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How to get rid of dark circles naturally fast
Apply a dark liner to your upper lashes and use an eye shadow to finish that look. Tomato is also a great skin lightening agent with certain properties that will help clear the area around the eyes. Not getting enough shuteye during the night isn't just bad for your overall health, but can be a big reason for these dark circles. The lady on your photo is a good example of my problem I how to get rid of dark circles under my eyes fast and naturally have no under eye bags just the malar ones.
Bags Under Eyes Before And After Photo
Eye compresses can be made out of medical cotton or cotton pads, which can be found at your local pharmacy. Consult your health care provider if you develop any of the following conditions: change in pupil size; eye pain or pain on eye movement; impaired vision; intolerance to light; known exposure to gonorrhea or how to get rid of dark circles under your eyes naturally and fast chlamydia; or swelling, tenderness or redness around the eyes.
rid to get naturally dark how fast of circles If the color under your eyes is a dark, bluish color, it how to get rid of dark circles around eyes naturally and fast is possible you could have an iron deficiency. It's done a great job of reducing my undereye darkness and my puffiness is completely gone. Then I realized, I don't care about the causes - I just want a solution how to get rid of dark circles fast and naturally on how to reduce puffy eyes!
If you are using cotton balls, you may need to use more than one to get complete coverage of the puffiness. Some sleep positions are prone to make you acquire dark circles under eyes, so it's a good idea to try and diversify your sleep patterns accordingly. Homemade Beauty Solutions Natural Skincare Recipes For Eye Jennifer Terry is program director for TriCounty Agency for Intellectual Disabilities.
It was horrible itching for three months and seeing my baby miserable kills me. I am feeling paranoid about getting reinfected, we are both still itching but I realize it could just be the meds. Furthermore, puffiness of cheeks under eyes (or on cheek bones) can be due to malar bags or edema, smoking, allergic reactions or by inheritable factors (genetics). At night, fluids can accumulate under the eye area, causing sunken eyes and circles. how to get rid of dark circles naturally fast Time for extra 5 minutes of sleep, let alone an extra hour, and.
You can reduce these fine lines around the eyes is by applying proper sunscreen of appropriate how to get rid of dark under eye circles fast naturally SPF of 30 and will protect your delicate eye skin against UV rays. Your dark circle problems are usually cause by underline problems to begging with. Mary Kay Concealer - This creamy concealer provides moderate to almost full coverage and is excellent for covering dark circles. Sick children are particularly sensitive to developing dark circles when they hyperventilate. If you have puffy eyes from thyroid or red itchy eyes because of any allergy then it is best to consult a doctor who can provide you with suitable eye creams, drops or even advise you for a surgery if the eye bags are a result of age.
Updated: Wednesday, 13 Nov 2019, 22:39


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I'm on a short break, so I'm re-posting what I believe is an "oldie, but a goodie" from September of 2012.
Photo by Neal Lantela. Available at flickr.com.
Do you know why your organization is good at what it does? What are the essential abilities that enable you to compete in your market? What is it that sets you apart from others and brings customers back? These are fundamental questions that every leader must be able to answer. Your ability to answer these questions with certainty drives your ability to adapt and address new challenges…but not for the reason you are thinking. Most people think these core capabilities must be leveraged for change. Perhaps, but the more important issue is that you need to know your core capabilities so that they do not become core rigidities.
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subset: commoncrawl


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David Shearer
Norton Rose Fulbright LLP
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Related services and key industries
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David Shearer is a capital markets lawyer based in our London office. He specialises in structured finance and covered bond transactions encompassing a range of jurisdictions, underlying asset classes (including residential mortgages, commercial real estate, auto loans, consumer receivables, trade receivables, corporate debt and whole businesses) and transaction structures. David's clients include arrangers, issuers, originators and service providers.
David's experience includes establishing covered bond programmes for each of National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank and EFG Eurobank, establishing a covered bond programme for Bank of Cyprus, and advising on transactions backed by auto loans and leases, consumer loans, SME loans, credit card loans and residential mortgages and commercial leases.
David has 20 years of experience working for major law firms in New Zealand, England and Japan, with 14 of those years having been spent in the capital markets practice of an international "magic circle" law firm.
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New United Kingdom insurance linked securities (ILS) regime
Publication | September 2017


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Five percent (5%) of the net sale price of SeaWorld Rescue products sold to consumers in the United States (excluding Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, South Carolina, Utah and the District of Columbia) will be donated to the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund.
New for the Holidays! Orca Plush in Buffalo Plaid - $24.99


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South Ayrshire played host to senior local government politicians and officers from across Scotland last week when the COSLA Convention met in Ayr Town Hall for the first time.
Held just four times a year in venues across Scotland, the Convention is COSLA's ruling body with overall control of COSLA's policy and direction. It consists of representatives from all member councils and political groups represented within Scottish local government.
South Ayrshire Provost Winifred Sloan (pictured above) delivered the official welcome to those attending, which included representation from almost every Council in Scotland.
The meeting included lively debates and discussion on issues including the Spending Review, NHS resource transfer and public sector reform as well as a presentation from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission.
Provost Sloan also hosted a pre-event dinner - sponsored by Northgate Public Services - at County Hall the evening before the Convention.
Provost Sloan said: "I was delighted to welcome friends and colleagues from Scottish local government to South Ayrshire for the COSLA Convention. This is a key event on the local government calendar and gave us a terrific opportunity to showcase the South Ayrshire area, our facilities and services.
"Our guests were very impressed with both County Buildings and the Town Hall and I hope this will encourage them to return to South Ayrshire to see what else we have to offer."
Councillor Bill McIntosh, Leader of South Ayrshire Council, added: "It was a privilege to welcome fellow Council Leaders, officers and politicians to Ayr for such an important meeting, coming just days after the details of the comprehensive spending review were revealed.
"Ayr Town Hall saw a lot of discussion on the challenges we face at this crucial time for Scottish local government and this is a debate that will continue in town halls and Council chambers across the country."
[Pictured (left to right): South Ayrshire Council Provost Winifred Sloan, COSLA President Pat Watters and Councillor Bill McIntosh, Leader of South Ayrshire Council.]
COSLA President Pat Watters said: "We try and take one Convention a year out on the road, and it was a pleasure visiting Ayr for the October Convention. Discussions were lively as you would expect with the serious financial challenges we are all facing.
"The motto of Ayr is 'ne'er forget the people', and this will be both appropriate and vital for us all in the delivery of public services in the weeks and months ahead."
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There are currently 796 Ayrshire business stories permanently archived on this site. To locate those of most interest to you, please use the site search facility in the top right hand corner of this page.
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Monday, 1 November 2010
South Ayrshire Council hosts COSLA Convention in Ayr Town Hall
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I've been looking online for christmas gifts today, this is one of the few years when I'm actually out on time (before mid-december) Some gifts were easy, I instantly knew that I wanted to get it for him/her and so on. Other were hard though, and I found a lot more gifts than I can afford so that kinda sucks. Well well I hope it turns out good anyway.
Also, I've decided that I want to start training again. Not just walks and runs but weight lifting too. My plan for now is to start with some basic exercises at home first, like sit-ups, squats and so (and walks and eventually runs again too). I would like to get the courage to go to the gym and actually feel comfortable training there even if I'm not alone. That wont happen for another month or two anyway since I need to save up money to afford a membership so I have a lot of time to gain confidence! One thing that I'll think make it easier this time than the last is that for one, they moved the gym closer to where I live so I can walk there in like five minutes, but also the fact that a friend of mine is considering getting a membership too so I might get a gym-buddy! Otherwise I might try to convince my fiance to get a membership so we can go together.. hehe
ANYWAYS, enough blabbering now. I have to go to sleep soon since I have to go to the hospital tomorrow and I don't want to oversleep. So I'm just gonna go watch some big bang theory in bed before I fall asleep. Goodnight!
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Posted by e at 22:17
Labels: health and workout , life
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Heligan Harvest: a taste of our heritage
September 23, 2017 - October 13, 2017
With the traditional principles of farming, food provenance, sustainability, taste and seasonality at the forefront of our culinary being; we once again invite you to join us this Harvest to celebrate the fruition of the gardening year and share a taste of our heritage.
This year's Heligan Harvest has a cornucopia of events lined up and sees the home of the 'Finest Productive Garden' in Britain celebrating its gardening year in traditional style, culminating in two incredible Feast Nights!
Saturday 23rd September – Sunday 8th October sees us celebrate the fruition of the gardening year with our annual Heligan Harvest Event.
Expect an exciting programme of talks, demonstrations, tasters and crafts as the gardens and estate unite in bringing the bounty of produce and traditional skills together in their two week harvest celebration.
We will immerse you in the very heart of productive life and embark you on a journey steeped in their Victorian history and horticultural heritage, through the medium of food.
You'll have the opportunity to try some of Heligan's unique and some incredibly rare heritage produce at their daily tasters.
Our Productive Garden and Estate tours will also give you the chance to meet and talk to the incredible team behind Heligan's success.
Complimenting this will be the chance to join a series of culinary masterclasses over the weekends with one of the many guest speakers from the industry, who will be demonstrating their skills throughout.
For the first time this year, the harvest programme includes a selection of art and craft classes run by local artists. These classes are individually priced and booking is essential to get your place! If botanical tile-making, soap creation, graphite drawing or willow weaving inspire you then make sure you don't miss out this autumn.
Heligan Feast Nights return for two exclusive nights on Saturdays 30th September and 7th October, with limited places available. These evenings are sure to guarantee you an incredible atmosphere as the Heligan Kitchen welcome two guest chefs to showcase their skills and Heligan's produce in a mouth-watering three course meal; accompanied by live music.
All other Harvest activities are free with garden admission excepting the specialist craft classes.
To download a full programme of events, click here.


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Do you want to discover what is beyond the touristic sites?
An experience aiming to show travellers the true spirit of the Portuguese capital. Walk around the narrow streets of the old centre, visit authentic handicraft shops and taste the typical dishes which our grandmothers used to prepare. You also get the opportunity to see the hidden side of the city by volunteering in local social associations. Understand how people live by participating in volunteering activities and you will go back home with a totally unforgettable experience.
10:00 • Locally guided tour in Lisbon City center
Start the day with a tour in the heart of Lisbon visiting the narrow streets of old and typical neighborhoods of Lisbon where the people tell their history and discover amazing details that will give another flavor to your tour.
12:30 • Lunch in a traditional restaurant
16:00 • Volunteer activity
We will suggest a specific activity according with your interests and profile.
The time can be adjusted
• Guided tour in the city center
• Lunch in a typical restaurant
• Volunteer activity (personalized for you)
• Tuktuk transfer
• Insurance
• A huge smile on your face
impacTrip is a socially-driven travel organization that fights social inequality through volunteer tourism in Portugal.
Our mission is to provide a meaningful and unforgettable travel experience that allows the traveler to know the Real Portugal and has a positive social impact on the places they visit.
Come visit us.
ImpacTrip Founder Serial traveler with a special interest in innovative social solutions. Founded ImpacTrip to promote Responsible Travel Experiences in my beautiful contry! Curiosities: - I already lived in 3 different countries: Netherlands, Hungary and Malaysia. - Co-founder of a social entrepreneurship project about elderly social exclusion. - World citizen: I traveled for more than 34 countries in 4 different continents. The best travel? The next. Always happy to know new people. Full profile ⋅ Leave a Review
Receive special offers, VIP invites and exclusive updates for Lisbon.


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text: Books and material In 2016 the Alliances Françaises India-Nepal network made a new partnership with the French publishing house Didier and introduced a new teaching book named "Saison". Saison covers the A1, A2, B1 and B2 levels of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFRL). These new text book guarantees a high educational quality and assures the student ... Read More »


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Sometimes, only a pie will do.
But what is it that makes our pies so unique? Obviously, it's a combination of many things but ultimately it's just one big thing: our own love of really great food. Because without that we simply wouldn't go to the lengths that we do.
Take, for instance, our meat. We use only the very best pork from outdoor and lovingly reared (in North Norfolk) pigs. Not offcuts, not the bits that you wouldn't want on your plate – just the very best. And to that we add a little quality cured bacon, to give the pies their distinct smokey note.
Then there's our own blend of herbs and spices which we mix by hand. We'd love to tell you what's in there but… well, it's a secret. A delicious little secret.
And finally there's the pastry: a hot water crust pastry that, due to its biscuity essence, gets us compliments from far and wide.
All this means we make pork pie that makes you feel better after eating it, not worse. A celebration of real food, using real kitchen ingredients. A pie that's for sharing, not a guilty secret. We're always thrilled to hear the great lengths that people will go to buy one of our pies and and how they organize days around visiting the growing list of wonderful shops that stock them.
There's always a nice variety of pies too, such as our ever-popular Onion Marmalade, the (as we're often told) revelatory Chilli and the mouthwatering Chorizo. Plus The Naked, a traditional pork pie that's anything but traditional, and our latest award winner. And we don't stop there; we're always vanishing into the kitchen to work on different recipes and try new ideas.
Oh, and here's another thing: there's no jelly in the pies. None at all.
Of course, we wouldn't expect you to just take our word for how good our pies are. Or the words of the many people (including the famous ones) who have sampled our wares. The proof, as it were, is in the pie.
So go on, why not treat yourself to a little taste of perfection?


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Review: NATURE CALLS For a Limited Audience
I first learned of writer/director Todd Rohal when I saw his film The Catechism Cataclysm (or Cat Cat for short) at Sundance two years ago. You will either love or hate this film's guts — I love it. I described this film as not a movie, but an experience, a bad acid trip gone awesome experience. (Note: I've never done acid but have seen Roger Corman's The Trip and am guessing it's bonkers.) Cat Cat was something I've never seen before — an original, mind-fuck comedy adventure. His follow-up, Nature Calls with comedian Patton Oswalt, is something else for sure, but falls short of fitting into the wild and weird cinematic world Rohal has created.
Randy (Oswalt) has lived and breathed boy scouting since the first day he can remember. His father was a Scout Master, and now that Randy is a grown man, he wants to fill his father's shoes. Since his father is dying and hospital-bedridden, Randy has decided to take him and the remaining boy scouts left in his squad on a camping trip. But, we need at least one conflict for this story, and here they are: 1) Randy is a terrible scout leader. Even though he's been a scout his whole life, he's a pushover and his bumbling persona makes him look like a clueless goon. 2) The kids would rather play video games than learn survival skills. 3) Randy's jackass brother Kirk (Johnny Knoxville) thinks being a boy scout is a waste of time and goes out of his way to ruin Randy's longtime planned Scout trip. But, Randy has outsmarted big bro by kidnapping all of the kids during a sleepover and they embark on their boys-become-men forest adventure.
While I admire everything Knoxville has done with the Jackass movie franchise — it's brilliant and made a big statement in the film industry once the little engine show-turned-film franchise boomed — when he acts like a jackass in a fictional movie (which is almost everything he's done), it lessens the value of the film. Knoxville takes his character's stupidity to unbelievable and quite obnoxious levels and it's agonizing to watch.
What I adore about writer/director Todd Rohal is his skewed sense of humor. He writes and shoots things about life that everybody thinks but would never admit; nasty, dirty things. In Cat Cat, Rohal blasts religion in the most unconventional satirical ways possible. My jaw literally hurt from laughing so hard, and then I prayed God wouldn't punish me for laughing at His expense. One of the more risqué moments in Nature Calls is a blonde bombshell who pops in and out of the movie randomly, riding through the woods butt-naked on a motorcycle. Since her nakedness is never explained, these random moments are very funny. This is the most crass Rohal-esque moment we get in Nature Calls. Most of the comedy follows that routine Hollywood pattern and it drags the jokes through the mud. Which is a shame because Patton Oswalt has the capability to lead a movie (Big Fan was a marvelous surprise) and here, his raw talent never comes out to play.
The only major bummer about Nature Calls is that it's Patrice O'Neal's last film. O'Neal was a downright hellacious comedian and it's a damn shame he died at such a young age (41). He acted alongside some good guys and you can tell he had a lot of fun with his role, which ironically, is a presumed dead father. Chilling, but O'Neal carries his weight and brings the laughs to his final role.
I think it's lazy journalism for a critic to say "this film is not as good as his last," but so much ofNature Calls feels half-baked and not Rohal's style, I have to compare it to his previous film (which he was without question completely baked while making) to give his style context. Most filmmakers have a flat movie once in their career — Nature Calls looks to be Rohal's.
Nature Calls is now available to watch on various VOD platforms. It opens on Friday, November 9 in limited theatrical release in the U.S.


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De Tomaso "Pantera"
by Phil Wicks
There was a degree of excitement when I opened the front door one morning to let the cat out and there, on the doorstep, was a model I had ordered from Headley Hobbies (UK) some time ago as a pre order. Needless to say I had forgotten all about it some ten weeks later, and it wasn't 'til I opened the box that my internet purchase memory came flooding back, and now here it was!
So, after a precursory inspection of the model I decided I would give the unsuspecting slotcar fraternity a glimpse of this models and all it beholds in expectation and reality, so to do that, there will need to be some searching of the net so that I can pad an erstwhile short review to the lengthy summaries I have grown to know and love; so, hitting the power button on the computer, I wandered off for a black tea, no sugar, to hydrate me during my search.
Jägermeister Racing
De Tomaso have always had the reputation of being the poor mans Ferrari, Fancy Italian design and an exotic Italian name (from Argentina) powered by a cast iron lump of Ford (from Windsor?). The one time owner of such names as Maserati and Moto Guzzi produced near the home of the prancing horse; the vast majority of Panteras (6,000+) were sold via the Lincoln and Mercury outlets in North America
My first concern was when an initial Google revealed only the MSC model, no other collateral results regarding the real car......or driver, so the next search was for the driver, Dieter Bohnhorst, and one step closer to a result. Dieter Bohnhorst was an also-ran racing driver whose track presence spanned the sixties to the early eighties, some of the latter years spent driving Jägermeister liveried cars.
A search of his site for pictures did not reveal a DeTomaso..... and the only picture for the years 1974/75 was a rather nice Porsche 914 in said livery. So another blank and one more lead. The box declares that the real car was raced at Bergrennen in 1975....but again, another search did not reveal a race track called Bergrennen???? But it did reveal a few other events covering minor motor sport, always with bergrennen in combination with another place name.
The last search was a Google picture search and once again the vast number of results were the MSC model. Mmmmmmm???? Curiouser and curiouser! Not even a plough through the 1975 DRM results could enlighten me. But there was one other similarly liveried model, this was made by 'Scala' 1/43, and their model was exactly the same as the MSC model. They also had a similar model with a different race number. Both these models were attributed to our friend Dieter as the driver!
Slowly, one and one was no longer making three. A search of German place names reveal there is no place in Germany (or Austria) called Bergrennen; but interestingly, Bergrennen broken down into two constituents was revealing. Berg in German means mountain, and in general speech can often mean a large hill! Mmmmmm? Rennen means to run or to race !!!! Hill-race, does this mean hill climb? This tied in with the sites containing the word bergrennen.
DeTomaso site
The upshot is that it looks more and more like the model could be a fantasy livery or one known only to Scala models and Dieter Bohnhorst; either way, it looks suspiciously like Scala models may have been creative with the model based on some tenuous links, and MSC have, with or without Scala's permission, created an obscure model with a universally recognised livery. Failing that, this model did/does exist as a 1 to 1 but may have spent its latter days as a hillclimb car, please correct me where I am wrong! So, no fabulous revelation of a real car, but I will try to find Youtube footage for your delectation!
So this model has to please on the track to make up for its lack of provenance. No basking in the light of former real car glories, and all to do to create its own kudos; and having had this model on the track already there are some bouquets, but also some brick bats.
Firstly, MSC have shared a lot of technology with Scaleauto as the motor and other internal parts plus tyres are all marked as Scaleauto; secondly, the car is light, very light, and has more screws holding it together than the average RTR slotista cares about or can even cope with. My suggestion is, don't panic, and only touch the front and rear body screws if you are not sure what the rest do. So let's set off and see what you are getting for your Au$70.00.
The livery will guarantee quite a few sales for this very average body shape. DeTomaso conjures up images of exotic Italian hardware, but it doesn't quite deliver. Body colour is good and there is plenty of detail. Things like quarter bumpers and grilles are vulnerable and the front and rear photo etched grills look good but are tentatively attached. Some nice detail is the screen wipers, finely detailed by photo etching, and the door mirrors are silvered realistically.
Inside, MSC have gone to lengths to produce a realistic interior including good dash detail and nice touches like a full roll cage; and other driver controls including rear view mirror contribute to a tidy display. Front wheels are plastic and moderately concentric while the rear wheels are alloy with very effective inserts. The tyres are also mostly but not completely concentric, being low profile; and they carry the Scaleauto marking and the tyre size on the sidewalls; the fronts being slightly smaller than the rears.
Underneath, the chassis is busy as mentioned before; more screws than a Meccano kit with most of them having no ongoing function. The chassis is obviously part of a modular system which allows MSC to chop and change parts depending on what model the chassis was intended for. The chassis also has a pod carrying the drive train 'a la' Slot it, NSR, Sideways and a host of others. In the pod the traction magnet is a good strong one mounted under the rear axle, but strangely, held in place by a couple of grub screws? Not my first choice of magnet positions for this type of model.
The current magnet position allows the front of the model to hop on hard acceleration on magnet tracks but there is a recess for an 8 m.m. button magnet in the front centre of the pod, and as there are some pretty powerful button magnets now on the market, I would opt for this as the primary magnet position myself. The chassis is also shaped to accept an anglewinder pod for those who may prefer that setup.
The guide is 'waisted', it is narrower in the middle than it is at the ends, which allows it to navigate the tighter bends without jamming in the slot and without having to compromise the guide's effective depth and length. The guide is a good fit in its mount too, there's no floppy guide here; it is also spring mounted which I am not a lover of, and this spring is stronger than the Nincos. Braids are fairly stiff and coarse; they work well on large sweeping circuits but can take a bit of setting up on technical tracks with braided conductors and track level changes, and a bit of playing with the lead wires will help the guide self centre.
Two screws hold the body on, and it is noticeable that the front mounting post is damaged; not the first time I have come across this on lightweight slot models. Also, and probably tied in with the modular assembly, there are brass spacers on the body mounting posts. These are not secured so they fall out every time the body is removed. I have put a spot of superglue on mine just to eliminate the frustration!! Also note, the front and rear body screws are different length and pitch and the brass spacers are also different.
Looking around the inside of the model there is not too much to worry about, although the driver's tray on my model had broken away at the front and had to be resecured. The motor is a Scaleauto and is rated at 20,000 rpm. Combined wit a high gear reduction the model was always going to be quick. The rear axle bushes are the self centering round type but they are held firmly in place in the pod and do present a bit of drag to the axle until they can be eased.
Up the front the axle sits atop a couple of grub screws in the front axle slots. This allows the axle to move upwards into the wings (guards) which again I am not happy with. There is a hole in the top of each front axle mount and this is where I relocated the screws, turning them down until the tyres just made light contact with the track surface. Screwing the body back together again and putting a bit of 'float' in the pod I placed the model in the race box for an outing on the Birkdale Raceway megatrack.
At the track the model showed its capabilities. Needless to say its straight line speed was impressive and the untrued tyres hooked up quite well on the painted surface. It was quite easy to cycle the track at consistent times providing other lane users kept their distance; and in the corners there was little if no sign of instability. Hard acceleration out of bends saw the front of the model hop a little, but I attribute this to the guide spring and the position of the traction magnet and again, the round button magnet position further forward seems more attractive after this happens.
Eventually the inevitable happened and at speed a model deslots in front of me and a coming together was inevitable; surprisingly but almost half expected, the model shed several pieces of secondary bodywork, including the front valance! How one of the exhausts came off I still haven't quite figured out considering it was a 'front ender'. No matter, a day or so later the parts were epoxied back on and strengthened and maybe they will come off again, but not quite as easily as the first time!
So what do I think of it. It hasn't had a non magnet outing yet but it can certainly get moving on a magnet track. With a total body weight of 18 grams including the drivers tray it has to be said that it will inevitably have a limited existence. Maybe this is why the chassis is adjustable, once the body is past it, fix the chassis under something else!


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"Danzón" (1995)
"First, she dances to the right.
Then, she dances to the left.
Then, she dances on the spot.
So what?!" — "Danzón"
December 12, 2011 Culture Vulture
When "Danzón" last toured in the United States in 1995, dance icon Pina Bausch was very much alive, dancing a short solo within it.


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Submitted by: Worship & Music Committee
- This year our evening Lenten programs will have a church "family" focus. We hope that you will use this time as an opportunity for new beginnings as we grow in faith.
- Each program will begin at 5:00pm in the education building.
- After a brief opening, families with children up to 5th grade are invited to explore activity centers with a Lenten theme in the children's Sunday School area.
- Middle school and high school youth will have the opportunity to explore God's word through a video lesson.
- Adults will have the opportunity to connect with each other through an interactive Bible study.
- A special offering for Lutheran World Relief – Haiti Crisis will be collected each week.
- A fellowship meal will begin at 5:45pm each Sunday evening. A sign up sheet for desserts and clean-up will be available on the entrance table in the education building and church building.
- There will be five Lenten Sunday programs with the last one on March 21st.


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When I first started seeing headlines that claimed that Pope Francis said that "Muslim terrorism does not exist", I thought that it couldn't possibly be true. After all, who could possibly deny that Islamic radicals are engaged in terrorism? Within the last 30 days, there have been 127 Islamic terror attacks in a total of 25 different countries. And in 2016 global terror attacks set an all-time record high and were up 25 percent from the year before. Unfortunately, there are many world leaders that are so politically correct and that are so married to the idea that Islam is good that they cannot admit to themselves that radical Islamic terror is being fueled by radical Islamic beliefs. And in the case of Pope Francis, he is exceedingly careful never to say anything negative about Islam because it would greatly hinder his efforts to bring all of the major religions of the planet closer together. (Read More...)
One World Faith
The Pope's Embrace Of Evolution Brings Us One Step Closer To A One World Religion
If you wanted to create a religion that almost everyone would love, how would you do it? Perhaps you would change your faith to make it more appealing to a modern world that is changing at blinding speed. Perhaps you would indicate that you are willing to become more "mainstream" on hot button issues such as gay rights. Perhaps you would invite leaders of other religions from all over the planet to come visit you and make it clear that you consider all of those religions to be valid as well. And all of that "unscientific stuff" about God creating the world in six days and creating mankind out of the dust of the Earth? Well, all of that is just going to have to be thrown out. If all of this sounds vaguely familiar to you, that is because this is exactly what Pope Francis has been doing. (Read More...)


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Enjoy the program notes for this weekend's concert, written by our fabulous musicologist-in-residence, Kathryn Bacasmot!
It's easy to forget there was a time when the Goldberg Variations were not a part of the cornerstone collection of music to which we loved to listen. Their real debut into society occurred in 1955, when a young, eccentric, Canadian pianist named Glenn Gould stepped into a recording studio and made what has become an iconic recording of the work (Pablo Casals did a similar thing for the Six Suites for Solo Cello in 1936). Since then, they have captured our collective imagination with their seemingly endless nooks and crannies for exploration. Like the dialogue and scenes of an intricately shot and witty movie, the lines, jokes, and relationships between the notes of the variations reveal themselves to the listener on deeper levels with every listen.
Aria mit verschiedenen Veränderungen, "Aria with Diverse Variations," was the original title for BWV 988. The nickname "Goldberg" comes from a story that has been acknowledge as likely apocryphal due to lack of concrete evidence (Goldberg would only have been fourteen years old, and no dedication page to the Count exists) —yet it has had such an impact on the music it bears a brief re-telling. The story originates in 1802 with Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Bach's first biographer, who related an anecdote about Johann Gottleib Goldberg—reportedly one of Bach's students: "The Count [Hermann Carl von Kaiserling of Dresden] was often sickly, and then had sleepless nights. At these times Goldberg, who lived in the house with him, had to pass the night in an adjoining room to play something when the Count could not sleep. The Count once said to Bach that he should like to have some clavier pieces for his Goldberg, which should be of such a soft and somewhat lively character that he might be a little cheered up by them in his sleepless nights." Thus, so the story goes, did Bach write the Goldberg variations.
More likely is that Bach wrote the variations as the culmination to his Clavier-Übung ("Keyboard Exercise"), a collection of harpsichord and organ works published in four parts from 1731-1741. Part I included the six Partitas, Part II consisted of the Italian Concerto and the Overture after the French Manner, Part III is a master compendium of organ works, and Part IV is the Goldberg variations. As a whole, the Clavier-Übung traverses every style and skill set a keyboardist would need to know.
The opening theme in the Aria owes its harmonic structure to one of Bach's contemporaries, whom he admired greatly: George Frideric Handel. A side-by-side comparison of Handel's Chaconne avec 62 variations (HWV 442) reveals an identical base in the first eight bars between the two works. One of the marvels of the Goldberg variations is the beautiful symmetry of the entire work. The thirty variations are divided into two "sections" of fifteen: Nos. 1-15, and Nos. 16-30. Including the Aria that appears both at the outset and at the conclusion, Goldberg consists of thirty-two parts total. This macro piece structure is reflected in the micro structure each variation, most of which are either 16 or 32 measures in length. There are only three minor key variations, and the first is No. 15—the last variation of the first part. Variation No. 16 is marked "Overture" to herald the beginning of the second half. Every third variation is a canon at an increasing interval (i.e. No. 3 is a canon at the unison, No. 6 a canon at the second, No. 9 a canon at the third, etc.) up to the ninth, and culminates at No. 30 with a quodlibet—a combination of counterpoint and popular song. Here is where Bach's sense of humor shows most prominently, since the quodlibet includes popular melodies in his day, the words of which translate to "I have been away so long from you" and "Cabbage and turnips have driven me away (had my mother cooked meat, I'd have opted to stay)." After such a long journey through all the possibilities of the theme almost entirely in the major mode of its key of G (perhaps comically referred to as the "cabbage and turnips" redundancy of musical diet), the variations have come to an end, and returned home to the Aria, once again.


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Good images happen when you walk around with your camera. I was walking with friends around downton Seattle and as we wandered past an alley I happened to look up and this is what I saw. I believe, although I am not sure, that it was an urban art installation. They way that the wires crossed back and forth from all different levels, the fact that every piece of laundry was white, it all spoke to and intentional piece of art. I thought it was beautiful and your experience of it changed as you walked underneath and the lines and placement of the pieces changed as my perspective changed. I knew that I wanted a photograph of it but it presented a challenging exposure situation. I was standing in deep shadow with dark shadows falling on parts of both walls and a bright blue sky right behind the main subject. I didn't want the walls to go black because the sense of context that they give is really important so I took my initial reading using spot metering off of one of the shirts and then underexposed by one stop. I wasn't concerned about preserving detail in the sky because there was none, but I didn't want the shirts to blow out the highlights. Luckily the shirts were all in shadow so they weren't too hot, exposure wise. By going -1 on the exposure the walls were very dark in my original image but there was enough dynamic range in the file to pull the detail out in post processing.
-Russell Berg


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Open and Play a Song on Your Kindle Fire
First, you have to locate an item to play on your Kindle Fire, and then you can use the playback toolbar to control the playback. Follow these steps to play music from your Music library:
Tap the Music button on the Kindle Fire Home screen.
Locate an item you want to play on a tab in the Music library, such as Songs or Artists.
If you open a tab other than Songs, you need to tap to open an album or playlist to view the contents.
Tap to play it.
If you tap the first song in a group of music selections, such as an album or playlist, Kindle Fire begins to play all selections, starting with the one you tapped.
Use the controls to control playback.
Tap the button with horizontal lines in the top-right of the screen to go back to the album or playlist the song belongs to. To go back to the Now Playing screen for the song, tap its image at the top-right of the screen.
You can adjust playback volume by tapping Quick Settings and then Volume, or use the Volume setting in the Now Playing controls.
If you want to use a headphone with your Kindle Fire, which can improve the sound and remove extraneous noise, plug a compatible headphone into the headphone jack at the bottom of the device, near the Power button.


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Facebook page backs dismissed teachers
MYRTLE BEACH -- A student at Myrtle Beach High School started a Facebook social networking group to try and save the jobs of two teachers whose contracts are not being renewed for next year.
The two teachers, Rivers Lynch and his wife Teresa Lynch, both 62, retired from the system several years ago, but continued to work at the school, meaning they were year-to-year or at will workers. Rivers Lynch currently teaches drivers education and coaches the boys and girls tennis teams. Teresa Lynch is a guidance counselor.
Both were notified last Tuesday that they would not be asked to come back next year because of budget cuts, Rivers Lynch said.
``By our own policies and guidelines... we are only supposed to employ at-will workers if we are unable to fill those positions,'' said Horry County Schools spokeswoman Teal Britton. ``We've had in better economic times the ability to retain people for various reasons, but right now it raises questions of fairness.''
Britton said the positions are not being eliminated, but other teachers who may have been laid off because of ongoing budget issues could possibly be placed in those positions.
Students started a Facebook campaign Friday, which had grown to include 1,044 members as of Monday afternoon. According to the page, other students began circulating petitions to keep the Lynches employed at the school. Rivers Lynch said he was touched by what the students and alumni are doing.
``It just really makes me feel good. I have four daughters and one called me and said, `dad, you need to look on Facebook.' She started crying telling me about it,'' he said. ``It really overwhelmed me to see all of the support and letters, that's what's gotten us through this week. I don't want the students to do anything to get themselves in trouble because this isn't about the students. This is a budget situation, it revolves around money.''
Lynch said he and his wife have each been teaching at the school for more than 40 years. He also said three other at will teachers at the school were told they will not be asked to come back next year.
Efforts to reach he student who is believed to have started the group were unsuccessful.


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USAID, the Bureau for Food Security, Office of Strategic Planning and Program Management, and Monitoring and Evaluating Division together seek to support organisations that are developing, testing, or applying innovative methods in monitoring and/or evaluating the Feed the Future initiative and the overarching U.S. Global Food Security Strategy.
The U.S. Global Food Security Strategy has three focal points: inclusive and sustainable agricultural-led economic growth, strengthened resilience among people and systems, and the aim of a well-nourished population. The call aims to handle the measurement and analysis of key indicators in each of the focal points.
Within the measurement category, support is offered for research and testing of new measurement methods using innovative data collection, technologies, or analytical approaches. Within the analysis category, support is available for systems dynamics assessments of food security networks, and for research into the role of the Feed the Future initiative in improving food security within the designated "Zones of Influence".
U.S. and non-U.S. organisations are eligible to apply, including institutions of higher education. USAID is offering a total of £3.8m, with up to £750 000 allocated per project. The funding is intended to be used for projects of three years duration.
Please find further information and apply here.


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There's nothing quite like the January summer sales, which kicked off on Boxing Day, to ignite Australian retail. This season, experts predict that sales will skyrocket to $15m in the four weeks post-Christmas, up 5.6% on last year.
There are those that will have you believe the traditional images of Aussie shoppers queuing for hours before storming the doors at opening time – as they did in droves in Sydney from 5am on 26 December – could be a thing of the past as the war continues to rage between online and bricks and mortar stores. According to the annual World Internet Project, online purchases by Aussie consumers grew by more than 46% from 2011 to 2013.
Yet, if you take the Myer online debacle, which saw the department store's website crash on Christmas Day and remain down for over a week, one could conclude that Australians have not entirely been seduced by online shopping. While the failure of an equivalent website overseas (say, John Lewis in the UK) would cause uproar and millions of dollars would be lost in revenue, Myer chief Bernie Brooks said online sales equated to just 1% of Myer's annual turnover and that "there will be no impact at all on our profitability or our overall sales."
By their own admission, the Myer meltdown was due to technical problems – tech experts, including big guns at IBM, worked around the clock to resurrect it and the store's reputation – and not an inability to cope with record sales volumes. The store did attempt to appease frustrated online shoppers with free shipping. But was the failure a symptom of a lack of foresight, as far as internet shopping was concerned?
"Myer, like a lot of Australian retailers, realised about two years ago they could not continue to ignore ecommerce. And like a lot of others they rushed to get a site up and running. The Christmas Day crash was due to anxious Boxing Day sale shoppers looking for bargains on a platform that was done quickly and cheaply to get to market," says Stephen Kulmar, founder and strategist of marketing consultants Retail Oasis.
Spotting an opportunity to outclick their rival, David Jones immediately cashed in on the crash, offering further reductions on online-only sales items, a move, according to chief executive Paul Zahra, designed to "reward our online customers for their loyalty and patronage".
"David Jones, although very, very late to market with their multichannel answer, appear to have more rigorously tested [the platform] and therefore have a more stable platform," says Kulmar. But the fact remains that while David Jones reports about 1.5m visits to its site as it undergoes a massive end of year sales clearance, there are still plenty of shoppers trawling their halls and bricks and mortar stores around the nation in the hunt for a bargain.
"There's a real energy and atmosphere around Boxing Day sales, and its US equivalent – the Black Friday Thanksgiving Day sales. People assume it is not as busy as in the past because of online sales, but sales are strong," says Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman, who believes the instore experience is still preferred by many consumers.
Personal shopper Eva Timbs couldn't agree more. While she regularly trawls international sites like shopbop.com and barneys.com both to keep abreast of the latest trends and hunt for a bargain, she says that for her and her clients, "it's hard to beat the thrill of finding that something special on the rack. And really you do have to try it on." Yet whether that attitude holds firm in Australia amid the global trend towards shopping online remains to be seen.


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Flirty long dresses. Floral prints. Bold tones. You'd think these get boring and overused after a while but designers everywhere insist on proving us the contrary, collection after collection, season after season. The latest display of femininity with gorgeous trendy vibes comes from the Geren Ford spring/summer 2012 collection. Classy, flirty, polished yet only slightly and never boring, the outfits bring a new meaning to summer fun. The simplicity of the looks and complex overall appeal prove that at the intersection of art and clever desi... Read More


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The Buzz
SC senator pushes Senate to legalize medical pot
For each of the 23 days left in this legislative session, state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, said he plans to talk for five minutes about patients who could benefit from medical marijuana.
Those South Carolinians are of different ages, have different diseases and come from different parts of the state, Davis said.
But Davis, who filibustered an increase to the state's 16.75-cent-a-gallon gas tax this year and last, said this mini-gabfest is not the same.
"It's not a filibuster. It's five minutes," Davis said, adding his goal is to change hearts and minds.
Davis said he also is holding one-on-one meetings with members of the Senate's Medical Affairs Committee, which rejected the proposal last week. Davis hopes his efforts help pass a similar House medical-pot proposal.
The State Law Enforcement Division has opposed legalizing medical marijuana, saying the illegal pot market thrives when medical pot is legalized.


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Mens Skis
Here your will find one of the very best collections of skis available at any UK Ski store. Fischer, Head Ski, Indigo and Bogner skis are amongst the favorites of our customers. Feel free to get in touch with us if you require any additional information about any of the mens skis on this page.


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After walking south from Morgan Park to Jefferson Street, we will walk west to 6th Av and have an informal picnic oriented toward families with kids and other interested individuals at Bicentennial Mall State Park. Picnic is bring your own food/non-alcoholic beverages.
Time: 10:30am-12:00pm
Date: Saturday May 5, 2012
Event Start/End: Begins at Morgan Park (corner of 5th Av N and Hume St in North Nashville) and ends at Bicentennial Mall State Park (corner of 6th Av N and Jefferson St, Downtown Nashville).
Host Organization: Salemtown Neighbors
Registration: No need to sign up, just show up at the posted meeting location.
Accessibility: This event is welcoming and accessible to wheelchairs, bicycles, children, and seniors.


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Thank you listening! We invite you to join Janet Mata on KXXT1010am every Thursday at 4:15PM and Friday at 10:45AM Arizona Time online or on radio. It's Your Divine Destiny is sponsored by BeautyforAshesBoutique.com
Your Heart Matters – SoundCloud
Thank you listening! We invite you to join Janet Mata on KXXT1010am every Thursday at 4:15PM and Friday at 10:45AM. Arizona Time online or on radio. It's Your Divine Destiny is sponsored by BeautyforAshesBoutique.com
Your Heart Matters
Inspirational Writing by Janet Mata – It's Your Divine Destiny is sponsored by BeautyforAshesBoutique.com
Are you living a life of action or reaction? Are you letting your circumstances dictate your day? Are you succumb to the demands of the things that surround you?
For there is a reaction plan and a plan of action. The plan of action says you make your day what you plan. The reaction plan is living a life full of unexpectancies and emergencies.
How can you slow down if you are living in anxiety? How can you be at peace if you are living in fear? If you choose to hurry then you will waste what I died for.
Strive no longer, fret no longer, stop your stressing, for stress surrounds the world and is king over this world system. Stress and living a life of stress says you are a circumstance lover and victim; that you are swayed easily and shift your focus often.
Did I not say that a double-minded person would receive nothing at all? Just as many words spoken in prayer means nothing – so does many accomplishments done out of a hurried spirit. Did not Martha worry about many things as she strived to accomplish the preparations over the meal? – And required help from the one who was already sitting at the table with me? For am I not the meal of choice? – The bread that came from heaven? – The manna that sustains if you get it DAILY?
For am I not your daily bread? – and am I not the meal that sustains you?
Am I not your food for thought? Did I not say I have food that you know nothing about? For the Word of God sustains you. The Word of God feeds your soul. It is fertilizer for your growing heart. Didn't you know that your heart grows? Haven't you heard of having a change of heart? Didn't I say what were people thinking in their hearts?
Doesn't striving and worry stem from a heart condition? And doesn't your heart feed and nourish the rest of your body? What are you doing and what are you doing to yourself?
Take that drive and zeal and put it towards Kingdom my friend. Because you are mine, I call you friend. And my friends commune with me daily. They sit at my table and break bread.
Re-shift your thinking and take your heart, and hand it over to the master. The creator of your heart wants to do some heart surgery. He wants to take out the things in your heart that are causing worry, stress, and anxiety, along with fear (For fear involves punishment).
He wants to take a two edged knife – which is the Word of God and cut them out, one by one. And he wants to put in place of them a new spiritual pacemaker; to pace your steps, and a new spiritual time-clock; to order your steps, and to take out the roots of anxiety – which is an intricate process, because the roots are wild and invasive to every part of the heart chamber; and replace them with rivers of peace.
And he wants to cut out the fear which causes you to live in darkness and darkens your thinking and causes you to be double-minded; and wants to replace it with loving kindness, mercy and grace.
For hasn't the enemy of your soul caused enough damage already? Must you repeat the offense within yourself, demanding and creating havoc in your soul?
What is the purpose of being self-defeated while you accomplish the world? For didn't I say if you accomplish the world you will lose your soul? And whatever you focus on you get? To covet not; compare yourself to no one, for each person has a different call in life and that there are no two the same?
For we are all one body together, each a part of the Body of Christ to accomplish my will and my goodness.
Do your circumstances dictate your day? Or do you have a plan of action?
For my Father created a plan of action long before I arrived on earth to accomplish it. It's time to fulfill your heavenly Father's plan of action. His will. His plan. And it's time to make a plan of action, versus a reaction plan. For God does not want you to be caught off-guard, and if you keep spinning your wheels and going nowhere fast you will be caught off-guard.
So be at peace my daughter and son. Live a life of peace – and keep your joy. For strength comes from the joy of the Lord.
Are you stern and serious, or smiling? Do you add sorrow to those around you by your cutting words? For words do cut, but the Word of God is two edged – cutting more than your spirit but reveals the intent of your heart. Your heart matters. Use your life to build others up – including yourself.
Let me cut out the blockages of your heart. Allow me to be your heart surgeon. For I do not make mistakes. I can and I will. For what can be found in a man's heart? Only God knows!
Psalm 57:7 My heart is confident in you, O God; my heart is confident. No wonder I can sing your praises!
Psalm 73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
Living Worry-Free – SoundCloud
Thank you listening! We invite you to join Janet Mata on KXXT1010am every Thursday at 4:15PM, Friday at 10:45AM and Sunday at 9:45AM Arizona Time online or on radio. It's Your Divine Destiny is sponsored by BeautyforAshesBoutique.com
Living Worry-Free
Inspirational Writing by Janet Mata – It's Your Divine Destiny is sponsored by BeautyforAshesBoutique.com
Haven't I said in my Word to cast all your cares upon me – for I care for you? This is the great exchange. For I do it FOR you. So take every worry, fear, fret and flurry and lay them at my feet. For these have never been yours to carry.
Stand up and be strong – be careful for nothing – but in everything through prayer and thanksgiving let your requests be known unto your lord your God. For they cannot add anything good to your life. Rather, they add distraction and destruction. They take your ability to walk in God's perfect timetable. They take on their own characteristic and become an idol, a god, so to speak and cannot help you if you continuously choose to worry , fear, fret, or be drawn away by flurries.
For am I not the master caregiver? Am I not the one and only who can bear the weight of these things?
So take the world off your shoulders, friend. For the world isn't yours to carry. Give every care, whim and flurry to me, your creator, your God, Yeshua Hamashiach for I paid the price and became victor over these things!
Because worry, fret, and flurries bring trouble – and create troubled thinking, and a troubled mind. Which in turn troubles everything. Eventually this will go into overload where you lose your entire focus and well-being.
Did I not say that worry will not add even a minute to your life? Did I not say that tomorrow will worry for itself? What does this mean? It means it will not add anything beneficial or of lasting benefit to your life. So why do you continue to do these things? For if you take the bait of Satan – then you are living in your flesh.
Therefore sit at my feet and listen – for I care for you. I will orchestrate and organize your cares – and you will listen to my God-ordained instructions.
You become what you think about. What are your thoughts? On whom is your mind fixed on? Have you seen results from your thoughts? For all things start with a thought. And pondering on those thoughts give birth to them through action. And action gives birth to matter. And matter affects everything that it surrounds. So you see your worries affect others around you. And people repel from a worrier like oil and water. Life brings upon you enough load. So stop spinning your wheels and going nowhere.
Do you see? I care FOR you, so you don't have to. So plan your day according to my instructions. Do what you can and allow me to do the rest. For I am your husband and provider.
So change your thoughts. Does not my word say to think about these things – thoughts to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future, to think about things that are pure and lovely, praiseworthy and true, and of good report? Don't let your thoughts entice you to being dragged away to sin, rather fix your eyes on me. Cheer up for I have overcome the world.
Put the word of God within you to work – manifest what you have learned. Be a doer of the word – and let your actions speak volumes around you by your living faith. For faith requires work. It requires action.
For you are to love me with all your heart with all your soul, and all your strength, with all your ability and understanding.
If you are lacking understanding just ask me. Because me heavenly Father always gives good measure to those who ask. And keep on asking, and do not give up hope. Encourage yourself and be kingdom indeed. For the things on earth are temporal. So fix your eyes on the eternal. For eternal blessings await you in heaven. Everything you do on earth that is good and that pleases the Father will reap eternal rewards. So why not fatten your purse and load the angelic host with building materials?
So much is in store for those who believe – and continue to believe. Read my word. Listen to it. Act upon it. Understand it. Put it into action. For this is the Schema command for every believer.
I am the bread of life, come you who want to live for eternity – come to me and live. And see your salvation. Lose your life for me and you shall find it again – with abundant joy and happiness.
I am the new wine – drink of me and take your fill. For I am the giver of life. Take my advice – and fulfill the command. My instructions are here for you and await your action. For words are powerful, but actions speak volumes. They take on a ripple effect – and become matter.
Therefore let your words be few, and your actions not deny but to display your love and obedience to Christ and all that he is. For many words will not give you the inheritance you seek or desire. Trust my daughter. Trust my son, trust me for I am the good shepherd who leadeth you to life and life abundantly. I am the vine. Strengthen yourself by partnering with me and me only.
Truly yours, Yeshua.
Scripture Reference:
1 Peter 5:7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
Amplified: Casting the whole of your care(all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all) on Him for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.
Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God.
Matthew 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow, for the morrow take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.


text: oBike was the first dockless bike sharing scheme in Australia. DANIEL POCKETT/AAP June 13, 2018 Oh no, oBikes are leaving Melbourne! But this doesn't mean bike sharing schemes are dead Dorina Pojani, The University of Queensland and Jonathan Corcoran, The University of Queensland Dockless or stationless bike sharing is risky business, relying a bit too much on common decency. Bike sharing schemes can work, but they may need to forego user convenience for bike safety.


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Ready... Set... ART SHOW!Submitted by teacher on Sat, 06/06/2009 - 21:26.
It's not our art, but our heart that's on display. - Gary Holland
Things I've learned about elementary art shows:
- Start early. No - earlier than that.
- Keep a rich collection in children's portfolios. Don't depend on fabulous work to return once it's escaped to the refrigerator or Grandma's house.
- Estimate the amount of time you'll need to mount the artwork. Now, double it. That's about half the time you'll need to make sure everything is perfect.
- Invite everyone you know. Celebrate the people who came and don't worry about those who couldn't make it. Offer art-related door prizes, drawn from the names of students who attended with their families. Celebrate the class with the most visitors with a colorful ice cream party.
- Take good care of your friends, lovers, and volunteers. You'll need all of their help setting up and tearing down the show.
- Write thank you notes to everyone - the facility manager of the venue you used, the webmaster of the radio outlet who added your show to the community calendar, the newspaper staffer who added your press release to the weekly paper, every volunteer who helped, and every colleague who attended.
- Take lots of pictures.
- Don't get the flu. If you DO decide to get the flu, don't stage it during a swine flu pandemic. (See #4 - double and triple your be good to everyone close habits. All those sweet people will come in handy when Public Health and the school district nurse forbid anyone with flu symptoms from contact with normal [non-art show stagers] until further notice.)
Enjoy. Children's art is glorious, but the collective effect of 500 pieces of kid art will give you goosebumps. Or tears. Or both.
For all grand and glorious efforts, there must be a "this is the first time I've tried this" time. I decided to stage a whole-school show to showcase our kids' art about when started enjoying the collective impact of our hallway displays last year. I started a file with ideas and suggestions before that school year ended and added to it through the summer. The challenge of a venue is tough. Encumbering our gym/cafeteria for two or three days isn't a good choice. My PE partner already has lots of interruptions that take his classroom away and April weather in western Washington is usually too rainy for him to teach comfortably outside. Commandeering the hallways in my school is problematic, too. An important part of instruction at my school is a program called, GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Development.) Bulletin boards in the hallways are filled with colorful examples of children's writings and drawings about their lessons. The school is fairly new so the halls aren't wide enough to accommodate vertical displays and the three "pods" that cap the three hallways, while roomy, are always in use with small groups of children in special interest or intervention groups.
Hmmmm. On the other hand, there's a great space at our small town's city hall. It's an easy walk from our school - about 4 1/2 blocks. I reserved the main room the second week at school and began "talking up" the show to the kids. An art show like this one is a great chance for students to choose a favorite piece of artwork from all the work they've completed throughout the year. The stage was set - if you'll forgive the cliche - and the artmaking continued throughout the year.
The impact of all that child art in one place was amazing. I'd spent a year and a half researching display methods and settled on a combo approach. Some of the work was mounted on the walls, some laid out on long tables, and some was hung on livestock panels that we hooked together in sets of three to stand like vertical kiosks of sorts. It was an crazymaking amount of work and probably contributed to how hard the flu hit me that week. It was interesting in another way, too. We'd rented the whole room but found, when we came to set up, that one wall was covered with Arts Council pieces from professionals and that black curtains carved out a 20 foot, entire width of the room section for the Peninsula Art Association's annual spring show and sale. As it turned out, there was plenty of room for all of us, and the adults were interesting. We had everything from sniffing, look down my nose at children's paltry offerings to smiles on quiet faces that looked at every single piece, reading the artists' statements as the artwork was savored. We didn't have enough attendance from the school but I'll figure out another way to make a run at it next year. The people who did come loved it and the kids who were there were proud to see their work on display. I put together a guest book for people to share comments and left it on the entry table. The written comments were fun to read and supportive, but my favorite adult comment was from my principal, who said, "I loved the artwork, of course, but I lost myself in the artist statements that were attached to each piece. I read those for a solid hour - they're windows into those kids' souls."
My favorite child response was from a brother and sister (K and 4th grade, respectively) who brought every relative in town - totaling 14 people - to stake out their claim to the ice cream party prize for most guests. They didn't win that contest but the special art supplies they won pleased them even more.
As grand first efforts go, I think all of us did a great job.
One Hundred Reasons I Love My Job: #7 - #10Submitted by teacher on Wed, 04/15/2009 - 19:22.
Here are a few more reasons that have come to me lately - enjoy numbers seven through ten in my continuing series.
7) All the important people wear smiles.
I love my audience and it's so rarely a tough crowd. When children come to me for art, they're always primed and ready. They're sometimes a little jiggly but that's a good thing. High energy translates to some amazing artwork. I'm really spoiled by the constant stream of beamy faces. If I'm out of context (like the grocery store or on the playground in the middle of the day) children holler their greetings: "Hey, art teacher - it's ME!" My sweetie always knows when we've encountered one of my ducklings in our wanderings. There is nothing like that smile of recognition and it's fun to introduce myself to families.
8) Amazing discoveries happen every day.
"That cool shade of mud by the leaky faucet by the corral - you can make it by mixing green and red and blue." Imagine! "Dried paint from the stamp bucket makes amazing texture for my picture. I got it in my hair and some in my ear, too. Do you think it'll come out? Ever?" "Did you know that this much glue takes a long, long, long time to dry?" (I always try to look surprised for this one...)
9) The complexities of the Universe are explained to me by short people who know everything about everything.
"My dad likes sharks so I made him a red one because that's his favorite color." "I looked at this dinosaur in a book when I drew it but I think it changed since last week." "My paper weaving was broken but Cassidy oppositted it." "Dragons just take longer to draw now that I'm seven. I draw the fancy ones now."
10) Anticipation is delicious.
We're getting ready for the first ever whole-school art show. I've picked the brains (and the old posts) from the wise people on a couple of art teachery lists I read regularly for survival hints. I've found everything from mounting ideas to logistical methods for hanging that much artwork to checklists that experienced art show mavens use for their efforts. I'm in real danger of overdosing on child art but that's nothing new. The goosebumpy cleverness of kids' offerings has me grinning like a loon but I've made some decisions about how to gather art next year. I'll do portfolio collections differently and start a little bit earlier. It's sixteen days until "hanging day" and I have about three quarters of the art in, mounted, artist statmented (gotta love poetic license...) and ready to go.
Life in the fast lane of art is a good thing.
Artistic Behavior - CreativitySubmitted by teacher on Mon, 03/30/2009 - 11:33.
"You cannot use up creativity. The more you use the more you have. " -Maya Angelou
Go outside and play. -Mom
Are these the eating spoons or the digging spoons? -Janine
Do you want extra chile in your burrito? (a question from the depths of the backyard mud pit, July 1983) -Ariana
Mom, we need clothespins, a ladder, and a long piece of rope. It's a secret. -Lisa
With few exceptions, children are innately creative. When we listen to them as they play we hear about complex worlds, (starring their designers, of course) intricate plot lines, and ever changing themes. When one isn't burdened by years of experience it may be a little easier to imagine all things - or maybe it's just more fun. We know that children develop and mature through the vehicles of play and invention and the lucky among us can remember long hours spent in acting out rich fantasies. Ropes were snakes with magical powers, kitchen spoons were wands for casting spells (and could do double duty for bug funerals) and shrubbery between our house and Mrs. Marshall's became enchanted (impenetrable, of course) briar. An old sheet served as a cowboy's tent, a movie screen (flashlights and shadows) or the queen's long brocade train. Dusty tree wells (my childhood was staged in southern New Mexico) could be transformed into intricate houses if the dirt was pressed into service as walls or valleys in danger of horrible floods (yep - garden hoses in the summertime.) If you'll promise not to laugh, we also made fabulous "forts" with carefully stacked dry tumbleweeds. One man's invasive weed is another man's castle or dragon cave. The only limits to our play were time and freedom to create.
Children's art play is often intertwined with their dramatic games. Humans make tools they can use and decorate their lives and our smaller artists craft brilliant examples. With a little thought and some time to apply it a piece of yellow cellophane can be a sparkly kite cover or the visor of a space helmet. In the hands of a creative child, different colors of plain construction paper change to a fancy house and clay tools are pressed into service as rays of the sun. Tissue might be used as an insert of a greeting card or be attached to an outrageously jaunty party hat.
Where do these clever short people get their ideas from? Everywhere. Sometimes they come to art and try to sit quietly in our meeting area but I can almost feel the hum of ideas that have come in, fully formed but just looking for the right materials before they can be seen by the rest of us. Sometimes an artist will stand at a studio, passing materials from hand to hand and looking vacantly into space. They're building something in their heads and making materials lists just as complete as any professional architect's. Children thumb through collections of photographs or "idea" books and sometimes wander to see what peers are doing before settling into the work of creating a piece of art.
We see the same quiet patience with the creative process in painting. Curiosity about what specific colors will do after their mixed leads to careful additions of color, brushes stroke in silence, and suddenly the artist crows at the result on the paper, "Look what I just invented!"
Warning: Soapbox Alert!
No electronic methodology was injured in the creation of these memories. Electricity, in the form of TV, MP3, video game, computer, or other mechanical tools is antithetical to the ancient concept of "Go outside and play." Research premises: dirt is good for you, and when mixed with sunshine is magical; mudpies are far better for fine muscle practice than are cell phone text pads or joy sticks; coloring books and coloring sheets have some interesting purposes, but they're unrelated to art.
Mom is always right.


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Oblivious: Thoughts on Oblivion (2013)
It's very pretty, but not very good. The story is poorly paced, awkwardly revealed and thoroughly confusing. It also has Tom Cruise in.
The story, such as it is, is set in a post-apocalyptic future where the Earth has been ravaged by the final blow of a war with an alien force. We "won", having scorched the planet with atomic hellfire, repelling the aliens but leaving our planet barely habitable. The surviving humans fled to a bizarre pyramid-shaped space station in orbit, leaving a few of the invaders scattered about, doing what they can to survive on the surface. Meanwhile, the future of humanity is assured by giant machines that float over the oceans, sucking up the water to use, ostensibly, as fuel for a trip to the nearest habitable rock -- Saturn's moon of Titan.
Tom Cruise is Jack Harper, a technician who lives in a peculiar house on top of a pencil-thin tower with a vacuous British redhead that operates a talking table all day long. His job is to fly his mechanical dragonfly down to the surface to repair security drones that patrol the ocean-sucking machinery, keeping it safe from the aliens.
From here, it all goes to shit. Big spoilers to follow, for more than one film. I don't care. I like to live dangerously.
Tom ultimately discovers that he's a clone, apparently designed after one of the only two surviving humans, and his purpose is to continue to maintain the technology of the "humans" aboard the pyramid in the sky, which is not manned by humans at all, but by the alien invaders. Alien invaders who aren't harvesting the oceans for fusion fuel for a trip to Saturn, but simply raping the planet of all its remaining natural resources.
So, Tom's a clone. That sounds familiar. How did he find out he's a clone? He discovered a duplicate of himself, doing the same job he should be doing. Still sounds familiar. Why does it sound familiar? Oh, yeah. Moon. Sam Rockwell did it so much better.
After this reveal, the rest of the film falls roughly into place, following two additional reveals that really didn't take me by surprise. I have to admit, I was a bit taken aback by how blatantly the key plot point from Moon was "borrowed", and I lost a bit of enthusiasm for Oblivion's remaining twists. The biggest plot hole still revolves around the clones-of-Cruise idea, though.
The original Jack, imaginatively labeled "Jack 49", meets up with a duplicate of himself in the middle of the desert, attempting to repair a drone. They proceed to beat the crap out of each other, ending with Jack 49's revived wife being shot, and Jack 52 (the other Jack) being crudely tied up and left in the desert while 49 rushes the shot wife to a nearby cave and steals 52's helicopter-dragonfly to go get her some magical fixer-upper drugs from 52's pole house. This is all fine and dandy, except:
Jack 49 apparently borrows Jack 52's clothing (they have numbers and colour coding on them) in order to convince Jack 52's own version of the cranky British redhead that he's her colleague and not some clone of him. He then somehow swaps back to his original 49 uniform before the story continues, which is fine. Well, sort of. It'd be fine if Jack 52 himself didn't up and disappear entirely until the unsatisfying end of the film. I don't know if the changing number on the jacket is a continuity error or an intended thing, or what. If it is a continuity error, it's a fatal error because the story relies on very subtle hints about what's going on, and the number and colour of Jack's uniform is pretty significant.
Jack 49 also steals Jack 52's helicopter-dragonfly for the remainder of the film, and proceeds to fly it -- while wearing his 49 regalia, again -- into the alien mothership masquerading as a human space station (did I mention spoilers?). Do they not notice that he's a 49, and it's a 52? Actually, I suppose they don't. Their scanning systems can't even tell the difference between a frozen Russian woman and a frozen black man.
Also, the alien mothership? Independence Day. Big triangular doorway. Massive internal corridor with foggy crap in it. All it needs is an army of marching insect creatures on the floor.
Final verdict: Very pretty, a bit boring, and very confusing. Taking a simple, mysterious story and trying to make it more mysterious by going all David Lynch on it is bad decision. Just tell the story. And maintain your continuity. Please.


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"He just loves his job now," said his driver and trainer, Mike Oosting. For the first 12½ years of Claudius Q's life, that wasn't the case.
"The horse made a lot of money (almost $300,000) before I got him but he wasn't a horse who wanted to win. He finished second or third much of the time, making his money the hard way," said Oosting, the circuit's leading driver in 2007 with 520 dash winners and the also the trainer for the game old-timer for owner Paul Bertucci of Oak Park.
The now 14-year-old gelding only managed to capture 24 of his first 245 career starts, a rather anemic 10.5 winning percentage.
Claudius Q raced as high up as $75,000 claimers at The Meadowland, but it didn't really matter what caliber of horses he raced against. He was always right there, but it seemed like he didn't what to beat anyone.
"Now he goes out on the track and wants to win races," said Oosting with smile.
Since he was plucked out of a $4,000 claimer event at Maywood Park in June of 2005, Claudius Q has made 52 starts and has stopped in a Chicago circuit track winner's circle 30 times -- a hard-to-believe 57.6 per cent winning clip.
"When I claimed him he was a very lame horse and he finished up the track the night I took him," continued the 45-year-old Michigan native. "I gave the horse two weeks off. The first week we had some vet work done on him and just walked him. The second week we worked him early in the week and then walked him. And ever since then he's been lights out for us."
Claudius Q drew off in his first start for Oosting at double his $4,000 claiming price with a 1:52.4 mile at Balmoral Park, only two-fifths of a second off the pacer's lifetime mark set six years earlier as a spry five-year-old.
"The horse still has lameness problems but when I see that he's starting to break down, I stop with him and give him all the time off he needs," Oosting said.
Claudius Q went six months in between starts after he stopped racing in 2005 and again in 2006 and he received another three months of R & R at the end of his 2007 campaign.
This will be the last year of racing for the 14-year-old. United States Trotting Association rules mandates that a no standardbred can compete in a pari-mutuel race when he or she becomes a 15-year-old, an age Claudius Q reaches on January 1, 2009.
Claudius Q, who Oosting calls "a fidgety horse who likes to have fun in his stall," is enjoying his golden years. Once again he was all business on the race track last Thursday when he made his first Maywood Park start for Oosting, coming from out of it to post a convincing seven-plus length victory in 1:55.2 in the first division of Maywood's Sweet Sixteen Tournament. He earned the even-money favorite's role for Friday night's final.
"I liked the fact last week they were dueling hard in the first half but the horse in front of us actually got a better trip than we did and we ended up having to go around him as well," said Oosting. "I was able to train him as a half-miler for his Maywood start but in his career, the horse has raced on all sized ovals and I felt confident he would handle this smaller track."
Claudius Q will carry a four-race winning streak when he leaves from the four-post in Friday's seventh race.


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This Week in DC: Sept. 22-28
September 22, 2014 by Becca
I just spent a fabulous, whirlwind weekend in Chicago interviewing tons of lovely ladies in the hunt for our two Chicago Bitches. Have a friend in the Windy City? Let us know if they're interested in joining the team.
Now that I'm back in the District, I'm gearing up for a fun week—and summer's wind-down. Don't miss our giveaway for two tickets to a great yoga brunch on Sunday, see below. And, sign up for the giveaway for two tickets for Chef's Behind Bars, here.
September is Turkish Cultural Heritage Month and this week, in particular, is Turkish restaurant week. Agora is celebrating in full force. Head to the 17th Street resto for a special menu for lunch and dinner. The three-course lunch if $18 per person, and the three-course dinner is $30. The menus are fabulous, featuring Mediterranean greats like Kibbeh, swordfish, lamb loin, and more. 1527 17th St. N.W., Washington, D.C.
Interesting in branding and marketing? Cori Sue is speaking on a panel about both subject Tuesday evening. Head to Local 16 for an evening of cocktails and conversation: Building and Protecting Your Company's Brand. Hosted by Tom Goldstein and William Paxton, partners at Paxton Law Group, the other panelists include Mike Englert and Ambica Prakash of graphic design and web development studio, eighty2degrees, and Mauricio Gaitan, Financial Services Business Consultant at the Greater Washington Office of New York Life. 6 to 9 p.m. 1602 U St. N.W., Washington, D.C..
Chef José Andrés is celebrating 10 years at Jaleo Crystal City with a journey through his native Spain featuring an all-inclusive evening of authentic tapas, hands-on demonstrations, and live entertainment. Wednesday night, the restaurant will be transformed into a festive Spanish market featuring different cities that reflect the regional diversity of classic and contemporary Spanish cuisine. There will be food, drinks, porrón demonstrations—alongside live performances from Flamenco dancer Emily Mazzotti and guitarist Miguelito Perez. $35 per person, get tickets here. Five dollars from each ticket sold will be donated to José Andrés' World Central Kitchen. 2250-A Crystal Drive, Arlington, Va.
Need a mid-week happy hour pick-me-up? Head to our favorite neighborhood spot, Commissary, for its extended happy hour. The deal is fantastic: from 3 to 7 p.m. (and 4 to 6 p.m. on the patio), you can get everything on the menu priced between 3 and 7 bucks! 1443 P St. N.W., Washington, DC.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company begins the first offering of its 35th season this week, David Adjmi's Marie Antoinette, a highly contemporary look at the famously iconic and controversial queen of France, from her growing celebrity to her ultimate demise at the hands of those who had once extolled her. I'm going to check it out this week (review coming soon!) but get your tickets early; it runs through Oct. 12. 641 D St. N.W., Washington, D.C.
This Saturday, Barracks Row is hosting its annual Fall Festival, and Matchbox is hosting a beer garden and Marine cookoff in the lot across the street from their Capitol Hill location. Head there for an array of Oktoberfest-themed grub and beer, plus live music and plenty of fun. Plus, starting at 6 a.m., 16 teams of active duty armed forces chefs representing all military branches, will battle it out in a mystery ingredient cooking competition, putting their culinary skills to the test in front of the Marine Barracks. Noon to 6 p.m. 521 8th St. S.E., Washington, D.C..
It's time for a GIVEAWAY, Bendy Bitch babes! We're giving away two tickets to a 'Bendy Brunch' yoga brunch this Sunday. No Kings Collective and Grip the Mat are hosting the fun yoga session, followed by brunch and No Kings' latest pop-up art exhibit. Grip The Mat's Bendy Brunch will be the first ever mixed-level sensory yoga class featuring art, yoga, food and drinks. The price of admission ($35) includes a yoga class, brunch, and one complimentary mimosa. Click here to get tickets. Or, if you want to enter to win a pair, simply post a comment here with your favorite yoga pose and tweet the pose to @BtchesWhoBrunch and @Gripthemat.
Don't want a that much physical activity before brunch? Central Michel Richard just announced it's serving a new Sunday brunch beginning this week. it's a $25 three-course fixed-price Sunday Brunch, with bottomless mimosas, bellinis and bloody Marys available with the Sunday Brunch menu for an additional $15. Brunch will be served 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Central, 1001 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C.


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"Destroy me. Depend on no one."
El Topo (or The Mole) is a surrealist Mexican Western about a cowboy with a naked son who frees a bunch of slaves from an evil Colonel before venturing through the desert to duel The Four Masters and then comes to find self-realization in a cave. The Internet said it's about religion or something, so that's cool.
In all seriousness, I really ended up enjoying this film. I may not have picked up on every piece of meaning, but it's always visually interesting. Some may find trouble with all the nudity and violence, but I usually found it to be doing something meaningful. I think good surrealism comes when everything doesn't seem random, and you can really get a sense that something important is going on, even if you have to do some Googling to figure out what that is.
Religious imagery is all over this movie. I've brushed up on several theories about the film's take on religion and also the meaning of the "Four Masters" and their respective teachings. I think Christianity is the clear inspiration for most of the religious aspect. There is Old Testament imagery such as when El Topo prays for water and shoots a rock to make a spring appear in reference to Moses, but there is even more Jesus imagery. This stuff is everywhere. Crosses, the stigmata, El Topo spreading his arms in classic Jesus pose when he is betrayed and shot down. I took the entire second act to reflect a rebirth like the Biblical rising from the dead. While Christians believe that Jesus rose to lead people to heaven, El Topo rises and leads people out of the cave and into the village. There are a lot of ways to read into the religious stuff, and I found it to be the coolest thing to think about regarding the film.
I personally enjoyed Act I a lot more. I think the Western vibe and the plot structure was a lot more engaging. The second half seemed to drag a bit with the establishing of the village and the cave people and all these new elements. I think it's a cool contrast to the first half and definitely indicates a rebirth and a sort of penance for El Topo, but it's definitely less interesting to watch in my opinion. However, I did think the return of El Topo's son and him taking his father's place to an extent was a cool plot point.
Surrealism can be tricky, and the movie can fall flat at times. Maybe a second viewing will lend more appreciation to a grander scheme, but lack of a conventional plot asks a lot of a viewer. For the most part, El Topo delivers, but I would perhaps like to see a more focused direction if the rumored sequel ever gets made. Then again, maybe I just didn't get something.
I will certainly say I have never seen a movie like this one before. Director (and starring actor) Alejandro Jodorowsky certainly takes a bold leap with this film, and I can see why it found its way onto the list. I am always welcome to cinema on the stranger side and hope to come to a better appreciation of the genre as I delve deeper in the future.
Films Left to Watch: 993


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I love pancakes on a Saturday morning, but these days with such frantic schedules, a leisurely gathering of ingredients and careful whipping up of a batch of homemade pancakes just isn't always in the cards. Enter Cinnamon Graham Cracker Pancake Mix offered exclusively from Williams-Sonoma. This delicious blend of graham crackers, honey, and cinnamon is a winning combination, and the ease at which these can be stirred together makes this harried woman only too happy to serve them on even the busiest of mornings. My husband, a notorious cinnamon hater, liked these enough to ask for seconds; my son who'd stopped by to spend the day helping us in the yard gave a "thumbs up" as well. This mix works equally well for pancakes and waffles, if you prefer the latter. If you find yourself lacking for dessert, whip up a batch, top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with warm apple or caramel topping. What could be easier?
Three thumbs up for this delicious mix!
This post is linked to Sweets for a Saturday.


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17 H-2A farm workers, through their union, filed a lawsuit today alleging that Larson Orchards Management, Inc. violated a written agreement where the company pledged it would not retaliate against any workers who joined together to correct serious labor law abuses during the 2017 apple harvest. However, Larson Fruit and its labor contractors have only rehired four H-2A workers from last year – none of whom participated in the strikes. The strikes brought about dramatic changes at the orchard, including the reinstatement of improperly terminated workers and the reassignment of an abusive foreman. The lawsuit, filed in Yakima Superior Court, asks the court to require that the company hire the workers back and seeks damages for lost wages.
"H-2A workers are highly vulnerable workers with few rights and protections. They take a huge risk to speak up about working conditions in part because of the rampant retaliation and blacklisting within the H-2A program," said Joe Morrison, an attorney with Columbia Legal Services who is representing Familias Unidas por la Justicia, an agricultural labor union whose members include the H-2A workers. "Like others in the H-2A program, these workers live in poverty in Mexico and have very few options in Mexico to work and provide for their families. If they are blacklisted for advocating for better conditions, their opportunities to work in the U.S. are destroyed."
In September 2017, a group of H-2A workers raised concerns about their workplace in a letter to Larson and refused to work until the owners met with them to discuss the problems. The complaints included threats, racial and sexual slurs, unjustified warnings and terminations, unsafe working conditions (e.g. spraying pesticides in orchard blocks where workers are working, broken ladders, etc.), lack of medical attention, refusal to take workers to the doctor, working 12-hour days with only one ten-minute break, and falsification of pay stubs. Instead, representatives from Larson and WAFLA told the striking workers to get back to work or go home to Mexico. The workers returned to work, but conditions worsened and Larson immediately fired three of the workers. Workers went on strike for several days and brought in Familias Unidas por la Justicia to help them negotiate with Larson and publicize their plight.
With the help of Familias Unidas, the H-2A workers reached an historic agreement with Larson to reinstate the fired workers, remove an abusive foreman, create a worker committee, and obtain an anti-retaliation pledge. As part of the agreement, Larson pledged not to retaliate against any workers who made complaints or participated in work stoppages. In the anti-retaliation pledge, Larson also agrees to refrain "from any communications with individuals or entities involved in the recruitment of H-2A workers that would result in employees at the Ranch being black-listed or denied future employment in subsequent years assuming they satisfactorily finish the 2017 H-2A contract." However, when Larson worked with WAFLA to recruit 156 H-2A workers this year for work that was nearly identical to what was offered in the 2017 H-2A contracts, none of the workers who advocated for their rights were invited back.
The lawsuit alleges that Larson, the Washington Farm Labor Association (WAFLA), and CSI Visa Processing also violated Washington's Little Norris-LaGuardia Act which the Legislature passed to protect all workers who join together to improve their working conditions. WAFLA and CSI are labor contractors who supply H-2A foreign workers to Washington farms and Larson, who owns and operates orchards throughout Yakima and Grant Counties, is a member of WAFLA.
The H-2A program is expanding rapidly and Washington state has seen some of the fastest growth of H-2A workers in the nation. Yet, workers and advocates have long raised widespread concerns with the program since H-2A temporary workers have fewer rights than domestic workers, are tied to a single employer, and are vulnerable to abuse or mistreatment (see "You Came Here to Suffer").


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Apple Lifts Curtain On Final Cut Pro X
Apple's new Final Cut Pro X video editing software has been "rebuilt from the ground up" for the Mac OS X "Snow Leopard operating system and is "as revolutionary as the first version of Final Cut Pro was when introduced in 1999," the company boasted Tuesday at an unveiling of the software suite in Las Vegas.
The latest version of Final Cut Pro is a 64-bit application that will have Apple rivals Adobe and Avid "in a race for second place," said Peter Steinauer, Apple's senior video applications engineer and the architect of Final Cut Pro X, according to sources at the NAB Show's SuperMeet event.
The software is written to leverage all the CPU cores on multi-core systems—or "Grand Central Dispatch," as Steinauer termed it—to "dynamically handle massive quantities of media" on a resolution-independent playback system with built-in background rendering.
Final Cut Pro X, featuring a new user interface, now readies media for editing before clips are fully ingested, he said, according to Photography Bay, which liveblogged the event.
Functions the new software offers include people detection and shot detection, as well as automatic audio cleanup and non-destructive color balance.
Final Cut Pro X also adds some synching features that make it almost impossible to accidentally push audio and video out of synch, while allowing multiple audio clips to be locked to a video clip. Users can now "collapse chunks of media into a single clip on the timeline—how nesting always should have worked," reported MacRumors.com on another liveblog documenting SuperMeet.
Final Cut Pro X will ship in June and be priced at $299, according to MacRumors.com.


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Give Smokin' And Sippin' a listen - it's a new offering from Juicy J. It was dropped on Tuesday, December 28th, 2010. Juicy J's musical situation is improving with every new release, and Smokin' And Sippin' will most definitely help the cause. It's a fine addition to the growing body of work Juicy J has been developing since stepping foot in the game. We're looking forward to what Juicy J has in store.
Have you heard Juicy J's Hit It From Da Back (Remix), featuring Wale & Diamond? Check out Juicy J's profile page for the most recent info, news, songs, and mixtapes.
Can you appreciate the bars here?