text:
Shaper Setups for Complex Joinery
Forum Responses
From contributor J:
We've been running a Martin T26 in our shop that replaced 4 dedicated shapers going on 5 years now. I will say the fence on the Martin shaper is "dead on," just like their jointer tables are. The programmable fence is accurate and repeatable to .05mm. The manual digital fence is probably just as or more accurate and the new generation T27 fence has a small improvement that maintains .025mm accuracy. I find .05 or even .1mm is accurate enough for most woodworking setups. Occasionally when using the fences like a jointer (taking off a small amount with the infeed fence and the same cutting circle with outfeed), we have to bump the motorized fence slightly one way or the other to totally eliminate snipe. Here is the problem with this type cut; our 3 ply window and door parts are S4S very accurately, but wood is a living material and can move a little or bow slightly sitting on a cart overnight in a shop. So even with a totally accurate fence, you will not experience 100% snipe free cutting using this method.
We use an Aigner digital outboard fence for shaping all parts. About the only time the split fence is used like a jointer is for outside sash cuts. We have successfully run the outside sash rebate on very large windows and doors (we have the extendable support on ours) up to 4' X 10'. It's a little tricky and takes a helper or two. We also have run the outside edge cuts of 7' wide X 10' high L&S doors. We are bearing against the Aigner integral fence for this so if the piece slips away you get a second chance. And we machine the euro groove for multipoint locks all the time on very tall doors. We do bead removal on this machine also.
We recently added another programmable sliding table shaper for cope and tenon cuts only. We had been using the bolt on Panhans sliding table that is quick to set up but cumbersome and not adequate for long and heavy parts. Martin probably makes the best side mounted heavy tenoning table in the industry, but to use it effectively requires a separate machine. It involves removing the fence to set up and, although easy, it takes some time. Unfortunately Martin no longer supplies a cut off saw to use with this. Almost anything would be an improvement over the Powermatic. Modern tenon tools don't adapt well to those and they look like a bear to set up.
All door and window cutter setups can be done in 2 to 5 minutes. Here is where contributor T can gain some points for his dedicated obsession. I can achieve these times, but have 30 years of shaper experience starting with some poor machines. I have not been successful with training shop guys to set this up quickly. It's a little intimidating at first and fences or cutters can be damaged easily if not careful. I have the best luck on interior door jobs where only 3 or 4 setups are needed and building in batches daily. But complicated entry door cuts and windows that can have 14 different cutter heads are just too much to remember, even with written instructions. Especially when not done daily. We use mostly European insert tooling that is almost a must to get the benefit of a machine like this. A lot of our window and door cutters are set up on a sleeve and require no change of fence position or height.
Dedicated shapers are just not an option for us. In a normal month we will have 20 or 30 setups done several times with other odd setups mixed in. I think large cabinet door manufacturers have the best luck with this. In a small shop, dedicated takes a lot of real estate and does not give much versatility. Making doors and windows also requires more of a machine than a Delta or Grizzly type.
Another plus to the Martin is the great personal service Carl and Dan offer. We had some minor service issues with our S4S machine this last year and a few broken parts (mostly self inflicted) and they were quick to respond and solve.
All this said, the shaper is still an entry level machine for door and window making even in a small shop. We are in the process of going CNC for our most often built and complicated frames. I still see a lot of use for the Martin for the one-off and specialty items. Another thing you might want to look into is the late model used angular window machines available from Europe now. Door and window technology is changing over there and a lot of these machines are available for less than 100K. They are very fast for tenoned window frames and sash. Some can do 8 to 15 complete units per hour including bead removal. No curved parts though.
From contributor T:
Contributor J approaches his product line in the same way I would, if I had as varied a product line as he has. His work, however, is far more custom than mine. We pretty much build kitchen cabinets, and since we do most of our own design, we seldom pitch ideas that we are not already set up for. We also build in very small batch sizes. This approach has effectively increased available floor space to accommodate the dedicated work stations. Since we have less work in process, we can commit that real estate to machinery.
We allocate and air dry our door stock for the whole kitchen, but typically build no more than two to four doors at a time. We build them at the rate they are needed at the door hanging station.
We have also worked pretty hard on setup reduction. We have a dedicated cope shaper and a dedicated stick shaper. We can change from a mission style profile to an ogee in about 2 minutes, without running any test pieces. This process used to take our most skilled guy 45 minutes.
In general, the things you do to reduce time spent in setup also tend to increase accuracy. One of the reasons contributor J's system works so well is the digital readouts. He can achieve repeatability without spending a lot of time making test cuts. You can emulate the digital readouts with repeatable stops. An example of this might be the rotatable stops you see on a plunge router base or a back-fence repeatable stop system such as is sold by the JA Dawley Company.
From the original questioner:
Thank you. I am still wet behind the ears, so a lot of the information is eye widening and helpful! Contributor T had mentioned an "outboard" fence as well. I'm not sure how to do this conceptually. I use power feeders (4 wheeled steff). Frankly the noodling around is a real killjoy, and financially killing me. I like the dedicated machinery concept... I call it a poor man's CNC.
The Martin is something I want, but might be out of my reach. How much was it? The t27 is a beautiful machine.
Regarding the shapers I have... I would really like to get them to work. Also I don't know where I'd unload 5 shapers. I feel a little defeated but the fighter in me won't give up. I like these beasts I have, but (perhaps too high an expectation) the fence/snipe issue is driving me crazy. The outboard fence idea could help a lot.
Tenoning is a 3 dimensional nightmare with the Powermatic. They are bent and twisted, meaning they are off a fat 1/32nd over 1.5 inches. This creates a pinch in the mortised joint and a shoulder issue... again back to fiddling with parts. I can't find anyone near me that knows how to effectively dial it in. I need a new option.
When you do your tenoning, is the coping done at the same time, or do you do the tenon and then go to another setup for the cope cut? Also, how long are your tenons? It seems all I have are production problems. It leaves very little time to find work, and honestly it's taking the joy out of work.
From contributor T:
This is the fence-away system I was speaking of. The whole apparatus lives on a plywood platform (lavender in the picture) that keys itself into the groove and ends of the steel shaper table. This system is also shim-able in height. We have a platform that lives underneath the plywood bed and we add or remove the platform to generate different vertical positions on the shaper spindle. We have stacked cutterheads on the shaper spindle but never change the spindle height itself. Our powerfeeders are $900 three-wheel Comatics from Sunhill Machinery. They're about ten years old and have performed without any issues. The tractor feed is an add-on to the powerfeed. We bought these from Western Roller.
Click here for higher quality, full size image
From contributor J:
This is our new tenoning - coping setup. We only have one door cutter set left that requires a true tenon. Everything else is dowel and cope. We are having problems with the new shaper sliding table and the maker (not Martin) is working hard to replace it. Even at that, it's way more accurate than what you describe with the Powermatic. This is a 250mm diameter tenon set and that's as big as most shaper fences hold. Beyond that, you need a tenoning hood. This is a simple setup for a shaper - adjust the height to a predetermined setting electronically - using the fence for an end stop adjust it electronically also. Change out the chip breaker and you're good to go. Of course this is kindergarten level compared to my Italian cousin's 3 head stackable Colombo CNC tenoner with rotating chip breaker.
Click here for higher quality, full size image
This is the Aigner outboard fence (they call it a thickness stop). Not shown is the feeder in place, the device that clips to the shaper fence to keep pressure against the outboard fence and the Centrix guard to cover the cutters. This is two cutters on sleeve stacked to make inside frame cuts and inside sash cuts for our 78mm thick T&T window design. The sleeves are 100mm high so it takes 8" under the nut to do this. Cutters are the same cutting circle, so no adjustment to the fence is necessary. The Aigner fence installs about as fast as you can set it on the shaper table, reads digitally and I think is less than $800.
As for cost of Martin shapers, they still have some basic T20 left that are about 20K. Probably 35K for a mid range machine and 60K or more for one with all the bells and whistles. They are coming out with a smaller shaper this year to compliment the T60 saw.
Click here for higher quality, full size image
From the original questioner:
Thanks for the drawing. I am wondering how to adjust this setup to a fence wing that isn't square to the table, so if you are facing the cutter head, the outfeed left side of the fence wing is off by 1/8th of an inch. Do you make your outboard fence parallel to the outfeed fence and if so, how do you reference the auxiliary top if it's squared to the table top? Also, I am guessing you angle the power feeder away from the stock fence and towards the outboard fence. What about small parts? How do you keep them pushed against the outboard fence if the distance from the pressure mechanism is longer than the part? Lastly, if I were to make this setup, how should I secure it to my top, as I don't have grooves, or did you tap into the table sides?
Contributor J, thanks for the photos and advice. Are you coping one side of the tenon and then using a groover to create the cheek on the other side? I like the idea of insert tooling. Who would you suggest? Lastly, is that the Felder with the sliding top? How are you doing your mortises?
From contributor T:
In this application, the fence that arrives with the shaper is moot. It does not participate in any way. It does not matter if the two sides are in plane with each other. There is, in fact, typically a few millimeters of gap clearance between the lumber stave and the factory fence.
The powerfeeder is biased to push against the auxiliary outfeed fence. Since this is a fence indexed against a spindle, there are no issues a parallel setup fence to shaper. Small parts work because of the tractor feed. There are no rollers on the powerfeed. It is a big rubber tire that operates like a half-track vehicle. If you google Western Roller I am sure you will see an example of what I am talking about.
There are several ways to install this platform to the steel table. Bolting it on is the most complex and probably not necessary. Any purchase to the table that keeps the platform from slipping will be held in place by the bias (out and down) of the powerfeed.
The Aigner systems that contributor J uses are probably worth investing in for what you do. My systems work because I only change the width of the cut. If I used this shaper for a wide variety of moldings, I would want the kind of fence he has because it wraps so nicely around the cutter profiles. The Aigner outboard fence looks pretty slick too. Digital readout with fast install makes for inexpensive flexibility.
The Aigner catalog itself is really interesting to look at. It is very informative about different machinery setups. They have, for example, a magnetic wedge that helps to keep small pieces of wood from migrating back into the blade when doing small trim work on a sliding table saw.
From contributor J:
Modern tenoning cutters for the shaper do the copes and tenons at the same time. The picture I posted shows a square edge with radiused corner, but the profiled ones are done the same way with profiled inserts where my straight ones are. I can get an 85mm long tenon with this 250mm cutter. Normal euro tenon disks are 300mm plus with 4" to 4 ˝" possible tenon length.
All our tenons and copes are one pass cuts. The cutter in the photo is three cutters on a sleeve with spacers to adjust. To do the mortise there is another cutter head that does the slots to receive the tenons. One pass also. So for a window, one pass on rail ends to do the tenon and one pass on stile ends for the mortise, two cutter heads involved. As I said we are 90% dowel construction. I'm guessing you're doing traditional double hung sash. Mortise and tenon is the best way to do these but you need something better than the Powermatic and an investment in good tooling.
SAC is not a bad machine and I am sure they offer a heavy side tenon carriage for their machines. At the least, a bolt-on table like we used would be better than what you have. SCM sells these bolt on tables as well. With some accessories for your existing machines and better tooling, you could boost productivity and quality a lot for a small investment.
Most of my tooling is Garniga but there's a lot of good insert tooling companies out there. The tooling is a bigger investment than the machines and before spending a lot of money, you might want to think out where you headed with machines in the future and build the tooling to suit.
From contributor O:
When you use the Aigner Thickness Stop, do you use the pressure jaws? When you feed thicker pieces, does the power feeder hold the work piece against the outboard fence? If the piece is tall, does it want to tip over the top of the fence on the thickness stop? Also, you mentioned Angular Machines. Can you point me to someplace where I can read more about these machines?
From contributor J:
Yes, we use the pressure jaws except for smaller cuts like cabinet doors. The pressure jaw adjustment is touchy and needs careful documentation for different amounts removed in relation to the cutting circle.
No, tall pieces feed fine. You just have to be careful of feeder position. That piece in the picture is a sample provided by Garniga and narrower than our 85mm wide parts. The fence does flip up if needed for tall pieces. There is also a small ramp for running small moldings or glass beads. I thought you had one of these? The Okoma Mac of the Fog restored is a small angle machine.
From the original questioner:
If I understand correctly, my stock fence does nothing at all and touches nothing at all. I am guessing here, but the important part is to figure the distance from the center of my cutter to the outboard fence and that will give me my finished stock width? Hmm - makes me wonder about bolting a piece of angle iron to the top and creating dedicated width boards that give me designated stock widths? How square/perpendicular to the spindle do you need to be? I am assuming it's irrelevant, but I'd rather ask to be certain.
From contributor T:
Your idea about a stationary fence in combination with repeatable shims is a good one, if indeed you do intend to dedicate this shaper to a single purpose. You could also make the stationary fence easy to set up with a series of pins and collets. The machinist industry does things like this all the time. There are a lot of processes we do that could benefit from this kind of indexing.
From the original questioner:
Contributor J, in the photos you put up, is the power feeder pushing against the Aigner thickness stop or the Martin fence?
Also I agree, the SAC equipment is good stuff. This should take a lot out of the headache department.
Just out of curiosity and a little off topic... I like the idea for simplification of an open mortise or "saddle joint"(it really predicts a perfect joint compared to the tenoner I have and the pull down mortisers). I have been making them as blind haunched m/t joint for water issues, i.e. wicking on the lower rail. The point is if it's not necessary, then it relieves a huge production issue.
Contributor T, I agree. I think my original posting was "Considering a Martin" - and I still am. Can you elaborate this new concept of indexing...
"You could also make the stationary fence easy to set up with a series of pins and collets."
I wish my uncles were still alive - 4 of them and my grandfather were all tool and die makers.
From contributor T:
There is nothing new about the concept of indexing. This issue has probably been around since the Egyptians made their second chair. You can find a lot of examples of indexing pins from Reid Tool Products.
From contributor M:
First, if you end up keeping your SAC shaper, they make a very good fence that has mechanical digital counters like the standard Martin fence and I have found it to be deadly accurate. I had to get it right from the factory, as they don't have US distribution anymore. The cost was around $1300 with air freight shipping, but that was when the Euro was around $1.25. It was worth every cent.
I too use outboard fences when shaping certain parts on my machine. One thing to remember when you start to do that is that the cutter wants to pull the part away from the outboard fence and back into the "regular" fence. Just picture the rotation of the cutter and its arc moving into the wood and you'll see why. For long parts it's not an issue, as you can hold your piece against the fence until all the wheels on the feeder get a hold of it. Short pieces can be problematic - that is 8" or less. Keep the wheels biased over towards the fence and they'll be fine, just be aware that it does want to pull away.
As for your original question, is the Martin worth the money? I would have to say yes. I don't have a Martin shaper but I have a T 74 saw and the difference between that and what it replaced is night and day. I can only imagine what the shaper would be like.
From the original questioner:
Just wanted to thank everyone here. I am quite grateful for your help in problem solving.
I spoke with Martin today and ordered the Aigner thickness stop. It seems to be thoroughly engineered and I could stand a good dose of German perfection. Their man said it was stout enough to run a power feeder against and there was no need for the pressure jaws.
I'm still curious about contributor T's idea of using indexing pins. Indexing I do on my mortiser (poorly, I might add), but pins... hmmm, so much to learn.
From contributor G:
When a part is indexed, it usually refers to being aligned with metal pins (which have no play or slop) through the part and into the shaper top in this case. Bolts are also used to hold the parts together. They are held in alignment with more accuracy and repeatability this way.
The "fence away" system or "outboard fence" is a common sticking setup. Weaver brand dedicated door making shapers have used this setup for years. They also have a regular type fence but the infeed side is spring loaded and actually helps push the work piece against the outboard fence. We have run parts as short as 3.5" with very good results. One plus that helps is that they have what I consider to be the best feeder made. It very positively, accurately and safely feeds the parts. It has a DC motor and is infinitely variable speed. Using different width spacers for different width stock is also very easy, fast and accurate.
From contributor J:
Getting back to your question about the open mortise and tenon, wicking of the end grain is something to think about. When doors and windows were hand built, the mortises were haunched as you describe. As soon as the machine age started, windows went to the open type. You still have the same amount of end grain showing with some being vertical instead of top and bottom. It's a decision you have to make yourself factoring in your craftsman's knowledge, what's the best business decision, and the machines you have to work with. Unless you're doing very accurate reproduction work, I would not worry about it.
A while back a Gladau tool rep showed me a video from a small shop in Italy building reproduction entry doors with double tenon construction like my picture shows, only haunched, split on the wide rails and through wedged. All with a big CMS router. It was pretty impressive. Myself I'm happy building with super hard rot resistant dowels.
Regarding the email about the HSK Martin shaper, that's a very difficult question also. It's an expensive option and the tooling costs more. But that is where all the CNC tenoners and routers are headed. SCM for example will build a single end machine with combined HSK and stacked 50mm spindles. Even a single 30mm spindle if you want. But with the shaper, once it's HSK, that's what it is and will not mix with your other shapers and tooling. For a frugal small door and window maker, the tooling is a difficult question. I have several thousand dollars of old LRH, Sthele and Freeborn carbide door tooling collecting dust. I guess they made money and paid for themselves several times over just like the new tooling is doing now.
Great tip about not using the pressure jaws. We have a batch of interior doors going next week and I will try moving the feeder back one wheel and see if the irksome device can be eliminated.
From contributor O:
Contributor J, please let me know how it goes not using the pressure jaws. I mostly use them with very narrow parts like muntins. I have not figured out how to use the power feeder for these small parts and hand feed them.
From contributor R:
Regarding the HSK spindle, spindle adapters are available, which would allow using conventional tooling.
From the original questioner:
Been speaking with a Martin rep and he says it takes seconds to swap out spindles and you're on your way. Is this realistic? Sounds very fast.
From contributor J:
Contributor R, I know my 30mm bore shaper cutters for example will fit in a HSK arbor type tool holder. As long as they are balanced and within the weight limits. Are you saying there is a spindle that adapts into the HSK system?
To the original questioner: The HSK is that fast.
From the original questioner:
Contributor J, no - Carl said that about the Dornfix spindles.
From contributor M:
On the Weinig moulders with the HSK spindles, there is a straight spindle that lets you run corrugated heads on them, but at reduced RPM's. The same would hold true for the Martin setup. Instead of 12,000 RPM's, you'd have to throttle back to 6000. As a side note, Weinig makes the spindles for Martin.
From contributor J:
That's interesting. I was under the impression only HSK holders could be used. I wonder if those spindles fit into CNC routers HSK equipped. That might be asking for trouble though. Do you know if that spindle lets you go over the 15lb plus or minus weight limit HSK normally has?
I have the Dornfix. It's pretty fast and I would guess 30 seconds, but I have never timed it. I will check it out tomorrow.
From the original questioner:
They have a left over t20 duo control... waiting for a quote. I don't know about the sliding table. They have a smaller attachment. An upgrade for the sliding is 10k. Also not sure I need the tilting head. I'll see what the difference is. I'm off to Schmidt in the am tomorrow for new designated tooling for my tenon cuts. I think it would be wise for a designated tenoning setup. I'm about done with the pull down mortise and tenon concept. I want the perfect parts less the fiddling. I am even considering the double tenon for the check rail cuts.
From contributor M:
These are HSK holders, only they have a straight shaft to slip tooling over that is then clamped down with a nut just like we're doing now. So it would still be possible to run your existing tooling on an HSK equipped machine.
Go to www.weinigusa.com and take a look at their tooling catalog and under cutterheads you'll see HSK adapter spindles that might give you a better idea what is available.
From contributor R:
The Weinig adapters will not fit a CNC router. The weight limitations are much greater for the Weinig tools, however it is a function of weight vs length vs RPM when using a spindle adapter, assuming the same rules apply to the Martin shapers. There is a section on using the HSK tooling in the Weinig tool catalog that covers these issues. You should, however, contact Martin regarding the proper use of the HSK tools on their machines.
From contributor J:
That's pretty interesting, thank you. I hadn't looked over Weinig's website for a while. I see they are bringing over the Variomat machine they showed at Ligna last year. Not much info on that yet; I'm curious how they prevent splintering when doing profiling before end cutting. The little video clip does not show much.
It was 29 seconds to change Dornfix spindles; that was at a relaxed pace and includes getting the wrench and replacing it. The machine will not start till the wrench goes back.
From the original questioner:
Contributor J, did you get the small table mounted tenoning jig or the full sliding table, or neither? And also, was that 29 seconds for full changing the spindle, hitting the button for a preprogrammed/recalled different spindle height and fence depth setup and power feeder being ready to start milling, or 29 seconds to just change out the spindle?
From contributor J:
We have been using the small bolt on sliding table. Martin used to get these from Panhans but now have a supplier in Italy. I think with the Italian table they are able to use the clamp off their heavy side mount slider and that is a nice clamp. The downfall to this table is it does not handle long or heavy pieces well. Fine for window tenoning or door rails up to 30" or so. We built a support that fits on the extendable support of the machine for long pieces but it is awkward to use. I think that table is about 2K new; I will be selling mine once we get the new shaper sorted out.
The 10K side mount table is probably the best tenoning table you will find on a shaper. As I explained earlier, to use it the fence has to come off and a tenon hood mounted. That's fine if you're using it for only tenoning, but going back and forth from tenoning to profiling with the fence I think it's too much setup, even with the fence supporting arm. The older Martin shapers, the fence swiveled on the opening rings so it was a simple setup to turn the fence and lift up the sliding table. The fences were lighter and simpler then. I don't think the manual fence swivels either, but check with Carl. I have also heard of people mounting the big slider of the front of the machine. Maybe Carl knows about that.
29 seconds just to change the spindle. Now if the wench was just setting on the table probably 10 – 15 seconds.
Click here for higher quality, full size image
From the original questioner:
The Martin is a gorgeous machine and it comes down to needs vs. wants. I want perfection and space in our shop. I think it would be smart to keep some of my Sac sliding table machines for the big tenon cuts, and use the Martin for the various sticking parts. I realized that I can stack a lot of the custom cutters on one spindle and use the Martin's memory for adjusting spindle heights and fence depth, then change out a spindle for other sticking profiles.
I asked a friend who started with 3 people and a duplicator for making guitars why he switched to CNC. He said it was to make the perfect part. In so doing, attention could be placed on sales and product development as there was an absolute with little variation, less fiddling and product cost/times could be cut down. I think the Martin brings it to this level. More importantly is to commit to a production path and stick with it.
One of the things to focus on is tooling. The new variable is depth and height, therefore the Martin makes perfect sense. Certainly this can be done with setup blocks, but a push of a button seems like a no-brainer. Now the task of selling used equipment.
Would you like to add information to this article?
Interested in writing or submitting an article?
Have a question about this article?
Have you reviewed the related Knowledge Base areas below?
|Home » Knowledge Base » Knowledge Base Article


text:
"I can do better"
Something every home-brewer has said as they sip a craft ale. While they always enjoy the time and effort in what a brewery has created, there is always a little friendly competition.
Every brewer had to start somewhere. Pouring hours and hours of their life, cramped into a small garage, fiddling with keggles, checking the mash over and over. While it is a lot of work, it's well worth it. Much like cooks enjoying their own creations, home-brewers love pouring their first glass and taking a refreshing sip of their craft.
I'm lucky enough to have a friend who has devoted hundreds of hours in setting up his own home brewery. 10 gallon system, all grain, with three keggles and dozens of corny kegs. This is the system that almost all home-brewers would love to have. While not fancy, its effective and efficient. It helps that his father-in-law is a well known home-brewer. He is the guy that judges home-brew competitions and goes to all the conventions. It helps that his brother-in-law is an assistant brewer at Mac and Jacks in Redmond. My friend married into the right family.
As I sit here today, helping him brew a northwest IPA, I sit back and think how great this whole home-brewing is. While it is a slow drawn out process, waiting for the mash, sparging, adding the hops, etc. It's fun to spend time with your friends, and in a couple of weeks, we get to sit down and enjoy our creation, while brewing another batch.
If you haven't home-brewed before, try it. There are places all around Seattle you can go to. Larrys homebrew in Kent, Gallaghers in Edmonds to name a few. But try it. See what it takes to become a brewer. You'll see how hard they work, how much fun it is, and who knows, maybe you'll be the next Redhook.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Homemade Ranch Dressing is made with fridge and pantry staples, gluten-free, and easily made vegan, too! This recipe is a must-have for ranch-lovers!
Where are my ranch lovers at?! (Hands raised and waving wildly here.)
The other day I was wondering when and where and why and how ranch dressing became a "thing" so I turned to the most trusted source on the internet – Wikipedia – to find out. That's a joke, but actually…I did start there. Anyway, the story begins with an Alaskan dude ranch in the 50s, and concludes with a University of Iowa student (<<< DYING!) in the present day.
Well, I'll need to edit the Wiki article to add that America's favorite salad dressing is not only super simple to make at home, but it's gluten-free and easily made vegan (ie no dairy or eggs), too!
I have to admit that I've become a bit of a ranch snob over the past couple of years. Like many people, my ranch obsession began in college (hello O.P. breadsticks + ranch dream team!) and it's not an exaggeration to say that I ate ranch almost every single day my freshman year. I mean, we used to dunk our damn dining hall lasagna into big bowls of ranch dressing. WHYYY?
Today the ranch obsession is still strong (I mean, not lasagna strong,) but I opt for ranch dressing options with a cleaner ingredient list – which I realize is an incredibly millennial thing to say, though I am technically a Xennial, thank you very much. All that to say, a couple years ago I discovered Tessemae's Ranch Dressing which has an awesome, short ingredient list, and is dairy-free so Lincoln can eat it too, but the dressing contains eggs which doesn't work for my current diet eliminating egg for Gwen's allergy. So, what's a ranch lover with no egg-free ranch options to do?!
Homemade ranch dressing is one of the easiest things you can whip up in just a couple of minutes at home, and I cannot TELL you how tasty it is with the following:
- Homemade fries
- Tater tots
- Pizza
- Carrots
- Snap Peas
- Sweet peppers
- Salads
- Wraps
- Chicken
- Burgers
- And fine…LASAGNA!
All you need is mayonnaise (more on vegan mayo options below,) apple cider vinegar, milk (any kind, I use almond milk,) and dried herbs and spices. Whisk it up, stash in the fridge, utilize often. Let's do it!
All you need is one bowl to make Homemade Ranch Dressing! Fill it up with 1 cup mayonnaise, 6 Tablespoons milk (any kind, I use unsweetened almond milk,) 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar, 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes, 1 teaspoon each dried chives, garlic powder, and onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon dried dill, plus salt and pepper to taste, then whisk to combine.
Again, I use vegan mayonnaise because it doesn't contain eggs, but you can use whatever kind of mayonnaise you like. I like Hellman's vegan version, and have also made this ranch with Earth Balance Vegan Mayonnaise. I'm dying to try this recipe with Sir Kensington's Fabanaise, which is vegan mayo made with aquafaba (!!) instead of eggs, but haven't found it near me yet.
FYI: I have not tested this recipe with Greek yogurt or sour cream or anything other then vegan mayo.
That's all she wrote! Pour the dressing into a jar with a tight fitting lid, or container, then keep in the refrigerator for all your ranch-related needs for 1-2 weeks. I hope you love this tasty homemade ranch dressing recipe as much I as I have lately! Enjoy!
Homemade Ranch Dressing
Homemade Ranch Dressing is made with fridge and pantry staples, gluten-free, and easily made vegan, too! This recipe is a must-have for ranch-lovers!
- 1 cup mayonnaise (I use vegan mayo)
- 6 Tablespoons milk (I use unsweetened almond milk)
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried chives
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried dill
- salt and pepper
- Add all ingredients into a bowl then whisk until smooth. Add more milk to thin dressing out if desired. Store in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks.
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.


text:
The Viper's low-slung body isn't just muscular, it fairly bulges and ripples. Its details are downright threatening, with vents and intakes like scars along its side.
The menacing exterior is contrasted by the nicest cabin ever put in a Viper, with ladylike touchscreen interfaces and fragrant Ferrari-esque leather seats. The cabin is surprisingly roomy for being so close to the ground. There's excellent head room and leg room (Dodge says a 6-foot-7-inch tall person will fit nicely inside), the seats are comfortable and broadly adjustable, and the steering wheel and pedals also adjust.
This comfort is welcome because it's so noisy in the cabin, even at low rpm on a smooth road.
The cargo space is decent, 14.65 cubic feet, about the size of an average trunk; but an odd shape under the hatch effectively restricts luggage to soft bags like duffels.
* The advertised price does not include sales tax, vehicle registration fees, other fees required by law, finance charges and any documentation charges. A negotiable administration fee, up to $115, may be added to the price of the vehicle.
* Images, prices, and options shown, including vehicle color, trim, options, pricing and other specifications are subject to availability, incentive offerings, current pricing and credit worthiness.


text:
Sigrid's Art Gifts
On COSMICTAPESTRY.com, you can order prints of your favorite work by Sigrid , as well as customized bags, T-Shirts, throw pillows, cellphone covers …even shower curtains. The new convenient shopping cart can be found at by clicking here: www.CosmicTapestry.com/store/artfulproducts. You pick your sizes and colors and we ship within 4 days.


text:
There's a new Sheriff in town and Charles Johnson doesn't like it.Posted: May 18, 2017 Filed under: Charles "Icarus" Johnson, Little Green Footballs, Penis Penis Penis LOL, Totalitarian Progressives | Tags: #rumpswab, Charles Johnson, LGF, Little Green Footballs, Race Detective, Racism, screenshots, Sheriff Clarke, The Sage of Culver City, twitter 74 Comments
That's Sheriff David A. Clarke and he accepted an appointment to the Department of Homeland Security. Here he is in action, smacking the crap out of Don Lemon about #BlackLivesMatter:
Unfortunately, Charles Johnson sees the appointment of Sheriff Clarke as a "Jesus F*ng Christ" moment.
What's not being widely reported is that Sheriff Clarke is a Democrat, but Charles Johnson doesn't like him because of, um, something. (The late Andrew Breitbart suspected it, but could never prove it.) Keep pretending, Charles. You're getting more transparent by the hour.
[h/t dezes157]
74 Comments on "There's a new Sheriff in town and Charles Johnson doesn't like it."
That's what Chunky's subconscious sees in this appointment. He's still smarting posteriorly, brains in his hurty butt, over his rejection by the lovely and passionate Pamela. Hasn't had a romantic interlude since. 😦
It's worth noting that yesterday Fatass screamed "RACIST!!" at Huckabee for daring to crack wise about the monstrous gun violence that has reigned infernally supreme in Chicago since Obama took office. It seems black lives don't really matter, in his bloated head. Very subtly racist, McDumbth!
"No, dad gummit! The Sherriff is a Ni*CLANG*!
"Ain't I the hippest con-noise-sewer of teh hootenanny guitar pickins?" 😆
Note: When you see a hipster douche holding a guitar like an asshole, it's probably going to suck in the listening. 😆
Sounds like a lot of string harmonics for guys in thongs to me.
Bunky McStrutter posted this gem after lights-out last night. Great article!
It's galling to me that the lessons hard-learned in Vietnam seem to have been unlearnt in the years following Desert Storm's apocalyptic victory. We are again mired in perpetual war, fighting holding actions against indigenous die-hards. I know it's a bit more complicated, but that's the end result of the way we've been fighting in the ME against the Islamist barbarians. I would have unloaded our stocks of MOABS, bunker busters and a couple of tactical nukes by now, so it's a good thing I'm not in charge. Or is it?
Either do it or don't. Halfway measures don't get halfway results, and if you stop the dosage before the infection is cured it gets worse and more difficult to treat.
Watch this video very carefully, if you're serious about sculpting your abs into something approaching perfection. Don't look at anything else besides the exercises, which you are to work into your daily regimen — some people get funny ideas about these athletes and are overly-critical of their shaving/waxing. Some men think impure thoughts. Don't fall into those traps! Or those quads, or glutes.
It's Saturday morning already?!
Those tequila shots are a real killer. 😆
Thirsty morning. 🙂
Heading up to Traverse City today for a weekend of relaxation, bonfires, bbq and beer. If I see Michael Moore skulking around, I'll yell something obscene at him. Or maybe just ask him for directions to the nearest all-you-can-eat buffet. He'll know. 😆
What's that mean?
Oh right.
I never knew KFC stood for Kentucky F**king Christ.
Learn something new every day. 😀
Susan Rice bitching about anyone … absolute partisan hack.
Since there is a special prosecutor ( that democrats insisted on), we can only hope Susan Rice will be going to prison now. She had no legal authority for unmasking Americans captured in FISA surveillance such as Flynn.
There's going to be a great flushing sound in a couple of years.
Getting a lot of "Internal Server Error" messages from Der Twitter…
How close is LA to Culver City? chuckles batshit detector is about to get lit!
Right next door.
Will Chunkles be able to squeeze through his front door to go and protest or will he hide behind his keyboard while stuffing his face with artisanal Cheetos?
Chunkles should be called out and challenged to "put his
Cheetosmoney where his mouth is" and actually go to this event and do some actual independent journalism with pictures as proof that he did it.
He claims to be an "independent journalist" and a "TruthWarrior" on his Twitter page.
Time to put up or be exposed as the fraud that we all know he is. 😆
He wants money? Time to get off his fat ass and do some work.
Whining and sniveling on Twitter isn't "independent journalism". 😆
No doubt they're already organizing the astro-turf riot protest with paid masked "protesters" destroying property and physically attacking the attendees. Only a short drive away from the Chunky One you can bet we won't find his corpulent semi-crippled form anywhere near that social justice action. The smallest jostle from a rambunctious anarchist trying to get at a law abiding attendee and he'd be splat on the sidewalk calling out "Help. I've fallen and I can't get up!". Instead he'll be enjoying a freshly delivered extra large pizza with everything on it, hold the salad on his broken down couch that serves as his bed and "office". And Tweeting righteously against the free speech of a legal foreign visitor.
Support independent journalism by donating to Little Green Footballs!
PayPal: https://t.co/wL6F48Hq7J
GoFundMe: https://t.co/KxPyJicmq3
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) December 9, 2016
Lockstep agreement with progturd propaganda is apparently Chunkle's idea of "independent" journalism.
Aww. Clock Boy's not going to get the $15mil from the city of Irving, CA for all the mental anguish they caused him. Oh well he's still got a full ride to MIT and a guaranteed job at Apple or Facebook or Google or NASA, right?


text:
Handpicked production music from the world's top composers for film, video and media projects. And YouTube has a large duty, and I recognize it. Breaking a record is overwhelming, and I am content to maintain inspiring other people to do the exact same," he added, speaking from Puerto Rico. If anyone is libel, they explanation, it need to be youTube who is hosting the content material, or the particular person who uploaded the content onto youTube. Jango also has a social network aspect that allows users to effortlessly uncover every other based on music preferences. Check the Embed webcam box if you want to record a video of oneself as you give the screencast.
The legal fight against stream-ripping solutions come at a time when YouTube has grow to be an critical partner for the music market, offerings artists a way to distribute their music whilst taking a cut of the marketing revenue (YouTube also has a paid subscription service). The ideal component of Rdio is the availability of applications which allow you to access their music collection for streaming or cache the songs for offline play, these applications include iOS, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone.
When you choose a piece of music, you can choose to have the music play only, music and video sound, or the music will fade so you just hear the video. One thing that is difficult to appropriately clarify, which I could only place down as, the capacity to manipulate magic, I imply, music. Apalagi kamu yang ingin mengupload video mu ke situs streaming seperti Youtube agar ditonton lebih banyak orang tentunya hal ini perlu kamu pertimbangkan, pasal nya pihak youtube mengatur kebijakan copyright atau hak cipta si pembuat konten tersebut secara ketat baik itu audio visual, musik saja, gambar maupun keseluruhan isi video.
Chromebooks are not known for their video editing prowess , but there are at least two strong possibilities for editing video. But I was drawn here in my search for jazz SONGS – you know, that type wherein music and words are combined. Most likely the ideal Youtube to MP3 application i have used, great user friendly interface and super quick downloads. This can often be a significant stumbling block and deal breaker when it comes to making use of copyrighted music. It also includes several chapters devoted to the oeuvre of very popular directors, their films, commercials and music videos.
It is clearly against copyright laws to embed an infringing youTube video in your write-up, blog, or website. FreeSongsToUse ini adalah channel youtube penyedia music bebas copyright yang bergenre indie dance, property music, hip hop, trap dan masih banyak lagi sesuai selera youtube editor. Sobat juga bisa download Free of charge musicnya seperti dibawah ini, sobat harus memasukkan Capchanya atau kode untuk bisa mendownload music gratis tersebut. YouTube Music Key looks like a excellent opportunity for Google to enhance the Play Music catalog with all the remixes, covers and indie music uploaded to YouTube.


text:
This paper demonstrates that collective social dynamics resulting from individual donations can be well described by an epidemic model. It captures the herding behavior in donations as a non-local interaction between individual via a time-dependent mean field representing the mass media. Our study is based on the statistical analysis of a unique dataset obtained before and after the tsunami disaster of 2004. We find a power-law behavior for the distributions of donations with similar exponents for different countries. Even more remarkably, we show that these exponents are the same before and after the tsunami, which accounts for some kind of universal behavior in donations independent of the actual event. We further show that the time-dependent change of both the number and the total amount of donations after the tsunami follows a logistic growth equation. As a new element, a time-dependent scaling factor appears in this equation which accounts for the growing lack of public interest after the disaster. The results of the model are underpinned by the data analysis and thus also allow for a quantification of the media influence.
Citation: Schweitzer F, Mach R (2008) The Epidemics of Donations: Logistic Growth and Power-Laws. PLoS ONE 3(1): e1458. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001458
Academic Editor: Enrico Scalas, University of East Piedmont, Italy
Received: December 20, 2007; Accepted: December 21, 2007; Published: January 23, 2008
Copyright: © 2008 Schweitzer, Mach. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: The authors have no support or funding to report.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
The tsunami that infested South-Eastern Asia on 26 December 2004 has not just caused a tremendous death toll and destruction, but also a huge outpouring of donations worldwide to support relief for the affected areas. The fact that both the number and total amount of donations summed up in an unprecedented way was of course induced by the dimension of the disaster. It also benefited from social feedback processes, caused by the massive involvement of the mass media which eventually led to social herding in donating money.
Herding behavior plays an important role in biological but also in social systems. It is governing biological swarming [1], [2], as well as investment strategies in financial markets [3], [4] r collective opinion formation [5], [6]. The underlying mechanism of transmission of influence from one individual to another can be found in a large class of so-called contagion models [7], which also cover epidemic models [8], [9], [10], in particular the SIR (susceptible-infected-recovered) model [11], [12]. A prominent example to link herding behavior and epidemic dynamics is found in the spread and adoption of innovations [13] and fashion [14]. While many odels in sociology, economics, and political science [15], [16], [17], [18] assume a threshold for the adoption of new technologies or behavior, the SIR model is called an independent interaction model [7] because contagion occurs with a propability independent of the history of exposures.
In this paper, we apply the concept of contageous behavior to the collective dynamics of donations after the tsunami catastrophe. Thanks to the availability of a unique database described below, we are able to quantify these dynamics. The statistical analysis reveals a power-law behavior for the distributions of donations with similar exponents for different countries and, even more remarkably, both before and after the disaster. We further show that the dynamics of donations follow a logistic growth already known from models of epidemic spreading. As a new element of this dynamics, a time-dependent contagion rate appears which describes the mean-field interaction provided by the mass media. The considerable decrease of this influence in time accounts for the growing lack of public interest after the disaster. By deducing it from the data available, we are able to quantify the influence of the media reporting about the tsunami.
Materials and Methods
Analysis of donation time series
Individual donations, as a voluntary act, may depend on individual, cultural, organisational and economic conditions and thus may differ between countries. In order to find out statistical similarities in the distribution of donations, we investigated three different time series from donor organizations in Germany (DH, AH) and Switzerland (GK) summarized in Table 1.
For the largest of these time series (DH), we also compared the number and amount of donations for an interval of six months before and after the tsunami (see Fig. 1). The vast relative growth for both amount/number of donations occured within a period of 3 weeks after the catastrophe (2005/12/26), small peaks in late January 2005 are due to aggregated donations that have been collected from larger groups before transferring them to the donor organization. Because the relative growth of the amount and the number of donations coincide most of the time, we later model the dynamics of donations in terms of frequencies only.
The inset magnifies the relative growth of number and amount of donations for the half-year period preceeding the earthquake.
From the inset of Fig. 1 we further note that, even if the donations after the disaster outperform those before by a number of magnitudes, there are still statistical signs in the data before the disaster. These can be read to compare the distribution of donations before and after the tsunami. Fig. 2 depicts the probability distribution, P(x), estimated from the relative frequencies to find donations of an amount of x or larger, for both time intervals. The plots show a clear power-law like behavior of(1)over several orders of magnitude. This indicates the scalefree nature of donations; i.e., there is no typical amount of donations, but the full range of possible values can be found with a definite probability. The plot also indicates that multiples of 10 have a higher preference.
Interestingly, we find that the exponents α for the given donor organization (DH) are quite similar both before and after the disaster. This suggests that although the number and amount of donations have changed tremendously, their statistical properties remain almost the same. Consequently, there is an indication for a kind of universal behavior in donating money. The finding can be confirmed also for another German donor organization (AH) which has collected ten times less in terms of number and amount of donations (see Table 1). Comparing this with the Swiss donor organization (GK), we find a a similar, slightly lower value of α again (see Table 1).
Dynamic model of donations
In order to sketch the time dependent evolution of donations after the disaster shown in Fig. 1, we adopt a very simple epidemic model [11], [12] which was also applied to the adoption of new technologies [13] and now proves to be sufficient for describing the observed dynamics in donations. We assume that a fraction y of the total population N is willing to donate money after the catastrophe, where y is treated as an exogeneous parameter that may vary by country (for the tsunami donations, y was about 0.1 in Switzerland and about 0.08 in Germany). So gives the total number of possible donators in a country. The number of actual donators, , is a subset of both N and and changes over time. In order to model its dynamics, we assume that a potential donator, P, becomes an actual donator, A, by interacting with individuals which have already donated. This can be described as a non-local interaction via a mean field that represents the media. In fact, this assumption is quite appropriate as the mass media homogeneously and constantly informed about the disaster and its consequences as well as about the tremendous amount of donations received.
The act of donation is described as a transition of a potential into an actual donator, . This transition may occur at a gross rate that depends on a constant γ describing the number of interactions per time interval between P and A and a factor 0≤κ≤1, which is the probability that such an interaction leads to a donation. The rate further depends on the fraction , i.e. the probability of a potential donator to interact with someone who already donated, relative to the size of the population. Eventually, the dynamics for the transition of a potential donator also depends on the "resource" , i.e. those potential donators, who did not donate so far. For the increase of the number of actual donators, it then follows the dynamics(2)Using the abbreviations for the frequency of actual donators f(t) and for the time scale , we find eventually the dynamics in the form(3)which is known as the logistic equation [19], [20]. Integration leads to the distribution(4)where μ gives the time where the relative growth of f(t) has reached its maximum. Eqs. 3, 4 have been tested against the empirical data obtained from the time series of donations. The data were also used to determine the two "free" parameters μ, τ of the dynamics (see Table 1). Figure 3 shows, for the largest data set (DH), both the total fraction and the relative growth of donations over time. Despite the very simple dynamics assumed for the model, one realizes a good agreement between theoretical prediction and empirical findings, in particular for the steep rise in the beginning and the saturation phase. The deviations between the estimated fraction and the empirical curve during the end of January 2005 result from the few large donations mentioned as small peaks in the relative growth in Fig. 1.
The blue curves results from fits of Eqs. 3, 4 with μ = 8.05±0.07, τ = 1.98±0.06 (inset: μ = 7.38±0.14, τ = 1.68±0.07 )
The data shown in Table 1 indicate that the smallest of the donor organizations (AH) has a much larger time delay in the number of donations which is evidently related to the influence of the mass media. The growth in numbers reached the maximum only after about 36 days, whereas DH, the largest German donor organization, reached this maximum after about 8 days. This is due to the fact that, different from DH, AH was not present in the TV, but mostly supported by their base donators.
The simple model of donator dynamics assumes that eventually all possible donators have donated once on an individual basis, i.e. f(t)→1. It does not consider the subsequent aggregation of donations or a time dependence of the parameter τ describing the mean-field interaction between potential and actual donators. We can improve the model further by assuming that the mean-field interaction slows down in the course of time. This can be underpinned by extracting the variation of τ from the data in such a way that the theoretical curve matches with the empirical findings. The result shown in Fig. 4 suggests a time dependence of(5)This implies that either or both of the parameters γ and κ should have decreased their value in the early stage, before they almost reach a saturation level at about 6 weeks after the tsunami. As (γκ) gives the number of successful interactions per time interval, this means that in the early stage after the disaster people were more enthusiastic to donate money or could be more easily convinced by the media, while later became more indifferent. So we see the decrease of τ in time as an indication of a lack of public interest. Because this interest was mediated by the mass media in a kind of mean-field dissemination, the decrease can be also seen as a decreasing influence of the media when reporting about the aftermath of the disaster and the related donations.
The remarkable findings of our investigations are (i) the statistical similarities in individual donations before and after the tsunami disaster, as well as between two different countries, and (ii) that the collective dynamics of millions of individual donations can be very well described by a simple epidemic model, which has similarities also to the adoption of innovations [13] and saturated growth in biological populations [19]. So, our findings support the idea of certain universality classes for collective dynamics across scientific domains.
The applicability of the SIR dynamics shows that the interaction of the individuals can indeed be modelled by a mean-field interaction which accounts for the dissemination of information by the mass media: the disaster event, broadcasted in the mass media, triggered the first donations, which were then amplified by the mass media again, broadcasting new information both about the disaster and donations received. This resulted in some global feedback dynamics which eventually slowed down both because of a decreasing public interest and a exhausted resource (potential donators). While the latter one sufficiently describes the saturation effect, it was indeed the decreasing public interest and the related influence of the mass media, covered in the model by the time dependent parameter 1/τ, which allows to describe the deviations from a simple logistic growth dynamics.
The authors wish to thank the three donor organizations (DH)–"Deutschland hilft" (Germany), (AH)–"Andheri-Hilfe" (Germany), (GK)–"Glückskette" (Switzerland) for their cooperation in providing the data.
- 1. Couzin ID, Krause J (2001) The social organisation of fish schools. Advances in Ethology, 36(64):
- 2. Schweitzer Frank, Mach Robert (2007) Modeling vortex swarming in daphnia. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 69: 539–562.
- 3. Eguíluz MVíctor, Zimmermann GMartín (2000) Transmission of information and herd behavior: An application to financial markets. Phys. Rev. Lett., 85(5659):
- 4. Zheng B, Qiu T, Ren F (2004) Two-phase phenomena, minority games, and herding models. Phys. Rev. E, 69(046115):
- 5. Schwämmle V, González MC, Moreira AA, Andrade JS, Herrmann HJ (2007) Different topologies for a herding model of opinion. Phys. Rev. E, 75(066108):
- 6. Schweitzer Frank, Zimmermann Jörg, Mühlenbein Heinz (2002) Coordination of decisions in a spatial agent model. Physica A, 303(1–2): 189–216.
- 7. Dodds Peter Sheridan, Watts JDuncan (2004) Universal behavior in a generalized model of contagion. Phys. Rev. Lett., 92(218701):
- 8. Pastor-Satorras Romualdo, Vespignani Alessandro (2001) Epidemic spreading in scale-free networks. Phys. Rev. Lett., 86(3200):
- 9. Eguíluz MVíctor, Klemm Konstantin (2002) Epidemic threshold in structured scale-free networks. Phys. Rev. Lett., 89(108701):
- 10. Grabowski A, Kosinski RA (2004) Epidemic spreading in a hierarchical social network. Phys. Rev. E, 70(031908):
- 11. Kermack WO, McKendrick AG (1927) A contribution to the mathematical theory of epidemics. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. A, 115: 700–721.
- 12.
Murray JD (1993) Mathematical Biology, volume 19 of Biomathematics. Berlin: Springer. 2nd edition.
- 13. Bass FM (1969) A new product growth model for consumer durables. Management Science, 15: 215–227.
- 14.
Gladwell Malcolm (2000) The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Little Brown.
- 15. Granovetter M, Soong R (1983) Threshold models of diffusion and collective behavior. Journal of Mathematical Sociology, 9: 165–179.
- 16. Granovetter M (1978) Threshold models of collective behavior. American Journal of Sociology, 83(6): 1420–1443.
- 17. Morris S (2000) Contagion. Rev. Econ. Stud., 67: 57–78.
- 18. Schelling TC (1973) Hockey helmets, concealed weapons, and daylight saving. J. of Conflict Resolution, 17(3): 381–428.
- 19. Verhulst PF (1838) Recherches mathematiques sur la loi d'accrossement de la population. Memoirs de l'Academie Royal Bruxelles, 18: 1–38.
- 20. Tsoularis A, Wallace J (2002) Analysis of logistic growth models. Mathematical Biosciences, 179(1): 21–55.


text:
Learn to cook the Balinese way!
The Bali Cooking School 'Taste of Bali' class was exactly what we were looking for! We locked in our next cooking adventure. Whenever we travel we try to incorporate a local cooking class into our experience so that we can learn about the traditional flavours and learn how to replicate the flavours at home. (Not always successfully I might add)!
One of the most awesome things about traveling to other countries, especially Asian countries is the food experience. The exotic flavours of the herbs and spices are some of the best rewards and each country or province is very different.
As Australians, we often choose Bali for our holiday getaways. A short 2 hour flight from Darwin and we're sunning ourselves on a tropical beach. What's not to like? Beautiful weather, exotic foods and a relaxed way of life! We can't get enough of it!
The Bali Cooking School is situated in Bali's south, on the Bukit Peninsular central to Kuta and Nusa Dua and approximately a half hour drive from each it was easy to get to from our hotel at Nusa Dua.
First stop – the traditional Balinese food markets
An early morning start to arrive at the fresh food markets. Carved into the sloping hillside the marketplace was like most other food marketplaces throughout Asia.
Strong fishy odours (perhaps not so fresh fish) wafted through the air on the humid summer morning. Chickens were being carved up on big heavy boards in preparation for sale with other meats such as duck, goat and pork.
Tables of fresh galangal, turmeric, ginger, garlic, shallots, onions, sweet corn and freshly picked mangos, lemons and bananas stacked neatly in rows. Women with woven baskets were intently inspecting the offerings before arguing loudly with the stall-holders in order to agree on a price.
Small children giggled and played happily as they chased the piglets and chickens in and out of the stalls. The men, stood about under the shady trees smoking fat hand-rolled cigarettes while the women took care of business.
Our driver/tour guide talked about the traditional food we would need to buy so that we could cook the specialties for the day and walked us through each of the stalls talking to us about the many unfamiliar spices, herbs and roots that were on display. Darwin has such an asian population that many of these were familiar to us, however many I'd not seen before.
Trevor and I met an enterprising lady who encouraged us to pose 'Balinese style' much to other stall holders enjoyment! She was insistent that we had our photo taken together and dressed me in her sarong so that I looked 'traditional'!
We arrived at the cooking school around 9 am and set about the class tasks. It was a fun morning with a small class of only 3 so a great opportunity to learn more about the Balinese culture, the traditional foods, spices and anything else we wanted to know.
Our fellow student was from Montreal and only spoke a few words of English which made it fun to communicate as we had very little French and only a smattering of Indonesian (Bahasa). Lots of hand signals and smiles!
Balinese woven offerings
Our first task was to make floral offerings to the gods which comprised of weaving a pandanus tray to hold flowers and other gifts to offer. These were placed around the stone monument in the garden before we started cooking.
Our next task was to make a small woven box to cook a serve of rice in, which was very clever. I couldn't get mine right so was laughingly scolded. It was filled with uncooked rice, and then placed in boiling water to be served, sliced in half with our lunch.
Our teacher was a very switched-on young man (21 years old) studying hospitality and very good at sharing his skills and knowledge about cooking – the Balinese way.
We taught him some Aussie lingo just to keep his day interesting!
The Balinese Cooking School Menu
We made a selection of traditional sauces and flavour bases which were used to complement the various foods that were cooked.
- Sup Jagung (Sweet Corn Soup) – the flavour was amazing – far better than I cook!
- Sate Lilit (Chicken minced sate) – click here for the recipe
- Be Pasih Mepanggang – (Marinated Grilled Fish) seasoned with lime juice
- Mie Goreng – (Fried noodle) traditional Balinese noodle dish
- Dadar Gulung (Coconut pancakes) – served with fried bananas.
It was rewarding to sit down together to enjoy the food we cooked and reflect on the Indonesian spices and flavours and the wonderful flavours.
Delicious! Be sure to book yourself in to do a 'Taste of Bali' cooking class when you visit Bali. It is highly recommended!


text:
The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes by Adrian Conan Doyle, John Dickson Carr
English | 2000 | Mystery & Thriller | 1.5 MB
From the son of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and one of America's greatest mystery writers, John Dickson Carr, comes twelve riveting tales based on incidents or elements of the unsolved cases of Sherlock Holmes. The plots are all new, with painstaking attention to the mood, tone, and detail of the original stories. Here is a fascinating volume of mysteries for new Sherlock fans, as well as for those who have read all the classics and crave more!


text:
The Ten Rater is usually refered to as the 'Grand Prix" of RC yachts. Modern Ten's are usually constructed of carbon fibre, with carbon fibre masts, and are very narrow.
These boats are not limited in length and have overhangs beyond their waterline endings making them light, sleek, seaworthy and fast. This ISAF RSD Ten Rater international rule is based on the 1887 'length and sail area rule' which allows short waterline length boats to have a big sail area and longer LWL boats have smaller sails. It is an 'open' rule with great freedom to develop design and construction, particularly in rigs and sail plans. Any boat can be a 10 rater and several Marbleheads have been successful in the class by conversion with just one larger rig giving 40% extra sail area.
|Overall Length
|1.6 metre
|Mast Height
|2.5 metre
|6 Kilogram
|# Rigs
|No Limit


text:
Published at Thursday, April 18th, 2019 - 20:14:44 PM. Worksheet. By Tiffanie Maurice.
Let go and all of those pieces will be selected together and will move together. You can click one piece with your mouse and move the whole thing. You can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move it, which is helpful if it's something so small your mouse can't click it properly. You can duplicate the shapes by having them selected and clicking "Ctrl+D." If you want them perfect lined up, just move it around. These handy red guidelines appear that will show you when it is aligned to another shape! And now you're done! At least with the PowerPoint section. However, there are a few more steps. Save as a PDF, This will ensure that your fonts and layout will look the same, even if you are on a computer that does not have the fonts downloaded or has a different version of PowerPoint.
Before a child can hold a pencil and make an accurate mark on paper, he must have a great deal of small motor control. He needs practice with various materials and objects that require grasping, holding, pinching, and squeezing. He must have ample opportunity to make his own marks with objects such as paint brushes, chalk, fat crayons, and felt-tip markers. Only later, when he has achieved the necessary finger and hand control, should he be asked to write words or numerals with a pencil. The timing of this accomplishment will vary among children. Some four-year-olds and most five-year-olds are ready to write a few things, notably their own names. But, we must remember that each child develops on his or her own schedule, and some six-year-olds may be just starting this task. If they are encouraged, rather than criticized, they will continue to learn and grow and feel confident.
Fresh Posts
Tag Cloud
About ▪ Contact ▪ Terms of Service ▪ Privacy Policy ▪ Cookie Policy ▪ Copyright ▪ Sitemap
Any content, trademark's, or other material that might be found on the Inotivity website that is not Inotivity's property remains the copyright of its respective owner/s. In no way does Inotivity claim ownership or responsibility for such items, and you should seek legal consent for any use of such materials from its owner.


text:
I admit to being a huge fan of the films of John Hughes. His films just make me smile and reach me on an emotional level. None of his films did this more than The Breakfast Club. I think it would be a wonderful thing if there were to a be a sequel to this film that catches up with the characters in their adult years.
Here's What You Need To Know
John Hughes, after success with the screenplay for National Lampoon's Vacation and his directorial debut Sixteen Candle, in 1985 released one of his best known films, The Breakfast Club, which featured many prominent Brat Pack members in a film that examined the stereotypes of a modern high school. Hughes would go on to direct Pretty In Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and many others.
Why Is This A Good Idea?
As a film that examined many still valid stereotypes (the jock, the misfit etc.) in teenage culture, the film is ripe for a sequel examining where these sorts of people tend to end up. Did Bender become a criminal? Is Brian a multi-millionaire computer mogul? Did the experiences of the first film have a life-long effect on the characters? And the cast of the film could still stand up today as all went on to successful (if not long lasting in all cases) acting careers. And to be honest, Ally Sheedy's Allison is one of my all-time favorite movie characters and I would love see what happens to her as an adult.
But Will This Actually Happen?
It seems less likely since the passing of John Hughes but with 80's nostalgia still at a fever pitch I wouldn't rule it out.


text:
Danica is a leading crewing agency offering you the opportunity to work with first-rate shipowners and managers.
We are constantly on the lookout for qualified and safety-conscious seafarers. If you are interested in working for first-class owners under top conditions, please check our vacant positions by clicking on the menu above.
All our services are free of charge for our seafarers, as our services are paid for by our clients. Applicants are not required to pay any commissions.
Even if we do not have a vacancy at this moment, you are most welcome to file your application with us by using our electronic application form by clicking here. We will contact you when we have a vacancy relevant for you. Please enter as much information as you have on the application form.
If you do not want to submit your application now, then you can register your e-mail, and we will send you regular e-mails with our latest vacancies. Please register your e-mail address by clicking here.
If you have already registered your application with us, then you can update your application by clicking on the crew log-in above and follow the instructions.
You can of course also contact one of our offices.
"It is not that life ashore is distasteful to me. But life at sea is better."
— Sir Francis Drake


text:
Arnon Milchan Net Worth
Arnon Milchan net worth and salary: Arnon Milchan is an Israeli Hollywood producer who has a net worth of $3.6 billion. Ever since 1977, when he became involved in the American movie business, Milchan has produced a vast array of great movies including Once Upon a Time in America (1984), Pretty Woman (1990), Under Siege (1992), Natural Born Killers (1994), L.A. Confidential (1997), Unfaithful (2002) and many others. He has produced over 130 movies to date through his production company Regency Enterprises. Apart from making his name as a film producer, he was also a former key Israeli intelligence operative and a businessman. Shortly after he graduated from the London School of Economics, he was recruited to LAKAM, a top secret Israeli intelligence organization responsible for performing highly secretive programs for Israel's nuclear program. Also, being once a business student, he successfully transformed his family's bankrupt fertilizer company into a $125 million business with interests in various industries like agriculture, aerospace, animal health products, plastic, fiber optics and pharmaceuticals. In addition to the above, Milchan is an avid art collector who has even been doing paintings of his own. He has seven homes worldwide and is one of the 5 richest people in Israel.
Arnon Milchan
|Net Worth:
|$3.6 Billion
|Date of Birth:
|Dec 6, 1944 (75 years old)
|Film Producer, Businessperson, Television producer, Actor
|Last Updated:


text:
Privacy at CUA
The CUA Group respects the privacy of our members' personal information. Our CUA Group Privacy Policy ("privacy policy") sets out important information including:
- how we handle your personal information, including your credit-related information;
- how you can request access to and correction of your personal information; and
- what you can do if you think that we have breached your privacy
If you have any queries regarding our Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
Privacy Dispute Officer
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
GPO Box 100, Brisbane QLD 4001
The information appearing on this site is for general information only and does not constitute an offer or an intention to enter into a legally binding contract. The products and services described in this site are only available to approved applicants who are Australian residents. All information regarding Credit Union Australia Limited (CUA) products can be withdrawn or changed without notice. Whilst every care has been taken in producing the information on this site, CUA does not guarantee the accuracy of the information. Subject to any terms implied by law and which cannot be excluded, CUA is not responsible for any loss, damage, cost or expense incurred by you as a result of any error, omission or misrepresentation in relation to this site.


text: The Sonesta Hotel, Philadelphia is situated on Market Street in the city centre, close to many of the city's most famous attractions, fine dining and upscale shopping along Rittenhouse Row. The hotel houses 445 guest rooms and guests have use of the hotel's outdoor rooftop pool overlooking views of Philadelphia's skyline. The rooms are equipped with modern amenities and complimentary access to high-speed internet.


text: Humanities › Issues Al Qaeda Network A Guide to Al Qaeda's Network Structure Share Flipboard Email Print Osama bin Laden sits with his adviser Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri during an interview with Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir. Hamid Mir. Hamid Mir. Hamid Mir/Wikimedia Commons (CC by 3.0) Issues Terrorism Groups & Tactics History & Causes The U. S. Government U.S. Foreign Policy U.S. Liberal Politics U.S. Conservative Politics Women's Issues Civil Liberties The Middle East Race Relations Immigration Crime & Punishment Animal Rights Canadian Government View More by Amy Zalman, Ph.D. Amy Zalman, Ph.D. has been writing about terrorism and political violence, and their role in global politics and culture, since the late 1990s. Updated January 28, 2019 Also see: Al Qaeda leaders The Al Qaeda Network Some organizations may have operational ties to Osama bin Laden's core group. Increasingly, however, groups pledging allegiance to Al Qaeda have no formal association whatever. While many analysts use the metaphor of marketing to describe Al Qaeda as a 'brand,' and its offshoots as 'franchises,' others describe the decentralization phenomenon in terms of a core group of professionals, surrounded by new membership in 'grassroots' affiliates. This decentralization is a consequence of strategy, not accident, according to analyst Adam Elkus. In 2007, he wrote that: Al Qaeda has been moving towards decentralization ever since the invasion of Afghanistan, with isolated cells and loosely affiliated groups that have only a tenuous connection to the greater Al Qaeda hierarchy tapping into Some of these "knock-off" groups spring from pre-existing militant groups committed to some version of Islamist transformation of their society. In Algeria, for example, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb is a new incarnation of another group, the Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which has had a long, and violent, commitment to overthrowing the Algerian government. The group's sudden commitment to 'Al Qaeda- style' global jihad should be taken with a grain of salt or, at the least, examined in light of its local history. Al Qaeda—core organization: The original group headed by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al ZawahiriAl Qaeda in Iraq: An organization founded after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, AQI has morphed several times since.The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (Tanzim Al-Jihad): Egyptian Islamic Jihad was founded in the 1970s, and well known for its assassination of Egyptian President Sadat in 1981. It is a good example of an organization that has historically had a far greater interest in violent transformation of the Egyptian government than it has in a 'global jihad.'Ansar Al Islam: This Iraqi Kurdish organization was founded in 2001, and operates in the northern areas of Iraq and Iran. Its membership includes a number of members who trained or fought in Afghanistan, with bin Laden, and it is presumed to have close operational ties with Al Qaeda in the region.Al Jemaah Al Islamiyya: Al Jemaah Al Islamiyyah (The Islamic Group) is a southeast Asian group dedicated to bringing Islamist rule to the area. The United States suspects it of ties to Al Qaeda, but these seem tenuous on a large scale.Lashkar-i-Tayyiba: This Kashmir-based Sunni Pakistani group has historically directed its attacks at India. Leaders and members have demonstrated ties to some Al Qaeda members.Al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb: This Algerian group grew out of one dedicated to the overthrow of the Algerian government. Its name change was accompanied by a pledge to put Western targets in its sights.Abu Sayyaf: This Philippine group has been called an Al Qaeda affiliate, but there is little evidence of a meaningful operational tie. Indeed, the organization is more like a criminal network than one committed to an ideological goal. Continue Reading


text:
Jovani Prom Dresses
Amazing Prom Dresses from Jovani Prom - The Premier Designer. Call or Come In to Order Any of These Beautiful Styles
The Chic Boutique is proud to be a retailer for JOVANI, the top selling brand for evening wear and special occasion. Receiving the privilege of becoming a JOVANI retailer means that JOVANI recognizes The Chic Boutique as being an elite retailer with top-level customer service, an honest reputation and a longstanding loyalty to the brand. Jovani Pageant Dresses. The Chic Boutique is one of the few retailers who are allowed to sell JOVANI's designer dresses online, giving The Chic Boutique priority selection on the newest and most popular designs.


text:
The Rosamond Gifford Zoo at Burnet Park is a special place where animals, among them many endangered species, are nurtured and celebrated. When we reopened our doors in 1986 and welcomed the public to learn about and experience animals in humane and naturalistic settings we established an unwavering commitment that animal welfare and public education are the priorities for our zoo.
We invite you to become a part of an opportunity to dramatically move our zoo forward in our ability to deliver on this commitment. Our next stage of growth includes the following projects:
A new home for our nationally recognized Asian Elephant Breeding Program - among the top five in the nation.
The Rosamond Gifford Zoo has been synonymous with elephants since Siri, our much loved 50-year-old female, arrived here in 1972. An immediate favorite, Siri was the catalyst for the rebirth of our zoo in 1986.
To maximize our ability to contribute to the preservation of Asian elephants, we have designed a permanent home that can adequately achieve our mission. Without this new and improved facility we would be forced to relocate our breeding elephants. This would be a major blow to the field of elephant care and research and to the Central New York community, which has grown to love and support the elephants at our zoo.
The opening of Asian Elephant Preserve will mark the return of three elephants, including little Chuck, his mother Mali, and his grandmother Targa, who have been living temporarily at African Lion Safari in, Ontario, Canada. The family unit will be reunited with the rest of their Central New York family once our new state-of-the-art facility is complete.
Asian Elephant Preserve will far exceed the Association of Zoos and Aquariums requirements for elephant breeding, giving our zoo the distinction of having one of the top five Asian elephant programs in the United States.
Asian Elephant Preserve will include the following elements:
Pachyderm Pavilion | a state-of-the-art 27 foot high, 10,000+ square foot building for up to 12 elephants, with a wall of windows at one end to allow the public to freely view the elephants' day-to-day activities and care.
Four-Acre Grazing Yard | includes misters and sand wallows to help the elephants cool themselves, a giant scratch post, oversized shade structures, and rotating activities for the elephants' health and well being.
Elephant Overlook | visitors and families will have an opportunity to pause and spend time observing the elephants or watch an engaging elephant demonstration at a shaded overlook and seating area just off the boardwalk trail.
The current elephant exhibit, near the zoo's entrance, will be renovated and continue to be a destination for families and visitors to watch elephant demonstrations and view elephants up close, one-on-one.
For the first time in more than a decade, our beloved primates have come face-to-face with our guests outside, in the fresh air atop the hills of Burnet Park.
Visitors are able to listen to the primates' cacophony of calls, heard throughout the zoo, and watch as primates swing about the exhibit, bound from rock to rock, settle on the cool grass or nap in the heat of the sun. Primate Park is home to the following primates on a rotating basis:
Siamangs - lesser apes native to Southeast Asia
Ring-tailed and black and white ruffed lemurs - native to Madagascar
Patas monkeys - a new species to our zoo, native to equatorial Africa
Primate Park, a 4,000 square-foot naturalized outdoor exhibit, provides the following:
Enriching Environment | exhibit includes a waterfall and pool, heated rocks, swinging ropes and vines, rope hammock, shade structure and more.
Viewing Cave | visitors of all abilities can use the viewing cave, which has windows on three sides, naturalistic rock formations and information about cave dwelling creatures native to the primates' habitat.
Seamless Outdoor Viewing | a fine mesh encloses the outdoor primate exhibit allowing for seamless viewing and optimal interaction between visitors and primates.
The zoo's renovated "green" gathering space, Gatherings, is a welcoming place for visitors to rest and gather for picnics. It is also a beautiful venue to host special events and private parties - an important source of revenue that is reinvested in the zoo.
Gatherings is also a living exhibit of the zoo's commitment to conservation with numerous "green"building elements, including porous pavement, rain water collection barrels and native plant species.
The zoo's new projects are designed to meet our education and conservation mission. Some examples include:
Fun and Fascinating Elephant and Primate Demonstrations | will be a feature of Asian Elephant Preserve and Primate Park.
Interactive Educational Graphics | including an ecosystems jigsaw puzzle, a demonstration of how porous pavement works, and a life-size baby elephant sculpture, will educate visitors of all ages about animals and conservation in a fun and meaningful way.
Asian Elephant Biofact Station | an exhibit of elephant artifacts and information about this highly endangered species will be installed at Elephant Encounter, the zoo's existing elephant exhibit near the entrance of the zoo.
An Asian Elephant Educational Film | will be broadcast at the exhibit to educate the public about the species and demonstrate the exceptional animal care that is provided by the zoo's keepers.
Green Roof on the Pachyderm Pavilion | will be layered with soil and planted with drought resistant vegetation to dramatically reduce energy use, improve air quality, and lessen storm water runoff.
Rain Barrels and a Cistern | will collect rain water to be reused to water plantings and lessen storm water runoff.
Porous Pavement, Rain Gardens and a Tree Grove | will allow storm water to be absorbed back into the earth rather than running into storm drains and into our water supply, thereby reducing soil erosion and pollution.
Rosamond Gifford Zoo • One Conservation Place, Syracuse, NY 13204 • (315) 435-8511
J. Ryan McMahon II, County Executive
Bill Lansley, Commissioner
© Rosamond Gifford Zoo
Onondaga County does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability in employment or the provision of services. Links: Onondaga County's policy, complaint process, and language assistance or disability access issues.


text:
As of 2019, women in Saudi Arabia must be informed via text message if their husbands have filed for divorce. more...
December 11 , 1946 : UNICEF was established. more...
Learn something new every day
More Info... by email
A benefits administrator is part of the human resources department at many companies, and it is this individual's job to explain the different aspects of the benefits packages offered by the company to the other employees. He or she answers questions, prints and prepares literature and explanatory information packages for employees, and acts as an intermediary contact for the insurance company for employees who need to ask the insurance company a question. It is necessary for a benefits administrator to understand all aspects of the benefits packages offered by the company, which may include health, dental, or vision insurance, as well as life insurance, retirement packages, or other types of health savings accounts, among others.
In many cases, a benefits administrator will have a college degree in human resources, though some are able to work their way up by gaining work experience without the help of a degree. Some pursue degrees in other fields such as business or communications, but human resources tends to be the most likely background. Larger companies frequently have entry-level benefits administrator assistant positions available in the department, particularly during the times of the year when they are most busy, such as during open enrollment when employees are free to add or change benefits as needed.
As a general rule, a benefits administrator will spend a great portion of his or her day on the phone, fielding questions from employees as well as the insurance company. It is necessary for a benefits administrator to be a real people person, and to be able to explain complicated concepts in simple, straightforward ways. Benefits packages can be complex and confusing, and the employees will expect to be able to get a clear answer to their questions from the administrator. For new hires, orientation sessions, or open enrollment periods, the administrator may be expected to put on a brief presentation in front of a group to explain the benefits package and any changes made to it.
Most benefits administrators will distribute materials during these presentations to thoroughly explain the plans to employees. It may be his or her responsibility to write and create these materials in the first place, though in some cases they will come directly from the insurance company. Regardless, it is most important for a benefits administrator to have excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, as well as a meticulous eye for detail, in order to be successful in his or her job.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK!


text:
Find a property to rent
Price per week
Maximum price
Minimum price
Nursery schools
Primary schools
Secondary schools
Sixth forms and colleges
School performance tables
Pubs & bars
Local grocery stores
Provided by Google
Places I've saved (Add/edit places)
You have no saved places (Add a place)
See how convenient each property is for you and your family or flatmates.
Add places for quicker calculating of commute times, directions or the school run.
What can I save?
Add a place
Places you save are only visible by you.
Take a look at similar properties nearby, or start a new search.
See the very latest properties, before they get sent to Rightmove or Zoopla
Register & Peek
3 bedroom flat to rent
Located on a quiet residential street, this stylish three bedroom flat is arranged over two spacious floors and boasts high-quality fixtures and fittings and well proportioned rooms throughout. View more.
2 bedroom flat to rent
This stunning 2 bedroom, 1st floor flat is set within a popular and pretty modern development and offers neutral décor and contemporary fixtures and fittings throughout. View more.
Professionally Managed. 24/7 emergency support included
With an exceptionally spacious and well kept garden, neutral décor and well proportioned interiors, this superb two bedroom flat is tranquilly located on a sought-after street opposite Highbury Fields. View more.
1 bedroom flat to rent
This beautifully presented 1 bedroom ground floor flat features a private entrance, a charming rear garden, and stylish interiors throughout. Set in a highly sought after address. View more.
A fantastic 1 bedroom flat, set on the 1st floor, offering modern décor with a generous sized living space, and further benefits a good sized double bedroom and sleek fixtures and fittings. View more.
Located moments from Arsenal's impressive Emirates Stadium in a modern portered development, this fabulous 1 bedroom flat features a private balcony, neutral décor and well proportioned interiors. View more.
This fabulous 1 bedroom flat is set on the 1st floor and benefits from stylish décor, providing contemporary and bright interiors throughout with a generously sized living space. View more.
Set within a stunning period conversion, this fantastic, newly refurbished one bedroom flat boasts a wonderfully bright reception room with a modern open-plan kitchen and a superb location. View more.
This bright 1 bedroom 15th floor apartment boasts bright and spacious accommodation throughout with ample storage and an excellent location. View more.
Studio to rent
Enviably situated within easy reach of amenities between Caledonian Road and Holloway Road, this smart studio 1st floor flat boasts spacious interiors and neutral décor throughout. View more.
Would you like to view an extra 2 brand new properties without photos yet?
Get exclusive access
The smaller icons on the map.
3 bedroom house to rent
Situated within a secluded and private mews street this contemporary three bedroom semi-detached house benefits from a stylish and fully integrated kitchen with dishwasher and is very close to Upper Street. View more.
This beautifully finished two bedroom apartment offers a stunning level of finish along with a gorgeous open-plan living space, beautiful master bedroom opening onto private garden and lovely period features. View more.
Set on the ground floor of a secure building, this excellent 2 bedroom apartment offers a spacious open plan living area, with a modern kitchen and further benefits a private Garden. View more.
This unique 1 bedroom apartment with a mezzanine-level offers excellent accommodation in a popular and charming residential block, benefiting from a porter, lifts and lovely communal Garden/courtyard. View more.
This brilliant 1 bedroom apartment is securely set on the 2nd floor, offering a naturally bright open-plan living space, a sizeable double bedroom and modern shower room. View more.
No-obligation valuation service.
Yes, value my home for free
Click points on the map to draw a shape
Change property prices based on the latest exchange rates
Sort your list of properties
Keen on kitchens? Bonkers for bathrooms? Browse properties how you want.
Get emailed the latest listings & price reductions
Yes, sign me up
No thanks
Would you also like to receive our newsletter?
Yes, sign me up to the newsletter
You can manage your email in My Foxtons
Manage my emails
Get called first when new homes get listed
Yes, activate Jump the Queue
Not now
House Price Calculator
Instruct us
Login to My Foxtons
Find your nearest office


text:
As the courtroom drama unfolds in the prosecution of former city of Bell officials, with all of the haughtiness and greed, surely, anyone in the public spotlight caught up in any sort of malfeasances, or perhaps, even misunderstandings — whether willingly or not — should be taking notes. With each witness's testimony, the fact that these people so willingly disregarded their duties as public servants entrusted to do business in the best interest of the residents of their city is so shameful, it's almost unbelievable.
Currently, Angela Spaccia, the assistant city manager, is on trial for her role in the corruption scandal with the egregious bloating of the salaries of top officials, including her own at more than $500,000 and the city manager's at more than $1 million. The city of Bell has roughly 35,000 residents and one in four residents lives in poverty. While she has testified that she was just doing her job under the direction of former City Manager Robert Rizzo, at what point does a person take responsibility for his or her own actions and realize that something is wrong and do something about it? That point has not come for Spaccia, apparently, and certainly not for former Police Chief Randy Adams. Adams, who worked at Ventura Police Department for 23 years and served as Simi Valley's police chief from 1995 to 2002, decided last week that he would testify in court in Spaccia's defense, even after invoking his Fifth Amendment 20 times previously. Adams has not been charged with any wrongdoing; his salary as Bell's police chief was $457,000 a year, substantially higher than those of L.A.'s police chief and New York City's police commissioner.
An email exchange offers insight into Spaccia and Adams:
"I'm looking forward to see you and taking all of Bell's money?!" Adams wrote in 2009. "Okay … just a share of it."
Spaccia replied, "LOL … well you can take your share of the pie … just like us!!! … We will all get fat together…. Bob has an expression he likes to use on occasion. Pigs get Fat … Hogs get slaughtered!!!! So as long as we're not Hogs…. All is well!"
Adams said that the emails were taken out of context, acknowledging that it had more to do with the fact that he told Rizzo and Spaccia that they — the city — couldn't afford him. And he was right. It must have seemed obvious to a man who had spent 30 years in law enforcement that his salary was ridiculously high. It might have been a wise decision, instead of accepting such an offer, to perhaps call his buddies back in Ventura County and ask them if they felt it was a bit too much. Instead, he accepted the job and served the residents of Bell until he was forced to resign. Since the scandal broke out last year, Adams has sought to double his pension based on his tenure in other cities where he worked but a judge has since rejected the former's chief effort.
With all of this reprehensible behavior now out in the public for all to see, we could all learn a few lessons about how to conduct ourselves once caught with our hands in the pockets of those we promised to serve. But if we can't learn from others, we are unfortunately doomed to keep making the same mistakes. And when lawsuits against the city of Oxnard keep popping up — former City Manager Ed Sotello sued the city for harassment and retaliation, though the suit was dismissed in late October, and this week, some of the former city officials who received a $300 monthly retirement perk that was later found to be unlawful filed a defamation complaint against the city, specifically naming City Councilman Bert Perello — it is pretty clear that at least one lesson of Bell has surely been missed.


text:
And Possibly Dinosaurs
Love your job. Love your blog.
At And Possibly Dinosaurs, I embrace the fact that you can love your job and love your blog. Whether you need a creative outlet, a side hustle to pay off debt, or want to grow your skills to boost your resume, I'm here to support you.
We use cookies to personalise site content, for social media features and to analyze our traffic. We also share information about your use of this site with our advertising and social media partners.