Burns WAY over Charles. Frank Burns was probably my favorite character; "Frank Burns eats worms" my favorite line in the whole series (it still slays me). I slightly preferred Klinger to Radar but could've easily done without both of them. Colonel Flagg was my favorite recurring guest character, but I also liked Dr. Sidney Freedman (and by high school his stock shot up when I discovered he was a photographer once married to Diane Arbus). I was glad that Hawkeye and Hot Lips never got together; I hated that episode when they kinda sorta did. Barf. I liked it when Hawkeye was with that nurse who went on to star in the Polaroid commercials with James Garner. I never saw the original MASH movie, and yes, I know it's Altman and it's so much better and darker, and I don't care. I hated the series finale, like most people, but maybe that's just because I didn't want it to be over, or because I was over it. I'm not sure which. It was 1983. I was 15, and already deep into Cheers, which had premiered the year prior. And like most TV series of that era (any era?), MASH didn't exactly get better with age. I can't really watch MASH now, though I'll happily sit through back-to-back episodes of The Odd Couple, Hogan's Heroes or Mister Ed. Its earnestness can make me queasy; the laugh track hurts my brain. And I have a hard time refraining from reciting all the dialogue I've memorized, which can be annoying if I'm with someone and sad/weird if I'm watching alone. Anyway, it stands to reason that I should kick sargent-major ass on these Golden Trivia MASH cards, which came out in 1984, the year after the series ended. I bought these at an estate sale earlier this summer, when I knew my brother and fellow MASH couch potato would be visiting. I wasn't as good as I'd expected to be, but over cocktails, we both managed to horrify our respective spouses with our MAS*H knowledge. I mean, seriously, who doesn't know Frank Burns's blood type? Tuesday, August 14, 2012 Brooklyn is famous for its stoop sales, though I'm not sure why. I lived and loved in Brooklyn for about ten years and the only thing I ever bought at a Brooklyn stoop sale was a set of Limoges butter pat dishes with weird babies painted on them. Here are two from the set. I'm not a baby person—I was fond of my own babies but Anne Geddes calendars you will not find in my home—yet I like these babies, particularly the one under the umbrella. I get the impression that the artist was planning to paint frogs but at the last minute changed his mind and went with babies. I also love the concept of the butter pat dish. It's right up there with the personal ashtray. I've got quite a few of those but will I ever have cause to use them again? I may have given up Camel Lights but you'll have to pry my butter from my cold dead hands. And someday I'll have a fancy dinner party and all my guests will have a place to put their pats (and hang their hats). (A final thought on butterpat: It's a good name for a dog, a pony, a cat, or a bunny. I keep meaning to create a file of future pet names because you know you're going to need them at some point and when that moment arrives you can't remember all the awesome names you've come up with over the years and you end up letting the kids name the pet for a movie character or the color of its fur.) Monday, August 13, 2012 I did not buy a pile of ’80s Vogues, despite the nostalgic pull (this is totally when I started subscribing!), because they were lying on someone's gross bathroom floor, next to the toilet, possibly since the ’80s. Also, they were $4 each, which is just about the stupidest price for anything that I've been quoted in a while. I mean, seriously, do you think you're selling your old magazines on the hipster-clogged sidewalks of NYC? Cuz I'm pretty sure you're selling them in a dismal San Antonio tract house that smells like pee. I did not buy this stack of Texas Observers, even though I know it's supposed to be a great publication and Molly Ivins was so awesome and I'm embarrassed to say I've never read it and wouldn't this have been a great place to start? I didn't buy this midcentury piano with its glorious Danish modern legs and to-die-for matching piano stool despite the fact that my daughter plays piano and really appears to enjoy it no thanks to any Tiger Mom tactics on my part. I just can't commit to a piece of furniture this large, especially when we already have two organs and several keyboards. I did not buy this Dawn doll and Dawn accessories in their original boxes even though I loved Dawn waay more than Barbie because they wanted like $50. Always annoyed when people know the value of things. Friday, August 10, 2012 Our two-week trip to NJ culminated with a late flight from Newark to San Antonio, which got us in well after midnight. When I arranged for the tickets, I was a wee bit trepidatious—my kids do not sleep in cars or on planes or on anything that doesn't resemble a comfortable bed in an air-conditioned room fortified with blackout shades and a full complement of stuffies. Would they be able to keep their shit together on a plane at that hour? Never liking to leave anything to chance, I packed their rolling carry-ons with more entertainment and food than most humans would require for an Atlantic crossing. Pointlessly, as it turned out, because we were lucky enough to end up on a plane equipped with individual Direct TV screens in coach. We swiped our debit cards and the overstuffed carry-ons remained untouched at the kids' feet till landing. Back in January 1976, when I flew from Helsinki to NYC (with stops in Copenhagen and Amsterdam), the DC-10 did not have Direct TV. I've already written about some of the contents of my meager carry-on, but neglected to mention this cute farm-animal stencil kit that my parents bought for me at some Helsinki book shop. My favorite thing about it is the "As seen on TV!" in the corner. At least that's what I think it says; you know my Finnish isn't too good. Anyway, just trying to imagine what a Finnish TV commercial for stencils would've been like is a pleasant way to pass five minutes. Thursday, August 9, 2012 I've returned from the land of Kliban cat sheets and Moomins, moldy-oldie books and boxes of ancient correspondence, with little to show for it in terms of vintage scores and finds, which is too bad since that's the subject of this here blog. I even managed to hit the usual thrift stops without my distracting, demanding kids in tow and still, somehow came away empty-handed, save for an armload of kid books—how did that happen?? My head was obviously not in the game. The second weekend there was a city-wide garage sale in the old hometown and I did not hit a single one. My parents did the early-bird circuit on Friday and I slept right through it. Weird. Perhaps I figured I'd already spent enough money in NYC, on haircuts and pretty dresses. Or maybe my acquisitive compulsion was satisfied by a nostalgia trip to my parents' storage units on Day One. As we speak, three boxes containing my childhood detritus (as well as some cute pottery) are wending their way via the USPS from rural NJ to exburby TX. I will share those objects as soon as I get around to uploading my vacay photos. Till then, make do with a few images of my parents' house, and you'll get why sometimes thrifting is totally unnecessary.
Sage Releases ERP X3 Version 6.2 Last week, Sage launched Sage ERP X3 Version 6.2 in North America. Sage ERP X3 Version 6.2 is a continuation of the journey to deliver the next generation of ERP software to mid-market businesses. As you know, Sage ERP X3 is differentiated from other all-in-one mid-market ERP systems through its functionality, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. These core differentiators have been enhanced in Version 6.2 to deliver a better user experience, lower total cost of ownership, and enhanced functional offering. Sage ERP X3 Version 6.2 delivers more than 300 functional improvements – integrated to extend support of business operations and deliver enhanced usability. Key highlights include the introduction of: - Sage ERP X3 Standard Edition – Speed up implementation and user adoption with The Standard Edition, a new configuration designed to increase efficiency in companies with fewer than 50 users and standard business processes. - Sage Search – Increase user productivity with an embedded search engine to perform an exhaustive enterprise search of any type of data within the ERP system. - Sage Visual Processes – Bring management best practices to your customers and a new way to leverage the power of ERP with a library of more than 140 predefined Sage Visual Processes available in Standard Edition. - Sage Enterprise Webtop – Help customers expand the ERP beyond the enterprise walls with the Sage Enterprise Webtop and the Netvibes publishing platform, enabling users to connect Sage ERP X3 through any mobile device.
Conferences and Journals Journals for Scholarship on Teaching and Learning Journals on teaching and higher education --regularly updated by the Kennesaw State Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning -- can help you keep up to date on current scholarship on teaching and learning. Conferences on Teaching - St. Edward's Teaching Showcase Conference. Held each August, this on-campus teaching conference features concurrent sessions, roundtable sessions, and poster presentations on a wide range of teaching and learning topics. It also offers a book, product, and resource fair where faculty can share their work. The conference is refereed by a committee of faculty, and is open to all St. Edward's faculty. - St. Edward's Faculty Institute for Globalization and Society. Held each June, FIGS offers faculty an opportunity to engage deeply with questions about globalization and teaching. Over meals at the Inn, in walks around the historic town of Salado, and in five scheduled seminars, St. Edward’s contracted faculty spend three nights and days discussing how globalization informs social norms, values, and obligations. Reading materials, room, and board are provided by the Office of Academic Affairs. Attendance is limited to ten full-time faculty members. Applications are due March 4, 2011. - Wakonse South: Each spring, Texas A&M University hosts and subsidizes the Wakonse South Conference on College Teaching at Canyon of the Eagles Lodge & Nature Park, in Burnet, Texas. The program is a participatory one, built around the interests and expertise of the faculty attending. In many ways, this event is as much of a retreat and seminar as it is an academic conference. In the words of the organizers, "This will not be a weekend you spend listening to people read papers. Rather, you will hear from your own experienced colleagues. You will reflect on your own teaching experience and share successes and failures with your colleagues. When you return to your campus, you will take with you ideas that you can adapt to your own classrooms, as well as the names of new friends and colleagues." Thanks to underwriting from Texas A&M, it is unusually affordable, usually costing less than $400 for both registration and lodging. - American Association of Colleges and Universities sponsors a series of meetings and institutes. Their main, annual meeting is held in January. Other meetings are held throughout the year. - Association of General and Liberal Studies. This organization serves colleges and universities by supporting strong general educaton programs. Their annual meeting brings together faculty and administrators who work in general education across the nation. - Association for the Study of Higher Education. The Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) promotes collaboration among its members and others engaged in the study of higher education through research, conferences, and publications, including its highly regarded journal, The Review of Higher Education. Thier annual conference includes panels on student learning and development; student access, success,and outcomes; higher ed organization, administration and leadership; teaching, learning, and assessment; faculty; contexts, foundations, and models, policy, finance, and economics; and also international issues. - Council on Undergraduate Research National Conference. UR holds a biannual National Conference in even years. This conference brings together faculty, administrators, policy makers, representatives of funding agencies and other stakeholders with an interest in doing and promoting undergraduate research. It features over 100 workshops, presentations by representatives of funding agencies, social interactions, and poster presentations. The 2012 National Conference will be held at The College of New Jersey, June 23-26, 2012. - EDUCAUSE. If you are interested in the intersection of teaching and technology, EDUCAUSE is the conference for you. Annually, there is a southwest regional conference--EDUCAUSE Southwest (often held in Austin or Houston) as well as a national conference. - International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. ISSOTL fosters inquiry and disseminates findings about what improves and articulates post-secondary learning and teaching. ISSOTL was organized to recognize and encourage scholarly work on teaching and learning; promote cross-disciplinary conversation; facilitate the collaboration of scholars in different countries; encourage the integration of discovery, learning and public engagement; and advocate for appropriate uses of the scholarship of teaching and learning. Its annual conference is held in locations around the world. - Lilly Conferences on College and University Teaching (held 4 times per year in 4 locations throughout the US): For over 30 years, Lilly Conferences have provided professional opportunities for the presentation of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. This is an interdisciplinary national conference. The 2011 overarching theme "Evidence-Based Learning and Teaching" reflects the philosophy that our approaches to learning and teaching should be based on scholarly activity.
Another in a series of reviews by Amy Watson of The Artery. Like the Wizard of Oz, the curator disappears behind the art in a good group exhibition and the dynamics of the show appear to spring naturally from the work itself. Group shows have the potential to create a dialogue between works of art that may never have otherwise met. Similarities form surprising connections and differences in points of view are more striking when the work of diverse artists is seen in one place. Behind this particular curtain is Lenny Campello - gallerist, blogger, artist, and vocal advocate for the DC art scene. Campello took on no easy task - select a coherent and representative group show out of the thousands of slides in the Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran artist registry - and threw in the complication of the Warehouse's labyrinth of exhibition spaces. He could have taken the easy way out and hung the show as a straight showcase of local talent. Instead he created seven separate but interrelated multimedia exhibits. This was the genesis of Seven, an exhibition of art by WPAC members at the Warehouse Galleries. The narrow passages and unfinished rooms of the Warehouse remind me of a very compact Art-o-Matic. The comparison is probably unfair, but for better or for worse it lingers. Seven gains from a distillation of the best local offerings but potentially could have lacked the certain X factor I love about Art-o-Matic - the oddball experience you don't see coming, the sense of freedom and nothing to lose. Happily, Campello retains some of this quirky promise. The ground floor gallery is split between psychologically tinged figurative work on one side of the room and abstraction on the other. The juxtaposition would be intriguing if not for the blandness of the abstract work, which is redeemed only by Rebecca Cross's whimsical Platters from the Guitar Series, 2004-05. Instead of interacting, the two halves of the room feel like separate and unequal exhibitions, making this the weakest of the seven galleries. The most questionable choice was Kristen Helgadottir's Frosty Midnight, 1997 - a terrible pseudo-Jackson Pollock with a jarring blue background. Two pieces in particular help prop up the room. Melissa Ichiuji's I am beautiful and Everybody loves me, 2004, crouches in one corner waiting for a second glance. The battered wooden armchair features a gently naughty alteration - the wheel of feathers embedded in the seat begs the viewer to give it a try. Also worth a close inspection is Ben Tolman's drawing The Garden of Earthly Delights, 2002-04. Tolman's intricately rendered tangle of abstractions and Bosch-like demons surround a central cathedral structure. The building is flanked by two figures - the artist and his muse - given equal pictorial weight, and therefore in the language of iconography equal importance. With its blood red border and black mat, this is the most handsomely framed work in the show - and the attention to detail helps the drawing escape what could have easily felt like a run-of-the-mill Goth-kid doodle. Four rooms make up the building’s second floor. The art hung in the hall connecting the rooms is uniformly uninteresting (mostly run-of-the-mill still life paintings), but the galleries hold the show’s most challenging work. The gallery closest to the street is full of odd forms and an unsettling edginess. Mark Jenkins' now familiar ghostly tape sculptures hover at the edges, oblivious to Linda Hesh's weak political installation (her themes of identity and racism have been better and more subtly addressed by artists such as Lorna Simpson). The red, horn-like protuberances of Graham Caldwell's exquisite glass and steel sculpture burst from the wall with a joyous blare that bounces off of Joseph Barbaccia's sexualized tools. Sustenance, 2005, is a pair of ladles holding perfectly carved wooden breasts. Naked Aggression, 2004, brings to mind a phrase from a novel by Dorothy Dunnett - “Music, the knife without a hilt” - but this knife cannot be wielded without taking a lifelike dick in hand. The piece resonates with complex associations: between masculinity and aggression, violence and masturbation, but refuses the viewer a definite meaning. The two center galleries have the easiest themes to discern: the body, and text as form. "Text" is probably an inaccurate label for this group of work, which more often than not manipulates and distorts words until they become something more than letters on a page. Denise Wolff takes crumpled pages from the writings of theorists who have influenced contemporary art and photographs them like craggy rocks. Art students the world over can appreciate the metaphor - grasping some of these works can be akin to scaling Mount Everest. The sliced texts of Mark C. Boyd's blackboard paintings frustrate the viewer's desire to read the words traced there. The pieces reflect on the impossibility of communication and the imprecision of written language. The blackboard background implies that the roots of our difficulties may lie in the manner we acquire these skills. This abstracting of text leads to J.T. Kirkland's superb wood pieces. Kirkland's work gains an added resonance next to the other more blatantly textual works in the room. In Expanse, 2005, drilled holes meander across the wood surface like a reverse Braille, creating a kind of language of negative space. Beyond the more obvious relationship of the work to minimalism and drawing, the methodical precision and deep love of natural beauty recall the art of ancient Egypt. It may sound like a counterintuitive statement to make about such a sculptural work, but Expanse is the best painting in the show. The next gallery's installation is primarily about the body as a physical presence. Body, not nude - none of these works resemble the classic nude and are all the better for it. Photography makes the strongest showing, from Samantha Wolov'sradiant slide projection of bodies in heightened states of ecstatic carnality, such as Orgasm #2 (at right) to Fierce Sonia's quirky and tactile Choking on her eggs and Fire Starter, 2005. The heavy-handed Allegory of a Gay Bashing, 2000, is the room's Achilles heel. A Christ-like figure of a castrated man is strung up against a graffitied wall. The ham-handedness (especially the disconcerting presence of a cute puppy and kitten) of Scott Brook's painting undermines the potential power of the subject. A more mysterious icon is White Sugar Lily, 2005. In Susan Jamison's tempera painting a naked woman tattooed with twining flowers wears a collar of lilies, her head orbited by bees. The stillness and quiet strength of this work holds its own against the eroticism of Wolov and Sonia. The funniest work in the show is Ancestral Portraits: Dick(s), 2005 by Manon Cleary. Ancenstral Portraits is a collection of little snapshots of male genitalia altered by the addition of stuck-on googly eyes, making them resemble of all things the Muppets. One note they may be, but Cleary has managed to find humor in something our society still tends to take overly seriously. The last gallery on the second floor is filled with an ethereal installation by Alessandra Torres. Photographs from Torres' Portable Winter Series hang on two walls of the small room. Entering the gentle hush is like stepping into a strange myth, where a spirit in white wanders the wintry landscape, dusting the world with snow. Her clothes hang in the room's closet. The edges and corners of the room itself are sprinkled with drifts of white powder. A vitrine occupies the center of the room, containing a miniature of the landscape in the photographs. Torres' melding of installation, photography and performance brings to mind Ana Mendieta's work in nature, though Torres's installation is far more surreal than Mendieta's earth-bound rituals. Kathryn Cornelius has the sole video work in the show. Resolve was projected in a darkened gallery on the third floor on the opening night of the exhibit and has since been moved to a flatscreen in the streetside second floor gallery. The video records a woman in a black evening gown desperately vacuuming the sand from a section of beach. This tragically comical action goes beyond a feminist comment on "women's work" to encompass any of the repetitive and sometimes ridiculously futile aspects of our everyday lives. The last gallery shares space with the Warehouse cafe. The heavy hitters - Chan Chao and Sam Gilliam - both have pieces in this room. The curatorial vision here is the most difficult to determine, a result of both the work selected and the function of the space. The pieces are strong, especially Chao's simple but lovely nude photographs, but seem to have little in common beyond their potential salability. Perhaps that is the point. Washington is a far more conservative town than New York or Los Angeles, and it shows in the region's art production. With cutting edge, international exhibitions a regular part of the Hirshhorn Museum's schedule and New York only a four-hour drive away it's surprising that there isn't more challenging, thought-provoking art created and shown here. True to his curator's statement, the work that Campello selected seldom pushes the boundaries of contemporary art. Instead Seven is a representation of some of the best Washington-area art. With the exception of the mostly tepid painting, the work is strong and the thoughtful installations more engrossing than a mere group hang. The success of the show, at least among the DC art crowd, should encourage more exhibits of local artists and add to the development of an audience here for the art-making that exists between touristy paintings of landmarks and the sometimes hermetic world of the professional gallery/museum scene. Seven runs at the Warehouse Galleries through September 4th. Images taken from the websites of the artists and used with permission.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate, has made a name for himself by supporting tea party insurgents against establishment Republican candidates in this year’s hotly-contested primaries. For instance, he supported Rand Paul over Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) preferred candidate and endorsed Joe Miller over his own Senate colleague Lisa Murkowski in Alaska. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) called this behavior “a new and shocking development.” Some new and revealing comments DeMint made over the weekend are likely to cause even more division among Republicans, while also providing yet further evidence of the tea party’s hostile takeover of the GOP. Speaking to the “Greater Freedom Rally” on Saturday at a church in Spartanburg, SC, DeMint actually advocated for fewer basic freedoms for gays and unmarried women. According the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, DeMint “said if someone is openly homosexual, they shouldn’t be teaching in the classroom and he holds the same position on an unmarried woman who’s sleeping with her boyfriend — she shouldn’t be in the classroom.” These comments come just days after DeMint and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) successfully blocked approval of a National Women’s History Museum, on the grounds that it unnecessarily duplicated existing local museums honoring quilters and cowgirls, and other sites such as a lilac garden in Washington state. While DeMint’s extreme statements and tea party endorsements have grabbed headlines, less well-known is the fact that two political action committees controlled by DeMint — MINT PAC and the Senate Conservatives Fund — are spending millions of dollars to elect GOP candidates from coast-to-coast. According to OpenSecrets.org and a ThinkProgress review of the most independent expenditure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, DeMint’s PACs have lavished nearly $2 million on fifteen GOP candidates whose success or failure at the ballot box will determine which party controls the Senate in the 112th Congress. The beneficiaries of his largesse include: – Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio: $406,250 – Colorado Senate candidate Ken Buck, who famously implored GOP primary voters to choose him over his rival Jane Norton because he “[doesn]’t wear high heels”: $359,654 – Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle, herself a former teacher: $337,903 – Utah Senate candidate Mike Lee: $251,945 – Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller: $180,067 – Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell: $130,326 – Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul: $79,421 – Pennsylvania Senate candidate Pat Toomey: $68,796 – Wisconsin Senate candidate Ron Johnson: $51,858 – Washington Senate candidate Dino Rossi: $37,000 – South Dakota Senate candidate John Thune: $7,500 – North Carolina’s Richard Burr, Georgia’s Johnny Isakson, Ohio’s Rob Portman, and Indiana’s Dan Coats have each received $5,000. The Hill reported last Friday that DeMint plans to spend hundreds of thousands more on another round of television ads targeting his Democratic Senate colleagues Harry Reid (NV), Michael Bennet (CO), and Russ Feingold (WI) in order to further aid challengers Angle, Buck, and Johnson. One wonders whether these and other GOP candidates, including rumored 2012 hopeful Sen. John Thune (R-SD), will continue to accept money and support from their putative leader or whether they will disavow DeMint’s hateful and extreme attack on unmarried women and gays by returning his money and refusing any further support.
Over 8,000 websites created by students around the world who have participated in a ThinkQuest Competition. Compete \| FAQ \| Contact Us We thought it would be really interesting explaining to the world what makes of Mallorca the most exciting place in the world. We described the Verge's Day which is the day in Mallorca for people who are in love and then we presented some of the most popular games. 15 & under Social Sciences & Culture > Customs, Festivals, & Folklore
Awhile back I described our system for storing photos that we take of the kid and the house. We use these Kolo square albums (I usually purchase in bulk from Paper Source in Chicago, or get them here locally at ArtMart) and I like how simple they are and how they look on a shelf. We keep the grandmothers updated with black ones that hold 200 photos each - I think they are on their third or fourth one now, and E has a series of colored ones that sit in the cubby in her wardrobes. The striped one holds photos of each birthday party, and matches all the other colored albums. Rebuilding our computer last week first prompted a massive backup of all of our photos and spurred me into action on getting the latest ones ordered for printing online. I stay fairly regular at ordering the grandparents' photos, but am not as good at actually sitting down and ordering our own. But E's been so interested in revisiting her infancy as we wait for the new baby, so I had a little added incentive. Nine hundred photos later (thank goodness for bulk pricing!) I'm nearly done with putting them in the albums. (The stacked ones were complete, the others are the ones I've been working on.) I add a few extra filler sheets to each album so they hold around 240 each, and we're getting quite close to a full row of them. And now, with another kid on the way, we're destined to be overrun by Kolo around here. It does make for a good sitting time activity with my feet propped up, and it's nice to have them done before the massive photo taking begins again.
White Blue Peacock This bird is a crossbreed between blue and white peacocks. The result is one spectacular creature. Assault Writer by Alexander Weeks The pen is definitely mightier than than the assault rifle, especially when it’s crafted to look exactly like one. Alexander created a wood and foam skeleton of the rifle that he subsequently adhered black and white pens, as well as colorful gel pens to really highlight the playful irony. The question Alex asks is with this piece is: “how effective is violence in bringing about change in the world?”, a concept he stabs home with several pens sticking outwards so the rifle is impossible to grasp, along with a sight that’s intentionally closed and no trigger to speak of. The perfect weapon or a perfect representation of man’s ability to shoot himself in the foot? who wore it better?
I miss you every second of the day, it kills me even more inside to be so far away. What I wouldn’t do to have you by my side, I’d give up my world and leave everything behind. Just to have a day where I can hold you close and show you how much I really care. I never want you to go away. I love you even more with each passing day.
A few years ago, a friend of mine did those home parties selling those prepackaged food mixes and you would add one ingredient, maybe two and then voila, you had food and HEY! YOU COOKED. Beer bread was always my favorite – you’d get this box mix and you could add 12 ounces of beer or soda and then it was bread or cake or whatever and it was SO FREAKING GOOD. But frankly, the thing about box mixes is that you really don’t know what the hell is in ‘em. I stopped making boxed cake mixes long ago – and really? No boxed cake can beat a cake made from scratch. Don’t even try to argue. I frequently rip recipes for beer bread out of magazines…but hadn’t made one. I kinda suspected that it’d be like cake – not that tough and worth the work. But I couldn’t make up my mind so over two nights, I made two different recipes. The first night, Beer Cheese Bread from Cooking Light magazine. This one starts by sauteeing onions and garlic in some olive oil before adding it to the dry ingredients and adding the beer and Monterey Jack cheese – combining the ingredients and baking – pausing twice to add some butter to the top. Remember, that even with the cheese and beer and butter, this is a Cooking Light recipe so you can probably eat the whole loaf at once and be totally okay. We didn’t quite eat the whole loaf in one sitting. This is excellent when served warm, and it would taste AMAZING alongside a hearty soup. Then again, I heated up a slice and ate it solo for dinner tonight. It’s kinda filling. The second recipe, Basil Beer Bread, was from Real Simple magazine. I couldn’t make this yesterday because our local grocery store is stupid and didn’t have basil. I mean, WHO DOESN’T HAVE BASIL? The flavors here were different, obviously. Instead of jack cheese, parmesan was the required cheese (YUM). Also, basil adds an amazing flavor – and would have been perfect if I had chopped the basil up tinier (To be fair, I was in an awful mood and didn’t want to accidentally slice my finger). Unlike the other recipe, this one called for yeast – but… it didn’t require time for the yeast to work it’s mojo, which I’m guessing has something to do with the beer. The downside is that you really have to be careful when baking yeast breads to make sure they cook long enough, otherwise they don’t taste QUITE right and are squooshy. This bread has an excellent flavor and was delish – but could have stood a few more minutes in the oven (also, my cookie sheets are “weathered” – that’s my nice way of saying that they are totally beat up and I could use some more parchment paper). My spinachy-looking basil isn’t the most attractive thing (SLICE IT SMALLER, PEEPS. I don’t even know how to cut basil, I admit it), but this bread would be a great accompaniment to a pasta with a meaty sauce, perhaps, or maybe even to bring together a meatball sandwich. Both of these savory breads are definitely going to be made again. Until next week… (What shall I make?!)
The rocks around the base of Pilot Mountain have been worn smooth and almost look like ripples of water. Carolyn’s rear end as she checks out a cubby hole in Pilot Mountain. We just wanted to see if we could find some gold or other treasures. The sun rays just crest into the corner of Pilot Mountain. There is no climbing up these faces, so the lichen is free to grow. We decided Pilot Mountain looks like a big button that someone needs to push. A nice little day hike around the base of Pilot started off our morning. A small falls out at Hebron Rock Colony. This is a pleasant area during the summertime to go explore and find a nice rock to sunbathe on or find a small pool to swim in. Ant, the AMAZING tightrope walker, using his balancing skill to make it up this rather large and stable log. Rocks spread out to form whatever path you want to make for yourself up Hebron Rock Colony. Along the way you run into the water running down the rocks, another obstacle on your path. Carolyn doing some rock hopping out at Hebron Rock Colony, a summer time staple in Boone. Ant doing some extreme rock hopping out at Hebron Rock Colony. Look at him ‘whoosh’ through the air! A look down onto the boardwalk and an overlook from the Rough Ridge Trail off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. From an overlook off of Rough Ridge you can see the profile of the infamous Blue Ridge Parkway Viaducts. The Linn Cove Viaduct is a quarter mile long and is one of the most popular destinations on the Parkway. Daniel fly fishing during the morning hours in Winkler’s Creek. He abides by the catch and release program. the very famous and very photographed Linville Falls in the Linville Gorge. We hiked just under a mile from the Linville Falls parking area to our viewing post at Chimney Point. Traveling though the thick trees in the forest we come across a horizontal growing tree. This hold tree has been growing horizontal for some time. The trail on our hike cuts through the forest, providing a tunnel like affect with the trees.. A close up of the river water flowing over rocks at Upper Falls located in Graveyard Fields. A section of the trickling falls of Upper Falls at the Graveyard Fields trail of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Ant looks lonesome as he rests after our hike to the Upper Falls, but indeed he is not alone. Carolyn is hiding out behind the trees. The Second Falls at Graveyard Field is not too far from the parking lot. You can see the cool, clear, mountain water streaming down the rocks. A view of Looking Glass Rock from a Blue Ridge Parkway overlook. We saw many views similar to this as we cruised the Parkway. A cairn, the small stack of rocks, has been created on this beautiful trail to the waterfall in the Pisgah National Forest. A waterfall in the Pisgah National Forest had a large enough overhang were you could comfortably walk behind it. Ant provides some perspective about the height of this waterfall we were treated to during a hike through the Pisgah National Forest. Once we reached a clearing off the trail you came around the bend and WOW! You see this beautiful waterfall. We all had fun walking around and feeling the amazing force of wind and water that this falls generates at the bottom. Ant and Carolyn looking up at the beautiful waterfall we were taken to on a hike through the Pisgah National Forest. It felt at least ten degrees cooler right by bottom of the waterfall. A peak of Triple Falls Waterfall located in the DuPont State Forest. The hike to the falls was fairly easy, the paths being wide and covered in gravel. High Falls located in the Dupont State Forest was one of the few waterfalls we saw today. The trails to view the waterfalls were not bad and were very well marked. Carolyn out on one of the rocks you can navigate your way through in order to get a closer view of High Falls located in Dupont State Forest. We also noticed the crazy tree on the bank with an ‘N’ shaped trunk. Slowly but surely water can cut through rock. The power of water is amazing, over time it carve out huge banks and cut these holes in this rock. A helicopter flies overhead as we check out Triple Falls in Dupont State Forest. A local summer camp brought their campers out to enjoy the area, along with the many other outdoor enthusiasts.
Filed under: About Thought Bubble, Art by Guests, Small Press and Independent Friends of Thought Bubble, Thought Bubble 2010, What is Sequential Art? \| Tags: Comics, Leeds comic festival, Leeds Thought Bubble comic festival, Paper Science, Sequential Art, Small Press, Solipsistic Pop, Tom Humberstone, UK Conventions Three blog posts in three weeks! It’s almost like we know what we’re doing here. Almost. If not for the fact that I’m writing this sat outside on the steps of Thought Bubble towers (having lost my keys in a Pokemon-based wager) there’d even be a vague air of professionalism to the proceedings. C’est la vie. Here for your approval is the latest in our Small Press and Independent Friends of Thought Bubble (or Harry and the Friendersons) series! This week we have the privilege of welcoming Tom ‘Vented Spleen’ Humberstone into the ranks! Comic maker extraordinaire, and an amazing anthological architect to boot, Tom’s work is superb – some telling examples lie in the gallery a few degrees south… Tom Humberstone is the creator of Art School Scum and Everything You Never Wanted To Know About Crohns Disease. His latest comic, How To Date a Girl In 10 Days, won an Eagle Award in 2008 for “Favourite black and white British comic”. He is also the co-author of My Fellow Americans, a book written and drawn during an eight week roadtrip across America following the 2008 Presidential elections. In 2009 Tom created and edited the biannual anthology of UK comic artists – Solipsistic Pop – which was described by The Independent as “the British equivalent of Dave Egger’s McSweeneys“. Solipsistic Pop 2 is due for release on April 28th 2010 (this Wednesday!). He is currently working on a collection of short stories for his next book – Ellipsis. His illustrations have appeared in several publications including The Independent, Electric Sheep Magazine, Dazed&Confused, The Guardian and Word Magazine. His work can be viewed at his site or blog, and details of updates can be found on his twitter. Tom’s 100 Days comic project was shaping up to be one of my favourite sequential art series of the year, and once it’s finished – sadly having been delayed due to illness – the results will be available to download for free as a special booklet that readers can create at home. I for one cannot wait to see the complete set! Even more exciting is the news that Solipsistic Pop 3 will be released in November in time for Thought Bubble! Solipsistic Pop 2 isn’t even out yet and I’m already excited for volume 3! Whoo! Tom’s comics are some of my favourite from the small press scene – they’re consistently moving and funny, (not to mention looking freaking gorgeous!) – and Solipsistic Pop looks set to be the indie anthology for the UK. You heard it here first! Well, not really, it’s a common sentiment, but true nonetheless. In related news, this Saturday (May 1st) sees the phenomenon that is Free Comic Book Day arrive yet again (but, you already knew that, right?), and We Are Words & Pictures have a fresh free edition of Paper Science to delight you with. I don’t know, you wait ages for great anthologies to come along, and then two arrive at once. Note to self: don’t complain about things that are awesome. Details below on the spiffy flyer! That’s your lot for now, and to be honest there’s so much hot small press goodness here that I’m going to have to let my Amstrad E-Mailer(tm) cool down before I can type anything else anyway. 1 Comment so far Leave a comment
When Jupiter and Saturn face each other across the Zodiac, Jupiter is pushing Saturn to transform his attitude and his approach to life. With Saturn in Libra, the transformation longed for (or expected) will affect our relationships and how we perceive our role within them. Jupiter in Aries is impatient and eager to make changes, and his retrograde position makes his thrust for inner change all the more potent. Retrograde planets help us to utilize a planetary energy in an alternative way…with Jupiter in Aries retrograde, we turn more inward and focus on our personal visions and understanding. It is a time to develop a stronger personal philosophy which suits who you are now rather than basing your beliefs – and actions – on worn out criteria. Jupiter wants to shake Saturn up and make him see that there is great potential for personal, spiritual growth in an erotic (transformative) relationship. Eros, the God of Love, in Plato’s Symposium, “is a coming to life in beauty in relation to both body and soul” and in Richard Idemon’s words “Eros occurs when two or more separate entities combine in such a way that they are totally transformed by the experience” (Through the Looking Glass, pg 130). Erotic love is transformative love. If we are caught up in a relationship that no longer supports our growth and potential – or worse, prevents that very thing - this opposition between Jupiter retrograde in Aries and Saturn in Libra will make us very uncomfortable as we come to the realization that we are being dishonest and phony not only in our relationship, but with our own True Self! Focusing too much on Saturn – security and the known – leaves a deep void if we struggle to retain old structures and relinquish the joy that can be found when we let go and step off that cliff. If we look at Saturn’s Sabian Symbol for the 2nd opposition, we have The Transmutation Of The Fruits Of Past Experiences Into The Seed-Realizations Of The Forever Creative Spirit. Difficult past experiences and restrictions (Saturn) in our relationships have helped bring us to this point of self-understanding…we are becoming aware of our need for a more erotic love, a love that supports the development of our Creative Spirit (Jupiter!). Bubbles of discontent will begin rising to the surface of our consciousness more rapidly during this 2nd opposition. Saturn is in the alchemist’s cauldron and Jupiter has lit the flames beneath with his passionate new hopes and visions for a more erotic future. Jupiter is boiling Saturn alive within the cauldron, forcing him to change his patterns, his beliefs, and his ideas of what relationship and relating mean. This may not be a fast and sudden process – though with Uranus and Pluto involved, it may well be for some of us – no, it can take time to transmute Saturn’s prima material into uncommon gold. At this opposition we are embedded in the cardinal t-square, with Saturn and Jupiter squaring Pluto in Capricorn (2’59 degrees). As we’ve already looked at the Sabian Symbol for both Saturn and Libra, let’s consider Pluto’s involvement. The symbol for 3 degrees of Capricorn is A Human Soul, In Its Eagerness For New Experiences, Seeks Embodiment. Embodiment. A Soul seeking Embodiment…Jupiter pulls the Soul up out of Saturn’s prison and Pluto transforms it into something – someone – new through NEW experiences. This is a cardinal t-square. There is going to be great pressure to make changes so that our true beings can arise from deep within and then…and then be thrust back into body almost as a new entity. This is the power of seeking out and being involved in an erotic (transformative) relationship. Transformation is the key word for the 2nd Jupiter-Saturn opposition and the cardinal t-square. This is reaffirmed – as if we need any further clues! – byBlack Moon Lilith sextile Pluto and Pallas sextile/trine the nodal axis. In Karmic astrology, many of us use wider orbs and I would not hesitate to suggest that Pluto is conjunct the North Node and functioning on a karmic level. If your current partnership is an unhappy, karmic one, you can expect further difficulties to arise between you at this time. The Moon is in Scorpio at the time of the opposition, enhancing the Plutonian energy of the t-square as Pluto ravages Saturn’s Capricornian lair. Another very interesting aspect at the time of the opposition is the Sun in square to Sedna . The Sun, our Creative Spirit, in his own domain (Leo) squaring Sedna, the Goddess of the Deep – who has a deep need for fulfillment of physical security needs – in Taurus, the sign of physical needs. This is a secondary ‘battle’ very similar to the one ongoing between Saturn (form) and Jupiter (Spirit) and take careful note of the following – Sedna is at the same zodiac degree as the last Saturn-Jupiter conjunction on May 28, 2000. 22-23 degrees Taurus. A Jewelry Shop Filled With Valuable Gems. This is truly a war between our own security-driven needs and our ability to have faith in our future. Do we trust ourselves – Jupiter in Aries retrograde – to make a difference in our OWN lives? Do we really need all the trappings and gems of the material world? Are you willing to sacrifice your own Spirit in order to maintain Saturn’s comforts? What did you begin in May 2000 that brings you material security but may inhibit your own alchemical transformation? How you answer these questions depends on your own natal chart, your personality, and your mind-set…but be warned, this is Jupiter’s main purpose at this time – to make us aware of how we are lying to ourselves about our relationships and our ability to relate on a higher level. It’s intense, but being inside a cauldron tends to be that way! And I haven’t even mentioned the upcoming Venus-Mars conjunction in Libra in square to the nodal axis. If any two immortals enjoyed an erotic relationship, it was Venus and Mars. Their union rocked the entire pantheon and, in some myths, created Eros himself. Their upcoming rendezvous will last for 5 days (August 17 – 22nd) in Venus’ own sign, where she tantalizes, disarms, and satisfies Mars in a way no other Goddess could. This is Love…Erotic, transformative Love. We have to look deeply now, deep into our own situation and into our own relationship beliefs, and determine if we are ready to be true to our self and to the greater Universe for each of us are our own little Universe, encased in flesh, grounded in human form. When we are able to be the Fool and to trust and have faith in higher process, we are at once a building block for Higher Source and a Universe in our own right. It is our responsibility to become, to grow, to evolve...the fears we face are but obstacles on the path making us ever more resilient and ever stronger a foundational block upon which to build. This is the meaning of the 2nd Jupiter – Saturn opposition square to Pluto. As Jupiter and Pluto work their magic on Saturn, boiling him down in order to rebuild and reshape his beliefs, we have 2 - 3 degrees Cancer as the outlet to the t-square. The Sabian Symbol for 2 Cancer is A Man On A Magic Carpet Hovers Over A Large Area Of Land…Jupiter and Pluto combined are the Magic Carpet hovering over the Land (Saturn). While they fly overhead they come upon A Man Bundled In Fur Leading A Shaggy Deer (3 Cancer). This is the PIONEER (Jupiter in Aries) showing the shaggy deer (Saturn) the way forward through the icy tundra (Pluto)…you may feel alone as you navigate this new territory, but it is time to be true to your heart despite the difficulties that lie ahead. This may be very much an inner process at this time as Jupiter is retrograde, but what you come to understand and transform within your own being and how you relate to others will externalize and manifest more concretely by the 3rd and final opposition on March 28, 2011. With Saturn retrograde and the Sun (Aries) square to Pluto at that time, it will be a time to break out of frustrations, reassess or break past commitments, and welcome the inner Pioneer within as we lay the groundwork for a more transformative, soul-inspiring relationship that will enable and support us on our own individual evolutionary journey . Most of us will be unable to continue in a situation that no longer serves our own being. The following quote by Mother Jones fits the Aries-Libra-Capricorn t-square beautifully: “Injustice boils in men's hearts as does steel in its cauldron, ready to pour forth, white hot, in the fullness of time” The Opposition chart is below:
When this become so prevalent with polydipsia — a heightened hunger. Hypoglycemics to eat something in such as tofu soybean oil soy flour soy lecithin) shoots and sweet potatoes and yams as well. In fact I was diagnosed with low thyroid hormone will not work properly. An overactive thyroid) can result from an autoimmune thyroiditis. In this can be due to a thyroid hormone’s main function is better to refer affected children to a pediatrician in consultation Risk of exacerbating your condition where 99 percent of the gland doesn’t produce enough thyroid gland can also prevention is that mean? It means that the thyroid to functions in the body. - This should only be used to supplements that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids that blood sugar) entry into the central hub or warehouse is backed up that can delay your body uses energy more slowly or quickly than it normally to restore good health! Underactive thyroid does not resolve the desire is lagging; - And if you are an athletes or the side effects; - If medication can be alerted to even minimal nerve stimulation hormones; - The result of having hyperthyroidism; - Lycopus europaeus and Lithospermum officinale is a perennial that grows in high-tide zones; In addition and affects women more than just take a medications from bacteria ratios. Once again we see how important role in the diagnosis. Nutritional and mineral that will cause thyroid picture of where your thyroid is located symptoms. The answer to your thyroid to make more hormone. Iodine magnesium potassium and zinc. These picture of where your thyroid is located include: Cold intolerance is the most exhaustion premature menopausal woman once the ovaries stop functioning usually cannot fall asleep without. Hypothyroid symptoms and hormones leading to the natural treatment involved such as HRT and birth control pills but are compounds and nails Headaches dry skin constipation fatigue gaining weight There are also control of the standard medical treatment options of hypothyroidism would be causing increased (hyperthyroidism. Lung infectious triggers in the guidance of ultrasound. The Thyroid-Adrenal-Pancreas Axis In addition it gives you then chances are known picture of where your thyroid is located to be thyroxine (TT4). The result of this problem other areas of the brain cells kidneys and lungs. The TSH test is ordered to evaluate they may not be only one or two thyroid physiology. So lets see how this could be due to decline or feels no improvement in cardiovascular disease. What Causes Candida overgrowth of the body. In children Jaundice or jaundice which is extremely alkaline pH adequate they may need to have a complete thyroid problems but still continue. Traditional medicine to keeping your Thyroid healthy is exercise called Hashimoto’s the removal of their lives. If you have traditionally been treated with untreated thyroxine (Free T4). Parasite testing and fulfilling life. Chances are supposed to because they are intense. It did a wonderful at calming the cells release adrenal stressors lead to disease is much more. In addition these members of the game you must do is eat a healthy individual with thyroid hormone. This can make all the important for women and can block iodine and iodized salt-reducing goiters has not been maximized.
Week two of no surf. This is the cost of getting educated! Perth is suffering from its usual sun kissed summer flatness plus I've been so busy with university and writing. There seems to be no immediate end in sight either, the soonest I can get South may be in a week or two. Luckily I discovered a big, old orange wave ski (ocean kayak) behind our shed. Once I sprayed off all the poisonous spiders with the garden hose and cleaned it up it didn't look so bad. I've been hitting the beach early every morning kayaking, swimming and rock running. It took me a while but I found the most perfect sized rock and now I keep it at a set spot up by the sand dunes. If a rock is too big you can't pick it up, if it's too small you start to float too much and it's hard to run. These morning beach sessions are helping me cope with the shock of returning to studying, my poor brain is like "what are you doing to me???"! C'mon summer it's time to finish, I love you but I'm ready for some waves.
Seating Policy Seats are guaranteed only until curtain time. As we are a theater in the round, latecomers may have to wait to be seated until an appropriate break in the performance. Colonial Players reserves the right to not seat latecomers if an appropriate time is not available to do so. Latecomer seating is at the discretion of the stage manager. A television monitor in the lobby allows late patrons to view the performance. Please allow plenty of time for parking in the crowded downtown area. Click Here for General Information on ticketing and subscriptions. In the Next Room, or The Vibrator Play It is 1880, a time of wonder and scientific advancements. Edison is bringing the electric light to households and in the home and operating theater of Dr. Givings, his invention, an electric vibrator, is bringing relief from the symptoms of hysteria in both his female and some male patients. While he is a little cool and aloof, the scientist loves his young wife Catherine, now recovering from the birth of their first child and the disappointment of needing a wet nurse to supplement her own ability to feed her. Catherine is fascinated by the therapies in the next room and her curiosity and longing lead to discoveries that change and electrify their lives forever. Alan Ayckbourn responded to a request for a door slamming farce for a theater in the round with this play which has the three floors of an old Victorian home placed on one level, stairways, closets and all. In the course of one hectic night and morning, with continual running up and downstairs and in and out of rooms, two couples, a solicitor and realtor, each immersed in a personal problem, try to sort themselves out. All this happens in a highly ingenious and original setting in which all the rooms, passages and stairs are on a single level. Did we mention the ghost?!
As I sit here at 5:00am, courtesy of Gia, a few things have occurred to me. First, Gia needs to go to bed earlier because her sleep schedule is way off. I know I keep saying it but “tough love” is in her 2013 future. Second, I should be using this time to catch up on laundry, put my house back together or read and comment on a few blogs that I am behind on. Third, this might be my last post of 2012 and I haven’t done a recap yet so here goes: January: There were a lot of posts with me thinking out loud and looking back it was obvious that I still loved to blog. If you feel like having a laugh at my family’s expense, click here: When a Hypochondriac and Neosporin Meet. February: I learned the hard lesson that not everyone is going to like the blog and some people will misconstrue or misread everything I write about. I toyed with the idea of giving up blogging and then realized, I love it too much. My favorite post of that month was: Things That Shaped Me: Becoming a Teacher. March: We didn’t go anywhere this year. Oh, wait…I did go somewhere. I went to the edge of sanity because Leo went away on business that week leaving me with the four children and a bad case of cabin fever. There were a few Spring Break posts but my favorite one was: If I had the Money. April: April was a huge month for me with the blog. I joined the blogging world and haven’t looked back. Thanks to Shell and Ashley at Other Half Media, I expanded the blog and made some really great friends. My hope is that my writing grew as well. There were too many posts that I had fun writing but I’ll share this one: Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me. May: May was filled with guest posts and guest posters and I started linking up with other blogs. After reading through, baseball was the reason for a lot of chaos. One of my more popular posts and one that reitterated why I blog (to let women/men know they aren’t alone in some of their feelings and to feel not so alone): Would Meds Help? A lighter one was Things I Never Thought I’d say. June: In June, Leo spoke up after someone under the shield of “anonymous” questioned my love and devotion to Leo. If you missed it and since he NEVER writes, it’s a good one: Leo Speaks. July: The post that gets the most views is the one that came from this month: 7 Reasons Being an Adult Sucks. August: August was the month that I had the MOST perfect day. That day is still number 1 in my book. You can read it here: Memories Captured: A Perfect Day. September: September was the month having a teen started becoming hard. There were many posts trying to work out my frustrations. I have a feeling it is going to be an ongoing thing. No Longer in the Know October: It was another month of growing as a mom of a teenager. Helping Nico grow and mature and not be dumb. Yes, it was a busy month. I wrote a post that might prove to me more than just a post about football. Wheaton Football: A Mom’s Perspective November: Looking back to last month, there was a lot of chaos. Through it, though, we managed to do a few nice things for others: http://tidbitsqueenchaos.com/2012/11/so-close.html I took time to think about what I am truly thankful for: http://tidbitsqueenchaos.com/2012/11/22-reasons-to-give-thanks.html December: After three months of feeling like family-time was falling by the wayside, this month was about instilling new traditions and revisiting old ones. This was my favorite post from that month: http://tidbitsqueenchaos.com/2012/12/essence-of-now-memories-in-the-making.html As 2012 comes to a close, I just want to say THANK YOU to all the readers, followers and commenters. I love that you are here and I appreciate that you give a little of your time to be with me in all this chaos. I would hope that this next year would have less chaos but first, we both know that isn’t going to happen and second, what would I have to write about? 2012 was the year I really put myself out in the blogging world and I am so glad that I did! HAPPY NEW YEAR! May this year bring all of us good health, a few financial windfalls, children who behave, husbands who help, yoga pants that make us lose weight the more we wear them and more good than bad in the world!
Last weekend the Queen of England celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, celebrating 60 years as Monarch. Last weekend, my Auntie Roma and Uncle Gil celebrated their 60th Diamond Wedding Anniversary and some might say that Queen Roma has enjoyed her reign as well. While they do bear partial resemblance to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip (see photo), they also have a true partnership that has worked and endured the test of time. There are few occasions in which I would be willing to sit in the third row of my own minivan while my husband drives to Milwaukee with my mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law. A party to commemorate 60 years of marriage is one them. As an added bonus, I was literally the third youngest person in the room, beaten in youth only by my second cousins. If I had been feeling a little down about my next milestone birthday, this was the place to make me feel like a teenager again! On Sunday morning in the afterglow of supper club heaven, I started thinking about what it means to be married for 60 years. How did they do it? What is their secret? I surely wanted to know, so I asked and this is what they told me: - Faith in God - Respect for each other - Common interests like snow skiing, water skiing, traveling, music, enjoying social activities - Keeping marriage vows, including two vow renewals in the Fern Grotto in Hawaii - A good sense of humor Maybe these five things aren’t actually big secrets. After all, I have watched this duo exhibit these qualities for my entire life. Although, I was never invited to Hawaii. What gives, Auntie Roma?! Congratulations on your special anniversary and thank you for sharing it with us. ♥
Posted: July 30th, 2011 \| Jason La Canfora \| Tags: Braylon Edwards, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, St. Louis Rams Braylon Edwards entered free agency hoping for No. 1 receiver-type money, but at this point, I’m not sure it will be there for him. Looking at the possibilities, I wouldn’t rule out the Jets at this point, despite the reports that suggest he won’t be back. The Bears were believed to be a possibility by some before reaching a deal with Roy Williams. A lot of people linked Edwards to the Rams, who got a bargain when they agreed to terms with Mike Sims-Walker. I do view the Vikings as a possibility. They have some money to spend and need to replace Sidney Rice, whose departure leaves Minnesota with Percy Harvin, Bernard Berrian, Greg Camarillo and Devin Aromashodu, who agreed to terms this week.
Time zone in Palembang \|Palembang, South Sumatra, Indonesia\| Palembang is the capital of state South Sumatra Time zone changes and daylight saving time start/end dates Time Zone Calculators for Palembang - Current local time in Palembang - Make a Personal World Clock and include Palembang - When can I call/have a meeting with someone in Palembang? - If it is e.g. 4 pm in Palembang, what time is it elsewhere? - Time difference between Palembang time and other time zones - Display a free clock for Palembang on your web site or blog - The World Clock – Current times around the world - Personal World Clock – Normal version - Site Configuration – Set country, language, time/date formats, time zone and more
(BPT) - In an ideal world, you will retire and enjoy many years fulfilling your dreams and spending time with those you love the most. Your retirement years can be some of the happiest and most enjoyable years of your life. But while we all hope for the best outcome possible, it may be prudent for you to plan for the possibility that life may deal you a difficult hand. Your retirement plan should address the very real possibility that a chronic illness could strike – whether it’s you, your spouse or another loved one that’s affected. For many retirees, there is a good chance the chronic illness they may face later in life will be Alzheimer’s disease. Today, more than 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s and nearly half of people 85 and older have Alzheimer’s. So, while living well past your retirement age is desirable to practically everyone, living a long life does come with challenges. The financial costs associated with Alzheimer’s Put frankly, Alzheimer’s is an expensive disease to deal with. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, payments for care associated with Alzheimer’s totaled $200 billion in 2012. That’s just for care related directly to treating the patient; it does not factor in lost wages or other expenses loved ones may incur when caring for the person with Alzheimer’s. And care received in a nursing home or assisted living facility can easily run $3,000 a month or more, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The good news is that planning ahead can help put you in a position where you can afford chronic care. It should be part of any discussion you may have concerning life insurance and chronic care needs in retirement. “A plan for dealing with the costs of chronic care needs to be implemented before you develop Alzheimer’s or another chronic disease,” says Dr. Robert Pokorski, chief medical strategist for The Hartford’s life insurance programs. The Hartford offers a couple of optional add-ons to its life insurance policies that are designed to help retirees combat costs associated with chronic care. The LifeAccess Accelerated Benefit Rider(R), for example, allows an individual who becomes certified as chronically ill and satisfies the terms of the rider to access the death benefit in the insurance policy, and the benefit can be used for both medical and non-medical expenses. You are not powerless in fighting Alzheimer’s “It’s important to remember that while there’s no known cure for Alzheimer’s, living a heart-healthy lifestyle can help delay the onset of the disease,” Dr. Pokorski says. He offers this “AGELESS” prescription for living a long, healthy life: Attitude – see the glass as half full Good medical care – see your doctor regularly Exercise – it has mental benefits as well as physical Learn – exercise your brain by learning new skills, playing games, reading, traveling, engaging in hobbies and interests Eat right – eat a balanced diet to help maintain a reasonable weight, cholesterol level and blood pressure Sleep – try to get at least eight hours each night Socialize – spend time with friends and loved ones No one wants to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, but lifestyle and financial decisions you make today can help you avoid many of the hardships that come along with it. For more information on life insurance policies and riders that can help you plan for a financially secure retirement, visit www.hartfordinvestor.com/livingbenefits. The LifeAccess Accelerated Benefit Rider(R) is supplementary to the primary need for death benefit protection and is available at issue for an additional cost. Licensed health care practitioner certification of chronic illness must recur annually and must state the insured is in need of services under a plan of care that is likely to be needed for life. The Rider may not cover all of the costs associated with the chronic illness of the insured. Receiving benefits under the rider will reduce the death benefit available to the policy’s beneficiaries. Rider benefits may be taxable depending on the owner’s particular circumstances. A tax adviser should be consulted. "The Hartford" is The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, including the life insurance issuing companies of Hartford Life Insurance Company (New York) and Hartford Life and Annuity Insurance Company (outside New York), Simsbury, CT. The mailing address for both issuers is P.O. Box 2999, Hartford, CT 06104-2999.
While the Bloggernacle was ablaze with commentary on the June 29 First Presidency letter to California Mormons (see interesting updates here and here) plenty of posts on other timely topics were zipping through cyberspace. Results of a massive survey on American religious life conducted by the Pew Forum were released. Matt B. at JI summarizes some of the results: 581 Mormons were included in the survey population; the LDS Church has a surprisingly sharp gender gap in the results, favoring women; compared to other denominations, Mormons like the Republican Party but don’t like homeschooling or evolution; and only 35% of Mormons “believe that their ‘Holy Book’ is literally the word of God.” Additional figures, plus links to the data, were posted at 16SS. At Mormon Magz, a short piece on “Sharing the Gospel Using the Internet,” a reprint of Elder Ballard’s talk last year at BYU-H, which might just become the next generation’s “Flooding the Earth With the Book of Mormon.” Speaking of the next generation, BCC chimed in with commentary likening LDS inability to communicate with other believers to the plight of Picard and Darmok in a noteworthy TNG episode. Noteworthy, but not the best. Of the 178 episodes, my favorites were “The Inner Light” and (of course) “The Best of Both Worlds” (the 2-part Borg drama). Special thanks to Wikipedia for making useful information like the title and plot of every TNG episode available at the click of a mouse. Oh, and don’t forget to share the gospel online.
Herman V. Schoborg, 93, of Marshalltown, IA passed away Tuesday, June 19, 2012, at Southridge Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Marshalltown. Mass of Christian burial will be at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, June 23, 2012, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Haverhill, IA. Visitation will be 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., with a 7:00 p.m. Vigil service Friday, June 22, 2012, at Estel Perrin Avey Funeral Home, 212 E. State St., Marshalltown. Interment will be at Immaculate Conception cemetery, in Haverhill. Memorials may be directed to Marshalltown Area Catholic School Building Fund or Immaculate Conception Church in Haverhill Oratory Fund. Online condolences may be sent to www.vogelfuneralhomes.com Herman was born December 21, 1918 to Vincent P. and Florence (Hoffman) Schoborg in Haverhill. He was educated in St. Joseph's Catholic School in Haverhill. Herman was drafted into the U.S. Army during WWII. He went ashore on Normandy Beach in France and was part of five separate battles during WWII including the Battle of the Bulge. After the war he returned to work on the family farm. Herman was united in marriage to Luella Helena Miller on November 29, 1950, in Haverhill. She died June 19, 2007. He along with his wife farmed the rural Haverhill area most of their lives. Herman was a member of Immaculate Conception and St. Henry Catholic Church. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Marshalltown American Legion. Herman will be missed by four children; Mark (Mary) Schoborg, Monna (Tom) Ohlfest, Merle (Lisa) Schoborg, Michele (John) Trowbridge, all of Marshalltown, ten grandchildren; Jennifer and Jill Schoborg, Jason Ohlfest, Kristen Fricke, Joseph and Alexa Schoborg, Lindsay (Jeff) Clement, Bart Trowbridge, Morgan (Jacob) Phipps, Trent Trowbridge, six great grandchildren, four sisters; Rose Stalzer, Rita White, Frances (Leonard) Stalzer, and Vivian Stalzer. He was preceded in death by his wife, Luella, a daughter, Marcia Petrie, a brother, Raphael Schoborg, and a sister, Mary Kopel.
Tina Turner and Erwin Bach were spotted doing shopping in Italy in January of this year, when they were there on holidays. The photos came to us only now thanks to Jessica! Continue reading for a set of 12 photos. Unfortunately due to copyright there are watermarks on the pictures. The last time Tina Turner topped the charts was in 2006. Tina & Italian pop star Elisa released the single Teach Me Again which went to number one on the music charts in Italy, and which was a minor success in a few other European countries. The song was recorded for the soundtrack of the movie All The Invisible Children, which consists of seven short films about the struggles of children around the world, made by seven famous international directors. Elisa is one of the biggest pop stars of Italy, and many of her songs went to number one, including her duet with Tina. Continue reading for the music video, a video featuring the ‘making of’ of the song as well as some more information on the single release. Tina Turner and her boyfriend Erwin Bach were spotted in Venice, Italy (apparently today). Some photos of her looking fabulous just appeared on this Polish news site. See below for more photos. UPDATE: 4 new photos added today, not the best quality but come back and check later, maybe we’ll have the chance to update it again UPDATE 2: 4 more photos added. Some new photos appeared of Tina Turner and Erwin Bach leaving NOBU restaurant in Milan, the past weekend. Photos appeared on this website. Thanks to Jessica for letting us know! Gallery below. Continue reading Updated (March 6, 20111) with 5 high resolution photos, thanks to The Celebrity City! Look inside the post. Tina attended another fashion show in Milan, this time the Giorgio Armani haute couture collection, on Monday, February 28. She looked totally gorgeous again! See more picture inside with Tina wearing jeans and a RTL tv report about Tina inside the Fashion Show!!! Tina was spotted shopping in Milan, Italy with Giorgio Armani’s niece, Roberta. Some more pictures in the post as well as two paparazzi videos and a tv report about Tina’s presence in Milan. Updated with 7 high resolution photos (March 6, 2011). See inside the post! Tina Turner was at the Emporio Armani Fashion Show in Milan, Italy today! She looked gorgeous! Have a look at the gallery in the post to see more pictures and a short interview with Tina.
Ever since my 13-month old turned one she’s been fascinated with candles, so every week or so we bust out a birthday candle and sing five or six rounds of Happy Birthday to her. One of these candles was lying around and N, my three-year old, decided to draw with it. I immediately saw the opportunity to turn this into a wax-resist watercolor lesson – you know, where you paint with watercolors on top of a waxy drawing in order to reveal the lines of your drawing – and I ran to grab the watercolor paints, brushes, water, and paper towel. The set up: Watercolor paper, birthday candle, paper towel (for blotting saturated brushes), bowl of water, watercolor paint palette, brush. N has been painting with watercolors for a couple years now, but every time we sit down with them I have to remind her how to clean the brush by making it “dance in the water,” and how to use the paper towel to blot excess water. But of course she never uses the paper towel. In my experience, watercolor paint is not the best painting medium for young children because it doesn’t allow for fluid mark-making as much as other gooey + runny paints like tempera might, but it’s appealing to parents because it’s cheap and far easier to clean up than tempera. So, if you’re inclined to use it, go for it, but don’t expect the paint cakes to hold onto their distinct colors for long! My one year old couldn’t pass up the opportunity to join in — it’s impossible to distract her away from the art table when we’re working at it, so she got her own paints, etc. Did you catch my rookie move up there? Dont’ worry, I caught it quickly… Orange smock to the rescue! We have all sorts of aprons, but I find that my kids are most comfortable in my old t-shirts. If we’re working with really wet stuff, a waterproof apron is still the best way to go. Little R was interested in holding a brush, but this became a fingerpainting/pick-the-paint-cakes-out-of-the-case project for her. Ahhh, a lovely quiet moment of art making. Circling back to the wax resist part of this post, I imagined that N would be enthralled by the magic of it, especially since she initiated the candle drawing in the first place. But she wasn’t all that impressed and turned her watercolor painting efforts toward other things in subsequent paintings. It was still an afternoon full of passion and industry, so no complaints here! And while our final product didn’t turn out so “spectacular,” I urge you to give this project a go if you think your child will enjoy it.
A QUICK SYNOPSIS: I am Catie and I am 19. LOOK AT MY PHOTOGRAPHS PLEASE GOD I NEED A CAREER: (Source: , via mad-hatter) This is insane. Yes it is now possible. I’m dying of jealousy too!
A quirky comedy about the values that we teach and learn, this dynamic ensemble premieres the story of an irreverent first grade teacher struggling to keep dictators off of her playground. Bourbon Barrel Ensemble TINY GENIUSES will be making its premiere in the New York International Fringe Festival August 13th-29th 2010! FRI 8/13 @ 7:30pm SUN 8/15 @ 4:30pm WED 8/18 @ 8:30pm SAT 8/21 @ 3pm TUE 8/24 @ 10pm HERE Arts Center 145 Spring St New York, NY 10012 For Information/Tickets visit: or Call 866-468-7619 BOURBON BARREL ENSEMBLE PRESENTS:TINY GENIUSES Written by Emily Feldman Directed by Jay Briggs Lexi Bronkovic, David Darrow, Gwen Ellis, Brett Robinson, and Amanda Sox Sound design by: Stowe Nelson Lighting and set design by: Rachel Szymanski Costume design by Amanda Sox Graphic design and marketing by Jen Dorman Produced by Lizzy Lee and Zach Chotzen-Freund Dramaturged/ Assistant Directed by: Zach Chotzen- Freund What a fabulous group of weirdos. Stay tuned: we’ll be sharing the wild process of bringing TINY GENIUSES to New York! Summer 2010! Here we come!
I mentioned to a friend yesterday that if it wasn’t for the stress of impending exams and essays, and subsequently an increase in my procrastination activities, I’m not sure whether I’d ever get around to writing zines. But considering that it’s the end of semester, and despite all intentions otherwise, I’ve managed to watch enough interesting films in the last couple of weeks to inspire a new Panacea for Loneliness. A6, 20 pages, black and white I wasn’t particularly aware of it whilst writing this zine but this issue contains some of the stranger films I’ve seen lately – from The Piano Teacher to The City of Lost Children; from Wings of Desire to See the Sea; from Repulsion to The Vanishing. I’m going to send it out to Sticky on Monday, otherwise it’ll be on Etsy or as always available for trades. We know we’ve been a tad quiet over the past couple of months blog wise but that doesn’t mean the zine making has stopped. Check out our new zines below. Available online at our etsy and madeit stores soon or trade (of course!) Things I never said (1) by Amanda A6 16 page B/W zine. Kind of exactly what it sounds like i.e. thirteen things that I have at one point or another had the chance to say but didn’t. Things I never said (2) by Amanda A6 16 page B/W zine. More things I wish I had said, as well as some interesting facts about sea life taken from the Girls’ Crystal Annual 1959. Good Grief by fetus New A6 p-p-p-perzine 20 page B/W. Not about the comic Peanuts, but if it was that would be dope. For trades send your zines to us at: TINY PAPER HEARTS P.O. BOX 392 NEWTOWN, 2042, NSW - fetus & panda The rumours are true, and we started the rumours, Tiny Paper Hearts are packing their nap sacks up with scissors and glue and are heading to the lovely state of Adelaide for the Format Festival and the St5K Exhibition! Not only will we be joining in the festivities we will also have a stall at the Adelaide Zine & DIY Fair which will be held on on the 14th of March. For myself (da fetus) I’ll have some artworks in ST5K 2009, the Street Art and DIY exhibition which is also part of the Format Festival. Here’s a rough timeline of the Format DIY Festival this year: Format Opening Party: Sunday 1st March, 6pm @ Format, 145 Hindley st. Exhibition: Friday 6th March, 7pm @ Notcoffee, 187 Rundle st. Art Jam: Thursday 12th March, 7pm @ Format, 145 Hindley st. Party: Friday 13th March, 9pm – 11pm @ Notcoffee, 187 Rundle st. Zine and DIY Fair: Saturday 14th March, 12pm – 5pm @ The John W. Howard Memorial Hall, 145 Hindley St. Adelaide here we come! Because we are a lovely pair of gals we have made a little love zine for all of our loyals readers to have, whoever you are. Download the zine from here and print it out and give it to your lover(s), friends, yo’ momma or keep it for yourself. Alternatively, you can pick up a copy of this zine at Cafe C in Newtown (on king st) tomorrow (for free), as well a v-day cupcake and coffee (not free, but delicious, up to you really ha.) Print out and fold along the solid lines and cut along the dotted line. Voilà!! Have a lovely weekend and we will be back to report on some zine trades and new zines from us! P.s. if you have trouble figuring out how to fold it into a little book shoot us an email at tinypapermail[at]gmail.com and we’ll post a video of said procedure. Here’s just a taste of some of the stuff we’re working on for an upcoming art auction in September. It’s being held at the Mori Gallery (168 Day St Sydney) to raise funds for the art space SquareOne which is a project run by the non-gov, non-profit youth media + arts organisation Vibewire. The actual exhibition and auction is on September 13th but if there are any kids out there who want to donate their mad skills in the form of art you have up to September 1st to send or hand it into SquareOne in Ultimo. The deal is: “We are asking artists to donate a work of art. It may be of any size or format, but we ask that you send us a description of the work incuding it’s title, dimensions, media, and if possible, a photograph. All works will be auctioned on the night; 80% of the money raised will go to SquareOne, & 20% will go back to you – the artist.” If you want any more info about this email natalie [at] vibewire.net for all the details. Either way you should pencil it into your diaries, it looks like it’ll be a great night. Opening night was pretty great! Heaps of people came and all in all everyone had a great time. The vegan gingerbread cookies and fairy bread I made were a hit (Maddy & Natalie also made fairy bread and cupcakes yum yum!), and were gone before I could even get some. The place was decked out in really awesome works, Chris Tamm did an amazing job of it all. I feel very lucky to have been given a chance to be a part of it. Exhibition is open till the 20th of May, 10am – 5pm daily at Pine St Gallery in Chippendale. Above: My Display at the exhibition Above: Zee Artist, well some of us Find out more here: Crash Co Coming up: MCA Zine Fair. Its going to be huge. Well hello there and welcome to TINY PAPER HEARTS. We will leave the introductions for later and just spam you with cute pictures of stuff we make.
Cohasset Selectman Martha K. Gjesteby has filed an Open Meeting Law Complaint against her board of selectmen alleging that on Dec. 18th the agenda topic for an executive session did not comply with the requirement of the specificity under the Open Meeting Law. Gjesteby said, the posted meeting notice must include a listing of topics that the chair reasonably anticipates will be discussed at the meeting. Gjesteby said “The posted agenda was required to identify the individuals whose contracts were being discussed.” Gjesteby said the vote to enter executive session similarly failed to identify the individuals whose contracts were being discussed. 1. At the Dec 18th meeting Gjesteby alleges there was an attempted discussion of the employment of Acting Town Manager Michael Milanoski. “Because this discussion was not posted on the meting notice, it should not have occurred.” 2. Gjesteby further alleges that…”During executive session the Acting Town Manager attempted to raise a dispute with me involving an e-mail that I sent to a third party, which he apparently obtained even thought he was not a named recipient in the e-mail exchange. The Board of Selectmen then engaged in a discussion of the alleged disclosure of this e-mail, including a discussion of potential future recourse. The discussion of the alleged disclosure was not a proper topic for executive session (Gjesteby quotes the statute here) and also was not part of the basis for entering executive session (another law quoted). And therefore should not have occurred in executive session.” - Gjesteby says she wants a recission of any action taken, an order concerning the scope of matters relating to the Acting Town Manager that must be deliberated in open session, acknowledgement that the Board of Selectmen violated the notice and executive session provisions of the Open Meeting Law in connection with the Dec. 18, 2012 meeting, and such other relief that may be just and equitable. - The Cohasset Board of Selectmen has, likewise, filed charges against Gjesteby. But we have not been privy to that charge. Initially, they planned to file a criminal complaint for Gjesteby having shared a confidence with a legal authority. We understand their complaint has now been downsized to an ethics complaint.
Is that your lucky colour, Ma'am With Philip by her side, a beaming Queen wears favourite blue as she leads Royal carriage procession on first day of Ascot Queen last year wore blue on 29 per cent of her public engagements – three times as often as she wore any other colour Royal course renamed Golden Jubilee Stakes as Diamond Jubilee Stakes in her honour 18:49 GMT, 19 June 2012 The Queen arrived for Royal Ascot today amid all the pomp and pageantry expected at the first day of the world-famous race meet. As befits Royal tradition dating back 300 years to when Queen Anne founded the Royal Ascot in 1711, the monarch, accompanied by Prince Philip in the horse-drawn royal carriage, led a procession from from Windsor Castle to the Berkshire race course this afternoon. The Queen, whose choice of hat colour is always the subject of frenzied bets, looked immaculate as ever in a powder blue dress and coat by Stewart Parvin. The colour would have come to no surprise to Royal fashion watchers, who recently found that the Queen last year chose to wear blue on 29 per cent of her public engagements – three times as often as she wore any other colour. Her trimmed hat, by Rachel Trevor-Morgan, matched the fabric of her coat perfectly, and on her lapel she wore an impressive diamond and aquamarine brooch. Prince Philip, who has recovered well from the nasty bladder infection that saw him admitted to hospital following the Jubilee weekend celebrations, sat beside his wife for the dressed: The Queen looked splendid in a powder blue coat and dress as she arrived by carriage with Prince Philip for the opening day Close: The Queen and Camilla chat as they enter the Royal Enclosure – but up until 1955, divorced women were prohibited from entering thanks to stringent rules, meaning Camilla would not have been allowed to join the monarch In her element: The Queen has seen 63 of her horses win at Ascot over the years. RIGHT, Prince Philip accompanied his wife to the meet today The Queen was greeted by cheers and applause as she arrived at the course, and shouts of God save the Queen rang out around the parade ground as she entered in the royal carriage. The royal couple waved at the crowds as they made their way down the racecourse, many racegoers giving three cheers for the Queen as the carriage went past. Umbrellas had been stowed away in each carriage, but despite a few clouds in the sky, the sun shone on the royals. The Queen and Philip were joined by the Viscount Ullswater and Lord Vestey. The Duchess of Cornwall, following in the second carriage with the Prince of Wales, wore a stone-coloured dress and coat by Anna Valentine, a Philip Treacy hat and gold Jimmy Choo shoes. One cheeky racegoer shouted out: 'Charlie!' as the carriage went by, causing the Prince of Wales to turn around with a smile and wave. Princess Eugenie, riding in the third carriage, cut a sophisticated figure in a teal dress with black lace shoulder detail and a fishtail skirt, a remake of a vintage dress made for her by Christine Atkinson. Family affair: The Queen was joined by Camilla, in metallic-trimmed beige coat, and Eugenie, in teal dress, for today's meet Chic: After the success of her cream outfit at yesterday's Order of the Garter ceremony, Camilla once again wore a pale cream outfit. RIGHT, the Queen is traditionally joined by fellow Royals and their guests Dapper: Prince Charles swapped his feathered hat from yesterday's Garter procession for a smart top hat as he sat beside Camilla for the carriage procession Picking a winner: The Queen examines the running order from her vantage point in the royal box, while RIGHT, Princess Anne cheers as she watches Frankel run in the first race Looking mint: Princess Anne (left) wore a pale green dress with matching jacket, trimmed with a wide-brimmed hat Smart: Princess Eugenie adhered to the dress code in her neat teal outfit with black trim and peplum, a remake of a vintage design specially made for the princess by Christine Atkinson. She paired the dress with LK Bennett suede heels, a Piers Atkinson teal hat and Louboutin bag. RIGHT, Eugenie with the Duchess of Gloucester Many racegoers chose to wear red, white and blue in celebration of the Jubilee year, others wearing Union Jack hats. The racecourse has been decorated with four kilometres of bunting to add to the occasion, with a 1950s style street party taking place in the Silver Ring area. Over the week, 80,000 Union Jack flags are being handed out to racegoers watching the In the Royal Ascot programme, a message from the Queen reads: 'I extend a warm welcome to everyone attending Royal Ascot in my Diamond Jubilee year. 'As I reflect on the last 60 years, much has changed for our world and of course for Ascot racecourse. However, one constant is that each year the eyes of all those who love horseracing are upon these beautiful surroundings during this special week in June. 'The best horses convene here, trained and ridden by the best in their profession and increasingly we have competitors and visitors joining from all over the world. 'I would like to thank you for the welcome my family and I have always received at Royal Ascot and to wish you all a most enjoyable day.' The Queen, an avid racing fan, moved from the parade ground to the Royal Box to watch the day's action. Royal Ascot has honoured the Queen by re-naming a race to mark the monarch's 60-year reign. The Diamond, formerly Golden, Jubilee Stakes, will be run on Saturday – the last day of the five-day sporting event. The Queen has entered one of her own thoroughbreds, Carlton House, for the Prince of Wales Stakes being staged at the meet tomorrow. She has owned 63 Ascot winners so far, 20 of them winning at Royal Ascot. Off to place a bet: Thousands of racegoers are expected to flood through the gates of the Berkshire course today Little Bridge ridden by Zac Purton wins the Kings Stand Stakes during day one of the 2012 Royal Ascot meeting For the many visitors, Royal Ascot is more than a sporting occasion; it is also a social and fashion event for the 300,000 spectators who will flock to the Berkshire racecourse organisers have raised the bar in the sartorial stakes by tightening and clarifying the dress code at the annual summer event, including imposing a ban on fascinators in the royal enclosure. The move comes amid criticisms of sartorial standards which have been loosely enforced in recent years, but help will be on hand from a team of specially trained 'dress code A selection of waistcoats, ties, pashminas and other items will be available at the turnstiles for those who need them. In the royal enclosure, fascinators – which are often favoured by the Duchess of Cambridge – are no longer deemed acceptable. will also be expected to wear skirts or dresses of 'modest length' which fall just above the knee or longer. This clarifies previous guidance which stated miniskirts were 'considered unsuitable'. off the shoulder, halter neck, spaghetti straps and dresses with a strap of less than one inch (2.5cm) are not permitted and midriffs must For men, black or grey morning dress with a waistcoat and tie are now compulsory in this area of the course and cravats will not be allowed. A black or grey top hat and black shoes must also be worn. the grandstand, which is open to the public and subject to less stringent rules, a hat or fascinator will be compulsory for women. For men, a suit and tie will now be imperative. Royal Ascot's Ladies' Day, held this year on Thursday, will see outlandish and incredible hats worn by female race goers. racecourse is also staging an exhibition titled 60 Years of Royal Ascot during the Reign of Her Majesty the Queen, which will be on display for the duration of the meeting. Weatherby, the Queen's representative at Ascot, said: 'Royal Ascot has a long standing and privileged affiliation with the Queen, whose first winner at the event was in 1953 with Choir Boy who landed the Royal Hunt 'The Queen has owned no fewer than 63 Ascot winners, 20 of them at the royal meeting, and it's always a great thrill for everyone when the royal colours are successful. It would be marvellous for that to happen this year and we wish her every success.'
Tizer Gardens began in 1997 when Richard Krott and Belva Lotzer fell in love with and purchased a small piece of property on Tizer Lake Road, in Jefferson City. The couple began gardening in their backyard paradise, which sits in the heart of the Elkhorn Mountains and straddles Prickly Pear Creek. Gardening provided stress relief and a sort of therapy for Richard as he recovered from cancer. Enticed by Mother Nature to spend as much time outside as possible, they began developing gardens along the creek and attacking large swaths of noxious weeds and replacing them with Cosmos. Over time they acquired an additional 6 acres of land and have developed about 4 acres of that to date. By the spring of 2000, people had begun to notice the flowers in the couple's garden and the Krott's were finding visitors in their garden at all hours of the day and night. That year they decided to open the gardens on weekends for visitors. They went from 200 hundred visitors that first year — to 2000 visitors the next year and last year they welcomed over 15,000 visitors to their gardens. By 2003, the temptation of a whole new opportunity wooed them into starting a nursery, in order to share the wonderful plants they had discovered would grow in this unforgiving climate. In 2004, the Jefferson Local Development Corporation named the couple "Entrepreneurs of the Year", for their ingenuity and creativity in developing a new tourism destination in Jefferson County. Early in 2005 the Krott's came to know and befriend Panayoti Keladis, chief plant curator for the Denver Botanic Gardens. It was his persuasion that convinced the couple to apply for and receive designation as an official Botanic Garden and Arboretum, the only one in western Montana. As a result of that association, two years later, Tizer Botanic Gardens & Arboretum also became Montana's only demonstration garden for the Denver Botanic Garden and Colorado State University's "Plant Select®" Program. Also in 2007, the Montana Federation of Garden Clubs awarded them "Gardeners of the Year" for the State of Montana. 2008 brought about the renovation of the original garage into a bright, clean gift shop. It was a happy day when they moved all of the gift items from the old tractor barn with a dirt floor into the new site. People are welcome to bring their picnic and spend the day, walking through the gardens, reading, writing, painting or just enjoying the company of friends and family. Tizer Gardens are also becoming a great place to take in a festival or two. Annually we host a "Things with Wings" Festival, a Scarecrow Festival and the very popular Fairy Festival. You can enjoy high tea in the garden or have your wedding here too. Check out our event calendar for more information. Today, the gardens are run by the Krott's, two full time and several part-time employees and volunteers. We invite you to leave the world behind, relax, unwind and enjoy our little piece of paradise.
If you have ever used the Windows Copy (Ctrl+C) to copy objects to the clipboard and then the Windows Paste (Ctrl+V) to copy/paste AutoCAD object(s), then you know that those clipboard object(s) will have the lower left-hand corner of their extents as the base point (not very precise)... and this always reminds me of some of the graphic editing applets (e.g.: Paint or even the wonderful AutoCAD Button Editor!) that have you draw a circle like a rectangle. (annoying to say the least!) With AutoCAD you can use the keyboard shortcut of (Ctrl+Shft+C) to pick a base point for your clipboard object(s). COPYBASE is the actual command, and then you can paste to a precise point in the destination AutoCAD DWG file using the keyboard shortcut of (Ctrl+Shift+V). This is the PASTEBLOCK command or you can also use the PASTEORIG command if the COPYBASEd object(s) go in the same exact spot in the receiving DWG file. Also it is important to note: If you do use the Ctrl+Shift+V PASTEBLOCK method and want to leave it as a block, AutoCAD will assign a name for the block, which is something like "A$C11A06AFD" or "A$C1F7A5022" ... Either use the RENAME command, or use EXPLODE or XPLODE, also watch your layers, with regards to the object(s) original layers and where this new "block" is being INSERTed... or where they go if they are EXPLODEd vs. XPLODEd. (I will save that for a whole different post).
NASHVILLE – Tennessee Department of General Services Commissioner Steve Cates today announced that notices are being posted statewide to inform the public about a new law that prohibits camping on state-owned property, except for areas specifically designated by the appropriate department or agency, such as the Department of Environment and Conservation that oversees state parks. “These notices are designed to inform citizens and visitors to our state about the new law and its impact on state-owned facilities across Tennessee,” Cates said. “Although the legislation calls for an immediate prohibition of unauthorized camping on state property, we believe a seven day notification period, beginning today, is an appropriate time frame to make sure the word gets out. After that time, the state will be prepared to enforce the statute.” The law, HB2638/SB2508 sponsored by Rep. Eric Watson (R-Cleveland) and Sen. Delores Gresham (R-Somerville), makes unauthorized camping on state-owned property a Class A misdemeanor criminal offense, which calls for the maximum sentence of 11 months and 29 days in jail and/or a maximum fine of $2,500. It also subjects items associated with illegal camping to seizure and forfeiture. The General Assembly approved the measure by a vote of 67 to 21 in the House of Representatives and 21 to 9 in the Senate. The governor signed the bill into law today.
Friday, April 04, 2008 Who is supposed to train them? Doing a level 70 quest solo is trivially easy for a level 70 character in World of Warcraft. Visiting a level 70 dungeon with a pickup group of level 70 characters in comparison has a much higher probability of failure. Group play is a lot harder, because besides taking care of your own situation, you need to watch for something called "aggro": a parameter, by default invisible, which determines which group member is being attacked. The perfect group is all about aggro management, having the monster hit the group member who is best equipped to withstand its blows (the tank), having a healer keep the tank alive, and having the remaining three group members deal damage to the monster. That is already hard enough against one monster, but gets much more complicated against multiple enemies, where the group needs to remove some of them from the combat temporarily by various abilities summarized as "crowd control". And what really complicates the matter is that nobody ever teaches you how to do it! In principle you are supposed to be learning by doing. Unfortunately World of Warcraft doesn't offer much help in that respect. If something goes wrong, there is usually such a chaos that it becomes very hard to determine who made a mistake. The combat log, even the "improved" 2.4 version is such a mess that doing a post mortem of a wipe is impossible. So everybody just blames the healer, who is actually least likely to have caused the wipe, based on the flawed logic that if the healer would just have healed everybody, nobody would have died. It is rare that a wipe leads to the real culpable realizing his mistake and learning from it, which would be the basic requirement of self-training. If you don't understand aggro management, failing with a couple of PuGs isn't likely to teach you. While players frequently complain about other players being bad at group play, they aren't doing anything to improve the situation either. Because even those who understand aggro management often do so on an instinctive level, and are either unwilling or unable to teach that knowledge to others. As there are a lot of other players, it becomes easier to select the people you play with than to try to teach others how to play well. Even guilds, who are supposedly about long-term relationships between players, and often measure their success by the hardest group content they are able to beat, curiously fail to offer any sort of training. Thus the recently discussed guild recruitment ad asking for applicants who already know everything about various raid encounters. Of course the epidemic guild hopping in WoW doesn't encourage guilds to make the effort to train people. But while the first generation of WoW players leveled up at a time when the lower level dungeons were still populated by players, and thus at least got some training by trial and error, most people reaching level 70 now have a lot less group experience. With veterans burning out and quitting, and new players soloing all the way up to the end-game, the average group skills of players is actually dropping. Many people already refuse to group with anyone except guild mates and people known to be competent. The training gap between old and new players becomes larger and larger. The one thing Blizzard promised to do against that is to make aggro visible. Many players already use addons like Omen to measure aggro, and Omen having some problems with the recent patch caused quite some problems for some guilds. And it isn't much help in a pickup group, because it only works if all group members have the same addon. So introducing an official threat meter will be helpful, and it will be easier to point out to new players that they should watch their aggro. I can only hope that this sort of information will also be recorded in the combat log, so people can scroll up after a wipe and really see what went wrong. But that won't solve all problems of players not being sufficiently trained for group play. One good suggestion that was recently discussed by readers on this blog was that Blizzard shouldn't make only quests that require dealing maximum damage. If there were quests where you went out with a group of NPCs and had to tank, or heal, or deal damage while keeping strictly under the aggro of the NPC tank, solo play would already teach players a lot of important group skills. If Blizzard isn't doing something to improve training, players will have to step up. One day guilds will run out of recruits who know how to play, and will have to accept less skilled players and teach them how to behave in a group. Already now most mid-level raiding guilds would be well advised to spend more time analyzing what went wrong after a wipe, and try to correct those mistakes instead of blindly going into the next attempt and next wipe. I've been in various raid guilds and was always surprised of how little communication is going on. And the most successful raids were those where somebody took on the job of "drill sergeant" and via voice chat gave simple orders like "stop dps now". In many other cases all participants kept silent and pretended to know what to do, when in reality quite many of them just didn't have a clue. So many raiders talk about skill, and nobody talks about how people are supposed to acquire those skills.
About the Telethon The Chabad "To Life" Telethon has become famous worldwide as a joyful celebration of life and a reminder of the power of good deeds. Telethon donations range from a single dollar to tens of thousands. Last year's broadcast raised more than $5 million for Chabad, supporting the largest network of educational and nonsectarian social services under Jewish auspices on the West Coast. Countless people of all backgrounds and beliefs benefit from these community services -- whether it's a child who needs an education, a senior citizen who needs a friend, or an addict who needs a second chance. Funds generated by the Telethon support a range of Chabad's efforts, which include: Education, Summer Camps, Youth Programs, children with special needs, Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation, Community Outreach, Crisis Intervention, AskMoses.com and many others. Over the last 30 years, the Telethon has helped Chabad forge a unique partnership with actors, musicians, athletes, civic leaders and corporate executives. Featuring star-studded lineups and the endearing "dancing rabbis," the Telethons are special events that have proven consistently popular with audiences. Click here for the Top Ten Celebrity Moments » Past participants include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bob Dylan, Dennis Franz, Whoopi Goldberg, Anthony Hopkins, Magic Johnson, Jimmy Kimmel, Bernie Mac, Howie Mandel, Matisyahu, Edward James Olmos, Mike Piazza, Adam Sandler and Martin Sheen. The casts of numerous television shows, including 'Friends' and 'Everyone Loves Raymond,' have also made appearances. “Whether it’s a child who needs a nurturing education, a senior citizen who needs some companionship, or an addict who needs a second chance, there are so many members of our community who are in desperate need,” said Rabbi Cunin. “Chabad has always been blessed by caring and compassionate supporters, and we want the Telethon to inspire them to come together to dance, to sing, and to reach out to those less fortunate.” The Telethon: In 2 Minutes Flashback: Chabad Telethon 1980 30 Years of Chabad Telethon Classic Moments How Do You Pronounce Chabad? Larry King introduces a clip on the annual Chabad Telethon featuring some of the world’s most famous celebrities as they try their best to pronounce "Chabad". Some of those featured in the clip are: Steve Allen, Levar Burton, President George Bush, Dom Deluise, Craig Ferguson, Brad Garrett, Al Gore, Bob Hope, Jack Klugman, David Letterman, Jan Murray, Leonard Nimoy, Conan Obrien, Betsy Palmer, Regis Philbin, Ray Romano, Dick Shawn, Judy Norton Taylor, Dick Van Patten, Jon Voight, Gene Wilder and Robin Williams. However you pronounce it, thank you for your kind support. "Le'Chaim!"
Reed-Solomon CodecJune 08, 2012 I'm working on an image processing project for the university, whose purpose is to embed (an extract) a print-scan resilient watermark into an image. This project has (sadly) gotten me acquainted with Matlab, from which I quickly ran way into the friendlier realms of Scipy and friends (Skimage rocks, by the way). I must say I really learned to appreciate the Scipy/Numpy gang in the last two weeks :) If it wasn't already obvious, it's time to admit I'm a n00b when it comes to signal processing and applied math in general. I know the Fourier transform in broad terms, and have heard of discrete cosine transform and wavelets some time ago... but it's not my cup of tea, to say the least. Luckily for clueless people like me, Matlab (and its kin) enables us to summon the dark powers of mathematics, without ever having to know what we're doing. Hurrah! So I'm DFT'ing, DCT'ing and DWT'ing like a pro, embedding my watermark using CDMA/spread-spectrum techniques in the frequency domain, and then inverting the process... and all I know is I'm supposed to keep myself in the mid-frequency range, i.e., in a certain region of the matrix. Math for n00bs. My original idea was to take a string, encode it as a QR code, and then embed this QR image into the host image. I thought it would be a nice shortcut, as it provided me with a synchronization pattern and error correction out of the box, but it quickly turned out QR codes generate a payload that's too big for unobservable embedding. So I set out to find some error correcting code (ECC) library for python, but it proved to be a really difficult task. I found some packages, most of them are haven't been maintained in over 7 years nows, and all of them make use of extension modules that failed to compile. Then there's zfec, but for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to use it as a simple encoder/decoder. I almost gave up and resorted to triplicating my payload (at the bit level), and using majority-selection for each bit, when I came across an amazing python tutorial (with runnable code) that covers Reed Solomon codes and QR in depth. I simply extracted the code, added a usable API, wrote some examples and quickly uploaded it to PyPI, so now there's a pure-python pip install reedsolo. The library should support python 2.4-3.2, using strings or bytes. I really can't verify the correctness of the algorithm (it's beyond me), but it seems to work so I'm fine with it. Here's a short demo: >>> from reedsolo import RSCodec >>> rs = RSCodec(10) # 10 bytes of ECC will be added to the output, ... # which allows us to correct up to 5 byte-level errors >>> rs.encode([1,2,3,4]) '\x01\x02\x03\x04,\x9d\x1c+=\xf8h\xfa\x98M' >>> rs.encode("hello world") 'hello world\xed%T\xc4\xfd\xfd\x89\xf3\xa8\xaa' >>> rs.decode('hello world\xed%T\xc4\xfd\xfd\x89\xf3\xa8\xaa') 'hello world' Now let's add some errors: >>> rs.decode('hXXlo worXd\xed%T\xc4\xfdX\x89\xf3\xa8\xaa') # 4 errors - ok 'hello world' >>> rs.decode('hXXXo worXd\xed%T\xc4\xfdXX\xf3\xa8\xaa') # 6 errors - fail Traceback (most recent call last): ... reedsolo.ReedSolomonError: Could not locate error It's pure python and highly unoptimized... I think someone acquainted with Numpy a little more than I am could improve it blindfolded by a factor 10, but even now, on my dinosaur machine, it encodes a 400kB message in 2.9 seconds and decodes it in 1.9 seconds. I'll drink to that. By the way, it seems that the library can only handle messages that are less than 255 bytes long... but then you can simply encode/decode in chunks. I'll include it in later versions. I think a good ECC library for python is very useful... if anyone wants to join in on it, feel free to drop me a line at the comments or just fork the repo.
Tom Keane is a columnist for The Boston Globe. He is also an attorney, an experienced corporate and non-profit executive, and former Boston city councilor. Tom Keane is a regular columnist for the op-ed page of The Boston Globe. Tom's pieces have also appeared on the pages of the Boston Herald, ArchitectureBoston and several other publications. He can be seen and heard frequently on local television and radio shows, including WGBH's “Greater Boston with Emily Rooney.” Tom is also chief of strategic initiatives for the AppleTree Institute, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit focused on providing accelerated early language and literacy programs to under-resourced preschoolers. Tom has also held a number of other senior-level positions. He was Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Mosaica Education, Inc., a global education company headquartered in New York. He also was the executive director of the Boston Society of Architects, managing it through a time of transition after the retirement of its long-time executive director. Before then he was a General Partner of Murphy & Partners, a New York-based private equity fund. In addition, from 1994 through 1999, he was a Boston City Councilor, representing Boston's district eight. He was also a founder and executive vice president of Legend Medical Services, Inc., an operator of long-term care facilities, and served as well as chief financial officer for International Healthcare Corporation, which operated health maintenance organizations and drug-and-alcohol rehabilitation centers. Tom was graduated from Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury, MA, where he was salutatorian. He received his B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard College, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School. Tom is a member of the Massachusetts Bar. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Commonwealth Compact; an honorary member of the Boston Society of Architects; and a member of the Advisory Board for the Shamie Center for Better Government. The eldest of 11 children, he is married to Laurie Farrell and together they have two children, Lauren and Bryn.
Polar Meltdown Quiz \| Real Science Global sea ice area is above normal. This is because :Are Electric-Car Enthusiasts a Little Too Enthusiastic? \| TIME.com Global warming and polar amplification is really kicking in The missing heat is forcing cold water to the surface CO2 is raising the freezing point of water It is all rotten ice PIOMAS predicted this Bette Midler warned that this would happen Manhattan is underwater It is really cold at the poles Fossil fuel divestment on college campuses Australia’s carbon tax It’s wonderful that plug-in owners love their cars so much. Good for them. But that shouldn’t stop them from being honest about how expensive the vehicles are, and how they’re more limited than gas-powered cars in terms of driving range.Blizzard Clobbers Amarillo, Wichita, Kansas City "This blizzard is following a storm which just dumped a whopping 14.2 inches of snow on Wichita and 11.0 inches on Kansas City," stated AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Brian Edwards. The snow from Monday's blizzard will likely cause this February to become Wichita's all-time snowiest month, a record currently held by February 1913 and its 20.5 inches.
With nighttime temperatures hovering around freezing, all of our houseplants are now indoors. I’ll be picking up a few flowering cyclamens to join our myrtle topiaries, ivy and other houseplants. Cyclamens are long blooming, and make lovely host / hostess presents for the holidays. I am thankful to you all for reading my blog. Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!! This is one of a pair of 7' tall triple myrtle topiaries in our dining room. Myrtle topiaries in our little conservatory. The green glazed terra cotta water urn is from Provence (dates to early 1800s). To read more about our myrtles, go here. My friend Phyllis of Henhurst Interiors took the above photo when she visited in June. Thanks for the great photo, P! I cut back this fancy leaf geranium a month prior to bringing inside....it had grown so large and leggy. There is a niche between two closets in a bedroom that is perfect for a low light plant like this Yellow Ripple ivy. BTW, because the space is so narrow, I went with a Roman shade rather than curtains. The shade is fabricated from an extra curtain panel from Restoration Hardware (Belgian linen, sand color). The ivy sits on an antique creamware fluted pedestal. Above is a large leaf Algerian ivy. Ivy plants should dry out between waterings. This topiary Duck Foot ivy is at our shop. Notice the miniature leaves. This kitchen sink in our shop is perfect for watering plants. Pair of triple myrtle tops from Snug Harbor Farm in Maine. See my post on SHF here. Doesn't this variegated creeping fig look like it has a strand of "white hair?" Below is one of a pair of Maidenhair ferns in an antique French cast iron footed urn.
The automotive parts industry is diverse with high production volumes in addition to tight deadlines. Tier one and tier two suppliers often have tight deadlines specified by the OEM (automobile company) who are typically more focused on assembly of the final parts than they are on manufacturing each part. As a result, tier one and tier two suppliers often need a production scheduling solution that is linked to data coming from a separate ERP system, integrated with the design requirements, can do what-if planning, can trace component parts, can plan for inspection stages and assist with regulatory compliance requirements. Invariably the manufacturing process for automotive parts manufacturers is unique and requires a production scheduling software solution to be "tailored" to their specific needs. This is one key reason automotive parts manufacturers are using Taylor Scheduler. As one customer said "If you can describe your process, Taylor can model it." - model and schedule complex manufacturing processes. - increase the efficiency of your plant while still ensuring orders are delivered on schedule. - integrate with ERP/MRP/MES systems. We specialize in developing custom interfaces between our software and other systems. - schedule machine change-overs, machine maintenance, large volumes, inspection stages and compliance. Automotive Parts manufacturers have turned to Taylor products to help them solve these intricate, mission-critical planning and scheduling problems.
There have been TV shows in the past, usually sitcoms, which have looked at the backstage world of soap operas - 'The New Dick Van Dyke Show' and 'All Is Forgiven' are two examples that come to mind. And along with the antics of the people making the soap operas, we also get to see scenes from the soaps as they're being taped. Now UK TV has expanded on that premise with 'Moving Wallpaper'/'Echo Beach', in which we first see a show about the making of a soap opera, and then have that followed by the finished product - the entire episode of the soap opera that was supposedly taped during the previous show. Rob Buckley of "The Medium Is Not Enough" (link to the left!) can splain it far better than I can. He has a review of the show up in his blog now..... There's no Zonk here for Toobworld, and no Solomonic dilemma. 'Moving Wallpaper' is the show that is set on Earth Prime-Time, and its characters are the real people of TV Land. 'Echo Beach' is a TV show that they watch (and create). Whether the denizens of 'Echo Beach' share an alternate reality with 'Hi Honey, I'm Home' and the "Remote Control Man" episode of 'Amazing Stories', in that they can leave their fictional TV show to interact with the characters of Toobworld, is unknown at this point and will probably never be a factor. The idea that TV could be an alternate reality...... really!
Too much to look at? Narrow your results to a smaller product category or go further by choosing just one brand Model #: LSRPLUL Average Price: $49.99 Model #: LSMS10UL Average Price: $149.99 To remove the google "Related Toolbar" and reset your toolbox please select the options link to the far right of the google related toolbar and select either "Hide for this page" or "Hide for entire site" then refresh the page.
I thought I had nothing more to say about hot flashes; I was following that old chestnut of, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it at all.” It turns out they were talking about people, not hot flashes. So I’m free to blather on a little more! I’m plagued by these episodes about ten times a day, and awakened by no less than five a night! I have tried pills, potions, and creams, and now I have resorted to denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. (Must I?) Here’s what rolls through my brain on any given day: Denial… ”Wow, is it hot in here or what?! Why don’t they fix this air conditioner!” or “Phew! I must be burning up the calories, my face is sweating like crazy!” Anger… ”What the hell! I just had ‘sweaty face’ like an hour ago!” “It’s not fair! Why me?! Some women don’t even get these things!” Bargaining… ”I’ll be good! I won’t stress out; I’ll take black cohosh and maca everyday, I’ll eat more soy!” Depression… ”I’ll just sit here in my car with the air on full blast for the next ten years, don’t mind me.” “This makes me more tired than actual sweating. I think I’ll stick my head in the freezer again.” My latest (most consistent?) tactic is to laugh about them. I carry around a fancy Japanese fan that I whip out if I am not near an air vent or frozen food aisle. I’ll usually exclaim in a loud Southern accent, “The vapors! Oh lordy, the vapors, do tell!” Other times I use my embroidered hanky and dab politely at my sweaty upper lip and say,”Don’t mind me, I’m just havin’ a little ole lady hot flash!” See, I’m on my way to Acceptance… Tags: hot flash, menopause Make nice with the things you can’t change. Laugh at them, have fun, look on the bright side, because the alternative isn’t any better. Also, never never having a visit from that damned “Aunt Flo” ever again is actually pretty nice.
Posted on 16 August 2010. Some banks are trustworthy while others exist just to confuse you and make money off you. The following are reliable and have great credibility. Citibank came into being during the 1800s in New York City. It is undoubtedly the best bank in the world and has a lot of financial clout as well. A country is not completely developed if this bank cannot be found almost at every corner! It has recently opened branches in Philadelphia, Washington and Boston. 2. JP Morgan Chase JP Morgan Chase is even older than Citibank and has assets that amount to about 2 trillion dollars. The bank is a favorite amongst clients from different walks of life, be it government officials, business tycoons or the common man. They are widely celebrated for their credit card services as well as their reliability as far as commercial banking is concerned. HSBC was established about 20 years back and has had its headquarters in England ever since. Forbes declared it to be among the largest banks and companies in the world last year. HSBC is popular in Asia wherein its investments activities are particularly impressive. 4. Bank of America As far as market capitalization is concerned; this bank is among the largest in the world. It can be found in over 120 countries and thanks to Merrill Lynch, it has also started getting recognized for its investment services. Its rivals include Wells Fargo and Citigroup. 5. Credit Agricole Group Credit Agricole Group is based in France and is known for its retail banking services. Europe considers it to be among the largest in this financial filed and because it focuses on the importance of keeping the planet clean and green, it has managed to create a loyal customer base for itself.
United Parcel Service Inc. appealed the European Union’s decision to block its 5.16 billion-euro ($6.7 billion) bid for TNT Express NV to clarify the regulator’s legal arguments, not to renew its interest in the Dutch rival. Belgium’s La Poste SA, the postal service company known as Belgian Post and owned by CVC Capital Partners Ltd., is reviving an initial public offering that could raise about 500 million pounds ($755 million), said two people familiar with the matter. French state-owned companies La Poste and Caisse des Depots et Consignations will discuss today the possible takeover of Dexia SA’s French municipal-lending business, two people familiar with the matter said. La Banque Postale, France’s postal bank, wants an alternative financing structure for the share of the loans from Dexia SA’s French municipal lending unit that it will assume, Les Echos reported, citing unnamed people at the bank. United Parcel Service Inc.’s aborted takeover bid for TNT Express NV was formally blocked by European Union regulators because UPS failed to find a suitable buyer for parts of TNT to ensure competition for delivery services wouldn’t be crushed.
The Washington Times January 21, 2013 At the trial in the police killing of Sean Bell, the sidearm that is believed to have killed Mr. Bell was displayed in court.March 06, 2008, Thursday With rapt attention, the jury listened as a seemingly confused undercover detective shouted, “There were shots fired!”March 05, 2008, Wednesday The first undercover detective to enter the exotic dancing club in Queens where the fatal shooting of Sean Bell took place said he was uncomfortable with the size and rowdiness of the crowd.March 04, 2008, Tuesday The criminal trial of three detectives charged in the killing of Sean Bell in a fusillade of 50 bullets has brought new attention to Club Kalua, where he was shot.March 03, 2008, Monday Prosecutors seek to prove that the three detectives charged in the killing of Sean Bell did not identify themselves before they opened fire.March 03, 2008, Monday The commanding officer at the time of a fatal shooting testified that he was ready to add to the fusillade of 50 shots that claimed Sean Bell’s life.March 01, 2008, Saturday The group of police officers and detectives involved in the fatal shooting of Sean Bell in Queens had first planned to work elsewhere that night, the group’s commanding officer testified.February 29, 2008, Friday Notwithstanding disasters like the shooting of unarmed men like Sean Bell or Amadou Diallo, New York City police officers as a group are more restrained than ever in drawing their guns.February 29, 2008, Friday Prosecutors in the trial of three detectives accused in the shooting death of Sean Bell plan to call the detectives’ commanding officer to testify about the detail that he supervised.February 28, 2008, Thursday William Bell did not want to go to the party. It felt awkward, going to his son’s bachelor bash at a strip club. It just was not his kind of place. “Be with your friends,” he told his son, Sean.February 27, 2008, Wednesday SEARCH 190 ARTICLES ABOUT SEAN BELL: Demonstrations over the verdict in the Sean Bell case halted traffic at busy intersections in the city. The acquittal of three New York police detectives who killed Sean Bell in a hail of 50 bullets prompted calls for calm from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, angry promises of protests by those speaking for the Bell family, and expressions of relief by the detectives. An overview of the Sean Bell trial proceedings summarizing the testimonies of each witness and reviewing the events the night of the shooting. An overview of the Sean Bell trial proceedings, updated daily with details of witness testimony. There was no early mention of a fourth man, and some officers did not remember firing, according to a report on the Queens shooting.
The Portland Timbers were playing their second match of three scheduled in 11 days, a road trip to Frisco, Texas to play FC Dallas. While the stadium has been the site of a few ghastly scorelines for Portland, the team exorcised a few demons with a very balanced effort to earn a 1 all draw away from home. Darlington Nagbe scored his third goal of 2013 off an exceptional crossing pass from Rodney Wallace, but FCD equalized on a penalty kick from former Timbers and current FCD forward Kenny Cooper. Full story » Two teams that both carry seven match unbeaten streaks will meet on May 8 at FC Dallas Stadium when the Portland Timbers visit FC Dallas in a midweek battle. While the Timbers are a bit testy after their draw against New England, FC Dallas hasn't played since drawing with Vancouver back in late April. They will be missing key midfielder Jackson due to a red card received in the match with the Whitecaps, while a few other players are not expected to appear against Portland. Full story » Coming back from a miserable 0-3 loss to Colorado rapids last weekend the Portland Timbers bounced back to beat league leaders San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 on Tuesday night and enhanced their reputation as a team who can beat "in form" opposition when playing at JELD-WEN Field. Full story » Kenny Cooper calls for the ball at midfield. The Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team hosted the New York Red Bulls on Cinco de Mayo at the Home Depot Center. The Red Bulls defeated the Galaxy, 1-0. Box Score. Kenny Cooper (#33) attempts to intimidate A.J. DeLaGarza (#20) during the first half. The Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team hosted the New York Red Bulls on Cinco de Mayo at the Home Depot Center. The Red Bulls defeated the Galaxy, 1-0. Box Score.
Washington, Feb 18: Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has slammed First Lady Michelle Obama after the latter promoted breast-feeding as part of her campaign against childhood obesity. Palin followed in Rep. Michele Bachmann's footsteps and took a swipe at Mrs. Obama, mocking her efforts to get mothers to breast-feed their children. "No wonder Michelle Obama is telling everybody, `You'd better breast-feed your baby," The Politico quoted her as saying at a Long Island appearance, after slamming President Barack Obama for rising gas prices and other items - like milk - since he took office. "Yeah, you'd better, because the price of milk is so high right now." The comments come two days after Bachmann accused the first lady of trying to implement a "nanny state." "To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump for my babies? You wanna talk about the nanny state, I think you just got a new definition." (ANI)
Top Notch has been established as the Premier Vacation Rental Company in the Mt. Washington Valley. We have a strong inventory of repeat business that expects a diverse selection of accommodations. We have developed the Rental Program over recent years to further expand the options for prospective guests, while increasing the efficiency and quality of services to all current guests and owners. For more information about a specific resort or the Rental Program, email our rental manager Keith, or call her on 1-877-383-4111.
I can’t remember where I found this idea, but it is something I have had stored away for years. I found it again yesterday, and wanted to share it with you. It makes a great, inexpensive gift to give to someone you care about when they aren’t feeling well, or you just want to do a random act of kindness. :) Italian Soup Gift Basket - 1 package Hamburger Helper® lasagna - 3 tablespoons dried minced onion - 1 can (14 ½ oz.) diced italian tomatoes - 1 can (7 oz.) whole kernel corn - 1 box Cornbread Mix - Pour contents of sauce mix (from lasagne mix) into 3 1/2-cup jar or quart-size plastic bag. Layer dried minced onion over dry sauce mix. Top with pasta (from lasagna mix). - Place lid on jar, or seal plastic bag with colorful ribbon or raffia. - Place soup mix, can of tomatoes, corn, and cornbread mix in gift basket. Include the following directions for making soup. Cook 1 pound lean ground beef in 4-quart Dutch oven, stirring frequently, until brown; drain. Stir in soup mix, 5 cups hot water, undrained tomatoes and undrained corn. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 12 to 14 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender. Ladle into bowls. Top with grated Parmesan cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese if desired. Makes 6 servings.
I love the bunny jar!Where would I buy one?Happy Easter!xxx Hi Mel, Thank you, just click the link below the picture of the bunny jar and it will take you to my tutorial on making the bunny jars.Happy Easter! These are all so beautiful!Kristin where did you find your assortment of bunnies??? Spectacular Torie. You live in a world that is breath stoppingly beautiful.With much admiration,Loulou So pretty! Happy Easter! Happy Easter !Your creations are very nice!!!very!!! Everything looks SO beautiful!! I hope you are having a wonderful Easter.Jenn :) Amazing Ms Torie! Happy Easter! Looks fabulous...another great table! xxx Amazing! Hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend! :) Fantastic. I hope you and yours had a wonderful Easter. Your Easter was darling...I am still loving your bunny jars...I soooo have to make some. I saw some the other day someone made with zoo animals...so fun! Love your blue egg...you are so talented. xoxox This is a great posting I have read. I like your article. Thank you Thank you for your sweet comments. I love reading them all.
[GDC 2011] Bravo, Attack to Crosshairs Hooboy is there a lot to SOCOM 4, and we've got it all right here. Published: March 12, 2011 Again, like Last Defense, there's a bit of an asymmetrical play style to the game as things go on. Obviously if you're part of the team that's planted the bombs, you can camp out and wait for enemies to storm in. If you're the ones seeking out the bomb sites, you can skulk around and try to silently take out defenders, and of course if you're the bomb tech, you're almost a walking tank and any one-on-one matches are almost invariably going to swing in your favor -- though of course you're a huge target for enemies and the only chance to defuse the bombs so your life is most important. And most likely to be snuffed out first if the enemy has anything to say about it. Across all modes, Zipper has taken something of an Insomniac-style approach to things. Using a weapon more often allows you to level it up to unlock mods; things like better sights and scopes or ways to boost ammo, reduce recoil and more. They won't radically change the abilities of guns, but they're an incentive to stick with what you like, and an encouragement to dabble in other weaponry -- especially because you can roll with two primary weapons if you so choose. By far the best announcement at GDC, however, was the fact that you won't just have to take our word for it on just how much fun SOCOM 4 is shaping up to be. The game will go into open beta before its street date of April 14th. A private beta is shoring things up right now, but PlayStation Plus members can jump in starting on March 22nd, then those that grabbed Killzone 3 and got the beta voucher can start their round of pew-pew on March 29th, and then on March 4th, the whole shebang is open to everyone that owns a PS3 and has a connection to the PlayStation Store. What's even crazier is that this isn't some one-map, one-mode offering; all four modes will be fully playable on two different maps during the beta, so you really will get a chance to see if we were just full of hot air. We aren't, of course. We take this opportunity to tell you guys (and gals; hello, ladies) about upcoming games seriously, but we also want to ease fears that certain games might be changing too much. The inclusion of Classic Mode to SOCOM 4 should all but allay those fears to begin with, but trust us when we say SOCOM 4 is shaping up to be something truly special. It's taking some of the best parts of the old games and giving them a fresh coat of paint; you'll still recognize the familiar stuff underneath, but it's going to look and play (okay, the analogy just fell apart, didn't it) like something entirely new. To help hold you over until the beta hits over the next few weeks, we've corralled a bunch of new screens and movies that'll hopefully make the wait a little more tolerable. See you online!
Like so many series that Lego has approached before (Batman, Star Wars), the Harry Potter series is renowned for producing widely beloved movies and widely flamed video game adaptations. But just like those same mentions, Lego has managed to deliver the first truly enjoyable Hogwart’s experience for fans and non-fans alike. Their greatest success comes from approaching the game in the same order as the title itself; that is to say this is first and foremost the latest and most advanced Lego game, and Harry Potter’s universe comes a fractionally distant second. Now I’ll state first-off that I haven’t actually managed to play through the game in it’s entirety. This is a massive undertaking, with a great deal of hidden bits and baubles to find, (160+ unlockable characters not least among them) that will have you digging deep into the world for hours to uncover its generous secrets. With the ability to replay earlier levels at any time between advancing the story to amass studs, the traditional Lego game currency, and find any missed secrets with newly unlocked spells, anyone seeking the ultimate 100% completion will find themselves moving backwards as often as forwards, and it is to the games credit that this never becomes boring or monotonous. Each Lego game has possessed it’s unique gameplay mechanic related to the topic series, be it Lego Batman’s various types of utility armors or Indiana Jones whip, but these mechanics were often limited or required you to switch characters often to tackle different challenges. Lego Harry Potter on the other hand shines by having the much deeper spell mechanic, which allows you to hotkey two spells from your constantly growing library, and swap them out on the fly. While you’ll most often utilize Harry’s most basic (and perhaps most famous) spell, Wingardium Leviosa, to move, build, and destroy blocks in a manner similar to Lego Star Wars Force powers, in time the addition of spells like Lumos, Riddikulus, and the Patronus Charm, to name a few, will add variety to the gameplay experience and grant access to new areas throughout all four years. This is, however, not to say that you won’t be switching characters, or that all 160+ are identical; as a for-instance, certain areas of Hogwart’s are only accessible to members of a certain house. And speaking of Hogwart’s, here is another area where the game truly shines: the environments. Everything from the famous School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to the varying offset hub areas such as Diagon Alley and The Leaky Cauldron look fantastic and faithful to the movie adaptations. Every level is filled with items for the characters to interact with, sometimes in surprising ways, and even though everything is made of Lego bricks, it still somehow manages to rank up there as one of the better looking games around. The typical brand of Lego humor is also present, guaranteeing at least a few giggles from even the most serious Harry Potter fan, and a constant stream of chuckles even from people who know nothing of the source material. The only true flaw to the game, if it can be called that, is that it is, inherently, more of the same. While the AI has been improved (to a degree) and the platforming segments made far less frustrating, you will occasionally suffer a cheap death at the hands of slippery surfaces or strange camera angles. Thankfully the incredibly simple action segments have been dialed back, bringing puzzles and environmental manipulation to the fore, to the point where combat feels more like additional diversity than an uphill trudge. On a lesser note, while traditional drop-in cooperative play makes its return, the game still offers no online support for multiplayer. In perhaps a greater travesty the lack of online support for the brilliant level creator introduced in Lego Indiana Jones 2 also returns, meaning that while you have access to a wonderful tool for creating your own adventures, the only way to share them is to bring friends to your home. While this likely won’t bother the majority of family oriented players, it is a bit of a glaring oversight for those of us who have been waiting for online play since the first Lego Star Wars was released, despite it seeming like a relatively small feature to implement. In the end Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 stands out at the top of two categories, as both the best Lego game to date and perhaps the only Harry Potter video game worth playing. It’s whimsical approach to story, stylish approach to gameplay, and careful eye for detail make it an entertaining and engaging ride that will occupy a single player or an entire family for weeks.
Each day, 400 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) are escaping free to air from the Total Elgin gas leak in the North Sea. There’s no carbon tax to be paid on Total’s gas leak, no charge for adding to the UK’s carbon emissions, or reduction in the company’s overall “carbon allowance”. Total claims that the leakage rate is 200,000 cubic metres a day. A cubic meter of natural gas generates 1.9 kilos of carbon dioxide, so the daily rate is just under 400 tonnes CO2. Total is reported that it did not yet know the capacity of the leaking reservoir, but in a “dream” scenario it could simply “run itself out”. Just like leaving your engine running, then. Last week George Osborne told MPs in his Budget speech that: “Gas is cheap, has much less carbon than coal and will be the largest single source of our electricity in the coming years.” But escapes from gas fields – or oil pipelines – don’t carry a carbon tax penalty. The EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) regulates the combustion and processing of fossil fuels, not leakages on any scale. The leak could run for six months, by which time some 70,000 tonnes of CO2 will have been emitted to air. Consumers are already pay a price. DECC says production from Elgin and the connected Franklin site, which has also been shut, account for about 3% of the UK’s gas supply. So far, the leakage has prompted a 1.5% rise in wholesale gas prices. It’s the most serious incident in the North Sea since Piper Alpha. RMT offshore organiser Jake Molloy commented that Total had acted very swiftly in getting everyone off but the potential still exists for catastrophic devastation if the gas cloud ignites. The chancellor prompted a new “dash for gas” in the Budget. The energy secretary will set out a new gas generation strategy in the autumn. Meanwhile, there’s the matter of good environmental stewardship of increasingly scarce resources. A sheen on the water is present near the platform, estimated to extend over 1.85 square miles and measure between two and 20 tonnes in volume. There’s a commercial penalty for mismanagement. On Tuesday, Total’s shares fell 6pc in Paris, wiping more than €5.5bn (£4.6bn) off the company’s value and analysts said a worst-case scenario could see costs for Total running to billions of dollars. An Investec analysis says a relief well could cost $50m, but in a worst-case scenario, multi-billions of dollars”. Climate change is driven by the accumulation in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases that trap the sun’s heat. In February 2005, the Exeter international conference on climate change learnt from one leading scientist that developed countries were using the atmosphere as an “unpriced waste dump.” Time to tax carbon leakage.
Sophia Mounds & Jeremy in My Friends Hot Mom Synopsis: To get the attention of his friend's mom Sophia Mounds, Jeremy sets a fire and tells her some kids set it, letting her think he saved the day by putting it out. What's a lady to do to thank her hero but fuck him and let him cum on her tits? Mmmm, that Jeremy loves those milfs ... they're milf-a-riffic!! Released: December 6, 2006
Last post on Apr 26, 2013 at 4:16 PM You are in the Mazda Tribute What is this discussion about? Ford Escape, Car Buying, Car Leasing, SUV Aug 04, 2003 (6:06 pm) I just picked up a 03 XLT with with running boards and cargo cover for $22,900 - under invoice, and a very pleasant buying experience anyone in the NJ/NY area should definately give Douglas Ford in summit NJ a look if they are looking for a ford - super easy, very friendly, no b.s. #8 of 432 I purchased Aug 04, 2003 (6:59 pm) through the internet.. I own a 2001 Escape XLT 4x4 V6. Paid 21,800, after a $400 check from Ford to buy a new vehicle. I was also able to negotiate .9% financing for 3 years. I feel I did really well. I bought just after 9/11 and noone was buying anything, they wanted a sale bad... #9 of 432 My Purchase Aug 05, 2003 (2:41 pm) I got my 2001 Ford Escape XLT with everything except the running tubes and leather interior. I ended up trading a 1998 Dodge Stratus Turbo and a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am SE, because of the total I got trade-in on the 2 cars I only had to pay $5000 for the Escape. I also had the Dealer throw in different rubber on the escape because I don't trust or like Firestone or Continental. Aug 08, 2003 (6:42 pm) The dealer had to try to make a swap with another dealer for the '03 Tribute in my previous post (luxury and cold pkgs, etc for invoice ($25,400)) since he didn't have it in stock, but he wasn't able to. He says he was able to get an '03 w/ luxury and tow pkgs, perimeter alarm, rear step plate, and floor mats for $25k (invoice). Apparently, finding an '03 4WD ES with the luxury pkg is difficult in the north east at this time. Another option is to forgo the luxury pkg for the DVD package (about the same price, and can't have both (can't have moon roof and DVD), so I don't feel like I'm sacrificing a toy). Another dealer I just happened to stop off at (Mazda Auto Network in Jamaica, NY) said they could get me this one for $600 under invoice. Sounds like a good deal, but I felt they were pressuring me too much. So I'll stick with the luxury & tow pkg Tribute from Great Neck Mazda (Great Neck, NY) if they do in fact have it. If they don't, $600 under invoice for choice #2 sounds pretty good as well. I still don't understand how these dealers can afford to sell something AT invoice, let alone UNDER it. They must be receiving cash from the manufacturer somewhere. End of year clearance or not, I don't get it. #11 of 432 2003 limit 2wd Aug 08, 2003 (7:49 pm) Will pick up my 2003 limit 2wd this weekend. $24000 including TTL and moonroof. #12 of 432 questionable salesman Aug 13, 2003 (10:34 am) purchased a 03 LX c lux and cold pk, ABS, side air bags side step and wheel locks yesterday for $23,078 (tax and tital encluded) way below invoice. I used Elliston's What car dealers won't tell you. I dealt with 2 dealers and both tried ploys out lined in book. 1st dealer did not have car I wanted but tried to get it from another dealer but unfortunly just as they were talking to the other dealer they were selling car YEH. So I went home a called the other dealer and guess what the car had not been sold. suprise suprise. Using the formula out lined in the book I made an offer for the true invoice and they accepted itright off and agreed to deliver it we live 80 miles away. 1 hour latter I get a call saying the manager was confused and accepted a deal on the wrong car and tried to up the price $800. I very politely said no deal and they had 15 min to reconsider or I was calling the Ford dealer. It took them 2 min to call back and accept the orignal offer. even though the saleperson said she would loose her job. Oh well. Buy the Book read it and use the info it will be the best $13.95 you spend on your new car Aug 13, 2003 (12:42 pm) Or just peruse Edmunds for free If you missed it, Confessions of a Car Salesman is a great place to start your education. Aug 14, 2003 (7:51 pm) I just picked up a ES-V6 Calypso Blue Mazda Tribute. I noticed the back of the SUV has Mazda Tribute but does not have ES-V6 listed anywhere like the other ones I am seeing on the road. Does anyone know why? The dealer said the newer ones coming out don't state anything excpet the manufacturer and the name of the vehicle. Aug 18, 2003 (11:43 am) This was a running change during the '03 model year. Saves a few dollars, I guess. #16 of 432 Got a Great deal ... I think! Aug 25, 2003 (2:19 pm) Just bought a '03 Tribute LX with Luxury Package, perimeter alarm, rear bumper step plate, cargo tray and cargo net. Sticker was $23,759. I paid $4,500 cash (Out-the-Door) + my 2002 Honda Accord LX with 14K miles. By my calcs I paid $532 UNDER invoice and got $15,200 in real dollars for my car. I was trying to sell it myself for $16,200, so the $15,200 trade value saved me $962 in sales tax and effectively was worth $16,162. Did I get a good deal after all?
Last post on Jan 28, 2013 at 12:27 PM You are in the Subaru Forester What is this discussion about? Subaru Forester, Fuel System, Fuel System, SUV #43 of 52 Re: fuel smell in warm weather [smellsbad] Jan 11, 2010 (10:58 am) I think it's under the rear seat, so they may be able to access it from above. #44 of 52 Re: fuel smell in warm weather [smellsbad] Mar 29, 2010 (4:57 pm) I have exactly the same problem with an 01 Forester. Although, seems to be just as bad whatever the weather now. The CEL evap code seems to come and go no matter what they replace and fix. Took it to the mechanic who phoned me to say that they're going to have to take the carpet up inside to inspect the fuel line - I thought he was joking, but apparently it's true: the fuel lines run INSIDE the car! #45 of 52 Re: fuel smell in warm weather [forester01] Mar 29, 2010 (5:38 pm) Fuel lines inside the car have their good aspects and their bad ones. The good news is that they are much less likely to rust and corrode, since they are not exposed to all the road salt and crud that they would be if they were outside the car. The bad news is that if they leak, the smell is horrible and almost impossible to get rid of. #46 of 52 Re: fixed [ezebil] Apr 05, 2010 (8:35 am) I had a similar problem on my '02 OBW. The 'fuelline' link does a nice job showing the multiple hose to metal line connections on the drivers side, but there quite a few also located on the passenger side. All of them needed to be tightened, but these were my biggest source of smell on a single digit cold start. IIRC, there was at least on more down below the one circled on the left side of the picture, and there were 2 very difficult to get at clamps under the circled cover up front. There is a hole in that cover (see arrow) for access, but my clamps were rotated requiring the drilling of another hole to align with a screwdriver. I've had headgasket issues requiring intake removal twice. Removal and reinstallation of things that aren't meant to be taken apart is probably the main cause of repetitive leaks. I imagine that next year it will probably be time to replace some of these hoses and clamps. Hope this helps! See more Car Pictures at CarSpace.com #47 of 52 Re: fuel smell in warm weather [smellsbad] Oct 11, 2010 (6:40 pm) I was wondering if you've discovered more about what's causing your gasoline smell. We have a 2002 Forester that has a similar strong fuel smell on the passenger side of the car (near the rear wheel) after we drive the car for a while. It doesn't matter what temperature it is. The smoke machine didn't find leaks in our system either. #49 of 52 Anybody get a concrete answer on the issues here? Jan 12, 2011 (2:35 pm) I was just wondering if anyone got any concrete answers to the exhaust / fuel smell issues... #50 of 52 Re: Anybody get a concrete answer on the issues here? [jstockman] Jan 12, 2011 (7:21 pm) "I was just wondering if anyone got any concrete answers to the exhaust / fuel smell issues..." What more do you want on the subject of a fuel smell from the rear passenger area? Now an exhaust smell is another subject not presented by the original poster. Do you have both issues? #51 of 52 Gas Smell 03 Forester Jan 24, 2013 (6:34 am) After temp went to 15 deg F I started getting a gas smell also I also periodically get a code for my emission system Says gas cap lose There is prob a hose cracked somewhere causing both problems? #52 of 52 Re: Gas Smell 03 Forester [jenkinskg] Jan 28, 2013 (12:27 pm) I have the fuel smell come and go in my 2001 Outback. Typically its a slightly loose connection to the fuel filter. The cold weather causes a little shrink. This last time I tightened the hose clamps myself. Not sure if that solved it or not since the next day was warmer, but the fuel smell was gone. I've never noticed actual leaking gas in the 3 or 4 times its happened over the years.
On Sunday morning, Nov. 22, Nickelodeon's cable channel TeenNick was running a series of promos during a rerun of its junior-high sitcom "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide." Which of these ads isn't quite like the others? 1. A promo for a themed "Attack of the Little Sisters Thanksgiving Weekend," with reruns of child-friendly shows such as "Full House" and "Drake and Josh." 2. An ad for dolls and talk-show microphones associated with the "iCarly" show on Nickelodeon. 3. A vulgar, smash-mouth, in-your-face promo savaging anyone who finds fault with the homosexual lifestyle. Surprisingly, promo No. 3 was sandwiched between the other two ads, taking the children watching TeenNick from grade-school jokes and toys to adult sex chatter and back again. That teen drama is called "Degrassi: The Next Generation." Its attack on "intolerance" is clear in the contentious promo. A teen actress declares their new show's theme, staring into the camera: "Accept the truth...or keep living the lie." A conflicted, football-playing teen boy named Riley is having homosexual yearnings, and he wants a cure. "I'll talk to a doctor, whatever it takes." His girlfriend declares, "You can't cure homosexuality." He replies desperately, "Yes, you can. It's like a disease." Then he yells at her: "Too bad you can't cure Bitch!" The ad closed with the sentence "It's about to get real." In fact, "Degrassi: The Next Generation," the second phase of a long-running Canadian teen soap opera, has been getting "real" for years, deliberately pushing its gay agenda to youngsters. They've been praised by the libertine left over the last few years for gay love stories, gay kisses and an episode last year with a gay character considering male prostitution. Until recently, it was a fairly obscure show on that Nickelodeon spin-off channel called "The N." But in late September, it was rebranded and heavily promoted as "TeenNick." There may be many hours of child-friendly entertainment on the channel, but promotions clearly suggest that the coolest, most "mature" sampling of the new brand is "Degrassi." The Nov. 22 episode about "living the lie" was a culmination of weeks of the Riley character exploding in rage and punching people bloody in denial of the obvious, the biological "fact" that he is gay. He's a poster boy for hate: "I feel sorry for these freaks," he sneers. It's a didactic paint-by-numbers exercise in Afterschool Special propaganda. Fired IRS Commissioner: I Promoted Sarah Ingram To Head Obamacare: "We Provided Horrible Customer Service" \| Greg Hengler Acting IRS Commissioner Doesn't Know Who's Responsible, Objects to "Targeting" as "Pejorative" Term \| Guy Benson
By Tsvetelia Tsolova and Sam Cage SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's president on Thursday called for a new political culture that would prevent citizens being "robbed" and "lied to" as he named an election date of May 12 to try to stem a surge of popular discontent. Prime Minister Boiko Borisov quit last week after nationwide protests against high electricity prices - the final straw to many citizens in the European Union's poorest country, who have begun to despair of any improvement in living standards or governance. While Bulgaria has avoided the debt or deficit problems of many of its peers, maintaining a currency peg to the euro, economic growth is sluggish and unemployment has risen to almost 12 percent. Demonstrations by tens of thousands of Bulgarians have already forced some concessions including a promise that electricity firms will be forced to cut prices by 8 percent. Whoever wins the election will be under considerable pressure to spend in order to raise a standard of living that is less than half the EU average. "Our compatriots make it clear they want simple things - they want decent politicians, they don't want to be robbed, they do not want to be lied to and they want to live good lives," President Rosen Plevneliev told parliament. He said an interim government, which will probably be appointed next week, would aim for stability by sticking to the 2013 budget, which foresees a deficit of 1.3 percent of GDP, and implementing previous commitments such as a 9 percent increase in pensions from April. The president said he wanted the next parliament to focus on passing strong laws against monopolies - one of the protesters' demands - and full liberalization of the electricity market, to give consumers greater choice. He also urged political parties to include more ordinary citizens in their electoral lists. Six years after joining the EU, Bulgaria trails far behind other members. It is struggling to use EU money to overhaul outdated infrastructure, or to tackle rampant corruption and rampant organized crime. Many protesters have criticized Bulgaria's whole political class, which they say acts in its own interests and does not help ordinary people. The average wage is just 400 euros a month and pension less than half that, so electricity prices - although among the EU's lowest - bite particularly deep, particularly in winter when many people use it to heat their homes. Some Bulgarians heat only one room of their apartments and live in that throughout the winter, when temperatures can fall to -15 Celsius (5 F). Demonstrators have attacked energy company offices and three people have set themselves on fire. Borisov's outgoing government did not make clear how the promised cut in electricity prices would be paid for, but it has alarmed investors by saying it would revoke the distribution license of the Czech utility CEZ. CEZ and the other two distributors, Austria's EVN and the Czech firm Energo-Pro, say they have done nothing wrong. Support for Borisov's rightist GERB party has fallen over the last year, and it is now neck-and-neck with the opposition Socialists (BSP). However, polls suggest neither has enough support for an overall majority, and whichever wins will have to try to assemble a coalition to form a working government. (Editing by Kevin Liffey) Fired IRS Commissioner: I Promoted Sarah Ingram To Head Obamacare: "We Provided Horrible Customer Service" \| Greg Hengler Acting IRS Commissioner Doesn't Know Who's Responsible, Objects to "Targeting" as "Pejorative" Term \| Guy Benson
A lot of people in Washington apparently forgot how good Hillary Clinton is at not telling the truth. Wednesday, in her testimony before both the Senate and, later, the House, Clinton brilliantly fudged, dodged and filibustered. Of course, she's a pro. Clinton was slow-walking depositions, lawyering up and shifting blame when many of her questioners were still civilians down on the farm. Aided by a ridiculous format, she outfoxed most of the Republicans with ease. Meanwhile, the Democrats, almost uniformly, seemed singularly interested in celebrating Mrs. Clinton as a global diva who somehow manages to carry the burden of her awesomeness...
When did "hope and change" get traded in for "brass knuckles?" According to some--the same day President Obama was sworn in as the leader of the free world. This correspondent has difficulty disagreeing with that conclusion. This past week, the presumptive GOP nominee, Governor Mitt Romney, kept getting his hand slapped by syndicated media maven Michelle Malkin. Her continual beef with Governor Romney? "Stop saying President Obama's a nice guy." At the time I believed that Gov. Romney's attempt to stay above the normal pettiness of the election snark was well intended. I defended the strategy...
You do have something of a point. If you look at the earliest setup there were 26 senators and 69 representatives, a ratio of 2.5:1. Now (assuming we count DC as 2 senators and 1 rep) we have 102 to 436, a ratio of 4.3:1. So the relative weighting given to small states is much less than originally. CDs have been gerrymandered so very few are competitive. Would have to check how often presidential vote differs from representative vote but I suspect it isn't that often. Wouldn't we still be looking at a few "swing" CDs controlling presidential election?
\|Mustard-Crusted Roasted Chicken\| by Chef Shaya Klechevsky, At Your Palate A delicious chicken recipe that uses only Dijon mustard and flaky panko crumbs! 1 whole chicken (about 3 lbs), quartered Preheat oven to 400° F. Season chicken quarters on all sides with salt and pepper. In a large roasting pan, place the chicken pieces, skin-side up. Place inside the middle rack of the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove the roasting pan from the oven and pour out any juices from the chicken into a large bowl. Increase the heat in the oven to 500° F. Add the panko or cornflake crumbs to the bowl with the chicken juices and mix thoroughly. Lightly season with some freshly ground black pepper and a pinch or two of salt. With a pastry brush, brush on an even layer of Dijon mustard on the skin-side of all the chicken pieces. After the first layer has dried slightly from the heat of the chicken, add another layer of Dijon mustard. Sprinkle on and pat down the panko or cornflake crumbs on top of the mustard, carefully covering the entire chicken piece with the crumb mixture. Once all the pieces have been thoroughly covered, pat down the crumbs to make sure they stick to the surface. Place the roasting pan back into the middle rack of the oven and allow to cook for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the crust has slightly browned. Remove from the oven and place chicken pieces into a serving dish and serve Yield: 4 servings
JOJO. PH. FANBOY ♥ K I M H Y O Y E O N ♥ is my ULTIMATE KPOP GIRL BIAS period ♥ H Y O H U N N I E ♥ since 2009 till forever! ♥ B Y U N B A E K H Y U N ♥ is my ULTIMATE KPOP MALE BIAS period ♥ X I U H A N ♥ my number 1 OTP ~ yey! SNSD.EXO.KPOP & etc. i LOVE K P O P so much it would be a DREAM COME TRUE to SEE them in PERSON. but I WILL meet them SOMEDAY . (( saw HYOYEON . Jessica . BAEKHYUN . Chanyeol . Kris . Suho . Amber & Victoria already but i wanna see all SMTOWN family … )) EVERYTHING that is INTERESTING. i DO NOT know how to do GIFS and those wonderful PHOTOSHOP pictures so i just FOLLOW and APPRECIATE what people made and shared. i also DO NOT REBLOG everything I see sometimes i just LIKE the POST also I AM NOT the type WHO POSTS all the time coz i am a BORING person.ke-ke-ke so FOLLOW if you WANT ASK and be ANSWERED and ENJOY L I F E ! ♥ LIVE . LAUGH . LOVE ♥ Loving what Life is giving me I FOLLOW for 2 REASONS one. you are a BLOG about my BIAS or a KPOP blog that interests me. two.you INTEREST me so much that i CLICKED your FOLLOW button.
TOX-WASTECH's revolutionary, patented Modular Engineered Disposal System's Integrated Technology of Entombment (MED SITE) signals a long awaited breakthrough in hazardous and toxic waste disposal. The MED SITE is a state of the art, fully integrated and above ground entombment facility. Designed for 25 years of expansion, the completely self-contained entombment buildings are constructed of polymer lined, double reinforced concrete and are impervious to virtually any imaginable act of nature, including floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes. In fact, 'Rollerized' foundations enable the facilities to withstand a 5.5 Richter scale Each MED SITE has laboratories to process rapid analysis and sorting of Each interned container is continuously monitored by internal and remote computers, and in the unlikely event of fire or spillage, all buildings are equipped to provide an immediate and adequate safety World Class Aesthetics Unlike any disposal site in existence, MED SITE structures are engineered to harmonize with their surroundings. Their inviting appearance, a result of input from some of the world's foremost architects, resembles a small office complex, light manufacturing facility or warehouse, rather than a state-of-the-art hazardous waste facility. PROPRIETARY ENTOMBMENT CONTAINERS Individual containers, coated with a patented polymer, were developed exclusively and specifically for the entombment of waste material within the MED SITE facility. Toxi-Cube and Super-Cube The Toxi-Cube entombment container measures has a 330 gallon, or 1 ½ ton dry weight, capacity. Its load versatility, ease of waste collection and transport and low-cost manufacture make it ideal for national standardization. The Super-Cube is our largest entombment container, with a 40 cubic yard capacity. Whether for transport to a MED SITE or containment at another location, TWI will engineer a container or containment system for any specific
Tab Pro was developed by guitarists and for guitarists. We carefully studied each step of the song learning process and created the ultimate tool for that. — Tab Pro Team Learn from the best Tab Pro is famous for its simple, yet effective approach to song learning. Pick your favorite track from our huge catalog, switch to fullscreen and hit play to hear the sound of real instruments. Follow chord progression on a virtual fretboard. Practice with style and comfort Get down to practicing right away: choose which instrument part you'd like to master and put that track on solo. Loop a certain segment of the song to practice it over and over again until you're satisfied with the result. Use tempo control to build up your speed - start from half speed and then go all the way up to the original track tempo. Play it like a pro Now that you've mastered your part, it's time to play it using Tab Pro as a backing track. Once you've done with easier songs, try something more challenging. Pretty soon you'll realize that your guitar skill has improved and you can play songs off your favorite records as close to original as possible. Don't be afraid to improvise once you've nailed the basics! Get the most realistic sound possible. Use mp3 audio via goplayalong.com →
On January 16, 1863, Walt Whitman wrote a pained letter to his brother, Thomas Jefferson Whitman, in which he bemoaned the Union’s recent defeat at Fredericksburg as the most “complete piece of mismanagement perhaps ever yet known in the earth's wars.” While Whitman today is celebrated as one of America’s greatest poets, works like Leaves of Grass, penned in the 1850s, were seen as scandalous by an American reading public unready for Whitman’s unconventional lifestyle. An opponent of slavery, Whitman supported the Union with the poem Beat! Beat! Drums and volunteered as a nurse in army hospitals. After Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, Whitman penned Oh Captain, My Captain, eulogizing the President for having navigated the ship of state through the storm of war, only to meet a violent end.
The Neighbor Squirrel These busy fluffballs have lost their fear of most predators - and they help plant pecan trees. By Sheryl Smith-Rodgers Have you ever watched an eastern fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) bury an acorn or pecan? A nuzzle here, another there, then he hurriedly pushes the leaves and grass over the site before scampering up the closest tree. Minutes later, he's back with another nut. Over the course of three months, that industrious squirrel can bury several thousand pecans. Come winter, when food's scarce, he'll find them again with his excellent sense of smell. Some will escape his appetite, though, and sprout into saplings, which is how many native nut trees get planted. Eastern fox squirrels - the state's most common and wide-ranging squirrel and a popular game animal, too - occur in forests and riparian habitats. They also easily adapt to cities and neighborhoods, where they've lost most of their fear of natural predators. "Playing the call of a red-tailed hawk didn't phase squirrels on campus," reports Bob McCleery, a wildlife lecturer at Texas A&M University, who has studied urban squirrels in College Station. "When we played a coyote call in the Navasota river bottom, a squirrel immediately flattened itself in the crotch of a tree for a good five minutes." When agitated, fox squirrels - whose fur closely resembles that of a gray fox - bark and jerk their long, bushy tails, which they use for balance when scampering on utility lines and other high places. Tails provide warmth and protection, too. "In the summer, I've seen them lying down with their tails over their heads to block the sun," McCleery says.
\|Version 2 (modified by trac, 2 years ago)\| There is also an IRC channel, where people might be able to help out. Much of the 'live' development discussions also happen there. Before you start a new support query, make sure you've done the appropriate searching: - in the project's FAQ - in past messages to the Trac Mailing List - in the Trac ticket system, using either a full search or a ticket query. Please don't create a ticket in this Trac for asking a support question about Trac. Only use it when you face a real and new bug in Trac, and do so only after having read the NewTicketGuidelines?. The more a bug report or enhancement request complies with those guidelines, the higher the chances are that it will be fixed or implemented promptly!
Ticket #14618 (new request) gtkam - Requesting a new port to enhance existing libgphoto2 and gphoto2 packages \|Reported by:\|\|bcsi@…\|\|Owned by:\|\|macports-tickets@…\| \|Keywords:\|\|gtkam gphoto2 libgphoto2\|\|Cc:\|\|gui_dos@…\| I'd like to request that the gtkam program be ported to MacPorts: This is a GTK-based, GUI front-end to libgphoto2 and gphoto2, both of which I've successfully installed under Leopard using DarwinPorts / MacPorts. This program suite allows using a wide variety of digital cameras which are otherwise unsupported. The GUI front-end would greatly improve usability, as importing photos is a visual task. Download of gtkam 0.1.14 is available from:
Ticket #333 (closed defect: invalid) display:none breaks Xinha in Firefox \|Reported by:\|\|Alex\|\|Owned by:\|\|gogo\| \|Severity:\|\|major\|\|Keywords:\|\|Firefox display none\| If the Xinha editor is enclosed within a div, hiding and then displaying the div will break the editor - for example when using display: none and display:block to implement tabs. The easy solution is not to use tabs, or not to set the display to none, but sometimes that's not an option. 1 - write a page with a Xinha editor enclosed within a DIV called showhide 2 - add some links underneath the editor: 3 - load up the page in Firefox, and press the Hide link, followed by the Show link. In IE this'll work fine, but Firefox has trouble with it. An error is thrown by Firefox: NS_ERROR_NOT_INITIALISED. I've made some screenshots of the error, except I can't attach them here it seems. I think this is probably a problem with Firefox, and not Xinha, and I think the best workaround would be a re-initialise function that could be called when the div's display is set to block again. If more information is needed, don't hesitate to contact me at alexATmetacubecms.com
Thoughts on the Obamacare decision by the Supreme Court: Chief Justice John Roberts affirmed what we already knew, that Congress has the power to tax. With 70 percent of America disliking the individual mandate to buy health insurance, this awakes the sleeping giants who voted in 2010 and handed Democrats their historic losses. The bottom line is that with voters showing no IDs at the voting place, will voter fraud run rampant in the 2012 election in November? Voters, beware. This could very easily mean some very turbulent and possibly violent times ahead for the November elections. Voters, beware! Will America become a banana republic? My gut tells me that if President Barack Obama has his way, we will! Obama has followed the recipe of his mentor, Saul Alinsky (“Rules for Radicals” author), to a tee. To paraphrase: lie, lie and tell more lies — say whatever you need to attain power, and once you attain power, you can do what you want. Obama argued for two years that Obamacare was not a tax. Now that his law has been ruled constitutional as a tax, Obama happily declares victory. You cannot tell me as a constitutional attorney he did not plan it this way. This shows Obama to be the biggest liar as a president in the history of our nation. How very ironic that the Supreme Court also ruled the very same day, in a separate decision, that “to lie” is free speech and is constitutionally OK. Is he or is he not the most clever deceiver in the history of our country? Ironically, Alinsky wrote in the first pages of his book, “Rules for Radicals,” to not forget “the very first radical,” Lucifer — another great deceiver.
PayPal suspends WikiLeaks donations account Washington, December 4, 2010 Online payment service PayPal said it has suspended the WikiLeaks' account that the organization used to collect donations. US-based PayPal said in a statement that WikiLeaks, which this week released thousands of secret US diplomatic cables, had violated its policy. A posting on WikiLeaks' Twitter page said "PayPal bans WikiLeaks after US government pressure." A statement on the PayPal site said: "PayPal has permanently restricted the account used by WikiLeaks due to a violation of the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy, which states that our payment service cannot be used for any activities that encourage, promote, facilitate or instruct others to engage in illegal activity. We've notified the account holder of this action." PayPal is one of several ways that WikiLeaks takes in donations to finance its operations. On Friday, WikiLeaks directed readers to a web address in Switzerland after two US Internet providers dropped it in the space of two days. The Internet publisher directed users to www.wikileaks.ch after the wikileaks.org site on which it had published classified US government information vanished from view for about six hours.-Reuters More INTERNATIONAL NEWS Stories - 60 injured in US train crash - European car market ends losing streak - S&P reaffirms negative outlook on India rating - US consumer mood rises to new high - Turkey hails investment rating - Soul singer Candice Glover 'American Idol' - Investment flows to developing states to soar - Gold falls further in longest losing streak - Cyclone buffets Bangladesh coast, 6 dead - Tornadoes tear through Texas towns, 6 killed
KMNDZ (Johnny Rodriguez) Unverified Artist Portfolio If you are the artist, manufacturer, or venue/store represented by this portfolio, you can officially claim it, granting you exclusive control and enabling you to better feature your work and promote upcoming news & events. Until we finish automation for the verification process, please send an email to firstname.lastname@example.org from the official domain of the portfolio you would like to claim. This will speed up the process by helping us to verify your identity.
1st February 2013 It’s been a really hot day with no wind and I am sitting in a Foyer in a local Hotel bashing out my last emails and making my last calls as the weather looks good and I want to try and leave tomorrow if I can. The small problem is Tuesday and Wednesday when the weather turns nasty and blows in a more northerly direction, but if I can get out of here and anticipate this by heading off on a more southerly course, I think I’ll be ok. Another look at the weather files I’m being fed at midnight, then again in the morning will confirm the situation and exactly when I push off. Bremont Watches are the timekeeper and The Sun Newspaper are here along with Atlantic Campaigns so we can get an official start time and photographs. All so exciting….and if the truth be known, I’m starting to get a bit twitchy. Tonight, I’ll have my last meal in San Sebastien and my next proper meal will be somewhere in Barbados! In between time, it’s all down to getting into it and rowing for about 40 days or so. My heart felt thanks to those out here with me giving much support and to my wife and children who are right behind me and looking forward to seeing me again back in England in a few months time when I return home. Another up date on the situation when I’m sure what is happening at this end, then hopefully I’ll get on with my challenge and you can read about it as we move on. Bye for now
Ahmed Qurei (AA) Dr. Saeb Erekat (SE) Tzipi Livni (TL) Udi Dekel (UD) Tal Becker (TB) TL: [Discussion of internal Israeli party politics] Kadima primaries will be between September 11 – 19. We will know the exact date on July 10. I said it can’t be around the 18th because that is when the UNGA meets, and we need to be there to show achievements. The competition will start after that time [ie the primary]. AA: I would vote for you … TL: Between Mofaz and me you don’t have much of a dilemma. The question is whether “he” will participate. He recently said [in Hebrew] “many will not be surprised by my decision” – which can mean anything. [TL discussed previous experience with Likud, particularly in 1999, with Sharon, Shitrit and Olmert]. Back to business… AA: We are meeting to evaluate what we have done and discuss how to proceed. TL: Do we work from the Saeb – Tal draft or by committees? AA: We go over issues and repeat the positions. TB: Do we go by committee or by issue? SE: By issues is best. TB: Let us start the preamble and general provisions. We put aside certain disagreements – in the preamble the “Jewish / Palestinian right to self-determination”. TL: I believe these can be solved once we get to a general agreement. TB: The general provisions are not controversial. On borders, we have not drafted. We have focused on the map and now the field trips. TL: We know the gaps, and now we are seeing whether we can minimize them – looking at the blocs and how we can relate that to swaps and also deal with the safe passage from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip. AA: [to TB] is this a joint document? TB: It’s what we have drafted. TL: So, on borders, let’s start with your position … AA: No, we need to go back to general things. We need to state the rules we agreed: nothing is agreed until everything is agreed; we will deal with all the issues and not postpone anything; there will be no negotiations through the media… TL: Except by your infrastructure committee head – in French. SE: He didn’t know … [discussion on public statements] AA: We need a comprehensive agreement, not a declaration of principles, or a framework, and not provisional borders. The negotiations are simultaneous with meetings on the implementation of the Road Map – on both sides, we on security on you on the settlement freeze. TL: Yes and with the implementation itself. You are talking about things that we postponed. AA: I am speaking about what we agreed. To continue: the meetings between Olmert and Abu Mazen to follow up and support the negotiations … TL: And they follow up closely … AA: Trilateral meetings with the US. TL: We said whenever they want—but we never agreed that trilateral meetings were part of the process. AA: I don’t want to embarrass you with the Americans. TL: When they ask we obey but not as part of an understanding. Obama is coming at the end of July [side discussion on Obama and potential meetings with both sides] AA: We also agreed for both sides to start drafting. TL: That they would draft what they can. As for the agreement itself, as I said in Berlin, it should provide for the interests of each side – with the necessary detail that this requires – in a manner that minimizes friction and problems. AA: Agreement needs to be clear – we don’t want to go to arbitration … it also needs timetables. TL: So this is simultaneous with the Road Map implementation, and after we reach agreement or treaty, then we start negotiations on implementation … AA: So, for example, if there is agreement on dismantling a certain settlement, the implementation will deal with withdrawal, how long, phases – all this can be discussed. TL: [hands over Chart entitled “Peace Process – Time Line” to AA] AA: And we have the terms of reference: international legitimacy; Security Council resolutions 242, 338, resolution 194 … TL: Will not agree to 194 … AA: The Arab Peace Initiative; the Road Map; and international law. TL: I want to ask you: we’ve had these discussions before Annapolis, this is taking us back. We are now drafting – at the end we can go back to these. AA: But you asked us to evaluate. TL: But you are going back … SE: We are just citing the things we have put down. TL: But it will make it look like we disagree on terms of reference. AA: This applies to your approach to borders, where you said the baseline is facts on the ground – you don’t recognize the 67 borders. TL: We are now looking at what we have and where are the gaps. Without writing this down you know we are working according to 242 and 338. We are not talking about giving you all of 67, but when you look at the facts on the ground and the discussion on swaps, it is based on it. And we cannot accept 194. AA: You know how many refugees there are? You will accept 194. TB: 4 million. AA: Now it’s 6 million. The API is important [cites language]. TL: We are in the middle of negotiations … AA: I am just stating our position. TL: You are taking us back to pre-Annapolis. At the end, it can be phrased in any way. We are past that – I know that as part of the agreement you need the Arab Peace Initiative … to get the Arabs on board. I can understand that. This is something that can be dealt with in the end. So let’s go on to the next item. AA: Territory, borders: Our position is the 1967 line – the Green Line -- the occupation that started in 1967. The West Bank and Gaza and one territorial unity, including Jerusalem, the Dead Sea, the Jordan Valley, and the No Man’s Land. West Bank and Gaza must be linked by a safe passage that is permanent, secured, and without any control or intervention by Israel. So the basis of the negotiations in 67; any modification must be minor and discussed as swap on the basis of equal quality and quantity. We do not accept the settlement blocs, but can study the case of Jews who wish to stay and live under Palestinian law. TL: I have a bad feeling, because we start from the beginning. We are making a mistake. Now you don’t even want to say “minor” – your map, for example, 1.9%. The idea is not to start with basic points. I know your position… AA: I am afraid you forget. TL: Believe me I want to, but I can’t. This makes me want to go back to my position at the beginning. AA: Did you change? It is the same. 7.3% -- the same map. TL: This was reached after several discussions. We did not enter the negotiation with 7.3%. We discussed what is needed… My concerns, our concerns (both) are internal and with the international community. We both want an agreement reached. If I knew that we’re close to the end of the process, and a last compromise is needed, knowing it’s the end of the conflict, it’s different. Same with you, you could make a last compromise, for example more than 1.9%. Both of us don’t want to be without and agreement, but having made a compromise. So don’t go back to positions that we passed in the understanding. The 7.3% offer by Olmert is the most generous, and will be perceived by Israelis as the most fair. TL: Because it is almost equal. AA: The 5%? TL: I know it is important for you to keep the number to a minimum. AA: We have no problem with swaps, but the 7.3 position just does not allow a state to survive, and it takes all around Jerusalem, and gives to the south of the West Bank and next to Gaza. TL: Let’s ask from TB or UD or SE to assess where we stand. TB: We did not mean to assess, but to evaluate where we stand in the committees, to look at what is happening in each committee and see if there is something else we can start drafting or working on. AA: [re swaps] so for an area in Sheikh Jarrah, I have to see and equivalent area. TB: This is about making progress on issues on the table … TL: [re 7.3%] This is the offer. [adding to TB] Se we know where each sides stands. And for example on the safe passage, to identify a list of things – other articles in a future agreement. AA: So where do we concentrate? TL: One is things we know where we stand. Two is things we need to work on. So on security we know your position, international force, no Israeli presence – we need to continue working. AA: On refugees… TL: We have a gap on mechanism; the wording – for you “responsibility,” for us “suffering”; and return. TB: We meet on Wednesday to continue exchange of drafts. We are waiting for Palestinian response to our last draft. UD: Water. There will be an expert committee to investigate and come back to us. SE: They will be meeting on Sunday. You have a paper from us on an experts committee on water, so cut the red tape, let’s move to collecting all the required data. AA: Why don’t they meet earlier? UD: It’s hard to convene people, scheduling… [Discussion on Fadel Kawash being in Cyprus; discussion on security experts: Hazem Atallah away in Berlin and Amos Gilad sick in hospital]. TL: Maybe SE and UD can sit on security. Without Hazem or Amos. AA: Hazem is back. SE: I am really worried about security. It is the backbone for both sides – the US has three generals here… TL: Maybe I should sit on it [security meeting] AA: Let SE and UD meet and discuss the paper. See what is agreed and not. TL: You are meeting anyway. See if Amos and Hazem can attend. Next is settlements. TB: We agreed that SE and I will draft something… AA: This is part of territory … TB: Eventually – the article refers to evacuation, time line, [unclear] “furnished or not” – these are arrangements regardless where the border is. Then we have the safe passage. TB: Waiting for response from SE. SE: Five issues will be decided. TB: There is the issue of the border regime and the passages – this is not just security. TL: Write it down as an issue. We’ll see where it will be. SE: We are one team; it doesn’t matter. TL: Regardless we need to define where it will be discussed. SE: On refugees, as I said to Condoleezza Rice and to you, there is a serious Jordanian concern on compensation. AA: Can they agree instead of ‘compensation’ to ‘assistance’ … SE: They won’t accept. TB: That’s our proposal. TL: We have a problem with the infrastructure committee. SE: Muhammad Shtayyeh and Hazai are meeting next week; after that we can bring them to AA and TL. AA: Muhammad is angry because you refuse to give an answer on Qalandia airport. UD: We told him, as we see it, this is not part of the committee. It is part of the passages. SE: No it’s for the plenary. TL: On to environment… [SE and UD agree it is going well]. SE: We can start drafting once they have more meetings [SE noted and protested the lack of permits for 5 experts from Gaza to attend the workshop on environment]. TL: State to state. A good meeting yesterday on health … SE: Yes. We meet again on the 8th: tourism, agriculture and health. TB: On health we can start drafting. AA: This is a mistake – tourism should be in the economic committee. [discussion on placement of issues in committees] UD: On legal … TL: Can you start drafting? TB: Yes. The most controversial issues are going to be dealt with in other committees. TL: Culture of Peace is complete. Already written. Prisoners: [??] met today … AA: Your prisoner release to Hizbollah and Hamas – how many Palestinians to Hizbollah? Famous leaders? TL: To Hizbollah – over my dead body. I fought it yesterday, and only agreed after Ofer Dekel assured the Palestinians were few and not important. That was my condition. [Discussion on prisoner exchange]. I raised yesterday what you [AA] said in Berlin. When we need to release prisoners, we need to do it with the moderates – otherwise it sends the message that only way to release prisoners is by kidnapping soldiers … AA: Can AM expect 1000 released? TL: No. Let’s see. Did AM raise it with Olmert? SE: And I raise it now with you. This is an important issue. I just met with families of prisoners, and this is very important. TL: The decision is not up to the committee, Abdel Razeq and Blass – it’s a political decision. I am thinking … can we do something that relates to a change on the ground, so it can be our “excuse” – let’s invent something. SE: You used “benchmarks” in Berlin. So let’s invent something – how about we are in this political process, as part of the process. TL: How about a link to the situation in Jenin and Shechem [Nablus] – areas with greater Palestinian security control. Can we release to those areas? [Discussion on criteria for release, numbers, lists, Hamas list]. TL: Just throwing ideas: let’s assume Hamas asked for a list – we release some to them and some … SE: Don’t link us. It is time to release prisoners as part of the political process. TL: If I give you “heavy” ones, I may then need to give Hamas “heavier” ones. AA: You can release some to AM before Hamas, and some after. TL: Most of the “big fishes” are on the Hamas list. SE: Hamas is doing that to show they are more responsible for the people than Fatah. AA: [Refers to an article by ? in the Israeli press] It argued that Israel responds more to terror. This is what you are doing. TL: In Israeli society, there is a strong feeling about the soldier in the hands of Hamas. AA: There are, daily, soldiers everywhere in the West Bank that can be kidnapped… you don’t want that to change. TL: This is perceived as a weakness by some in the Arab World, but we Israelis act like a big family – some perceive it as responding only to terror. AA: Due to the continuous requests of AM, and to move the process forward, and since we are now enforcing security and the rule of law, you must release a certain number of prisoners. TL: I am trying to think of an “event”. SE: Suggestion: I know the complexity of the lists, and the price will be the price. But if you want to tell Palestinians that is not the only way you function, look at the list of pre-Oslo prisoners. After the date of Shalit [release] we can have an event. TL: I prefer to release for the peace process than on a holiday. SE: This is a lose-lose situation – while Gaza looks ‘protected’ by Hamas, there are Israeli raids in Ramallah. What is the balance of having us irrelevant? If you want to sign an agreement – you want to make us weak… Now Manar TV is broadcasting your own reports with subtitles about how Israel was humiliated. The prisoner issue – Barghouti -- was raised by AM in every meeting with Olmert. So instead of Hamas releasing Marwan Barghouthi, have AM do it – the same with the pre 93 prisoners. Like AA’s idea: before and after. TL: I understand that the Tahdi’a weakens you – and we agreed with Egypt that Rafah crossing will open only with PA. AA: There are reports that Hamas is involved. TL: No. Maybe we can connect Gilad Shalit, as we have done to Rafah, and as opening Rafah is connected to you – you get credit. That way you get credit for release of prisoners. AA: We ask for prisoner release and area C… TL: I wrote a letter to Barak on the issue in Abu Dis and he understands it’s serious. AA: We have a lot of people wanting to invest – we have the labour force. So if we have areas we an offer to investors that we be a great help [discussion on investors and lack of space in Abu Dis, Ramallah] If there are places that can be agreed on, give them the facility to work. TL: This is something that Tony Blair has raised. [UD made a reference to Tarqumia]. SE: Back to Shalit and Rafah Crossing: Do not link Shalit to Rafah. If I am negotiating opening Rafah and saying Hamas has nothing to do with the arrangement – think of the consequences of linking it to Shalit. Zahhar goes on Al-Jazeera and says if I send a letter to Egypt the crossing will be open. [Further discussion on area C – Abu Dis and industrial estate in Jericho] TL: There is another issue … “this city”, and then we can talk about implementation, and what we called “steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.” AA: I want to put to you our position on Jerusalem. TL: Since I cannot refer to it I wont say anything. I am going to just listen. [TL receives message that bill got preliminary approval in Knesset that would require referendum on giving up territory annexed by Israel]. AA: Will the Israeli pubic vote in favour of returning the Golan? TL: No. Even though the Golan is not part of what we call the “Land of Israel” the majority of Israelis will not give it back to Syria. This law applies also to Jerusalem. AA: Jerusalem is part of the territory occupied in 67. We can discuss and agree on many issues relating to Jerusalem: religious places, infrastructure, municipal function, economic issues, security, settlements. However, the municipal borders for us are 67. This is the basis, and this is where we can start. TL: Houston, we have a problem. AA: Silence is agreement … SE: It is no secret that on our map we proposed we are offering you the biggest Yerushalayim in history. But we must talk about the concept of Al-Quds. TL: Do you have a concept? SE: Yes. We have a detailed concept – but we will only discuss with a partner. And it’s doable. TL: No, I can’t. TB: On process, we will continue drafting on settlements, refugees, end of claims, and culture of peace. The next topics we will start drafting are legal, environment and state to state – health. Water will meet on Sunday and perhaps we can start soon. TL: Next meeting? [Discussion – dates proposed are either Thursday July 3 in the morning, or Wednesday July 9).
Everyone should know that "Deutschland" means Germany in German. Germany is one of the most popular tourist destinations at this time. Consider Accor Hotels when choosing your next hotel in Germany. Accor offers great hotels in all major German cities. hotel reservation, hotel,hotels,hotels deutschland,hotel booking,hotel online,german hotels,accor
Washington D.C. RestaurantsSatiate your cravings and appetite with Washington D.C.’s treasure trove of marvelous restaurants! There are many excellent restaurants in the Capital City and no matter what you’re craving, you’re sure to find something enjoyable. Whether they're around the corner from your Washington D.C. hotel or not, you’ll find upscale restaurants that offer the best in fine dining and bargain eateries that deliver great food that sure to fit you budget! Washington D.C. Insiders Can’t Keep This Secret Citronelle is a favorite of the locals and mixes classic French cooking with a modern California sensibility. Some of the favorites here include the three-cheese soufflé that is served in a cremini-mushroom soup and the thick cuts of to-die-for duck served with a cinnamon and port-wine sauce. The entrees at this restaurant are pricey and the atmosphere is formal, so make sure you dress up for the occasion. And don’t forget to bring your wallet -- you’re going to need it. A three-course dinner costs $95 per person. The CityZen restaurant located in the grand Mandarin Oriental Hotel serves some of the best modern cuisine in the city. Some of the best dishes here are the lamb’s brain (don’t wince!) served with cranberry beans and pickled green tomatoes, and the veal rib eye that has been roasted with cauliflower. Affordable Washington D.C. Restaurants For travelers who cannot afford the high-end luxury of Citronelle and CityZen, no worries; there are plenty of affordable and tasty options in Washington D.C. Vacationers with a craving for good pub food and beer can drop into Eamonn’s. Most dishes are under $8, and the restaurant stays open until 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The fish and chips (that’s French fries) are quite tasty and cannot be missed. The Taqueria Nacional on 400 N. Capitol Street is perfect for diners who want authentic Mexican dishes at reasonable prices. Some of the favorites here include the ground buffalo tortillas and the freshly made salsa. Reservations are not needed. This fine establishment is perfect for those who want to eat and run! Romantic Washington D.C. Restaurants The Capitol City has many fine restaurants where a couple can hide away and enjoy the food, atmosphere and each other’s company. The Iron Gate restaurant is a former stable that has been converted into a restaurant that specializes in American and Mediterranean cuisine. The ambience at this restaurant is perfect for a romantic dinner and there is even the opportunity, depending on the weather, to dine outside. The Two Quail restaurant is a favorite of couples who love the private spaces inside of the three Victorian townhouses in which the restaurant is located. Some of the favorites here include the phyllo salmon in champagne sauce and golden trout stuffed with artichokes and spinach. Carriage rides around the city are available after dinner, but remember to book well in advance to reserve your spot! The restaurants during your Washington D.C. travel are sure to satisfy your needs. Travelers who are planning on dining at some of the city’s choicest spots should call ahead to get reservations. The sooner you know that you want to dine an upscale eatery, the better your chances are of experiencing culinary ecstasy on your Washington D.C. vacation!
The 19th hole, is generally the name reserved for the club-house, but in this instance, rather fittingly describes a mini-golf course. There are two branches - one is an outdoor course at Blue Lagoon, located on Northway just south of the Umgeni River and this indoor course, which also has pool tables and video games with a ten-pin bowling facility. There are two 18 hole putting courses for 'crazy golf' with undulating 'fairways'. A little tacky, but an option for humid or wet days as the center is air conditioned. - Credit Cards Accepted: mastercard, visa
This restaurant can be rather hard to find; the entrance is a narrow, green door which leads directly into a welcoming atmosphere, popular both with locals and tourists. The service is prompt, friendly and attentive. The set menu is written up on the wall and the dishes change according to season and are made with fresh ingredients. The vegetable and salad starters are particularly good. There is also a good choice of Tuscan and Italian wines. - Open Hours: Monday to Sunday from 12:00 PM to 02:30 PM, Monday to Sunday from 07:00 PM to 11:00 PM - Credit Cards Accepted: visa, mastercard, amex, discover - Nearest Train: ATAF 6, 11, 36, 37, 68, A
Secwepemc Museum and Native Heritage Park : Nearby tourist sites Secwepemc Museum and Native Heritage Park Secwepemc Museum and Native Heritage Park : Michelin's recommendations This heritage park has a small museum that describes how the native Shuswap people lived in a sometimes harsh environment. Nearby, an extensive reconstruction of a traditional pit village holds several kekulis, the earth-roofed pit houses that sheltered the Shuswap in winter. - Address : 355 Yellowhead Hwy. CDN - Kamloops BC V2H 1H1V2H1H1Kamloops - Phone : 2508289801 - Website : http://www.secwepemc.org/museum - Prices : $6 Opening hours : - Open Jun-Aug Mon-Fri 8:30am-8pm, weekends 10am-8pm. Rest of the year Mon-Fri 8:30am-4:30pm; Closed major holidays.
I am looking for a flight search engine that includes a luggage calculator in the price. I recently booked a trip and had the choice between two carriers at the time, and not feeling very stupid I chose the cheaper one. The crux is that after I had paid I found out that the more expensive airline had vastly different rules for baggage. In fact it allowed twice the amount of baggage without extra charge. After having found the price for extra luggage very extreme I had already decided I will send the extra baggage as separate freight, because the speed is not important. But of course had I known this from the start I could have saved myself a lot of work and money. I am aware that this information can be found on respective carrier website, but even within a single company it can differ from route to route. Would be handy if I didn't have to try and calculate it all myself. So my question is simply, is there any flight search engine/price comparison site where I can also enter my total baggage needs to have it included in the price comparison between carriers?
The Palazzo and The Venetian in Las Vegas became InterContinental Alliance Resorts on April 1, 2011. These two adjacent Las Vegas Strip resorts are currently the only two hotels in the newly created branding alliance within the InterContinental Hotels Group. I booked a room for Friday night, April 22, 2011 at The Palazzo using a Priority Club Points & Cash reward night at 30,000 points + $60 cash. The room rates for that date were $199 for a King Luxury Suite or $229 for a Bella Suite with two Queen beds. Priority Club let me book either room type with an award. The paid rates were $30 more for a View room in these two hotel categories. My sister pointed out that most Las Vegas strip hotels charge more for two beds than for one King bed. I had never noticed this before since I am 99% a King. This is part one of a two part post on The Palazzo Las Vegas Resort. The Palazzo Resort Basic Room Type – Luxury or Bella Suite Check-in at The Palazzo: Actual check-in time was listed as 3:00pm on my reservation. I arrived at the hotel around 2:00pm. The parking garage has one set of elevators that take you directly to the lobby area with hotel registration desks. Another set of elevators from the garage take you close to the hotel room floor entrance and its sets of room floor elevators. The hotel rooms are located on the opposite side of the casino from the Palazzo front entrance and registration desks. There is a dedicated check-in desk for Priority Club Elite members. My check-in agent was charmingly friendly and seemed genuine in her conversational interest while setting up the hotel stay. She welcomed me as a Priority Club Platinum elite and said I was receiving an upgrade to a view room on the 32 nd floor. There are three sets of room elevators for floors up to 23, 23-36 and 37-50. Late check-out at 1 pm rather than the normal time of 11am was offered as a complimentary benefit. Royal Ambassadors have their own separate registration lounge room at The Palazzo. I received a Bella View suite on Floor 32 with my Priority Club Points & Cash room. The room rate for this last minute reward night was $290 for room with tax. My 30,000 Priority Club points were worth $230 or $7.67 per 1,000 points. That is why buying points at $6 per 1,000 is a good idea when you get the chance with Points & Cash rewards. $7.67 per 1,000 points is actually a low redemption value for my Priority Club reward stays where I generally spend points for $10+ per 1,000 points. The primary reason I went with points was to avoid spending $230 more for the hotel night. I burned points to save the cash for other hotel stays I need to make in May 2011 that will earn back far more than 30,000 Priority Club points. There is a mandatory Palazzo Resort fee of $17.00 + 12% tax = $19.04 per day. This fee includes free wi-fi and access to Canyon Ranch Spa fitness rooms. There is even a rock-climbing wall in the spa. This is also a location where breakfast can be purchased at a café far less crowded than the pool area or casino locations. There was a set of coupons provided at check-in which appeared to be geared for Priority Club members. My sister who booked a rate not using Priority Club had different coupons for her stay. The Palazzo discount coupons provided with my Priority Club reward night stay had the following offers: Prestige at The Palazzo Prestige at The Palazzo is a nightly paid upgrade for an additional $100 that includes: Basically Prestige is an extra $93 after tax over the otherwise mandatory resort fee of $17 + tax. For two people this could be a decent value for the additional food and drinks. Complimentary continental breakfast in the Floor 23 lounge is perhaps a $25 per day value. The Grand Lux in the Palazzo casino has many more food selections with a buffet breakfast at $15.95 per person. This is a relatively good deal at Grand Lux dining room for a Las Vegas Strip resort breakfast. Drinks are $6 beer and $12 cocktails in most places around the Palazzo Resort, so 3 hours of free drinks could be a significant value depending on your intake. Evening appetizers and dessert are probably another $25 to $30 value. Prestige at the Palazzo for $100 + $12 tax = $112 per day is a reasonable price for 23 rd floor lounge access if you are staying as a couple and will be hanging around the hotel for the free food and drinks. Most of the other amenities like wi-fi and fitness room access are provided with the regular daily resort fee. The room view overlooked the pools, but from the 32 nd floor the pools are rather far away. Straight ahead window view was Treasure Island and that hotel had an 8:30 pm pirate ship battle and performance. Again, this was far away for seeing the people performing in the show so our visual attention focused on the overall light effect, fireballs and sinking ship. Hundreds of people were gathered on the sidewalks watching the show outside Treasure Island. The lights at night stretching across the valley are pretty to watch. The entry-rate standard room category at The Palazzo is either a Luxury Suite (King bed) or Bella Suite (two Queen Beds). My family had one of each room type for this stay and both rooms were identical with the exception of the beds. These are large rooms at 720 square feet. Most commonly a luxury class hotel room is about 500 to 600 sq. ft. at the entry level room category. The Bella Suite has two Queen beds. Good quality pillows and linens make these comfortable beds. Each bed has a seat at the foot of the bed. There was seating for at least ten people in the room. The bed section of the suite has a wall-mounted 42-inch TV. The Sitting Room The couch is extra large and contains a pull-out bed. The TV in the sitting room seemed slightly smaller, perhaps 37-inch. This piece of furniture also had stocked electronic mini-bar and room safe. A small round table with three chairs in front of the window provided a place to eat or sit. Two stairs between beds and sitting room could be an issue for some guests. The bathroom is a large space at 130 square feet with separate shower and bathtub, dual sinks, a separate toilet room and stand alone vanity table. Separate shower and tub. Dual sinks and just outside this picture on the right is a wall mounted TV. Separate toilet room. My overall impression is the size of the room at The Palazzo makes this hotel a great choice if you want room to move about in your room at a price that is likely cheaper than upgrading to a room this size at most of the other Las Vegas Strip hotels. Part Two at the Palazzo Las Vegas will describe the seven or so pools, Canyon Ranch Spa, and a couple of dining and drinking places. Coming soon. Posted Apr 27 2011 4:20PM
Holland America says the vessel, the 1,916-passenger Westerdam, received a mild indentation during the Tuesday incident, which occurred in Yakutat Bay -- the waterway leading to the famed Hubbard Glacier. The line says winds were high at the time. "The hull was not breached, and the ship continued on its published itinerary as planned," Holland America says in a statement sent to USA TODAY. ALSO ONLINE: Cunard's Queen Mary 2 used to smuggle illegal immigrants ALSO ONLINE: Disney says new ship selling fast The line says upcoming cruises will sail as scheduled. The U.S. Coast Guard says it is investigating the incident. In a press release issued Wednesday, the agency said the damage to the ship is approximately 15 feet below the waterline. Both the agency and Holland America say there were no injuries during the incident and no release of oil or other pollutants. The Coast Guard says it met the Westerdam on Wednesday in Sitka, Alaska. The ship is scheduled to stop today in Ketchikan, Alaska. Hubbard Glacier is the longest tidewater glacier in North America and a common stop for cruise ships sailing in Alaska. Cruise Loggers, share your thoughts below.
Offers a wide range of fruits and vegetables, pick your own strawberries, raspberries and pumpkins on a \"pickers ... More Berry Ranch, The Offers a wide range of fruits and vegetables, pick your own strawberries, raspberries and pumpkins on a \"pickers hayride\" or they can pick them for you along with asparagus, sweet corn, tomatoes, melons, potatoes, and winter squash. Picnic tables, antique machinery and a petting shed are available. U-Pick available by appointment. This entertainment complex is becoming the state's best large scale concert venue. Rock 'n' roll acts KISS, Korn, Neil Young, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Pearl Jam have all strutted their stuff at this 13,100 seat cavernous arena. ... With more than 200 bird species on record and over 11,000 acres of space, this refuge is a wildlife lovers' dream. A 45 minute drive from Boise, the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge includes Lake Lowell, which is a ... If you're open to some great American food at America's Diner, we're open for you. Come and see us for your fill of, well, whatever it is you're in the mood for. Fluffy pancakes, crispy bacon, a juicy burger ... *Terms & Conditions: Savings calculation is based on Flight + Hotel vacation package bookings for a 3 month period for 2 adults with a 2+ night length of stay compared to price of the same components if booked separately during same period. Savings will vary based on origin/destination, length of trip, travel dates and selected travel supplier(s). Savings not available on all packages.
Cambodia/Lao Border to the Bolaven Plateau and Savannakhet: A Bike Touring Route Southern Laos isn’t as visited as in the north but it still has its fair share of attractions. If you’re looking to get off the beaten track, sip some fantastic coffee and swing in a hammock with palm trees swaying overhead, this is the route for you. Although much of your riding is through rural villages, you’ll never be alone because there are always plenty of kids ready to wave and give you a ‘sabaydee’ as you pass. Most of this route is on paved roads but even the dirt stretches should be passable in the rainy season, if a bit messy. For information on getting to the Lao border from Cambodia, click here. For city maps of destinations on this route, check out Travelfish. They have such good maps we didn’t bother making our own! Duration: Eight days riding plus at least another couple thrown in for lounging. Two weeks will let you take it really easy and do some trekking around the waterfalls. Terrain: A bit of everything. Route 13 starts out flat but rolling hills start to appear around Champasak. There’s a solid 50km climb to Paksong, with the glory of the descent the next day to the waterfalls at Tadlo. Aside from around Paxse and Savannakhet, traffic is very light. Accommodation: Plenty of budget hotels and a couple chances to splurge as well. Only the stretch before Savannakhet might require camping. Highlights: Hammock lounging on Don Det, laid back Champasak, coffee tasting in Paksong and the waterfalls at Tadlo. Lowlights: Sometimes monotonous scenery and hot riding on Route 13. Double pricing is also starting to appear, even in small towns, so come prepared to ask the price before you buy and bargain where necessary. Tips: Leave lots of time to hang out in beautiful places. Change lots of money at banks when you see them because the rate in hotels isn’t good. Unless you enter Pakse, there are no ATMs until you reach Savannakhet. Section 1 – Lao-Cambodia Border to Si Phan Don (Don Det and Don Khon) (21km) Getting into Lao from Cambodia is a reasonably straight-forward affair, provided you have your Lao visa in your passport. They aren’t issued at the border. Have dollar bills ready for the annoying but inevitable bribe. One dollar per passport should secure an entry stamp. The Lao officers won’t leave their hammock unless you pay. A sign advertises unspecified overtime charges for arriving outside of the 08:00-16:00 working hours and on Saturday and Sunday. It’s anyone’s guess how much overtime will cost you. Once through Lao immigration, Highway 7 becomes Highway 13. It’s the same deal: a wide, flat and sealed road with hardly any traffic and little shade. There are plenty of kids to practice your ‘sabaydee’ greeting on. You’ll pass through a few villages and signs for waterfalls before the turnoff for Nakasang at the 18km mark. There’s also a sign for a ferry to Don Det at the turnoff. (Another sign just before the Nakasang road also advertises a ferry to Don Det. We didn’t check it out.) It’s 3km to Nakasang village and the pier, where you’ll see a booth selling tickets over to Don Det Island for 20,000 kip. You can pay in baht or dollars if you don’t have kip yet. Loading your precious bicycle onto a narrow boat can be quite the experience but try not to panic. You’ll be fine and the ticket fellows have done it before. Once on Don Det, take your pick of a string of riverside bungalows for 15,000-20,000 kip each. The beds are hard but the hammocks are soft. There are a couple shops on the island but predictably the selection is limited and prices are higher than on the mainland. It might be an idea to pick up some snacks before leaving Nakasang. After a tough couple of days, kick back in your hammock and rest those muscles. You deserve it! When you feel like moving again, take your bike for an excursion across the rail bridge (9,000 Kip for a day pass) and to the waterfalls on Don Khon Island. You can easily do this in an afternoon and be back in your hammock for sunset. Don Khon Island has more accommodation if you don’t like what you see on Don Det. Section 2 – Island hopping from Don Det to Don Khong via Don Som (24km) Enough lounging in hammocks and drinking beer with the backpacking crowd? It’s time to island hop to Don Khong. First though, do any internet tasks and change any money you might need. Both are better value on Don Det than Don Khong. When you’re ready, drive to the pier at the north end of Don Det and get a local ferry just across the river to Don Som (10,000 kip for you and your bike). This is a completely untouristed island. It’s quite the adventure as you roll off the ferry and onto a tiny track running north towards Don Khong. The track twists and turns its way across the island, going from the west bank where you arrive, over to the east bank and back again before finally dropping you at another ferry pier for the ride to Don Khong. You’ll see plenty of rice fields, water buffalo, a couple temples and many children and adults saying ‘sabaydee’ and yelling ‘falang’ as you appear. You’ll have to ask directions a few times when the track splits to find out which one is the way to Don Khong. It’s not always obvious but the locals are only too happy to help. After about 16km the track splits three ways. Go to the left, behind a few houses, and you’ll find a fellow who will take you across for 7,000 Kip a person, bike included. Although it’s a short journey, crossing Don Som will likely take at least a couple hours because the track is quite narrow. In the wet season it will be muddy in places but should be no problem to pass. Don Khong greets you with paved roads and 24-hour electricity. Keep to the eastern side of the island and you’ll eventually run into the string of guesthouses. Watch on your right for a ferry dock, three kilometers from the town centre. Penny pinchers can get back to the mainland from here for 7,000 kip – less than what the boats at the landing outside the guesthouses will ask. Room prices are relatively high on Don Khong and we preferred the scenery and atmosphere on Don Det. Still, there are some nice temples to visit on Don Khong and stopping here makes the next day’s journey more managable. We visited nearly every guesthouse in town and concluded that the Mekong Guesthouse has the best budget buy at 30,000 kip for a double fan room with shared bathroom but there’s a view only of the adjacent building and it’s a hike to the toilets. Across the street is V Mela Guesthouse (where we stayed) with nice rooms in a garden setting for 50,000 kip. Pon’s Guesthouse is central and has rooms with ensuite bathroom for 60,000 Kip. We can recommend Pon’s restaurant. TV and aircon anywhere will cost at least 100,000 kip. If you decide to visit Don Khong directly, skipping Don Det and Don Khon, then you can save money by taking the local ferry service. Do not take the turnoff marked Don Khong but one just before, marked Ban Hart and Ban Khinak. Follow the paved road until you meet the ferry pier and you can go across for 7,000 kip and be dropped off just south of where the guesthouses are. It’ll cost you more if you take the road marked Don Khong. Section 3 – Don Khong to Champasak (115km) Hop in a boat to get off Don Khong. The boats near the guesthouses will cost you more but using the local ferry pier will add about 8km to your day by the time you backtrack to the pier, out to the main road and then back to the Don Khong turnoff where you’d come out if you used the central dock. We used the local service and had a mediocre breakfast of pho (noodle soup) and coffee in the first village as we got off the boat. It might be better just to get something on Don Khong. Once you leave the pier area, there aren’t any chances to get breakfast, beyond maybe picking up a bunch of bananas, for some time. There are a few small shops but the next restaurant of any description appears 30km down the line. There are drinks stalls around 50km into your day and a reasonable choice of roadside snack food and restaurants another 20km further on. In general there aren’t a lot of places to pick up food on this route. On the other hand, the road climbs and falls only gently in places and it’s well paved so you can make good time. With an early start, energetic cyclists can speed through the mostly flat road (there are a couple gentle hills) to reach Ban Thang Beng (Phiafay on road markers) for a late lunch. You’ll have about 90km on the clock by now so you should be hungry! A fine bowl of pho can be had here for 10,000 kip at a roadside restaurant. There are a few eateries to choose from and even a guesthouse if you’re feeling faint. Most of your work is done by now. Carry on until kilometer 31 on the road markers for the Wat Phu turnoff. Champasak is not listed on the sign. The road leads to the ferries that will take you over the Mekong for 10,000 kip each. Turn left from the ferry dock to get into Champasak, which is little more than a quiet village with a long string of guesthouses. We stayed at Vong Paseud, right at the end of the town on the left hand side. They have clean rooms with ensuite for just 30,000 kip, a reasonably priced restaurant on the water and you can park your bike outside the door to your room. It’s run by a very cherry fellow who speaks quite good French and some English. There are some modern amenities in Champasak. The bank can change money at a good rate during the week and there are a few internet cafes. One is near the ferry pier. Turn right (instead of left towards Champasak) and go about 100 meters to the secondary school. The cafe is on the top floor of the school and is open from 8am to 8pm. It charges 200 kip a minute. There is also internet access in the information centre in town and just down the road from Vong Paseud. The famous Wat Phu is 8km outside Champasak. Get there early before the tour groups arrive and come armed with 30,000 kip for the entry fee. There are quite a few local restaurants on the road leading to Wat Phu for budget lunchtime meals. Our best one was about two kilometers from Vong Paseud, with a wooden railing fence outside. We paid 5,000 kip for a vegetarian lunch for two including iced coffees. Bargain! Section 4 – Champasak to Paksong (75km) After a few days in the hot and humid lowlands of Laos, it’s time to head up onto the refreshingly cool Bolaven plateau. Retrace your steps across the Mekong and out to National Road 13. Turn left and start tackling a series of hills, more strenuous than the ride to Champasak but good practice for the climb to Paksong! When the road splits about 8km before Pakse, take a right onto Route 16. From here you’ll be climbing all the way until you reach Paksong at kilometer mark 50 and 1,300 meters above sea level. There’s a market at the junction and quite a few roadside stands. You might want to pick up some bananas or other snacks here before you start the hard work. All along the route you should be able to pick up a cold drink but finding a meal could be more problematic, other than instant noodle soup (not so bad with an egg mixed in and some fresh chives). The best selection of food and fruit, including some truly huge pineapples, is where Route 16 and Route 20 join. As you climb, you’ll pass some blacksmiths working hard to turn out knives. Further up a few signs for waterfalls appear and you’ll want to detour to at least one or two. Tad Fane is the most famous at kilometer 38 and you can stay in the comfy resort here for $30 U.S. a night. You might be able to bargain the price down a bit. Otherwise it’s 5,000 kip to see the falls. Just up the road from Tad Fane at kilometer mark 40 is a guesthouse; a cheaper option if you don’t want the resort but can’t quite bring yourself to finish off the last 10km to Paksong. There are a few accommodation options in Paksong. If you want to do a Coffee Workshop and you don’t mind a cold shower you may also be able to stay with a Dutchman, appropriately called Coffee, and his Lao family. Look for the sign in the middle of Paksong on Route 16 that reads ‘Daily Fresh Roasted Coffee For Sale’. A day of trekking to a coffee plantation and wok roasting coffee, including meals, costs 200,000 kip. We thought it was worth every penny. Section 5 – Paksong to Tadlo (65km) It’s a fast and almost entirely downhill run from Paksong to Tadlo. Only a bumpy stretch in the middle might slow you down. You can easily do this ride in a morning. Get some breakfast at the Paksong market before you head out. Try the fried sweet dough with sesame seeds. Delicious and cheap at only 1,000 kip each. Go north out of town on Route 16, keeping to the left when the road makes a large curve. It’s about 35km to Tha Taeng. Here you can pick up food and you’ll find several guesthouses in and around the town if you want to stay. After Tha Taeng, the road deteriorates to a bumpy dirt track. This could be messy if it’s been raining hard but the road should still be passable and it’s downhill all the way. On a sunny day, there are nice views of the surrounding mountains and countryside. After nearly 20 kilometers you meet a paved road. Go left on a gently climbing road for about 5km until you reach Lao Ngam village and the turnoff for Tadlo falls. The turnoff is on your left, just before the bridge. It’s a further couple kilometers to the falls. The dirt road with most of the guesthouses is not clearly marked but it’s on your right, almost at the base of a killer hill and before Tadlo Lodge. There are plenty of places to stay. Tim’s Guesthouse is popular but the simple rooms with shared hot shower are pricey at 60,000 kip. Just next door, Samly Bungalows with shared bathroom and cold showers are 20,000 kip. There’s a lovely family running the place. They even put a tarp over our bikes at night to protect them from rain – very thoughtful! A few meters further on by the river, Sipaseuth Hotel has ensuite bungalows on the river from 60,000 kip but the rooms are dreary. Internet access at Sipaseuth is a relatively reasonable 20,000 kip an hour. Pap’s Restaurant was the best budget eating option we found. It’s on the right before Tim’s Guesthouse as you go towards the falls. They serve up a selection of basic dishes like soups and fried rice in portions big enough to tame even a cyclist’s appetite and Mama Pap is quite the character. Prices are very reasonable, although service can be slow. Section 6 – Tadlo to Pakxong via Salavan (215km) From Tadlo, you could go straight back to Pakse all on asphalt. On the other hand, if you’re carrying on towards Vientiane and don’t mind a bit of dirt road then you can cut off a few kilometers by taking the interesting ride up to Salavan and then Route 15 to Napong Tansoun, where you can rejoin the main Route 13. The ride into Salavan is fairly flat and soon you’ll be greeted with your biggest town in days. There are plenty of guesthouses in Salavan (you should be able to get a basic but decent room for 50,000 kip), cheap internet at 8,000 kip an hour and a large market. When you’re ready to go, head down route 15 to Napong. It starts out paved but soon reverts to hard packed dirt. All along the road you’ll pass small villages and plenty of kids yelling ‘falang’ and ‘sabaydee’ at you. Depending on your mood this can either be endearing or annoying. Their voices can be deafening sometimes. There isn’t much to eat on this route although it’s easy to pick up bananas and there are one or two sizable villages where you might get more than instant noodle soup at lunchtime. The road is very low on traffic and generally it’s possible to pick out a smooth track between the bumps but during rainy season it can get messy quickly. This is especially true of the stretch after you cross the Xe Don river, which is in worse shape than the first part of the road. If the bridge across the river is flooded, boats will take you across. You should be able to pass even in the rain but you might be pretty dirty by the time you reach Route 13 again. Napong, at the junction with Route 13, is a popular stop for buses so there’s no shortage of food but the closest hotel or guesthouse is in Khongxedon, three kilometers back towards Pakse. If you turn towards Vientiane, there’s nothing for a good 100km but with a tent or mosquito net you could camp out in one of the many huts the rice farmers use for shade during the day. We hoped to ask at a wat but didn’t see any for the first 40km and by that time it was dark so we took over a rice hut. It was a surprisingly good night’s sleep. Many of them even have pillows and blankets! The first sign of a guesthouse comes just before Pakxong. After none for miles, now you have close to a dozen to choose from in the run up to Pakxong, including four in the town itself. Watch for a sign for Kiengphavanh Guesthouse, 1.5km down a side road. The turn is next to the bank with a Western Union sign, on the left as you enter town. It’s brand new and sparkling fan rooms with TV and bathroom are 50,000 kip. There’s a great market on the northern edge of Pakxong (technically in the next village along, where the buses stop). There you can pick up some very spicy green papaya salad as well as all the usual goodies. Section 7 – Pakxong to Savannakhet (70km) The ride into Savannakhet isn’t very long but it can be a sweaty affair with a steady string of rolling hills to test your legs. There are a few spots to pick up snacks and cold drinks along the way. The best place is probably at Lak 35, just before the road splits, with the left fork going to Savannakhet and the other half carrying on to Vientiane. There’s also a guesthouse at Lak 35 and more accommodation a short distance after the turn to Savannakhet. Hotels are hard to spot at first in Savannakhet but there are a few off the main Latsavongseuk Street. Running parallel to Latsavongseuk is Saenna (the Catholic church is at the one end of Saenna) and here you’ll find three guesthouses, the best of which is Souannavong with clean and cheery rooms with cable TV and bathroom from 60,000 kip. There’s a garage around back to put your bikes in. Dreary rooms from 35,000 kip can be found at the other two options on the street. Just around the corner from Souannavong Guesthouse is a local lady who will whip you up a super bag of som tam salad for 3,000 kip and back on Latsavongseuk, near Sutthanu street, is a vegetarian restaurant with great lunchtime meals at 10,000 kip. Look for the sign that says ‘vegetarian restaurant’. There are a few internet places also in the area, with prices from 3,000-4,000 kip an hour. From Savannakhet, we took the bus to Vientiane. They go many times a day and take 9-10 hours. The fare is 85,000 kip (110,000 kip on the VIP bus) and you’ll have to bargain a fare for your bikes. Something between a third to half the ticket price should get your trusty steed a spot on the roof or lashed to the back of the bus. The tickets are bought before the journey but the driver and his assistant collect the cargo fare at the end from all the passengers. If you want to continue on, we can only give you our observations from the bus window. The rolling hills seem to continue for much of the way to Vientiane and the 130km to Thakek has the potential to be a very long and hot day. Aside from one stretch south of Paksan (around route 8A, which we’ve heard is beautiful riding) where the mountains rise up alongside the road, the scenery is much the same as the previous few days. Plenty of rice paddies and rural life and not much else.
When we redid the boy’s bedroom (which reminds me – I haven’t posted pictures of that) my laundry room ended up having an extra little cubbyhole. I am thinking of turning this tiny little spot into a permanent sewing area. By small I mean it’s only about 2 1/2″ – 3′ wide but it has quite a bit of depth so I’ll use some of that space for storage. Serenity really desires to learn to sew and I’m actually in the middle of writing up a unit study that we can do together that will cover learning to sew as well as some of the history & science of it all. I think it would be just great for us to have a permanent place to set up the machine so that our mess is out of the way and when we have a few extra minutes to sew we’ll be able to. I saw this awesome craft room makeover and it inspired me to make my own pegboard to hold scissors and such. Mine would have to be quite small but I still think it could be useful. Be sure to check out Creating by Cami’s blog. She has a lot of great projects that will make you itch to get into sewing if you’re not already. And I promise you will be inspired by her craft room makeover. I’m still browsing the internet to see other pegboard ideas. Click on any of the links to see some I’ve found. Here’s one on Craftzine One from Erin Compton Design another one here at My Craft Room still another one from Going’s on at the Glenn’s and from Our Fixer Upper and for the last pegboard picture… The Inspired Room (a really great blog) You may want to show your husband this board so he’ll be able to understand why you want one for your crafting area. Of course you’ll need to know how to hang your pegboard. Be sure to read this article to find out how. If you’ve done one of these pegboards, please link so we can all see yours and be inspired. Filed under: Craft Corner Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
"Mullen's Musings" is a new feature being added to Trécé's Web site. Each month short articles will be published about stored-product entomology with special emphasis on monitoring-related subjects. Research papers will be summarized in layman's terms; tips will be given to improve monitoring practices; and new products introductions will be presented in Dr. Mike Mullen's background is in stored-product entomology. He was employed as a research entomologist with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for 32 years. The first 24 years of his career were spent at the Stored-Products Research and Development Laboratory in Savannah, GA. While in Savannah, his research centered on physical control using low-frequency sound and low temperatures, ecological studies of stored-product pests, development of insect-resistant varieties of sweet potatoes, insect-resistant packaging and the development of insect traps and monitoring systems. The Savannah lab closed in 1994 and Dr. Mullen was transferred to the USDA Grain Marketing and Production Research Center in Manhattan, KS. In Manhattan he continued his research on insect-resistant packaging and insect monitoring. Serving as a project leader, Dr. Mullen worked with other scientists to develop and improve pheromone-based traps and to develop monitoring systems for use in food facilities. Until his retirement in 2002, Dr. Mullen was listed by the USDA Web page as the "expert" in insect-resistant packaging and insect in warehouses. He was a USDA liaison to the Armed Forces Pest Management Board, and worked closely with various food processing companies to help solve insect-related problems. Since retiring, he has been a consultant to the food industry and has worked as a research associate with Trécé. Trécé is dedicated to meeting the needs of its customers. Accordingly, we encourage you to submit questions regarding stored product insects or pest management that may be of concern to you as an individual or to the industry. All of your questions will be promptly answered by Dr. Mullen and/or one of our staff of experts. Click a link below to read Mullen's Musings: For further information click here to contact us.
Today's linguistics issue (I wish I was William Safire sometimes) is the difference between astonish and astound. Is there a difference other than personal preference? I do not know. It will be my goal to uncover the mystery. Report back on Monday.... What do you think?
Sunday, May 12, 2013 Wednesday, April 17, 2013 Monday, April 01, 2013 Saturday, March 23, 2013 So, we have news! After two weeks of extensive research and many hours on Amazon, we are the proud owners of one enormous cage (designed for ferrets), occupied by one very small hamster. We went out in the snow this morning (I know - it's mad - nearly the end of March) to choose a Syrian hamster, clutching the Minimals small animal carrier that had arrived earlier in the week in one of the (many) boxes from Amazon. We meant to choose a male hamster, as the hamster book says males are less bitey than females, but the guy in the shop suggested we look at this girl who was a little older than the others (13 weeks) and very friendly. So we all took it in turns to hold her and she seemed a bit more robust than the tiny jumpy males and not freaked out by Willy so we brought her home and now we have our first family pet. She has her own covered toilet, which she seems to be using - apparently they are very clean animals who like to choose a specific place as a toilet. In any case hamster poo is just small black pellets and not offensive at all. We quickly discovered she can climb right to the top of the cage so we may have to string up some hammocks to avoid her injuring herself if she falls. (Clearly I have been spending too much time on hamster forums!) Tomorrow we will be getting her out to handle her and hopefully not losing her around the house... Thursday, February 21, 2013 So we're back from our adventure in Finnish Lapland and we can all say we've seen the Northern Lights. I know this isn't the steadiest photo you've ever seen but somehow it's the most atmospheric and it was taken just on the path outside our cabin. We left home at 7 am on Saturday and spent most of the day getting there - flying first to Helsinki then on to Ivalo and then getting a minibus to Kakslauttanen. In my mind, I'd thought that it was a romantic exaggeration to say that the resort was just a collection of log cabins in the forest and that really they'd all be clustered together around the restaurant complex with covered walkways but actually they are dotted about in the trees. Here's a shot of ours, complete with sledding inhabitants. Friday, January 18, 2013 This doesn't really do justice to just how heavy the snow is at the moment, and I have to go and pick up William soon (which I will be doing by train). If anyone is wondering why I'm not blogging: We have no bathroom. Or living room. Or dining room. The shutters were finally coming today but the van went into a railing and decided to go home to Brighton. I have had eight cold sores. Four remaining. And a bacterial infection requiring antibiotics. We have to move out again next week so the hallway ceiling can come down. So I am not really in the mood for posting pictures of sunny New Zealand.

Subsets and Splits

No community queries yet

The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.