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Online balloting to decide '09 All-Stars Fewer than two days remain to vote for starting lineups We, the people, are deciding who goes to the 80th All-Star Game July 14 in St. Louis. We are ready for the mad rush. We are entering that Validation Key over and over, submitting our 25 allotted votes in the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint Online Ballot at MLB.com. We punched those Walt Disney Pictures G-Force All-Star Game paper ballots and left those little chads all over ballparks. We know there are fewer than two days remaining to decide starters. Our deadline as empowered fans is 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, and we know that only because we have been staring at this javascript voting app since late April, when those first "VOTE NOW" ads starting appearing everywhere. We see the excitement building to what could very well be one -- or two, or three -- of the most exciting finishes ever seen in All-Star balloting. Among the 16 starting positions to be awarded, some appear headed toward unpredictable at-the-wire decisions. We are still trying to decide between Ian Kinsler of the Rangers and Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox at second base, and at this rate, we won't be surprised -- with Kinsler holding an ultra-slim lead of fewer than 7,000 votes -- if it winds up as the closest finish in All-Star Game voting history. Both have helped their teams into first place for much of this season. We click the "Compare Stats" link on the ballot, and we see Kinsler on top of the league at this position for homers and steals. We see the reigning AL MVP as elite right now. But we also see this breakout season for Aaron Hill of the Blue Jays and another big year for last year's starter, Robinson Cano of the Yankees. We are still trying to decide between American League first base rivals Mark Teixeira of the Yankees and Kevin Youkilis of the Red Sox, who have exchanged the lead five times, with Youkilis moving 40,047 votes ahead of Teixeira this week. What those two players do in these final days undoubtedly will make a difference. We are still trying to decide between Hanley Ramirez and Jimmy Rollins. Florida's superstar came from behind in the latest voting update, going from 87,000 behind the Phillies' shortstop to a 254,257-vote lead. We still aren't sure about Yadier Molina of the Cardinals or Brian McCann of the Braves. In fact, we aren't completely sure which Molina brother to go with. Lots of people are supporting Bengie Molina of the Giants, but the Cardinals' backstop had been holding the edge for a hometown start. We hold the power in these final days to change both starting outfields. The latest update had Jason Bay of the Red Sox, Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners and Josh Hamilton of the Rangers in the AL outfield, but Torii Hunter of the Angels and Carl Crawford of the Rays were well within reach of Hamilton, who has missed the past month due to injury and has seen his lead for the third and final spot narrow to about 145,000. Raul Ibanez of the Phillies, Braun and Carlos Beltran of the Mets are the latest leaders in the NL outfield, but the voting volume is so enormous that there is an easy chance for upward movement by Alfonso Soriano of the Cubs and Shane Victorino of the Phillies, both of whom are within striking range. We will be making our own final judgments, and then once again the majority of people will say: "Fans got it right." We already had recorded 163 million votes online entering this final week of balloting, representing a 15-percent increase over the comparable 2008 vote total. With millions of votes coming over these last days, we will decide which Major Leaguers become the starting position players. "With fans casting votes on MLB.com at a record pace, we look forward to a historic and exciting conclusion to this year's All-Star balloting for the elected starters," said Dinn Mann, executive vice president, content, MLB.com. "These close races have been fascinating to watch each week and leave us eagerly anticipating the second leg of online balloting when the final roster spot for each All-Star team will be determined exclusively on MLB.com." We vote because we want fans to get it right. We vote because our favorite players are the best. We vote because we don't like those other guys. We vote because it is fun. We vote because every year we bump someone into a deserved spot right at the end, as we did with Ryan Braun at the end of last year's All-Star balloting, as we did with Albert Pujols and Hideki Matsui years ago. We vote because it is our chance to demolish baseball records. We are the All-Star Game voters. We know it's important, and we aren't through yet. We will vote until we can't vote anymore, and then we will watch as rosters for each league will be unveiled July 5 on the 2009 MLB All-Star Game Selection Show, televised nationally on TBS. The AL and NL teams each will have eight fan-elected starters. Twenty-three reserves for both squads will be determined through a combination of "Player Ballot" choices and selections made by the two All-Star team managers -- Joe Maddon of the Rays and Charlie Manuel of the Phillies -- in conjunction with MLB. We will see not only who we collectively settled on as the starters, but also just what kind of voting power we reflected again. It is like no other sports digital interactivity. 2008 online balloting, 214.7 million votes from 16.5 million ballots were cast at MLB.com and the club sites, despite having seven fewer days in the voting cycle than in 2007. These record figures each represented increases of nearly 40 percent over the previous marks for total votes and ballots cast. We know it's not over at that point, either. We get to keep voting after a brief cooldown, because immediately after the announcement of the rosters, phone, exclusive to Sprint subscribers. Both winners will be announced after the voting has concluded on Thursday, July 9. We don't even stop voting there. During the game itself, we participate in the official voting for the All-Star Game's Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet via the 2009 All-Star Game Sprint MVP Vote on MLB.com. So we not only decide the starters and the final roster spots, but we help decide who is the MVP that night at Busch Stadium. We heard MLB president and chief operating officer Bob DuPuy say: "The Major League Baseball All-Star Game Balloting program is one of the great traditions in sports and serves as a powerful way to engage baseball fans around the world. Major League Baseball is delighted that fans once again will determine the Midsummer Classic's starting lineups as we celebrate the 80th All-Star Game in one of America's truly special baseball cities." We believe it. We are living it. We are typing Validation Key after Validation Key. We will pour on the votes in this final week, just as we have done before, and we probably will make a dramatic difference of some kind in the final 24 hours. We have done it before. We are doing it as you are reading this, and now it is time for you to click the ballot as well. We, the people, are deciding who goes to the All-Star Game. Mark Newman is enterprise editor of MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

After hanging this in my daughter's room, I got a picture of her basking happily in the warm green light. I even got a quick picture of her happy view. She loves it & so do I. The light and shadows cast on the walls are very soothing and serene. Hope you enjoy our happy little butterfly lamp. The way the lamp lit up kind of reminded me of the jellyfish I saw in Monterrey. Link Parties where you'll find me. Here's the Tea Rose Home feature link! -Mandy 40 comments: Wow! I saw your butterfly mobile before .. the lamp is even cuter! Very original, love it! Omg I love it! Definitely making for my new grandaughter! this is awesome!! I am planning a post this week on crafty moms, would you mind if I linked it and stole a photo? Thanks for your sweet comments everyone! Stephanie, I am flattered & would love for you to link it. I am very excited about the way it turned out. I'll have to post pictures of my daughter's nursery soon. This is beautiful! What a lucky little girl! I love these lamps - so sweet! What an adorable lamp! I love all the colors. Feel free to stop by my blog and check out what I'm working on! Nice project. I would love it if you would link this up in Modern Craftswoman Monday. Very well done. Rory That is just awesome! I have to give that a try! Thanks for the inspiration! :) Gorgeous! I would love a tutorial on how you put the hoop and lamp together. This is awesome!! It totally looks like a jellyfish. I love it!!!! =) This is beautiful!! Great job! All I can say is "FABULOUS"! The jellyfish look is so cool!! Thanks for linking to Baby Week at Oopsey Daisy! Super, duper cool. I love!! I'm visiting from All Things Related:) Very cute That is REALLY cute! Love the colors too. Very creative! Lisa wowsa. it's nothing short of gorgeous. Thanks for linking and helping to make this the most successful Modern Craftswoman Monday so far! Rory How sweet! I like how you added the mobile to the light! Thanks for joining us for Anything Related! ~Bridgette So beautiful! We're throwing a butterfly b'day for my 2yo this weekend and I'm going to try to recreate the butterfly effect of your lamp only larger and hanging from the tree that shadows our patio. I hope it looks as pretty as your lamp! suchakingdom.blogspot.com so pretty! i love the colorful, lighted design twist (it's a zillion times more fun than the PBK mobile!) thanks for sharing :) AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME project! I seriously LOVE it!!! If only I had a girl to make something like this for! :) So adorable and unique. I love this. This is beyond too cool! I love that its not a traditional mobile!! ~Morgan Meet Virginia! Meet Virginia!! Meet Virginia!!! Love that!! Awesome! Amazing! What a great idea. Thanks for linking up with Sugar & Spice. Oh this is too beautiful! I LOVE it! I love it with the green paper lantern! Thanks for sharing ... I've posted a link. This is so beautiful and unique! I Thank you for sharing this at my link party! Hi I dropped by from Shabby Chic's link party. Beautiful lamp and mobile! I bet your little one is fascinated! Very very sweet light! I love all those fluttering little butterflies. :) I should say this ought to be in a Etsy! This is so wonderfully unique. I've never seen such a pretty mobile before. :) Thanks for sharing it on SNS! FJ Donna Wow! That is amazing! Love it! Thanks for sharing! ~Liz I love the light/mobile, and thanks for stopping by to answer your thrift questions How do you decide when to buy? If I am buying for myself, it's it's something that I need or have been searching for. For others, it's at their request What do you do with it once you have it? Most times than not they are sold How do you keep things from piling up around your house? It's hard not to, but most times once I have revamped, things I find are sold Thanks for stopping by. You can see my guest post on thrift tips here I love this - I'm definitely going to have a go at making one! I made confetti for my wedding with one of those butterfly stamps! OMG this is SO amazing! That $80 Pottery Barn mobile thingie has got nothing on you! Corinna Love it!!! xoxo, Cat @ Wow! This is gorgeous. I want one in my room. That is really beautiful! And your daughter is so precious! Hi its really very nice blog i enjoyed a lot to visit..Mobile prices

Go to the previous, next section. By Greg Chartrand (10) <Greg_Chartrand@qmail.ssc.gov> National Science Foundation Develops a National Super Highway Greg Chartrand 3/11/93 "I just returned from a network meeting in San Diego today and thought you would be interested in my interpretation of what NSF proposes for the National Education and Research Network (NREN). Rather than comment specifically, I decided it would be interesting to write a parody which relates the NREN to the construction of a national super highway. Doing so removes the highly technical aspects of the overall planned functions the NREN. Please excuse this style, but I think its the only way to explain my understanding of their plan in a way that does not immediately get very technical. It may be flawed, but the information is based upon Hans-Werner Braun's presentation.... as I understood it." The National Science Foundation is in the process of developing plans to build a national super highway that will advance transportation technology in our country. The super highway proposed will replace the existing interstate highway system and allow speeds of at least 240 MPH. the following interview with NSF developers explores their current plans. * ME: I understand you are building a new Super national highway(11) to serve the purposes of advancing ground transportation throughout our county. NSF: Yes we are, as a part of an earlier initiative sponsored by the then Senator Gore. We are very excited about the technology that will allow transportation speeds of 240 MPH(12) across the country. ME: That sounds exciting, how will it be built? NSF: Well, we will have this super highway designed to allow the high speed travel(13) and it will have six entrance/exit ramps.(14) ME: Ahh.... that doesn't sound like very many ramps, where will they be located? NSF: Well, several years ago we funded the establishment of six gourmet restaurants(15) scattered across the country, we are going to fund the building of the super highway and access ramps at the restaurant locations. We are however allowing the ramp contractor(16) to build as many ramps as he wishes, at his own expense. ME: I assume then the contractor for the highway(17) builds ramps where ever it makes sense to optimize access. NSF: Well, not exactly. We are separating the contracts for the ramps and the highway so the bidders can be very competitive. ME: I see. How to you plan to connect the rest of the interstate highway system(18) to your super national highway? NSF: Well actually, its not part of our plan. We are having the highway and access ramps built for us, its up to the states or other government agencies to provide the highways to the access ramps. We will however fund a few temporary roads(19) to connect parts of the existing interstate highway system, but don't intend to make them permanent. Did I forget to mention that we will be shutting down the existing interstate highway system?(20) ME: You mean I will no longer be able to drive across the existing interstate highway system? NSF: Yes, it will be destroyed. ME: OK, lets see If I understand. I have a state highway system for example, and I put in a connecting highway to your super highway, and I can now travel on it, right? NSF: Well, no you can't. The super highway will only be used for vehicles that can run 240 MPH(21) and we must approve every vehicle, destination, and trip the vehicle takes.(22) We don't want our super highway clogged with vehicles which can only travel 70 MPH!(23) ME: I'm confused. You mean you want my state for example, to build an access road to a super highway it can't generally use? NSF: Well, yes and no. You see we also want to encourage development of toll roads in our country.(24) Our six high speed access ramps are wide enough to allow parallel toll roads to be accessed as well as our super highway. Private road builders will be able to put in toll roads between our access ramps, for a fee. ME: So there will no longer be a "free" interstate highway system? NSF: Right! ME: Lets see if I got this straight. You build a national super highway that has six access ramps located where you once established gourmet restaurants and you destroy the interstate highway system. There are no plans to replicate the functionality of the interstate highway systems, but you will allow private toll road builders to use your wide access ramps and develop parallel toll roads to your super highway. My state or the government has to build the roads that lead to the super highway, but once there, cannot travel on it unless the specific vehicle can run at 240 MPH and has specific permission from you to travel on it. NSF: You've got it! ME: Well then you must have a very interesting reason to put this highway and the access ramps at these restaurant locations. NSF: Well, you see, the gourmet food business isn't what it used to be. Fast food has really taken over in our country, we really need to preserve the gourmet food business.(25) High quality restaurants should be located right off of classy high speed highways. We really would like to encourage restaurant patrons to use the super highway so they can have breakfast in San Diego and dinner in Champaign Illinois. We will be looking for patrons who can afford to eat at multiple restaurants and we will let them ride the highway for free! Of course they must have a vehicle that can go 240 MPH.(26) ME: I'm even more confused. How will I get across the country? NSF: Well, if your state puts in an access road to one of our access ramps you take it, and then exit-off on to one of the toll roads that will be built parallel to our super highway. ME: How fast will I be able to go?(27) NSF: What ever the speed limit is on the toll road. ME: What will it cost me to ride on it? NSF: What ever the toll is. You see, we expect that several toll roads will be developed. Competition! It should keep the price down. ME: When the super highway is empty, how will it be used? NSF: Well, we are telling the gourmet restaurants that they should work together even though they will be competing with each other for customers.(28) You know, they could develop plans to send trash to each other so they can demonstrate how fast the transportation is on the super highway, it would be in their best interest.(29) ME: Aren't there plans for development of high speed toll roads already in progress by several toll road builders? What makes you think they will put their roads in-between your access ramps?(30) NSF: F.O.D. ME: What? NSF: Field Of Dreams. If we build it they will come. ME: So again, tell me who pays for what? NSF: The government funds the super highway and six access ramps. The toll road providers build their own roads and pays an access fee for the ramps. The states and other government agencies pay for any roads necessary to get to the access ramps. When you get on a toll road and pay what ever the price is. ME: And the only one's allowed to ride on the super highway are those persons who have special vehicles that can go 240 MPH with your specific permission, or those who can afford to frequent the gourmet restaurants and travel at 240 MPH. Everyone else takes the toll roads. NSF: Right, but don't forget the trash runs between restaurants! ME: Oh, how silly of me! Hmmmm. I wonder if this is really what Senator Gore had in mind? "If we do not succeed, then we face the risk of failure." --- Vice President Dan Quayle "What a terrible thing to have lost one's mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true that is." --- Vice President Dan Quayle (winning friends while speaking to the United Negro College Fund) Go to the previous, next section.

my profile, i've been posting here for 3 years (mostly lurking). So I can't remember all the high lights. :P In terms of recent threads I've enjoyed, I really liked Neodoxy's thread about Stimulus and the Broken Window Fallacy. Even though the thread was perpetually derailed, I think a lot of good points were raised. The discussion wound up being timely too, considering Hurricane Sandy happened not long afterward. I also want to reminisce about a lot of good posters that I don't see post any more. Esuric, Lagrange Multiplier, Stranger, Strange Loop, hayekianxyz, laminustacitus, others. Hopefully they'll find their way over to the new forums. Either way, this forum has been a lot of fun. I actually learned a lot from many of the people here. I will be sad to see it go. C'est la vie. Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine - Elvis Presley Re: "OMG anyone remember "poster of the month"? I don't remember why that died" Because it was essentially a circle jerk motion, given to the 'favourites'.. mostly of a certain forum faction? (Saying that as a recipient). Re: "the KnightofBAWAA if anyone remembers him." Legend. Great mod before he was ousted/banned when Danny took over and wanted to change the forum dynamic. Would not relent if you were on the wrong side of the argument and continued to try get by the laws of logic. Reminiscing Thread... When posts were longer, more considered and less 'chatty'. When it seemed like everyone had something considerable to add. When the conversation/discussion was something new... not something that you could simply refer to a past discussion thread (or 100) about. When these guys were all around; KnightofBawaa, Jon Irenicus, NirgrahamUK, Inquisitor.. the verifiable A-team. Also of note: LibertyStudent, Andrew Cain, Krazy Kaju, E. R. Olovetto, Wilderness, Daniel Muffinburg, Graham Wright, Sage, filc and DD5. As for AJ, Danny and the rest of the 'consequentialist' crowd... my arguments are far more advanced because of those discussions/criticisms leveled at Rothbard, Hoppe etc. Cheers. As for thread discussions of amusement/worth, I'll offer two; when mr1001nights came to the forums is one, along with the occasional revleft appearance... and the temp Mises forum excursion over to revleft hahah. I've always sympathized with a lot of Clayton's conspiracy theories and to be honest, I've always believed in a lot of them. My favorite time on the forums was when I helped do a little revisionist history re: the triangle shirtwaist fire. Farewell Mises Forum and fellow posters -I shall truly miss the "God" debates. David Friedman! ^ True! It is very cool that was he was willing to pop in every so often to discuss his work (though it sucks some people were pretty rude to him). I definately hope he finds his way to the new forum. One of my fondest memories is of Liberty Student offering a Mises Store gift voucher to the first two posters who wrote a decent critique of a post by Clayton. I won one, and no one else wrote a critique, so Clayton got the other one! My favorite time on the forum was back when the deontologists and consequentialists were going at it. I was learning so much back then just from lurking and chipping in now and again. Special thanks to: Liberty Student, ER Olovetto, Andrew Cain, Conza, AJ, nirgrahamUK, Danny Sanchez, Clayton, I. Ryan, Esuric, filc, Sieben, John James, Nielsio, Adam Knott, Autolykos. Government Explained 2: The Special Piece of Paper Law without Government Yeah, I bought van Creveld's The Rise and Decline of the State with that gift! That was awesome... Clayton - I'll just say that before I began actively posting here, I was a lurker.. I'll take the time now, since it's a golden opportunity, to thank him for his contributions to this forum, whether he still reads the posts here or not. Thanks dude. :). Does anyone remember Democracy for Breakfast? I don't remember too much about him, but the basic narrative that I remember was that he came here around the same time I did and he went down the whole beginner's track to learning about AE and Libertarianism and he mostly seemed to agree with the views generally held around here even though he was a n00b. Then I remember him changing his username to Novus Zarathustra and a lot of his material just got odd and rather intelligent. I always thought that was weird, but I might not be recounting the series of events quite properly. I also enjoyed Sieben's/Snowflake's contributions, even if he was recently banned. He showed up about the time that I did as well. I don't remember that Neodoxy, but I do remember you recently claiming that you started here with a noob account and then later opened your Neodoxy account becuase you didn't like some of the things your noob account had posted. This is all adding up now. Marko:Funny you should say that because LStudent went from being a self-proclaimed Rockwellian (which I thought was very clever) to something far more squishy and ill-defined. IIRC by the end he wasn't even a natural rights guy anymore. So clearly there were some principles he moved away from. This may or may not be true; but from what I can remember, he was pretty strong on his principles and I don't remember seeing any contradiction. BTW - Prime, you have the best avatar on the forum. :) @Prime What is your avatar BTW? I failed to make Graham's list. Damn. Neodoxy - Prime's avatar is Bill Murray in Kingpin. Lol Wheylous. I appreciate your contributions too. Sadly all lists must come to an end! To me you are (or were) like Robin to JJ's Batman (thanks Jargon!). I sense your best posts are still to come - and they won't be on this forum. By the way, I nominate that What do you look like? thread as the funniest on the forum (shame some of the pics have disappeared though). Anyone got any other nominations? I agree that that was probably the funniest, but this one was pretty good to. I also like the pokemon thread I recently resurrected. Anyone remember Vichy Army ? Anyone remember Vichy Army ? AKA Bitchy Army. Also of note: LibertyStudent, Andrew Cain, Krazy Kaju, E. R. Olovetto, Wilderness, Daniel Muffinburg, Graham Wright, Sage, filc and DD5. Too bad Olovetto was banned when Sanchez started modding more. Neodoxy: I also like the pokemon thread I recently resurrected. I also like the pokemon thread I recently resurrected. It's praxeologically true. The Anarch is to the Anarchist what the Monarch is to the Monarchist. -Ernst Jünger Re: "Too bad Olovetto was banned when Sanchez started modding more." So THAT's where he went?! Should have known. Pathetic. It's the era when the "Member Issues" group was created. I think Sanchez might have still been posting as Lilburne then. I know one of his bans had to do with him posting a gif file of the Star of David turning into a Swastika. I think everyone else got the irony in that except Sanchez. Who the heck is "G8R HED"? He posts occasionally. I have another one to add: I fondly remember the "Reminiscing thread" - anyone else remember it? Haha, those were the good old days. I remember when I first encountered Neodoxy on here and he scared the crap out of me by posting a link for me and then saying: "and remember. I did this just. For. You." Also, there was that whole "a" and "z" thing with the Peace and Freedom Party. That was quite a hoot. Why is the forum closing down? Why is the forum closing down? The answer, my friend, Is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind. My humble blog It's easy to refute an argument if you first misrepresent it. William Keizer I don't get on here much anymore, very rarely, but I do remember Liberty Student. Once I asked him if the world was indeed round, and he said "No." Very little grey with that guy, and although he was neurotic, I don't know many on this forum that haven't appeared to be at one time or another lol. Liberty Student was entertaining, and I even followed his blog for about a day once upon a time. BTW What is the new forum? I might join it and become more engaged? When does it go

April 4, 2012 Jake Rowe UGASports.com As a prospect that is being recruiting by almost every school in the country, Eagle's Landing defensive lineman Isaac Rochell has seen it all. In fact, he has seen most schools more than once. Rochell has taken visits to Tennessee, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, and Florida State, but one program he has seen many times is the home state Georgia Bulldogs. The Rivals100 defender was in Athens this past weekend for UGA's first spring scrimmage, but this trip was a tad different than the rest. "It was pretty much a day as a player," said Rochell. "I got to do exactly what the players do. I got to go to meetings, and eat the same meals that the players eat. It was a really good visit." While the four star prospect did get a chance to learn what it was like to be a Georgia player in his visit to the Classic City, not much else was different on this trip. "I've been there so many times, things were pretty much like they always were," said Rochell. "I like Georgia, and I've said before that I can really see myself there. I know a lot of people there, and I'm from here so I see them all the time." While Rochell could end up at a variety of different positions at the next level including offensive tackle, defensive end, or defensive tackle, he knows exactly where Georgia plans on putting his talents to use in their 3-4 defense. "I know they want me at defensive end and some at outside linebacker," said Rochell. "They have told me that already. They want me up front rushing the passer and stuff like that." Although Rochell is considering schools all over the country at this time, he did acknowledge that distance could play a factor his decision of where to play at the next level. "I mean, when it comes to distance and it being a factor, I would have to say yes and no," he said. "I'm not worried about getting to far from home or anything, but at the same time, it would be nice to play close to home too. So I'm not sure how big of an impact it will play, but it does matter." After visiting the Bulldogs over the weekend, Rochell visited Notre Dame on Monday, and has named the Irish his clear leader at this point, and says that he is unsure of when he could make a decision. ...More... To continue reading this article you must be a member. Sign Up Now for a FREE Trial Already a member? Click here to sign in

The Vember Mill is a modern fable about a boy whose rural community is on the brink of economic collapse. When the boy discovers a family of river sprites in the hills near his home, he learns they too are near ruin. (your hook starts here) Preston Vatticus hasn't adjusted to the solitude of his stepfather's home in the farmlands of Northern Utah. His only friend is Corvery, a talkative young raven. After hearing a painful scream in the hills, Preston and Corvery meet the Trenchers--mythical folks who dig the river beds and shape the river banks. Lately the Trenchers have grown frightened of the creek water. Animals that drink from it have been changing into monstrous beasts, and an old miller is bent on keeping this a secret. Meanwhile, the creek water flows downhill to the irrigation ditches of the Cache Valley, where desperate farmers have been selling their land to developers, and the rural culture is growing thin. Preston's stepfather has slipped into hopelessness, and Preston's mother isn't far behind. Preston now faces a dilemma. Righting the wrongs of the Vember Mill may require him to push his stepfather over the breaking-point. But ignoring the plight of the Trenchers could bring an even worse fate. This isn't a hook it's a description of the plot, sort of. It's missing the antagonist and it's not specific enough to hook me. And "modern fable" is one of those phrases that makes me say no no no. I really hate anything smacking of "fable" becuase it implies stock characters and no plot, but that's just me. 12.23.2006 6 comments: I like the idea quite a bit, but the writing as shown here doesn't support it. Too many ideas, not enough substance. Let readers and reviewers bloviate about the book's Main Ideas and Overriding Themes. As a writer, you need to concentrate on the concrete. Who-What-When-Where-Why and How. It's not your job to tell us What It All Means. Focus on the people and their lives and conflicts, and let the world build itself out of that. The rest will happen naturally. I remember reading the beginning of this story (on Evil Editor's blog, I think), and I loved it with a big-time love. It was so moody and evocative. Please hang in there, author! I want to be able to read this novel some day. My favorite part of the hook is: "Lately the Trenchers have grown frightened of the creek water. Animals that drink from it have been changing into monstrous beasts, and an old miller is bent on keeping this a secret." Being frightened of the water... I find that eerie and disturbing. In a good way, of course. :) Don't the animals and people drink from the same water? If it's the water causing the animals to turn into monsters, what is it doing to the people? I love animals, to be sure, but in this case, I'd be worried first about the people, particularly if I lived there. Well, maybe the hook needs some work, but at least the story is distinctive enough that I remembered reading the query and first page on Rachel Vater's blog three months ago. So kudos for that. I actually like this somewhat. At least it's not the typical find-the-killer-because-I'm-dating-satan story. You had me interested right up until "may require him to push his stepfather over the breaking-point." I don't know what that is, but I probably need to know before I read the book. It's part of knowing what the story is about. good luck. Remind me not to go swimming in Bear Lake ever again. This story caught my attention, but the hook isn't the best it could be.

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How to Propose Like a Man Valentine’s Day is coming up and a lot of guys are maybe contemplating asking their lady to marry them. Here’s a quick guide on how not to mess it up. Know the Answer – We’ve all seen the YouTube videos of the marriage proposal fails, so know what she’s going to say. Before you pop the question, you should have already had some discussions about getting married. If you haven’t had those discussions already, you may want to bring up some of these topics: income sharing, starting a family and where you’ll live, but don’t preface these discussions by saying, “We need to talk.” We hate that. Instead, when you see kids at a store or running around the neighborhood, casually bring it up like, “You ever think about having kids?” If she says yes, then ask, “Have you ever thought about having kids…with…me?” Or if you’re at a wedding, ask her if she has ever thought about what her wedding would be like. If she readily gives you answers, that’s a good sign. If she gets uncomfortable and clams up, then you know she isn’t ready. Be You – If you try and do a super duper over the top proposal and it’s just not “you”, then she may expect you to be super duper over the top all the time every day. Buy a Ring You Can Afford – You may want to give her a huge sparkler, but if it’s way more than you can afford, don’t do it. It’s better to get a smaller diamond now and start off your life on the right financial foot, rather than begin your life together in hock to your eyeballs. Give it a few years and after you’re making more money, take the smaller diamond, split it into earrings, or reset it in a pendant and get a bigger diamond ring. Ask Her Dad First – Regardless of how intimidating he may be, you need to ask him, especially if your girlfriend has a close relationship with her father. You’ll score major brownie points with him and likely your future Mother-in-Law. The only exception to this rule is if she has absolutely no relationship whatsoever with her Dad, then you can skip it, but you may want to check with her mother. When in Doubt – Go with the small, classy and private. If you know she’s easily embarrassed, don’t go anyplace where you’re going to have an audience. Instead, rent a limo to take her to a nice dinner (maybe the place you went on your first date) then take a walk hand in hand through your favorite city park and pop the question there. Have a bottle of champagne in the cooler of the limo to celebrate the occasion. Or, call her bestie and her sister and tell them what you’re up to and have a few bottles of champagne on hand and after you pop the question in the park, drive around and grab them so they can be a part of the celebration. These are all very romantic gestures that show you care about her feelings and the people in her life which may just make her a little more likely to say yes. How did your man propose?

He knew it was gone even before it came out of Jarrod Washburn's hand. "I called it," said Ramirez, soaked in champagne and water following Friday's 8-6 victory to complete the sweep of Anaheim in the ALDS. "I told [Mike] Timlin that David had not hit a home run in four days and it was time for it. The pitch. Boom! He came through." Come through Ortiz did, all the way to the American League Championship Series. The big left-handed hitter's game winning two-run home run off Angels starter-turned reliever Washburn came on the first pitch he saw in the 10th inning and propelled the home team into the next round of the playoffs. The pitch was a slider and it crossed the plate high in the hitting zone. Then it was gone to opposite field in a flash and another memorable moment in Boston Red Sox history had arrived instantly. "Well, in that situation, let me tell you, I wasn't really thinking about hitting a home run," Ortiz said. "I wanted to have a good at-bat. I wanted to at least get on base. But when you just think about hitting the ball, have good contact with the ball, that's what happens." The home run sailed a few rows over the wall in left field to set off a chorus of cheers and hugs throughout the 35,547 in attendance at Fenway Park. Pinch-runner Pokey Reese was mobbed at the plate by his teammates as he scored the first run on the home run and when Ortiz jumped on home plate, he disappeared in a sea of red, white and blue. It was exactly what Ramirez had said it would be, only more. "I was looking for a pitch in the strike zone," Ortiz said. "They were making good pitches the whole series against me, so I was just trying to lock myself in and see a pitch that I can hit." Either the Yankees or Twins await the Red Sox in the next round. But immediately after the game, the only thing on the Red Sox's mind was celebration and who could wet who with buckets of water, beer and champagne in a clubhouse that lacked only a slide to be a full-fledged water park . Ortiz, sporting goggles over his eyes and soaked uniform, could not wipe the smile off his face. He couldn't wipe off all the water that was being thrown on his head, either. It's hard to blame Ortiz because nobody wearing a Red Sox uniform in that clubhouse wanted to do anything but savor the moment. Family and friends of the team eventually trickled into the clubhouse -- many congratulating Ortiz -- to enjoy the victory with their loved ones. "David is one of those guys that I couldn't have been happier for anybody in the big leagues," Red Sox first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz said. "For what that man has gone through in the last three or four years, my gosh. The one thing I told him when I hugged him when he crossed that plate was, 'Momma would be proud.' He lost his momma a couple of years ago, and she was a big part of his life and the first thing I thought of when he hit it was, 'Come on momma, blow it out of here.'" Johnny Damon echoed the sentiments, along the way adding his own brand of comedy to Ortiz's game-winner. Damon, who had earlier in the week affectionately referred to his teammates as "idiots," jokingly said he's not sure if Ortiz can swim if he ever had to, but he's sure his buddy can hit. And on this night, hitting was all that mattered. "Our problem on our team is we've got so many guys who are so valuable, but when he came up we knew he was going to have a good at-bat," Damon said. "We didn't know it was going to be that good but we'll take it. He's the man." Said Red Sox manager Terry Francona, "Literally, I looked at [Kevin] Millar and I said, 'Can he hit a home run here?' It wasn't that far out of my mouth where it seemed like once it left his bat our players knew it was gone before I did." The Red Sox needed a hero and early on, it appeared to be Bronson Arroyo. The right-hander allowed only two runs on three hits and stymied the Angels offense for six strong innings. But things changed in the seventh when the Angels tied the game at 6 with a grand slam by Vladimir Guerrero and the bullpen, led by Brendan Donnelly and Frank Rodriguez took over. Rodriguez went on to complete 2 2/3 effective innings before giving way to Washburn with two outs in the 10th. Ramirez's prediction and the storybook ending for Red Sox fans followed soon after. "Manny looks over at me and tells me David is going to hit one out," Timlin said. "David does and Manny just looks at me and says 'I told you so.' He did. He really did.").

October 25 2009 / Sunday / Pre-Conference Workshops W15 / Widgets, Gadgets, & Mobile Apps / 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM Jason A. Clark / Digital Initiatives Librarian, Montana State University Libraries ; Karen A Coombs / Head of Web Services, University of Houston Libraries ; Michael P Sauers /Technology Innovation Librarian, Nebraska Library Commission, gadgets, and micro library apps that allow users to have basic library search and browse functions in these new user environments free from the catalog or library website. They demo andteach how to design mobile applications, use Google Gadgets, customize Flickr widgets, tweak Yahoo! Pipes, and integrate OpenSearch browser plug-ins to create new modes of access for library journals, books, articles, special collections and much more. Come learn how to play in these new environments and to give users options for searching and consuming library materials in their own learning spaces. W17 / Twitter: Enabling Customer Conversations /1:30 PM – 4:30 PM Michael P Sauers, Technology Innovation Librarian, Nebraska Library Commission ; Christa Burns, OCLC Member Services Coordinator, Nebraska Library Commission; David Lee King, Digital Branch & Services Manager, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library So you’ve got a Twitter account and some followers but you’re not sure what’s next. Let top library Twitters show you how to make the most of your tweets. In this interactive workshop you’ll discover how to spice up your Twitter homepage, take advantage of the many Twitter tools available online, and learn how to use Twitter to actively engage your customers in conversations. Source [] October 26 2009 / Monday / General Conference B102 / Creating Connections & Social Reference in Libraries / 11:15 AM – 12:00 PM David W. Free, Editor-in-Chief, C&RL News, & Marketing & Communications Specialist, Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) ; Margaret Smith, Physical Sciences Librarian, New York University In the current economic climate, libraries of all types have the opportunity to be positioned at the center of their user communities by providing relevant events, services, and opportunities for outreach and creating space for sharing, discussion, and connection. Free discusses how libraries can apply the models of online community building, customer service, and outreach with free online social tools and tagging to encourage new connections with local communities. Smith discusses using social reference sites such as AskMetafilter, Yahoo! Answers, and AskOnTwitter to allow members of online communities to ask and answer each other’s questions, creating an invaluable archive of community experience and expertise. She highlights implementations of this new social reference model using group blogs, wikis, and other online forums to allow open discussion and resolution of questions from users, library staff, and librarians alike. She touches on how to “grow your own” social reference site and address the issues of library authority, community, and trust. B103 / Micro Interactions, Conversations, & Customers: Sweet Tweet Strategies / 1:15 PM – 2:00 PM David Lee King, Digital Branch & Services Manager, Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library ; Amy Kearns, Program Coordinator, Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative ; Julie Strange, Statewide Coordinator, Maryland AskUsNow! Twitter, Facebook statuses, YouTube comments, blog comments ... where do you start? King describes the interactions taking place within modern social networks and explains what types of conversations work well in different social network settings, gives ideas on achieving user engagement, and provides tips on holding conversations online ... in 140 characters or less. Top Twitterers illustrate how to use this popular application to connect with customers and colleagues, reach new users, and get 24/7 personal and professional development using “Twitterbrarians.” Source [] October 27 2009 / Tuesday / General Conference / Track C – Mobile Trends & Practices C201 & C202 / Dreaming, Designing, & Using Mobile Library Platforms / 10:30 AM – 12:15 PM Tom Ipri, Head, Media & Computer Services, University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) ; Jason Griffey, Head of Library Information Technology, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; R. Toby Greenwalt, Adult Services Librarian, Skokie Public Library ; Jason A. Clark, Digital Initiatives Librarian, Montana State University Libraries ; Matt Benzing, Information Technology Librarian, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ; Michael P Sauers, Technology Innovation Librarian, Nebraska Library Commission ; Christa Burns, OCLC Member Services Coordinator, Nebraska Library Commission Ipri and Griffey start this double session by explaining why you can’t just replicate your existing website for mobile users—needs and technologies are different in the mobile world. They discuss how libraries must rethink their services and go with completely new models in light of ubiquitous computing and connectivity. Greenwalt discusses the Skokie Public Library’s “going mobile” LSTA grant project to develop a suite of mobile tools, including a mobile website, catalog, text messaging alerts, and mobile reference service. Clark talks about delivering video and images through optimized websites that work with the next generation of smartphones and mobile devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry Storm, Palm Pre, Google Android). He discusses challenges and advantages of developing mobile sites, the debate between native smartphone apps versus mobile web apps, best practices for mobile web design, and the lessons learned in development processes. Benzing discusses creating alternative versions of a website for mobile users, utilizing information needs of users from surveys, focus groups, and usability testing. The last segment of the session focuses on mobile reference, as Sauers and Burns look at the basics of using the Internet on regular cell phones as well as smartphones. C203 / Putting Your Library on a Mobile Phone / 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM / Moderator: Cindy Cunningham, Director of Partner Programs, OCLC Greg Carpenter, CEO & Technical Lead, Boopsie & OCLC’s Partner WorldCat Mobile Pilot ; Bruce Washburn, Research Engineer, OCLC & iPhone WorldCat Search API Web App Creator ; Jeff Sharkey, Android Developer, Compare Everywhere App, Google This demo and lively panel discussion highlights what OCLC has learned so far in reaching library users through their mobile phones. Hear from three different developers about how they approached working with WorldCat library data in the mobile format, and how each one designed the optimal user experience—it’s so much more than screen size. Learn more about how to approach “going mobile” with your library, what factors to consider from the library side, and see what’s possible technically. See Also WorldCat Mobile (Beta) [] C204 / Mobile Marketing / 3:15 PM – 4:00 PM Nancy Dowd Director of Marketing, New Jersey State Library Mobile marketing is being touted as the next big thing in marketing. Studies say it is the best way to reach Hispanic and African American parents, 20-somethings, and teens, but is it right for libraries? Dowd reports on the NJSL’s four pilot programs designed to answer this question for small, large, urban, and county libraries, and shares what was learned—the pros and cons of mobile marketing including specific campaign ideas and costs. C205 / When Students Go Mobile / 4:15 PM – 5:00 PM Kristen Yarmey-Tylutki, Digital Services Librarian, The University of Scranton Weinberg Memorial Library; Kristine Ferry, Director of Web Services, UC Irvine Libraries; Lisa Sibert, Electronic Resources Acquisitions Librarian, UC Irvine Libraries; Holly Tomren, Electronic Resources, UC Irvine Libraries As smartphones become ubiquitous on campus, they are changing and will continue to change the way that students find, access, and use information. As information professionals, academic librarians must quickly adapt their reference services and library instruction to these new means of information usage. The first presentation looks at the functionality and capabilities of smartphones and how the devices can either help or hinder students’ achievement of the learning outcomes outlined in the ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. The second set of presenters addresses the challenges involved in providing library content and services to mobile users. They discuss offering an entire library experience to mobile users, discovery tools available (mobile-friendly OPACs, union catalogs, library webpages and subject guides), best practices for cataloging electronic resources specific to mobile devices, as well as IT issues, collection development trends, licensing issues, and gathering usage statistics. Source [] Colours are pretty, but damned distracting!)

RIM Unveils New OS Based On QNX 262 New submitter HommeDeJava writes "Research In Motion unveiled a new operating system for its tablet and smartphones at the company's BlackBerry developer conference in San Francisco. Called BlackBerry BBX, the new OS combines features of the existing BlackBerry OS and its recently acquired real-time QNX OS. Could BBX attract software developers and spur interest from consumers?" As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ball (Score:5, Insightful) I already know the future. Fail, of the epic kind. Re:As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ba (Score:5, Insightful) I agree. Too little, too late. It'll take years for them to turn things around, and they just don't have the time. Re:As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ba (Score:4, Interesting) Bimbo Newton Crosby, RIM is a corpse. If this would have happened five or even three years ago? they may have had a shot. but the ship has done sailed and from the looks of it the final tally will be Apple #1 with Android trading spots with iOS from time to time, so iOS and Android own 1 and 2, and MSFT buying their way into third place but not having a prayer of taking #2 much less the coveted #1 spot. With mobile there is always a chance of something coming from out of left field, after all who would have thought 6 years ago that Android would suddenly explode, but RIM just doesn't have it. They don't have the hardware, the designs, nor the buzz, and even the CxO types are all running around playing with their iPhones and HTC Androids, its over. I just wonder who will buy them out for the IP, MSFT or Google? Maybe Samsung? Re: (Score:2) Re:As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ba (Score:4, Insightful) Key measures are a) profit share and b) share of web browsing c) number of app downloads and total number of (quality?) apps availble; in other words, what matters is how much the user use and can use their phones. Android will overtake Apple in these measures but it is taking much longer [wikipedia.org]. If you think like this Apple is still ahead so far (and only just, and only if you include the iPod touch!). Incidentally, this shows that WP7 has almost no hope. If you are an app developer you will do an iPhone app and some will do an Android app to show you support "alternative" people. Soon it will be the other way round (in fact I'd say that it's already the other way round in some markets). The inertia you need to overcome the leader is too much. The only reason that Android is succeeding is that Apple left a low end in the market available for them to develop in. Now the market has to be analysed as the 1990's PC market. Apple is Apple. Android is Windows and Windows is OS2, a late entry by an an over-arrogant computing incumbent. Re:As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ba (Score:5, Insightful) Don't get ahead of yourselves. Let's not forget that Apple came back from a far worse shape than this in the late 90s. It is way too early to say that "they just don't have time". They better put a move on it, pronto, would be a much more accurate statement. Re: (Score:2) Apple also doesn't have a dead dog in the race, with frequent outages of service due to a single point of email and message failure controlled by their proprietary network. Apple also innovated the hell out of their products. RIM has not done this. It's a "me too" effort at best, and not a very good one. Outside of organizations married to its corp-friendly proprietary nonsense, RIM has zero reputation right now. As a developer, I wouldn't spare a thought towards porting my applications to that platform. It's correction (Score:2, Funny) not pronto, procnto is the process manager in qnx. Re: (Score:3) Let's not forget that Apple came back from a far worse shape than this in the late 90s. It is way too early to say that "they just don't have time". Have you even heard one of their co-CEOs talk? One is all techno-babble and the other is a bean-counter with no real product experience. None of them are the caliber of Steve Jobs, and as a company, RIM is not the caliber of pre-Jobs Apple in the 90s (which was still quite innovative, just mismanaged). Fire one or both of the current leadership, and we can talk turnaround. As it is RIM does not have the DNA for a massive course-change. Re: (Score:2, Funny) I thought this was going to be a cut and paste of the BSD is dying usenet message from the 1990s. Re: (Score:3) they could simply port the encryption and infrastructure to Android... I still believe they make awesome hardware and it's a shame to see it go to waste because of the same mistake done over and over and over again :\ Re: (Score:3, Insightful) Given the legal challenges to Android right now, I would imagine they don't want to put all of their eggs in one basket. I can't blame them. It could turn into a win if the OS is well accepted. The game isn't over till it's over. If anyone in recent history has taught us that, it's Apple. Android popped up in a smartphone market ruled by iOS and is now a huge player. RIM could pull the same move, although the OS won't be available for free, it could gain them needed traction in a market that is quickly slipp Re: (Score:2) Android popped up in a smartphone market ruled by iOS and is now a huge player. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember seeing bunches of reports on Android back in the late Palm T|E days competing with Dell's Windows based mobile. iOS wasn't even on the radar then. Re: (Score:2) That's correct. Android was demonstrated and shown off a few weeks before the iPhone was even announced back in 2007. There's a CES 2007 video showing Android. Looking remarkably... blackberry-ish or WinMo ish with a 5-way navigator and stuff like that. Then the iPhone was announced, and a serious amount of re-engineering happe Re:As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ba (Score:5, Funny) I already know the future. Fail, of the epic kind. I prefer fail of the EEPROM kind. Re:As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ba (Score:5, Funny) Re: (Score:3) That's the EPROM. EEPROMs are Electrically Erasable. Re: (Score:2) Agreed. I own a BB and a Playbook. The Playbook, BTW, i bought at 50% off with bonus accessories.. As for the Playbook, its got a really nice screen, responsive, good feel. And thats about it. I'm using it as an ebook reader - I read a lot of PDFs and the ei Re: (Score:2). I have a BB Bold, which I agree is a good phone. Haven't gone to OS6. Has RIM figured out that people actually send html mail? As for the Playbook, I looked for one when they first cam out, but couldn't find a single working demo anywhere they were sold, so I gave up. I'd say RIM is toast. haha... the announcement itself was the start it (Score:3) QNX was NOT fast. It was however quite efficient and bragged for years about task switching times Re:As a blackberry user, I don't need a crystal ba (Score:4, Interesting) BB is still entrenched in Corporate America. There's massive inertia there. Oh yeah? Is that why RIM's morning general session at its conference had a heavy emphasis on games? [infoworld.com] From what I can tell, the most recent BlackBerry hardware has been targeted squarely at the teenage/college student market. Apparently BlackBerry Instant Messaging is more popular than SMS in some parts of the UK and Europe. Meanwhile, white collar workers have increasingly been demanding to use their own devices in the workplace; The Economist even did a special report on the trend a week or so ago. You think the general public is buying up BlackBerrys? Nope. It's iPhones they want to use in the office, and once it's the C-level execs asking for it, the IT department won't have much choice but to allow it. Get rid of the BES lock-in and it's game over for RIM. Re: (Score:2) Corporate America is rapidly shifting to support Android and iPhones (executives are demanding, and getting it). Two years ago, PwC was 36k some odd blackberries, today it supports iOS and Android and people are moving them in droves. Blackberry has nothing. good enough for nuclear reactors (Score:3, Insightful) Re: (Score:2) You shouldn't have been rated down, but yeah I don't see this being a negative. With all the professional users of blackberry phones, their tablet's almost assured a user base. MOD ABUSE above (Score:2) good enough for nuclear reactors ... sounds like an industrial strength, secure platform that might actually be adopted by governments, enterprise companies, medical, etc. not sure how it will be marketed to education and gaming though, except by showing nice 3d framerates Seriously, how is this modded -1? QNX is all about special purpose dedicated applications. If the military needed a specialized tablet QNX may very well be the OS of choice, perhaps RIM the supplier. Likely, no. Plausible, yes. Similar story for specialized tablets for medical use, say something rated to be used in an operating room (note that this is more about the hardware than software, an iPad probably can't be sterilized without inadvertently destroying the electronics) to control equipment, display da Re: (Score:2) In order for QNX to meet the specialized requirements you're thinking of, every part of the OS has to be certified, which means nothing Blackberry produces will be useful to the military for 2-4 years at the soonest or it will be stripped down to the point that RIM will have no advantage. Contrary to popular belief QNX isn't that impressive anymore. It was at one point, but theres nothing about it now that isn't a well known and well understood concept, at least when your thinking of RTOS and security stand Re: (Score:2) If you can boast an OS that doesn't lag while multitasking (eg. Music over bluetooth in the background) while doing other stuff (education, games, whatever) and furthermore that it'll keep running demanding workloads for months without becoming unstable or crashing, I think you'll be able to get pretty broad interest in the platform. Re: (Score:2) But what advantage does QNX offer here? I sure want an RTOS in my car's anti-lock braking system, but I couldn't care less if my phone is "just" a Unix derivate. If Linux is good enough to run Google and Wall Street, and BSD is good enough to run a huge chunk of Internet routers, then either of them are good enough to run my phone. Enterprises are mainly built around Unix, IBM, or Windows. Medical is very often centered around Windows. Education gets by fine on Macs and Windows. RTOSes aren't especially good oh QNX (Score:3)? If you like ASM sure (Score:2, Informative) The entire OS is written in assembly along with the applications. So if thats your thing then go for it. Re:If you like ASM sure (Score:4, Informative) Sounds incredibly unlikely, considering it's ported to ARM, MIPS, PPC, i386, etc. Vaguely Unixy, Tiny Microkernel, Fast (Score:2) Yeah, it's been a decade or two since I've seen QNX too. It was a real-time OS with a message-passing microkernel that was only 4KB, which meant that it could be running on-chip in cache (assuming the cache didn't have better things to do, which it probably did, but 4-8KB was a typical cache size for a processor back then.) Re: (Score:2) The big question is not the core POSIX APIs, but how you do UI, high-level networking and so on. For UI, QNX has Photon, but I very much doubt that it's what they'll use in this thing; and even if they do, they'll likely wrap it in something higher-level (it's vanilla C). QNX is not another unix implementation (Score:5, Informative) I last booted QNX something like 10 years ago...back then it was realtime, unix based (I think?), and relatively promising. I remember it was even more responsive than Linux (which was was more responsive than Windows) ... Anyone have experience programming for QNX? If it's "just another unix" shouldn't porting to it be straightforward? QNX is a real-time operating system. For programmer convenience some things are unix-like. However unlike Linux and other unix implementations QNX is a *hard* real-time OS, you are guaranteed that things will happen within certain timeframes. QNX is targeting embedded environments, in particular environments that require incredible reliability - for example military and aerospace. QNX is exactly the sort of thing you use when you are building a mars rover. Re:QNX is not another unix implementation (Score:4, Interesting) Except, of course, the Mars Rovers used VxWorks. :-) (Another hard real-time embedded OS which is used quite a bit more than QNX.) I disagree (Score:2) QNX is distributed, network aware implementation of POSIX APIs on top of a rather unique realtime kernel. But it is a unix-based system, with most of the GPL tools cross-compiled. Your command line doesn't change much, if at all. The QNX GUI (if it survived the merger with Blackberry tech) is tight, slick, low-profile interface. Very responive. Personally I'm interested in developing for any one platform, so I focus on Java 6 JEE based services that will eventually provide for HTML5 web interfaces to Re: (Score:3) Re: (Score:2) As I said, the question is whether you think Unix is a kernel or the tools. If the tools and APIs are compatible, good enough. It's a unix system. Every manufacturer's implementation of Unix uses a different kernel. If you think they're still on the original AT&T SVR4 or BSD 4.2 code bases, you're way off course. They've all been tweaked and tuned, with different advantages and disadvantages for scalability, tuning, and management. QNX is another kernel, nothing more. A very slick kernel, but ju Re: (Score:2)? Yes and no, it's a no obfuscated obtuse set of APIs to program against. We can't even get stuff that worked in QNX 5 to compile under QNX 6. Two years ago one of teams decided to upgrade an existing system that ran QNX 5 and some proprietary hardware. They just planned an OS upgrade to QNX6 and swapping a few of the specialty cards out. It still doesn't work two years later. We could have ported the code over to Linux and been done a year ago. It really didn't help that mid-stream they got bought out Re: (Score:2) I'm assuming you weren't very close to the project, seeing as there is no QNX 5. Assuming the code was actually from QNX 4, I don't know why you expected it to be a simple recompile. QNX 6 was a completely new operating system rewritten from the ground up. Just imagine getting your old Mac OS9 programs to compile for OSX. You're right, I think it was QNX4. I try to distance myself from that project given how over budget and way past schedule they are, but I keep getting asked to help with basic problems like networking. They really got in over their heads with the assumption that they could just upgrade QNX. I think they were envisioning more of a Windows 2000 to XP kind of upgrade. It didn't help that vendors kept claiming they had drivers for the hardware - the team wasted lots of time re-writing and debugging drivers Why Not Android Already? (Score:2) If RIM is going to switch OSes, why wouldn't they go with Android? Cheaper to obtain and support, far larger app and developer base, easier to market it than "QNX? What's that?", bigger security community. RIM is just trying to protect its "different" status, despite the actual cost/benefit. Re: (Score:2) I have a feeling that they're following Palm down the long winding road of obsolescence. A Unix OS that isn't compatible with either of the two main players. Re: (Score:2) Because they're really really REALLY fucking stupid. That's why. Re: (Score:2) Re: (Score:2) This argument shows up here all the time, and it's lame as hell. When Ford was doing alright, why didn't GM and Chrysler just sell CKD fords? They'd have done better, in the short term at least. When Apple came into the game, symbian was number one by a long long stretch. Why didn't they just paste an apple logo onto a Nokia phone? If you go to android, you're just another commodity manufacturer. You can make money that way, sure, but when you hit it right, with your own design, the thing prints money. That sa Re: (Score:2) QNX and Linux are _really_ different. QNX is a realtime OS for embedded applications, since as controlling car engines and factory equipment. This means that performance is extremely reliable (realtime OSs guarantee no glitching/slowdowns), it never crashes, and it runs efficiently on very limited hardware, on pretty much any CPU. For example, QNX is the OS running 200+ models of cars, in 20m+ cars on the road. It's proprietary and expensive, but for some applications you don't care about that as much as yo Re: (Score:2) If RIM is going to switch OSes, why wouldn't they go with Android? Maybe you guys suggesting RIM "just go android" are living in lala land? Why not just hand over the keys of the castle to Google and be done with it all? Re: (Score:2) If RIM is going to switch OSes, why wouldn't they go with Android? Yeah why not just do what everyone else is doing. far larger app and developer base Blackberry runtime for Android apps. They've already tapped into that community to a degree. Re: (Score:2) One fantastic reason is native executable code, however they are now too late to the game for it to make any difference. Re: (Score:2) I'm quite sure that the patents Microsoft owns are already needed by RIM (they most likely have a licensing agreement where they share patents). Switching OS's would make little difference on how much they have to pay Microsoft. Re: (Score:2) Comeback Kid (Score:3) It sure seems like RIM is thrashing around looking for a path forward. Apple seemed to suffer from the same thing, limping along with an OS that lacked basic features like memory protection and preemptive multitasking until 2001, but look at them now. Are RIM users loyal enough to wait out the problem years? Re:Comeback Kid (Score:4, Informative) Well... (Score:3) If, by some strange chance, the answer is yes, then yes, they should come flocking. Otherwise, their fortunes will likely continue to depend on how pleasant their systems are to develop for, and how many devices capable of running applications are in the hands of users interested in buying them... By all accounts, QNX is an accomplished OS; but it doesn't(in itself) solve the direst of problems with RIM's 3rd party dev efforts, which are not so much kernel limitations as user environment, dev tool, and API ones. If RIM can outperform its historical self in those areas, good for them. Otherwise, this "BBX" is going to offer the delightful choice of the same old blackberry crap, or Adobe Flash running like a wounded fainting goat [wikipedia.org] on some flavor of ARM SoC; but with a rock-solid foundation... Re: (Score:2) QNX Neutrino (Score:5, Interesting) Re: (Score:2) If properly utilized, I could see Blackberry overpowering all other mobile phone manufacturers. I have a feeling, based on this blog entry from an attempted Playbook developer [jamiemurai.com] that unfortunately it's not going to be "properly utilized". Re: (Score:2) QNX was a fast and fun OS when I ran it back around 2002/2003 but damn it was buggy and unstable mess, I could crash by playing a mp3 or make the file system do a little bit of work. It sucked on my desktop. Re: (Score:2) Funny. I would have said that QNX crashes often in 1988. Are their any QNX success stories? The issue with obscure operating systems is in the device driver support. If the project will take two to three years to develop, and be in the market for another five to ten years, then several different hardware platforms will be required. If you are not running an operating system that supports a wide range of hardware with pre-built drivers, then multiple different device drivers may be needed over the life of Re: (Score:2) Go check out a playbook, and prepare to be disappointed. They botched like a bunch of, well, hardware manufacturers who know nothing about software. Re: (Score:3) QNX is probably the best operating system ever. I think you forgot to insert the "Imma let you finish" part. Can you run Android on the new OS, BBX? (Score:2) Dear RIM (Score:2) The real news here, folks! (Score:2) You know what I find really interesting about this story? BlackBerry is trying to save their hide by moving their telephone O/S to a Unix variant. Now that iOS and Android are both Unix-derived, it's old hat, almost a given. But it was just a few years ago that it was understood that Unix was old, antiquated technology to be replaced by newer, sexier Windows/Mac systems. What a difference a decade makes! Linux has since come to dominate the server and engineering workstation spaces, MacOS has been reborn as Re:If it's not as closed as iOS/(locked down)Andro (Score:5, Interesting) Seems to me that that's really the only way to get in the game at this point--make things as easy as possible for developers. Free SDK, free publishing license, and higher payouts for devs. Hopefully RIM has learned a lot from these days [jamiemurai.com] (and if you read the followups, it looks like they're making an effort). Though I've never owned or really even used a Blackberry device, I do wish them well, just like I wish Microsoft well. I don't want the only players to be Google and Apple anymore than I wanted the only players to be RIM and Microsoft. We could use more honest competition in this space. Re:If it's not as closed as iOS/(locked down)Andro (Score:4, Insightful) Apple pays 70%. Suppose RIM were ultra generous and paid 100%. So long as I sell 43% more on the Apple platform, I'm still making more money. Put it another way, I'd have to sell 70% of my iPhone sales on the RIM before I made as much. Ain't going to happen. Re: (Score:2) That's assuming you develop apps that are exclusive to one or the other. What if RIM had compilation software that could read 90% of your iOS files untouched? 100% Pure Java (Score:2) What if RIM had compilation software that could read 90% of your iOS files untouched? That'd be a change. The last time I looked into BlackBerry, everything had to be in 100% Pure Java or in another language that compiles to JVM bytecode. And I don't think Objective-C is one of those languages. Re: (Score:2) Good point. To elaborate, people tend to own only one phone, so in terms of app sales each phone's market is a separate market, which you would independently decide whether to sell into. That is, you're not choosing either to sell into Apple or RIMs market, you're choosing each one independently. If you can sell enough to be profitable as an iOS app, you will do that, and (assuming you have the resources) if you can sell enough to be profitable as a RIM app, you will do that. And so on for each mobile OS. Th Re: (Score:2) There's a bit more to it. Sure, if your app is trivial, then adding another platform is a simple formula of cost vs profit. But, for any app with any real complexity, each platform you write a native app for increases your design complexity in a non-linear fashion. For example, if you have just one platform, adding a feature is a simple process of of writing that feature, testing (etc), and deploying. Now, if you have two, you need to write the feature twice, test it twice, and coordinate deployment across m Re: (Score:2) I'm assuming RIM isn't completely clueless and doesn't require developers to only give exclusive apps. Re: (Score:2) You can write Flex apps that are compatible with iOS, Android and Playbook all at once. Even if you don't like Air or Flex, you can use HTML5 for your iOS app and port to WebWorks for Playbook and BlackBerry. How much overhead per year? (Score:2) So long as I sell 43% more on the Apple platform, I'm still making more money. In the lower (that is, hobby and portfolio-building) sales bracket, that also depends on how much it costs to keep your developer certificate renewed. On iOS, that's an overhead of $250 per year: $100 per year for the iOS Developer Program and an estimated $600 for a new Mac every few years to run the new version of Xcode that is required to target new devices but isn't compatible with your older Mac. How much does RIM charge per year for access to the SDK, access to run homemade apps on a device, and publi Re: (Score:2) On iOS, that's an overhead of $250 per year: $100 per year for the iOS Developer Program and an estimated $600 for a new Mac every few years You do of course also have to replace a PC every few years if that's your development platform. Let's stick with like for like. The overhead is $99 per year for an iOS developer to get on the App Store. For Android it's $25 per year to get on the Google Android Market. And/or $99 per year to get on the Amazon store. Test devices are more expensive for iOS, but you won't need to buy as many. Re: (Score:2) Then perhaps I should charge the difference between the cheapest PC and the cheapest Mac. For example, compare a $1000 MacBook to an (admittedly heavier) $400 laptop running Windows. That's still $600 for a Mac. Hey if you're scratching around to save money, the MacMini is the cheapest Mac. $599. But really, if you're choosing your development platform based on what's cheapest, then you're destined for a pitiful life. If you're monetarily challenged, you're better off making a good app, and selling it on the more profitable platform, covering your costs and making a profit. Re: (Score:2) Re: (Score:2) I haven't upgraded to Xcode 4.2 yet, but I fully expect to be running it on my 6 year old Macbook. 6 years old... October 18, 2005... first Intel MacBook in April 2006... I was under the impression that Xcode 4.2 required Snow Leopard [quora.com] and Snow Leopard required an Intel CPU. Re: (Score:2) Re: (Score:2) Re: (Score:3) "primarily BIS/BES services" Yeah, how's that working out for them? Re: (Score:2) RIM has no restrictions on how YOU sell your apps. You can put the files (.cod and .alx) on any webserver in the world and let people download & install your app. Unlike Apple, blackberry applications have never been a closed shop. A one stop shop results in more app sales. Now, the one best thing Apple did was to get your billing information FIRST so that Apple can bill your mobile account for apps. They don't bill it to a mobile account. Apple get a credit card number and charge apps, songs, movies, whatever to that. The Apple shills don't get it. (Score:2) The less roadblocks you have to development, the faster that cash comes in. Actually its all about customers ... (Score:3) The less roadblocks you have to development, the faster that cash comes in. Actually its the more customers you have. The hardware/platform that developers target is chosen by the customers, not the developer's convenience and preferences. That said, what roadblocks to develop for iOS? A Mac, a device and $99 a year to publish on the app store? To be honest that is an extremely low barrier to entry. 1250 USD is a lot of money (Score:3). For people living in countries with undervalued currencies compared to the USD [wikipedia.org], 1250 USD is a lot of money. And I haven't been able to find one way or another whether high school students under age 18 are eligible. Re: (Score:2) For students who have trouble paying for college, 1250 USD (Mac + iPT + certificate) is a lot of money. No its not, thats 3 weeks of working McDonalds. Before your training is complete, you can own a macbook and an iOS cert, add another week and you've paid for an iPhone too. For people living in countries with undervalued currencies compared to the USD [wikipedia.org], 1250 USD is a lot of money. And Windows PCs are free there? No, but you're pretending they are because 'everyone owns a PC'. A full Windows license alone is ~30-40% of the cost of the entire buyin for mac development. You're making up costs based on picking and choosing what you're paying for. No, Linux isn't a viable option to consider, you'll make exactly $0 a You don't need Windows to make apps (Score:4, Interesting) thats 3 weeks of working McDonalds. Which is impractical if you're already working McDonald's to afford tuition. And Windows PCs are free there? Neither are Linux PCs, but a Linux PC is a lot cheaper than a Mac. No, but you're pretending they are because 'everyone owns a PC'. The installed base is such that one is far more likely to own a Windows PC than a Mac. Perhaps I should multiply the expected [wikipedia.org] Mac buy-in by 90% to reflect the 10% chance of already owning a Mac. A full Windows license alone is ~30-40% of the cost of the entire buyin for mac development. You don't need Windows to develop for certain popular platforms that compete with iOS. Anyone under 18 can't enter legally binding contracts in any sane part of the world I don't know about BlackBerry, but if you own a device running Android OS, you don't need to enter a legally binding contract before you're allowed to load homemade programs onto it. This is one of the differences between Android and iOS. Actually $800, then subtract student discounts (Score:2). Actually its $800 in hardware (mini + touch) and that is regular retail prices. Students are able to get significant discounts. ...and add a certificate . Plan on renewals for years 2, 3, and 4, and we're close to the $1250 mark that I quoted. Do students get a discount on certificates too? Re: . Yes, thats why I mentioned $99 a year to publish in the first post and specifically pointed out that the $800 was in reference to hardware in the second post. Plan on renewals for years 2, 3, and 4, and we're close to the $1250 mark that I quoted. Do students get a discount on certificates too? And now factor in that the students can sell their apps. Something that was *far* more difficult to do in the not so distant pass. Apple also lowered the barrier to reaching a large consumer market. Re: (Score:3) And now factor in that the students can sell their apps. Something that was *far* more difficult to do in the not so distant pass. Apple also lowered the barrier to reaching a large consumer market. Apple took the first step; Google took the next step by lowering it further. Re: (Score:2, Interesting) The less roadblocks you have to development, the faster that cash comes in. Apple are resting on their laurels. They've done good and have come out of nowhere to dominate the market ... but Android is still outselling them. Wow. 4 million iPhone 4S sold .. who's willing to bet that will be a significant number of the total sales? If Apple had complete faith in their product they wouldn't be trying to hamstring Samsung and Android. iPhones and iPads are cool and sexy today, that's no guarantee of future success. Ask Sony/Ericsson and Nokia, both headed for the bin heap of commodi Re: (Score:2) Wow. 4 million iPhone 4S sold .. who's willing to bet that will be a significant number of the total sales? Considering that Apple sold over 13 million of the old iPhones in just the last three months, I'll take that bet If Apple had complete faith in their product they wouldn't be trying to hamstring Samsung and Android. Absolutely. Because when you have complete faith in your product, you don't care if someone tries to rip it off. It's times like this I wish Slashdot had a :rolleyes: emoticon. ------RM Re: (Score:2) Yes, because a profit seeking entity making 66% of all mobile phone profit worldwide is "failing". [asymco.com] And before you reply with the usual slashdot retort about de Re: (Score:2) Wow. What reality are you in? It sure isn't this one! You have no clue at all. Android devices are doing remarkably well, and I welcome that, but my goodness you're wide of the mark on Apple's prospects and endeavour. Re: (Score:2) In a fantasy, sure. Reality is never so simplistic and it makes you look ignorant to suggest that it is. I've written my own OS and apps for it, there are 0 road blocks in my way ... and not surprisingly, 0 income from it. Somebody else can do all the work and hand you an absolutely flawless piece of perfectly functioning software and it still won't sell if no one wants it or it runs on a device that no one owns. You can put all sorts of road blocks in front of me and it'll still be more profitable than no ro Re: (Score:2) Re: (Score:2) You have no clue. What developers care most about is how much profit is there to make. RIM builds a failing platform, and an acquisition won't change that, nor does your 'openness' - the only thing who can change that are consumers, and they care about UX, not features. But give it one thing that it does well, that people like and they remain with a seat in the big game. Otherwise they are as doomed as Nokia. Re: (Score:3) I agree that what developers (companies, not always individuals) care most about is being able to make a profit on their investment. And on that front iOS wins, because they provide the best app store, and have trained millions of users to pay for software. This is as distinct from the Android store, which is not as good, and which sells far less software per person. But a close second (first for many individuals) is how easy it is to write software for the platform. As an extreme example, iOS is very easy to source request... (Score:3) I have heard this 1% > $1000 several times, although I have yet to hear a reputable source for this statistic. Apple doesn't give out such stats, at least as far as I can tell. Who provides this metric? Competitors marketing slides don't count. Re: (Score:2)

Posts Tagged ‘Gary Ross’ Francis Lawrence Talks Finnick, Haymitch, and Gary Ross In a recent interview with MTV, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” director Francis Lawrence sat down to talk about Finnick, Haymitch, and the challenge of taking over the franchise from previous director, Gary Ross.... Bartholomew Biddle and the Very Big Wind Out Today Gary Ross' children's book 'Bartholomew Biddle and the Very Big Wind' is being released today. EW Talks to Gary Ross: “It was absolutely the right decision.” Entertainment Weekly caught up with director Gary Ross to talk about his new children's book. USA Today: Behind-the-Scenes with Elizabeth Banks and Gary Ross Watch a behind-the-scenes clip of Elizabeth Banks as Effie Trinket and her inspiration for the character. Sneak Peek of Hunger Games DVD/Blu-ray Behind-The-Scenes Feature Those lucky enough to be at ComicCon today got to see a sneak peak of some behind-the-scenes footage for The Hunger Games DVD/Blu-ray. But for those of us not in San Diego, EW has released an exclusive clip. The video is a clos... Behind the Scenes of ‘The Hunger Games’ Cover Shoot for The Hollywood Reporter In a behind the scenes video from The Hollywood Reporter’s cover shoot, Gary Ross gave a cool shout-out to the fandom by admitting how fun it is to share his work with all the fans. “It’s a wonderful feeling when ... Gary Ross Interview with Fandango Thanks to one of our readers for sending a link to this new interview from Fandango with director Gary Ross. He talks more about how perfect Jennifer Lawrence is for the role, how the books affected him so much, the point of vi... Gary Ross and Simon Beaufoy Working on ‘Catching Fire’ Screenplay In a recent interview with Gary Ross, the LA Times stated that Ross had already begun work on the screenplay for ‘Catching Fire’ with Academy Award-winning screenwriter Simon Beaufoy. We had previously reported that... Gary Ross Opens Up About His Pursuit of ‘The Hunger Games’ In an interview with the LA Times, director Gary Ross opened up about how he actively pursued the director’s chair for ‘The Hunger Games’, going so far as to make a mini version of the movie and interviewing t... Zoe Saldana Talks ‘Hunger Games’ – “I’m a Huge Gary Ross Fan!” Zoe Saldana talks 'The Hunger Games' with MTV at the MTV Movie Awards.

Read even put into words how much I love her dearly. Her kids Michele and Damien are two of my favorite people on the planet. They are my Maine Family. They’re the first people I call with good news and they have my back when times are tough. So….the bad news. Cathy has breast cancer. She is having a mastectomy. The day she found out she had cancer we all went out for food and drinks. Cathy also has an amazing sense of humor as well. She said, “I’m not going to look at it like I lost a boob, I’m just going to pretend it went on vacation.” Then she proceeded to make jokes about her boob going around the world having a great time. Then she said she wanted to write a book about her boob on vacation. And that gave me this idea. If she thinks her boob is on vacation, then it should send post cards. So I want everyone to go buy a post card from the town you live in and send it to Mama Morris. Write something witty about what her boob did while there mention you and your friends/family and sign it, Love Your Boob. Wil Whalen Example from one of our mom-stuff moms. Mamma Morris, Hello, I am enjoying the sun in St George UT with two cute goofy girls, Love, Your Boob Your Boob Our wish is for her to receive a TON of these postcards so she can make a scrap book of her Boob On Vacation. You have no idea how much this will mean to her. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO THIS! It will be the best medicine ever! Also, feel free to pay it forward and get a bunch of your friends to do it as well. You have all my gratitude for this! And yes, even if you live here in Maine, still do it. Also, if you feel so inclined, copy the text of this event and email it to 10 friends. When she receives all her post cards, I’ve going to scan them in my computer front and back and then have a hard back book made for her. Mama Morris 36 Ferncroft Rd. Buxton Maine 04093″ 36 Ferncroft Rd. Buxton Maine 04093″ If you want to send me a pic of your post card I will down load them to Facebook (dianne@mom-stuff.com.) I think we can get some serious momentum going for Cathy. I love the idea of lots of us coming together for healing with laughter. Facebook event address This is an awesome idea! I'm going to definitely pass the idea around. I'm glad your friend is staying so positive... it's not easy but with friends like you she should be just fine! I'll be praying for her and will definitely be sending a postcard! Kasey, Thanks for your comment and your support.

Here, after 2 weeks, are the answers to your questions... Tim Gunn, you met Tim Gunn - OMG. Sorry Dawn, I love you dearly and your blog, but Tim Gunn. Was he nice, how was he dressed? Here's how the meeting went. A man walked in and people cheered. I said, "Who's the old guy in the suit and why are people cheering for him?" "It's Tim Gunn!" blank stare from me and sound of crickets in background "It's Tim Gunn! blank stare "From Project Runway?!" "Is that a TV thing?" At this point, I got a dirty look for being clueless and was left standing alone. Do you know how many the Ford Flex seats? I believe it seats up to 7. Hmmm, which kid should we leave behind... Yeah, camping is a pain in the butt! Your kids, however, will be talking about it for years! At least you are done until next summer, right? You would think, but no, we're planning another trip this fall. Oh, SOS, What should a large family do for a reunion when some siblings have $$$ and other siblings owe $$? That's a tough one. You don't want to make it impossible for those, without cash to burn, to attend the reunion. Those with money may not understand why they're stuck having a camp-out reunion. In the end, I think the wise thing to do would be to claim you have no money at all and just stay home. That way, you won't have to camp, or deal with Uncle Mike's storytelling, Aunt Mimi's drinking problem, Cousin Earl's tattooed girlfriend and her parole officer, or Grandpa's Phil's gassy indigestion. Hmmm..I am confused. You mean you have to pay a fee to register your children at State schools? Yup. Well, not all states charge registration fees, but IL does. So, I guess this means you're not considering homeschooling this year? I consider homeschooling every year when it's 40 below and snowy and I have to get up early to take the kids to school.!!! When will it end? Ummm, let's see...yesterday Joe yelled out, "Slug Bug!" and hit Austin when we passed a VW Bug, so I'd say they have at least 30 more years to go... Just wondering, is Clay going to school this year? or does he have another year of pre-school, if he is going to school who is going to entertain Brooklyn? Clay's going to kindergarten this year hooray! His poor teacher. As far as Brooklyn goes, I think the Little Einsteins, Phineas & Ferb, Elmo, and the Backyardigans will be entertaining her while Clay's gone. Yes, but was the mohawk given by his brother? i have to know... Nope, I cut Clay's hair. don't personally like mohawks which is why I'll never cut my hair like that. Clay does, however, and it's his hair so whatever. I cut it. No biggie. Did you have a margarita? The margarita's at Cheeseburger in Paradise in Downer's Grove were FABULOUS!!! No, but I did have coconut iced tea! Coconut! Yum! The best flavor on earth! do you think you'll ever have another child, dawn? Sure, I will! When chicken have teeth. Oh, and I almost forgot to ask, did you by chance get to have any cute fireman over??? Not yet, but with Clay in the house, the chance is always there. What no pictures of the Naked Cowboy?? I know! I guess I'll have to find time to get back to New York! I hope you don't have an ear infection--the one I had about 3 weeks ago bled and I was MISERABLE, then the antibiotic made me barf. So, thinking good thoughts for you! Ugh, that stinks, Stephanie! Really! My ear doesn't hurt, but I still can't hear out of it. I'm getting used to it though. It's kinda nice blocking some of the noise out. I'm kinda hoping my right ear will plug up too. Oh My Gosh, Dawn!! You got to stay at the same place Rosie O'Donnell used to have her guests on her show stay. Did you at least get to do a little bit of quik shopping?! Umm, I bought a bottle of water. Does that count? Really, these blogging events are usually quick in and quick out with no time for sightseeing or shopping.. I have no idea! I'll look them up..... OK, I'm back. Austin's a Scorpio, Savannah's a Gemini, Jackson's a Leo, Lexington's a Gemini, Clay's a Capricorn, and Brooklyn's an Aquarius. I'm about to fly with my nine week old. Any advice???? Sedatives. You might want to take one too. Hey Dawn! I was at Lake Tahoe this past weekend, I happened to stumble across a wooden plate that read "Who are these kids and why are they calling me 'Mom'?!"Do you have any wooden plates of the liking or would at the moment like one for your birthday? LOVE it! LOL! Chocolate or mud? [hand prints] They were chocolate syrup hand prints because Brooklyn lives on ketchup, chocolate milk, and like 4 strands of spaghetti a week. Sunday, August 23, 2009 17 comments: I know how it is to have your ear all blocked up, although mine never lasted more than a day. I recommend getting your ears candled, the feeling afterwards is sooooo wonderful. If you're like me, however, you may have to go back a week later and have it done again to get rid of the rest of the wax. My husband and I win the contest for the waxiest ears in our family... To the Punch Buggy Parent: It may be too late for you since they are already in the routine of hitting each other but when my two boys (now 7&8) were little we made Slug Bug a team sport to see how many we could see in one day. Our record is 87. And now, my oldest has started spotting Mustangs. To parents with young kids...start early make it a team sport with points! You'll thank me in the end. :) Hey Dawn, I can send you a pic of the Naked Cowboy. Got a few from our visit a few years back. My kids were amazed to see him on the streets. dawn in MI We nipped the whole "punch bug" thing in the bud when our children were young. We changed it to "hug bug". When the kiddos started getting to wild with their hugs, we started a hug yourself rule. With "hug bug" we also use a everyone gets a hug rule. The cousins used to think our kids were weird, but that's alright. Our kids have one less thing to fight about!.......................................!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We just moved from AZ to CO, and I could not believe the school fees! My little one went to K in AZ last year, and I paid nothing, and bought no supplies. This year for 1st grade in CO, there were $60 worth of school fees (not a registration fee, but like $10 copying fee, $5 technology fee, $5 library fee, $10 breathing our air fee, etc), and that didn't include $5 for a school directory, $7 to join the PTA, or $25 to pre-order a yearbook, which are all optional, of course. The newcomers PTA tea this morning was optional too, and I opted not to go! Don't even get me started on the high school fees. I think when all was said and done, I paid about $300 for my freshman to attend a public high school. $125 of that was a sports fee for softball, but still. Whatever happened to everyone guaranteed a free education? I guess at least next year, I'll know to save up for it. Thank you for clearing up so many burning questions from so many crazy people. This was one of the best blogs I've read anywhere in a really long time. You are a saint to answer all of these questions...it is funny the stuff that people wonder. Okay, and one more thing...Tim Gunn, he is great, you might like him if you ever get TV time You have to try these Edy's Coconut popsicles! If you like coconut, you'll love them. Now I have to try to find coconut iced tea! Oh, sorry, let me clarify--I'm personally not a big fan of mohawks on children, and I've always wondered what kind of parent would do that to a child. Now I know. Psh the bunch buggy game Hubby and I still play that LMAO. From SOS "do you think you'll ever have another child, dawn? Sure, I will! When chicken have teeth." Sorry Dawn, Chickens do have teeth. First - I wouldn't have a clue who that guy was either! Second - I am "Aunt Mimi" and we own a winery - so yeah....nephews tease me about my drinking problem. Have they been talking to you? LOL Third - it goes from 'slug bugs' to "PT Cruiser Bruiser" and "Striker Bikers" and then TEN points/punches for "HUMMER" Fourth - Mohawks rock. Their hair - who cares. My mom hates that attitude. She's going to FLIP when I let the 12 year old pierce his ears... Fifth - that women telling you about chicken's teeth - I'll help you beat her up. ROFLMAO ~ Misty I had a double ear infection and couldn't hear for over a month. I fell down a flight of stairs and broke my hand because my brain didn't know how to balance without my ears working. Ear infections are dangerous. Be careful. Oh my gosh, your answer to what Brooklyn lives on cracked me up! Perhaps that's because I have asked the question once about my own daughter: "Can a person live on just noodles?" So far the answer is yes. I have to tell you....the chocolate handprints remind me of something my oldest two did when they were little. Hubby and I had spent an entire Saturday cleaning the townhome we lived in at the time, as his dad and step-mom were coming out to visit from MI. I scrubbed my kitchen from top to bottom, even cleaning the floors on my hands and knees. The next morning I was awakened to the sound of hubby yelling. Got up, came into the kitchen to see my boys, then almost 4 and 2(now almost 11 and 9) standing in the middle of the floor with both the chocolate AND Strawberry syrup ALLLLLLLLLLLL over the floor. The 2 yr old gave me a huge smile, then lifted the cup he had in his hands(that he'd gotten out of the sink-dirty of course) to his mouth and began drinking the syrupy concoction they'd made. My 4 yr old said "'ook mom! I can spin reeeeal good now!" and proceeded to twirl on the floor. We then set to stripping them both down and hubby bathed them while I re-cleaned the kitchen floor. Upon finishing, I ventured into the bathroom that was right off from the kitchen, only to find pink and brown little-boy handprints all over the bathroom counter, light switch and toilet lid. It was a great start to the day...lemme tell ya lol. A suggestion for flying with a 9 month old: buy 2 or 3 of those giant packs of earplugs and hand them out to the passengers around you.

. 31 comments: Ah, yes, the great presents we get from our kids when we sleep in! Some moms get breakfast in bed, but the rest of us get much more exciting things! I fell into a pit of despair though when you reminded me we're on vacation. Next week I have to get everyone up and ready for school again. Summer can just not come soon enough! Great pictures. My kids do dog stuff like that too. One decided to strip down to her "fur" and put on the dog's collar and go outside.... What a riot!!! That is so much more fun than listening to hours of whining! Enjoy the break! that's a good one!!! it's nice to read a funny this early in the morning. happy new year! A ha ha ha ha ha.... How can I convince my husband to have more kids? Very cute pictures! I think a dog would add too much chaos in your household! Have a safe and happy new year Dawn! so the beginning of your poast reminded me of a song I used to sing in high school 'the 12 days AFTER christmas'. The first day after Christmas, my true love and I had a fight. And so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite. Then, with a single cartridge, I shot that blasted partridge, That French hens to make some chicken soup. The four calling birds were a big mistake, For their language was obsence . The five gold rings were completely fake And they turned my fingers gree. The sixth day after Christmas, the six laying geese wouldn't lay: I gave the whole darn gaggle to the ASPCA. (spoken) Well, actually I kept one of the drummers(girls) Well, actually I kept one of the maids a-milking(boys) And sent them back collect. I wrote my true love, "We are through, love" And I said in so many words, "Furthermore your Christmas gifts were for the birds!" (echo of "four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree." But yours goes more like this The first day after Christmas, my kids and I were still at home. And so Then, I woke up with a gallon of milk left out. Then, with a single slice of cheese, melted on to six different plates, I remembered I love sleeping in. or something like that....lol enjoy.... You gotta give it to them - they do use their imaginations alot! Too funny. Have a great New Year! Jenn I'm always happy when summer is here so I don't have to get up. I still get up before the kids though. I taught them how to sleep really late. But by the time summer is over I'm ready to deal with getting them up and out just so I can have more of the day to myself. Geez ~ I guess it IS all about me. LOL I find it just to funny that Jax got in on this one too. Hey at the very least lol they were playing nicely together for that moment. I am SO loving this. Little Miss keeps insisting she's a cat (our two cats are her brothers), but thankfully she hasn't gotten out her own food and water bowls. I think I need to keep her away from yours if only to avoid the fights between dogs and cats? ;) Love it. I was going to send the wee ones your way to teach them to sleep in, but it sounds like you're doing what I am -- trying to ignore the noise and get a little extra sleep. Luckily I haven't found any food out. Of course I've not managed to spend more than 10 minutes in bed after they wake up, since they're so happy to see me at home that they come in and snuggle in bed with me. Ohhh the horrors ;) btw - any word on the new publisher? I was thinking about you and that the other night and have completely forgotten to ask you. Oh my gosh, my kids like to be dogs too! They have even taken it a step further and set up doggie school in the living room. They practice jumping through hula hoops and crawling under the coffee table. They've even gotten me into the game by scratching my legs until I give them a cookie. OMG! LOL!!!! My kids do the same exact thing!! That is funny. Thanks for the smile! My sister was a dog for years. She is now over 40 with 3 little ones of her own. Thanks for bringing back memories. Well, at least you know that their imagination is well developed. :-) I am impressed by the cleanliness of your kitchen floor and LOOK at the ribs on that kiddo...he needs more kibble!! :) My four older kids LOVE to play like they are dogs. This post made me laugh 'till my sides were splitting. My kids thought I was going off my rocker. The cheerio kibble was the funniest thing I have read in a long while. That's is too funny! Your kids are very creative and imaginative!! Hey Dawn! I'm starting up a mom blog too! Will you check it out and tell me what you think? You're like my idol! My kids do this all the time. One is a cat, the other a dog. LOL! I think you just described a typical morning in the Spaz household! I agree, though, better to sleep in and clean up mess later. We mom's need as much sleep as we can get. I had bowls like that once!! Happy New Year! Ew, who lapped up the water that you stepped in? I don't allow barking in my house. It's enough having to hear it from the neighbors' dogs. I don't want to hear it from my children! My daughter is WAY too good at sounding like a high-pitched, yappy little dog. Happy New Year, Dawn and family! Glenda My lot are usually Guinea Pigs... AND they make that horrible Guinea Pig noise all day! At least they don't shed like real dogs!! Hahah.? (easy link right here: ) Happy New Year and I hope 2010 begins good for you. You deserve it, and I'd love to meet for lunch if you're up for it after school starts up! xoxo what cute pictures....love your blog..can it really be 2010....So glad I found your blog and look forward to many reads in 2010..Happy New Year.. Next time, turn off the lights and replace the Cheerios with Kibble and Bits. Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up! Love it :) The messes aren't funny, but the pictures of them pretending to be dogs are! Hope you were able to find a way to get some rest while they were on break. Hmm, I am beginning to wonder if two was enough...

Posted: Jul 10, 2012 8:42 AM by CBS News While word trickled out last week that Mitt Romney was set to announce a $100 million fundraising month in June, official word came out Monday: he and the RNC actually raised $106.1 million in June for his election. The Obama campaign, in turn, announced they and the Democratic Party pulled in $71 million, the second month in a row they were outraised by their Republican rival. "It was our best month of this election so far," Obama campaign Chief Operating Officer Ann Marie Habershaw wrote in an email to donors. "But we still got beat -- and not by a little bit," she continued. Romney campaign spokesperson Andrea Saul said in a statement Monday, "This month's fundraising is a statement from voters that they want a change of direction in Washington." "In the months to come, these resources will be crucial to highlighting the difference between President Obama's broken promises and Mitt Romney's plan to get America on the right track again," Saul said. The Romney campaign says it and its joint RNC committee had at least $160 million in the bank as of June 30. The Obama campaign didn't say how much they and the joint DNC committee have on hand, however, at the end of May, they had $147 million. For months, the Obama campaign has said they'd be outspent by Romney and the Republicans, pointing specifically to "super PACs", which can raise unlimited amounts of money independent of the campaigns. Republican-leaning "super PACs" have raised millions more than Democratic-backed "super PACs" this cycle. "If we lose this election, it will be because we didn't close the gap enough when we had the chance," Obama campaign COO Habershaw's email added. Romney held at least one fundraiser on at least 18 out of the 30 days in June. This does not include the three-day retreat with major donors in Utah because according to campaign officials, that was not an actual fundraiser. We do not know the exact number of fundraisers he held because the campaign does not always alert the press when he's holding a fundraiser. The locations of his fundraisers were spread out: California, Oregon, Washington State, Texas, Missouri, Utah, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Arizona, Virginia, New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. In comparison, Mr. Obama attended 33 fundraisers in June, the most of any month since filing for re-election in April 2011.

Social. When faced with adversity my method of coping is mobilization. What can I do to regain a sense of control? This week we are all left to ponder this question. How can we channel our heartache and anger into action? Is it because Newtown is so close to home that we are compelled to act? I don’t think so – the country is engaged in discussion like never before. There are many questions, and many facets to consider. But two areas scream for attention: how our society deals with mental illness and guns. Mental Illness: We face a mental health crisis in this country. Budgets are cut, and with the loss of funding go vital services. There is a disparity between the way insurance companies view general healthcare and behavioral health services; this allows payers to limit services for those seeking help for a mental illness. They impose limits on how much providers can be reimbursed too, so in in this part of the country most therapists don’t accept any insurance. People who have a mental illness are stigmatized, and this deters many from accessing services. Parents who seek help for their troubled children are chastised if medication is part of the treatment. There are no easy answers. Let’s talk, listen and learn from each other. We need to take a close look at how our society deals with people who have a disease of the brain – a chemical imbalance. It will take work, but we can change the culture, and improve the care of those experiencing a mental illness. Leadership from the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI) Connecticut is going “on the road” to talk with residents throughout the state. This is an opportunity for community members to learn about what is happening in Connecticut to address the needs of those with mental illness, and to get involved on a grass roots level. Local NAMI chapters will host the meetings; a schedule can be found on NAMI CT’s calendar. Some dates are already scheduled (below), and more will be: - Fairfield NAMI: January 2, 2013, 7:30-9:00 pm. This meeting’s agenda includes a discussion of NAMI’s legislative priorities for 2013. More about the meeting is here. - Stamford/Greenwich NAMI: January 16, 2013. More info here. - NAMI Southeast (Norwich): February 6, 2013. More info here. - NAMI Windsor Locks (East Windsor): February 10, 2013. More info here. Guns: Let’s consider the facts. The Swiss-based Small Arms Survey found that in 2007 the United States had the highest gun ownership rate in the world: 88 guns per 100 people, or 270 million altogether.[i] When countries experiencing high murder rates by drug cartels (Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil) were excluded, the survey reported that the US has the highest rate of homicide by guns. Firearms killed 31,347 people in 2009 – that is 17.7% of all injury deaths that year.[ii] Gun control helps. The states with high gun ownership and weak gun laws experienced the most gun deaths.[iii] No matter how “gun enthusiasts” may spin it, the numbers speak for themselves: tougher gun laws save lives. What justification is there for civilians to own military style weapons and high capacity magazines? What rational person would deny the importance of background checks and gun registration? When Congress resumes session in January, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) intends to introduce a bill to renew the ban on assault weapons. These are common sense measures. The gun lobby is powerful. Suggestions to arm teachers and implement high-tech security features in our schools and public areas are based on the premise that the current state of gun ownership and (lack of) regulation is acceptable. No longer can our society acquiesce to gun violence perpetrated against the innocent. This is our call to be part of the solution. The nation is ready – now is the time for action. Contact government officials: Let your elected leaders know what you think. Connecticut Against Gun Violence,, is leading the charge on gun control in the state. They are working with Connecticut legislators and on January 9th a Bill will be introduced to enhance gun safety. Click on the “Legislative Action Center” on the right side of their home page, under Take Action. Once you enter your home address this link will connect you to your local, state and federal representatives in government. Since Senator-elect Chris Murphy hasn’t taken office yet, he is not included. He can be reached here, at his Congressional office. After he takes his senatorial seat that link will close and he will be listed on the CAGV’s Legislative Action Center too. Other organizations that are actively pursuing gun control: - The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, - Mayors Against Illegal Guns, - Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, - Violence Policy Center, Several on-line petitions are circulating: - Immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress. We the People: sign the petition - Gun Control. Now. Sign On (an arm of Move On): sign the petition - Increase the availability of mental health services now! Change.org: sign the petition - Zichronam Lirracha: For their memory shall be a blessing. Jewish Council for Public Affairs: sign the petition [i] The Guardian, Gun homicides and gun ownership listed by country. US edition. Accessed 12/18/12,. [ii] National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 60, No. 3, December 29, 2011. Accessed 12/18/12,. [iii] Violence Policy Center. States with Higher Gun Ownership and Weak Gun Laws Lead Nation in Gun Deaths, Washington, DC: Violence Policy Center, October 24, 2011. Accessed 12/18

Last week I found out that my quilt would be featured on the cover of McCall's Quilting!!! It's the large star made from a jelly roll of Kate Spain's Flurry. I just love it! They named it Snow-Kissed Star which is more perfect than anything I could have come up with! Here's the link to their blog: and here's the link to more information about the pattern on their website: The pattern takes half of a jelly roll. That means I have half a jelly roll in my sewing room. To celebrate, I have decided to give it away! If you want the jelly roll, leave a comment telling me what your favorite Christmas color combination is for a quilt. Do you like traditional red and green, bright red and green, do you like adding the winter blue, magenta and forest green? I think I will do the drawing on Monday. Monday sounds like a good day to have a prize drawing. **The drawing is now closed.** Happy Quilting! 81 comments: Congratulations. It is gorgeous I like red and green with a little gold thrown in for Christmas quilts. But lately I have been drawn to the dark side. Since I have been using Countdown to Christmas by Moda, I have come to love a little touch of black added in to the mix. Wow - congrats - that is really cool! I really like the Christmas brights. Congratulations on becoming a Cover Girl quilt designer! Thanks so much for the generous offer. I hope I win! My favorite color is red. Shirley shirleyruss@yahoo.com Congrats on being a COVER GIRL! For Christmas I prefer the brighter reds and greens with some minty blue thrown in for good measure. That is beautiful. Congratulations, cover girl! I like Red, Green, White with a little Black as an accent. It really makes it pop. Just got this magazine in the mail. Love bright reds and greens! I love this pattern, can't wait to make it, but I have a few UFOs to finish first. :) Thanks for the chance to win! congrats! it is a beautiful quilt. I love reds/golds for Christmas. last year I tossed some brown into the mix and loved it. So winter looking! I love it! I tend towards the richer deep reds, golds, greens and blues for Christmas sewing, but I love looking at all the modern bright cheerful fun prints that are out there now. So if I win this half jelly roll, I would be able to make your star pattern! How exciting! I'll have to be on the lookout for it. MGM The last few years, my favorite colors have been blue & green. In past years, it's been blue & white & silver. So I switch back & forth. Thanks for the giveaway. Congratulations on the magazine cover! I have it and was impressed with the quilt. I am thinking I am gonna change up the usual Christmas colors and go with aqua and red with some cream and black for balance. I tried it a little last year and was pleasantly surprised but I used a Christmas style pattern with what looked like peppermint kisses and I think that is what helped it say Christmas.. My favorite colours this year are blue White and silver!! But traditional is always good Red and Green is it unless it involves a cut snowman and then the blues Congratulations, I'll be looking for it! Beautiful quilt. CONGRATS TO YOU! YOUR TABLE TOPPER IS BEAUTIFUL! I USUALLY LIKE JUST THE RED/GREEN TRADITIONAL COLORS,BUT YOURS IS SO DARLING THAT I THINK I WANT TO ADD AQUA TOO!YOU ARE SPECIAL TO GIVE IT AWAY! THANK YOU♥ jldouglas@wispwest.net Congratulations, your quilt is really an original. I love blue, white, and silver but deep reds and greens feel so homey and warm. I might have to break my no-buy budget to pick up the magazine - I just love that! It's stunning and Kate's fabrics just top it off. I love rich emerald green with burgundy red and a little blue thrown in! I love the traditional colors best - red, green, gold. But I absolutely adore Kate Spain fabric. Loved her 12 days of Christmas line - which had a non-traditional color. would love to work with some somthing outside my comfort zone. Congratulations! I love your quilt! I like the traditional red and green Congrats! Being on front of a McCalls Quilt cover is an awesome accomplishment. Be prepared for all the new followers! I like cute prints like Flury or something like that in jelly roll Christmas quilts. I'm not that great in putting colors together myself just yet, but I'm gettin gthere. Thanks for the giveaway! For Christmas colors, I like a variety of reds, greens, winter blues, and creams. Not bright reds and greens, but more medium tones. Love your quilt! Congratulations Konda! Whilst my Christmas decorating started out in traditional colours of red, greeen and gold, they have branched out to include blue, silver, hot pink (yikes) and lime green (even more yikes). But it kinda works, from a distance! How exciting. Love the pattern and the fabric. I would love to win. Congratulations and thanks for the giveaway chance! I love Kate Spain's Christmas lines with the aqua thrown in with the red and green! It depends which room I'm decorating, but like most of the color combinations you mentioned. If I were lucky enough to win the half jelly roll, I'd make a matching quilt to yours! I love the red and green but I feel a need to toss in some blue too and maybe some tan. I love, love winter blue(s) with a bit of silver and green and definitely some dark red. I love red and green but in a print that can be played off as an everyday quilt that reminds you of Christmas. Congratulations on the cover! It is beautiful. :) My favourite Christmas Combo is of course the red and green with gold also tossed into the mix! Congratulations...your quilt is gorgeous!! Paulette Red and white. Love the star quilt. Green and gold. I like the idea of throwing in a bit of black for spice. I guess I am a traditionalist as I really like red and green with white for Christmas. I have added a lot of blue into the mix but mostly I like the traditional colors. I would love to get your jelly roll: I would make your quilt for us. Congrats! I love the festive look to this quilt. I am definitely going to pick up this issue. It looks like such a fun quilt! Certainly draws attention because it is not "normal"! I prefer darker greens and reds:-) I'd have to say that the traditional red and green are still my favourites, but I am liking a lot of the new Christmas fabric lines that are coming out this year. (supermomnocape at yahoo dot com) Thanks for this fun giveaway. Congrats! Very pretty quilt! I love reds, greens, silvers, blues, non traditional tones. Thanks for the chance to win! I like white blue and silver. That is a beautiful guilt. I like Kate Spain's last 2 Christmas lines. I like to add that light blue and change up some of the patterns. So, you could actually keep the quilt out past Christmas if you wanted to. I love Christmas brights. Congrats on the mag cover. I like a muted red and green, with a little yellow thrown in. Kathie L in Allentown I love it all. Bring it on. Congratulations on the magazine cover!! Good work & the star is beautiful! I'm a traditional green & red although I have been venturing out into the blues/whites/silver colours. Gorgeous quilt! I love traditional colors for Christmas - brick reds, forest greens, with splashes of white and gold. I am so traditional...gotta love the red and green. But this latest trend to use lighter greens, blues and pinks really has me excited! I love your strip star..love it. Very exciting!! Congratulations:) WOW! Cover girl is cool! Congratulations to you. How fun that must be to see the magazine with your quilt on the front. :) I am a total Christmas freak and love to decorate many trees in different colors and themes. I don't really have a favorite colorway but I do know that this year I will be adding more of the blues and reds together. Thank you for the chance, and your quilt is exquisite! :) reds with greens unless...it is a snow scene and then I love the blues Beautiful quilt and Congrats on the publication! I am into traditional holiday colors although I always think I'm going to change it up but never do! lol Can't go wrong with the classics, right :) First, I love that quilt! It is gorgeous! I love to splash a little bright pink in with my bright Christmas greens and reds. If I am doing more jewel tones, Silver, Burgundy and Forest green. That quilt is beautiful! :) I like red/gold or blue/silver/white combos-the blue combo probably because we very rarely get snow down in my part of Texas! Congratulations -- what an honor to be on the cover of McCall's. For our first Christmas in our new home last year, I switched to an Aqua color theme, and I just love the way it looked! Can't wait to get those decorations out this year! I subscribe to McCall's and love, love your pattern. (I had already marked it with a post-it note). Please pick me, because I would love to totally copy cat your pattern! I love red and green, but I could also go for a light blue and white! :) Although I like the blue snowmen and frosted blue christmas ornaments, I'm such a traditionalist that it really doesn't feel christmasy to me unless it has the red and green. You quilt is darling. I would love those colors. Thanks. I am traditional with deep red and green. LOVELY quilt! Congratulations! A gorgeous quilt! I love red and green - but not metallic fabrics! Congratulations on your magazine cover! It's a fabulous quilt. I love burgundy, cream and dark green for the holidays right now. I like using reds and greens Congrats on the cover-the quilt looks wonderful. First of all, congratulations on the magazine cover! What a thrill it must be for you!! :) I think that I really like the traditional red and green, with some black/white/silver thrown in. Thanks for the giveaway!! Congratulations. I love the fabric you used. cant wait to receive my maz. I got the magazine yesterday and immediately LOVED this quilt...Congratulations...! ps...I'd love the other half of the jelly roll! Bev/Mo Congratulations, Konda! It's beautiful! Can't wait to get my issue!! I am a tradional red and green girl. I have tried other combos but always go back to this. I love Christmas decorations. My fav is red and green but like all combinations of Christmas colors. bgk44 @msn.com AWESOME!!! That is a beautiful quilt. Makes me want to go buy a jelly-roll! :o) CONGRATS! Love your quilt..Great colors and I am looking forward to making one also..and awaiting the drawing as I haven't picked up that jelly roll yet! Congratulations on the cover, just got it today!!! Have been poring over it. Love the quilt and is going on my to do list...but not for this year. I love more of the muted and jewel tone reds and greens but always mange to throw a little surprise in, sometimes gold, sometimes black. Keeps it interesting! Congratulations on being a Cover Girl! It's a beautiful quilt. I love the Flurry line of fabric, too. Congratulations! That's a beautiful Christmas quilt. I like traditional Christmas red and green, but that blue in your quilt is something I'm going to have to try. I like some blue added into the traditional Christmas colors. Thanks for the giveaway....I have the magazine here just waiting for that half jelly roll. Love the quilt, what a wonderful way to make a big star! Every year for Christmas I decorate the tree differently. Usually it has blue and silver, because I love snowmen and snowflakes, and most of those ornaments are blue and/or silver. WOW!!! So cool to be in a magazine! I'm more a traditional girl when it comes to Christmas colors.. True red and green. That being said, I sure do love pretty much all the Christmas lines this year. I just got my copy in the mail and within the hour purchased the fabric and linked to your blog on my Google Reader! What a wonderful pattern - congrats on being a cover girl and I'm so happy to have found your blog :) Congrats on being a cover girl - your quilt is gorgeous !! Congratulations, I love the Reds, Greens, Whites and Blues for Christmas. How exciting! It is beautiful. I like any combo of red and green for Christmas. Congratulations! I like traditional red and green, and white. Thanks for the giveaway! I like nontraditional colors, like white, turquoise, red, gold, silver, anything with pizzazz! Oh, I have that magazine and have been admiring your star all weekend. Great job. If I am not too late I would love to be entered in the give away. My fav Christmas combo is the traditional Christmas red and green with a touch of gold. Am I to late to enter. Such a beautiful quilt. Heading out to get the magazine now. Thanks

Flats and Handwashing Challenge and I'm definitely feeling the flat love. Only one leak yesterday, but I was really pushing the diapers to the limit so I think that was pretty awesome. I was even able to use one small, thin, Child of Mine flat all by itself with no leaks with a kite fold (though it was SOAKED under the cover). Very impressive. I am also loving the camp washer. Makes things very easy and looks like it works very well. I say "looks like" because I only did half of a wash cycle last night. I filled the bucket with cold water and agitated them a bit for a pre-rinse, then filled the bucket with hot water and detergent and agitated some more. Then I got distracted and left them in the hot soapy water overnight. I'm thinking that won't hurt and may help, and I'm up to rinse and hang them before the kids get up. I was wiping and reusing my covers yesterday so I only ended up needing three all day. I also had plenty of diapers left over, so I'll be fine today while waiting for the rest of the stuff to dry. I had planned on just participating in the flats challenge with my diapered baby, but it occurred to me that it would kind of be cheating to then go and put a pull up on my four year old at bedtime. So back to Walmart I went. They didn't have any Child of Mine covers in a 5T so I went with the flannel and fleece from the craft department. I didn't get home until bedtime so I just tied the flannel and fleece on Violet all crazy like and I'll cut some real flats and covers today. Speaking of homemade fabulousness, today we have a special treat with guest blogger Monica Weller. Without further ado, take it away Monica! I'm so excited to share with you about making homemade laundry detergent. I have been making my own laundry detergent for well over a year now and I use it exclusively. I'm especially thankful to have homemade laundry detergent for my cloth diapers. We have a large family and I try to save money any chance I get. I wasn't sure if making laundry detergent would work for us or not but I figured I didn't have much to lose if it didn't work and if it did work doing this could potentially save our family some considerable dollars. Well it worked and I am not going back. We have a septic system so I make liquid detergent but you can make a powder version if you prefer. This is the recipe I use: 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha 1/2 C Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not Baking Soda) 1/2 C Borax 1/2 to 1 ounce of essential oil, if desired 2 Gallon size bucket Grate the bar of Fels Naptha soap into a pan. Add 6 cups water. Heat until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and borax and stir until dissolved making sure all the grated bar soap has melted. Pour into bucket. Add 4 cups very hot water. Stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups hot water. Stir again. Let the soap sit overnight. It will form into a watery gel. Ready to use after about 24 hours. Use 1/2 cup per load. You can use 1/4 cup for high efficiency washers. This soap has minimal suds but that is okay. The suds is an additive in commercial detergents. This is wonderful if you have allergies. This is also very cost effective. Fels Naptha: $1.09 for 5 1/2 oz. bar Borax: $4.26 for 76 oz. Washing Soda: $2.57 for 55 oz. So for $7.92 you can get all the ingredients. I checked Tide HE at Sam's Club and they sell it for $19.98 for 170 oz. bottle. The savings is at minimum is 1/20 the cost. So what are you waiting for? This is the only detergent I use for my cloth diapers. I use the rinse only cycle (cold water) and then I add the detergent and wash my diapers on the sanitize cycle (hot water) and they come out great every time. Good Luck! Thanks Monica! I am very excited to try this out myself. I am trying out SO many new things with this challenge, and every one of them has been great so far, I'm sure your detergent will be too. Because I LOVE Monica's recipes. Mostly the edible ones, but I can only imagine this one will be fantastic in a less delicious way. Monica has also published a cookbook full of great recipes (the edible kind lol) called, simply enough, "Homemade Cookbook". She's planning on starting a recipe blog soon but if you're feeling hungry before then, you can email me at bogflower at gmail dot com and I'll give you all the info about ordering a cookbook of your own. They are $13 and chock full of family-friendly recipes. So, after a great day of flat diapering, where does that leave us? Total $$ Spent: $115.02 with tax (yet ANOTHER Walmart trip to get fleece and flannel for preschool overnight diapers) Total Time Spent: 2:52 (added another Walmart trip, 6 changes, some time spent figuring out how to make a quick bedtime diaper, and half a "wash cycle") Total Diapers Changed: 6 Total Leaks: 1 See you tomorrow! **

After defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 5-3 this afternoon to finish their 10-game road trip with a 5-5 record – not too shabby considering the quality of the competition – which combined with a loss from the White Sox leaves Detroit only 3 games behind once again. Combine that 5-5 road trip with the previous 4 consecutive interleague series and the Tigers are 13-9 over their last 22 games. This hasn’t been due to a surge in offense (though a little of that is due to the 9 games in which Tigers pitchers had to flail wildly at the ball. I hate National League baseball) – over those 22 games the Tigers have averaged a little less than 4.5 runs per game and a .740 OPS. Not awful but really not a plus. The Tigers have found some success through pitching – with a team ERA of 3.38 over that stretch. If only the team hadn’t allowed 15 unearned runs over those 22, we’d really be getting somewhere. June 12, 2012; Minneapolis, MN, USA: Minnesota Twins left fielder Josh Willingham (16), center fielder Denard Span (2), and right fielder Ben Revere (11) celebrate after beating the Philadelphia Phillies at Target Field. The Twins won 11-7. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE Now the Tigers head home for 7 games before the All-Star Break. That’s 7 games against AL Central dregs Minnesota and Kansas City. If ever there was a time to hope for a 7-game streak, it would be now. If we lower our expectations just a hair, if the Tigers can win 4 of the 7 they will be a .500 team going into the break – not ideal but certainly not out of things. Is it fair to call this stretch “critical”? In a sense all games are critical and in another sense games against other divisional contenders are doubly critical (since we not only want to win we want those specific teams to lose). The Twins and Royals – though really anything is possible – are unlikely to be the AL Central champion this year even should the Tigers be unable to climb back to the top of the heap. These games are critical only in the sense that the Tigers can’t reasonably hope to make the playoffs by beating teams like Boston and Tampa Bay but throwing games to awful teams like the Seattle Mariners (against whom the Tigers are 1-5 this season). The timing is also important – leading up to the All-Star break and the most intensive trading season prior to the non-waiver deadline at the end of the month. Whether the Tigers ought to buy or sell could be determined this week – or left an open question. You’d like to say that the Tigers should have a pretty good chance to take both series and finish the season’s ‘first half’ not just at but over .500. That might not be true. For one thing – home field advantage around the league this year seems to have flat out disappeared. Look at the teams around the AL with better records on the road: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Minnesota. For another thing – as our Tigers commentators have been pointing out several times per game in anticipation of the Royals series – Kansas City is well over .500 since their terrible April start and barely behind the Tigers in the Central. Minnesota, on the other hand, started losing and has continued losing. A couple of their key guys in Liriano and Mauer have started producing, but there is so little overall talent on that roster at this point that it hasn’t mattered much. Unfortunately, the several Twins players who are likely to be dealt during the month of July will probably still be around to face Detroit over the next 4 days. SO… TWINS coming to town means time for Tigers bats to continue their recent liveliness. The Twins have a 4.92 ERA and the lowest pitcher WAR of any team in baseball. The poor Twins are also the only team to strike out fewer than 6 batters per game so far this season. The Twins have also struggled to hit on the road this year with an MLB-worst .636 road OPS. Add in that the Tigers will miss Francisco Liriano while the Twins miss Drew Smyly and personally I will be unsatisfied with less than a 3-1 series win – while hoping for the sacred 4-game sweep. The ROYALS coming to town is more of a reason for concern and or consternation. In addition to having winning months in May and June, the Royals have a 3.73 road ERA on the season and have scored more runs on the road than they have allowed. The same cannot be said for the Tigers at home. Topics: Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins

The CBR is said to be a heavy bike. I always knew that the CBR weighs at 167 kgs- what I didn’t know was that RE bikes weigh nearly the same. But riding wise I never found it heavy, it flicks with great poise in traffic and occasionally even with pillion I go flat out on my commute and to admit frankly I never found my ZMA so effortless as this one. In fact the P220 being lighter in comparison, I find it heavy to negotiate in traffic while crawling and at speeds. I have ridden much lighter bikes- but then I don’t get that stability confidence in case I happen to ride them like the CBR. So is it justified that the CBR is being spotlighted as an elephant and this very point being one of the factors that people add it to its negativity? Premature conclusions on performance is the next thing. Haven’t ridden the KTM so can’t comment on the ride feel and the acceleration characteristics…though I can vouch that the KTM would give you more thrills than the CBR. In fact it’s obvious one might even end up under the impression that the KTM is much faster than it actually is. The CBR on the other hand would be happy to do all the drudge like a non-complaining housewife without much fuss…the same characteristic which many people loved in the ZMA while choosing it over the P220 despite being lesser on power specs. On the contrary just to add- post 6000 rpm, the CBR does go into a completely different element. Continuing on similar lines…we have the handling factor. Now without second thoughts the bike that immediately and deservedly springs up is the R15. No arguing on the fact that it’s a great handler- but so much so talks go around that the CBR automatically is highlighted as a bad handling bike- which I feel it is not. I find it way way ahead of the neutral handling of the ZMA which is considered to be a good road-mannered motorcycle. Yes the suspension is soft and the front does dive on hard braking- but then it is what it should be like considering that 99% of the biking population ride their bikes on roads and not on track. If both bikes still had to be taken on track- no guessings who’d be coming out with faster laptimes. Well the CBR has more power would be an obvious comment…but then the P220 with its brute power still trails the R15 on laptimes…its not only about power, isn’t it? If I had to swap the CBR with an R15 for my daily use- within a week I will be coming back crying over a stiff body, I will say the same for the N250R as well. Practicality prevailing on the handling factor- won’t a CBR be a better proposition? Poking in with the KTM here which has a lovely soft suspension- in fact the rear is softer than the CBR at the softest settings- how it performs- time will tell. And finally coming back to the cornering ability here- I really wish to ask the level of skill of a rider who would be cribbing about the ‘not-so-great’ handling of the CBR. At what level of speed will a CBR falter i.e. the bike would lose its line during cornering, the front tyre losing traction or the rear fishtailing. I feel the line of error between the CBR and the R15 will be so much high up the graph that it will need an extremely talented and professional rider to actually push both bikes to a level where the handling limitation would come to light. I found the CBR a completely different animal on cornering when compared to my ZMA- initially I always had apprehensions cornering on the CBR, the first reason being not to crash a new bike and second the cornering technique on the ZMA doesn’t completely apply to this one. It was a very similar case when I rode the R15 for the first time- I was like why the heck is this bike not turning? More of body inputs and the bike reacts to where you want it to go. I had suspicions on the Contigo which were dismissed when Sheel mentioned that they are as grippy as the ones on the R15…its all in the mind isn’t it? Well coming back to the handling since that I have now started to get the hang of the CBR, I would admit that I have started loving taking corners on it without second and creepy thoughts. In the end I wish to question, a motorcycle excelling on a track would excel in real world conditions? If one has to pick a motorcycle for all round use and had to pick between say an R6 or an FZ6, or a CBR600RR or a 600 Hornet- what would be your choice? And the issue that bought the CBR into a brighter limelight than the bike itself….QUALITY! Am not sure how deep to go into finding the quality issues. Starting off with the paint- I would rather ask myself as to what a bad quality paint job is. The only two bikes that made me go ga-ga over the paint has been the N250R and the N650R- simply outstanding finish, no other bike can really match them- but I do mind shelling out one bike’s cost for added quality. I can’t really compare the paintjob of the R15 and the CBR here for the fact that the red on the R15 is more maroonish and the one of the CBR that I have is metallic red. I would be grateful if someone could really highlight as to what a bad paint job really means. Another is the point of criticism….ugly welding joints. Well here are a couple of pics of welding joints of different bikes. The rest are from high res pics sourced from the net except for the CBR. My CBR- looks real bad? The R15: Deltaframe joint looks good, look at the pillion frame weld. The N250R…that’s a smooth finish? The KTM200….again is that a smooth weld joint? Look at the chassis surface finishing. Rusting: My bike was gathering dust for a month at the godown- thanks to Bank of India who made me run around for one and a half month and finally asking me to go to a branch near my residence to avail the loan. When I got the bike, there was not a micron of rust on the bolts, chain or anywhere. I was always impressed with the dashboard plastic quality of the R15 with lovely texture and great fitting….I find the CBR no different. The engine coating on my bike is still as it was when compared to Parimal's first batch CBR (8000+ kms) which had peeling issues right after a few days. Honda was ready to replace the entire block just coz of the peeling from a few places- but he asked them to coat the block instead of replacing as he didn’t want to get into running in again. Though all the bolts were replaced including a new set of grab-rails. Will end on the note with the words I started with…it’s not a post on defending a motorcycle just coz I have bought. It’s an extremely versatile and it feels a “built-to-go-well-everywhere-motorcycle” the moment you start riding it. And somehow it’s quite bad to see people going too much with criticism on quality and handling comparisons- which I have doubts about at present considering the new batch of bikes. Maybe Honda gave a specially made motorcycle to me. I might be light years away from a rider of a high order- but my riding experience (lotsa commuting and touring as well), I would say the CBR is a great recipe for real world conditions with a gem of an engine that pulls and pulls and pulls…..good stopping power and it excels at whatever you throw at it. Not forgetting to add the lovely EFI that is miserly to the core which during my commuting gives me fantastic mileage figures (35 to 40 kpl). The only grouse I had with my CBR was the quality of the brake pedal and the gear shifter….but then not enough to be a deal breaker to go ahead with. I genuinely feel that the quality issues were taken care by Honda (one example cited of Parimal) and the new bikes are much much better (mine is one). So as for the bombardment of criticisms, I would say it’s time to look up and beyond and to what the CBR actually is. Everyone has a right to disagree though.

$ Iconoclast is a near classic; it has some interesting cruxes that are mostly well protected while maintaining fairly easy climbing on a spectacular wall. Most of the climb shares pitches with Hyperspace while exiting the Iconoclast corner/dihedral system to the right for the Shield (Hyperspace continues up for two more pitches). The exposure on the Shield is wild as you roam around slinging chicken heads and a few sparce bolts. The start of Iconoclast begins after climbing the first two pitches of Remorse (typical and described below) or RPM. Remorse: Begin directly below the roofs that form the underside of Two Tree Ledge (you will be standing on the trail just to the left of the small scrub trees that are at the high point of the base of the wall). P1- 45m+ - 5.6 - Climb easy 4th class ledges and corners to a 4th class ledge system that angles up to the left. The ledge system ends 20' below a small bush in front of a large flake that typicallly has many slings around it. Climb the right groove up and traverse left to the bush/flake. P2- 25m+ - 5.8 - The next pitch traverses left all the way to the Psychopath ledge; start with some groove and face climbing up left aiming for the undercling flake; work your way back down the flake and traverse until you are forced into a balancy no hands traverse to more cracks; continue left along a rounded ledge (that works better for hands than feet) and finish with a mini crux up to the Psychopath ledge. Belay either at solid cracks and tree prior to the ledge proper, or continue across the gravelly ledge to the tree on the far side. These can be climbed as one pitch with a 70m rope, or some very easy simulclimbing for 20+ feet (for the second) until the lead can gain the Psychopath ledge and set a belay. Iconoclast: Many people will climb the Pyschopath crack as a variation from here. P3- 35m - 5.8+ - Around the Corner: Traverse out left (one bolt) and around the corner on some easy but exposed face climbing until you reach a crack; continue up the crack until ledges and cracks above the Pyschopath crack. P4- 50m - 5.10a - The Roof Pitch: Follow the cracks/corner up to a excellent hand crack corner roof (a short fun move over); continue up alongside the block of doom; a solid belay is possible at the top of the block of doom (in cracks to the left of the block). Be wary of the block doom as it is HUGE and seems to be detached and ready to release. The rockfall appears to be from 2008 P5- 45m - 5.10c - The Dihedral Pitch: Pull a second roof directly from the belay and follow up and over into a corner ledge that leads to the dihedral. An interesting (short) traverse down puts you under a dirty looking dihedral (it climbs clean), work up through secure but pumpy moves of the dihedral (good pro) (alternatively the right side face of the dihedral goes at 5.11a); continue up easier terrain to a two bolt belay. P6- 50m - 5.10c - Transition to the Shield: Follow the corner up to the tree (or work a crimp/ledge ladder out left that leads back into the corner tree); head right climbing the face up around the corner (one bolt and sparse/small pro); don't forget to look over/around the corner for the chicken head saviors; finish up the face of the Shield through easy chicken head terrain (two bolts spaced wildly apart and maybe a slung chicken head) to a two bolt belay at a tree. P7- 25m - 5.7 - The Mini Dihedral: Follow a short but beautiful little left-facing dihedral with a 2" crack in the back of it that leads directly to the left most end of Library Ledge; two bolt belay. Most parties will follow the last two pitches (68 meters) of Outerspace from hear. P8- 55m - 5.10b A0 - Continue up the 5.10b slab climbing (sparse? bolts) from the left side of Library Ledge to a bolt ladder. (I have not climbed this pitch so beta is second hand) Approach Snow Creek Wall via the Snow Lakes Trail. Stay on the trail for ~1.5 miles, until you just enter the trees (parallel to the wall). A trail down through the woods leads to a log crossing on Snow Creek, and up to the wall at the base of P1. A windstorm from the winter of 2010/2011 obliterated the trail proper for a few hundred feet on either side of the creek, follow the path of least resistance (look for rock cairns and cut branches through/on the maze of logs) The walkoff from the top is to the left or you can rappel the route with two ropes. Medium Rack to 3"; 1 set of nuts doubles of cams #.5 to #2 The Psychopath variation is really fun, not particularly hard, but the crux is techy and tricky. I would recommend continuing past the block of doom about 25' to the base of the dihedral on P4 if you've got a 70m. The belay will be more comfortable with better pro and the belayer will be able to see their climber. I would also link P6 & P7 together, take a #2 & #3 C4 to protect the mini dihedral. We didn't find the two widely spaced bolts on the face before the belay at the tree, but there were a couple of nut and cam placements to supplement the bolts, and the climbing was super easy after turning the corner onto the sheild.

I thought that too. I thought that too. Have a Magical Day, Month, Year!!! When you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable ~ Walt Disney Stephanie ~A man's character can be judged by the way he treats his dog.~ I agree that enforcing the return time will lessen the waits on both the fastpass line and the standby line at the end of the day, or at other high peak times. One thing that hasnt been mentioned is the flip side to this. Since the amount of fastpasses per day per attraction remains the same -if people do come back at the window instead of later, the stand-by and the fastpass lines during the day must get a little longer. The extra waiting time wont be as bad as late in the day since these extra in the time window people are spread over a longer time frame November 2012 Saratoga Springs Food and Wine Festival September 2012 Bay Lake Tower Trip Report Our other Disney Trips (including our Disneymoon): When we were there, they were just enforcing the start time window Working hard for that next WDW trip! December 2013 We were in WDW 9-25 thru 10/2 and they were only enforcing start times on the fastpasses. We did use them later in the day and nothing was said. I want to say right off the bat, that I have not read every post in this thread, but I agree with them wanting to enforce the return time. I believe it will be a more efficient way to keep the lines moving faster. However, I disagree with some posts that want a grace period. As the saying goes, if you give an inch, they will take a mile. If Disney allows 1 hr or whatever after the printed time, if the family returns 5 minutes after that 1 hour grace period, they will cause a stink about that. I wouldn't be opposed to a 2 hour formal return time, instead of the one hour time. "Like a grand and miraculous spaceship, our planet has sailed through the universe of time. And for a brief moment, we have been among its many passengers." InteractiveWDW.com - The web's newest WDW resource! I made sure to be there in the time frame stated...I believe in not abusing something ...I am shocked people did this later in the night..hhmm Kathy When I was there this past May, we were in the studio room of the Rocking Roller Coaster ride and the CM came in and just threw a ton of fastpasses all over the floor. She responded with "Oops, I dropped something. Oh well, I guess you guys benefit from my clumsiness". I picked up a couple and they were Fastpasses from earlier that day. There was easily 100 or so scatter all over the place. No one knew what to do until someon said that you could use them anytime in the day. Then people started picking all the tickets around them. Disneyland trip count: 31Disneyland trip count: 31 WDW trip count: 2 Accounting for issues of disability which is different everyone has the same opportunity to run around 'willy nilly' for fast passes. I think it's kind of a choice really. Planning for best exploitation of fast pass is the same as any other park touring strategy. The better you plan, the more you can exploit it. Remember fast passes you get for super headliners around early lunch often have quite a late return time. We often do this, go back for a swim then come back to the same park later and use fast passes within their correct window. It's all in the planning and how much back tracking you are prepared to do to exploit the (legitimate) use of fast pass to the max. Me and my DH take it in turns to be the fast pass runner. If no-one out there understands, start your own revolution and cut out the middle man (Billy Bragg) If your within the window then of course its totally cool. I just mean if you grabbed one at 9:30 AM and the window was 10:30-11:30, but you didnt use it until the peak time of the day at say 3 in the afternoon, thats budding into the 'line' IMO and goes against the spirit of the system and against the spirit of Disney World in general. I think return times should have been enforced from the start, I've seen people get their fast passes and imediately enter the attraction well before they're even supposed to initially return, Disney does need to crack down on the issue, I myself always return the minute I am allowed I never wait till the last 10 minutes or so if I did that I'd forget about it and I already have a collection of unused fast passes at home, back to the topic, it would cut wait times in half I'm in California and our space mountain fast pass line as of late has been almost as long as the stand by wait line and I bet its full of abusers he's on the breakaway!! he shoots, he scores!!! Got back from the World a week and a bit ago, and all our FPs were being checked carefully for times before we were allowed on any rides. I don't know whether we would have been able to use them later than the stated times, we didn't try. Apart from one time when Big Thunder Mountain broke down and we were told to come back later; when we did, the CM looked carefully at our FPs and then back at us, until we explained that they were from the time it had broken down (a couple of hours earlier); then they let us through okay. Silvercat I am leaving in a few hours and wanted make sure I got this correct.Show up between 330 and 430 as my FP says and I am safe! If I go past 430 which I never have I will be turned away? Kathy If they are enforcing the return time, which they apparently tested and may or may not have abandoned. It's obviously safest to return during the return time but the fact that a crackdown/test made the news does indicate it's not the normal procedure. If convenient, you could chat up a fastpass CM and casually ask how strictly the fastpass return time is being enforced on the day you are there. Since we don't know when they may choose to enforce return times that would likely be the safest course of action, aside from simply returning during the appropriate window. During MouseAdventure in the Studios on November 12th, it was recommended that we "get fastpasses for Star Tours" and I don't think anyone was turned away for coming late (when we'd figured out what we needed to look for). I know we were HOURS later than our return time. Cathy I'm at WDW right now and today my wife and I used Buzz Lightyear FPs about 2 hours after the return window had ended. The CM didn't comment or anything. Arnold A few days ago when I was still there, they only checked the date and start time of the FP window. This has been the same experience I have had each year. I don't think they enforce the end time on the FP because sometimes rides can go down, etc., so I'd bet it's a policy that they only need to check the date and window start time for the FP's. DLR - 02/01 off site WDW - 10/06 POR, 10/07 BCR, 12/08 POR, 9/09 BWR, 12/10 YCR, 12/11 BWR, 12/12 BWR, 10/13 BWR DCL - 9/09 Eastern (Magic), 11/10 Western (Magic), 11/11 Bahamas (Dream), 8/12 Nowhere (Magic), 12/12 Eastern (Fantasy), 5/13 Caribbean (Wonder) We just returned. We used several fast passes after their window was over.... mostly because we had the luck of getting fast passes every single time smack dab in the middle of an ADR. These were for ones like Toy Story that we *had* to get first thing or not get one at all. No one ever questioned us when we returned to use them. I do have to say the parks were MUCH more crowded than the "predictions" seemed to suggest so fast passes were really necessary. This and all of my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice. Bookmarks

- Wednesday, March 27, 2013 - 12:37am Coming to home video June 11, HANSEL & GRETEL: WITCH HUNTERS Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton battle to save the world from witches in the $200 million blockbuster. - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 10:00pm June 4 will be A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD The latest installment of the "Die Hard" franchise will be released on Digital HD May 14 followed by DVD and Blu-ray on June 4. - Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 12:32pm G-DOG gang reformer documentary comes to theaters, DVD & Digital Reality TV makes rich celebs out of average people, but here's one not-so-average guy who deserves the spotlight. - Monday, March 25, 2013 - 8:56pm Plan for THE GREAT ESCAPE on Blu-ray May 7 The 50th Anniversary HD release comes with more than three hours of bonus features. - Sunday, March 24, 2013 - 4:10pm This Week on Blu-ray and DVD - March 26, 2013 Why can't I have a funny Vice President? - Friday, March 22, 2013 - 9:27pm Disney announces three 2-Movie Collections for first-time Blu-ray release Look for "Atlantis," "The Emperor's New Groove," and "Lilo & Stitch" two-packs on June 11. - Friday, March 22, 2013 - 12:42pm A few surprises turn up on the Redbox Top 10 Rentals Like, "Playing for Keeps." - Friday, March 22, 2013 - 12:11pm A very UNfunny Robin Williams stars in ONE HOUR PHOTO, on Blu-ray May 7 You know that creepy guy who works at a one-hour photo place? Uh, he's checking out your family. - Friday, March 22, 2013 - 11:57am Kate Winslet will star in the futuristic adventure DIVERGENT She joins a cast that includes Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Zoë Kravitz. - Friday, March 22, 2013 - 11:45am Save big on DVDs of CENTENNIAL, MAVERICK: SEASON 1 and CHEYENNE: SEASON 1 None of them are available in HD, so a deal's a deal.

Change four years now. Our new apartment is our first place that has just about all we ever wanted in a home minus the option to have a pet. It is also the first time we have felt that we can start a home together. Our first place together was the apartment I lived in during my college years which was perfect for me and my room-mate, but when he moved out and Emily moved in, it was an awkward transition and we never really felt like that was our home. We then moved out to the country where the air was clear and free of the city noise. It was a nice place with cheap rent, but it was also just a move of convenience. We had just both graduated and Emily was blessed with a teaching job at Kings Valley Charter School, a small country school with about a hundred students. Our new place was only ten minutes away from her work. As I struggled to find a full time job, subbing as much as possible, I ended up staying home a lot. It was nice to be able to have the time to myself and to be able to think about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, but a person can only do that for so long. And neither of us we able to really feel at home because of the conditions of our new place…smelly water, no storage, no closets, no dishwasher (I love dishwashers), no mailing address of our own, and being twenty minutes from the nearest grocery store wasn’t exactly convenient. We did, however, enjoy being close to some good friends of ours who also work at the charter school. Well, I finally landed a job as a high school Humanities teacher at…you guessed it…the same school Emily works at. KVCS added 9th grade this year with plans to add a grade each consecutive year. This year has been more than I could ever hope for. It is a joy to come to work everyday and be a part of my students’ lives. This job is probably the most demanding job I can think of, but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else or doing anything but this. So, we can finally afford a nice, new place in the city. A place we can finally create a living space that we can enjoy to its fullest and be the hosts that we’ve always wanted to be. We love having friends over and we can’t wait to enjoy that company. Moving forward, change, hope, growth…all these things are good. But the truth is they mean nothing if you don’t share it with somebody. We may face challenges in this life, but we are never alone. When you work with somebody you can accomplish anything, go wherever you want to go and do whatever you want to do. It just takes a little work, some patience and a positive attitude.

Another division win puts Fox in elite company ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) long list of Denver's achievements to be met with almost no fanfare inside the locker room. ''You do this to win championships,'' Fox said. He's talking about Super Bowls, not divisions, and his team, with a 9-3 record, a seven-game winning streak and Peyton Manning playing some of the best football of his career, is shaping up to be as legitimate a contender as anyone. The Broncos play at Oakland on Thursday. Currently, they are the fourth seed in the AFC, with a game against Baltimore set for Dec. 16. Denver has a significantly easier schedule than two of the teams ahead of it, Baltimore and New England, so the No. 2 seed and the first-round bye that goes with it are both within reach. Don't bother asking Fox or any of his players too much about that sort of big-picture stuff, however. ''The most important thing right now is to keep on stacking days, keep on stacking weeks, keep taking it one day at a time,'' linebacker Von Miller said. ''I feel like hear what you say. I only hear what you do. Setting that tone is Fox, the coach, who has the backing and guidance of quarterback-turned-executive John Elway, then had Manning fall into his lap. Some say that makes his job easier. Some say it makes it harder because of the pressure to win - and win now - that goes with being surrounded by those people, those names. Fox's hiring was viewed skeptically in large portions of Denver. Yes, he was a veteran coach with a winning record (He's now 96-86) and one Super Bowl appearance, but he was coming off a 2-14 record in his final season at Carolina. Hidden beneath that terrible record was the fact that his players played hard for him all year and that Fox, a lame duck coach with a depleted roster, kept smiling and stayed positive through the entire thing. When Elway was looking for a coach in Denver, the Broncos were coming off a 4-12 season that included the midseason firing of Josh McDaniels and the awkward presence of McDaniels' first-round draft pick, Tim Tebow, who didn't get into the starting lineup until after the coach was gone. ''When I looked at this building when I first got here after the 2010 season, everyone was demoralized,'' Elway said in a recent interview. ''The one thing that stuck with me with John was the positive attitude. Outgoing. Friendly. Positive. To me, that was the No. 1 characteristic. It was the simple fact of the way he was. I felt he could get this organization rehabilitated, get everyone excited about playing football again.'' And, Elway said, there was Fox's ''knack for football,'' honed over 34 years in the business, first as a graduate assistant in college, then through five stops in the NFL, starting as secondary coach in Pittsburgh in 1989, before he got the head job in Carolina in 2002. Never did that knack work better than during the 2011 season, his first with the Broncos. Unfazed by the prospect of building a system around a player, rather than making the player adjust to the system, Fox and offensive coordinator Mike McCoy set aside their egos and, many might say, set back offense by about 50 years by bringing the read option back to the NFL to give. ---.

For Love & Lemons stripe double split maxi skirt, borrowed Reformation top, Nasty Gal spiked headband, black velvet platforms, vintage chain belt, oversized round sunnies, vintage silver bangles, eBay evil eye bracelet/ring, H&M silver cuff, DIY vintage spiked wrap bracelet, Beginning Boutique cage ring, vintage leather backpack and random rings So this time around I was able to experience Brooklyn life and I must say it's a lot calmer than the city. Like the other day we walked the bridge to Manhattan and it was pure chaos as soon as we stepped off...people and cabs everywhere! After shopping my favorite trendy slut stores in Soho, I was dying to get back. Well today's my last day in the BK and it's bittersweet. I've made a lot of connections and met some pretty cool people. I'm already planning a trip back, lol! How's everybody else' Summer? Virgin 35 comments: You look stunning - great post xo <3 I'm do in love with your outfit and I want to steal it! This is SO amazing! What awesome pictures! I love it all! Especially the head band and the skirt! - Keyta x I really like this! Stripes on your skirt mach to nails, great! This is SO amazing! What awesome pictures! I love it all! Especially the head band and the skirt! - Keyta x This is SO amazing! What awesome pictures! I love it all! Especially the head band and the skirt! - Keyta x Ow man, you rock soo much!! I love your style You look hotttt! Xx awesome! love this skirt! Love this maxi skirt Kiss kiss.*Jo love This skirt is adorable! I'm also in the process of making a DIY like your headband! x That skirt is so sick. Amazing. love it! skirt is just perfect, looks stunning with cropped top xx ruedevogue.blogspot.com LOVE THIS, your such an inspiration to me you are beautiful!!! really enjoy your style. rock on! girl you better werk FLAWLESS, Jessica :) Summer for me seems to be going too fast! Its like "stop and smell the daisy's" but no time for that, haha! xx Love the shoes and skirt! Gorgeous as always. I stayed in Brooklyn when i was in NYC and LOVED it! So good to be able to go back to the chill side. X i just bought this skirt too! cant wait to wear it:) and u look awesome as usual! OUTFIT OF THE DAY OUTFIT OF THE DAY OUTFIT OF THE DAY I love brooklyn! And this outfit is amazing! Looks great, even though I hate you for owning such an awesome belt ^^ Love your skirt, this look is fantastic on you. Amazing outfit. So in love with the skirt. LOVE! you're style is amazing! ** I lovee that skirt and that headband , you look HOT! Carelessworldd.blogspot.co.uk Love, Debbie That skirt is just so brilliant! Love it :) And summer? Pah, in England all we're getting is rain :( boo. love love LOVE!!! You always look so cool! I literally live down the street! So cool to see you in my 'hood! Glad you enjoyed BK!! YASS. BROOKLYN IN DA HAUSS. Well BK is my second home. The Bronx will always ne my first. Anywho... You lookin type cute. Slits and spikes. What's not to like? xx Jacqueline fngm.blogspot.com Im in love with your skirt. Amazing outfit! I really like your maxi skirt!! amazing! love you style aesthetic x Oi, te vi no lookbook vc é mt linda (: beijos beijos stephanydiz.blogspot.com.br This look is absolutely amazing so fab! Love every single piece! Xx

1 2 The "Experience the Self" Course July 27 - August 4 Movie by Faculty, Students Wins Top Awards at Film Festivals Earns a top award at Des Moines, Cedar Rapids festivals Fairfield named one of best small towns by Smithsonian magazine Article highlights MUM, the Golden Domes, and meditation Senator Harkin to Deliver Commencement Address Has a strong interest in alternative medicine and sustainability EcoFairfield Coming April 20-28 Eight days of events include vendor fairs, entertainment, tree planting, talks, and a fashion show. Visionaries Offer TED-Style Talks in Dalby April 20 “Our Conscious Future”: Conference will feature remarkable thought leaders and innovators. World-Class Expert on Soil Biology to Give Workshops Dr. Elaine Ingham will give microscope workshops on Saturday, April 6 and 13. Students Learn Construction Skills, Build Frame for Tiny House Each student drafted a complete plan for own house. Computer Students Win Trip to Silicon Valley Two MUM students score in the top 10 of a national competition. June In Italy: An Eco-Gastronomic Tour 10 Days of Italian Cuisine and Sustainability Dr. Travis Speaks at New York Academy of Sciences Nine leading meditation researchers invited to present Chinese University to Offer Scholarships A new partnership with Beijing Union University includes scholarships for students to study in China. Study sustainable agriculture in Costa Rica in April Free informational meeting on February 8 for those interested. New online course by BBC filmmaker Narrative-Based Creative Storytelling taught by BBC documentary filmmaker Stuart Tanner. (View trailer .) MUM Farm Passes Organic Certification Inspection An inspection by the USDA-accredited Nature’s International Certification Services gave the MUM farm high marks. Jerry Seinfeld on ABC NEWS on TM for PTSD Importance of TM for PTSD New Continuing Ed course -- Maharishi Vedic Astrology Learn about the subtle mechanics of the cycles and rhythms of natural law. New Study Shows Reduced Mortality, Heart Attack, Stroke A landmark study shows a reduction in the rate of mortality, heart attack, and stroke. $2.4 Million Grant to Support Research on Veterans A new study will look at the effect of Transcendental Meditation on PTSD. Drought Proof Your Farm Using Keyline Plow Design Workshop Sustainable Living Department Presents Permaculture Expert Darren Doherty Maharishi Ayurvedic Cooking for Vata Dosha December 15, 2012 search {1} ##LOC[OK]## {1} ##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]## {1} ##LOC[OK]## ##LOC[Cancel]##

) Weird Graphical Glitching after installing Precise Puppy Moderators: Flash , Ian , JohnMurga View previous topic :: View next topic Page 2 of 2 [18 Posts] Goto page: 1 , 2 Author npierce Joined: 28 Dec 2009 Posts: 622 Posted: Fri 07 Dec 2012, 18:13 Post subject: Hi Repip, Thanks again for the information, and taking the time to hand-copy it. (Yes, it would be hard to guess which of the many icons was for the text editor when the icons and their text captions were corrupt. ) I am glad to hear that the icons have been restored. The information you supplied shows that the file /etc/DISTRO_SPECS contains this line: Code: DISTRO_ARCHDIR='' I think that is the problem. It should be: Code: DISTRO_ARCHDIR='i386-linux-gnu' If you would like the boring details of what this "386-linux-gnu" stuff is about, read this quotation. If not, feel free to skip over it. (Since you are a Windows user, and new to linux, I'll first mention that the libraries I am talking about are usually Linux "shared object" (.so) files, which are similar to Windows "dynamic linked library" (.dll) files.) In another thread, I wrote: Debian and distros descended from Debian, such as Ubuntu, support "multiarch", which allows a library to have, for instance, both an Intel 32-bit build and an AMD (or Intel) 64-bit build installed on the same PC. (That is one example -- many other architectures are supported.) To do this, Debian and friends will sometimes put libraries built for the 32-bit Intel architecture ("i386") in /lib/i386-linux-gnu/ or /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/ instead of the usual /lib/ or /usr/lib/, respectively. Other distros may handle this differently. Currently, Puppy continues to use the standard /lib/ and /usr/lib/ directories. For compatibility with Ubuntu packages, Precise Puppy has symlinks from /lib/i386-linux-gnu and /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu to /lib/ and /usr/lib/, respectively. The problem you have run into is that sometimes when installing a .deb package from a Debian or Ubuntu repository, those symlinks get overwritten, so some needed libraries are not where they are expected to be. The Puppy Package Manager (PPM) in Precise 5.4.2 has code that moves the newly installed library files to their correct Puppy location and restores the symlinks. But that code depends upon DISTRO_ARCHDIR being set with the proper value, which -- for reasons I don't know -- it is not. (Some of the commands I gave in my previous post were copied from that code, so when you executed them you were doing manually what would have been done automatically if DISTRO_ARCHDIR had been set properly.) (I hope I'm not boring you with needless details. I'm being even more long-winded than usual here since you said that your were "really keen to learn a little about Puppy", but perhaps you were thinking of things other than all this nuts & bolts stuff. ) Repip wrote: It really is a simple quick exercise to completely reload Puppy anyway so I am willing to try anything at this point. I am glad that you are so willing and able to experiment. If you are happy to have your icons back again, and ready to move on to other things, feel free to do so. But if you would like to try something else related to this problem, consider trying this: 1. Assuming that you are now able to find a text editor, use it to open /etc/DISTRO_SPECS. 2. Look for the line that begins with "DISTRO_ARCHDIR" -- it will be the same as the line in the first Code box earlier in this post. 3. Change it by adding i386-linux-gnu between the single quotation marks, so that it looks like the second Code box in this post. 4. Save the file. 5. Now try installing VLC Player again, and see if it installs without messing up your icons again. If it works, it may save you from seeing your icons go crazy again when you install some future Ubuntu package. If it doesn't work, well . . . you get the fun of installing Puppy again! Good luck. Back to top Repip Joined: 06 Dec 2012 Posts: 4 Posted: Mon 10 Dec 2012, 02:45 Post subject: Weird Graphical Glitching after installing Precise Puppy Subject description: Restore VLC Player Hi npierce Have successfully restored VLC Player with that code you gave me, all systems go now in that area anyway ... hopefully it was a help to you guys. Thankyou for all your help , I assure you I will need much more in the near future... trying to get a Canon PIXMA IP1000 going ... bit of a challenge, however I will read some info 1st and then request HELP ! regards for now Back to top npierce Joined: 28 Dec 2009 Posts: 622 Posted: Mon 10 Dec 2012, 11:17 Post subject: Hi Repip, You're welcome. Repip wrote: Have successfully restored VLC Player with that code you gave me, all systems go now in that area anyway ... That is good to hear. Repip wrote: ... hopefully it was a help to you guys. Yes, it was. Your reports made it clear that the code that was supposed to fix the problem wasn't executing, and your report of DISTRO_ARCHDIR=' ' showed us why. Barry has implemented a fix for the problem, which will be included in his next Service Pack for Precise. See my bug report at and Barry's blog entry: DISTRO_ARCHDIR variable not set Thanks for your help in tracking this down.: 12 (0.0109s) ][ GZIP on ]

Here we are again, with me trying to introduce something to you that you may not have ever heard of. It's another weird one as well I'm afraid! When I first listened to this record more than a year ago, I literally couldn't, for reasons that will become apparent later. Now however, on return, I find my musical ears matured, and decided to try and review it. Sleigh Bells are a noise pop duo hailing from Brooklyn, with Derek E. Miller, former guitarist for metalcore band Poison the Well, joining with Alexis Krauss, who previously worked with teen pop band Rubyblue. That collaboration is a strange one, but they manage to pull it off with a messy flourish. They don't make the two different styles merge together, but rather create a new identity with influences from both. That makes for very original music though, let me tell you. The soft and the harsh side by side creates a shattered, crazy world, where things seep and blend into each other. Sprout flavoured lollipops. Flowery death metal bands. Imagine the chaos, and squash that into a record. This isn't for everyone, and in their very specific and at times abrasive sound, they're restricting themselves from people. Whether this is a good thing or not, I don't know. I myself can't listen to this for a very long time without a headache, which turns the appeal right down, but I appreciate the attempt to create something completely unseen, by me at least. Some songs aren't bad, but others, queue 'Tell 'Em', are relentless, and the mixture of high vocals, lower throbbing bass and chugging guitar, all lathered in reverb, isn't that enjoyable. The rhythm and beats present on every track however, are very addictive and pulse-quickening, which seems to be Sleigh Bells default setting. So, half marks from me. 'Kids' electronic whirrs set off another flurry of vocals overlaying vocals, but the sampled schoolgirl voices are a nice touch of variety to the album. It's an asylum of fun and disregard for rules, but the mixture doesn't do it for me, I'm afraid. The only track I think I could listen to more than twice is 'Rill Rill', with it's acoustic twang and instrumentation more suited to Krauss' higher vocal range. The lyrics flow and although repetitive, this works when paired with the very repetitive backing. 'Straight A's' however? Ewww. The muffled bass buffets your ears, drowning out the vocals in the noisiest track I've heard in a long while. The singing on 'A/B Machines' are backed by nice electronic guitars, but then it all descends into headache-inducing chaos. Again. I think I'd better get my opinion across better than I actually have. I appreciate this album, a lot. I appreciate the messiness, loosely tied with the strings of rhythm and repetition. I appreciate the effort to create something different to nearly everything else out there, and I appreciate the instrumentation and careful production. Having said all that, I can listen to it, which is more than I could a year ago, but I simply don't enjoy it. The noise is too much. I would have preferred for the band to keep the very loud, fast, pounding noise to one or two tracks, with perhaps a slightly toned down approach for the rest. Even though this would have probably lost them their edge over other, less original artists, it would have certainly been better than the almost constant musical bombardment I had to endure here, for just over half an hour. It doesn't sound long, and relatively, it isn't. It does however, grate on your nerves a little when you can't hear yourself think. Like I said before, if you think you'll enjoy this, go ahead, but 'Treats' definitely isn't for everybody. Criticise my lacking musical palette, but it's my opinion at the end of the day!

'Mayya Mayya' in 'Guru' set to be Mallika's … Sonali Bendre became an overnight sensation when she gyrated seductively to Rahman's 'Hamma Hamma' in 'Bombay'. While the song was crooned by Remo Fernandes on a male dancer, the person who benefited most was Sonali Bendre who was the song's highlight …read more Look what Guru has to say about 'GURU' Come January 12th and Mani Ratnam's 'Guru' would be making a splash at theatres all over. While much is being said about Mani Ratnam's experienced touch enhancing Abhishek Bachchan's performance in the film, have a dekko at some of the quotable quotes …read more After PKSE, Mallika's next outing is … After a strong author backed performance in 'Pyaar Ke Side Effects', Mallika Sherawat's next big screen outing is in an item song. But is she complaining? Naah! How could someone actually complain when you are asked to perform in a movie with Mani Ratnam …read more Stardust, Filmfare December Battle Hots … MusicMazaa reported yesterday that a film magazine Stardust had been hard-selling a story about Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwariya Rai's secret marriage in Madurai in its December edition. Big advertisements are appearing in various newspapers to milk …read more Guru, Kabul Express and Anwar clashWhile … While the clash of the movies 'Guru' and 'Bhagam Bhag' been averted, there is a clash of a different kind that would be witnessed this weekend. This is a clash between the music of 'Guru,' 'Kabul Express' and 'Anwar,' each of which have arrived on the …read more Arya Babbar goes negative in 'Guru' Raj Babbar's son Arya started his career with Raj Kanwar's 'Ab Ke Baras' a few years back. Though he was reasonably decent, the film flopped and along with it Arya's dreams of stardom. His subsequent films like 'Mudda' and 'Thoda Tum Badlo Thoda Hum' …read more Guru Promo is a spellbinding Experience Villager'Visionary'.Winner'.The master is back. And he is back to his supremely different ways. To his credit, the muse sparkles brilliantly as if clay turning into a priceless mural. The promo of Mani Rathnam's 'Guru' is a spellbinding experience that …read more Yuva Turns a Guru Abhishek Bachchan owes his success in a big way to Mani Rathnam's 'Yuva'. For even though the movie didn't do great business at the Box Office, it firmly established Junior B as an actor of immense potential. He won several awards and from then …read more Grand muhurat of Punjabi film Dil Mera … Punjabi films, language, and music have global appeal these days. These films are a far cry from Hindi cinema that is full of sleaze and violence. They promote Indian traditions, culture, ethos, and values. Some of the Punjabi films have done better …read more GURU music hits the stands on 18th November Music of GURU was released in a star studded event in Mumbai 2 days back but one would have to wait for another few days before catching hold of the th CDs. This is because these would be made available only on 18th November. Prior to that 'Guru' mobile

Suppliers of high-power transistors continue to improve on processing and packaging as new devices show improvements in power density, linearity, and efficiency. Transistor developers continue to push for higher power levels from a single die or package, but not to the exclusion of other performance parameters. Especially for commercial communications applications, device designers now emphasize improved linearity and efficiency so that amplifier designers can create smaller and lighter units for mobile radios and compact base stations. What follows is a sampling of recent developments in RF and microwave power transistors. Several device announcements were made at the recent IEEE Microwave Theory & Techniques Symposium (MTT-S, June 10-12, Philadelphia, PA), including the launch of several high-voltage high-frequency (HF) MOSFET devices by Advanced Power Technology RF (). Both are nominally intended for HF amplifiers and RF plasma generators at frequencies from 1.5 to 30 MHz. The ARF465A/B, for example, dissipates as much as 250 W power and generates as much as 125 W output power when operating with a +300-VDC supply. The larger model ARF1505 dissipates as much as 1500 W power and generates output levels to 750 W CW from a +300-VDC supply. The rugged design features a power density of 700 W/in.2 At the show, the company also announced two new lateral-diffused MOS (LDMOS) transistors for pulsed avionics and radar applications, the 110-W peak-power model 1011LD110 and the 200-W peak-power model 1011LD200. The +32-VDC transistors offer gain levels of 13 and 12 dB, respectively, over the 1030-to-1090-MHz Identify Friend or Foe (IFF) avionics band. Advanced Semiconductor () features a wide range of CW and pulsed RF power transistors, including a wide range for DME/TACAN avionics applications from 1025 to 1150 MHz. Several devices with internal input and output matching networks offer output-power levels of 250 W and more, including the 400-W model AVD400 and the 500-W model AVD500. These +50-VDC parts both feature minimum efficiency of 40 percent with respective gains of 6.5 and 5.6 dB. Philips Semiconductors () is a long-time supplier of high-power transistors, and features several RF bipolar models for TACAN and JTIDS avionics applications (roughly 960 to 1215 MHz), including the models MX0912B251Y and the MX0912B351Y. The former features 275 W of pulsed output power while the latter produces 375 W of pulsed output power. Both devices yield 7.5-dB gain at 45-percent efficiency. Another veteran device supplier, M/A-COM (Tyco Electronics), offers both power bipolar and MOSFET devices for a wide range of applications, including the model PH1090-700B bipolar transistor for pulsed avionics applications. The gold-metalized, ceramic-packaged device delivers 700 W of pulsed (32-µs pulses at a 2-percent duty cycle) output power from 1030 to 1090 MHz. The +65-VDC device features 7.5-dB power gain with 50-percent collector efficiency. Additional high-power silicon transistor suppliers include Polyfet RF Devices () and Point Nine Technologies (). Polyfet's model SR401 is a +28-VDC push-pull transistor capable of 300 W output power at 175 MHz. The transistor features 13 dB gain and 55-percent efficiency. Point Nine's model C203, one of the company's line of TetraFET devices, is usable to 1 GHz. The silicon DMOS device employs gold metalization to gain 100 W output power from a +28-VDC supply. The rugged transistor achieves 10 dB gain with 40-percent drain efficiency. Another of the company's TetraFETs, the model D1027, provides 200 W output power at frequencies from DC to 300 MHz. The +28-VDC transistor generates 17 dB gain with 50-percent efficiency. "Plastic" was the key word at the Motorola () booth during the show, as the company unveiled several plastic-packaged MOSFETs, including the MRF5S9101MR1 which is designed for applications to 1 GHz. The device yields 105 W 1-dB-compression CW output power at 960 MHz with 16.5 dB gain and 56-percent efficiency. Capable of operating at +26 or +28 VDC, the device is well suited for GSM base-station applications, with error-vector-magnitude (EVM) performance of 3 percent. STMicroelectronics () is developing a new family of +100-VDC high-power VHF/UHF MOSFETs. The new process utilizes enhanced raised-gate technology for feedback capacitance reduction and optimized deep body doping to improve load mismatch tolerance. Proprietary techniques result in increased breakdown voltages and reduced parasitic capacitance, with a 6-dB increase in power gain compared to standard +50-VDC devices. The transistors employ thermally enhanced nonpedestal packaging and will be available in 150-W (model SD3931-10) and 300-W (model SD3933) single-ended configurations as well as a dual 300-W (model SD3932) configuration. The devices are currently being evaluated in a variety of applications, including plasma generators and magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) systems. At somewhat higher frequencies, Mitsubishi Semiconductors () announced the availability of a pair of internally matched GaAs FET devices for Ku-band very-small-aperture-terminal (VSAT) satellite-communications applications. The model MGFK41A4045 delivers 12 W output power in the 14.0-to-4.5-GHz VSAT band while the model MGFK44A4045 produces 24 W output power from 14.0 to 14.5 GHz. Also serving satellite-communications applications, the TIM5964-90SL GaAs FET from Toshiba America Electronic Components () promises 90 W (+49.5 dBm) output power from 5.9 to 6.4 GHz. The internally matched C-band transistor helps amplifier designers reduce the number of parts in their designs by replacing several lower-power devices. The transistor features 7 dB typical gain with 30-percent typical power-added efficiency (PAE) and a third-order intermodulation distortion (IMD) of typically −40 dBc. The use of internal impedance matching allows Excelics Semiconductor () to provide as much as 8 W output power at VSAT frequencies. For example, the company's models EIA1415A-8P and EIA1415B-8P are internally matched GaAs FETs with 6 and 8 dB gain, respectively, from 14.0 to 15.35 GHz; both devices yield 8 W output power over that range. The devices are rated for PAE of 20 percent and third-order intercept point of +46 dBm. Another supplier with an extensive lineup of internally matched devices, Fujitsu Compound Semiconductor (wwwfcsi.fujitsu.com), offers numerous C-band devices include the model FLM3742-25F. Designed for +10-VDC supplies, the transistor achieves +44.5-dBm output power with 10.5 dB typical gain and 41-percent efficiency from 3.7 to 4.2 GHz. California Eastern Laboratories () offers the NE650103M power GaAs FET for L- and S-band applications through 2.7 GHz. Ideal for PCS and wireless-local-loop (WLL) applications, the device operates from a +10-VDC supply with 10 W (+40 dBm) output power and 42-percent typical efficiency. The power gain is typically 11 dB at 2.7 GHz. Several power-transistor processes that have yet to gain wide acceptance among amplifier designers include those based on silicon-carbide (SiC) and gallium-nitride (GaN) substrates. For the former, Cree () has offered several versions of a 10-W device for several years. Now available as model CRF-24010, the device is usable to 2.7 GHz with at least 10 W output power and 15 dB gain. Because of the high-power potential of materials such as SiC and GaN, large defense contractors such as BAE Systems () and Northrop Grumman Corp. () have made major investments in device development. More details will be available at the upcoming Third Annual Military Electronics Show (, Baltimore, MD, September 16-17, 2003).

. 24 Results for "whimsy" 4 file(s) - Uploaded by: Nina43 Created: Jan 22, 2009 | Flag Total Views: 267 Total Ratings: 1 Votes: 0 RESCUED CHAIRS are handpainted, whimsical chairs that have been rescued from yard sales, auctions, flea markets, and old barns. 5 file(s) - Uploaded by: EnchantedRoseSt... Created: Nov 14, 2009 | Flag Total Views: 383 Total Ratings: 2 Votes: 0 Decorative, whimsical tassels! Adds the finishing touch to any hutch, table, dresser, lamps, and more! Here I'm showing a few different styles These make fabulous gifts for that hard to shop for decor diva on your holiday gift list! Available at To know more about my work please visit There are loads of photos and How To tutorials! 6 file(s) - Uploaded by: whimsyart Created: May 14, 2009 | Flag Total Views: 172 Total Ratings: 3 Votes: 0 Ceramic pottery with a whimsical flair, hand painted by ME 7 file(s) - Uploaded by: EnchantedRoseSt... Created: Nov 14, 2009 | Flag Total Views: 251 Total Ratings: 4 Votes: 0 Warm autumn colors with feathered owls and touch of sparkle 5 file(s) - Uploaded by: EnchantedRoseSt... Created: Nov 30, 2009 | Flag Total Views: 279 Total Ratings: 3 Votes: 0 Penguin ornament, ribbon, upholstery fring, feather boa trim, acrylic snowflake, candlestick cup affixed black bullion fringe to candlestic cup, added layers of ribbon, once satisified with layers of ribbon, affixed to bottom of acrylic ice cube (penguin ornament, added feather boa trim and changed the ribbon holder 29 file(s) - Uploaded by: laurenfi Created: Apr 16, 2008 | Flag Total Views: 1,555 Total Ratings: 5 Votes: 0 I'm a stay at home mom and feel so blessed to be able to be home with the kids!! My second love is painting children's decor. Above you'll see some samples of some of my favorite items for boys's and girl's rooms nurseries playroom and bathrooms.My twin sister also paints children's decor! Please be sure and visit her website too! for visiting!Laurenlauren@beitesori.com Advertisement

Chicago Sunday, April 8, 2012 8:19:36 PM In which all we do is eat or talk about eating - I'm not hungry for nothing... A few of us around him pointed out that actually, he'd been to Tulsa, Orlando, San Antonio, Narramata and one other place which I don't remember now. He looked sourly at us, and with tears brimming, snapped at us, "They don't count! It's not even international, and besides they were work or family trips and everyone knows they're not real trips. It's not fair, I've not been travelling in YEARS!" As it happened, I was heading out to Chicago for a few days for a meeting, so he sneaked into my baggage and I saw him climbing out of my bag just as I was heading to the hotel lobby to look for dinner. "Ah there you are", he beamed graciously as if he'd been kept waiting by me, "it's just about time for a little snack isn't it? And that was the start of a week's worth of eating rich, fatty and fried foods. Prosciutto with a fig glaze and caramelized onion on crisp flat bread was what I had. You see, DWE and ML had been contemptuous of the choice of hotel - JW Marriott - and had sent us a little video to warn us about the chambermaids. We had scoffed at him, only to be woken up by a huge banging on our door in the early morning and shrieks of "Maid service!" We turned them away, and they were obviously not happy with the rejection. In the evening after a long day at the conference, I was chivvied into two coats, my scarf and hat by 1) raiding the room fridge and 2) opening the half bottle of wine in the room. However, he thought better of it when he saw the prices for option 1, and realised that the hotel had used full BC liquor pricing for the half-bottle. In fact, for option 1, the items in the fridge were placed on sensitive pads which had a sixty second delay if items were removed, after which time the exorbitant charges were placed on the room tab. I told Oh yes. Fried chicken. One thigh, one drumstick and a breast the size of Dolly Parton's coated in cornflakes then deep fried. Macaroni and cheese (an entree in its own right) for a side. Nary a vegetable in sight. Fries too. And of course for Then back to the hotel where there was a game - Kentucky and Kansas - the finale to March Madness, and of course more wine was had to celebrate the win by Kentucky (or was it Kansas?). I had tea instead. That night, the wine must have gone to Anyway, back to Ted Baker Chicago - I wanted a pair of slacks to go with the perfect jacket for me - yooperprof # Monday, April 9, 2012 3:01:37 AM hungryghost # Monday, April 9, 2012 3:13:51 PM Uncle MickMickeyjoe-Irl # Wednesday, April 11, 2012 10:07:21 PM hungryghost # Friday, April 13, 2012 6:37:07 PM Uncle MickMickeyjoe-Irl # Saturday, April 14, 2012 12:57:48 AM hungryghost # Tuesday, April 17, 2012 3:38:28 PM

Department of Philosophy Division of Humanities and Fine Arts South Hall 5631 Telephone: (805) 893-3122 Undergraduate e-mail: ug_advisor@philosophy.ucsb.edu Graduate e-mail: grad_advisor@ philosophy.ucsb.edu Website: Department Chair: Matthew Hanser Philosophy deals with the kinds of questions that engage all reflective people, but which seemingly cannot be dealt with by any of the empirical sciences: Is everything material? Is human behavior determined or is free choice possible? Are there objective standards for deciding what is right and wrong, or is morality merely a subjective matter, a matter of individuals’ feelings? Is there a moral obligation to obey the law? Can we justify our claims to know anything? Can we objectively distinguish rational from irrational beliefs? How does language relate to the world? The study of philosophy encourages rigorous and disciplined habits of mind. Because the major in philosophy emphasizes and enhances analytical skills, it is useful for the large number of careers that require these skills or as general humanistic training at the undergraduate level. Two concentrations within the major accommodate differences in student needs and interests and reflect the two central concerns of philosophy. (1) The Core Philosophy concentration is designed for students who seek thorough training in philosophy, either as a way of acquiring reasoning and analytical skills and mastering a discipline at the undergraduate level or as preparation for graduate study. (2) The Ethics and Public Policy concentration focuses on moral and legal problems confronting the community and on the responsibilities of various professions. It is intended for a wide variety of students, including those who plan careers in law, the public sector, or medicine. Students with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy who are interested in pursuing a California Teaching Credential should contact the credential advisor in the Graduate School of Education as soon as possible. Undeclared students should consult with the department undergraduate advisor. Two faculty advisors and one staff advisor in the department have authority on matters such as substitutions and exceptions. The Information Sheet for Undergraduate Philosophy Majors is available in the department office; a list of courses to be offered each quarter, with specific descriptions and required texts, is available in the office and on the website before registration at:. Prizes and Awards Each included in the commencement program. Senior Honors Program Students who meet either of the following requirements may apply to join the Philosophy Department honors program: Students are urged to apply as early as possible so that a meaningful honors curriculum can be developed at an early stage of their work in the major. Students in the honors program are expected to meet quarterly with the undergraduate advisor to discuss their progress and to plan their subsequent coursework in philosophy; in order to remain in the honors program, students are normally expected to maintain a 3.5 GPA in philosophy. In order to graduate with distinction in philosophy, the following requirements must be met:

East African Cables is a public quoted company and a leading manufacturer of electrical cables and conductors and distributor of data and telecommunication cables and accessories for the East and Central Africa region. We wish to recruit qualified, self-driven and result-oriented individuals to fill the following positions:- COMMERCIAL MANAGER: - CM/HR/10/08 Reporting to the CEO, the Commercial Manager will be responsible for formulating and implementing marketing, sales and customer relations strategies in order to increase the organization's market share by: - Developing, negotiating and nurturing strategic partnerships to enhance the company's competitive position. - Formulating sales, PR and marketing plans and strategies to develop market share and sales revenue. - Steering market research and intelligence for product and market development - Developing both local and export markets & ensuring high level of company visibility in the market. - Implementing and sustaining quality management systems based on ISO standards - Preparing department budget and ensuring they are adhered to. - Setting targets for staff in the department and assessing their performance to ensure targets are achieved. - Ensuring all round management and development of human resources in the - department - Energetic "can do" attitude to work with ability to motivate co-workers - A Bachelor's degree in a business related field preferably business administration/sales and marketing. An MBA is an added advantage. A Postgraduate diploma in Marketing (CIM) or Business Management & Administration - 10 years relevant working experience, three of which must be at a senior management level preferably in a manufacturing environment. Experience in an electrical field will be an added advantage - The ideal candidate must possess strong analytical, management and negotiation skills coupled with good communication, report writing, excellent interpersonal skills and proficiency in MS Office Suite. - The applicant must display a proven record of strategy formulation and results. - He/She should preferably be a member of a professional body. Reporting to the CEO, the Security Officer will be responsible for developing and implementing security policies and procedures within the group companies. His/Her overall responsibility will therefore be protection and detection of crime, investigations, overseeing and directing all aspects of security. Key responsibilities will include:- - Develop and implement security policies, procedures, and enforce compliance - Orient all staff on security procedures and conduct security awareness programs - Plan, coordinate and direct activities relating to asset movement - Monitor, analyze and implement security risk assessment - Investigate all security incidences and liaise with other security agencies on the same. These include thefts, frauds and any form of security breach - Develop and recommend new procedures and approaches to loss prevention based on reports of incidents, and other relevant information - Prepare monthly reports on security - Carryout continuous appraisals on matters of investigations and security and provide advice to the CEO - A University graduate or equivalent qualification. - A background from the discipline forces with proven knowledge of crime or fraud detection - At least 10 years experience in security management and law enforcement procedures - A Certificate of good conduct and letter of discharge from previous employer. - Must be computer literate - Age 40 - 45 years - The ideal candidate must possess strong analytical and problem solving skills, excellent interpersonal, communication and managerial skills, ability to work odd/irregular hours. Human Resource Manager East African Cables Ltd P.O Box 18243 00500 Nairobi

How “rare” is the slave boys’ photo A story has been circulating over the last few days about a photo of two “slave” boys, one supposedly named John, found during an estate sale in North Carolina. The buyer was the collector Keya Morgan, whom I had not heard of before, but apparently is pretty well-known among collectors (especially for sale of the Marilyn Monroe sex tapes two years ago). According to the Associated Press story, he paid $30,000 for an album of photos of John and others (experts attributed the photo to the studio of renowned Civil War photographer Mathew Brady) and $20,000 for a bill of sale for John (from 1854). Art historians think it’s a rare photograph of Civil War-era slave children from the 1860s. The photos and document were found at a moving sale in Charlotte in April, according to the story. The photo presents the children and their lives in all its misery – etched in their faces and in the dusty tattered clothes they are wearing. Practically everyone reprinted the AP story, except for blogger Kate Marcus at Before It’s News who found the same photo sold as a stereo-view card for $163 on eBay. The blogger questioned the rarity of the photo. (Stereo view card above was taken from the eBay auction site. Click on it for a fuller view.) I also found a copy of the stereo-view card in the New York Public Library Digital Gallery, attributed to J.N. (Jerome Nelson) Wilson, who was a Savannah, Ga., photographer. Intrigued, I decided to do some digging on my own and emailed the eBay seller. I was curious about how he/she had come across the card. He wrote back: He is a part-time Ebay seller from Connecticut with 25 years experience as an antiques and collectibles collector and estate-liquidator. He asked that I not identify him. I’ll let him tell the story (with some minor editing): “Since my forced retirement, I’ve had to sell off the things I’ve collected over the years (a lot of which I haven’t seen for years). One of the lots I decided to sell recently was a bag of stereo view cards and a desk top viewer I had acquired many years ago at a Wethersfield, Conn., estate sale. I sorted the cards by subject and listed them on eBay. One of the lots of cards was a set by J.N. Wilson of Savannah, Ga., (all of the cards in the lot had ‘Photographed and Published by: J.N. Wilson’ with a Savannah address) typeset on the back. There were six views of ‘Bonaventure’ (a former plantation near Savannah). These had typeset descriptions of the plantation and the depicted view. There were two cards with handwritten descriptions titled ‘Pine Trees’ and ‘Entrance to the Park.’ (At right is a photo of the back of the New York Library stereo view card.) Then there were the four cards titled ‘Plantation Life.’ Three had this typeset on the back of the card with a handwritten picture title. They were titled: 1. ‘Cotton Field’ (a view of a Black family standing in a cotton field with baskets of picked cotton). 2. ‘Cotton Field’ (a view of two young boys standing in a cotton field with a basket of picked cotton between them). 3. ‘Rory’s Cabin’ (a view of a family standing and sitting in front of their cabin). 4. This had a typeset title on a strip of white paper glued to the back of the card: ‘Plantation Life: Happy Little Nigs’ (this was a view of two young boys sitting on a board on a wood barrel in what looks like a sugar cane field). This last card is identical to the ‘Brady’ card found in North Carolina with the exception that the stereo card is a wider view showing more background and the ends of the board they’re sitting on (the image would have been cropped to fit the CDV). Here is what I know about stereo cards. They are taken with a ‘stereo camera.’ That is a camera with two lenses set about three inches apart. It takes a … picture with both lenses creating a double image. The images are of slightly different angles which when viewed through a stereo viewer creates a ’3-D’ image. The camera sees the same way our eyes see – two images when combined create perspective or depth. If you take a stereo photo of a single photo, you end up with a flat image on the photo (no 3-D effect). The only way to end up with a true stereo view is to take a stereo photo from life. All of the J.N. Wilson cards were true stereo images (I viewed them all several times through my viewer). This means that the stereo card of those two young boys could only have been made from a live sitting. I am convinced that all of the cards were photographed by Wilson in Georgia. I have found out that his work is known to collectors and that he operated a lucrative photography business in Savannah starting in the 1870′s. Sugar cane was never grown in North Carolina (From Sherry: In my Google search, I found that some sugar cane was grown in coastal North Carolina but it apparently was not grown in large quantities on plantations). It was a major crop along the Georgia seaboard with several large plantations on the mainland and the outlying islands. When I saw the North Carolina card I immediately thought about what I knew about Mathew Brady. I know that Brady did not do stereo views. I know that Brady had a reputation of commandeering other photographers’ work he liked and republishing it under his name. I know his business was faltering in the 1870′s and he published any good image he found as his own. I was shocked to see that several ‘experts’ had authenticated the card as a Brady produced war image. Every good photography historian is intimately familiar with Brady’s catalog of work and his personal history. They should also be familiar with Wilson’s (good Southern photographers were quiet rare and the exceptions have been thoroughly studied). How can a ‘rare, uncirculated, unpublished’ photograph of 1860′s slave children by Brady (or his associate - Timothy H. O’Sullivan) be the subject of a stereo view card by Wilson? The Brady attribution just doesn’t add up. (Photo at left from Morgan’s LincolnImages.com was circulated on the web as the one found in North Carolina.) There needs to be a comparison made of the North Carolina card with the stereo card. I believe that the results will show that the Brady card is a reprint of half of the Wilson card (each side of the stereo card will be slightly different). This will prove that the North Carolina card is not of slave children from the 1860′s but a photograph of two poor boys from Savannah taken in the 1870′s. Still of great interest but not of the significance given it.’ I also did some more Google digging of my own on Wilson and Brady. Wilson was born in New York in 1827 and arrived in Savannah in 1865. He was a well-known photographer in Savannah for more than 30 years, and marketed himself tremendously in the local newspaper. He produced stereo views of Bonaventure Cemetery and other sites in the city, steamers in Florida, black chimney sweeps in Savannah, Fort Pulaski in Georgia, the Green House in Macon, Ga., rice fields, orange groves, camp scenes, fishing parties and more. His works are in the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the New York Public Library Digital Gallery. Brady is renowned for his photographs of the Civil War and portraits of Abraham Lincoln and practically all of the other presidents. He also photographed J.H. Rainey, the first African American member of the House of Representatives. His portraits are in many collections, including the National Portrait Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Musee d’Orsay in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art. As his eyesight failed, Brady sent out teams of photographers to capture the war, according to several websites. He also purchased photos from other photographers and stamped them “Photograph by Brady,” without giving many of them credit – to the rancor of those photographers. A photo of the Lakota Chief Red Cloud was taken by Brady photographer Alexander Gardner in 1872 at the studio. Despite what the experts said, I also found photos from the Civil War era of slave children, including this one by O’Sullivan and this one from Virginia. Related posts: Fantastic article, Sherry! I’m so happy that more people are being made aware of this incredible story. - Kate Marcus That’s very interesting. Thanks Sherry. Great article, I am J N Wilson’s great granddaughter and have been collecting stereoviews of his for a few years now, and was the bidder that got outbid with one second left on the ebay collection with this card in it. Then a few days later saw the article in the paper about the sale of the cdv. and knew that it was J N’s stereoview. In past searches of J N, I had seen this card in the New York Public Library collection. Thanks for the info…… Thanks for writing, Tina, and for providing additional information. This has been a very interesting story, and I was very happy to find out more about your great-grandfather through my Google search. Excellent & fasinating research Sherry. As a former B&W lab tech in Washington, DC I was given a box full of late 1870′s – early 1900′s glass negatives to clean, preserve & contact print. Your article brings back the thrill of handling history. Thanks for your historical due diligence. Thanks, Bruce. Those stereo-view cards (and the wooden viewers) & negatives come up at auction often and I always bid on them. Unfortunately, there are other bidders who want them just as much as I do, and they always outbid me. I figure I’ll get lucky at some point and win one of those bids.

wow. i have to say, i am impressed. from ramshackle seaside event to slick sunny extravaganza, The Loerie Awards finally grew into all its potential this time round. i think one’s experience of the awards depends on a number of factors, including where you’re staying, who you’re with, etc. This year we stayed slap bang in the middle of Margate in the flats about the Rondevoux Mall, which made access to shops, the beach and ceremony exceptionally easy, and thus we had a great weekend. the weather in Margate was sheer perfection – not muggy, very sunny and the water was warm and swimmable, so i managed to fit in a mini seaside holiday in the off-time. the rest of the time was spent catching up with people i haven’t seen in ages, which is a large part of what makes going so much fun. here are some of my pics, i will add a few more later. oh, and here’s the link to the saturday winners and the sunday winners. before we left, we made a whole bunch of enlarged Jason faces. Jason works with us in client service, and in his spare time he is a paramedic and a bit of a dork. we like to make fun of the fact that he never doesn't pull a blue steel face in photos. we also like to make fun of his 'Safety First' policy. We even got Jason to stop freaking out long enough to embrace his faces in a totem pole formation. We made the Mugg & Bean waiters quite nervous. Digital won a whole bunch of awards on Saturday night, which made people say things like "We really need to get into digital,". Hmm. Rather late than never, I guess. I was really impressed by the various screens on the stage. A vast improvement from just 2 screens with a barely legible powerpoint presentation on it. This actually looked good, and you could see the work, which is what we were there for, after all. More stage prettiness. Arguably the biggest awards (Television Grand Prix) went to King James for the Allan Gray ad, "Beautiful". I think they deserved it. This is an action shot I managed to capture during our Friday night braai in Margate. At some point someone threw breadrolls, which resulted in a fully fledged food fight. Here we have a precious shot of the tomatoes landing on Michael's head. Me and Jean, who is now a designer at Grid. Christian, Brandt and me. Thunda.com was everywhere, capturing the memories you'd rather not have. Rei and Mark on the beach, where we found respite from the loud and bad house music at BackLine. Looking a little sunburnt, I found Jen lurking at the back of Backline.

Between conversation and a glass of white wine, my muse alias Monchéri inspired me these notebooks this week end. As you know I love my dear Andalusia but a little trip to Venezia or Corsica wouldn't be too unpleasant, would it? Alas...alas...not in the near future...So in the mean time, we can still write down our dreams.... Click to enlarge Click to enlarge 21 comments: What great dream notebooks....you know what they say...write it down, focus on it...and it may well come true! Great destinations! Now, where did I leave my passport? :-). Cracking post. Greetings from London. Oh, I would love to visit Venezia again! These are lovely! Great idea! Oh to be in Venice right now.... Hello Lala, as much as you wish it and visualize what you want it will surely be materialized for you. A lovely "mapa de los deseos". Te dejo un abrazo y mis deseos que tus sueños se hagan realidad. María Cecilia So lovely... I went to Venezia ages ago... I would love to go back with my darling Sebastian! Now that's a lovely dream :D The notebooks are exquisite! Venice is such a dirty girl, I LOVE her but Oh MY she is in dire need of a deep pore cleanse... Your journal covers are very nice- inspiring me to get out my duffle bag and truck on down to the sunshine somewhere. Oh how totally sweet, I love them. You will get there soon no doubt. xoxo They are so good. you gave me an idea for my new year cards :)) Linda a raison, maintenant il faut y penser très fort !! je suis sure que cela va inspirer mon chéri Beautiful dreams Lala, xv. i have never been to this place.. but now i really want to come there.... And yes i liked Vicky Christina Barcelona .. it was a good movie esp the location was superb... very exotic.. and Johnny Depp is always in my heart, its oly the other side of my heart is free and so the crush list keeps changing :) have a gr8 week :) You're very talented, and yes it is a great idea to write down your dreams. ALWAYS make time for your dreams! So difficult to do ... . but, so important. And when there's such a beautiful book to wrap them in ... . . all the more important. Jjjj A little trip to Venice sounds divine :-) I love your dream book. Very nicely done. xoxo Your dreamy blue books take me away! I just love the color, it could carry you away to wonderful dreamland and prose to write! Nathalie got to have our dreams Lala... without them we're doomed to mediocrity. Lovely work ;-)

Starting to feel alot like Halloween… October 13, 2010 | Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment Yep the decorations are out and the pumpkins are on the doorstep. Still deciding if I will be carving them or maybe making some faces with Vinyl? Hmmm… I love these Vintage Actions by Pioneer Woman. The weather is freakishly warm and it is so weird especially since we had such a cold summer. But there is no doubt in my mind fall is in the air…it is just so peaceful with the wind blowing in the leaves. Happy Hauntings! Gordons Bay – My Hometown September 28, 2010 | Filed Under Family | 2 Comments With the recent Challenge at DSA for the Established Designer Contest I had to create a kit that showcases my home town. Well although I do live in Napa, CA and it is very beautiful here my heart still yearns for home – Gordons Bay. Also most of my family also lives there so there is more than enough reasons for me to miss it so much! So I decided to share some pictures of the Town and Surroundings. These were the last photos I took before we left in 2008…so very Nostalgic to me. Chrismari is ready for the beach…sunglasses in hand! View towards the Naval Base and Old Harbor. Simons Town is far in the distance. View Towards the Old Town and Shopping Center…lots of Restaurants and Shell Shops. Great place to go for a stroll. Harbor Island in the Distance. Footprints…aaah I so miss these moments! Park Bench overlooking the sea. More of the old town… Kitty and the Penguins…look how tiny she was here! Only 3 years old…man oh man, where has the time gone? View from the Main Beach…if you look closely you will see ‘Moeder Maria’ i.e. Mother Maria. It is the back of Table Mountain aptly named after Jan Van Riebeeck our founding father’s wife. Beautiful NG Church..lots of Weddings are held here in these scenic surroundings. Last one of the old town and the Majestic Hottentots Holland Mountains in the background. Need I say more? I hope you enjoyed these pictures. It did my heart good to share it. Thank you for stopping by! Sleep Oh Glorious Sleep September 16, 2010 | Filed Under Christian, Family, Kitty | 3 Comments Christian is a sleeper…anywhere and everywhere is a comfy spot to just catch a few minutes of shut eye. Just yesterday he had 3 different spots, first on the floor – not very comfortable so he crawled onto the lazyboy. Now he was in prime position with his face all smooshed up and those baby lips begging for a kiss from Mommy. I love his little bum bum sticking out like that! Aaawhhh! And lastly onto his favorite position which looks so much more comfy to me too! I love this so much…he is so like his Mommy, I just wish I could curl up next to him and nap! But how will I ever take photos? Chrismari not wanting to be outdone ‘posed’ for me, pretending to be asleep. lol! Not for long this little busybody of mine was up and running around before I could even put the camera away. She loves to play with her Strawberry Shortcake dolls and is telling me that this year she wants to dress up as Strawberry Shortcake (again!) for Halloween. Hmmm…already wondering about what we will do this year. I saw Target had some great costumes for only $20 – need to do a Target trip soon. Cellphones and Keys are the BEST TOYS EVER! I think they win the award for BEST TOY found around the house each year. But really dont you just think this little man is so cute looking like a big boy with his phone? I have been having so much fun editing these photos…although they are not the greatest (most of them are blurry) I used the Pioneer Woman’s Actions (Thanks Nicole for the suggestion!) for these photos and I just love the darling effects! Thanks for looking! Eek! And I totally forgot to add look what is growing in my garden… Yay I am so excited after months nagging DH I want Heirloom Tomatoes (They are soooo Divine!) we found a plant and just as it was sprouting some really cute tomatoes Chrismari picked it for her fruit salad. I just hope she stays away from this one! The Christmas Countdown… November 20, 2009 | Filed Under Family, Scrapbooking | 2 Comments Oh yes it has officially started…Christmas time is almost upon us! I want to do some Photo CD’s to send to my family back home, just a recap of our year and brainstormed this template. You can print it out and use the lines version to create a card out of scrapbooking paper or you can do it on your computer. You can get the template HERE So I used Jolly by Golly by Cosmo Cricket to make these cards. Isn’t that snow man the cutest? I just traced the original snow man onto some cardstock and pop dotted him on the card. I had the perfect brads to do the eyes but they were bronze so I used a permanent marker to color them in. I am very happy with the results! Oh and I just loved the cute remark at the bottom of the paper strips and used it for my cards! Its is so adorable! I am currently without a camera since a certain sweetie pie ‘accidentally’ broke it! lol! But I have a Christmas House and a Christmas Planner to share…so hopefully next week I will have some pretty pictures for you! Lastly I will leave you with the ‘before’ shots…of our planned (but due to circumstances i.e. a broken camera lol…I know I know!) Christmas Shoot. I am crossing my fingers we will have some really good Christmas Photo’s as soon as the mail man has been here! Ha ha! I cannot wait…a very early Christmas present for me! my sweeties! TFL! This is why I enjoy Scrapbooking so much… June 16, 2009 | Filed Under Christian, Family, Kitty, Scrapbooking | 1 Comment Isn’t this just such a pleasant way to spend an afternoon? Love my DS insiting on sitting on my arm (he loves the ribbons!) Not the best photos but it so captures the warm and fuzzies I get! Enjoy those special moments! Toe maak ons wors… June 15, 2009 | Filed Under Christiaan, Family, Recipes | 1 Comment We made our very first batch of ‘Boerewors’ today. It is a pure beef sausage regarded as an everyday staple back home in South Africa. Trust me if you have carnivore in the house (like I do…it is something that will be missed!). So onto the recipe and how easy it actually is to prepare: Ouma Hessie se Boerewors - 3 kg Beef (We used Chuck and Brisket) - 500g Pork Fat - 50 ml Whole Coriander - 150 ml Brown Vinegar (Substitute with Red wine Vinegar) - 150 ml Worcestershire - 25 ml Salt - 5 ml Fresh Crushed Black Pepper - 9 g Sausage Casings Dry Roast the Coriander in a frying pan (do not spray or add oil) until it turns a light brown. Crush the spices with a mortar and pestle. Cut the meat into pieces to fit into your meat grinder. Coarsely grind it together. In a flat large container mix all the ingredients together making sure the meat is very well mixed with the spices, vinegar and worcestershire sauce. Clean the Sausage Casings by running water through them. Fit your sausage making tube to your grinder and feed the meat mixture into a sausage casing. Look at DH…he sure does enjoy these! It is preferable to let it stand overnight but if you cannot wait to test it out put it on the grill and enjoy! perfect on the grill or even as a weeknight dinner with some good old mashed potatoes or even some ‘Pap en Sheba’. Hope you try this one out! 2nd Hand find and a Frame! May 20, 2009 | Filed Under Family, Hybrid, Scrapbooking | 2 Comments Well hello again! I just wanted to share my awesome find this weekend. We went out for some breakfast and came back with this… Finally after more than a year I have furniture in every room in the house…that was probably the hardest thing for me not having all the stuff I have gotten used too, I know I cannot complain we are so blessed. And I think waiting actually paid off. We got this set for $ 500 which is a lot but it is an 8 seater with the extensions, a special cover to protect the table and 2 bookcases. Not really my color but I must say even though it still looks bare I think after I jump in and add some pretty curtains and a nice table runner and some more photos along the fireplace it will look quite snazzy! Also I have been so busy the past few weeks with some hybrid goodies…but this is such a sweet and fast project that is a sure fire winner! I know that once you have made one you will be hooked! lol! Literally! See more details on The Hybrid Chick Blog… Happy Easter April 12, 2009 | Filed Under Family | Leave a Comment We did not do much, Chris just came back from Washington and was tired – he had such fun helping Chrismari with her eggs. It was the first time we did the dyed eggs. It is sad to think a year ago we were still in South Africa and the Kids hid easter eggs together…Chrismari did believe there was a Easter Bunny this year! Gotta love their imagination! My Boy and Me… Our Family… Dad and his brood… TFL!

we get older, it becomes more and more important to take good care of our health. Seniors can stay healthy, energetic, and active for many years by establishing and maintaining healthy lifestyle habits. Eating the right food in the right amounts is fundamental to your health. It is also a joy to eat a variety of healthy foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and lean meats. You do not have to eat foods you dislike, and you do not even need to skip snacks when you crave them. The key is making healthy choices and balancing occasional splurges with more moderate eating. It is important to be thoughtful about how you eat, to know what foods are good for you, and to plan the types of foods you will buy and eat on a regular basis. The wise senior enjoys regular moderate activity. Regular exercise can give you more energy, help you sleep better, improve your mood, boost memory and concentration, and reduce your risk of developing chronic health conditions. There are many ways to exercise. The key is to find activities that you enjoy. Starting slow is okay, particularly if you have not exercised in a long time. In a short time, you may find that exercising is one of your greatest pleasures. Exercise is particularly important for seniors, because without it, our muscles atrophy and we lose mobility. Maintaining a healthy weight and refraining from smoking are also foundations of a healthy lifestyle. If you eat well, exercise every day, maintain a healthy weight, and do not smoke, you will feel good, have fewer health problems, live longer, and enjoy a better quality of life. Eating well Often, our appetites change as we get older. You may find yourself skipping meals or not paying as much attention to what you eat. But in our senior years, it is particularly important to eat well. If we fail to nourish ourselves properly, we will lose energy much more quickly and our health may suffer. For example, if we do not eat enough of the right minerals such as calcium, our bones will lose strength and we may develop osteoporosis. As seniors, we should carefully plan a healthy diet that we can enjoy and stick to. Staying physically active Regular exercise is something everyone should do throughout their lifetime. Exercise will help you stay healthy and maintain the best possible quality of life. Exercise is particularly important for seniors, because without it, our muscles atrophy and we lose mobility. No one is "too old" to exercise. You should not strain or push yourself too hard, but especially if you have been sedentary for a long time, it is important to start moving. Even a little bit of exercise can greatly improve your health. Maintaining a healthy weight As you get older, you may notice changes in your appetite and weight. Maintaining a healthy weight is important for healthy aging. To stay healthy and manage your weight, make regular exercise and healthy eating a part of your routine. Being underweight, overweight, or obese can negatively affect your overall health. Aim for regular physical activity each week. It is never too late to start being active. Walking and tai chi are great forms of exercise for seniors. Start slowly, pace yourself, and build up over time. Aim for eating at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day to manage your weight and to decrease your risk of diabetes, cancer, coronary heart disease, and many other conditions. Quitting tobacco Longtime smokers can benefit from quitting at any age. Quitting tobacco is one of the best things you can do for your health. Your body will become healthier within days after quitting. Kaiser Permanente offers a range of quitting tobacco classes and programs free to members. Call or visit your local Health Education Department or browse this website for more.

Day #2 of 25 Imagine the time and place – Biblical times; a man and woman are promised in marriage. Back then, there was handfasting – a couple was handfasted for 1 year but did not consummate the marriage until that year was up. This allowed a couple to get to know each other and to prepare themselves for living together. Imagine yourself as Joseph. You are male, you have pride, you are preparing your home for your wife, for when she leaves her father’s house and comes into yours. Your wife is a virgin, as is expected in those times. Possibly, even you are a virgin. You expect that she will become yours, that you will be the only one to hold her, to care for her, to father her children. You are an honorable man and you expect your wife to be honorable in return. Then you learn the truth – she is pregnant. You have honored her and not lain with her before the appointed time, but she is pregnant. The child is not yours. What a blow you receive! I am amazed that despite all this, Joseph still cared enough for her that even though he could have her now – not after she dishonored herself and him – but nevertheless, he chose to make sure she was not disgraced by this. He would put her aside, yes, but he would do so quietly. Then God sent his angel with a message for Joseph. I wouldn’t be overly shocked if Joseph had thought this message to be ridiculous! A baby, born of a so-called virgin, by the Holy Spirit???!!! Nevertheless, thank God, Joseph received that message from the Lord and believed it! Instead of putting her aside he took her into his home and further honored her by not laying with her until after Jesus was born. He gave the child his name and his heritage. He named the child and raised him as his son. It’s interesting, this example. Many families today are “blended” – a blend of the wife’s and husband’s children from previous relationships. This example, right here, is a big hint to those father’s raising children not of their blood. If Joseph could take in Mary’s child and raise him as his own, then what stops men from doing the same with the children they encounter in their lives today? All right, yes, this was the Messiah we’re talking about – pretty special kid – and Joseph did receive a message from the Lord’s angel – and how many of us get that nowadays – but a child is a child, Messiah or not. Each child has the capacity to change the world. Maybe they won’t die for the world’s sins, but they can cure cancer, find a way to feed billions, save the life of their father. What will be different in your life if you, as a step-father (or step-mother) choose not to love that child as your own? What will be different in your life if you do? Thank you Lord Jesus, for the fulfillment of your promises and our salvation in the form of Yourself, walking on this earth, in fleshly form. Though I cannot, at this moment, think of a request You have made of me recently that I find ridiculous, should I remember one, help me to leap in with both feet. Even if the request isn’t ridiculous (to my mind), help me to follow all of your requests. Thank You, Amen.

Peter and I haven’t been to Nobu IN YEARS, but we used to love going to Matsuhisa (also in the Nobu family) on dates when we first met. As a matter of fact, it was in Matsuhisa’s dining room where my sweet husband proposed to me back in 1994. While reading a recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine, I was pleasantly surprised to read that Nobu (in Los Angeles) was on a list of America’s Top 10 Sushi Spots. Bon Ap’s Andrew Knowlton wrote: “Twenty-two years after he launched a raw-fish revolution with his restaurant Matsuhisa, pioneering chef Nobu returns to America’s capital of sushi and opens another branch of his empire. Expect all the trademarks—Hollywood A-listers, cutting-edge design, and signature dishes, including yellowtail sashimi with jalapeño, black cod with miso, and rock shrimp tempura with butter ponzu.” We had a wonderful evening rediscovering why we fell in love with Nobu’s food (way back when), and also reminisced about those precious date nights too! Nobu sign (in front), Shishito Peppers and Edam 21 Responses to Nobu There’s something inherently sexy about raw fish on a plate. I don’t know what it is, but it gets me every time. Please tell me Peter punched a TMZ photographer. The paps were going to punch me because I took photos of their faces. It was funny because I was already in the car and one said “TMZ does NOT take this lightly”. It’s a GREAT photo too… he’s just giving me the dirtiest look, but I don’t need the headache (by posting it)! Peter “black bar’d” them for me! Just like TMZ!! Wait a minute… the TMZ guys don’t like having people harass them by taking pictures of them?? Hilarious right? I’m a fan of the show, but these guys were sort of SCARY. Peter “black bar’d” them for me! Just like TMZ!! LOL A night out in L.A. just isn’t complete without a paparazzi sighting! Your dinner looks fabulous. I’ve been to Nobu in Vegas and NYC, but have yet to go to our local branch. Someday soon hopefully! The Miso Glazed Black Cod looks so delicious. This Matsuhisa’s dining room must be real special for you guys if Peter proposed to you there. How Beautiful and romantic! xo Where else would we get engaged but at a RESTAURANT? LOL! X Nobu looks excellent! I would love to eat there when I go to LA next time. Nobu’s is awesome, they get everything right, every time. Awesome about having the proposal there! Question: what do the shishito peppers taste like? I loved the grilled shishito peppers. Not as spicy as I thought they would be, and a little bit sweet! I just went for the first time. I hate to admit how truly delicious I thought it was-but there is actually something utterly scrumptious to the hype. I have been dreaming of the whitefish tiradito and the ginger crusted scallops I had I love that I can live vicariously through you. At the moment we are living in the middle of nowhere, we are making the best of it, but exciting it is not. You are a great story teller and have fun no matter where you are, I love that! When I am in town I will definitely be asking you for recommendations! Kristen, When you’re in town we have to go eat TOGETHER! And thank you for your kind words. I really appreciate it! Great post. The food looks incredible as it only can at Nobu – like another reader I have been to the Vegas Nobu but not L.A. Love that it was your proposal resto! Makes total sense. Those peppers look ones we ate in Barcelona – I may have to ask you more about them. And your tangle with the paps! Luv it!! I want to make those Shishito peppers at home. I bet I can find them at 99 Ranch! It all looks great but the Rock Shrimp Tempura with the spicy aioli looks fantastic! So was it worthy of the Top 10 list? Well…. I haven’t been here YET! Well what are you waiting for?!?

Mizuno Wave Universe Review Update @MizunoRunning Seven weeks since I wrote the last review on my Mizuno Wave Universe (WU) last. Now over 210 miles on WU4 and 190 miles on WU3, they are still going strong! Since many people are looking for a shoe review on WU and they seem to be concerned about its durability, I thought of writing a quick update. I mostly run on pavement (concrete or asphalt), so below should be representative of its durability as many people wear racing flat on pavement (right?), rather than strictly on track or soft trail. I’ve been running in WU4 on dry days and in WU3 in rainy days. At 210 miles, my WU4s are showing some tear and wear at the outside of the mid-foot: The black rubber-ish material you see in the picture on the left. I don’t know how many more miles are left in the material until mid-sole starts showing. The same deterioration is found on my other shoe; however, the same material on the front and inside still looks as good as new – almost. The outsole is still securely and tightly glued to the upper, and shows no sign of coming apart. This is the case all around the shoe. The same goes for WU3 I put through some wet weather, as well as washing machine and manual washing. One thing I noticed was I got a wet foot when I accidentally step on a mushy grass. As a result, I got a big blister exactly where the outsole is wearing out. I don’t know if the water came through the thinning outsole or the opening in the middle of outsole (I don’t know what it is called). The orange thermal plastic that runs from heel to midfoot shows a little bit of damage as well, but nowhere near as bad as the outside of the midfoot. I guess I am not a serious heel-striker. This thermal plastic material is pretty springy, so it is supposed to help when I am pushing off and moving forward. Overall, the shoes are still in a great shape. Except for picking up dirt stain, there is no functional damages in the upper. My feet are pretty wide, but they adjusted to the width of my feet and hug my feet every time I lace up. I am not showing WU3 but their upper does not have any damages, except it shows the dirt and stains much more due to its color. I will write another update in additional 100 miles or so.

Welcome Assistant Principals! This group is specifically for those serving the AP role in a high school or middle school, and allows you to ask questions directly to other APs. Assistant Principal Central - Wendy Bridges Assistant Principal Eastern - Matt Shanafelt Assistant Principal Western - Brad Lusk Welcome to Summer! What are you up to - what projects or tasks are you involved with? Or is it just a nice break for you? We're at the MASSP Conference at Mackinac Island - always learning! Does anyone want to meet at the Conference to talk about alternative education issues? Kind of late to suggest this, but... I will be at the conference in Mount Pleasant on October 4th, 5th and 6th. Is anyone interested in meeting there as a group (or individually) to discuss alternative education issues? If so, please email me and we can arrange to meet. Ken Willison, Alternative Education Liaison to MASSP; President of Michigan Alternative Education Organization (MAEO) Middle School Science Fair I have a teacher in my building who wants to organize a 7th grade science fair for the first time. Does your middle school have a science fair? If so, I was hoping to have my teacher connect with your science teachers who sponsor/organize your science fair. Please email me if you can help! Thanks, David Simpson Derby Middle School Birmingham Public Schools 248-203-5007 ds16bps@birmingham.k12.mi.us Do you have an exam exemption policy at your school? We have had a policy in place for several years that rewards good attendance (with a few other stipulations). They can exempt one exam of their choice if they qualify. I'm wondering if this is allowed under the new graduation requirements? Recommendations for professional development/teacher training for Connected Math. I am looking for well qualified training for my 6th grade and 7th grade teachers for the Connected Math series. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Who among us has alternative education responsibilities or interests? Please help MASSP's new alternative education liaison, Ken Willison, gain a clearer understanding of who among us has alternative education responsibilities or interests. If you have any duties in your district related to alternative education ... or if you just have a strong interest in alternative education issues ... please let Ken know who you are. If you prefer not to post to the internet, please feel free to send an email to him at ken.willison@staff.spartaschools.org Also, if you haven't done so already … why not join the new Alternative Education group? While not much has been posted there yet, we hope to get the ball rolling soon and would love to have all interested parties participate. Thanks. Student Age Limitations? At what age can we stop educating a regular education student that lives in the district? What does the law state? Any H. S. have experience with Title I Targeted Assistance planning? Moving to Title I Targeted Assistance program in order to receive more funding to develop intervention classes/programs to help struggling students in mathematics and ELA. Looking for high schools who have successfully navigated the Title I application and have implemented an intervention structure to help reach at-risk students. Cell Phones as Instructional Tools I am currently working with a company to develop and pilot a new program for teachers that would allow them to utilize student cell phones to aid in instruction. Our program would primarily use the phone's text messaging feature. Some functions of the program would include student surveys, quizzes and tests, real-time brainstorming, and picture and video galleries. It would be web-based so schools would simply pay a subscription fee and get a log-in. We are thinking about purchasing some pay-as-you-go cell phones for students to use who do not have text messaging service on their phones. What do you see as the pros and cons of a program like this? I'm curious to get your feedback. 9th Grade Center? Does anyone currently operate and have success with a "school within a school" model specifically for the 9th grade population? If so, I would like to possibly arrange a visit to your school. Thank you, Scott Kapla skapla@scslakeview-k12.com Lakeview High School Are you a Class A High School that requires students to have Student ID Cards? Midland's school improvement team is looking for information from other Class A schools regarding school identification cards (or name tags) for students. We would like to know how many schools use them, in what capacity they are used, and consequences for not having them. Senior class trip Do you still offer senior class trips and what are the guidelines for the trip. PLAN & EXPLORE Testing Good morning, I am looking for data that supports implementing the EXPLORE test in 8th/9th grade and the PLAN test in 10th grade. If possible, I am also looking at the cost of the two programs as it relates to their actual impact on ACT test scores. Thank you, Scott Kapla Lakeview High School skapla@scslakeview-k12.com Personal Finance Course I am in the process of putting together information to add a course to our curriculum. Curious to find out what others are using or doing for "Personal Finance" and what area is it located. (Economics or Business) Looking forward to responses. Perry Wilson Student Clubs Does anybody have a form they use for teachers to request new student clubs? Thanks! David Simpson Derby Middle School HYBRID SCHEDULE (80/90 min. & 45/55 min. Classes) I am looking for schools who may currently run a hybrid schedule. We currently run a block/semester schedule but are looking to alternatives. Particularly, I am looking for schools who may run 80-90 minute classes for either a semester or a year long. At the same time, I am looking for classes within the same schedule that run for 45-55 minutes for either a semester or for the entire year. If you currently run a hybrid schedule combining block classes and 45-55 minute classes, I would appreciate the time to speak/meet with you to discuss the intricacies of how you schedule students and what type of program you use to do it. We are exploring new avenues in terms of serving our student population. Any information would be a tremendous help. Has anyone purchased a cell phone jammer for your school so that students can not use their cell phones in school? One of our teachers heard about this device on Channel 1. We want to know if anyone is currently using this device and if so, how is it working? plagiarism I know it is becoming in issue with cutting and pasting off of the internet, so my staff and I are looking for some good language to put into our student's handbook regarding plagiarism. If you have something out there that has been working for you, and you are willing to share, it would be most appreciated.

How Important Is It To Follow Your Passion When Creating A Business? Do what you love . . . . . . And as Marsha Sinetar says, “the money will follow.” Her book is a classic on finding what floats your boat and making a living from that. What if you don’t know what you love? That’s a problem. But not an insurmountable one. In a story called “The Kiss of Death Marketing” in an issue of an affiliate marketing magazine, the number 1 “kiss of death” is, “Assuming that if you do what you love, the money will follow.” It goes on to say, “Steer clear of gurus who tell you to follow your passions.” Good thing I’m not a guru, because if there’s no passion driving us toward our goals, what’s the point? Fredric Lehrman, a prosperity guru, addresses this question in a unique and playful way with what he calls Prosperity Scrabble. To explain it, I’ll give you my own experience. In 1997, when I was at a career crossroads, I wanted to identify my “right livelihood.” What was in me that would feed my soul? After listening to Prosperity Consciousness, I found a tool to figure it out. Lehrman recommends doing this as a game with other people. We used this as an assignment in our guy group to report on our experience. Here are the steps: - Cut up pieces of paper into approximately one-inch squares - Write down something you really enjoy doing on each one. This could include mundane things like watching TV. But be thorough and don’t censor your thoughts - Turn them over so you can’t read them, mix them up and pull out two - Take item 1 and item 2, seemingly unrelated, and try to envision a business from combining them If you find a combination that clicks, he says, ask yourself if you’re willing to do it until you make $100. When I was doing this process, two items came to the top: - Motorcycle riding - Travel journalism – writing and photography Pondering those items, and a life-long desire to travel the U.S. by motorcycle, I came up with my all-time favorite business plan. I shopped it all over Atlanta for a year and came very close to getting a major corporation to fund the entire year of travel. Now, years later, because of technology improvements and because of what I’ve learned about doing business online, I don’t need a corporate sponsor. It’s still a major goal of creating a successful business on the Internet is to take this trip and make the project a reality. We haven’t yet taken the trip, but we’re getting closer. Prosperity scrabble helped me realize what was important and how to feed my soul. The rest of this module is about choosing niches in your passion areas (or otherwise) that are worth doing. Pay close attention to these technques.

Why Your Mindset Is What It Is…And What You Can Do About It! In 1998, I went on my first and only blind date. I had been resisting it for 3 months, but the mutual friend who set up the date was persistent, to say the least. Blind dates! How . . . Pitiful! Is this what my life had come to? I was so judgmental about the whole concept, but the truth was that my resistance was because this woman sounded like someone I could easily be interested in. The last thing I wanted was a serious relationship. I had been married (didn’t work out so well) and swore I’d never do it again! I walked into a little outdoor café for the 1-hour pre-arranged cup of coffee with the obligatory hard-stop. Of course, I had created another appointment to make sure I had an excuse to leave. And there sat a beautiful, intelligent and very direct 40-year old woman. The conversation was quick. “Are you Charlsa?” She nodded, “You’re David?” I nodded and took a seat across from her. After the briefest awkward pause, she looked at me and blurted out, “So, what’s your story?” I cracked up. I loved her directness. And ended up loving her. As my wife would say, “What’s your story?” That really is the purpose of this entire course. We want to tell our stories, convince people to buy our products and create a community around both. Whether you’re a writer, a business person, an athletic trainer, a hobbyist, a realtor, or someone who wants to escape the life you’ve built so far, you’ve got to have a story. And that story is your experience. It’s your wisdom. It’s an asset! Introductions are in order. Hi, I’m David Perdew. But you know that already. I have a long and checkered history. If you want the resume version, I’ll post it later. But the bullets are: - Born: New Castle, IN., 1952, in a loving but flawed working class family (aren’t they all?) - Lived there till I was 18 when I joined the Air Force - Married when I was 19 - Three children (all over 30 — Good Lord, how did I get so old!) - Graduated from Indiana University in Journalism in 1978 - Divorced 1984 - Worked in the newspaper business as a photo editor, magazine editor and copy editor until 1989. Left the Atlanta Journal & Constitution in 1989 as Director of Photography - Started my stock photography agency in 1989 - Married again in 1990 - Sold stock agency in 1995 - Divorced again in 1996 - Changed careers to information technology in 1996 as a programmer - Became a project manager / consultant in 1997 - Sold my car and bought a 1997 Harley Davidson in 1997 as my only mode of transportation for two years - Married again in 1998 - Spent 20 years as a successful independent corporate consultant Ok, there’s my life boiled down to 16 facts — but that’s only part of my story. Here’s my story A big part of my story is about money. It’s the measure of success in this country. I was sucked into that vortex for years. The larger my checkbook balance, the better I felt. If it was close to (or God forbid – below) zero, I went into a depression. Not because I had money problems, but because my self-worth was tied directly to the number of zeros following the number 1. It was insane. And it finally took me the only place it could – all the way to the bottom. The bullet that says “Divorced again in 1996” is directly tied to that bottom. My beliefs about money were driving my life. My mindset was my biggest struggle. That’s why I think it SO important to focus on our mindset from the start. We’ll attack those beliefs – mine and yours – in a later section today. Here’s the blessing in that crash: There’s an unexpected freedom at the bottom. It becomes a reference point never to be forgotten for the rest of your life. It becomes a touchstone for gratitude. When times are rough, I tell myself, “Whew, I’m so grateful I’m not there any longer.” And I know that I never have to go back. But I also know that no matter how difficult things get, I can survive. That’s a great discovery! Much of the fear that drove my life lessened, if not disappeared. Fear of loss, fear of not being enough, fear of disappointing others – all became my reality, no longer imagined. I experienced loss, not being enough and truly disappointed many others. And there’s such freedom in knowing that from the bottom you can only go up! The greater gift is knowing that you get to choose your bottom. You don’t have to be penniless and homeless like I had become. You can say that from today forward, I’ll go no lower. I accept responsibility for my life. The key to an incredible mindset – and business – is personal responsibility! My life is a pure gift that has continually improved since 1995. Astounding things have happened. Great miracles and wonderful opportunities. Sounds like I’ve got it licked now? Not by a long shot, but I do have a perspective on my life that is huge and that I’m very comfortable with. I haven’t had a real paycheck since 1989. A paycheck is a trap. It makes you think the world will protect and save you. Nothing could be further from the truth. As Joe Vitale says in The Attractor Factor (go ahead and buy the book – I’ll reference it a gazillion times): “The hardest concept for most people to grasp is that they are the sole reason they are experiencing whatever they have in their lives. They are totally responsible.” Whew! He didn’t say partially responsible. He didn’t say one of the reasons. Don’t look around. He’s talking to you. He said you are responsible for whatever you have in your life. Yes but . . . Stop right there. This is a key concept. That’s what every bottom-dweller learns, or they stay on the bottom. I am responsible for changing my life. No one else is. And I can only change one life – mine. Not my wife’s, my son’s, my parents’ or my boss’s. Changing my life is my business. It’s my job and it’s my only job. MyNAMS training is built around this concept. Memorize it! Cut it out and put it on your refrigerator. This web business stuff is not easy. It’s simple. But not easy. Don’t let anyone kid you. Without persistence, nothing will happen. This is a business and must be treated like a new business. That’s what the entire MyNAMS Step-by-Step training is all about: Helping you move from beginner to advanced online business person. We’ll be thorough, sometimes too thorough. The structure of this course is such that you can attack any topic at anytime, but we really encourage you to go through it methodically from start to finish. Now, tell me who you are Go to the forums and introduce yourself if you haven’t already. If you’ve given us the facts, we want more. - What do you do? - Who do you love? - What’s important to you? - Where do you live? (Not looking for a street address, just a part of the world ) - What do you want from this course? I loved reading your story. I relate to it so much. Firstly, thank you for taking my call a few weeks ago. The fact that I could call you directly and you answered… wow, I can’t tell you how cool that was. As we discussed, I wanted to join MyNAMS.com, but needed some direction. I was also hoping to get the lifetime membership I missed out on… doesn’t hurt to ask, right? Well, I joined MN and signed up to a bunch of free things and started getting emails… tons of emails. I was completely overwhelmed! I can’t tell how excited I am about the Dashboard. It’s exactly what I need… an easy-to-navigate step-by-step course. Thank you soooo much! I too am a journalist, now working as a consultant. Specifically, I was a magazine editor who had a very successful career. But I found myself longing to do more, be an entrepreneur, which lead me to an awful experience that became my bottom. Once I extricated myself for the situation, and took back my life, I entered a year-long journey of self discovery that lead me to launch my blog. I’m clear that everything that happens in life is a lesson, whether it be a good or hurtful experience. As difficult as it was to go through the fire, today I live an more grounded and grateful life. My income is 25% of what it used to be but I’m 100% happier. I’m having fun not taking life too seriously and appreciate every moment of every day. All of which has lead me to launching. My blog has enriched my relationship with my mother… and my waistline. I’m excited about taking it to the next level. Thank you for being part of my journey. Angela Lawrence Angela – thanks for telling us your background. These are amazing times we live in I’ve been out of journalism – officially – since 1989, but I really believe all those skills are absolutely crucial to doing what we do online today. I think you’ve got a big advantage having that in your history. And I loved talking to you about your partnership with your mother on your site. Great concept…Look forward to seeing you in Atlanta at the workshop (if you can make it…) Just finished reading your story. Amazingly, much like mine. Made me cry. I guess I’ve found the right place Love it. Glad you found us Bonnie… Didn’t know it was such a touching story, but I just tell it like I see it I’m a blessed man. I relate to alot of your story and look forward to one day meeting face to face and maybe breaking a little bread with you. Not this February workshop but the next. I’m making it one of my goal’s. I won’t post my personal travails here because they are very personal and hurtful to some extent. A lot of stuff that I am still working through with the help of my shrink. I am almost 70 years old and it was not until recently that I found the courage to get the help I needed. I was raised in a culture where men stand on their own, even if they haven’t the feet to do so, if you get my drift. Just like with NAMS, I had not had the sense to get help with my marketing. Instead I kept banging my head against the wall all by myself, following WSO’s and other products I could afford. What a waste of time and effort! I could be so far ahead of where I am and not be in the situations I find myself in now. Oh well, can’t change history, I’ll just have to deal with my issues the best I can and keep moving forward, no matter what. At least now I’m feeling a little more confident of my future outcome. I first joined NAMS on Nov 1 but due to some unexpected medical issues I had not had the chance to get into any of the material here. Now that I’m here I can’t believe the volume of material on this site. I am really looking forward to begin making some progress now that I am a member here. Thanks for having the HEART to create such a place. Thanks, Alex Alex – you’re very welcome and I hope you dig in as much as you can. About our travails in life: I always say it takes what it takes to get us where we are. And sometimes that’s a lot of stumbles along the way. Like you’ve discovered, the best way to avoid most of that is to ask for help! And that’s a really hard thing for those of us in our “mature” state… Welcome again. David Hi David, Thank you for taking the time to create this page and for telling your story. I can relate in many ways. But here’s just a few … I’m currently studying copywriting with Karon Thackston. Originally I was a nuclear med tech for 35 years. I love nature and the outdoors, used to bike and run for charities. And since I was in three radiology modalities, photography has always been part of my life with extra courses in college. I’ve had several painful life experiences, but in the last few years I’ve been able to take the charge off the emotional side effects … and switch off the bad thoughts in the process. Earlier in my life, that type of help wasn’t available. What was available didn’t help. Like you, my belief is that we are definitely in charge of what happens in our own lives. It was just the “how to change it” that had me stuck. I love Dr. Joe, and also Centerpointe. Knowing something mentally and then actually believing it and acting on it are two different things … and trusting the Guidance we receive every day. What’s important to me is to leave my affairs in order and that means making money now. I wanted what I call a “retirement career” using my writing skills productively, so I went back to college and took journalism. After another decade of life stuff including a family tragedy, I’m starting again. I keep reminding God that I’m not Methuselah, and he keeps giving me opportunities and blessings with incentives to just keep on keepin’ on … hence, I was directed to NAMS via Karon. I live in the midwest with a shelter dog and a 32-year old parrot adapting to ever-changing weather conditions–which is why I do my focus work late at night … for now. What I need from this course is exactly what you offer: structure and direction. But you offer so much more. I’ m flabbergasted (is that a real word?). Anyway, I’m grateful for all of it. Blessings, Patricia P.S. I look forward to meeting you and the terrific NAMS team (have read some blogs) in near future. Thanks Patricia. I’m with you on the retirement career But I don’t feel very retired these days… Of course, I’ve got a couple more years before I want to fully retire – whatever that means – anyway… WOW! What an eye opener. Glad you liked it Dino We try to keep your eyes open all the time… Wow we are the same age, guess there is hope for me to make it in the internet world. Just finished reading and am looking forward to devouring all of the NAMS training. Bill Hi! I am just beginning my journey up from the bottom and am so excited to be here and learning from somone like you. Reading your story was so very inspitiational. I, too have found all the bumps in the road and knew that there had to be a better way. I have a wonderful friend that gifted me with my membership to MyNAMS and I am now finding that it is the gift that keeps on giving. My journey is now looking like quite an adventure. Thank you! Not as excited as we are to have you here. New people who have a goal and drive to execute it are the lifeblood of our program. And frankly, the most fun. Watching people succeed is awesome. Make sure you go to the forum and introduce yourself. You’ll find lots of folks there who will help. I spent a good part of a year studying programs and building a website. So many pieces to the puzzle and so many products that don’t deliver or are to hard to understand. I stepped away from the whole thing for the good part of another year after blogging my heart out and marketing and getting few results… Here I am again. Ready to get it done because I want this!! Great post – I’m excited to meet everyone. David, I am touched by this post and your sharing so much of yourself. I’m embarrassed to say that I’m only just digging into these Dashboard modules (on the plane en route to NAMS). So much of my entrepreneurial experience in the last three years has been backwards. I got excited about social media long before I had anything to promote or sell. I’ve learned so much from so many people, but it’s time for me to put it all together. Let the new leg of my journey begin. Personally, in the spirit of sharing, I have been so, so fortunate in my life and marriage – John and I celebrated out 40th in October and he’s still the person I’d rather be with than anyone in the world. We have two amazing grown children who are not only happily married and employed, but doing things that make a difference in the world. I trained to be an anatomist but took another route as wife, mother, and community activist. No regrets there. But now that the kids are out of the nest, and my retired husband is good at staying busy on his own, I have an entrepreneurial itch I haven’t scratched yet. At this stage in my life, I’m not looking to be rich and famous, but I should would like to earn enough to pay for a fabulous vacation every year. Should I have posted all this in the forum? If so, let me know and I’ll copy and paste. I work in construction. A decent living, stay busy, bring home a paycheck weekly. Not exactly head over heels inspired by that, nor as physically capable as I once was, so I have been exploring options. Affiliate marketing seemed to hit all of my personal criteria buttons for a viable “retirement career” , but until now I have been stumble-bumbling along, as a green newbie. Thanks to Kaya Singer for introducing me to NAMS and you, David. Now, I have to say, your excellent website seems a bit overwhelming , so I can see myself struggling a bit to stay focused, but it certainly has me chomping at the bit to actually see RESULTS from my efforts. I’m ready to dive in! Excellent Jeff – you’re only scratching the surface of this site. But I’m so glad that you’re digging in here with this series. You’ll see a bunch of tools, training and community opportunities to help you when you need it. Thanks for being here. I’ve been a member since October, but I’m just now really getting started. My youngest was born with medical disabilities but it was December of 2011 before we learned that my oldest has a few medical challenges herself. I spent the months of November and December of 2012 (1 year later) getting her prepared for surgery (Christmas eve, of course!) and getting myself prepared for the $16,000 medication expense (not including the anesthesiologist, surgeon, hospital, etc). I lost my job at the beginning of December, but it took me until February to make the decision (no regrets) to pursue my passion (working for myself, traveling with my daughters), and until now to get back to MyNAMS. I’m sorry I missed the February session (no babysitter), but can’t (currently) afford the August one – unless I get my butt in gear and get to making things happen. I’m disappointed that I’m starting 5 months after I joined, but it is what it is – and the BEST thing I can do is move forward, and not look back. Here goes…

Tucked into a beautiful isolated north-south valley, on the western slope of the Coast range of southern Oregon, with a clear, clean river named Middle Creek running through, is our farm. 27 acres of lush pasture and 100 year old conifer forest, barns, and a home surrounded by productive and established orchard and gardens, the land sits a mile or so below a narrows in the canyon, where tall rock walls like sentinels stand above the road and river that head up east into what old timber is left in this part of these blue-green mountains that face the sea. To the west the hills rise and fall a couple of times before the mainstem Coquille river winds it’s way lazily to the surf some 25 miles distant. A winding, scenic 20 minute drive takes you to the old town and county seat of Coquille, and another 20 minutes lands you in the second largest port on the Oregon coast, the city of Coos Bay. Weather here is mostly wet for the months of December-March, with temperatures ranging from the 30′s to 50′s, occasionally dipping into the 20′s…occasionally snowing…then, through April and May the rains begin to taper and the sunny spells increase to remind us of the amazing summer to come. As seems to be the case is most shorter summer climates, life seems to take on a certain urgency of beauty and celebration of itself. With the mercury hovering in the 80′s to 90′s commonly during the long lazy afternoons, the swimming hole is a welcome respite. Fall can stretch out into sweet, ripe days and lingering warm, scented evenings..with crisp, starry nights when the Milky Way is like a bright brushstroke of glitter across a deep blue-black sky. When the winter rains return they are a welcome relief to the dry land and ensure the continuing cycle of fertility and fecundity. Since I moved my young family here in 1983, this place has been farmed organically. Raising Llamas, goats, ducks and chickens, as well as the occasional turkeys, has been an on-going part of farm life and death here. By amending and composting the clay-rich earth, along with ample spring and river water and long summer days, we have sustainably raised bumper crop after bumper crop of delicious vegetables and fruits over these many seasons. Greens and herbs are grown in the greenhouse nearly year round, and the garden starts are also seeded and raised there starting with the tomatoes and peppers in February. The lath house is where the starts are “hardened off” before their risky transplant to the cool spring soil..and exposure to the lurking late frosts. As the soil warms, an eager horde of various starts join direct seedings to fill the nearly half acre veggie garden with a continuously changing show of color and form that finishes with bounty and memories..filling the pantry, food storage room, freezers and happy bellies. Apples, pears, plums, peaches, cherries, and figs join in a steady flow of fruits to fill dehydraters, cider press, wine crocks and canning jars. Berries both wild and gardened, and grapes join in as harvest moons wax large. This land has a very long history of bounty and human involvement, in fact, thousands of years. Every time I come across a primitive tool, or implement, while working this soil, I am reminded of the earlier stewards here. They harvested, used fire to manage, and met here to scrape hides, harvest Salmon, swap stories and genes. They took good care of their world here as it took good care of them. As was the case in most all of this western land, the coming of the whites marked the ending of an era..and a gradual, then gaining momentum, destructive change took place. As the most recent steward on this bit of paradise, I have considered it my inheritance to speak for all the inhabitants of this sacred place..and hold in my hearts eye a healing..a return to the ancient rhythms that created the real wealth that was here..for all. When I first drove down what was then the driveway, through the woods and out onto the lower pasture here, I turned to my wife and said ”This is it!” ..and it has been, since that mid-summer day. By 1990 we had undertaken a major remodel of the shack that was on the site…concluding with the addition of the dance/recording studio building. The timber-framed barn and equipment shed went up in that same period, and much garden expansion, fencing, treeplanting and landscaping was happening along with the construction. Though I divorced in 1996, with the help of the next strong women in my life, by ’05 the cobblestone walks and patios and rock-walled perennial flower gardens and orchard had been established around the house, and a bed and breakfast recording studio was open for business. Many musicians have enjoyed the creative, serene and natural atmosphere of the place..many family, friends and neighbors have enjoyed the place for it’s beauty and relaxation..and for great parties and events.

Anyone who tells children that God – literally – created the world in seven days 6,000 years ago is guilty of perverting education. This article originally appeared on the Independent / by Susan Elkin The truth – and education should be above all else a search for truth – is that the world, and the flora and fauna in it, including homo sapiens, evolved over millions of years. But of course, whatever the founders of the Exemplar Academy in Newark soon to open as a state-authorised school might think, the divisions between the two points of view are not quite as cut and dried as that. There is, for example, more than one sort of truth. There is factual, scientific truth and there are deeper, metaphysical truths. For example, I don’t for a moment believe that Adam and Eve were ever a physically living people and neither, for the record, do any of the committed Christians I know. But there is a great deal of ‘truth’ in their human fallibility and curiosity. In a sense the Adam and Eve story is a novel, and like all the best novels it is full of insights and truths. Intelligent, responsible adults working with children teach them the science and then, if they wish, explain that the creation stories – and every religion has one – originated as man’s way of explaining truths he ( or she) didn’t fully understand. It actually makes quite an interesting education project to explore and compare those stories and see what a lot they have in common. And as for God. Well, he was man’s name for the almost unimaginable force which drove (drives) the process of evolution and change – a personification. So, if you want a religious approach, the science and the creation myth complement each other. You don’t have to argue the literal and pretty absurd case for an old man in the sky striding about making decisions for and about human beings. Good educators – parents, teachers and others – ensure that children learn to think and reason for themselves. They don’t thrust propaganda and bigotry at them or withhold facts and information. A friend of mine taught for a while in a tiny school run by Plymouth Brethren. She had to teach Shakespeare’s play Henry V so that the students could take GCSE English Literature. She was not allowed to mention sex in any context and the word ‘god’ had been blanked out of the text every time it appeared which wrought havoc with both sense and verse. One student, a girl aged 15 (yes,15), was very puzzled about why the women were in danger at Harfleur. ‘I can see that the soldiers would want to kill the men’ she said. ‘But what on earth did they want with the women and girls?’ It seems little short of scandalous to me that anyone in 21st century Britain is raising children in such dangerous ignorance. Bigotry has a great deal to answer for. I am not a religious believer or church goer. But I am a great admirer of much of what is in The Bible and other religious texts. They contain fine poetry, a great deal of human truth in many of the stories and an encapsulation of the cultures they sprang from and influenced – all of which I want children and young people to be led to think about. We can all learn a lot from them. But we must never indoctrinate or permit our institutions to use indoctrination techniques. The Department for Education, as my colleague Richard Garner reported in the Independent last week is trying to make a slippery and unconvincing distinction between a school which has a ‘faith ethos’ and a ‘faith school’ . Call it what you like but the school in question is founded by blinkered creationists who don’t see education as a free unending journey. Does anyone really believe that it will restrict itself to pedalling its distorted truths (lies?) in RE lessons? Real Education is about open-ended questioning and challenging the mind. It also involves encouraging the learners eventually to move way beyond their teachers so that each generation explores new ground. Blinkered, limited, propagandist, religious thinking attempts to hold back or stop that process. Brainwashing is a form of child abuse. It should have no place in any place of learning. /sources: article; image (Mattias Jordan Carson);. Keep Mystic Politics online and advertisment free. A small contribution helps us deliver edgy, honest, and inspiring independent media.I can help You are my inspiration, I have few web logs and occasionally run out from post . “Truth springs from argument amongst friends.” by David Hume. Here here! Great article; it’s crazy that in 2012 our children are still having draconian morality tales presented to them as fact, in the name of ‘education’. Let faith schools teach by all means, but don’t force everyone to have to swallow the same dogma.

It's downright hazardous how quickly this summer seems to be slipping past. Work has been keeping me fairly busy and I can never seem to satisfy my appetite for exploring Washington's trails. I'm making steady daily progress on my 1000 mile challenge but feel like I'm playing a serious game of catch up with the others. If I can keep my weekly average between 25 and 30 miles during the warmer months here in Washington, I should be able to complete the trip on time. Unless I take a wrong turn and go over a cliff like the unfortunate fellow on the sign. I've got a couple of great trails I wanted to share this week using an online mapping tool that I'm just learning about. It seems to have a few technical kinks and isn't always super intuitive, but it's one of the better ways I've found to share trip details (at least until I break down and design my own online mapping tool that is). As always, I've also got downloadable PDF maps that you can simply print and go. Rattlesnake Mtn Trail - 9.02 Miles This was a great trail I hiked two weeks ago, conveniently located off I-90 at exit 32. You'll gain a significant amount of elevation in the first 1.6 miles along this high traffic section of the trail. Most hikers get winded on their climb to Rattlesnake Ledge and go no further but the 2.4 miles of trail along the northwestern ridgeline provides a surprising degree of solitude. On clear days you'll have unmatched views of Mt. Si, North Bend, and Chester Morse Lake to the southeast. Noble Knob Trail – 7.1 Miles I had been eyeing this ridgeline trail that borders the Norse Peak Wilderness ever since the snows let up in mid-April. I’m sure the rangers at the Enumclaw Station were wearied by my almost daily calls to find out if the road had been opened to get to the Corral Pass trailhead. With my wife, new hiking partner (Adrian), and five kids under the age of eight in tow, I was finally able to venture up to check it out this last weekend. Two of the kids actually made it the full distance out to Noble Knob and back (7.1 Miles). What can I say, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) A Word of Caution: The trickiest part of getting to Corral Pass and the trailhead is NFD 7174. There are several sections that are extremely steep, narrow, and rocky. You'll want to be in a vehicle with sufficient horsepower and road clearance in order to make it up. Be very careful when passing other vehicles moving in the opposite direction. We actually saw a small Honda Civic that was being plucked from a dangerous embankment by a heavy duty tow truck while we were up there. The owners had the look of terror on their faces as we carefully moved past them. Looks like some great hikes...the color of the water in the first one is amazing. Very nice and creative blog i really love this blog Thanks for post this

I must have my own space! I must have my own time! On Sunday morning with several Masses to celebrate and sermons to preach, the last thing I need is to be rushed, without having the leisure to loosen my limbs and tune into God -after the heavy drowsiness of a good night's sleep. And so it happened that on one Sunday morning both my usually reliable 'body clock' and my alarm clock failed to awaken me. Neither did the Holy Spirit or any of my Guardian Angels. Far be it from me to suggest that they were sleeping at their posts. The time came when two worthy parishioners were pounding on my door and calling my name. Much was their relief to find that I was still half alive in a distant drowsy fashion. They told me I was already late and that there was no need to stampede myself into action. In the twilight world of semi-consciousness I groped my way to the car. As I made my drowsy way down the aisle of the church I heard a small boy whisper, "Mummy, Father's still asleep!" True! True! True! With my head aching at the effort of trying to become devotional, and, harder still, to sound coherent, I would not be surprised if many in the congregation thought I was talking in my sleep as well as sleep walking. One of today's worn out cliches is people talking about their having got their act together, at long last and after so much effort...not without moments of elation and heart-break. To reach the peak and remain at the top is an enviable achievement. But then I pause. What if God saw it fitting for my personal formation that I should never feel totally secure, never utterly self-confident? What if throughout my life it were needful for me to be continually aware of my creaturely fragility? Then, surely if ever anything that I attempted were to"come off" just as I intended, instinctively I would say, "Thank you God, for bringing me through." For me it simply is not true that practice makes perfect. Having been Fr. Reliable for so many years is no guarantee that I will wake up at a given time on any given Sunday. I've heard it said of some priests that they have preached so many sermons they could do it in their sleep. Come to think of it, I remember a time when I was surging through my sermon when it seemed as though there were a power-cut in my brain. For a while my brain went blank. When I returned to the real world I wondered where I was and what I was doing. What could I do but ask an altar server what was going on? Politely he told me he thought I was preaching. Obviously I had failed to make much of an impact on him. What to do but to tell the congregation God had shut me down for a moment, and this I took to be an indication that He wanted me to shut up. Since no one protested I suggested we recite the Creed together. This certainly restored my wavering self-confidence. My personal experience tells me that at the very time when I'm doing something important for God, He allows me to have a "power failure" and a "black out" in my preaching. He even allows my inner being to be in a state of flux. He's teaching me never to think in terms of my performance or my personal achievement. Mine is to be the instability of a jelly and the insecurity of walking on shifting sands. I and the People of God are to be made to realize and accept what God has to offer: Preachers and Ministers who are no better and no worse than, "earthenware pots holding a priceless treasure, so that the immensity of the power is God's and not our own," 2 Cor. 4. 7). It's somewhat unnerving not to know what God is liable to let happen to me once I set about doing something for Him! For the elite this may mean martyrdom. For the likes of me it may come down to a fuzzy head or loose bowels! Such is my spirituality of encountering and serving the Divine, mywaygodsway. This I must learn to live with, and, I fancy, so must you! Peter O.P. We have been asked to give you longer to look at each posting. So, in future these will be made fortnightly, rather than weekly. You can easily find about 100 back numbers, which are never deleted. In a fortnight Isidore will meet God in an identity crisis.

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Some people are intimidated by the thought of an entire month’s worth of cooking in one day. Or they get paid weekly or biweekly and their food budget doesn’t allow an entire month’s work of grocery shopping at one time. If that is the case, freezer cooking can still work for you. Here are some ideas that may help in starting out. 1.) You don’t have to cook for an entire month on your first time. You can ease into it. Start with cooking a double batch of whatever you are making for a week and freeze the extra. In one week, you will have a weeks worth of food saved up. If you do it every week for a month, you’d be able to take a month off. Or pick a few days when you can double your meal and store what you can. 2.) You could mini batch cook for a week or two instead of a whole month. Pick a day once a week where you will dedicate a few hours to cooking large batches of meals to stock your freezer. 3.) Maybe you don’t mind cooking dinners each night but breakfasts are very difficult because of a busy morning schedule. Choose a few meals you could have for breakfast and spend a day making a week’s worth or more. 4.) Or jump right in and enjoy the benefits of less waste, more time, and home-cooked meals for a whole month or more. I chose to suffer for one very long day and reap the benefits of taking a full month off. If I am completely honest, the full day of cooking is beyond exhausting, almost like being in labor, but it’s true that as soon as the freezer is stocked you forget the pain involved and are focused on the blessing. After a month or so goes by you are ready to do it all over again. There are many ways to go about freezer cooking. If you are fairly happy with the current recipes you are using you can simply tweak them to accommodate freezing. A few notes on what freezes well. - Most baked goods freeze very well. I’ve done breakfast muffins, breads, rolls, etc. and large batches of homemade granola. You can also make blueberry waffles or pancakes made with whole grains and freeze them to be popped in the toaster just like store-bought waffles but without all the chemicals and preservatives. - You can pre-freeze fruit and yogurt for breakfast with your granola or for easy smoothies. I slice bananas, berries, or peaches into chunks and put in muffin tins. Then spoon yogurt,( I prefer Greek for the extra creaminess) over each cup almost to the top. Tap the muffin tin on the counter to let the yogurt settle. Then pop it in the freezer until it’s completely frozen. Remove tray and pop each cup out with a fork and freeze in freezer bags. You can do individual or gallon sized bags. They won’t freeze into one large clump as long as you put them in right away and they don’t have time to defrost. You can pull them out the night before or grab and go, it will defrost rather quickly if they are in muffin sized amounts. If you’re going to use them in a smoothie, they can go directly into the blender. - We like to BBQ in the summer months so I’ll get a cut of meat, make a marinade, cut up veggies and freeze the uncooked cut and marinade in a Ziploc freezer bag. It can be taken out a day or two in advance, placed in a bowl and defrosted in the fridge. In the time it takes to defrost, the marinade will soak in and it’s ready for the grill. Whip up a salad or steam some veggies and it’s a simple meal. - Assembled casseroles freeze really well. Do all the precooking ahead of time for any meats involved. Then assemble the casserole up to the point you would normally bake, and freeze instead. When defrosted, it is ready to pop in the oven. You could do lasagna, rice chicken casseroles with spinach or brocoli, stuffed french toast, enchiladas and more. I have not had much success with frozen pasta, as it often gets mushy when defrosted and recooked. Lasagna noodles do well but I suggest making sauces and boiling the water for fresh pasta on the day you will eat it. Orzo is the other exception, but make sure to cook it al dente as it will have more time to cook when you are reheating it. - We also like to have a few staple meals that can be made into anything. Spaghetti sauces with seasonal veggies or meatballs can be made in huge batches and eaten with many different noodles. Fish packets wrapped in foil to stick in the oven, crockpot, or grill can be eaten with fresh veggies or made into fish tacos. Layered pans with Mexican rice, cheese, taco meat, bell peppers, onions , and pinto or black beans made in bulk in the slow cooker can be defrosted and cooked into tacos, burritos, enchiladas, baked potato toppings, quesadillas, mixed with eggs for a mexican omelet, or eaten alone. - Soups and stews are my favorite for winter. Although, I love potato soups, they don’t usually freeze well. Potatoes are very hard to freeze as they typically taste overly starchy or too watery when cooked. I make a few big batches in the crock pot starting at the beginning of the day and pour them out into a super large cake pan to help them cool faster so they can be stored in Ziplocs and frozen. Then I start the next batch of soup. I usually make at least three soups with three meals each so I end up with 9 days of soup in a month. Ok, so next comes the planning part where you make your master lists. Tune in for the next post where I’ll share some of my super top-secret recipes, my favorite links and menu planning tools, and ideas for how to shop, plan, and cook your way to free evenings for a month. Great tips! I have done a little freezer cooking on my own, mostly just doubling whatever I’m making that day. I like your idea of the layered mexican rice. I may have to try that next. I have used the no-boil noodles in my freezer lasagna and that seems to work good. Looking forward to the next post, as always! Paula recently posted..Journey to a Healthier Me: It’s Not Easy

A contemporary echo: Mei Dhwani - Satish Suri, Bangalore September 13, 2011 Contemporary Dance seems to have come of age, which was clearly evident in the resounding echo of appreciation from the packed hall in Bangalore on 4th August, when Attakalari Centre for Movement Arts presented their new production Mei Dhwani, the title being derived by linking the Tamil and Sanskrit words (mei meaning body and Dhwani meaning echo). Mei Dhwani subtly alludes to “Echoes of the body.” Metamorphically, the three elements fire, water and earth are symbolized through props. The synergy of the male and female energy, fire acts as a metaphor for male energy and its inherent destructive power and water the ever flowing life stream representing the female energy. The metallic pots used in the production suggest the unfathomable feminine infinity contrasted against the phallic cylindrical oil lamps. This inspired production portrays individuals who are captives of circumstance and history. The narrative begins with Jayachandran Palazhy seated on a pot signifying the unity of body and spirit, as the dancers move into the stage using the language of movement of both Bharatanatyam and Kalaraipayyatu to conjure the sensorial narrative that traverses universal predicaments. The pots used by the female dancers held in hand and rolled over the body through the skillful use of movements of the hands and legs create an individual narrative that oscillates between suspended realms of body and soul. The male dancers enter with metallic cylinders, symbolizing male energy. The awakening through the background tune “Hosh me aaa” as the lighted oil lamps are placed on the cylinders. The artists all dressed in white, capturing fragility and turmoil. The landscape soon changes to the artists’ costumes which sport a purple colour signifying preparation of the body. The tempo increases as the battle of fury wages within, resonating the collective memory of emotions ending finally with all the artists lying down on the floor and the spotlight focuses once again on Jayachandran sitting on the pot in the opposite corner of the stage from where he had started at the beginning of the show, traversing the imagined landscape and returning to the central theme of unity of mind body and spirit. The dancers, three female and four male, energetic and vibrant, along with Jayachandran played their roles to perfection. Excellent production values enriched the performance. The creative choreography of Jayachandran, the artistic and creative director of the company, the subtle and evocative lighting by Thomas Dotzler creating the ritualized arena, the vibrant soundscape provided by the Israeli composer and sound artist duo of Patrick Sebag and Yotam Agam, and the costumes designed by Himanshu and Sonali of Hidden Harmony with additional costume design by Asha and Samantha of Elan Design Studio complimented the aesthetic values of the production. Contemporary Dance generally suffers from repetitive movements which hang heavy on the audience attention and this narrative did no better. It would have been more impactful if the duration in any way could have been reduced..

Hashirama SenjuTalk362 this wiki Hash.[10] Hashirama died shortly after the founding of Konoha in one of the many wars that were raging during this revolutionary era, but not before passing on the title of Hokage to Tobirama.[11].[12][13] His strength was so greatly respected by the shinobi world that both Tobi (while under the guise of being Madara Uchiha) and Madara himself claimed Hashirama was the one person whom they most admired and detested.[12][14].[17].[18].[19] The fact that he could use medical ninjutsu demonstrates that Hashirama likely had excellent chakra control.[13]. Even those who obtained this power through unorthodox means, such as Yamato, stated that his use of Wood Release was much weaker in terms of raw power.[20] He could create clones of himself, massive forests, or create gigantic flowering trees which were able to put targets to sleep. In an instant, he could shape the entire battlefield for his own uses. Along with his kekkei genkai, Orochimaru also coveted Hashirama's unique ability to control tailed beasts.[21] Of all his considerable talents, it was this ability in particular that made Hashirama unparalleled in the shinobi world, so much so that he is regarded as one of the few people capable of completely controlling a tailed beast.[22] At one time, he had many of the beasts in his possession.[9] This ability was greatly amplified by his crystal necklace, which Yamato suggested that he required to control even Naruto's partial lapses into tailed forms.[23][24] Part I.[25] Legacy Because of the heritage of the Senju — who are said to be direct descendants of the Sage of the Six Paths — and the kekkei genkai that Hashirama possessed, his DNA became highly coveted. During the battle at the Valley of the End where Madara Uchiha was thought to have died, the latter took the opportunity to collect his DNA, integrate it into his body, and allow him access to the Wood Release kekkei genkai.[26] Some time after Hashirama's death, Orochimaru experimented with Hashirama's DNA. Desiring Hashirama's unique abilities, Orochimaru exhumed the First's body and infused sixty child test subjects with DNA harvested from his remains, hoping that one would prove able to use Wood Release. Only Yamato survived the process.[27] Danzō Shimura's right arm had also been infused with Hashirama's DNA through a similar experiment with Orochimaru, in the hopes of controlling the powers of the Nine-Tails, as well as to increase his physical energy to maintain the ten Sharingan embedded on his right arm as well as use the technique Kotoamatsukami within a relatively short span of time compared to the decade it would've taken on its own.[28] Those cells also allowed him to use Izanagi for extended periods. With some of the cells taken from Hashirama, Madara created White Zetsu, though his Wood Release is stated to be not as powerful as Hashirama's. Madara also implanted Hashirama's cells into Obito's body which allowed him to use the perfected Izanagi. He also had the cells 'planted' at his headquarters from which grew a massive flowering tree which has a mindless clone of Hashirama coming out of its base. It also supports the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and, having gradually been fed amounts of the tailed beast chakra, among its roots, seems to have helped produce a legion of 100,000 White Zetsu clones for Tobi's army against the Allied Shinobi Forces' numbers of about 80,000.[29] Part of the legacy that Hashirama has also left behind is known as the Will of Fire, a belief held by all the members of Konohagakure. Tobi frequently mentions or remembers Hashirama, his musing over his sworn enemy tends to range from both utter contempt to a begrudging respect and admiration. Tobi does admit that Hashirama was the only person whom he respected of the Senju clan and claims that Naruto Uzumaki has inherited Hashirama's Will of Fire while Sasuke Uchiha has inherited the hatred of his clan.[30].[31] However, in flashbacks, no such scar is visible.[32][33]!"[10] - "Whenever you live, there will always be war."[34] - (As quoted by Kakashi) "Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage, but under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive."[35] - (To Kurama) "Nine-Tails, your power is too great. I cannot let you roam free any longer!"[36] 10.0 10.1 Naruto chapter 123, page 14 - ↑ First Databook, page 116 - ↑ 12.0 12.1 Naruto chapter 398, page 17 - ↑ 13.0 13.1 Naruto chapter 576, page 15 - ↑ Naruto chapter 576, pages 13-16 - ↑ Naruto chapter 575, pages 3-5 - ↑ Naruto chapter 589, pages 6-7 - ↑ Naruto chapter 122, page 14 - ↑ Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations OVA - ↑ Naruto chapter 578, pages 6 - ↑ Naruto chapter 297, page 9 - ↑ Naruto chapter 291, page 15 - ↑ Naruto chapter 458, page 3 - ↑ Naruto chapter 296, page 15 - ↑ Naruto chapter 297, pages 8-9 - ↑ Naruto chapter 123, pages 11-12 - ↑ Naruto chapter 561, pages 8-9 - ↑ Naruto chapter 291, pages 14-15 - ↑ Naruto chapter 550, page 12 - ↑ Naruto chapter 512, pages 10-14 - ↑ Naruto chapter 462, pages 14-17 - ↑ Naruto chapter 1, page 4 - ↑ Naruto chapter 239, page 1 - ↑ Naruto chapter 399, page 8 - ↑ Naruto chapter 118, page 5 - ↑ Naruto chapter 21, page 18 - ↑ Naruto chapter 568, page 8

Mangekyō SharinganTalk0 this wiki. Overview The Mangekyō Sharingan has the ability to control the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox,, though how Kakashi. Mangekyō Sharingan Variations Echo Uchiha. Kasai Uchiha Kasai. Alex Uchiha Alex. Shobi UchihaShobi was finally able to awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan when he killed Tetsui Uchiha. Kenchi Ravenclaw Being distant relatives of uchiha's ravenclaw's also posses mangekeyou which can be activated only if they kill some one very close to them and possess the same blood they do after killing they absorb the person and hence activate mangekeyou sharingan.Kenchi's mangekeyou sharing has the shape of six spiraling tomoe's his mangekeyou grants him the ability to use Tsukuyomi and kamui instead of amaterasu.However he has a limit to use of Mangekyō Sharingan he can use tsukuyomi four times and kamui three times a day.It looks the same as echo uchiha's Mangekyō but it's normal red in color.like itachi kenchi has specialized in Tsukuyomi also it is shown he has some technique's which are related to amatersu but it is not revealed wheather he can use amaterasu or not. Ryun Uchiha Ryun awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan after witnessing his brother's sacrifice at the hands of Danzō Shimura, as a peace offering to Kumogakure. Ryun's Mangekyō takes on the appearance of a three-pronged windmill. Curiously, the first technique that awakened in Ryun's Mangekyō Sharingan was Susanoo, which he displayed moments after he obtained the eyes; in a fit of rage over the loss of his brother. While Itachi Uchiha was a master of Sharingan genjutsu, namely Tsukuyomi, Sasuke was a master of Amaterasu, Tobi and Kakashi were masters of their Mangekyō's space-time properties and Madarawas a master of Susanoo, Ryun has proved himself to be a master of Susanoo (like is ancestor) to a degree far beyond any other Sharingan user. Other than its ability to partially manifest to fit the situation, Ryun's Susanoo can be kept activated longer, because it drains his chakra less substantially due to his mastery of it. Ryun's incomplete version forms the spirit with skeletal muscles for attacking. He is also able to combine the technique with Amaterasu to further increase his defensive power by making it impossible to touch Susanoo without being ignited. Ryun's incomplete version has a more Pharaoh-like appearance, it has a very round head, with a box-like design around it's eyes and nose area, it also has a short spike-like protrusion coming from the bottom of it's chin, similar to a Pharaoh's mask. It wields a chakra spear in its right hand capable of easily shattering stone pillars. His incomplete version once looked similar in form to a fox, complete with ten tail-like protrusions. After being enraged by Ibitsu's story of Danzō, who had killed his brother as an apparent peace offering to another nation, Ryun's Susanoo changed into the more common, humanoid form, and later, after the formation of Tsukiakari, he is able to produce a fully manifested Susanoo, complete with flesh and armor. Susanoo may feed on it's user's emotions to become stronger. Ryun and Sasuke's versions of Susanoo was overall shown to change it's weapons accordingly. Later on, in his battle with Kurisu Taizen, after both an onlooking Seireitou, and Kurisu had taunted him with his brother's death, his Susanoo made a change. The sword like arrow transformed into a spirit weapon, the Tonbogiri (蜻蛉切, Dragonfly cutting spear), which is an elongated spear, made of chakra, that instantly cuts in two anything that the blade touches. During the same fight, he also awakens his defensive spirit weapon, the Wanyūdō (輪入道, Wheel Monk). It is a circular shield, similar in some aspects to the Yata's Mirror, however a skull forms in it's center. The shield itself is strong enough to endure large scale physical damage, but the skull has the ability to suck in and absorb ninjutsu that comes near the shield, making it a truly powerful defense. In it's most recent appearance, it has been shown capable of gaining it's final layer of armor, making it appear like a yamabushi, and gaining the Yasakani no Magatama (八尺瓊曲玉, Benevolence Beads of Imperial Ascension) is a golden necklace worn around the Susano'o neck, and completes Susano'o power. This necklace is also seen in Seireitou's version. The powers of the necklace are yet unknown. The second ability he displayed was Amaterasu. Whenever entering a battle in which his Mangekyō has to be used, Ryun will often use Amaterasu as a "starting technique". While he can use Sasuke's advanced blaze nature, he cannot use it with as much skill, only being able to produce a "Shield of Black Flames". He has shown skill enough with Amaterasu to quench the so-called "extinguishable black flames". Amaterasu and Susanoo both seem to strain his eyes more than his other Mangekyō techniques. The third technique he is capable of using is the Sharingan genjutsu, Tsukuyomi. Ryun's version seems to be nowhere near Itachi's level, though it surpasses Sasuke's level, in that he can use it without a foe noticing and can somewhat warp a person's perception of time itself. Of all his Mangekyō techniques, he uses Tsukuyomi the least. He only seems to use it when he is certain that genjutsu will work on a foe, and usually uses his other genjutsu to test this out. Taiga Uchiha Taiga, on his first mission as a jonin team leader, lost his two genin teammates on said mission. The sadness of their final words caused his Mangekyō Sharingan to awaken. It's appearance is largely unknown, as anyone who gazed upon it met an untimely end and was unable to speak of it. With his right eye, he discovered he could cast Amaterasu, which causes black flames to ignite whatever his eye gazes upon. With his left eye, he discovered he could cast Kyanseru, a power unique to his eyes, that seals away an opponent's chakra network for a set time. With both eyes, he discovered he could cast Susanoo, which is a physical manifestation of his chakra that allows him to create a armor around himself. Engetsu Uchiha Engetsu's Mangekyō Sharingan was awoken upon his being forcefully banished from Konoha, the immense feeling of loss and grief causing his Sharingan to evolve as he was hurled headlong into anguish. Something was sparked deep within the young man causing his Amaterasu to surge forth, setting the surrounding forest alight with black flames until Engetsu collapsed from exhaustion. Amaterasu was the first of the three techniques to awaken within Engetsu's left eye, followed by Tsukuyomi within his right, Susanoo requiring the use of both eyes to activate, and his own unique technique Gekkō no Yurameku being used from either eye. Tenjai Uchiha Tenjai's Mangekyō Sharingan consists of a black triangle over a red background and a red hole in the center. The vertexes of the triangle touches the black rim of the iris design. Tora Uchiha Tora's Mangekyō Sharingan, that developed only a few days after Ryun's own Mangekyō Sharingan, took the appearance of a pinwheel, in a similar form to Itachi Uchiha's with three black dots on the edge of each side of the pinwheel, and three red dots outside the pinwheel itself. Tora's Mangekyō Sharingan is one of two, the other's being Sasuke Uchiha's, with a black background and a red design, rather than the typical black design and red background. Hajimoto Uchiha Hajimoto's mangekyo sharingan developed after his sensei was killed right in front of him by a band of rogue ninja in the land of waves on a routine mission. It has three tomoe floating on the sides and a slightly sideways triangle with a swirl design at each end of the triangle, it has the normal red background with a black design for the tomoe and triangle. The first techniques to awaken in his mangekyo was Tsukuyomi and seigyoki because of his affinity to genjutsu, he first used it when his sensei was killed on the three ninja responsible for his death to break their minds so they could never harm anyone else in their lives. the seigyoki is the special ability that his sharingan had but enhanced to where he can control up to four people within 10 meters of him but it drains half of his chakra and if overused death. The second technique was amatarasu which is one of his least used techniques because of his mastery of genjutsu and the fact that he swore to only use it in case of emergencys or if he had no other options at his disposal. The last and final technique he acquired with the mangekyo sharingan was susanoo, he only learned this technique on accident and hasen't fully mastered it yet but he can summon the rib cage and and one arm to protect himself in case of a surprise attack or extra protection from high level ninjutsu. unlike most susanoo which are usually red or purple Hajimoto's susanoo is a dark blue color as of yet it's weapons and full appearance are unknown to hajimoto. Tatsu Uchiha Tatsu Uchiha was the Third Uchiha to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan with out killing his Best-friend. How he developed this is still unclear. With his Mangekyō Sharingan, Tatsu can use a space–time ninjutsu called Mizuchi which allows him to generate massive vibrations, or shock waves, which can travel though virtually any medium, including the ground, the seafloor, or even in the air. if He. It is a dreadful technique that, with skilled use and enough chakra, can easily devastate an Entire Village with ease. Tatsu became one of the few to awaken Susanoo, as a result of awakening Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi in both eyes. He also gained the ability to create and control darkness and its unique property of gravity, a feat which no other Uchiha can Do without the aid of the Dark Release. Keiku Uchiha Keiku awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan after recieving the eyes of his deceases brother, Renji Uchiha. Soon after recieving his eyes, Keiku trained day and night to prefect is Mangekyo, and weekks later awakened Susanoo, as a result of awakening Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi in both eyes. His is also able to cast Amaterasu with his left and right eye and control them with their opposites and even with the same eye. He also awakened several other techniques, which have yet to be revealed. Sayotsu Uzumaki Sayotsu tried to train as hard as he could to gain mangekyo but he was not able to do so,Sayotsu awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan during the fourth world war when his entire team was killed and his own sensei died infront of his eyes protecting him.he Mangekyō Sharingan is awakened through the trauma experienced from the death of the person closest to the Sharingan user. Sayotsu's mangekeyoSayotsu's Mangekyou Sharingan Sayotsu's Mangekyō takes an unique for it has three sides which resembles shuriken while three other line running parallel and turning at the end resembling hockey sticks. Sayotsu's Mangekyō allows him to use three unique techniques called Kangiten,Mayhem Havoc and storm flame. Sayot can use kamui,Kamui grants Sayotsu the use of three distinct abilities: teleportation and the third one creates a space-time barrier in the form of a swirling void that sucks any target he focuses his eye on to another dimension and also bring them back; even transporting them to a new location.,though he preferred not to use it but he is skilled with it.Originally, Sayotsu lacked proper control to accurately hit his target. His skill and aim later improved greatly, able to successfully warp small, fast-moving, or multiple targets in rapid succession as seen against Yasuki.His finesse allows him to safely warp chakra-based techniques, like the Rasengan, or even shadow clones without disrupting them, at such speed that Raido himself was fooled into believing Sayotsu failed and dispelled the technique instead. While originally demonstrating only long-range use, Sayotsu is also able to use Kamui at a short-range. With this new proficiency, Sayotsu is also able to teleport himself at will. Also during the match with Yasuki he demonstrated the usage of Amaterasu though he hardly uses it,he is pretty good with the jutsu. Aichi Goron Aichi Goron activated her Mangekyō Sharingan after supposedly killing her lover Gen Nakaido in mortal combat. Having lost the last person she considered worth living for became the catalyst for awakening her new dōjutsu. Aichi's Mangekyō Sharingan takes on the form of a thick ring cut into three symmetrical pieces with three circles on the outer edge of each section. Thanks of this ascension in skill, Aichi became able to copy techniques without her special genjutsu The Uchiha DNA in her body also became used to her own DNA and melded together more successfully, allowing her to control her dōjutsu completely. Though it is currently unknown if she can use Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, or Susanoo yet, Aichi has displayed various new abilities. In her left eye she has used the genjutsu known as Shinjiro, in which the target is taken into a red and gray mental world and is bombared with a powerful wall of energy that damages them in real life from the inside. In her right eye is the ninjutsu Inryōkukami, in which she can increase the gravitational pull around her instantly. Its intensity starts at 'Ichi', where the target is merely unable to take a step, to 'Go', where a black hole is created and eats away at the surrounding area rapidly. Mangekyō Sharingan Forms Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan Main article: Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan Over time, use of the Mangekyō Sharingan's techniques deteriorates the user's eyesight to the point of blindness. Only by taking and transplanting the. Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan Forms Sharingan, MS, and EMS Art Credit Credit for Keiku Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan and Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan goes to zjohn4.

Flying under the radar for most of the basketball season, the Hunters Lane Warriors are poised to place a significant feather in their cap. Having clinched the District 12-AAA boys regular season championship two weeks ago, the Warriors can cap a perfect district season with a win over McGavock on Friday (Senior Night) at home. They won at McGavock 60-42 four weeks ago. Hunters Lane is ranked No. 6 in this week’s Associated Press Class AAA poll and is 23-2 overall (11-0 in district play) after an off night Tuesday. The Warriors average 60 points a game and many of their victories are by a comfortable margin. They have won 13 straight since a loss to No. 5 Clarksville Northeast on Dec. 20. Their only other loss was by one point, 61-60, to Hillsboro back on Nov. 21. “From a standpoint of the won-lost record, it’s right up there [with some of our best teams],” 11th-year coach Anthony Sewell said. “But it’s hard to compare teams. This is certainly a very good one.” A win over McGavock will give the Warriors additional momentum heading into the district tournament, which opens next week at Antioch High. Hunters Lane is looking for a breakthrough to the state tournament. The last time it advanced to that point was 2006. Last year, the Warriors lost in the region semifinals to host Brentwood High and they fell one step short in 2010 with a heartbreaking defeat to Beech in sectionals. Veteran leadership is a hallmark of this year’s team. Senior point guard Billy Hughes leads the attack with 17.1 points and 3.3 assists per game. Howard Cliff, the other starting guard, also is a senior. The rest of the starting lineup consists of seniors Stephen Daniel and Antonio Head and DeVardo Odum, a junior. Forward Isaac Harris recently returned to action after he sustained a broken wrist early on and added depth as he has continued to round into shape. “We have a lot of guys who are good leaders,” Sewell said. “What I like is they play with a great amount of intensity, hustle, play hard, get a lot of loose balls.” As for the regular season finale, Sewell said, “McGavock is a team which always plays us tough. They play hard, and I’m expecting a tough game.” The top two finishers in the district get byes into the tournament semifinals. That qualifies Hunters Lane for region regardless and means it has to play just two district tournament contests. • State Swimming: The Tennessee Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association (TISCA) state meet is Friday and Saturday at Caulkins Pool at Centennial Sportsplex. Baylor was the runaway winner in both the boys and girls divisions in last year’s state meet at Knoxville. Montgomery Bell Academy (boys) and Harpeth Hall (girls) were runners-up. MBA senior Maclin Davis is the defending champion in both the 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke. The Southern Cal-bound Big Red swimmer set a state record with a 47.14 in the butterfly and is taking aim at the national private school record of 47.08. • Slight change: Last week, the TSSAA made slight adjustments to the state basketball tournament championships at MTSU for girls (March 7-10) and boys (March 14-17). The Class AA tournament will be played the first day in both girls (March 7) and boys (March 14), followed by the Class AAA quarterfinal games, then the Class A quarterfinal games. Previously, Class A has opened the tourney, followed by AA and AAA. • District meeting: A pairings meeting for coaches in District 11-AAA will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Franklin High, site of the tournament which opens next week. • Hall of Fame Tennis: The Tennessee Tennis Association has announced that Fran Chandler of Jackson and Pat Guerry of Chattanooga, former prep stars at Jackson Central-Merry and Chattanooga Baylor, respectively, have been inducted into the TTA Hall of Fame. Both competed in numerous Nashville tournaments.

. Escoffery began exhibiting as a fine artist around the mid-1940s alongside other important artists of her generation such as Ralph Campbell, Albert Huie and Carl Abrahams, maintaining an active presence on the Jamaican art scene until shortly before her death. Her early work consisted of landscapes and genre paintings, many of which were inspired by themes of community life in Brown’s Town, for example as depicted in the Old Woman (1955). From the 1960s onwards, she also produced paintings that have been described as ‘surrealist’. This is interesting, since the early nineteenth century movement of Surrealism was primarily a literary one in which writers sought creative and artistic freedom in their works via explorations of the sub-conscious mind. In fact it was her involvement in literature and art history that fueled her conceptual development as an artist. In describing her relationship with writing and painting, she stated: … in order to do that, I’d better borrow T.S. Elliot’s ideas about the composition of a poem…One starts with certain strong ‘floating feelings’ which are then expressed by sifting the images to which they spontaneously attach themselves…although craft and media are different, I myself…start from the same basic feeling and the images, the visual ones, are the same too. The scene depicted in the triptych Gateway (1965) qualifies as genre, in terms of the activities of the characters depicted. However, the otherworldly glow of the yellow sky adds an element of surrealism or rather magic realism to the entire scene. Many of her later works were abstracted, such as the epic, five-panel paintings like Mirage (1987), with its rippling layered patterns and floating abstract shapes, imply a conscious attempt at constructing visual context as an almost dream-like scenario in which fragments of thoughts can be ordered and identified. The concept of the ‘dream’ is further illustrated and narrated through iconography historically attached to Judaic social and religious history, which was part of Escoffery’s heritage. Gloria Escoffery has received many accolades for her contribution to the development of fine arts in Jamaica. She was made Officer of the Order of Distinction in 1977 for services in the field of Art by the Jamaican Government and later in 1985, she received the Silver Musgrave from the Institute of Jamaica. She was also inducted into the Caribbean Hall of Fame in 2001. Escoffery passed away at her home in Brown’s Town in 2002. This post was compiled by Monique Barnett-Davidson, Curatorial Assistant, NGJ Bibliography Artist’s file – Gloria Escoffery, Education Department, National Gallery of Jamaica Boxer, David and Veerle Poupeye, Modern Jamaican Art, Kingston: Ian Randle. 1998 Escoffery, Gloria, Loggerhead, Kingston: Sandberry Press, 1988 Jamaica Journal: Vol. 5, Issue 1 , 1974 She was such a great person and a friend to me i had the priviliged of knowing my neighbour she taugh me a lot about life thank to her god bless her soul.

. The blog turned 3 years old (it’s just a toddler!) on January 15th, and I’d say it’s not too late to celebrate. Three years ago, I was a petrified first year doctoral student, sitting in the back of my first year doctoral seminar, feeling alone, out of place, young, and in many ways voiceless. I had left the warm safety of my Stanford community, a community where I was surrounded by Native students, a community where I was known and accepted, where I felt that I had support for Native issues and there was always someone wiser, or more experienced I could call upon when a question or issue arose. I arrived in a cold–literally and figuratively–and isolated space where I suddenly was (and still am) the only Native student in my program. I suddenly had no one else to turn to when a questionable comment was made in class or when I encountered classmates at my elite institution who had never met a Native person in their lives. Those experiences, coupled with the fact that I was several years younger than my classmates and the only student in my cohort without a masters degree, left me silent and scared. I often wondered if I had made the right choice in going to graduate school, and this resulted in that my first year, I said–truly–three comments in class. Ever. It was in this space that the blog was born. I had always felt passionate about representations of Native peoples, but approached it from more of an art and museum context. I interned at museums all throughout undergrad, and did my senior paper on contemporary Indian art that challenged stereotypes and questioned how outside western forces were shaping what constituted “authentic Indian art.” I think this interest came, and still stems, from the fact that I never saw myself, my friends, or my family reflected in images of “Nativeness.” Most of the images of Native people I saw represented people in some mythical past, or as a one-sided stereotype, not the vibrant, diverse community I knew. After a trip to Urban Outfitters right across the square from my school, I felt like something clicked. I felt invisible as a Native person, because the only images my classmates and colleagues ever saw of Native people were the false stereotypes in fashion, advertising, and hollywood. To them, even subconsciously, Indians were flat commodities to be bought and sold, whether as a fake dreamcatcher, beef jerky, or a mascot, not real, living, contemporary people. So I decided to write about it. Writing the blog gave me a voice. In my semi-anonymous space on the internet, I was free to question, be angry, and fight back–things I struggled to do in “real life.” I watched my notoriety and influence grow online, while in my day-to-day I was still the silent girl in the back of the classroom. Even today, many, if not most, of my classmates don’t know what I do outside our campus. My alter-ego of “Adrienne K.” is (or tries to be) a fierce warrior, though sometimes I feel the real-life Adrienne doesn’t always match up. Thinking back to those first early posts, where I still didn’t have the proper language to push back on the stereotypes, where I was still learning to use my voice and perspective, it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come. I say we, because I would be nowhere without the community that has developed around Native Approps. The daily emails, the tweets, the facebook posts, and the comments, it is the community that keeps me going and writing. I’ve learned so much from my readers, because I acknowledge that I am still no expert in this field. Through a happy confluence of factors, somehow I’ve emerged as a voice and an activist, but this blog has been a process of learning for me as much as it has been for you. I stand on the shoulders of those who have been in this fight for decades, and I am forever indebted and grateful to the work of the strong women and men who have laid the groundwork for me to be here today. I, by no stretch of the imagination, am the first Native person to write and care about how we are represented, I just have picked up and joined in what has been going on for generations. For those reasons, the “fame” part of the blog has never been something I’ve been comfortable with. I didn’t start writing with some dreams of grandeur, and I still am super awkward when folks I meet in real life mention they read the blog. Actually, I’m just pretty awkward generally. All I am is a big nerd who found an outlet for that nerdiness, I swear. I reiterate again and again that I don’t claim to speak for all of Indian Country, that I just speak for my experience, which is one of several million perspectives that could be represented here. I think that’s one of the hardest things I’ve been learning to navigate–the tension between wanting to be heard, but not wanting to be seen as the only voice on Indian issues. In the past three years we’ve covered a lot of ground. We’ve discussed young costumed non-Native powwow-goers, broke the story for the Navajo Nation Urban Outfitters lawsuit, talked about Halloween costumes, mascots, and random appropriations in-between. I caused a big stir by discussing my opinions of “Love in the Time of Blood Quantum,” one that’s left a lasting legacy of the now (in)famous term “unicorn” amongst my friends and acquaintances (though it may be time for an update on that post…). There was the (ongoing) Tonto fiasco, Victoria’s Secret, and Paul Frank. But the post that continues to be the biggest hit is my anti-hipster headdress manifesto, re-posted, linked, and reblogged all over the internet. I would have never dreamed that I’d be on monthly conference calls with Paul Frank assisting in a Native artist collaboration, that I would have been a guest on a Al Jazeera or Native America Calling, interviewed Adam Beach, been interviewed by E! online, CNN, or any of the other “mainstream” outlets I’ve been privileged to chat with. I’ve been invited to speak at universities and conferences all over the country, where I’ve met incredible new friends and colleagues. I’ve gained technology skills, taught myself (basic) coding, learned the ins and outs of wordpress, learned how to manage social media platforms, how to build and cultivate a caring community, and curate content. I think it has taught me more about writing and refining my ideas than grad school ever could alone. I’m listing this all off to remind myself how amazing it’s been, because admittedly it’s also been hard. I can’t separate the journey of the blog from my journey of grad school, and both have been fraught with tears over identity attacks, feelings of inadequacy, lack of confidence in myself and my ideas, and far too many moments where I thought it would be so much easier to stop everything and try and return to and salvage my previous life back in California. As for what the future of Native Appropriations will hold, I have some grand plans and big ideas, but I also have to graduate. Since the blog is not exactly a cash cow, I also am balancing taking courses, multiple jobs as a teaching assistant, being an editor at an academic journal, doing my dissertation research, applying for funding for this and next year, and writing my qualifying paper and dissertation proposal. Any of which could be a full time job. But I somehow continue to find time, and will continue to find time, because I care deeply about this work and find so much strength and joy in the real change we are making for Native peoples. What I hope for the future is that we can continue to learn together, that I can offer my ideas and perspectives as a starting point, but that the conversation will grow outward and not stay within the confines of the blog. I hope that my dedication to this world can bleed into my academic life, where the 1900+ words I’ve written here are more than I’ve written for my qualifying paper in months. Writing on the blog, strangely enough, is freeing. Despite the fact that thousands of people read my intimate thoughts online, and are not shy about sharing their hate for me and my opinions, it doesn’t scare me. What scares me is my dissertation committee, the classmates to whom I felt inferior, and the ivy-covered world I live in. Internet trolls? Bring it. The Committee on Degrees? Excuse me, I’m going back to bed. For the daily fear that I live in of not being good enough in my academic life, I sometimes forget to celebrate the joy and accomplishments this world has brought. Native Appropriations has given me confidence and a voice when I felt marginalized and silenced in my everyday life. It has connected me on a deeper level to my own identity, and forced me to defend who I am and what I care about, making me stronger and braver. I’ve become an activist and a writer, when I only sought out to share images of what we are not. I feel that we are on the edge of something big as Indigenous Peoples. If the Idle No More movement is any indication, we are ready to rise up and be seen and heard, not content to be silenced any longer. I know that I’m ready, and feel confident that I am ready to be a part of, or help to create, whatever comes next. Pushing back on Native representations is just the beginning. Our rights, lands, women, and cultures have been violated for far too long, and I know the time is now for things to change. So thank you for joining me on this journey–for reading, commenting, emailing, and discussing. For spreading these issues to your family, friends, and colleagues, and making cultural appropriation an issue worthy of discussion and change. For making it to the end of this behemoth of a post. Here’s to the next three years and beyond.

The Great Cholesterol Myth Last year, cardiologist Stephen Sinatra and I came together to write a book, The Great Cholesterol Myth: Why Lowering Cholesterol Won’t Prevent Heart Disease and the Statin-Free Plan That Will. We believe that a weird mixture, and sugar. These are things we can actually do something about with food, supplements, and lifestyle changes, none of which have the costs or break with conventional thinking for a minute, consider the following study, just one of the many we discuss in the book. The Lyon Diet-Heart Study In the 1990s, French researchers decided to run an experiment known as the Lyon Diet-Heart Study to test the effect of different diets on heart disease. They took two groups of men who had every imaginable risk factors, vegetables, and monounsaturated fat like olive oil. even more inflammation which creates more oxidative damage in a vicious cycle that eventually results in plaque and an increased risk for heart disease. If there was no inflammation, there would be no plaque. The other two major promoters of heart disease are stress and sugar. Stress releases hormones which harm the artery walls and increase blood pressure. (Stress may be the explanation for why 40 percent of atherosclerotic patients literally tiny hormone factories, spitting out inflammatory cytokines and increasing overall inflammation and arterial damage. The following is my seven-point program for reducing the risk of heart disease. Note that lowering cholesterol isn’t on it. (Note also that managing stress is.) Pay attention to these seven action items, and you just may find that you don’t need to worry quite so much about cholesterol after all. Jonny’s 7-point program to reduce the risk of heart disease 1. Eat an anti-inflammatory diet. 2. Reduce grains, starches, sugar, and omega-6s. 3. Manage your stress. 4. Exercise. 5. Drink only in moderation. 6. Don’t smoke. 7. Supplement with antioxidants, vitamin C, coenzyme Q10, omega-3s. Speaking of supplements … Ask your typical mainstream doctor about nutritional supplements and the first thing you’re likely to hear is this: “There’s no good research showing they work.” I have heard this refrain time and time again when I discuss nutritional medicine with my more conservative colleagues. It’s not true. You or your doctor can go online to the National Institute of Medicine’s library, pubmed.com, and put into the search box virtually any vitamin or herb you can think of. Depending on what you choose, hundreds to thousands of citations will pop up. So the problem isn’t an absence of research. The problem is twofold. One, the conventional training of medical doctors in this country is highly biased toward pharmaceuticals. And two, like that can help keep people healthy. Many supplements are particularly important for heart health. Here’s a short guide to the most important ones. If you’re not taking these, perhaps you should be. Omega -3s: the wellness molecule Omega-3s are among the most anti-inflammatory substances on the planet and should be part of everyone’s heart-healthy supplement program. Coenzyme Q10: fuel for the heart Coenzyme Q10 is needed to make cellular energy, and: the energy maker D-Ribose is a five-carbon sugar and is one of the components of ATP, the energy molecule the body uses to power all activities. Without D-ribose, there is no ATP. Without ATP, there is no energy. L-Carnitine: the energy transport system: the great relaxer Magnesium lowers blood pressure, helps control blood sugar, and relaxes the lining of the blood vessels. Magnesium also inhibits platelet aggregation, which is helpful in preventing the development of clots. Almost all dietary surveys show that Americans aren’t getting nearly enough magnesium. Pantethine: your secret weapon Pantethine is a metabolically active (and somewhat more expensive) form of vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid). Pantethine reduces the oxidation of LDL. No fewer than twenty-eight clinical trials in humans have shown that pantethine produces significant positive changes in triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol. Vitamin C: powerful antioxidant Vitamin C is one of the most powerful antioxidants in the world, and because heart disease is initiated by damage caused by free radicals (oxidative damage), any help you can get in the antioxidant department is a good thing indeed. And it’s not just theoretical: a large 2011 study in the American Heart Journal found that the lower the level of vitamin C in the blood, the higher the risk for heart failure. Curcumin: the new superstar of supplements This extract from the Indian spice turmeric has multiple benefits, not the least of which is that it’s highly anti-inflammatory., and it’s available in supplements like Terry Naturally.. Not a bad résumé! It’s both a strong antioxidant and a strong anti-inflammatory, inhibiting a number of inflammatory enzymes that can contribute to heart disease. The recommended dose is at least 250 mg a day of trans-resveratrol, the active component of resveratrol. Read labels carefully: many won’t tell you how much resveratrol is of the trans- variety. One brand I particularly like is Reserverage, which comes in two strengths and provides either 250 mg or 500 mg of the trans- form in every capsule. Cocoa flavanols: nitric oxide booster Plant chemicals in cocoa known as flavanols help the body synthesize a compound called nitric oxide, which is critical for healthy blood flow and healthy blood pressure. Nitric oxide also improves platelet function, making your blood less sticky. It also makes the lining of the arteries less attractive for white blood cells to attach to and stick around. You can get these heart-healthy flavanols in dark chocolate containing at least 60 percent cocoa. One manufacturer, CocoaWell, provides cocoa flavanols in several excellent formulas, including one that incorporates 100 mg of coenzyme Q10. The bottom line Lowering cholesterol and lowering the risk of heart disease are very far from the same thing. The latter is important. The former is almost irrelevant. Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, also known as “The Rogue Nutritionist”, is a board-certified nutritionist and the best-selling author of 13 books on health including The 150 Healthiest Foods On Earth and Living Low Carb. This article is adapted from his latest book, The Great Cholesterol Myth, co-written with cardiologist Stephen Sinatra, MD.

Tie-down event lifts Bates to all-around title By Quentin Jodie Navajo Times WINDOW ROCK, September 13, 2012 (Special to the Times – Donovan Quintero) SECOND FROM TOP: Fort Defiance, Ariz, breakaway roper Serena Dahozy slams the brakes after getting her calf roped on Sunday at the 66th annual Navajo Nation Fair Rodeo in Window Rock. Dahozy posted a 3.2 second run. THIRD FROM TOP: Saddle bronc rider Cody Roy Hendren of Albuquerque failed to mark out his draw during the short round of the 66th annual Navajo Nation Fair Rodeo in Window Rock. M ichael Bates is a top-notch steer wrestler. That was pretty much a given before this year's Navajo Nation Fair as the 23 year-old Mexican Springs N.M. cowboy earned national qualifications for both the high school and collegiate ranks. His tie-down roping skills, on the other hand, have been a work in progress. But he knew that if he could get three good draws in that event, he would have a chance. Turns out, his performance was nothing short of brilliant as he won the average race in both of his events. And to that end, he was named the men's all-around champion on Sunday afternoon during the 66th annual Navajo Nation Fair. "I had a pretty good day," said Bates, who pocketed a grand total of $8,846.52. "Everything just clicked for me. By virtue of finishing on top, Bates will be competing in the 8th annual International Indian Finals Rodeo this weekend in the steer wrestling and tie-down event. The first performance will start on Friday night inside Tingley Coliseum as all the average winners will take park of this grand event. Prior to this year, Bates said he never gotten close to winning the all-around title here at the NNF, but after he tied up his calf in the short round with an 11.5 second run it became apparent that he had cinched up that title. "This is my best finish ever," he said. Before this year "I made it as far as the second round in the calf roping, but I just wanted to make a couple good runs today and have the all-around fall where it should." In his signature event, he tied with Ganado steer wrestler Garrison Begay for second place in the short round with a 4.9 run. With that he won the average with a 14.3 effort on three heads and netted $3760.22. "In the first round I drew a very good steer," Bates said. "The second steer was fast and I knew he was going to run and in the short round, I felt like I had a chance." Behind three solid runs, Tyron Tsosie nabbed second place honor with an 18.1 aggregate. The Crownpoint bull dogger won the short round in 4.5 seconds and after it was all said and done he took home $2,300.36. Begay, meanwhile, finished third in the average with an 18.7 and cleared $1,452.64. He finished ahead of Mike Holyan (22.8), Myron Lee (23.8) and Kyle Dennison (24.1). In the final four showdown, Begay won an additional $2,000 as he turned his steer in 4.2 seconds. "I already knew that I drew a good steer," the Greasewood Springs cowboy said. "I figured I would throw him with a three, but I was a four on him and I'll take that." Bates finished a close second with a 4.8 while Tsosie turned in a 5.3 run and Holyan posted a no time. Just like the steer wrestling, Bates won the tie-down event in similar fashion. After coming back as the second-high call back, he turned in a sizzling run of 11.5 seconds in the championship round and placed fourth. "I just had to go out there and make sure I got him wrapped," Bates said of his short round draw. Bates finished his three-run average in 33.4 seconds, which paid him a grand $3,086.30. Ft. Defiance cowboy Roderick Tso won the short round with a 8.6 and placed fifth in the average with a 37.2 run on three heads. Kenny Glasses finished second in the average and lost the title by two-tenths of a second with a 33.6 aggregate. But the Rough Rock, Ariz., cowboy claimed the final four with a 9.9 effort and netted $4,334.29 with two grand coming in the showdown. "I was just trying to be consistent," Glasses said. "The last calf I drew in the short round, it gave me problems so I tried to make the most of it on my final calf." Despite losing the title by the slimmest margin, Glasses said he was real pleased with his finish. "It seems like I've been struggling the last two rodeos," he said. "They were pretty big rodeos, but this is not too bad at all. I'll go at again next year." Third place honors in the average went to Mike Holyan (36.1) as he finished ahead of uncle Ed Holyan (36.9) while Leroy Etsitty rounded out the top six with a 38.0 effort. In the team roping, Aaron Tsinigine and Victor Begay capped a perfect week by winning both the average title and the final four showdown. As a token, both competitors are scheduled to make an appearance at this year's IIFR finals. The pair stretched their short round draw in 4.3 seconds for top honors and finished the average race in 15.2 seconds, which was 1.1 seconds better than the effort turned in by Chris Begay and O.J. Williams. "My header did a really good job," Begay said. "He's a good header and you know after our first draw we started to heat things up. After that I was just having fun." At press time, the results for the second round were not available, but for three rounds of roping the Tsinigine and Begay pair won a whopping $6,202.13, which included two grand in the final four series. In that round they recorded a 4.2 run while Chuck Sells and OJ Williams posted a 5.2 run. The team of Tedson Yazzie/Clarence Yazzie and the Chris Begay/OJ Williams pair both posted no times. With an 18.7 run on three head, the Yazzie pair finished third in the average race ahead of the Sells and Williams pair who posted a 19.5 run. In fifth place Jason Yazzie and Wacey Brady nabbed fifth place honors.

2008/09 Memphis Grizzlies Payroll: $44 million 2008/09 Estimated Salary Cap: $58 million Roughly $14 million under cap [img_assist|nid=1161|title=Rudy Gay|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=300|height=451] The Good: The Bad: The Future: Free Throw: The Grizzlies didn’t improve their win total of 22 from last season, but let’s give them a break; they were in the toughest division in the NBA and their best player was traded for peanuts. Despite the doom and gloom, there are still some bright spots on this Memphis team. Take Rudy Gay, for example. Gay defined the term “breakout season” by filling up a box score like few players in the league can; 20.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.4 steals, 1.0 block, 46% shooting and a respectable 35% from downtown. Suddenly, the Shane Battier trade looks a lot better. Memphis has found one of their cornerstones and he is still under his rookie contract for two more seasons. If he can prove this year wasn’t a fluke, Gay will be an All-Star very soon. Although he was surrounded by trade rumors this year, the Grizzlies managed to hang on to Mike Miller and he continued to shoot the lights out. With stellar percentages like 50% from the field and 43% from long range, Miller has solidified himself as one of the best shooters in the game. As a plus, he also averaged a career-high 6.7 rebounds. At $9 million for next season and $9.75 million the year after, Miller earns his contract very well. Even a franchise as inept as Memphis recognizes a good shooter when they see one. Speaking of inept, how about that Pau Gasol trade! When a deal is so lopsided that other teams in the league publically protest it, you know it must not be good. Sure, they got Kwame Brown’s $9 million expiring contract, but where is the player for your future? The Wolves got Al Jefferson and the Nets got Devin Harris, so where is the player for the Grizzlies’? Javaris Crittenton isn’t even the third best point guard on the team and may not be part of their future plans. The draft pick Memphis got might as well be in the second round and the pick in 2010 probably won’t be much better. There simply wasn’t enough there to warrant trading a player of Pau Gasol’s caliber (unless his brother, Marc Gasol, turns out to be Pau’s clone). Can we get some lottery love for Memphis one of these years? In 2003, they missed out on LeBron and had to give up their pick. Last year, they had the best chance to land Oden or Durant, but wound up picking fourth. This year, they had a pretty good shot at Beasley or Rose, but they drop a spot to pick five. I think this round of bad luck is due to rotten Karma left over from the Gasol trade. The bad news doesn’t end there. Darko Milicic is the second highest paid player on the team and his mediocre averages of 7.2 points and 6.1 rebounds don’t quite live up to the monetary expectations. Milicic is owed $14.5 million over the next two years. How does a seven-foot post player only shoot 43.8% from the field? Maybe he can take a page out of Rudy Gay’s book and finally have that breakout season we’ve all been waiting for. Jason Collins and Brian Cardinal add up to one big wad of wasted cap space. Not that the Grizzlies really need it at this point, but it would be nice not having to pay $12.5 million to those two so they can wait at the end of the bench for their garbage minutes. The team will also owe Cardinal $6.75 million after next season. Yikes. One positive about the Gasol trade was that it definitely opened up a lot of salary cap space for the Grizzlies. The question is, will they use it? All that cap space doesn’t mean diddly if it’s not used to sign better players. That doesn’t mean you go out and overpay for someone like Antawn Jamison. The money must be used wisely. Look no further than Brian Cardinal for a lesson in poor spending. There is hope here. Gay and Miller are an excellent 2-3 scoring combo. With Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry, and Juan Carlos Navarro, the Grizzlies are loaded with young point guards. One of them should rise to the top and be the clear starter. The biggest need for Memphis lies in the post. The crop of free-agent big men will probably be light this summer, so the team will look to the draft for help. Unfortunately for Grizzlies fans the team appears to be targeting Kevin Love with the 5th overall selection. And while Love should be an instant contributor, his upside is questionable, and taking him at five is an enormous reach. During the first eight years of the franchise, they never won more than 28 games. Over the next three seasons, they won between 45 and 50 games. Then, in the past two seasons, they won just 22 each time. There is no steady rise or slow decline for the Grizzles, it’s boom or bust. Grade: B Main State of the Cap Page The Bad: The Future: Free Throw: With that amount under the cap, I wonder what they might be attempting to do? Perhaps making a run to bring one of the great players who will become free agents in the next off-season. Hopefully, they can make something happen and make a run at getting into the postseason sometime in the future. Ha ha. I gotta say, that's a large sum of money....what are they gonna do with it? The Grizzlies suck look for another 22 win season lol...

Jason Kipnis went 3-for-4 with a three-run homer, a walk and three runs scored in the Indians' 10-4 drubbing of the Phillies on Wednesday. Kipnis has six homers since April 29 after going without one in his first 15 games. He's hitting .288 with 15 runs scored and 17 RBI in his last 16 games. Corey Kluber surrendered three runs in six innings Wednesday in a victory over the Phillies. So, it turns out that Kluber is pretty good when he doesn't walk anyone or allow homers. He's put up zeroes in both categories in both of his wins this year, but he's walked six and allowed three homers in his two losses. Of course, this is true of every pitcher. Kluber just has less margin for error than most. Michael Bourn is not in Wednesday's lineup against the Phillies. The hot-hitting Michael Brantley is also getting the day off. Drew Stubbs is starting in center field while Ryan Raburn plays left. Scott Kazmir was knocked around for four runs on six hits and two walks over five innings in Tuesday's loss to the Phillies. Kevin Frandsen took Kazmir deep in the first inning, and Domonic Brown provided the knockout blow with a longball to lead off the sixth. The lefty hit a pair of batters and threw 96 pitches in the five-plus innings. The outing takes a little helium out of the Kazmir balloon, but he was still sitting comfortably around 93-94 mph and remains intriguing in fantasy leagues. He'll try to bounce back next week against the Mariners. Indians manager Terry Francona said Mark Reynolds "will get the majority of the time at third" base following the demotion of Lonnie Chisenhall. Reynolds is making his third straight start at the position Tuesday since Chisenhall's demotion. He offers below average defense at the hot corner, but with the way he's swinging the bat, the Indians don't really care. Having Reynolds at third should ultimately mostly help Ryan Raburn and Jason Giambi get more playing time. Mike Aviles will also see some starts at the hot corner Brett Myers (elbow) threw around 45 pitches Tuesday in a bullpen session at Citizens Bank Park. Myers could be cleared to make a rehab start this weekend if he wakes up Wednesday with no abnormal discomfort. The right-hander has been on the disabled list since April 21 with a mild tear of the UCL in his elbow. The Indians could ask him to make multiple rehab starts..

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Enter your email address below The Honorable Bev Purdue, Governor of the State of North Carolina Contact for: State of North Carolina System: Alamance County Transportation Authority, Contact for: Alamance County Transportation Authority System: Alleghany In Motion, Contact for: Alleghany In Motion Todd Allen, NCPTA Board of Directors, Member Contact for: RouteMatch Affiliate: American Charters, LTD, Contact for: American Charters, LTD Affiliate: American Seating Company, Contact for: American Seating Company Affiliate: Amtech Rollgard Performance Suspension Systems, Contact for: Amtech Rollgard Performance Suspension Systems Kim Angel, NCPTA Board of Directors, Member Contact for: Macon Area Transit Services System: AppalCART, Contact for: AppalCART System: Ashe County Transportation Authority, Contact for: Ashe County Transportation Authority System: Asheville Transit System, Contact for: Asheville Transit System System: Avery County Transportation Authority, Contact for: Avery County Transportation Authority Paul Ballard, Contact for: self Art Barnes, NCPTA Board of Directors, Member Contact for: Winston-Salem Transit Authority System: Beaufort Area Transit System/BCDC, Contact for: Beaufort Area Transit System/BCDC Ray Boylston, NCPTA Board of Directors, Member Contact for: C/Tran - Town of Cary Suzette Bradshaw, NCPTA Board of Directors, Member Contact for: Tuesday, October 09, 2012 Affiliate: Brasco International, Contact for: Brasco International Robert Brink, NCPTA Board of Directors, President Contact for: Kerr Area Transportation Authority System: Brunswick Transit System, Inc., Contact for: Brunswick Transit System, Inc. 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Affiliate: Kidde Aerospace & Defense, Contact for: Kidde Aerospace & Defense Larry Kopf, NCPTA Board of Directors, Member Contact for: Tuesday, October 09, 2012 Affiliate: Land of Sky Regional Council, Contact for: Land of Sky Regional Council System: Lee County Transit System (COLTS), Contact for: Lee County Transit System (COLTS) System: Lenoir County Transit, Contact for: Lenoir County Transit System: Lincoln County, Contact for: Lincoln County Carol Long, NCPTA Board of Directors, Member Contact for: Onslow United Transit System Mike Lovett, NCPTA Board of Directors, Member Contact for: Greene County Transportation System: Macon County Transit Services, Contact for: Macon County Transit Services System: Madison County Transportation Authority, Contact for: Madison County Transportation Authority System: Martin County Transit, Contact for: Martin County Transit Robert L. Martin, PE. AICP, Contact for: self Affiliate: Martin/Alexiou/Bryson, Contact for: Martin/Alexiou/Bryson

Last week, we had some fairly large disruptions to the financial systems of America and the global economy. With the major events of Europe surrounding the debt crisis of Greece, the ramifications were felt around the world (welcome to the global integrated economy). The result was on Thursday a major drop in the stock markets including a one-thousand point drop in a matter of minutes on the Dow. While the markets recovered slightly, this is hardly a sign of stability. The event is an important one even as the media and financial “experts” downplay its significance. The reality is that the markets are a house of cards. In fact, the entire global economy is a house of cards. We have seen hard evidence of this in recent years with the financial crash in 2008 and events like a 1,000 point Dow move just last week. While these events are papered over with freshly printed currency and government bailouts, the structural issues remain underneath the surface. As such, I’m losing faith in the “systems” that we rely on. Specifically, I’m losing faith in the financial systems and even the stock market. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs announces that they did not have a single day of trading losses in the last 63 days. Yes, 63 out of 63 profitable trading days last quarter. Can you say, “rigged’? If and when the system comes crashing down as many of us predict, an entire generation of Americans will be crushed. Over the last 30+ years, Americans have become way too connected to the financial markets. Wall St. and their partners in Washington D.C. have convinced a generation of Americans that the only way to have any sort of retirement or financial security is to be invested fully at all times in the U.S. stock market. While Americans see their savings and funds go up and down with volatility, there is always a consistent winner: Wall St and their constant fees that are generated regardless of performance. The dependence on the stock market is one of many dependencies that have been cemented over the recent decades. Dependence on government, welfare, corporate America, pensions, stocks, etc. have together replaced self-reliance and self directed financial security. If the system collapses under its own weight, the result will be ugly. Not only will people’s savings be wiped out, but they will demand answers or demand someone’s head. I’d hate to be a wealthy Wall St. exec at this point in time. It’s important to take action now. Don’t be fully invested in the stock market. Have some of your wealth in real assets: precious metals, consumer products, other things that have real value. I’m not saying you should abandon all paper assets, but understand the volatility (just look at last Thursday’s Dow chart). In the meantime, if you want to stay invested in stocks to some extent, I’d say you can afford to be patient before you buy more stocks. Wait for the next crash. Then, deploy your funds into well-run, well-established companies that pay a nice dividend. Think stocks like Philip Morris Int’l (PM), Wal-Mart (WMT), McDonalds (MCD). Then continue to collect dividends, pool your cash, and wait for the next crash. Rinse. Repeat. Good luck and don’t trust the markets to act like pure markets. They are manipulated and corrupt. Be extremely careful with any trading or investing you do, and make sure you do your own research before acting upon anything mentioned here. { 1 comment… read it below or add one } VERY wise, indeed. Your guardian angel must be whispering in your ear. No, really, I’m serious. Do you realize how many people out there are still blindly listening to their fiancial manager that tell you things like “you can’t time the market”. Yeah, thats the same guy I told, only July 7th to get all of my money out into guaranteed accounts. He talked me out of it saying that risk is better because I’d make more money. Well, now, I’m about $40,000 down and he’s on my sh*t list! Of course, he lost his fanny too, so, now, when I told him about the second crash thats coming (seems I was about 6 months early), he’s already pulled his stuff. I guess hindsight is 20/20, huh? Of course I’m pretty well diversified but my real investment is the food, fuel and firearms plus a little silver. When the blades start slinging the rest will be singing the blues.

I have on order a Leisure Line 220K boiler for my home. I've been doing lots of reading on this site for how other people hook up their boilers. I am certainly not a plumbing expert by any means, but I have some thougts and observations. I understand there are various multi-boiler designs. For the most part, people are going with Series, Parallel, and Primary Secondary loop designs (people are mistakenly calling this parallel) when integrating dual boilers in their homes. Series makes sense for keeping both boilers warm, but it may have some inefficiencies as far as a second boiler being warm all the time. It also provides a single point of failure. Parallel seems to be the most efficient, in my opinion, however you could potentially introduce leaks or corrosion as you have a cold boiler. Primary Secondary is a neat, high tech design, however I think it is overkill and inefficient for a home design. Especially if you have multiple 80 Watt circulators running when you only need one in a residential heating system. I'm also thinking in terms of being able to run your system on UPS or generator when you have no power. If you have a call for heat on 4 zones, 5 circulators running, that's 400 watts of power. It also has a cold boiler. These are my observations, and I welcome anyone to counter my thoughts. I currently have 8 zones in my house. One zone is for a Boiler Mate, one zone (although it is deactive) is for the basement, three zones for the first floor, two zones for the second, and one zone in the attic. The house is 3300 SQ Feet. There is already a recent Burham oil burner in the house and I want to add a Lesuire Line 220K as a second boiler. My plan is to go with a Hybrid Series design that I came up with. It is a series design which will use the LL 220K to warm the Oil Boiler, however it will utilize 4 3-way valves to allow me to isolate each boiler. It will have a single circulator that sits on the return side. Expansion tank and air purge will sit on the supply side. Please see the below drafts I came up with on my current and dual boiler design. Current Design Proposed Design Obviously these designs are missing some valves and I missed the expansion tank.. I would consider a parallel system, but is it a real concern about a cold boiler leaking (mine doesn't today when it is cold) and is there any damage that could occur to the boiler in terms of corrosion from it sitting for years full of water but cold? Does anyone have any thoughts or comments? Miner Greg

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- About In this section - First Minister of Wales - Cabinet and Ministers - The Counsel General for Wales - Organisation explained - Welsh Government Civil Service Section highlight Houses into homes This report details findings to emerge from the evaluation during the first six months of delivery (April to September 2012). Written Statement - The Draft Control of Dogs (Wales) Bill »We are committed to ensuring that out-of-control and dangerous dogs are dealt with effectively.Learn more » - News Latest news Minister tells NHS managers: "Listen to your staff and take action" Health Minister Mark Drakeford has given a clear message to NHS managers to take action in response to the recent NHS Wales staff survey - Minister supports International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia - Porth Eirias set to be major North Wales attraction - Guidelines for £90m Regeneration Funding Pot Featured Article » The many benefits of physical fitness - Topics In this section Business and economy Children and young people Culture and sport Education and skills Environment and countryside Equality and diversity Health and social care Housing and community Improving public services International Featured » Housing and community Housing case studies Housing schemes that transform lives.Learn more » - Publications In this section Section highlight Access to information The Welsh Government has followed the principles of openness in government for many years. Find out how you can make a freedom of information request or see requests that have already been made. National minimum standards for regulated child care »These standards determine whether child minding and day care settings are providing adequate care for children under the age of 8.Learn more » - Consultation Recently added - Continuity and Change - Refreshing the Relationship between Welsh Government and the Third Sector in Wales - Repealing air quality ‘Further Assessments’ from Part IV of the Environment Act 1995 - Equality Impact Assessment of the 2014-2020 Rural Development Plan for Wales Closing soon - Consultation on the Equality Impact Assessments for the 2014-2020 Structural Funds Programmes in Wales - Development of a national standards and outcomes framework for Children and Young People's advocacy services in Wales - Strategic Environmental Assessment: Environmental Report, Rural Development Plan for Wales 2014-2020 Featured consultation » Implementing the Domestic Fire Safety (Wales) Measure 2011 30 days left - Legislation In this section - Legislative programme 2011 - 2012 - Subordinate legislation - Transfer of Functions Orders - UK Parliamentary Bills Section highlight Further and Higher Education (Governance and Information) (Wales) Bill 2013 Removes a number of technical restrictions and controls on colleges without changing the principal powers of colleges to provide further, higher and secondary education. Legislative programme 2012 - 2013 » Addressing the Assembly in the Senedd today, the First Minister, Carwyn Jones, detailed the eight bills in the Welsh Government’s 5-year Legislative Programme that will be brought forward during the second year of the Welsh Assembly.Learn more » - Funding In this section Section highlight Community Infrastructure Levy Local authorities can charge a Community Infrastructure Levy on new developments to support the infrastructure needed. 2nd Supplementary Budget 2012-13 » Proposes a number of changes to the 1st Supplementary Budget for 2012-13, which was published on 26 June 2012.Learn more » - » My account |

You may or may not know and perhaps care even less, but I've recently tied the knot! It was brillant actually and wholeheartedly recommend it to all of you!!! So of course it was my stag do a few weeks back and rather than going go-karting or some other nonsense we decided to pay a visit to the chaps at brewdog where Brewdog's Emperor Penguin had invited us to try our hand at brewing. How good was it? FUCKING BRILLIANT! The guys up there are fantastic and incredibly hospitable. It was, despite my somewhat accelerated state of stag do 'refreshment' a really great insight in to what goes on at this now world famous brewery and what makes it utterly special. It was pretty damn interesting for me to feel the atmosphere of the brewery and to meet the brewers and workers - there's a great collegiate kinda feeling with young brewers from around the world as well as local lads doing what must be one of the hardest and most fun jobs you can do! Brewdog have a great background in collaboration with the likes of Three Floyds and Mikkeler - the gypsy brewer, it's the way it should be and I congratulate James and Martin for fortering this kind of atmostphere. Frazerburgh is one hell of a place, right on the very edge of Scotland, stuck right out in to the North Sea. It's a place of extremes. Extremes that I discovered whilst camping in the most unsheltered campsite in the UNIVERSE and I didn't feel so fucking clever at 4am in the morning, clutching a bottle of Sink the Bismark while my tent whipped around me in the salty lashing rain, 'you should have pegged it in properly' I hear you say... No that campsite is the devils own work, don't go there in Winter, you'll die. It makes sense that what's made there is equally extreme and Brewdog have made such an impact on the UK scene, they've ruffled plenty of feathers and in the process have created some beers of true brilliance. Several of which I sampled, regularly, throughout the weekend... In particular we drank a shed load of 5am saint right from the tank. I was pretty lucky to try a brand new IPA made Bramling cross hops which was bang on. Bramling is a British hop with a distinctly American aroma but a brilliant British fruity taste. The beer is cracking and has a juicy traditional IPA roundness, coupled with a great level of bitterness and a salty bite - this in particular is intriguing and something I've only really noticed in a couple of beers before now. I love it. Is it something to do with brewing with the North Sea literally at your back door? Is it something to do with my tastebuds being fucked after the weekend? We're just about to put on our creation at North Bar. It's named Alice Porter in honour of my wife (her maiden name) and of course it's a porter! It's 6.2% and smooth as hell, we used alot of the aforementioned Bramling cross as well as a great hop called sorachi. The idea was essentially to brew something pretty stout but use the fruit of the Bramling and the lemony-ness of the sorachi to add that porter tang! It's worked and has produced a highly quaffable beverage along the lines. If you can't get down to North over the next month or so then you may find it at Further North or the Marble Arch in Manchester. A small amount has also been released in London and Aberdeen under the name 'Santa doesn't exist'. So there you go - ace eh. I must credit the brewers with the creation of the beer - we picked hops and malt and did a load of donkey work, those guys are amazing and I'm looking forward to seeing them at North so I can return the favour... So to speak... Nice one! The Alice Porter was on at the White Horse last week and it was fantastic - good work! Niiiiiice....am going to have for lunch tomorrow! Hey Matt, great post - very amusing. Congratulations on tying the knot.

Astrid 3688 June 3, 2012: I was adopted by a great family! Yay me! June 3, 2012: I was adopted by a great family! Yay me! Hello everyone, my name is Astrid but my friends call me Aster. I'm a totally adorable 18 month old pup who is looking for a great family to spend my life with! Come on, throw the toy for me! There's horses and chickens at my foster home too and I like to quietly sit and watch them and I never bark at them. There was this one time a chicken accidentally wandered into my play yard and I thought it was a toy and I was playing with it. Apparently I'm not supposed to carry chickens around though (who knew?) and as soon as my foster dad told me to drop it, I did. Don't worry, the chicken is ok because I was gentle when I was playing with her. I'm such a good girl! I like playing with short dogs! Check me out playing with my foster brother before my surgery...... I like playing with tall dogs too! Look at me, what a good girl I am! I like playing with tall dogs too! Look at me, what a good girl I am! My vet also said I have very mild (grade 1) dysplasia in my left hip, but that I didn't need to worry about that, so I'm not worrying! It sure doesn't slow me down at all! My right knee was sore and swollen when I arrived in foster care, but it is all healed up and doing great too. Hooray! Check me out running on the trails at my foster home! I'm such a good girl, I come when I'm called and I am very well behaved! Yay me! I'm looking for a family who lives in a bungalow, or ranch style home with just a few stairs. Flooring should be non-slip so I don't wipe out and hurt my knee! My foster mom says whoever adopts me needs to be active and like to get out and do fun things. She also says you'll need some time to work on some training and socialization with me. That sounds like fun! I'm probably a little too, ummm, enthusiastic, for a home with toddlers since I can be a bit of a goof sometimes. Yep, I'm a goof! I'm being fostered in the Bancroft, ON area and my adoptive family will have to pick me up in person. An adoption donation of $500 applies.

- William Lloyd Garrison headed the Abolitionist movement to free slaves Created on Thursday, 07 February 2013 11:13 Last Updated on Thursday, 07 February 2013 11:13 Published on Thursday, 07 February 2013 11:13 Written by Courier Newsroom Hits: 1023 WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON William Lloyd Garrison was born Dec. 10, 1805 and died May 24, 1879. He was the most prominent American abolitionist in the country until Frederick Douglass. He was a journalist, and social reformer. em rejected all who were committed to it. Garrison began writing for and became co-editor with Benjamin Lundy of the Quaker Genius of Universal Emancipation newspaper in Baltimore, Md. Garrison’s experience as a printer and newspaper editor allowed him to revamp the layout of the paper and freed Lundy to spend more time travelling on Dec. Jan. 1, 1831, to Jan. 1,31, Garrison founded the New-England Anti-Slavery Society. The next year, he co-founded the American Anti-Slavery Society. That same year, 1833, Garrison also visited the United Kingdom and assisted in the anti-slavery movement there. Garrison had a strong influence on the ideas of Susan Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone and other feminists who joined the society. He intended that the Anti-Slavery Society should not align itself with any political party and that women should be allowed full participation in society activities.). In 1853, Garrison credited Reverend John Rankin of Ohio as a primary influence on his career, calling him his “anti-slavery father” and saying that Rankin's “...book on slavery was the cause of my entering the anti-slavery conflict.”.” On July 4, 1854 he went so far as to publicly burn a copy of the Constitution condemning it as “a Covenant with Death, an Agreement with Hell,” referring to the compromise that had written slavery into the Constitution. [2] His earlier alliance with the famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass disintegrated over their incompatible views regarding the Constitution: Douglass insisted that the document could be interpreted as anti-slavery, whereas Garrison was convinced that slavery had tainted its essence. Garrison was an important contributor to the suffrage movement. His outspoken anti-slavery views repeatedly put him in danger. Besides his imprisonment in Baltimore, the government of the State of Georgia offered a reward of $5,000 for his arrest, and he was the object of vituperation and frequent death threats. After the abolition of slavery in the United States, Garrison continued working on other reform movements, especially temperance and women's suffrage.)

FOX Saturday Baseball: Chicago White Sox vs Detroit Tigers MLB Picks Preview Chicago White Sox vs. Detroit Tigers Starting Pitchers: Chicago (Sale) vs. Detroit (Porcello) Date/Time: July 21, 4:05 PM EST Television: Fox MLB Odds from Bookmaker Moneyline: Chicago (-115) Detroit (+105) Total: 8.5 MLB Betting Game Trends Chicago White Sox - Chi White Sox are 1-4 SU in their last 5 games - The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Chi White Sox’s last 6 games - The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Chi White Sox’s last 6 games on the road - Chi White Sox are 1-4 SU in their last 5 games on the road - The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Chi White Sox’s last 9 games when playing Detroit Detroit Tigers - Detroit is 11-2 SU in its last 13 games - Detroit is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games at home - The total has gone UNDER in 6 of Detroit’s last 9 games when playing Chi White Sox - Detroit is 11-4 SU in their last 15 games when playing Chi White Sox - Detroit is 7-1 SU in their last 8 games when playing at home against Chi White Sox Don’t look now, but after last night’s win the Detroit Tigers are only half a game behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. The White Sox have led almost the entire way in the division, but the Tigers have finally turned it on. Detroit was seen as a major underachiever through the first half of the year. If the Tigers are going to take the lead in the division on Saturday, they’ll have to do it against the White Sox Ace. First place is on the line in Detroit Saturday afternoon! Chris Sale has been one of baseball’s best pitchers this year. Sale was turned into a starting pitcher during the offseason after being a successful reliever the past couple years. The results have been better than anyone could have expected. Sale is 11-2 with a 2.11 ERA so far this year. There is no doubt that his dominating pitching is one of the main reasons the White Sox have been such a positive surprise so far this season. Adam Dunn hit a miserable .159 and had only 11 home runs last season. Dunn has 28 homers and 65 RBI’s to lead the team this year. Alex Rios is another guy who has bounced back in a big way from a down year in 2011. A.J. Pierzynski is putting together a great offensive season, and Paul Konerko continues to be the team’s best all-around hitter. The White Sox are averaging 4.68 runs per game this year. Many people had written off Detroit after a poor first half of the season, but the Tigers have come roaring back of late. Detroit has won 8 of their last 10 games to close to within half a game of the division lead. Miguel Cabrera has been good all season, but he has been smashing the ball of late. Cabrera is hitting .328 with 21 homers and 77 RBI’s. Those 77 RBI’s are second in the majors behind only Josh Hamilton. Prince Fielder isn’t far behind with 68 RBI’s. Fielder was a huge offseason acquisition, and Tigers fans have to be happy with his play this year. Austin Jackson is a major spark for this offense from the leadoff spot. The Tigers have the fourth best batting average in baseball at .269. The Tigers have struggled to find good starting pitching this year other than Justin Verlander. One of the main reasons the team is on a winning streak right now is that they have gotten some clutch performances from third and fourth starters in the rotation. Rick Porcello has been inconsistent all season, but he’ll need to be good to give them a chance here. MLB Free Pick: Under 8.5 Sale has been shutting teams down all season, and Porcello has decent numbers against the White Sox in his career. Look for this one to turn into a tight

The UK National Infrastructure Security Co-ordination Centre's (NISCC) report into Trojan horses in e-mails says they are getting increasingly sophisticated. Organised gangs are using distribution e-mail lists to cleverly engineer mails that look legitimate and relevant. The Home Office said many of the attacks seemed to originate from Asia. Structured and organised. "We have not seen anything like this in terms of the scale of industrial attacks before," a Home Office spokesperson told the BBC News website. NISCC is in constant contact with the CNI about net threats, but the aim of this report and the protection advice issued on its website, is to ensure others that fall outside the usual CNI channels of communication get the message. This would include any organisations that work with commercially sensitive information. "The reason why we have chosen to go public this way is because we have gone through the usual routes - we have flagged up the threats to the CNI stakeholders. "But because of the scale and organised nature of these attacks, we have felt the need to scale up the footprint of this alert," he said. The spokesperson added that NISCC had "no evidence" that any sensitive information had actually been stolen via any attacks, and that the origin of attacks was difficult to pin down. Based on internet protocol address (IP) evidence, though, they tended "overwhelming" to originate from the Far East. The number of organisations targeted was also not known, but the fresh advice was aimed at increasing awareness, said the spokesperson. Alert and aware Trojan horses are small, malicious programs usually hidden in e-mail attachments. They can also be picked up on certain websites. They can perform a number of functions once they are launched unwittingly, such as secretly install keylogging programs which can then be used to gather sensitive passwords and other information. Net security firm." Increasingly, people are fooled into opening the e-mails because many have a subject line which makes them look like normal correspondence. The e-mails also often appear to come from people known to the recipient. This kind of "social engineering" is a newer aspect to net threats which cybercriminals are using. The continued use of e-mail distribution lists to discuss certain topics within businesses and government departments meant specific information and e-mail addresses could be gleaned from the net quite easily, said Richard Veale, director of the specialist information risk management firm, Ebis. This way, cybercriminals could tailor e-mails to look like a relevant discussion topic to the recipient. "Some very sophisticated individuals are leveraging the inadequacy in government and corporate security around information flows," he told the BBC News website. This meant there was a "phenomenal amount" of "uncontrolled information", he said. "Organisations and government departments are not in control of the information process as much as they thought. It is like leaving a window ajar." He said quantification of the scale of the threat appeared to be almost impossible and that many businesses may even be unaware they have been hit by a Trojan. Up to you Recent reports from anti-virus firms suggest that hackers are getting more sophisticated and can make viruses and other harmful software mutate so quickly that anti-virus software has difficulty keeping up. The UK's NISCC and National Hi-Tech Crime Unit are working with the authorities in a number of Asian countries to identify and shut down the internet addresses the attacks are coming from. "There is a limit to what government resources can do and it is up to companies and organisations to take responsibility themselves," said the Home Office spokesperson. "It is clearly important for companies to always be aware that there are vulnerabilities and threats out there."

You are here: eircom.net homepage » news » national news Higgins to for go half of leader's allowance on 22/10/2012 00:00:00 Mr Higgins told the Irish Examiner that the decision to waive the legal entitlement to half the allowance had to be viewed alongside the massive funding still being drawn down by the main political parties. "They are still getting massive amounts from the exchequer," he said. The allowance was first introduced in 1938. It was only given to party leaders initially and was also based on the number of sitting TDs each party had. The payment was extended to individual Independents in 2001. Mr Higgins said he had written to the Department of Finance saying that he would waive a claim to €71,520 of the allowance per annum. This would apply from, and include, December. The decision would lead to pay cuts for his staff and fewer resources for the party, he added. The full amount payable to the party on an annual basis from the election of two Socialist Party TDs is €143,040, he said. The advice received from the department is that the full amount could still be claimed by Mr Higgins, even though Ms Daly has left the party. It says that "the entitlement is calculated on the basis of the number of members elected as members of the 31 Dail, i.e. two members. The annual amount of the allowance payable is therefor €143,040. "Any change to the status of the elected membership of the party does not alter the existing legal entitlement to the allowance, although some or all of the allowance can be waived." Ms Daly said last month she had resigned from the party because she wanted to concentrate on building up the United Left Alliance in the Dáil. But Mr Higgins later said the Socialist Party was campaigning on justice in taxation and it was impossible for Ms Daly, as a member of it, to continue to offer support to TD Mick Wallace, who under declared €1.4m in Vat to the Revenue. Mr Higgins said that he had also chosen to waive the legal entitlement to a party whip's allowance of €6,000 per annum again next year. "The Socialist Party did not claim a whip's allowance for small parties of €6,000 per year in 2011, nor in 2012, nor will it in the next year," he said. "We do not believe that this is a justifiable expense." But Mr Higgins called into question the large sums being drawn down by the main parties. He pointed to the combined party leader's allowance and other funding for parties which were claimed last year and which went to Fine Gael (€4.5m), Labour (€2.6m), Fianna Fáil (€3.3m), and Sinn Féin (€1.5m).

TUESDAY, November 1, 2011 (Health.com) — Feeling isolated and disconnected from the people around you may keep you from getting a good night’s sleep, even if you’re not aware of it, a small new study suggests. People who feel lonely tend to experience more nighttime restlessness and disruptions than their better-adjusted peers, the study found, which may partly explain why loneliness has been associated with health problems such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and depression, says lead researcher Lianne Kurina, PhD, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Chicago. “In lab experiments, when people are intentionally woken up repeatedly, it seems to have effects on [their] metabolism,” she says. “Their insulin sensitivity goes down, almost suggesting that poor sleep could put them at higher risk of type 2 diabetes, for example.” In the new study, published today in the journal Sleep, the link between loneliness and sleep disruptions persisted even after the researchers took into account marital status and family size. This finding underscores an important distinction between loneliness and social isolation, Kurina says: The amount of loneliness people feel ultimately depends on how they perceive their social situation, not the situation per se. “There can be people with lots of social connections that feel terribly alone, and conversely there are people with relatively small social networks who do just fine,” Kurina says. “Different people have different needs in terms of relationships—and it’s the space between what you want and what you have that can turn into loneliness.” The 95 participants in the study all had strong social connections, as they were part of a close-knit, rural community in South Dakota. Yet even small differences in their degrees of loneliness had an impact on their sleep. Kurina and her colleagues asked the participants how often they felt a lack of companionship, left out, or isolated from others, and they used these responses to rate the men and women on a standard loneliness scale. Then, for one week, the participants wore a wrist device to bed each night that records body movement and sleep disruption (known as an actigraph). Each one-point increase in the loneliness scale was associated with about an 8% increase in sleep disruptions and restlessness, the researchers found, even when they controlled for age, sex, body mass index, the breathing disorder known as sleep apnea, and negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Loneliness did not appear to influence sleep quality or daytime sleepiness, however, which suggests that the sleep disruptions were minor. More research will be needed to determine if these low-level disruptions can have effects on health similar to those seen in experiments when volunteers are woken up, but it seems plausible that comparable health consequences could occur, Kurina says. It makes sense that someone who feels alone and vulnerable may wake more easily throughout the night, since early humans may have evolved this tendency to protect against potential threats, the study notes. Even now, Kurina says, short-term feelings of loneliness can be healthy because they can encourage humans to make social connections. Problems can arise, however, if loneliness becomes chronic. “People who have been very lonely for a while start to expect rejection, to the point where it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Kurina says. For this reason, she adds, it isn’t always helpful to tell someone who feels isolated and insecure to just make friends, get a pet, or go on more dates. So what’s a lonely heart to do? Begin to rebuild social connections in an emotionally safe way, Kurina suggests. “Engage in situations where you’re not necessarily expecting people to give to you, but where you’re the one giving—like volunteering, or common-interest meetings like book groups,” she says. “Slowly you’ll begin to see the world—and see your relationships—in a more positive way.”

How to Replace Obamacare A COMMON LIBERAL REFRAIN is that conservatives have no real health care agenda of their own— other than, of course, opposing Obamacare. For instance, in the midst of debate over the president’s signature health “reform” bill, one progressive Florida congressman famously told the House that the GOP’s plan was for sick Americans to “die quickly.” Baloney. Conservatives could probably stand to put more emphasis on the latter part of “repeal and replace,” but the fact is that many free-market health care reforms enjoy broad consensus on the right. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the constitutionality of Obamacare in late June—after this magazine hits the press. But while the court’s decision could be explosive politically, it will not change the need for conservatives to articulate a strong alternative to state-centered health care. The answer is patient power. EXPLODING HEALTH CARE COSTS in America stem ultimately from what is known as the thirdparty payment problem—that is to say, the great majority of health costs are not paid by the patients themselves. There is almost always some third party, whether it be an insurance company, an HMO, or the government, footing the bills. Indeed, in 2008, 84 percent of health expenses were paid for by private health insurance or government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, or CHIP. Consequently, the consumer has no incentive to control costs. To put it in formal economic terms, the consumer has an incentive to spend until the marginal benefit of additional spending is zero. For instance, if a $1,000 procedure costs you nothing, it’s worth doing—at least in economic terms—for just $1 Of benefit. In an efficient market, consumers spend until the marginal benefit is equal to the marginal cost. That $1,000 procedure should only really be worth it for $1,001 of benefit. In more colloquial terms, the problem is that consumers have an incentive to spend on health care until it hurts, and they have no incentive to shop around. Even worse, doctors and specialists not only have no incentive to control costs, but they actually have a direct financial interest in spending more. Health care providers have no incentive to compete on price, so they compete primarily on quality and secondarily on convenience. That explains why the American health care system produces far and away the highest quality care in the world: The rewards go to he who creates the best new innovations and most effective new treatments. It also explains why new technology— which drives down costs in every other field—actually increases costs in medicine. The only solution is to unite the decision over what health care services to purchase with the economic responsibility to pay for them, so costs can be weighed against benefits. And there are only two ways to do that: either the third-party payer (the government or insurance company) is given the power to decide what treatments the patient is allowed to consume, or the patient is given market incentives to consider the full costs of his health care. Obamacare (and most foreign systems like Britain’s National Health Service) effectively impose the first alternative. With 159 new bureaucracies, boards, agencies, commissions, and programs to govern American health care, plus the individual and employer mandates that require specific health insurance policies, Obamacare could be rightly Labeled “government-centered health care.” The government takes primary responsibility for paying health expenses. The government takes primary responsibility for deciding what health care services its citizens are allowed to consume. The government, then, decides whether each individual’s health care is worth the price. This is why the concept of the government “death panel” expresses a fundamental truth about Obamacare. WHAT AMERICA NEEDS NOW is the opposite, a patient-centered alternative that maximizes consumer power, choice, and control over health care and its financing. The intellectual godfather of this approach is John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) in Dallas and author of the 1991 book Patient Power published by the Cato Institute. Central to this concept are Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which were first proposed in 1981. HSAs include an insurance policy with a high annual deductible, in the range of $2,000 to $6,000 (the higher the better). Such high deductibles reduce the cost of the insurance so much that the savings would mostly cover the deductible in the first year. The HSA funds earn interest tax-free and roll over year after year. After one healthy year with few or no medical expenses, the patient has enough money in the account to cover all expenses below the deductible. This transforms the incentives of third-party payment. For all but the most catastrophic health expenses, the patient is essentially using his own money. Whatever he doesn’t spend he can keep for later health expenses or for retirement. The patient, then, will try to avoid unnecessary care and will look for the best prices for routine visits or services. In turn, since patients are then concerned about controlling costs, doctors, hospitals, and other health providers compete not just to maximize quality, but also to lower prices, as in all normal markets. (This competition will become more intense and effective the more widespread HSAs become.) These incentives would flow all the way through to the developers of new technologies, who would compete to develop technologies that both improve quality and reduce costs. Federal legislation providing for HSAs was adopted by the Republican congressional majorities in the 1990s and has improved over the years. These HSAs have been proven to cut the growth in health spending by as much as 50 percent. Participation in HSAs and similar high-deductible plans has soared in recent years and may now exceed HMO enrollment. PATIENT POWER REFORMS replacing Obamacare would expand HSAs throughout the health care system. Workers should be allowed the freedom to choose them in place of employer-provided coverage, the poor to choose them for their Medicaid coverage, and seniors to choose them for Medicare. These reforms should be complemented by the Consumer Choice Tax Credit, which would effectively level the playing field and give everyone the same tax relief enjoyed by employer-provided health plans. Anyone could use the refundable credit to help pay for insurance coverage. Paul Ryan proposed $2,300 for individuals and $5,700 for families. Workers would then be free to choose the health insurance coverage they prefer, using the credit to help pay for it, rather than being stuck with the insurance chosen for them by their employers. Their policies would be their own property, and therefore would be completely portable, so the worker would not lose health coverage if he changes jobs or becomes unemployed. The credit could be financed on a revenueneutral basis by replacing the Obamacare tax credits for the purchase of health insurance. Allowing consumers to buy health insurance across state lines would maximize consumer choice and competition, which would further reduce costs. Unnecessary regulations should be repealed. That includes the thousands of state special-interest benefit mandates, guaranteed issue and community rating, and rules that prevent new health providers from entering markets, such as requirements for a “certificate of need.” Tort reform, of course, would also reduce health costs. PATIENT POWER CAN BE EXTENDED to provide a complete safety net, ensuring that no one will suffer lack of essential health care, for just a small fraction of the cost of Obamacare. Moreover, this can and should be accomplished with no individual mandate or employer mandate. Obamacare, by contrast, for all of its trillions in future taxes and spending, and both its individual and employer mandates, still leaves millions of Americans uninsured. Conservatives should begin by giving Medicaid block grants back to the states, as we discussed in the June issue. Each state could then tailor its plan. Some might use the money to provide vouchers that the poor could use to purchase private health insurance, liberating them from the Medicaid ghetto. A second step necessary to ensure a complete safety net is to allow each state to use part of its Medicaid block grant to set up a high-risk pool. Those among the uninsured who become too sick to purchase health insurance in the market, perhaps because they have contracted cancer or heart disease, for example, could receive guaranteed coverage through the high-risk pool. They would be charged a premium for this coverage based on their ability to pay. Federal and state funding would cover remaining costs. Such high-risk pools already exist in more than 30 states, and for the most part they work well at relatively low cost, because few people actually become truly uninsurable. The law already provides that insurers cannot cut off existing policy holders or impose discriminatory rate increases because people become sick while covered. That would be like a fire insurer cutting off coverage for an already burning house. If this law needs to be modernized, it should be. With these reforms, those who have insurance can keep it; those who can’t afford it are given the necessary help to buy it; and those who still remain uninsured and then become too sick to buy it have a backup safety net in the high-risk pools. Everyone can be assured that they will get essential health care when they need it—no individual or employer mandate necessary. Those who have insurance can keep it; those who can’t afford it are given the necessary help to buy it; and those who still remain uninsured and then become too sick to buy it have a backup safety net in the high-risk pools. Stephen Moore is senior economics writer for the Wall Street Journal. Peter Ferrara is director of entitlement and budget policy for the Heartland Institute and senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis.

No Signs of Water Pollution from Arkansas Fracking, Feds Report An exhaustive study by the United States Geological Survey has uncovered no groundwater contamination from natural-gas drilling in the energy-rich Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas. No Significant Effects Found. “For more than 100 years, the USGS has been a source of freely available, unbiased information on our natural resources such as oil, gas, and water, helping government and local leaders make wise decision for the public good,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt in a press statement. “This new study is important in finding no significant effects on groundwater quality from shale gas development within the area of sampling.” Chloride was of particular interest to USGS scientists. It moves easily through groundwater without reacting with other ions or compounds, making it, in the words of USGA, “a good indicator of whether chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing are reaching groundwater. In this case, the chloride concentrations from this study were not higher than samples taken from nearby areas from 1951 to 1983.” Methane, the primary component of natural gas, can be found naturally in shallow shale formations in the Fayetteville Shale. These areas also serve as sources of water for domestic supply. USGS researchers placed a high priority on determining whether fracking might be releasing more methane into area waters. “What methane was found in the water, taken from domestic wells, was either naturally occurring, or could not be attributed to natural gas production,” USGS reported. Fayetteville Shale Resources Though less well known than the Marcellus Shale formation in the U.S. Northeast, the Fayetteville Shale was used for natural gas production several years ahead of the Marcellus play. The gas in the approximately 50-mile-wide formation has been extracted through hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling, as in similar sites throughout the United States. Another Blow to Activists The USGS’s findings cast further doubt on claims by anti-fracking activists that the practice poses a risk to groundwater. “When environmental activists talk about hydraulic fracturing, they frequently call it ‘dangerous’ or ‘controversial.’ But time after time, in study after study, hydraulic fracturing is shown to have a clean bill of environmental health, as the USGS’s recent findings in Arkansas confirm,” said Daniel Simmons, director of state policy at the Institute for Energy Research. “The fact remains that there are no confirmed cases of groundwater contamination from hydraulic fracturing” anywhere in the United States, Simmons noted. EPA Extends Comment Period In a related development, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced in January that it is extending public comment on its investigation of chemicals found in water near Pavillion, Wyoming. Without fully explaining its reasons, EPA extended the comment period, originally scheduled to expire in mid-January, until Sept. 30. In late 2011, EPA issued a draft report claiming its researchers had found chemicals consistent with hydraulic fracturing in groundwater near Pavillion, but not in drinking water. EPA did not present any evidence the chemicals, which are also consistent with activities other than fracking, were a byproduct of fracking in the region. State environmental officials said EPA itself had contaminated the groundwater when it drilled two monitoring wells. Bonner R. Cohen, Ph. D. (bcohen@nationalcenter.org), is a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, DC. Internet Info: Shallow Groundwater Quality and Geochemistry in the Fayetteville Shale Gas-Production Area, North-Central Arkansas, 2011, U.S. Geological Survey, Jan. 9, 2013:

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Award Winning Author Carol Swain Reflects on 9-11 181 views, By Eclectic Media Productions Dr. Carol Swain, Professor of Law and Social Sciences at Vanderbilt University recalls her account of 9/11 and what it means to her in a synopsis for National Review Online. Award Winning Author Carol Swain Discusses Declining Values and Morals in America in New Book 259 views, By Eclectic Media Productions Amidst the decline in moral, social policies and culture in America, award winning Author and Professor at Vanderbilt University, Carol Swain released her new book titled "Be the People" to address these issues. Fran Haasch: Tampa Bay Remembers 9-11 at Patriot Day 2011 137 views, By Eclectic Media Productions Everyone in world knows the horror that struck our country on September 11, 2001; yet our country has come together to rebuild and overcome that tragic event. We still honor those that lost their lives in the towers Hollywood Reporter Shannon Rose Vies to be the Face of About.me 152 views, By Eclectic Media Productions Hollywood Reporter known as "Mr. Hollywood" Shannon Rose is in a tough competition to be the face of the popular social media site About.me. Mr. Hollywood Shannon Rose Loses His Hair at Florida Underground Wrestling 320 views, By Eclectic Media Productions On August 23, 2011 "Mr. Hollywood" lost his hair in a bet that his man Fidel Sierra could beat Bruce Santee and recapture the FUW Heavyweight Championship belt. Page: 1 2 Contact PRLog About Advertise Like PRLog ? 8.4K 1.9K 2.6K

Abbott ready to up the ante on boat policy AAP The federal coalition is poised to "rectify" the government's harsh bridging visa arrangements for asylum-seeker boat arrivals after a Labor Left faction chief warned the policy could create a social underclass. Senator Doug Cameron fears the policy - which allows more asylum seekers into the community on "rolling" bridging visas that provide limited accommodation and financial support but no right to work - could see people starve. Senator Cameron said Prime Minister Julia Gillard could expect a robust debate on the issue when caucus meets next week for the final parliamentary sitting for the year. "If you have a situation where people are thrown into the community having to rely on charity then you are creating an underclass in this society," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott later questioned why asylum seekers should have to live unproductive lives before attaining permanent residence and said the coalition would release a counterplan. "These people will get Australian citizenship with the worst possible preparation - five years on welfare - for life in Australia," Mr Abbott said in a speech at a function in Perth. "Now I'll be making further announcements about what the coalition will be doing to rectify this situation in coming days." Under the policy arrangements announced by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen on Wednesday, the no-advantage test has been extended to asylum-seeker boat arrivals whose claims are processed onshore. All will be denied permanent protection visas for up to five years even if they are found to be genuine refugees and regardless of whether their claims are processed in Australia, Nauru or Papua New Guinea's Manus Island. The Australian Council of Social Services said it's a "new low" in the treatment of some of the world's most vulnerable people. But Mr Bowen on Thursday again rejected accusations the plan was cruel, saying tough decisions were needed to stop people making dangerous boat journeys to Australia from Indonesia or Sri Lanka. He also rejected criticism the government was losing the fight against people smugglers. "We have always said that this was a complex problem which would take time to fix," he told ABC radio. More than 7500 people have arrived in Australian waters by boat in the three months since Labor decided to reopen offshore processing centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island, declaring such refugees would have no advantage over those waiting for resettlement in offshore camps and that they would be denied family reunion visas. The opposition's current policy comprises offshore processing, reinstating temporary protection visas that allow refugees to work and turning back the boats where it's safe to do so. Senator Cameron is concerned the government will end up moving further to the right on the issue, which will be a key battleground at the next federal election due in late 2013. "We've got to start dealing with this in a humanitarian way," he said. "We should be giving them basic rights to actually earn a living." The Australian Greens want a community release program and claims processed onshore. © 2013 AAP Brought to you by

Environmental and indigenous groups stepped up their attacks against Canadian oil sands development as two U.S. representatives met with Canadian officials in Ottawa to discuss energy policy. Continue Reading → wildlife: Featured, News You Might Have Missed, The Sciences, activism, Ecology, Economy, Environment, Latin America Official: ‘We have failed the wild tiger’ || The head of an international wildlife organization says it has "failed miserably" to halt the precipitous population decline of tigers in the wild. "How have we let this happen?" Continue Reading → Filed under: Environment, Featured, World, Conservation, Environment, News You Might Have Missed, wildlife A damming effect on giant catfish || The Giant Southeast Asian catfish is in danger of extinction, a recent report concluded. Continue Reading → Filed under: Economy, Environment, Featured, World, Camboida, catfish, dam, Environment Big whales appear in great numbers in Northern California || An influx of huge krill swarms has drawn an unprecedented number of blue whales to the Monterey, Calif. coast, delighting boatloads of whale watchers. Continue Reading → Filed under: Environment, Featured, Nation, News You Might Have Missed, San Francisco, Science, SF Bay Area, wildlife Giant tortoises making a comeback on the Galapagos Islands || Captive breeding efforts by scientists and conservationists have led to stunning success in returning the animals to the wild. Continue Reading → Filed under: Environment, Featured, World, Environment, Galapagos, News You Might Have Missed, wildlife Tanzania proposes highway in the Serengeti || Conservationist groups say the proposed highway will decimate migrating wildebeest herds. Continue Reading → Filed under: Environment, Featured, World, Africa, Environment, News You Might Have Missed, wildlife Costa Rica ecotourism in trouble on Pacific Coast || Hotel construction projects and a boom of vacation homes along Costa Rica's Pacific coast is threatening the country's famed bio-diversity and its ecotourism model, a newly published research project says. Continue Reading → Filed under: Economy, Environment, Featured, World, Economy, Environment, Latin America, News You Might Have Missed Save the African forests; be a butterfly farmer || People in the Kakamega Forest in western Kenya have found a way to save their shrinking woodlands and make a living at the same time, all on the wings of a butterfly. Literally. Continue Reading → Filed under: Economy, Environment, Featured, World, Africa, Agriculture, Economy, Environment Issues resolved, a spectacular new National Park for Canada || The Canadian government and the region's northern aboriginal people, Lutsel K'e, hammered out a framework agreement for a new National Park in the Northwest Territories, nearly completing a contentious process that began 41 years ago. Continue Reading →

Of all the emotions on earth, the one most humans seem to most freely express is anger. This is a very dangerous emotion. Mostly, because it leads to the bulk of violence around the planet. SEE ALSO: 25 People Who Paved The Way For Dr. King When I say violence I don’t mean just military conflicts. I mean brothers hitting sisters. I mean sisters hitting sisters (and bothers). I mean parents punching and slapping children. I mean kids pulling out guns on the playground. Its all a branch expression of anger. One second of unfocused anger has landed millions of people untold years in prison and even more in execution chambers. Don’t let the next person you know be you! For most, anger is usually something that’s wrong inside them. It comes some say, from a false sense of entitlement. They believe that they have a “right” over this friendship, this boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, child, etc. that justifies the reason they slap, choke, or slam someone.You never have that right. Unless you are truly defending yourself (or your family) and there is no other way out, there is pretty much no reason to be violent toward another human being. May times we try to play things up to make them seem more dangerous than they are so we can justify it. We put fake moral frames around it to make it seem like we are a hero. But we’re not. Its just another cowardly act, clothed in another lie. My son and I were talking about a book on Taoist leadership he’s reading. He quoted a line from the book “They leave the root but try to set up the branches.” If you try to set up hollow branches of fake smiles and laughs around an angry root, its bound to show up eventually. Find the roots of your anger and face them down. If that means verbally confronting a bully- then do it. But don’t allow yourself to become a bully in the process. If you find a bully staring you back in the mirror, take a moment to really think about why you do what you do. Find its root and yank it up. The only good anger that I have found, is anger over things that affect common justice. If you see someone being bullied, it should anger you and you should do something to stop it. Tell an adult or tell the person doing the bullying that its wrong. If you see an animal being abused, an elderly person being neglected it should make you mad. You should do something about it. Take action! But action does not have to mean being violent. Anger is normal. But how you express it, is totally up to you. Learn to uproot your anger so you can let it empower you, not destroy you. SEE ALSO: Can Girls Win At Science?

Ninety-nine golfers are scheduled to descend on Champions Retreat Golf Club this week for the inaugural Club Car Junior. The American Junior Golf Association tour stop has PGA Tour golfer and Augusta native Charles Howell's name on it. // When the event was first announced, its promoters promised a big-time tour feel. It will probably deliver. Some of the nation's top junior golfers from 15 states are registered. There will be some stiff competition from the locals. Evans residents Cody Shafer and Jacob Tilton have been invited. Former Augusta Prep golfer Lee Knox will play, as will Augusta juniors Shepherd Archie, Nick Edry, Dykes Harbin, Chase Parker and Clark Palmer. More local golfers could join the field today via a qualifier that begins at 8 a.m. at Forest Hills Golf Club. A Junior-Am fund-raiser tournament will be held Monday morning, followed by a practice round. The 54-hole tournament begins Tuesday morning and will finish Thursday. The tournament is another reason to laud the area's golf scene. Events like the Columbia County Junior, which provided free food and no entry fee, and a recent initiative to allow juniors to play for free at local courses, are building a solid base of players in the area. Four of the top 10 players on the Georgia State Golf Association points leaderboard are from the Augusta area. Jeff Knox finishes 10th at Dogwood Augusta Prep golf coach Jeff Knox finished 10th at The Dogwood Invitational, a prestigious amateur tournament in Atlanta on June 24-28. Knox finished 13-under-par, eight shots behind winner Rory Hie. Knox and Hie were tied to start the final round, but Hie closed with 62 to tie the Dogwood single-round record. There's no shame in finishing behind Hie. The University of Southern California golfer is ranked the No. 13 amateur in the world by Golfweek magazine. He was named a Ping All-American this season as a sophomore. He has his own Web site:. Knox is ranked by Golfweek, as the No. 86 amateur in the U.S. and leads the GSGA men's points standings. He was playing in the group ahead of Hie and said he didn't hear until he finished that Hie was 10-under with a hole to play. Knox played with Hie when they were paired together during the 2006 Southern Amateur. Knox's son, Lee, an Augusta Prep graduate, shot even-par for three rounds at The Dogwood Invitational but didn't make the cut, which was set at 3-under-par. Lakeside graduate Brian Carter also missed the cut after finishing at +4. Last week, Lee played in the Rice Planters Amateur in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. Jeff will compete in the Georgia Amateur Championship held Tuesday through Friday at Idle Hour Club in Macon.

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(credit: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images) Filed underJets, Radio.com - Sports, Sports, Syndicated Sports, WFAN Blogs By Jason Keidel » More Columns With all the sound and fury of an election year rattling around us, it’s fitting that a flaming debate rages over our region. And while gridirons from Cortland to East Rutherford comprise the stage, the story cuts along religious, philosophical, and anthropological lines. It’s probably safe to say that the Jets have only employed one player born in Makati City, Philippines, that hotbed of football gods. Ironic, indeed, that the man seen as the emblem of Americana wasn’t even born in the United States. Such is the mystery surrounding Tim Tebow, who has been remanded to that rare vocational desert of “football player” – often a euphemism for someone who doesn’t have a position. Is he a QB or RB or TE? The Steelers had someone like that. Kordell Stewart wasn’t quite good enough to play quarterback exclusively, so “Slash” was born. And thus Stewart became a notable – and pretty successful – hybrid offensive threat. The Steelers employed a kind of shell game where he would line up at several positions but wouldn’t necessarily end up there, scampering behind the line before the snap. He didn’t win my beloved black & gold a Lombardi Trophy, but we came close. Does anyone see Tebow coming close? Yes. And that conclusion is based on some strange variables. Earlier this week, a caller blasted Joe and Even for daring to doubt Tebow’s qualifications as a starting quarterback, citing his glory Gator days. There are too many Heisman winners on the NFL scrap heap – legends like Eric Crouch, Andre Ware, Gino Torretta, Troy Smith, Chris Weinke, and Danny Wuerffel – to call that Saturday award a precursor to Sunday greatness. Tebow doesn’t even complete 50 percent of his passes, yet it is blatant sacrilege to mention that to Tebow’s growing congregation. And when you look at Tebowmania last year, Denver’s resurgence was based on an odd confluence of circumstances, from botched kicks to bizarre fumbles. Tebow’s devotees will say that’s all part of the package, the divinity and karmic goodness of the man with God on speed dial. He is so omnipotent that he can will the other team to loss as much as guide his own to victory. Part of being a rabid fan of any club means toeing the line between excuses and reasons. The Packers didn’t beat my beloved black & gold in the Super Bowl; Rashard Mendenhall fumbled it away. Dallas didn’t beat us back in ’95; Neil O’Donnell threw it away. And thus the same logic applies to the AFC playoffs last year. Denver didn’t whip us; my Pro Bowl QB (Big Ben) and All-Pro center (Pouncey) could hardly walk all week. Yet there was Tebow, heaving knuckleballs until overtime, where he found his unattended tight end sprinting across the middle, and laying a pillow into the receiver’s bosom before he sprinted to paydirt. It was hard to explain, and I won’t try. And thus there’s Tim Tebow the man, even more powerful than his football persona. We often hear of players on a mission, but with Tebow the term is literal. He is just as likely to tour the world to feed sick kids, or parachute into a prison to preach the Gospel. He’s painfully polite, and yet he’s the perfect avatar of the human condition: a man bred to peace yet finds his peace in the war zone of a football field, where violence rules and prison metaphors abound. And perhaps that’s why so many people find him so polarizing: he makes us hold a metaphysical mirror up to ourselves. He wears his faith on his face, forcing us to examine not just ourselves but the power of the modern athlete. Is it fair for Tebow, or anyone, to use his status to promote an agenda? No one questions his right to say what he pleases, and his crusade is wholly nonviolent. And considering the many reasons big athletes bogart the bold ink, Tebow’s headlines are infinitely more innocuous. Of course, he isn’t an innocent bystander in all of this. Tebow understands his power and uses it deftly to steer the attention toward his quiver of causes. Not even the Paparazzi –perfectly sculpted and smoothed for our MTV, ADD-ravaged culture of instant pleasure – can find dirt under Tebow’s fingernails. And on the rare occasion that gossip and gridiron collide, it’s normally the province of players of some renown, like Tom Brady, who happened to dump a movie star for a supermodel, inviting the glare on himself. But Tim Tebow is an anomaly in almost every way we can imagine. He doesn’t come close to fitting the pop icon template: a reckless, feckless miscreant who drinks, drugs, swears his way onto the police blotter. He’s a virgin, for goodness sake. But type his name into Google and you find the qualifiers “Virgin” and “Hoboken” and “Girlfriend” and “Northport” and “Twitter” and “Gay” before you finally arrive at “Stats.” There are fanatics on both sides of the issue. There is a strong, secular block of our population – particularly in New York City – who shiver at the mere mention of religion, particularly Christianity. They hate Tebow the man, and always will. Then you have Tebow’s Twitter flock – an interesting stew of people. Most are benign, yet some are so rabid that I had to block them from my social networks after the tenth time they told me about Tebow’s latest, luminous endeavor, followed by yet another invitation to bible study. Yes, there are loons everywhere, even under the guise of goodness. To them, If you dare question his skills at quarterback, backed with facts, you’re a hater – even if you express a healthy admiration for the man, his ethos and ethics, his blue-collar approach to his job and bruising style and disregard for his Hollywood handsomeness while he crashes into yet another linebacker. So, yes, you can’t win either way. As admirable as Tebow is personally, there is ample data to suggest he’s not a starting NFL quarterback. But if he is able to summon the surrounding mayhem on the opposing sidelines, as he did last year, perhaps he doesn’t need to. The Jets were the last team he needed to join. And yet they were the best team. You have Rex Ryan, who curses like a liquored up ensign, next to the quintessential choirboy. These are the contradictions that make Tebow and the Jets so flawed and so fascinating. No matter where they finish in the standings, they won’t be boring. Tim Tebow is the rare player larger than football, larger than sports. Some of it is accidental; the rest is occidental, even for a guy born in the Philippines. Feel free to email me: Keidel.Jason@gmail.com Where do you stand on Tebow? Let Keidel know in the comments below…

Mets hope to shut down D-backs' speed game The Mets open a series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday at Citi Field, and they'll have to watch out for what Arizona can do on the basepaths. The D-backs lead the National League with 23 stolen bases this season. D-backs outfielder Gerardo Parra leads the charge with eight swiped bags, tied for fourth in the NL. Mets catcher Josh Thole had a nice night behind the plate on Tuesday, throwing out two of four Houston runners attempting to steal bases, but he couldn't catch Jordan Schafer on Wednesday afternoon, allowing him to steal second base in the first inning. Thole has thrown out just six of 23 runners attempting to steal on the season. The Mets haven't been a prolific base-stealing team themselves, with David Wright leading the team with three stolen bases. And, Arizona catcher Miguel Montero has allowed just five of 11 runners to steal on him this season. Trying to keep the D-backs from running all over the place in the series opener on Friday will be Mets starter Dillon Gee. The Mets right-hander is 2-2 so far this season, with a 4.85 ERA. He's struck out at least five batters in each of his four starts this season. Kicking off the series for Arizona will be rookie Wade Miley, who has appeared in five games this season but started just two. In those two starts, though, Miley has been almost untouchable. He's allowed no earned runs on just three hits and three walks in 12 1/3 innings. He's struck out 13 batters in the two starts. Miley was named the NL's Rookie of the Month for April on Wednesday. D-backs: Breslow stranding runners With the D-backs up, 4-3, in the eighth inning Wednesday night against the Nationals, Craig Breslow entered the game with runners on first and second with no outs. He then proceeded to get Adam LaRoche to fly out to right field, then struck out Jesus Flores and Danny Espinosa to end the frame. has a 2.19 ERA in 11 games and just two of eight runners he's inherited have scored this year. Mets: Santana progressing nicely Mets manager Terry Collins said he was very pleased with how Johan Santana -- who is scheduled to start for the Mets on Saturday -- has returned from his shoulder injury. "Obviously, because he's Johan Santana, there were expectations," Collins said. "But due to the seriousness of the injury that he had, and the operation, everybody was hoping we were going to get quality innings out of him. And he's gone above and beyond it all. I said in Spring Training that if anybody can come back from this, he'd be the guy. And he has." With their loss in Houston on Wednesday, the Mets were swept for the first time this season. They had been involved in sweeps twice prior to the series with the Astros, sweeping the Braves to open the season, and sweeping the Marlins later in April. Worth noting Wright has hit .266 against the D-backs over the course of his career, but he has hit more home runs against Arizona (12) than any other team not from the National League East. To leave a comment, you'll need to sign into MLB.com: Click the button below to continue. MLB.com Comments

Leonard's legacy is source of pride in Kansas City Hurler strived to always go nine innings Dennis Leonard had been signing autographs for two solid hours at All-Star Fanfest when he suddenly looked up and surveyed the flurry of activity going on all around him. For a man who spent his entire 12-year Major League career with the Royals and makes his home in Kansas City, it was a rewarding scene that brought a big smile to Leonard's face. "It's great to have Major League Baseball's big stage here in Kansas City," Leonard said. "As a former Royal and a Kansas Citian, it's exciting. Hopefully, we're going to have a lot more excitement revolving around baseball and the Royals franchise in the months and years ahead." Leonard knows better than most how a contending Major League ballclub can light up the Kansas City community. As a sturdy right-hander who became known for finishing what he had started, Leonard was an integral part of the rise of the Royals in the mid-to-late 1970s. He's the only three-time 20-game winner in club history and finished his career with a 144-106 record and a 3.70 ERA. Modern-day starters could only marvel at the Leonard statistics which show that he had 103 complete games in 302 starts. A Leonard day was often a holiday for the Royals' bullpen. "I prepared myself to go nine innings," Leonard said. "As a starting pitcher, that was my job description. That was my goal every time I pitched." Leonard came to prominence in 1975 when he finished 15-7 and established himself as a mainstay in the rotation. He had a solid team behind him, and the Royals took off as a perennial postseason club beginning in 1976. That season they got over the hump in the American League West by fending off the Oakland A's. "There wasn't any 'me' or 'I' with those Royals teams," Leonard said. "Everybody was in it together. Being in the right place at the right time is everybody's dream. For me, playing for the Royals at that time was it." The Royals reached the playoffs three straight years against the Yankees from 1976 to 1978, only to be turned back. In 1977, when Kansas City won 102 games, Leonard had what was statistically his greatest season. He finished 20-12 with a 3.04 earned run average and completed 21 of his 37 starts. He finished fourth in the American League Cy Young Award balloting. "Certainly, it was disappointing to lose to the Yankees three straight years in the playoffs," Leonard said. "But our franchise was among the best in baseball, and it sure was gratifying when he finally beat the Yankees in 1980 and got to our first World Series." Leonard won a World Series game against the Phillies, but Philadelphia claimed the big prize. By the time the Royals got back to the World Series in 1985, Leonard's career had been derailed because of knee injuries. "I was actually on the bench the first two home games against the Cardinals," Leonard recalled. "But rather than accompany the ballclub to St. Louis, I needed to go to Florida for a little more rehabilitation to get ready for the 1986 season. Our guys put it all together and I couldn't have been more proud of the way they battled back to become world champions." After four operations and countless hours of rehab, Leonard enjoyed a day of extreme personal satisfaction early in the 1986 season. Left-hander Danny Jackson got hurt, and Leonard stepped in as the Saturday starter against Toronto in a nationally televised game. Leonard wound up throwing a three-hit shutout as the Royals prevailed 1-0. "From a personal standpoint, that game stands out," Leonard said. "I knew what I had put into it after basically missing three years. I had to convince myself mentally that when I put weight on that left knee, it wasn't going to blow up." Leonard retired after the '86 season and was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame in 1989. His legacy revolves around reliability and durability in an era when top-of-the-rotation starters took great pride in working deep into games regardless of pitch count. "I could go nine innings with 125 or 130 pitches," Leonard said. "Nowadays, starting pitchers are rarely even given an opportunity to complete a game. They get to a certain pitch count in the sixth or seventh and that's it. It didn't work that way in my era. "When the manager or pitching coach came out and asked how you felt, you just said 'I'm fine.' Pitch count was never part of the equation. I always felt it was my game to win or lose. That was always my mindset." Robert Falkoff is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Editorial Shared insurance payments a healthy sign for Westchester employees Photo credit: Rory Glaeseman | The Westchester County Jail in Valhalla. (Feb. 8, 2012) By agreeing to pay a percentage of their health care costs, Westchester County correction officers are showing that they understand an important reality: Taxpayers shouldn’t bear the entire burden for public workers while they also pay for their own skyrocketing plans. Especially not when the county is paying $140 million on health care for all of its workers and struggling to cover core services like bus routes, control spiraling costs of pensions and keep tax increases below the state’s property tax cap. With 690 members, the Westchester Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association is the county’s second-largest union. So it sends a clear message to the other five unions in contract talks — notably the Civil Service Employees Association, the largest — that health care contributions are a critical piece of negotiations. MORE: Analysis and discussion from Viewsday | Newsday columnists | More opinion CARTOONS: Walt Handelsman's Cartoons | National Cartoon Roundup CONNECT: Subscribe to our e-mail list | Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook County Executive Rob Astorino has pushed for health insurance contributions from union workers since he took office. Nonunion workers, including Astorino, commissioners and some legislators, have been contributing to their own plans since 2010. The 12.5 percent contribution is no small concession for correction officers — who work in the county jail — when you consider that it could cost them anywhere from roughly $1,000 a year for single coverage and $2,600 for family. But the deal also guarantees raises through 2015 — 3 percent retroactive for each of the past two years and 2.5 percent each year going forward. And it includes a $100 increase in longevity pay, which translates to about $3,000 to $3,700 extra every year, depending on seniority. It’s a fair deal and lawmakers should ratify it. Another aspect of the agreement also escalates health care contributions to 15 percent by 2015 and requires new employees, whose starting salaries would be less, to pay 20 percent. The officers work at the Westchester County jail in Valhalla. In announcing the deal earlier this week, Astorino and union president Alonzo West described a tough give-and-take between both sides and said that in the end the agreement was fair to union members and taxpayers. The tentative agreement will go before the Board of Legislators for approval. This contract comes six weeks after the county executive reached a similar agreement in which Teamsters Local 456, which represents about 120 county managers, will get raises and contribute to health care costs. Astorino, who has repeatedly uttered his jobs-for-savings mantra, still has his work cut out for him with other negotiations. So do the unions. But workers paying a percentage of their premiums is a healthy prescription for taxpayers.

Corbin debuts vs. veteran Buehrle in Miami finale For Mark Buehrle, a 33-year-old veteran who has pretty much done it all and seen it all in 13 Major League seasons, Monday's game is another opportunity to get his Marlins career on the right track in his fifth start of the season. Corbin arrived in Miami on Sunday fresh off a lights-out four-start performance at Double-A Mobile, but because he was not yet on the D-backs' 25-man roster, he had to watch the game from the stands with general manager Kevin Towers. On Monday, he will be smack in the middle of the action. "It's showtime," D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said Sunday. "It's a very exciting time whenever you're making your Major League debut. It's what you dream about, it's what you work hard for. It's what you earn, you earn the opportunity." Corbin got the opportunity thanks to a strong Spring Training and a 2-0 record and 1.67 ERA through his first four starts at Mobile. Buehrle comes off a hard-luck loss in New York against the Mets, where he gave up two runs on five hits in seven innings in a 5-1 Marlins defeat. Buehrle is 1-3 with a 2.63 ERA this season after signing with the Marlins in the offseason. After winning 161 games and pitching two no-hitters, including a perfect game, in 12 seasons with the White Sox, Buehrle has pitched well with little to show for it this season. The veteran has gone at least six innings in all four of his starts, and his lone win was on April 18, when he gave up one run in eight innings against the Cubs at Marlins Park. D-backs: Hill extends on-base streak Aaron Hill had two hits Sunday and now has reached base safely in 17 straight games and 19 of 21 overall. A D-backs victory Monday would give them their first series win since they took two of three from the Padres April 10-12. They won their first two series of the year, then dropped four straight. Marlins: Multiple walk-offs for Ramirez Hanley Ramirez's game-winning hit in Saturday's 3-2 Marlins victory was his second walk-off hit of the season. He also had one April 15 against Houston. Going into Sunday's games, Ramirez was the only player in the Major League with two walk-off hits this season. It marked his third career game-ending hit, with the other on Aug. 7, 2010. Worth noting The D-backs are the lone team in the National League West that Buehrle has never faced. To leave a comment, you'll need to sign into MLB.com: Click the button below to continue. MLB.com Comments

The Aboriginal Memorial Introduction | History | Artists & Clans | Arnhem land | Stories Arnhem land waterholes | beaches | forests | jungle | mangroves | plains | flora and fauna 'We Yolngu belong to different barpurru [clan groups] and each barpurru paints things differently; it depends if you come from the gulunbuy [mangroves] or diltjipuy [forests] or rangipuy [beach]. It's important to know the difference and we need to teach the young people to paint in this way because they don't know. I teach them by painting a picture so they learn to see the difference.' Artist George Malibirr. Stretching from the East Alligator River in the Northern Territory to the Gulf of Carpentaria, Arnhem Land covers an area of some 150,000 square kilometres. It was declared a reserve for Aboriginal people in 1931. Today Arnhem Land is owned by Aboriginal people under Commonwealth laws. In Arnhem Land, the right to paint is usually inherited patrilineally. although many artists paint their mother's story too. The designs on the hollow logs in the Memorial are the same themes that these artists paint on bark and on people's bodies in ceremony. Several remote communities — some of which began as missions, others as government settlements — are spread through the region. Ramingining township has a population of approximately 1,000, including the small populations in surrounding outstations. Whilst Arnhem Land people (who in the central and eastern areas refer to themselves collectively as Yolngu, meaning human beings) have adopted some elements of European culture, they also continue their traditional practices, including ceremonial activity. The waterhole — Gulun beaches and oceans — Rangi/Monuk Historically, beaches and oceans have featured in many people's cultures as sites of creation, beginnings and hedonistic pleasure. The forebears of Aboriginal people crossed the ocean to Australian shores in simple water craft at least 60,000 years ago. Indigenous religious beliefs around the continent tell of creator ancestors that came from across the sea to bring life and order and to populate the land. In the north, for example, the Djan'kawu trio of creator ancestors came from the sun (east) to bring life to the land of the Arnhem Land clans. On their ocean voyages they discovered, named and brought to life the various eco-systems they encountered. The movement and life cycle of sea creatures, turtles, whales and various fish and shell fish species were recorded by them in litanies of song and dance cycles. Just as present-day Australians live in greater numbers near the coast, so Aboriginal populations have historically been larger along the continental shoreline where a wealth of food and other resources allowed for a more comfortable lifestyle. The forests — Diltji Central Arnhem Land, surrounding the Glyde River valley, is a place of seemingly endless savanna and eucalyptus forests. Much of the Yolngu creation beliefs are 'born' in these forests. Both the Dhuwa and Yirritja Honey Spirits moved through and animated the wooded landscape searching for honey. They saw and named the various species of animal, bird, plant and insect life in their journeys. The people of the forest create works of art out of this environment. Most bark paintings and sculpture of Yolngu artists from this area are vertical in orientation, and dictated as much by the medium of bark as artistic design. The vertical trunks, and art works, are emblematic of the human frame. The spiritual nature of the forests is deeply rooted in Yolngu society. The English word forest, meaning an area of land covered by trees, comes from the Latin foris meaning the place outside the door, the wild dangerous land outside the fence. The Djambarrpuyngu word diltji also means a tree-covered landscape but, more importantly, means backbone, the backbone of the kangaroo, the frame which supports life. The jungle — Retja Jungles are uncultivated, densely grown, tangled mazes of tropical and sub-tropical forest, now often referred to as rainforests. To Europeans, they represented the unordered and primitive places and people of distant colonial lands. Generally the jungle was imagined to be either a hellish enigma or a romantic paradise. The English word jungle really comes from the Hindi word jangal, or from the Sanskrit jangala. Around Ramingining are little pockets of jungle, sometimes nourished by springs, which are thought of as spiritual places for Yolngu people; Garrkman, a Frog Spirit, belongs to one place, Karr, a Spider Spirit, to another and spirits associated with Barnumbirr the Morning Star to another. Secreted in escarpment ravines along the sides of the Arafura Swamp are a further series of palm fringed sites. They are sacred places, and rich sources of bark for making string, fruits, small game mammals and birds such as the jungle fowl. The mangroves — Larrtha Although most common along the tropical coastline, mangroves grow in many areas around the Australian continent. The mangrove zone is that coastal belt where the land meets the sea in a tract of trees and mud flats down to the low waterline. In the Glyde River region, an important life creating area for many natural species, the Djan'kawu creator ancestors hunted in and animated these environments and gave birth to the first Manyarrngu and Liyagawumirr people. The Manyarrngu people's name actually means the people from the manyarr (mangrove) trees. The Liyagawumirr people come from the head of the river, the mangrove tidal mud flats. Interestingly, the European word mangrove really comes, through various transitions, from the Haitian Arawak Indian 'mangle'(describing the tree roots) which was adopted by the Spanish who went there in the 1600s. The plains — Ninydjiya Early European settlers often wrote poems about the grand vista across the vast Australian plains, attempting to describe the new, strange, unfathomable landscape they encountered in coming to the southern continent. Yolngu song cycles describe how the original creator ancestors moved across the open plains, seeing, naming, and creating particular sites of personal reference for their descendants — constructing a matrix of experiences, intimate observations and artistic images. The Yolngu word ninydjiya, meaning a clear open space, is also applied in a personal way to describe the bald heads of aging men. These tropical flood plains are lush with vegetation in the monsoon season, the grass often growing over two metres high. Their flooding allows Yolngu to spear fish on the open plains. The dry seasons are a complete contrast: grasses are fired for hunting drives and the land becomes bare with a sparse spread of leftover blackened stubble, which eventually returns to green.

friday feature: andrea fazzari One avenue of photography I've always been envious of is travel photography. To be able to eat and shoot your way through country after country would be unreal. Andréa Fazzari has that job. Manhattan-born Fazzari has been traveling the world shooting for clients such as Travel & Leisure, Vanity Fair, Gourmet, GQ and more. She has stayed at the most luxurious hotels, eaten in forgotten countries and photographed the most interesting characters. Now she is sharing her travel tips and experiences with you on her brand-new (re-design launched today) blog, Fazzari Traveler. Oh yah... not only is she brilliant with a camera, but she also speaks French and Italian. Here is our interview, for you: 01. Where have you been the past month or two? I have been in India (Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur), Italy (Sardegna, Venice and Florence) and Spain (Seville). 02. What equipment did you start with? What equipment do you use now? I started with a Hasselblad and the Pentax 67, which I still use today. I'm a minimalist with my equipment and I adore my camera and lenses! 03. How has your experience in the fashion industry influenced your photographs? I started as an advertising assistant for Giorgio Armani out of college. That was my first job! Then I did public relations for Dolce & Gabbana here in NYC. I was interested in fashion, art, photography and design, so I knew I wanted to work in fashion once I graduated from college, but didn't think I would/could be a photographer. Being someone who is constantly observing and aware of aesthetics and details, I realize that fashion was just a good stop on the way to becoming a photographer and working for myself. I don't think the industry in and of itself influenced my pictures; it was my life experience that helped shape my interests and led me more specifically to photography. 04. Traveling all the time must get exhausting -how do you do it? The only time it can be a little bit tiring or taxing is dealing with certain airports and going through security. Jet lag doesn't affect me too much; coming back from Asia is the most difficult, but I just give in to the fatigue and sleep a lot when I return. I have a certain rhythmn and formula for when I travel; I am very used to functioning in in this way and moving around a lot. I actually thrive on it and find it exhilerating...especially when I go to a country I've never been to before. There's nothing like the feeling of new discovery! 05. Meeting and photographing lots of strangers could be very intimidating for most people -has it ever been for you? What do you say to strangers who you'd like to photograph? No, it is not intimidating for me. I find it exciting. 9.5 out of ten people say yes! When I do approach someone to ask if I can shoot them, I tell them my name, where I am from, what kind of story I am shooting and for whom, that I would like to shoot them and why.......people do detect my sincere interest, and make it happen! I've had some wonderful experiences with some interesting people. People usually get quite excited by being asked. 06. Aside from traveling, where else do you find inspiration? In films...lots of films. I keep an ongoing list of favorite films from around the world. Places inspire and / or spectacular views; certain people inspire me a lot for how they look, behave, or how they live. I like observing how people carry themselves and understanding what makes them tick. 07. Where is your favorite place to visit? Sleep? Eat? Relax? I have too many favorite places, and can never single out one!! I recently relaxed in Laos...it's very slow there. Bali was very relaxing too...the sounds of the animals and the rain were enchanting. I'm not sure that I relax in a particular or typical way in NYC. I love Asian food mostly - Vietnamese, Japanese, Cambodian, Laotian....but also enjoy eating in Argentina and Brazil....I'm open to many cuisines! 08. Do you have moments -when traveling or shooting- that make you think "I have the best job in the world?" Yes, I think this way quite often. My work is quite emotional for me. 09. What do you do to keep your clients to continue to hire you time after time? What do you think you offer? I think I offer elegant and sensual images which show my engagment with the world and reflect the fascination I have with different people and cultures...I like to transmit my excitement for the beauty in the world. I'm also very enthusiastic about my work, and that's always a good thing! 10. What is your most helpful travel tip? Get Skype on your laptop and iPhone...it's the best and cheapest way to speak everyone...no matter where I am in the world. Did you like this interview? Please leave a comment for Andréa. Check back next week for our next Friday Feature with Aran Goyoaga. 16 comments: Great interview. What a life! It does seem like the ideal life. Photography, fashion, food, travel...sounds amazing. Really amazing pictures! What a wonderful life!! And such talent! Ah, what beautiful photos she's produced! They have such a romantic, deep, seriously gorgeous feel. This was a great interview! Thanks, Andrea & Nicole. Wonderful and intriguing! Thank you for sharing. I really enjoyed reading this interview. I guess since I love to travel. What wonderful pictures. Thanks for this inside look at such an interesting lifestyle/work. I loved this feature! I also loved how her equipment list was not huge. And that her first job was with Giorgio Armani! I love every one of those images. They are stunning, and Andrea is fascinating. Thanks for sharing! Thanks for sharing Andrea, your photographs are so stunning. how wonderful. (the last picture is breathtaking.) I loved this interview! I am currently living overseas, traveling every few weeks/months, and speak french and italian as well. I love being creative and have interned in fashion the past two years. I am now looking for a way to put all these interests together and I was so glad to see that she did!!! wow! she is an AMAZING photographer. her work is very poignant and her career is definitely enviable. I am living vicariously through these images...dreamy! I looked at the photos before reading and learning she's a travel photographer, and before I knew that I thought, "Wow, these are so exotic!" Lovely interview, as always. my favorite interview yet! her description of her photographic style shines through in her work and echo my own reasons for falling in love with travel photography. I love this interview most perhaps because her life is what I thrive for. Fantastic pictures, she is very inspirational.

Many years ago a critic at the New York Times astutely proclaimed, “There are really only two movies in the history of American cinema – Gone With The Wind, and everything else!” And while this reviewer could argue that there have been many fine films produced in the interim to challenge Gone With The Wind’s status quo as the greatest motion picture ever made, I would probably have to concur that none of its rivals has managed to topple the perennial love audiences continue to have for David O. Selznick’s glorious epic. There’s just something hypnotic and compelling about this film, from its opening titles sweeping across in vivid Technicolor to Scarlett’s final affirmation to win Rhett Butler back someday, Gone With The Wind is the reason I fell in love with movies in the first place. And in my one hundred plus viewings of the movie I have yet to grow weary of its spellbinding magic, its quaintly fictional depiction of ‘cavaliers and cotton fields, of knights and their ladies fair’ or of Rhett’s caustic “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” It all seems to fit so neatly together, so perfectly realized with not a scene or a nuance to spare, that in hindsight it’s quite easy to forget Gone With The Wind came out of an atmosphere of blind chaos and great good luck. For its time it was a movie unlike any other, and since that time it had transcended mere celluloid to become a much beloved snapshot of two ancient flowers; the old south, and the more sadly missed studio system that once belonged exclusively to Hollywood. As such viewing Gone With The Wind today is like sharing reminiscences with an old friend; historically flawed and overly sentimental – perhaps – but ultimately nourishing to the soul. Had author Margaret Mitchell known how influential and lasting her one contribution to American literature would become she might not have written it at all. Mitchell was a recluse who enjoyed her modest career as a writer on the Atlanta Journal. But a fall from a horse made her an invalid for some time, during which she became bored and wrote the first draft of a novel she never intended to publish. It was just something to keep her busy, keep the mind keen for words. And truth be told, even after the book became the number one seller in the land nobody in Hollywood much cared to transpose it to film. Perhaps it was the period – civil war pictures were ‘box office poison’ then…or so it was widely believed. And the material itself was little more than a flawed romance between two people. Worse, the very un-happy ending in the book was completely at odds with Hollywood’s idea of the ‘happy ending’ audiences craved. No - it was just too, too risky. Gone With The Wind was too long to be successfully brought to the screen in under two hours. It had too many frank depictions of slavery that could so easily be misconstrued by the black press as Uncle Tomism reborn. To do justice to the novel meant a rewrite of the narrative conventions that Hollywood had perfected on celluloid. It was a disaster waiting to happen should any filmmaker be so bold to try. But David O. Selznick was just such a mogul; brash and fastidious. Yet, even he wanted no part of Gone With The Wind…at first. Thankfully, Selznick had an acquisitions secretary – Kay Brown – who, like the rest of the country, had fallen under the novel’s spell. Clinching the deal for $50,000 (the most ever paid to an author in that time), Selznick set about unravelling the immersive headache that would become his Gone With The Wind. To hedge his bets, Selznick only hired the best: screen dramatist Sidney Howard to adapt the novel; William Cameron Menzies for production design, Max Steiner to underscore the drama with his inimitable genius. He even bargained with his father-in-law, Louis B. Mayer for the loan out of MGM’s top male star – Clark Gable – after it was unanimously agreed that the public would accept no other as their Rhett Butler. But there was one hurdle yet to overcome – finding an actress to ‘be’ Scarlett O’Hara. Hundreds of actresses tried in an endless barrage of screen test. None impressed Selznick. Ah, but then came the dark horse to save the day – Vivien Leigh – a transplant from Great Britain, moved into a fashionable bungalow with her lover, Laurence Olivier who was, in fact, signed on with Selznick’s brother, Myron as his Hollywood agent. Her timing could not have been more perfect. Sidney Howard’s screenplay kept the flavour of Margaret Mitchell’s novel without remaining literally faithful to it and that proved all the more successful as principle photography began. Selznick kept tight reigns on the production, though not its budget, spending lavishly to ensure that Gone With The Wind became a cinematic masterpiece to top all the rest that had gone before it. His unerring perfectionism is on display in virtually every scene. But there was hell to pay along the road to Tara. Several weeks into the shoot, Selznick fired long-time friend and collaborator George Cukor, replacing him with director Victor Fleming, who would suffer a nervous breakdown midway through the lengthy shooting schedule. With mere weeks left in the schedule, Selznick was threatened with bankruptcy, and in order to meet the Atlanta world premiere he and his editor Hal Kern spent 23 hr. sessions in the editing room, chronically hopped up on Benzedrine to get the job done. Plot wise: Spoiled southern belle Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) is enamoured with Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) – the son of a wealthier neighbouring plantation owner. Scarlett’s father, Gerald is unimpressed by his daughter’s choice in men. Moreover, he has been assured that Ashley will marry his cousin, Melanie Hamilton (Olivia De Havilland) by the end of summer, thus thwarting Scarlett’s infatuation once and for all. At a party given at the Wilkes’ estate, Twelve Oaks, Scarlett meets Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), a playful scallywag who isn’t received by any descent family in Charleston – not even his own. After the ladies have retired to their boudoir, the men engage in a discussion about the possibility of a civil war. Rhett encourages prudence and restraint; sentiments flying in the face of more garrulous gallantry, but firmly echoed by Ashley. War is declared and Ashley goes off to fight after marrying Melanie. To spite them both, Scarlett marries Melanie’s brother, Charles (Rand Brooks) who dies of fever shortly after the first battle. Despite frequent admonishments from her housemaid, Mammie (Hattie McDaniel), Scarlett continues to defy the conventions of a widow. To comfort her daughter’s distress – and because she knows absolutely nothing about her passion for Ashley, Ellen O’Hara (Barbara O’Neill) sends Scarlett and a servant, Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) for an extended visit to the home of Melanie’s Aunt Pittypat (Laura Hope Crews) in Atlanta where Melanie is also staying, awaiting Ashley’s return. At the Atlanta bazar Scarlet once again meets Rhett. His wily interests to possess her have not cooled. After shocking the confederacy by asking a war widow to dance, Scarlett and Rhett develop a fair-weather friendship, mostly predicated on Rhett lavishing her with gifts. Scarlett, however, is still madly pining for Ashley and this creates monumental friction between her and Rhett. Eventually, Rhett becomes a frequent guest of Belle Watling (Ona Munson); an Atlanta madam who has come to admire the man as something more than just a paying customer. On leave, Ashley breaks his silence and tells Scarlett that he loves her fiery passion, but that duty alone will never allow him to be unfaithful to Melanie. To ease her sexual frustrations – and quite simply pass the time while Ashley is away at war – Scarlett joins Melanie as a relief nurse at the hospital. But after a particularly gruesome amputation, performed without the benefit of chloroform, Scarlett declares that she has had enough of death and dying and vows to go back home to Tara. Melanie has Ashley’s baby and Rhett suggests to Scarlett that she will never find true happiness if she chooses to wait in hope that Ashley will return to abandon them both for her. As the Yankee armies advance on Atlanta, the rebels torch the city forcing Rhett, Scarlett, Melanie, Prissy and the baby to flee by carriage through the burning streets. At the crossroads, Rhett informs Scarlett that he has decided to join the army, forcing Scarlett to make the journey back to Tara without him. She arrives to discover her mother dead from fever, the once vibrant fields and house ravaged by army deserters and her father hopelessly mad, lost in his memories of that gentile time before the war. Vowing to live through this ordeal, Scarlett and her sisters, Sue Ellen (Evelyn Keyes) and Careen (Ann Rutherford) barely manage to keep body and soul together. Scarlett learns that Rhett has been imprisoned for blockade running and rushes off to the jail in the hopes of procuring badly needed funds necessary to save Tara. Instead, she decides to marry Sue Ellen’s beaux, Frank Kennedy (Carroll Nyes) after learning he has managed to establish himself as a moderately successful hardware salesman. Lying to Frank that Sue Ellen has lost interest in him, Scarlett’s treason against her sister saves the farm. But her marriage is hardly a happy one. After Scarlett is attacked while driving through a shanty town, Frank and Ashley resolve to uphold the gallantry of the old south by inflicting their own ‘southern’ justice on the rabble. In the conflict Frank is killed and Ashley severely wounded. Only Rhett manages to save the day and shortly thereafter Scarlett reluctantly agrees to marry him. The two have a relatively peaceful honeymoon. Rhett lavishes every absurdity on his new wife, even building her an ostentatious new mansion in the heart of Atlanta. Still, Scarlett is not satisfied. She bears Rhett’s a daughter, Bonnie Blue (Cammie King), then quietly informs him that she will never sleep with him again. More angry than distraught, Rhett turns to Belle Watling’s. But she sends him back to his wife with some heartfelt advice; that his life must be focused on raising his daughter. As the years pass Scarlett and Rhett grow apart, brought back together only after Bonnie develops homesickness while visiting London with her father. Mammie is ecstatic to see them come home, and truth be told, Scarlett is also grateful for their return. But the years have dampened Rhett’s appreciation for his wife. After Bonnie is killed in a horse riding accident, a distraught Rhett learns that Melanie is going to have another baby against her doctor’s advice. Throughout the story, Rhett has greatly admired Melanie, and, with her kindness recovers from his grief. But after Melanie dies from pregnancy complications Rhett witnesses Scarlett comforting Ashley and naturally assumes she will at long last ask him for a divorce. Determined to beat Scarlett to the punch, Rhett goes home and packs. Although Scarlett has had a miraculous transference of her affections from Ashley to Rhett, his dreams of their life together are now truly dead. On the steps of their Atlanta mansion Scarlett vows to think of some way to reclaim her husband’s affections. In lesser hands Gone With The Wind could so easily have degenerated into trite melodrama. But director Victor Fleming was not just any director. Nor, is GWTW just any story. The film is at once a magnificent tapestry interwoven by a committee of dedicated craftsmen in front of and behind the camera, and by a committee of one in the embodiment of producer David O. Selznick, whose tyrannical control over these vast resources brought cohesion from the chaos and artistry that transcends the artifice. Without question, Gone With The Wind would not have endured without the ideal actress to play its heroine. Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett has become a cultural touchstone for the ages, the quintessence of that fiery, flawed and tragically human creature dismantling her own happiness while desperately in search of it. Matched to perfection by Gable’s Rhett Butler, an unrepentant paragon of manly grace, it is the sparring between these two central characters that jet propels GWTW through its lengthy three hour plus run time. But Selznick was not simply satisfied to give his public a central narrative with iconic stars, and as such, the character actors that populate Gone With The Wind’s backdrop are as integral to the film’s success as its principle leads. Who can forget Olivia De Havilland’s true spirit and ever faithful wife, or Leslie Howard’s complacently conflicted returning solider? These are portraits of quiet restraint and beauty etched in our collective memory for all time. And then, of course, there is Hattie McDaniel’s Oscar worthy – and winning – turn as the defiantly human, compassionately clever house servant who is anything but subservient to her masters. In all, Gone With The Wind excels because Sidney Howard’s screenplay offers each a moment to define their character for the ages, and this, they do without drawing attention to the fact. With so much to admire and appreciate it really is no wonder Gone With The Wind endures as the world’s most beloved – and most profitable movie of all time (with inflation factored in). I suspect it’s the narrative audiences love best of all. Beyond the sheer size and elegance of the thing, Gone With the Wind is monumental storytelling at its finest. It complements the novel without being its direct descendent. Indeed, there was quite enough of Margaret Mitchell’s literary south in the film to satisfy the author and literary purists then and now. But Selznick understood that Gone With The Wind was – beyond everything else that had, and has been written about it since, - a good show. He never cheated the audience of these expectations, but tweaked them to suit his own artistic sentiments and the convention of the times. Perhaps this is the real reason why Gone With The Wind has lasted all these years: because it remains faithful to the human condition. Like life itself, the film is a renewable, revisited by each generation who continue to find something new and revitalizing in its artistry. It speaks to us. It always has. My sincerest hope is that it always will. For a world without Gone With The Wind is quite simply one I wouldn’t want to live in. Warner Home Video has remastered the film for its 70th Anniversary. The results are spectacular to say the least. This 1080p transfer sparkles, its vintage – fully restored – Technicolor dye transfer shimmering with a refinement of colours and textures. We can, as example – recognize for the first time that the dress Scarlett makes from her mother’s old drapes is not simply green, but velvet as well. Fine details pop as never before. My one complaint – and it is an extremely minor one – is that some of the transfer seems a tad too dark. Take the iconic moment when Scarlett approaches the weary dawn after returning home to Tara to declare she will ‘never go hungry again’. Her face is obliterated by the darkness. We can’t really see her acting at all. I am not entirely certain this is, as it was intended by the original film makers, but I can most certainly attest to the fact that this scene did not look this way on Warner’s previously issued DVD where Scarlett’s face, particularly her eyes, were very visible. Otherwise, there’s no comparing the two transfers. The Blu-ray is preferred. The audio has been remixed to 5.1 DTS with extraordinary fidelity emerging in the Max Steiner score. We hear chords and refrains once thought lost through inferior recording technologies and lax preservation efforts. But no, it’s all there and marvellously restored for future generations. Extras are top heavy indeed. We get the superior ‘The Making of A Legend’ 2 hour documentary hosted by Christopher Plummer and an audio commentary that covers much of the same ground. There are also brief featurettes from 2004 like Melanie Remembers – in which Olivia De Havilland (the only surviving cast member) affectionately waxes about her participation on the film. We also get two ancient TV bios on Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. Warner adds two additional documentaries not included on the original DVD collector’s set. First up is 1939: Hollywood’s Greatest Year – hosted by Kenneth Branagh but scant on providing movie clips from film’s produced at other studios. There’s also Moviola: The Scarlett O’Hara Wars – a rather laughable dramatization with Tony Curtis as David Selznick in search of his perfect Scarlett O’Hara. Finally, Warner has included the 6 hour comprehensive documentary MGM: When The Lion Roars. Warner also pads out this set with a CD sampler and some lovingly reproduced vintage junkets in full colour. These are scant on information and heavy on artwork, booklets good for a brief thumbing through but not much else. I would have preferred to read some literary essays by film scholars or perhaps had some thought-provoking reflections by admirers like Leonard Maltin or Roger Ebert. Oh well – can’t have everything. Personally, I would like to go on record with a complaint that I consider most valid. None of the aforementioned extras are in a condition worthy of their content. The ‘MGM’ and ‘Making of’ docs look horrible, presented in 480i. This short shrift is most unacceptable. I think the approach Warner ought to have gone for is, if these extras are worthy of inclusion for a 70th anniversary (and believe me, they are) then they are equally worthy of an upgraded 1080p presentation. Warner gets very high marks for the way they’ve remastered the film. I’ve heard internet grumblings that the presentation ought to have been spread across two Blu-ray discs split at the intermission to improve the overall bitrate. But truthfully, I can’t see where this compression has compromised the quality of the 1080p transfer. It’s dreamy and – at least to my eyes – flawless. Bottom line: highly recommended. FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best) 5+ VIDEO/AUDIO Feature 4.5 Extras 2.5 EXTRAS 5 1 comment: "Vivien Leigh’s Scarlett has become a cultural touchstone for the ages, the quintessence of that fiery, flawed and tragically human creature dismantling her own happiness while desperately in search of it. " What a wonderfully articulate summation!

Development in Cromer Heights / Red Hill / Oxford Falls Hi everyone, I know I am very new here, but I wanted to spread the word about something which may effect you guys along with the residents of Cromer Heights and Red Hill. Some of you may have biked from the Cromer Connector up through to red hill, however what you may not know is part of that land is crown and part of it is owned by Cromer Golf course. Anyway Cromer golf course has decided to flog the land for development which will pritty much put an end to some of the great mountain biking in the area plus throw a ton of car's into the mix. The bigger fear is they will build two access roads between Wakehurt parkway and Cromer Heights which would kill of some many of our trails. An anonymous resident has put together a flyer, which I have scanned and OCR'd (I cant attach the PDF here) for you guys to read. It would be great to get the communitys help to write a few letters and spread the word on this further destruction of natural habitat. --------------------- CROMER HEIGHTS RESIDENTS IMPORTANT You may be aware of Cromer Golf Club's decision to develop a significantly large parcel of land on the North/North western edge of Cromer Heights. If you are not concerned by this then read no further, if you are, then the time to act is NOW. BUT DO NOT THINK: “THIS WON'T AFFECT ME ! " Your council is on record as opposing this development, but the Golf Club is bypassing council & going direct to the Minister for Planning Kristina Keneally for approval! You should be outraged at this affront but it is typical of how "concerned" the golf club is about Cromer residents. The proposed development is currently 45 housing blocks. The average Sydney car does 3.78 trips per day (SM Herald 30-5-05) If only two of these trips are to/from home & with (minimal) two cars per house (+ visitors & service vehicles) these 45 blocks can put an extra 400+ cars per day onto Toronto Ave. This extra traffic may well be the last straw to initiate the long mooted western access to Cromer Heights (ie Cromer to Wakehurst Parkway & it's associated mass bush destruction). We will then loose the unique cul-de-sac nature of our suburb. Look at your street directory - Maybrook Ave is already shown as continuing westward to Wakehurst Parkway! Toronto Ave will then become the new Willandra Rd (only worse) - then watch your property values tumble! (*** golf club members refer to footnotes). Toronto residents: In peak hours how hard is it to exit your drive now? Blighs / Woodward & Cromer Rd residents: Your streets are the targeted main accesses to this development - you will have these vehicles passing by your homes! Do you remember the bushfires of 1994? Toronto Ave was a log jam with evacuees & sightseers, it was stated then by the authorities that for safety reasons Cromer Heights needs a further access road. The population has increased greatly since then (eg: Fairway Views Estate, Pinduro Place, Maybrook Manor expansion etc). The proposed release is 13 hectares and to seek approval the golf course is presently (coyly?) saying only 45 blocks of 600 sq metres each - as is often the case(after initial approval is granted) the final development application could well expand on this. (ie When the Land & Environment Court can be appealed) - what is to stop the final development application being larger? (given it's track record the Land & Environment Court would no doubt give it's approval). 13 hectares equates to 216 blocks of 600 sq metres! (1600+ extra cars on Toronto Ave I!!!!) - be warned. This extra traffic flies in the face of Councils "Living Warringah - In Focus" draft plan with supposedly fewer cars on our roads. Also, this land is the last tract of virgin bush catchment feeding directly into Narrabeen Lake (& includes a creek in an ecologically vulnerable location - i.e. between the proposed two housing groups). The flora (including one species of protected tree already identified) & the wildlife (which have already retreated to this area from the Fairway Views development) should not be lost forever. Why? : just so a few wealthy golfers (the majority of which neither reside in, nor care about, Cromer) can enjoy "better" golf facilities. The Golf Club presentations to residents stated how concerned/caring they are of Cromer residents, but at the Golf Club General meeting (16 Feb 05) for members to debate and decide whether to proceed on this proposal there were caring calls of "let's just vote so we can get to the bar!" (this is fact - very caring!). It is known that gum trees are very susceptible once their underground water flow is altered. Unlike Fairway Views Estate which slopes to Cromer Rd, this development is on the slopes directly above thousands of such trees - a huge proportion of which could be lost (not to mention those that will be bulldozed). Numerous studies by bird watching groups have identified 153+ species within 1kM of the entry point to this proposed development - what happens to these & their nesting sites etc? Numerous of these are endangered or supposedly protected (eg Powerful Owl, Glossy Black. Cockatoo, Kookaburra, Tawny Frogmouth, King Parrot, Peregrine Falcon etc) The first two are in fact classified "vulnerable" under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995. At a Warringah council meeting March 2005 the administrator Mr Dick Persson said: "the population of the Northern beaches is expected to fall and therefore further residential zoning is not appropriate" (surely this must especially apply if virgin bush is to be lost forever & the lake compromised - just to cater for a reducing population).. Council recently spent over $3M of Section 92 funds just to convert ONE housing block on Collaroy beachfront into a park - just shows how priceless open space really is in Warringah! Why not buy this land from the golf club and preserve it for parkland? - this would probably only cost about $2M and seems much better value! The hypocrisy is staggering, the golf club sees this land as "surplus" - and at only 45 blocks intend reaping huge profits: probably $13M+ from this development, whilst a portion of their golf course sit on taxpayer owned land! (ie land that belongs to you, the taxpayer) They utilise YOUR land under a, "permissive occupancy" agreement with the government. How can land be "surplus" whilst they are utilising public land? This land being utilised by the Golf Club is approx 1.2 km (almost 11 acres) of prime waterfrontage (lake & creek) for which they pay a pittance in rent (the last known figure being less than $110 per week!) If you refer the National Parks websites (browse Narrabeen Lake/Catchment etc) you will see that Dept of Lands & Dept of Fisheries both acknowledge the importance of Crown Land catchment areas (even as far away as Belrose) feeding into Narrabeen Lake - let's see how serious the authorities are with this land virtually at the lakes edge. Council recently held a summit to discuss problems with the lake re the overdevelopment of catchment areas (one outcome being they agreed to dredge, which no doubt will be a cost to you the ratepayer), you should not bear this cost whilst the golf club reaps millions by adding to the problem (and your cost). Government should not even contemplate approving this development! The golf club will attempt to argue that a team of expert consultants have reported on proposed impacts to lake/environment/infrastructure/roads etc. Do not be swayed as these experts are paid for by the golf club, they will not bite the hand that employs them. Any adverse findings can easily be 'glossed over' or even omitted. They have already spoken about nature compatible developments, covenants that building' heights will not exceed tree line etc - do not be swayed, developers do not create covenants which limit their own profits. These blocks will have bushland setting + lake and/or ocean views & will sell in region of $800,000+ each - no one will pay those sums if they can only build a two/three bedroom bungalow! Besides, covenants are not worth the. paper they are printed on : eg 1) Fairway Views Estate (Cromer's last development) had a covenant whereby if a block had more than 60% non permeable coverage then a stormwater detention tank must be provided - one of the latter built homes thereon has a house covering more than 90% of the block and NO detention tank (a simple appeal to Land & Environment Court passed both!) With that precedent now set can you imagine 45+ blocks with more than 90% site coverage? eg 2) Manly Daily 11-6-05 The Land & Environment court overruled Pittwater Councils approval conditions for a house to be 60% concealed by trees and of a 'natural blending' colour - When it comes to the crunch do not believe these pro environment statements will actually be carried out! Furthermore this development will be on the skyline (as viewed from northern side of lake) - isn't there is supposed to be a covenant preventing skyline construction? (so much for covenants!)The existing Fairway Views Estate development (generally on land sloping away from the lake)was actually refused by Council 29 Aug 1995 for reasons "centred on water quality impacts on Narrabeen Lake" (fact!) - unfortunately this reason has become prophetic with the lake now suffering & Council acknowledging same by a summit to discuss these problems & best remedies. Back then the developer was the Crown (Landcom), and council's refusal was able to be overridden by the State Minister for Urban Affairs & Planning (Craig Knowles) on 5 Feb 1996. What with the lakes problems since that development (maybe because of ???), then logic would suggest government must also reject this application for land generally sloping toward the lake. If not then compelling explanations must be given. The Golf clubs solution to water quality of the lake? : from their community info session (25 June 05) they propose detention tanks on the lower side of this development as their means of protecting the lake. We were told when these tanks become full of sediment/rubbish etc the development residents are responsible & they will ensure these are emptied & contents removed to suitable waste collection!!!! (and pigs may fly!) Please take 10/15 minutes, write to Kristina Keneally (address below) and/or Local Member Brad Hazzard (who happens to be Shadow Minister for Planning) to secure the magic area in which we reside for yourselves & future generations. Please do not merely send a copy of this document show you care enough & take time to write personally (by all means use any or all of above arguments and preferably any of your own). Do not merely use the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) argument - this holds no sway, argue on grounds of environment / traffic / lake catchment / visual pollution / waste of ratepayer funds to dredge etc. But please do not delay, I believe the application has already gone in (hard to know as it is being snuck through) Thankyou A Concerned Resident **** footnote for Golf Club Members who reside in Cromer: any perceived benefit you may receive from this proposal will be peanuts compared to the reduction in your property value!' If the development proceeds - take special note of how the money is actually utilised. Maybe more "improvements" to your course? (I note the club trialled yellow tee competitions - because since the last "improvements" the course is now too difficult for 99% of the members). Or maybe once the club is flushed with funds the government may insist on "market rate" rent for the public land being utilised? - the public will insist on this & then see how quickly your "profits" are eroded! Addresses for reference: The Honorable Kristina Keneally Minister for Planning Governor Macquarie Tower Level 36 1 Farrer Place Sydney NSW 2000 The Honourable Brad Hazzard Shadow minister for Planning Shop 3 637-641 Pittwater Rd (PO Box 405) Dee Why NSW 2099 Ph 9981 5059 Fax 9981 1111 We are fortunate that Frank Sartor (Minister for Rubber Stamping) was removed from the planning portfolio - please do not waste this windfall & lobby Kristina Keneally heavily (as you can be sure the golf club will !) Due to logistics this leaflet will only be distributed to every 2nd house - please pass it on to your next door neighbour.

- Overview - Audio - Video - Publications - IONS Film Project Publications Books Spontaneous Remission An Annotated Bibliography by Caryle Hirschberg and Brendan O'Regan. All the documents in the bibliography are downloadable in PDF format: - Table of Contents - Introduction: Pages 1-52 - Chapter 1: Pages 53-58 - Remission of Neoplasms of Lip, Oral Cavity, and Pharynx - Chapter 2: Pages 59-92 - Remission of Neoplasms of Digestive Organs and Peritoneum - Chapter 3: Pages 93-111 - Remission of Neoplasms of Respiratory and Intrathoracic Organs - Chapter 4: Pages 112-142 - Remission of Neoplasms of Bone, Connective Tissue, and Soft Tissue - Chapter 5: Pages 143-166 - Remission of Neoplasms of the Female Breast - Chapter 6: Pages 167-197 - Remission of Neoplasms of the Skin - Chapter 7: Pages 198-219 - Remission of Neuroblastoma - Chapter 8: Pages 220-288 - Remission of Neoplasms of Genitourinary Organs - Chapter 9: Pages 289-309 - Remission of Neoplasms of the Eye, Brain, Nervous System, and Endocrine Glands - Chapter 10: Pages 310-348 - Remission of Neoplasms of Lymphatic and Hematopoietic Tissue - Chapter 11: Pages 349-379 - Remission of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases - Chapter 12: Pages 380-408 - Remission of Endocrine, Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases, and Immunity Disorders - Chapter 13: Pages 409-440 - Remission of Diseases of the Circulatory System, Blood, and Blood Forming Organs - Chapter 14: Pages 441-454 - Remission of Nervous System, Sense Organs, and Mental Disorders - Chapter 15: Pages 455-460 - Remission of Respiratory System Diseases - Chapter 16: Pages 461-475 - Remission of Digestive System Diseases - Chapter 17: Pages 476-487 - Remission of Genitourinary System, and Pregnancy and Childbirth Related Disorders - Chapter 18: Pages 488-495 - Remission of Diseases of the Skin, Subcutaneous Tissue, Musculoskeletal System, and Connective Tissue - Chapter 19: Pages 496-502 - Remission of Injury Related Disorders - Appendix One: Pages 503-530 - Review Articles - Appendix Two: Pages 531-558 - Behavioral Aspects of Remission - Appendix Three: Pages 559-576 - Clinical and Experimental Studies - Appendix Four: Pages 577-646 - Infection Related Remission - Addendum: Pages 647-674 - Index: Pages 675-694 - Author Index: Pages 695-703 - Journal Index: Pages 704-713

I was persuaded to read Thomas Glavinic's Night Work by Steve Mitchelmore's thoughtful review of the novel. I do believe that Steve's defense of its strategy of non-revelation is more convincing than the complaints made by some reviewers that the novel fails because it does not adequately account for the circumstances motivating the story, but ultimately I wasn't quite as taken with Night Work as was Steve or some other of its reviewers. I'm not sorry I expended the time to read the book, although it has turned out to be one of those books that, for me at least, has been more stimulating to think about in retrospect than it was while reading it. To some degree I expected to not like the book much at all, however much I generally trust Steve Mitchelmore's judgment. If it's not exactly a "post-apocalytic" novel, it sounds when first described to be close enough to that sub-genre, and I can't say I've ever been one of its fans. (And I don't mean just its SF version in particular; the post-apocalyptic novels written by Denis Johnson and Paul Auster and Cormac McCarty haven't done much for me, either.) These novels always seem to be striving so hard to "say something"--about technological development, about human nature, about what the future might bring if we don't watch out!--that I am unable to take much pleasure in them as works of fiction on a purely aesthetic level. It's not that the "vision" of human life after the ultimate catastrophe is itself unpleasantly dark; it's that the formal resources of fiction have been so thoroughly subsumed to rhetorical ends that I feel I'm being lectured. Night Work mostly avoids this problem, although questions about what has happened and why must inevitably persist about a narrative that posits a world emptied of all human and animal life save for the story's protagonist, Jonas. But not only does the novel resolutely refuse to disclose the source of the protagonist's dilemma, it becomes clear rather early on that the source of this dilemma is really beside the point. This is a novel set in an apparently calamitous future that is not going to resolve itself into a meditation on that calamity or a satire of human folly but is instead going to explore through the actions and state of mind of its solitary main character what it would be like to be the last vestige of conscious life in existence. The narrative does playfully leave the suggestion that the "night work" performed by Jonas's sleeping self might be the cause of his predicament, perhaps a kind of half-awake dissociative state. Jonas begins videotaping himself asleep, and he does witness what must be episodes of sleepwalking (which also start to become evident in other ways as well, as when Jonas apparently locks himself into the trunk of his car while asleep). The moment when Jonas watches his sleepwalking self peer into the camera at his awakened self (or vice versa?) is almost vertiginous in its self-referentiality. But even if sleepwalking provides some sort of "explanation" of Jonas's experiences--and it would be a pretty lame one, if we were to take it literally--it doesn't finally matter to our own experience of Jonas's story. Whether it is "really" happening or not fades in importance, as does whether it occurs in the aftermath of a plague, or an alien invasion, or through any other "logical" explanation, to the comprehensive accounting of Jonas's response to the new realities of his situation, literally dreamed up or not. One inevitably thinks of the night work named in the title as being the work of fiction as well. What Jonas confronts is something he desperately hopes is fiction--a forced encounter with "reality" on a transformed, elemental level--but that increasingly forces itself on him as reality, however uncanny it has become. If it is possible to emerge from the structured dream of fiction with an expanded sense of reality, Jonas is unable to emerge from his dream at all, and he learns that the reality it has become is ultimately unbearable. But this is where my appreciation of Night Work begins to break down. I'm not really sure how much Glavinic himself appreciates the literary/aesthetic implications of his novel, and this reservation is reinforced by both the novel's narrative method and its prose style. Night Work is presented to us through a more or less conventional third-person narration. It begins on the morning Jonas enters into his anomalous state and ends with his apparent death. Although we are restricted to Jonas's own actions and perceptions, we are not immersed fully into his "deep" consciousness as in much "psychological realism," and while this is to some degree a deliverance from this now stale approach, it creates another problem in a narrative so reduced to activity and event. The narration is mostly concerned to relate what Jonas does: In the station concourse he trotted from ticket office to ticket office, shop to shop, smashing the windows with his wrench. He didn't disconnect the security alarms this time. Having broken the window of the bureau de change, he waited to see if its alarm would go off, or if he would have to continue his orgy of destruction. Perhaps some-still surviving guardian of the law would think a heist was in progress and intervene. To the ear-splitting accompaniment of the security alarms he rode the escalator up to the platforms. Taking his time, he began by exploring platforms 1 to 11 in the east section, where he'd seldom been before. Then he boarded the second escalator. He also smashed the windows of the shops in the south section. They weren't equipped with burglar alarms, which surprised him. He raided one for a bag of crisps and a can of lemonade, plus a packet of paper handkerchiefs for his runny nose. From the newsagent's he grabbed a stack of newspapers two days old. The level of detail provided here (and throughout the novel) is so generic I almost feel I am reading a screenplay, or at least a novel heavily influenced by cinema. This wouldn't necessarily be an inherent flaw--Robert Coover's A Night at the Movies and The Adventures of Lucky Pierre are both ingenious appropriations of film for literary effect--but the straighforwardly episodic structure of Night Work is not particularly enlivened by its prose, which, as in the passage quoted, remains rather pedestrian. If Night Work becomes particularly laborious in its middle sections, its uninspired language seems to me the immediate cause. Or at least so it seems, as I am judging Glavinic's style as rendered in its English translation. Perhaps the banality of "trotted from office to office" and the cliches of "orgy of destruction" and "guardian of the law" are fair equivalents of Glavinic's German phrases, or perhaps they are as close as the translator could get to Glavinic's more felicitous words. Since my German is near non-existent, I really have no way of telling, so while I am inclined to think that the bland prose style is authentic enough Glavinic, I was sufficiently engaged with his story and his intrepid commitment to its ultimate indeterminacy that I'd like to think this translation is not appropriately faithful to the German text.

If anyone has information regarding the parents of William READING & Mary LACY, please contact me. The father of William READING may be a George READING (b. around ca. 1778) of Hunterdon Co., NJ; however, I have not yet seen proof. (1) William READING, b. unknown (probably about ca. 1800) probably in Hunterdon Co., NJ, d. unknown probably in Bucks Co., NJ; m. to Mary LACY (b. unknown); they resided near New Hope, Solebury Twsp., Bucks Co., PA; their children: i. Charles H., b. 20 Feb 1823, d. 7 Apr 1905, m. Elizabeth A. HORNING; [2] ii. George W., b. 20 Feb 1823, d. 30 Nov 1905, m. Jane Elizabeth CARKHUFF. i. Mary E., b. 6 Mar 1847, d. 15 Feb 1923, m. Samuel HIGGINS; ii. Alice A., b. 1851, m. Thomas GOOD; iii. Henrietta, b. 1853; iv. Elen, b. 1855; [#3] v. Sarah E. Thatcher, b. 18 Apr 1857, d. 13 Nov 1942, m. Winfield Scott POULSON; vi. Charles R., b. about May 1861, d. Mar 1925, m. 1st Anna A. THATCHER, m. 2nd Elsie DELPHO; vii. John, b. about Sep 1863; viii. Cornelia A., b. about Feb 1867, m. Mahlon SMITH; ix. Martha M., b. 5 Mar 1869, d. 17 Jul 1936, m. Britton HIGGINS. (3) Sarah E. Thatcher READING, b. 18 Apr 1857 in Delaware Twsp., Hunterdon Co., NJ, d. 13 Nov 1942 in Trenton, Mercer Co., NJ; burial: Riverview Cemetery; m., 16 Jan 1879 in Grover (Headquarters), Hunterdon Co., NJ, to Winfield Scott POULSON (b. 18 Jul 1851, d. 28 Jan 1940). This page maintained by Jack D. Mount Last updated: 24 December 2010 Return to top of page Return to Genealogy Resources Page Return to first page of Jack Mount's Home Place

We Walked To Paris On Valentine’s Day, North Shore-LIJ announced a challenge for all employees. Form teams and walk the 7.2 million steps it would take to reach Paris from New York, and those that cross the “finish line” will be entered into a drawing where the winning prize is a trip for all of the team members to Paris, France. The challenge was accepted! An unprecedented 15,000 employees participated in the Walk to Paris – forming teams, walking at least 8,000 steps every day, and having a great time doing it. Read Newsday’s coverage of our employees on the Walk to Paris. The challenge ended in late June, and the eagerly anticipated closing ceremonies and Winner’s Drawing took place on June 18th at the Crest Hollow Country Club. Over 1,000 Team Captains and wellness champions enjoyed a French-themed breakfast and were on hand to see who would win the prize. The events were telecast live, for all the employees who couldn’t make it to the party. Congratulations to Teams Walka Walka Walka, Microbiologie Marche A’ Paris, Champs-Elysees and Twinkle Toes. North Shore-LIJ President and CEO Michael Dowling surprised everyone by not drawing just one winning team, but four grand prize winners!! Forty North Shore-LIJ employees have just won all-expenses paid trip to the City of Light. Chock full of surprises, Mr. Dowling also drew the names of ten more teams to win the second-prize of an assortment of wellness-related choices, including personal chefs, day trips to a spa and gym memberships. Much of the feedback from those who participated was the impact the walking made on the overall health of employees and their families. Mr. Dowling noted in his speech: • Eileen Marcel, a nurse at Syosset Hospital from team “Pain Pacers,” has been a diabetic for about 15 years. Since she started walking in this challenge, she significantly lowered her blood sugar levels, and as a result, has been able to decrease her diabetes medication. • Monica McGuire, an employee at Forest Hills Hospital from team “HIMnotics,” lost 10 pounds as a result of the Walk to Paris. Her success has motivated her family to join a gym and start eating healthier. • Andrea Noad in Patient Financial Services lost two dress sizes. She discovered that her new summer dresses which she bought at the end of the season last year were too loose to wear after she participated in the Walk to Paris. She and teammate Cynthia Harvey-Williams attributed their success to walking up the hill from 400 Lakeville Road to the North Shore Towers twice a day. Walk to Paris is part of a commitment that North Shore-LIJ has made to employee wellness. “The whole idea emanated from a large package of services that have to promote wellness, like anti-smoking campaigns, getting to know your numbers…gym memberships, Weight Watchers, etc.” And judging by the overwhelming participation in Walk to Paris — wellness is catching on. “You could see from what was going on in the audience that it was highly motivating, people were excited about it, and people now are just doing this anyway because they are in the habit of walking and exercising and they are continuing to do it.” Mr. Dowling said. “And it’s all about wellness.” Mr. Dowling noted that wellness is part of the health reform movement. “This is part of the whole effort that the supreme court dealt with,” Mr. Dowling said. “How do you get people to get healthier and do it on an ongoing consistent basis. As a health care organization we have the obligation to do it more than anybody else because that’s the business we are in.” Learn more about how North Shore-LIJ is transforming careers and lives.

I love my cheeseburgers, but... My name is Meaghan. I really like my name, in fact I think it is quite lovely. Meaghan originally came from Meg, which is short for Margaret. Margaret is a Welsh name, although most people think it is Irish, including my parents. Meaghan is most popular among Irish Americans who, like my parents, were looking to take something from their heritage across the Atlantic. Meaghan can be spelled in a multitude of ways, Megan, Meagan, Meegan, etc. My spelling was chosen by an Irish priest that my mother was friends with, who told her it was the true Irish way to spell my name. Little did he know that pencil makers, magnet makers, keychain makers, pin makers, sticker makers, and basically anyone else who hawks merchandise to small children all spell it Megan. I could never find any of the cheap trinkets other kids had because they were always spelled wrong. To this day people spell my name wrong, but I am fine with it. It comes with the territory of having a great and beautiful name. To make matters more confusing, Meaghan is actually my middle name. My first name is the same name that my mother has. This name, as luck would have it, is actually an anglicized version of an Irish name. Who knew? All my life I have gone by my middle name and my first name was reserved for those fine points in my childhood when I knew the shit was going to hit the fan. Now, as if the spelling of my middle name was not obscure enough, I have always been the one who has to explain to teachers or employers that my real name is not the name I go by. This whole process can be very complicated, yes Professor I am here, but that piece of paper you have in front of you that tells you my name, that's not really my name. Please call me Meaghan. No, it's spelled M-E-A-G-H-A-N. So, that brings us to my last name. Without telling you my family name I will share that it is not a name for thin skinned people. Even as an adult my name elicits snickers and second looks. I have heard every joke in the world related to my name, and trust me there are many. There were countless times in the school yard where some kid who though they were funny and original and tried to mock my last name. Usually I would make fun of them so bad that they would run away crying, but it starts to get a little old after a while. After wearing my last name for 29 years, I wouldn't trade it for the world. It has made me the bitter angry woman that I am, so leave me the fuck alone. My point here is people, when it comes to my name I have dealt with it all. There is nothing that I haven't experienced when it comes to the words that identify me. That is, until I took my new job. On our company email server our names are automatically entered on all outgoing messages. Fine, no big deal. There is also spell check which scans all emails. Cool with me, I am a retched speler. The problem is, since Meaghan is not in the dictionary, every time I send a message it highlights my name and gives a suggestion. The problem here being the suggestion. Is it Megan? Or Meagan? Or God forbid Meg? No, I would welcome those. The suggestion is Meatman. Yes, you read that right Meatman. Meatman! Is that even a real word? Meatman. Why on God's earth would Meatman ever be an option. Meatman. Every single time I send an email I watch the computer highlight my name and ask me if I want to replace it with Meatman. Meatman. Part of me wants to start accepting it as a suggestion just so people will quiver in fear when they read my emails. Who can mess with a girl named Meatman? Vegetarians will hate me, children will fear me, and people will just generally be confused when I write to them. I am Meatman hear me roar. Lastly, for those of you who know me, go ahead and say Meatman out loud combined with my last name. Yeah. I know. I can hear you laughing from here. 8 comments: I am crying!!!!!!! Good luck with that!!!!! you are cracking me up and i don't even know the second half of the joke. Meatman is definitely a girl not to be messed with!!! when i spellcheck my full name, it always suggests "Carolina Storage." nice, right? Meatman sounds like some kind of superhero for beef, protecting the world from mad cow disease. Combine that with your last name and it sounds like a porn superhero. hehehe...now I really wish I knew the second half of the joke. My mother's maiden name was particularly brutal and I thank her for the unsuccessful-except-for-the-last-name-aspect marriage to my father. I have a friend of Irish decent whose last name sounds very much like an item a woman might use to pleasure herself. She's grown a skin as thick as a meatman's too. #1...Stop crying. I am not really made of meat, you can still be my sister. Carolyn..."Carolina Storage" huh? If we got married my name would be Meatman Storage. NTS...I haven't stopped saying Meatman in the deep drawn out superhero voice since you wrote that. I have always wanted to be a porn superhero...my parents will be so proud. Allison...despite the brutalness of my last name I am thinking of keeping it. I couldn't be a porn superhero if I lost it. Cheryl...Wow, your friend almost lives a Seinfeld episode. The only person I have meet whose last name is more bizarro than mine,was a boy with the last name Porn. That had to be rough. I totally feel your pain with people misspelling your name. Though, I can't admit to ever having a suggestion as good as "Meatman." I'm Lis with an "s." In fact, that's sometimes how people introduce me. "This is my friend Lis, with an 's.'" It's a family name, from my great-grandmother, and I've been told it's a more European way to spell Elisabeth (just like how they spell realise with an "s"). But I've had to fight people on it forever. And there's nothing more irritating than when people pronounce it without the "z" sound, but rather with the soft "s" sound. Lissssssssssssssssss. I've had to deal with it for 23 years, but I agree experiences like this help shape us. And finally I have a comeback when people give me crap. I ask, "how do you say "is"? No put an L in front of it." I feel like I opened a can of worms here, but if a good blog came out of it then I think I'm okay with that. Two comments: 1) I've received much mail from companies with my last name as Bear and spellcheck tries to make it into Bean frequently. Again, not as cool as Meatman, but I feel you. 2) I can't recall if I know your last name, but my neighbor's last name is Fatter. Just consider the possibilities there.

Hi everyone, thanks for visit our site but we decide to move with better feature Monthly Archives: November 2012 Microsoft To Replace Windows Live Messenger With Skype Microsoft has announced that it plans to retire Windows Live Messenger in favour of Skype, according to a blog post on the latter’s website. The software giant had acquired the popular VoIP service last year and a merger of the two IM clients was therefore imminent. It was reported earlier that around 80% of all IMs sent over Skype are being handled by Messenger backend. It is likely that the VoIP feature of Skype, which is something that Microsoft’s IM client missed, enabled the former to retain its existence, rather than being swallowed by the latter. The plan is to slowly phase out Live Messenger over the next few months with a complete phase-out happening by March 2013, with the notable exclusion of mainland China. Users of the IM client can move to Skype during this period using the same login credentials. Launched on the 22nd of July, 1999, Windows Live Messenger enjoyed pole position for a number of years when only a few competitors such as Yahoo! Messenger were around. Voice and video calling between computers was one of its main attractions in addition to text chat. However, the entry of Google‘s client and browser-based IM service managed to sweep away a sizeable number of users soon after it was launched a little over seven years ago. Probably to counter this new kid on the block, Microsoft and Yahoo! launched interoperability between their two IM clients to allow users from one service to chat using the other’s client. Facebook Chat interoperability has also been supported since September, 2010. Nevertheless, it seems that the IM client finally decided that now is a good time to take a bow. Windows Live Messenger was reported to have over 330 million active users in 2009, although the number is now dropped to somewhere around 100 million. How many of you use Windows Live Messenger as your primary IM client? Do you think this is a good move by Microsoft? in the balance. Yesterday, Judge Lucy Koh agreed to “consider the questions” posed about Apple vs Samsung jury foreman Velvin Hogan’s alleged misconduct as part of a wider-reaching December 6th hearing. The South Korean company claims Hogan failed to disclose that Seagate, Hogan’s former employer and a key Samsung business partner, slapped him with a lawsuit following a personal bankruptcy back in 1993. Samsung says the lack of disclosure prevented its lawyers from probing Hogan about potential biases and conflicting interests. Hogan says that jury candidates were only asked for hard details about litigation that occurred in the past decade, not twenty years gone. He finds Samsung’s supposed ignorance of his past hard to swallow and publicly posed the question as to whether or not the Korean company allowed him on the jury as some sort of contingency plan: a possible way to gain a mistrial if things went badly in court. CNET notes that Hogan in fact mentioned being embroiled in past litigation as part of the jury screening process, even if he didn’t mention Seagate specifically. The lawyers consulted by that website said that Koh is highly unlikely to overturn the $1 billion verdict because of Hogan’s actions. Apple’s lawyers will be forced to turn over the information they had about Hogan as part of Koh’s inquiry.) Windows 8, I want to love you, but your annoying quirks keep bringing me down. After spending more than a year conquering the operating system’s overhauled (and nonintuitive) interface in its various prerelease iterations, I’ve now entered a second stage of frustration: I find myself cursing at Windows 8′s major changes less and less, but shaking my fist and swearing like a sailor at its little irritations more and more. Beyond its polished, tile-based surface, Microsoft’s new operating system plays host to a legion of smaller annoyances—a cornucopia of quirks that will leave you seething long after you get the hang of all the new gesture controls and schizophrenic system options. Some of the problems are whoppers. Others are mere nitpicks that result from a lifetime of traditional Windows use. But many of these problems can be fixed, with one major exception. Read on! Three simple rules for buying a new laptop This? Nikon D600 Teardown ? Intel launches 8-core Itanium 9500, teases Xeon E7-linked Kittson Intel’s Itanium processor launches are few and far between given that only so many need its specialized grunt, but that just makes any refresh so much larger — and its new Itanium 9500 certainly exemplifies that kind of jump. The chip centers around much more up-to-date, 32-nanometer Poulson architecture that doubles the cores to eight, hikes the interconnect speeds and supports as much as 2TB of RAM for very (very, very) large tasks. With the help of an error-resistant buffer, Intel sees the 9500 being as much as 2.4 times faster as the Tukwila-era design it’s replacing. The new Itanium also ramps the clock speeds to a relatively brisk 1.73GHz to 2.53GHz, although there will be definite costs for server builders wanting to move up: the shipping roster starts at $1,350 per chip in bulk and climbs to an eye-watering $4,650 for the fastest example. Anyone worried that Poulson might be the end of the road for Intel’s EPIC-based platform will also be glad to get a brief reminder that Itanium will soldier on. The next iteration, nicknamed Kittson, will be framed around a modular design that shares traces of silicon and the processor socket with the more familiar Xeon E7. Intel casts it as a pragmatic step that narrows its server-oriented processors down to a common motherboard and should be cheaper to make. It’s likely that we’ll have to be very patient for more details on Kittson knowing the long intervals between Itanium revamps, but fence-sitting IT pros may just be glad that they won’t have to consider jumping ship for awhile yet.

Night Time Body Management – weight & sleep $29.95 Sculpt, Tone and Reshape Your Body Arise Refreshed and Energized Contents: 30 servings Product Description Night Time Body Manager supports a process, anabolic metabolism, that burns fat to repair and replace cells during sleep to support weight loss.Trigger Fat Burning While Sleeping Firm, Tone and Sculpt Your Body Sleep allows the body – especially its organs – to rest, rebuild and replace millions of body cells that die everyday. Your body burns fat, while you are sleeping to produce the energy it requires to perform a myriad of tasks including replacing the 300 million cells that have worn out and all of the tissue that has been damaged and stressed during the previous day. The process is called anabolic metabolism. Science has come to understand that there are “switches” that turn on and off bodily functions such as cell rebuilding, cell replacement and the other nighttime metabolic activity. These switches are thought to be amino acids. Skipping meals, eating fast, processed and preserved foods often contribute to amino acid deficiencies and imbalances. The signals that control sleep time metabolism may become weakened or even fail to initiate all of the sleep time metabolic activities. Plus, as people age, their ability to break down amino acids is reduced; what once was an efficient process, becomes inefficient; the “switches” do not turn on and off. Supplementing with blended amino acids, minerals, vitamins and herbs can help turn “switches” on and off. NUPRO Night Time Body Management is a proprietary nutraceutical formula to support sleep time metabolism to help support your weight loss objectives. The carefully crafted, proprietary formula contains amino acids, vitamins, minerals and herbs to help promote and support nighttime metabolism that burns fat to repair and replace tissue, to help with rest and to avoid the Yo-Yo effect after weight loss. Can you burn fat while sleeping? YOU BETCHA! and arise refresh, after a good night’s sleep, ready to greet the new day. Burning fat to produce new cells, and lean tissue, while you’re sleeping, also increases daytime fat burning because the new tissue needs more energy, that is available in the body’s stores of fat, to support the new tissue. People still need to monitor the type, quality and quantity of the foods they eat and increase the amount of moderate exercise during waking hours. Once they have reached their goal, they need to continue their new life style of healthier eating by managing fat intake and sustaining their increased exercise. It is common sense and it leads to a healthier, thinner person. Suggested Serving: 3 caplets 20 minutes before going to sleep. 30 servings/bottle It is important to drink 8 – 8 oz glasses of clean water, each day, to help break down fat and eliminate waste and toxins. For faster results, manage diet, exercise moderate and regularly.Add to Cart Designed to help: - help support weight loss - encourages restful sleep - addresses residual daytime stress - arise refreshed and energized Supplement Facts Servings Per Container: 90 Amount per Serving %DV Chromium (as chromium arginate) 60 mcg 3.4 Magnesium (as magnesium glycinate) 90 mg 3.3 Proprietary Blend 360 mg* GABA, L-Ornithine, L-Arginine, L – Ornithine, L- Arginine, Hops, Macuan Pruriens Extract (standardized to 15% L – dopa), Scullcap (leaf), Milk Thistle, Ginger (root) Other ingredients: Cellulose, Crosscarmellose Sodium, Modified Cellulose, Magnesium Stearate, Silica Suggested Use: As a dietary supplement, adults 3 caplets prior to bedtime. DRINK EIGHT, 8 OUNCE GLASSES OF WATER DAILY.

An IDE for perl? May 23, 2008Posted by claudio in Uncategorized. Tags: Perl trackback szabgab writes (aggregated on planet.perl.org) about the absence of a decent IDE for perl. To be correct, he rather acknowledges the existence of some IDEs like Eclipse + Epic or Komodo but he prefers to work with the old trusted vi + command line. That’s fine, but like he writes in his post, some people expect an IDE as they are used to using one while developing in other languages, specially in the Windows world. In my case, I know my way pretty well in Unix (I use it professionally and at my desktop) and vi and still, I prefer to use an IDE. Why? Well, I’ll answer this question by giving an answer to the “survey” that szabgab proposes. I use Eclipse + Epic for perl. The following text is copy-pasted from szabgab’s post with my answer beneath each line. Beginners (especially in classes) need these: - Good Syntax highlighting → check. - Automatic syntax checking → check. - Bracket highlighting and bracket matching → check. - Code suggestion and auto-completion for perl keywords → check. - Showing the available parameters of keywords → check. - Context sensitive help on perl built-ins (including variables and constructs) and on modules → check. - Pod viewer → check. - Integrated Debugger (expression evaluation, breakpoints, watches etc.) → check. - Mouse over tool tips for variable contents → not that I know off. - Debugging: Edit and Continue support → check. - Jump directly to locations (editor-wise) Perl has warned or died at → check. When writing applications (the first few years) people also need these: - Display subroutines in a sidebar → check. - Auto-completion for methods in OOP development → check. - Remote editing (via ftp, ssh, etc.) → I don’t use this, but I suppose it’s built into Eclipse. I use my own scripts executed from the IDE. - Remote debugging (when the code is actually running on another machine → no idea. - Integration with version control → great integration with subversion (the version control I use). - For web application emulation of a real Web server → check (however, I haven’t use this much). And the more advanced stuff is here: - Refactoring support → check. - Tool to build GUI → None. However, I use this IDE with great results in combination with Glade and gtk2-perl. - Integration with unit testing → Not built in, but it can be added using the “External Tools” (this is how I executed scripts remotely, however when I need to edit something in place on a Unix server I use vim). In short, I have found a professional and complete toolset for my perl needs. It has most of the features needed for a serious IDE and even more (like RegEx engine, export to html, etc). Now that I use netbeans for java, the epic perl plugin is the only reason I keep eclipse installed. A perl IDE dreamed in the past is a reality. i agree with the absence of a descent IDE for Perl. I prefer Emacs even though its not a IDE