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Ismael Brazza was one of the lucky few to move to the top of the waiting list for Section 8 housing vouchers in Washington State. After applying more than a year ago, he was told he would finally get the subsidy to help pay for rent and had two months to find an apartment. But after just a week of searching he found out that his voucher was being rescinded thanks to sequestration. Now he's back to staying with different relatives.
Brazza is one of the hundreds of thousands who have suffered some of the most immediate consequences of sequestration, which have already kicked children out of Head Start, reduced Meals on Wheels deliveries to the elderly, and devastated some public schools. Overall, it will cut more than $2 billion this year from housing assistance and other related programs that are funded through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). For Section 8, that means many local housing authorities that dole out the vouchers will freeze waiting lists and when people leave the program, the freed up vouchers won't be turned over to new applicants. This is projected to result in 140,000 fewer households getting assistance.
Brazza had never intended to rely on public assistance, but he lost his job while dealing with colon cancer. Between that, a divorce, and a lack of family support, he applied for public housing vouchers. "I've been self-sufficient all my life," he told ThinkProgress. "But cancer struck and everything changed." He meant the housing to be a temporary support while he fought cancer and went back to school for a career in physical therapy.
Now his cancer has returned. "I'm having a difficult time financially. I am under a lot of debt, medical bills, credit card bills, struggling to survive," he said. The housing authority hasn't been able to tell him when, if ever, he might get off the waiting list again and actually get some help with rent. If sequestration cuts aren't reversed, the chances don't look good.
While some budget cuts will take a while to actually impact local programs, these took effect immediately. "It started over the winter," says Linda Couch, senior vice president for policy and research at the National Low Income Housing Coalition. "The voucher waiting list started to slow down in December in anticipation of sequestration." Once sequestration went into law, people like Brazza who had just moved off of waiting lists got notices that their vouchers were being rescinded. In Brazza's own state of Washington, most housing authorities are shrinking their programs in this way. Ben Miksch, state and federal policy associate at the Washington Low Income Housing Alliance, related a conversation with one he had recently: "Sequestration happened, so now when 10 people leave the system, we're just going to serve 10 less people." They haven't had to kick anyone off the rolls who already has a voucher, and "we're fighting tooth and nail to make sure that we don't," Miksch said. But even slow attrition is troubling. He reports seeing increased demand as wages stagnate and housing costs go up. "We're seeing more and more people who need assistance, and at the same time we're reducing the assistance we're giving them."
Things are similarly dire in New York City. Sequestration will reduce its vouchers by 8,000, which will mean close to 24,000 people won't be able to access affordable housing, Judith Goldiner, attorney in charge of the civil law reform unit at Legal Aid, said. The housing authority is also looking at reducing the amount of rent that each voucher will pay out, resulting in 9,800 families having to pay more of their income toward rent. Yet this population "by definition can't afford it, any increase," she said. On top of these changes, the New York Housing Authority is saying that if it doesn't get $14,000 from HUD, it will have to take 1,200 vouchers away from those who already have them. "We haven't seen this before, this has never happened before," Goldiner said. "We're looking at a doomsday scenario."
The options being weighed in New York City are the same ones housing authorities across the country are forced to consider. They were already operating on a "shoestring budget," Couch explained, because most aren't allowed to have large reserves — they only have a couple of week's worth of money stored up. That has meant the pullback in resources has been fast and severe. After the initial letters sent out to those looking for housing like Brazza, authorities are turning to decreasing the worth of each voucher. That means either the landlord takes a hit or the tenant has to come up with the extra money. "In some cases people are paying zero rent and are now paying $50, or if you're paying $50 it now goes to $100," said Jeremy Rosen, policy director at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. "It sounds like a small overall amount of money, but it's a doubling of your rent, and if you don't have much or any extra money it matters." Couch warned that this could also mean landlords are hesitant to take Section 8 tenants in the future if the rent money is no longer stable.
Other problems loom on the horizon. If housing authorities are no longer giving out vouchers when they get freed up, that will mean fewer vouchers get funded the following year. That's because they only get funding based on the vouchers it had allocated in the last calendar year. "It's a really nasty downward spiral of funding," Couch said, "which will take authorities years to dig out of."
Meanwhile, many authorities have cut maintenance funding for public housing, which will also have long-lasting impacts. Now when a unit is vacated, rather than taking a week to turn over after getting new paint and any repairs it may take three or four weeks, Couch explained. "That slows the waiting list." It will also likely mean fewer available units overall. "We have already for years and years had maintenance backlogs in public housing," Rosen said. Budget cuts will mean less money for repairs, and "there are housing units that are actually in disrepair and can't be used but could be if they had the money to fix them."
And while HUD has instructed authorities to do all that they can to avoid taking vouchers away from those who already have them, including granting them flexibility to dip into some other funds, that may not last. "It's probable we'll start to see people actually have to be kicked out of units, have vouchers taken away," Miksch said. Authorities will have to "say sorry, I know you just got out of your car into an apartment, but you have to go back, hope you didn't sell your car," he added.
Brazza is still unable to work thanks to his battle with cancer and other health problems. But he remains optimistic about his own outlook. "I'm going to beat it, I'm going to fight it," he said.


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Four of the arrested are Delhi residents and have been identified as Manjur Abdul Hasan, a resident of Monivihar Pushta, Shivkumar Mahindralal Lamba, a resident of Krishna valley lane in Mojpur, Mohammad Salim Babu Khan from New Karim Pad in Amarpuri Basti, Sanjiv alias Sandip Prabhap Barman from Sadippur. The fifth accused Inayat Rahamat Khan is a resident of Tuntachal in the Sunhara taluka of the Basti district in Uttar Pradesh.
According to the Shahupuri police, the incident of cable theft took place on July 8, 2015. On July 8, BSNL officials lodged a complaint with the Shahupuri police station in this regard.
On the night of July 7, some men pretending to be BSNL workers were found digging the road from Venus corner to the railway station area. When the police questioned them about this, they were told that the BSNL workers were repairing the cables.
The next day, however, the BSNL office was flooded with complaints of non-operational phones from the Venus corner area. The officials realised that the cables were stolen from the area and lodged a complaint with the Shahupuri police.
During investigation, police discovered that an interstate gang was involved in the cable thefts. Similar incidents were also reported from Hyderabad and various other parts of India. After stealing the cables, culprits would set them ablaze. They would then separate the bunched copper wires from the burnt material and sell them in the grey market. A Local Crime Branch (LCB) team was appointed to nab the culprits, but was unable to trace the accused.
Last week, Dhule police arrested the gang, while they attempted to steal the cables in Dhule. Shahupuri police on Thursday took charge of the gang from Dhule police.

subset: commoncrawl


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There is a Zen-like composure that comes over you when you are cooking the only meal of the week in which you are allowed to indulge your less healthy desires. You pay more attention to the little details. You prepare in advance more, not wanting something to be spoiled because of bad timing. The process of cooking takes on a life of its own, sucking you in and down into its delicious, swirling vortex, the anticipation of the meal to come, ripping out all impatience, and replacing it with a sense of oneness with your kitchen.
I have just completed my second week of body modification. There will be no cutting, piercing, or inking going on. None of my modifications will be permanent; all will require maintenance for the rest of my life. Yet I find myself embracing these changes in lifestyle for the ecstasy they bring, once a week, on Sunday nights.
Anything, when only permitted once a week, takes on a new level of importance. It becomes a quest. The week spent in the gym – the labyrinths and catacombs and dungeons and caves. The weights and treadmills and reps and sets – my dragons and Cyclopes and minotaurs – all to be defeated for my maiden fair Meal. "I see thee, fair maiden, and I shall deserve thee."
The challenge, now, is not undoing all of the work I have put in at the gym all week by loading up on carbs and fat. (Challenge failed.)
On the Menu: Citrus Twist Coleslaw, Three Lettuce Salad, Tri-Colour Baked Beans, Seasoned Potato Wedges, Butter-Flashed Asparagus with Rosemary, Oven-Baked Steak Medallions, Lemon Poppy Seed Cake
On the surface, I know, it looks like a healthy enough dinner. The reality is, that anything that gets cooked in that much butter cannot be healthy. Well, not lean, anyway.
I have found that if you marinade beef in butter for thirty minutes prior to cooking, it tastes like awesome. (The marinade also included salt, pepper, garlic, and rosemary.)
The steaks get seared on each side for about two minutes, with a little olive oil in the pan to keep them from sticking, then the whole skillet goes into a 230 degree oven for 8 minutes. This should give you a medium-rare to medium result.
Joseph handled the salads again, and his introduction of citrus to the coleslaw blew everyone's minds.
Megan's poppy seed cake was an exercise in elegance and exquisite balance of flavour and texture. At the end of a long day and night, it was just what everyone needed, whether they knew it or not.
And we had two additions to the table this week. Megan's aunt Judith is visiting us from Toronto, and Cara and Rene's cousin, Lada, is visiting from the Czech Republic. TSB goes global, y'all …
Judith was kind enough to bring a bottle of wine from Canada. Well, from France, but the bottle was in Canada for awhile.
Wine: Les Hauts de Castellas Vacqueyras, Red Blend (Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre), Rhône Valley, France, 2009, $19.95 CAD
Rating: Two Bottles
Since we detected hints of rosemary in this wine, it went very well with this week's meal, the harmonizing herb of this week's dinner. In their tasting notes, the LCBO mentions, "Ideal for homemade gourmet hamburgers or rich meat-based pastas." Funny, that.
Earthy, herby, and floral, this wine is on the light-ish side, but with tannins that more than make up for it – a little too up front for most of our liking. We were a divided bunch on this wine. The vintners recommend shelving this wine for five to seven years, so we were two years short. We agreed with their estimates. Given a little more time, this wine would probably round out a bit more and lose a lot of its bitey-ness.
Being that there were nine of us, wine didn't stand on ceremony this week, so neither will we.
Wine: Pagos del Moncayo, Grenache/Syrah, Campo de Borja, Spain, 2010, $150 MXN
Rating: Two Bottles
I got this wine from Demian at Cava Veinte33. One of his new wines, his enthusiasm for it was contagious, so I bought it. (Never refuse an excited sommelier. It's kind of like turning down a bower.)
With dark fruit and apple flavours, this woody wine is light but complex. Sandalwood plays off peppery notes, while chocolate and figs bring up the bottom.
Amazing value for the price.
Wine: Viña Pomal, Rioja Crianza, Spain, 2009, $145 MXN
Rating: Two Bottles
All of the wines this week went very well with red meat. This very typical Rioja – earthy, oaky, and leathery – was no exception. Although, if pressed, I would have to say that it didn't have as much character as the other two. Also, we were tired. It just felt a little flat. It was fine, don't get me wrong, just not much to write home about.
And with our plates clean and our bellies full, we bid each other a good night.
And I toddled off to bed, to sleep, eagerly awaiting my work-outs to come, knowing that each bench I press (?) brings me that much closer to the next Sunday Bottles.
Until then,
Related articles
- Tasting the Wines in the Spring 2012 VINsider Club Shipment (tablascreek.typepad.com)
- Shades of red (pbpulse.com)


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News & Views September 2016 Issue
Behind Every Great Veterinarian...
The influence behind a world-renowned veterinary behaviorist.
When internationally acclaimed animal behaviorist and advocate Nicholas Dodman, BVMS, was eight years old and food was still being rationed in his native England post World War II, a fledgling song thrush "had the misfortune to have fallen out of the nest near my grandmother's front porch," as he puts it. "Though the chances of a bird thriving after being put back into a nest are low, my mother felt we needed to at least try."
It didn't work. The mother had abandoned her baby bird, as might have been expected. Thereupon, his own mother decided to bring "the barely feathered, broad-beaked nestling back to our home," Dr. Dodman relates, in an "attempt to preserve her young life."
Weeks later, once Mrs. Dodman was sure the bird would survive, she and her son gave the thrush a name, Pippit. Pippit learned to fly in the house, and everyone loved her. But it finally came time to return her to her natural habitat, and "with mixed emotions," the doctor says, "we opened the French doors to the living room and, after some slight hesitation, Pippit flew off." The little boy was inconsolable.
A year later, however, on a spring breeze, Pippit flew straight into the Dodmans' living room and happily turned her head from side to side to let her human family know she was okay. Out in the garden on the fence, another thrush sang and twitted, presumably, Pippit's mate. She then joined her mate out in the garden and left for good. It was the Dodmans' very own Born Free bittersweet ending, with Pippit the bird standing in for Elsa the lion.
"The effect on me was profound and echoes to this day," Dr. Dodman says. "A creature had flown across the species barrier and touched my mother and me. Later on in life, I became all about challenging that barrier, reaching across it, questioning whether it was really a barrier at all."
Challenge it he did, with pioneering treatments for all kinds of emotional and psychological ailments that he discovered affect dogs and other animals to the same degree they affect us.
He lays it all out in in his latest book, Pets on the Couch, written after decades of accumulated experience, making the convincing case that on the inside, humans and other animals are pretty much the same.
And he doesn't fail to credit his mother for his insights and cross-species concern. His mom "cared for whatever species turned up," he says, "going to great lengths to make them comfortable and happy….her compassion for animals rubbed off on me." She understood intuitively that animals "felt pain, they could be frightened, and they could... feel happiness, joy."
Read the book review starting on page 6 to get a glimpse of how Dr. Dodman used his early lessons at his mother's side to inform research and treatments for improving the lives of dogs and other animals that are now practiced the world over.
Happy tails to you,
Lawrence Lindner
Executive Editor
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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here's a high level summary of its overall blog health:
The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.
Crunchy numbers
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 9,700 times in 2010. That's about 23 full 747s.
In 2010, there were 78 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 149 posts. There were 172 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 41mb. That's about 3 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was January 5th with 377 views. The most popular post that day was SMOKING – follow up.
Where did they come from?
The top referring sites in 2010 were WordPress Dashboard, facebook.com, stress-management.lu, torajd.com, and aromatherapy.toplisted.net.
Some visitors came searching, mostly for motivation, cupressus sempervirens, farming, resin, and blue tit.
Attractions in 2010
These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.
SMOKING – follow up November 2009
4 comments
MOTIVATION January 2010
3 comments
CRIMINALIZING ORGANIC FARMING IN USA September 2009
ABOUT ME June 2009
2 comments
MASSAGE & PREMATURE BABIES August 2009
1 comment


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Velocity, bathymetry, and transverse mixing characteristics of the Ohio River upstream from Cincinnati, Ohio, October 2004-March 2006
Open-File Report 2006-1159
- More information: USGS Index Page (html)
- Download citation as: RIS | Dublin Core
Velocity, bathymetry, and transverse (cross-channel) mixing characteristics were studied in a 34-mile study reach of the Ohio River extending from the lower pool of the Captain Anthony Meldahl Lock and Dam, near Willow Grove, Ky, to just downstream from the confluence of the Licking and Ohio Rivers, near Newport, Ky. Information gathered in this study ultimately will be used to parameterize hydrodynamic and water-quality models that are being developed for the study reach. Velocity data were measured at an average cross-section spacing of about 2,200 feet by means of boat-mounted acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs). ADCP data were postprocessed to create text files describing the three-dimensional velocity characteristics in each transect. Bathymetry data were measured at an average transect spacing of about 800 feet by means of a boat-mounted single-beam echosounder. Depth information obtained from the echosounder were postprocessed with water-surface slope and elevation information collected during the surveys to compute stream-bed elevations. The bathymetry data were written to text files formatted as a series of space-delimited x-, y-, and z-coordinates. Two separate dye-tracer studies were done on different days in overlapping stream segments in an 18.3-mile section of the study reach to assess transverse mixing characteristics in the Ohio River. Rhodamine WT dye was injected into the river at a constant rate, and concentrations were measured in downstream cross sections, generally spaced 1 to 2 miles apart. The dye was injected near the Kentucky shoreline during the first study and near the Ohio shoreline during the second study. Dye concentrations were measured along transects in the river by means of calibrated fluorometers equipped with flow-through chambers, automatic temperature compensation, and internal data loggers. The use of flow-through chambers permitted water to be pumped continuously out of the river from selected depths and through the fluorometer for measurement as the boat traversed the river. Time-tagged concentration readings were joined with horizontal coordinate data simultaneously captured from a differentially corrected Global Positioning System (GPS) device to create a plain-text, comma-separated variable file containing spatially tagged dye-concentration data. Plots showing the transverse variation in relative dye concentration indicate that, within the stream segments sampled, complete transverse mixing of the dye did not occur. In addition, the highest concentrations of dye tended to be nearest the side of the river from which the dye was injected. Velocity, bathymetry, and dye-concentration data collected during this study are available for Internet download by means of hyperlinks in this report. Data contained in this report were collected between October 2004 and March 2006.
Additional publication details
|Publication type
|Publication Subtype
|USGS Numbered Series
|Velocity, bathymetry, and transverse mixing characteristics of the Ohio River upstream from Cincinnati, Ohio, October 2004-March 2006
|Series title
|Open-File Report
|Series number
|Year Published
|Time Range Start
|Time Range End
|Online Only (Y/N)


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Hypnosis to quit smoking is a very popular method for people trying to cure their cigarette addiction.
Cigarette smoking kills millions of people around the world each year with a whole third of the global adult population hooked on these cancer sticks. So can hypnosis help smokers because it appears to help so many other people?
Why Turn To Hypnosis?
A lot of people turn to hypnosis because they have tried the other methods and they have failed. First of all, you might try to quit just using willpower alone. This must surely be the most difficult way to quit smoking. Start your hypnosis with Melbourne Cognitive Hypnotherapy.
The next thing that people turn to is nicotine replacement products like patches. You stop smoking, slap on the patches and over 12 weeks cut down on them before stopping the patches too. It's barely any different to cutting down cigarettes and we all know how successful cutting down is, right? No wonder then that after trying the most convenient and accessible "cures", they turn to hypnosis.
How Does Hypnosis Work?
During hypnosis to quit smoking, the therapist will put you into a trance where you are highly suggestible. He or she will then suggest to you that you have super strong willpower and can barely feel any cravings at all. And you'll believe it!
It usually takes at least 3 sessions but most people who see a hypnotist will stop smoking and it will be much easier than willpower too. So this is where the story ends and everyone lives happily ever after, right?
Hypnosis Doesn't Work?
Hypnosis simply doesn't work! It might work for a week but fast forward 6 months and nearly everyone will be hooked again. If you don't believe me, you can do the research yourself. For instance, The Cochrane Collaboration, an independent body, wrote a research paper called "Hypnotherapy for smoking cessation". They concluded that "We have not shown that hypnotherapy has a greater effect on six month quit rates than other interventions or no treatment". You can do a search for the paper on Google Scholar and find it yourself if you wish.


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Yixing Teapots Technique
"YangSan Famous ceramic" Yixing teapots "A side non- type Not one " Yes Hundred years Person Does With . In is suitable Yixing teapots In the construction, may greatly slightly Minute, flower Muscle Three is big . Also may divide And Fang Qi Big Former mainly is Hits the body tube to take shape Yixing teapots with essence Is higher The body tube takes shape the law Yixing teapots Technique Is the world ceramic In culture Rarely . In addition, still some one The body tube takes shape the law, is the affiliation by the gypsum mold of Yixing teapots Helps Takes shape, may promote Makes the efficiency, after but the thick semifinished product takes shape, still needed the massive handworks to repair and maintain Labor Ceramics Note Takes shape the law to be completely different, cannot mix One . Yixing teapots Level Other earthenware The high factor is: Its modelling And matches colors By in Does Completes together, therefore he Must have High Makes . Must from previous hundred The bamboo, the wooden small tool, does Modelling Unimportance Helps the method Causes the Yixing teapots Level Friendly Beautiful degree. Because The Yixing teapots ceramic is different with other ceramics Outside does not apply glaze therefore Makes the technique Is in Empties the after semifinished product Surface and precision work. Use above each Tool The body tube and the cementation has been good and the spot Mouth With Good precision work. Often must pass The previous hundred sets of repeatedly working procedures only then complete. If A partial putty piece The curvature does not grasp Perhaps has any one The surface is crooked, then Sends Semifinished product body in thousand high Next twists tpos boxs Shape, so then All loses, therefore However is suitable Yixing teapots everybody do Not only wants To becomes a useful person Tall and straight, dynamics passes The inhuman person could and.


text:
Subbuteo is one of the world's most iconic sports games bringing the fun and competitiveness of football to your living room! Fans of all ages will love the new re-energised Subbuteo range with greatly improved detail. No longer will players need to be glued back together having broken from the base yet again - the new players are so strong and flexible. A new and improved pitch means your teams will never have moved so quickly and accurately. With unparalleled detail, stronger and more flexible players you can now dazzle everyone with your skills.
The Subbuteo Game comes complete with 20 players (10 wearing blue shirts with white shorts and 10 wearing red shirts and white shorts). Pick your team, decide your game plan and victory will be at your fingertips! Can you flick it? Yes you can! Subbuteo Game is suitable for ages 8 years and over.


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Health Care:
As the last industrial nation in the world without a basic health coverage for all citizens I affirm it is a MORAL imperative to care for the least among us and I do NOT support repealing "Obamacare" but I do support tweaking it!
In NO WAY do I support a 'welfare state' but claim we must retain Personal Responsibility and regain Common Sense!
Education is the way to end the cycle of fast foods consumed by couch potatoes who are playing Russian roulette with their health and over burdening the health care system with preventable diseases.
Those who can pay for health care–must; but those with out funds facing catastrophic illness must be treated with compassion.
I also support outlawing advertisements by Pharmaceutical companies, Hospitals, Dr's and Lawyers and I am in solidarity with The Common Good:
"Unreliable justice has a particularly pernicious affect in healthcare, where it chills communication between doctors and patients—lessening patient safety—and encourages the practice of defensive medicine, where doctors order tests and procedures to protect themselves from lawsuits. The cost of defensive medicine is estimated anywhere from $45 to over $200 billion dollars each year. Controlling healthcare costs is impossible without addressing the distrust that fuels this waste.
"To restore a foundation of trust we need health courts, aimed not at stopping lawsuits but at making lawsuits reliable to protect whoever is right. In health courts, expert judges with special training would resolve healthcare disputes. They would issue written rulings providing guidance on proper standards of care. These rulings would set precedents on which both patients and doctors could rely. As with existing administrative courts in other areas of law—for tax disputes, workers' compensation, and vaccine liability, among others—there would be no juries. Each ruling could be appealed to a new medical appeals court.
"The transformative benefits of reliable medical justice will be far-reaching. Once trust is restored, doctors can emerge from their defensive cocoons, be more candid about decisions of care, and start focusing on what they think is right, not self-protection. And hospitals can acknowledge opportunities for improvement and institute systemic safety enhancements without fear of opening themselves to legal risk." http://www.commongood.org/pages/establish-health-courts
Regarding Banking Reform and the Size of Government I am in solidarity with President Thomas Jefferson who said:
Never spend your money before you have it.
We in America do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.
When the government fears the people, there is liberty.
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.
The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.
The end of democracy and the defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.
I add corporations are NOT people –but as the Supreme Court and Mitt Romney believe they are-let's bleed them because there is a lot of GREEN there!
Immigration policy:
I fully support President Barack Obama's recent executive order allowing young undocumented immigrants to seek a path towards citizenship.
I add walls and fences are useless to prevent a desperate individual who wants to get to the other side.
Social Security:
We are living under many laws passed by people who have been dead a long time, thus I support term limits on laws for unless a law is in the best interests of the current generation, it should be repealed.
When Social Security was enacted, the average life span was mid 50's.
Today it is between 75-80 and with an ever increasing elderly population and a decreasing youth pool, we need to comprehend the American life style we have grown accustomed to is unsustainable and only creative ideas will be able to fix the problems of today that we must face as a United Nation and increasing the age of retirement is just the beginning of what must be done;
And what must be done must be discussed and fully investigated with the utmost best for ALL the people of this homeland and future generations.
ENERGY Plan:
If we are ever to regain our prominence as a leader in technology we must seize the opportunities and blessings that are free to US:
SUN, WIND and WATER!
I add Nuclear energy is NOT cheap or safe and "Drill baby drill" rapes and destroys the environment and that is NOT in the best interests of future generations-and it our lives are to mean anything it should be that we leave this planet BETTER than it is NOW!
In regards to the Federal Government and Education:
Education is an Investment as well as a right.
I uphold the local community is the best vehicle to address the needs of their children.
I also believe children should NOT be subjected to 'the test' but teachers must be!
Children should be evaluated at the beginning of the school year to determine their grade level and tested at the end of the school year to determine if they are ready for the next level.
IF more are NOT ready-it is the TEACHER who should be fired and the child should receive summer tutoring and then reevaluated to determine if they are equipped to move on.
I also would encourage the ever-increasing pool of retired people to volunteer as reading pals and if they have expertise in art, music and physical education to donate their time to nurture the future of America.


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Friday, September 10, 2010
Lemony Breakfast Rice
It's Friday night, and I'm thinking of breakfast. What will I have for my two special weekend mornings? Will it be sweet? Or savoury? A standard? Or something new? Or, maybe we'll head out to eat ... at any rate, it's going to involve coffee. Maybe even two coffees ...
Well, this is a great change of pace for breakfast. I mean, you can only have so much homemade granola or scones or waffles or chocolate bread ... ok, maybe not. But this rice is really yummy, and a great way to use up some of that extra rice you made the other day. (I have two containers of it in my fridge right now!)
Plus, I like to mix up my grains a bit. I try not to have the same thing for the same meal everyday - I figure variety is good for the body. Different nutrients doing different things. All good.
serves 4-6
about 20 min to prepare
1 1/2 c white rice (I used basmati but you could use brown as well, just adjust the milk volume)
3 c organic milk
zest of 1 lemon
pinch of salt
1 Tbs raw honey
1 Tbs unrefined brown sugar
a handful of berries (as you can see from the photo, frozen is ok too)
*Use organic ingredients when you can
1. Cook the rice in the milk, just like you would normally do with water. Just keep an eye on it when it does the initial boil, and make sure you put the heat right down after that. Add the lemon zest with the rice and the milk, at the beginning of cooking.
2. When the rice is done, stir through the salt, honey and sugar - serve into bowls and top with berries. Maybe even a dash of cream, if you've got some?
Well, my organic rice was $1 (or nothing, if you have some to use up) and the milk was $2. The rest wasn't much at all ... so we're talking less than $3.50 for everybody to have a lemony, fresh, organic breakfast.
Hope you enjoy your weekend, whatever you eat!
Amanda xx
5 comments:
Hey, Amanda!
I stumbled on your excellent site when trying to find your PhD info! I can't wait to try out your recipes. So glad to see you and your little one doing well! I'd love to hear from you at my old yahoo address (jdewoody).
- September 10, 2010 at 2:33 PM
- Little Paper Trees said... [Reply to comment]
hello fellow BYW student,love the idea behind your blog and wonderful recipes. can't wait to read more..
- September 11, 2010 at 8:43 AM
- Unknown said... [Reply to comment]
Lovely site and some yummy food will definitely try some your recipes.
Charmaine BYW student.
- September 12, 2010 at 2:53 AM
- oscar and ruby said... [Reply to comment]
Hi Amanda, what a great idea for a blog! I will be checking back in for sure. Need inspiration for healthier cooking, and I think this is the place to find it!
Jess (fellow byw & aussie)
P.s I'm sorry to read that you have been through a tough time with cancer and wish you all the best for your future.
- September 12, 2010 at 3:44 AM
- Amanda@EasyPeasyOrganic said... [Reply to comment]
Jenn! I'm so happy to hear from you! I'll definitely be emailing :)
Jaclyn, Charmaine & Jess - lovely to meet you all, and thanks for saying hello!
- September 12, 2010 at 8:08 AM


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Enrolment Downloads
Enrolment forms and the school prospectus are available from the school office, or you can find our phone, fax and email details on the Contact page. Information on the Sports, Cultural and other Academies, as well as Māori Immersion and Special Needs options are also available on request.
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The project is to be established in the Indian state of Gujarat near the growing city of Rajkot. It is anticipated that the project will be completed by the end of the year.
Martifers partner in the endeavor, Louroux Bio Energies, is a new Indian renewable energy company, which aims to be involved in the installation of 100 MW of solar electricity generation capacity over three years. This project with Martifer Solar is its first. The Indian solar industry has been kick-started by the national governments Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), which was launched in late 2009. The JNNSM set a target of 22,000 MW of solar energy capacity by 2022.
The solar industry in India needs both expertise and capital to realize its potential, according to accounting firm KPMG. Last week they released a report into the Indian solar industry illustrating the room for growth in all aspects of the industry from manufacture through to finance and installation. However to reach this goal, expertise in the industry must be developed and Martifer Solars entrance into the market can be seen as a step in this direction.
Martifer Solars Expansion Director Gustavo Fernandes, in a statement to pv magazine, outlined how the Spanish solar company will bring their experience to India to fill this void. "India is a country with excellent solar opportunities, but its market is still quite young and they need to acquire more experience." Fernandes added, "Louroux is our local partner and adds their extensive local experience to Martifer Solars international expertise, know-how and technical skills, so we have created a really accomplished team."
Announcing the partnership on the Gujarat project, Lourouxs Managing Director Ravi Agrawal commented on the expertise Martifer Solar brings to the project and Indian industry. "Our tie up with Martifer Solar is a major step for the successful realization of this plant. Their international experience, with more than 130 MW installed worldwide, confirms that they are the best partner for our solar project."
Martifer Solar is an anticipated to build on the partnership with Louroux to include other projects. "For Martifer Solar the Indian market is currently one of the more promising PV markets all over the world. India has a huge solar radiation potential and its domestic electrical consumption is growing very fast, making the country a really attractive site for PV development," Fernandes told pv magazine.


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Surprise, Surprise — ObamaCare Deadline Extended Yet Again
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty told Alice, "it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less."
To which, Alice responded, "The question is whether you can make words mean so many different things."
Clearly Alice had not yet experienced the Wonderland that is ObamaCare.
This week the Obama administration changed the rules once again. It announced that the March 31 statutory deadline for enrolling in insurance under ObamaCare's individual mandate actually meant sometime in the middle of April, the exact date to be determined later.
What this means is that it will now be possible to sign up after March 31 as long as you check a box on the online form saying that you started or tried to start signing up before the deadline. There will be no mechanism to determine whether or not you actually did start the process before March 31; the administration will take your word for it.
The extension comes despite the fact that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees the program, has repeatedly stated that there is no legal authority to delay the deadline, and just last week HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius testified before Congress that the administration had no intention of doing so.
Still, one should hardly be shocked. After all, it was only last month that the administration announced that the January 1, 2014 deadline for the health care law's employer mandate really meant, January 1, 2015 for some businesses and 2016 for others…maybe.
In fact, since the Affordable Care Act's enactment in 2010, President Obama has unilaterally acted at least 27 times to postpone, alter, or do away with at least 16 parts of the law. These include scheduled cuts to Disproportionate Share Hospitals, the Basic Health Plan option, out‐of‐pocket caps (in some instances), and small‐business‐exchange enrollment (Small Business Health Option Programs, or SHOP).
He even repealed an entire program, the CLASS Act (a long‐term care program), although that action was subsequently ratified by Congress. And none of these include the more than 3,000 waivers granted along the way to individual companies or unions.
Indeed, at the same time that the administration was announcing this latest change, its lawyers were in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that when the law explicitly says that subsidies to purchase insurance are available through "an Exchange established by the State," it actually meant "through an Exchange established by the State or the Federal government."
This distinction is particularly important to the future of the law, because it is the availability of those subsidies that trigger several other provisions of the health care law, including the employer mandate. As the Washington Post points out, the case, Halbig v. Sibelius, "threatens the very structure of the law."
The administration's lawyers maintain that even though the plain language of the law limits subsidies to insurance plans sold through the exchanges in the 17 states that chose to establish them on their own, that was simply a drafting error and Congress really intended to allow for subsidies on federally‐run exchanges as well. Therefore, the administration was justified, it contends, in having the IRS draft rules to provide those subsidies, and to impose the employer mandate in those states that did not set up exchanges.
However, two of the three Circuit Court judges appeared skeptical of the administration's efforts to rewrite the law as it goes. As Judge Thomas Griffith asked the administration's lawyers, "If I were to disagree with you and think established by the State under section 1311 means established by the State under section 1311,would your argument be over?" And Judge A. Raymond Randolph, pointed out that, "What you've got is language that's not malleable."
Not malleable? What administration is he talking to?
The health care law is 511,520 words long. Apparently, those words mean just what the administration chooses them to mean – neither more nor less.
Welcome to Wonderland.


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Thursday, December 8, 2016
Rivers rerun: "Don't kill anybody but don't be killed"- Rotimi Amaechi charges APC members
"This is what we call the election of our lives. Before I used to tell you, 'Please don't fight'. Is that not what I used to tell you? But I think we will bend it a bit… I don't want my church to stop me from taking holy communion. So, what I will tell you is don't kill anybody, but do not be killed. Now let me explain why I said that. My friend in the army said if you hear the sound of a gun, it's not meant for you. The implication therefore is that if you allow them shoot you, you will die. So, don't allow them. It is not they alone who that have the right to life; you also have a right to life. I don't want to hear 'They shot me and took the result sheet'. If anybody takes the result sheet, take it back from him. You know I have never spoken like this before". In the same vein, Chairman of the party, John Odigie-Oyegun, called on the party members to slap whoever slaps them during the election "I am glad with what I am hearing here today, very glad. If they push you, push them back. If they slap you, slap them back. We cannot allow them. The APC came on a rescue mission. Unfortunately they are fighting back, the same way they have always done. Are you going to allow them? It is within your powers to return the members of the house of assembly. Return the members of house of representatives and senators because we need them. When you do that, it will be the beginning of the end"he said
Posted by Leye Omole at 11:25 AM
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Home > About Us > News/Press Releases > 2017 > Randall K. Gibb, M.D. Named Billings Clinic CEO
Published on July 26, 2017
Billings, MT— Billings Clinic's Board of Directors announces the appointment of Randall K. Gibb, M.D. as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Dr. Gibb is a Gynecologic Oncology surgeon who has been with Billings Clinic since 2006. Prior to joining Billings Clinic, Dr. Gibb was Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University St. Louis. When he joined Billings Clinic, Dr. Gibb was the first Gynecologic Oncology surgeon in the multi-state region.
Over the past 11 years, Dr. Gibb has expanded his role beyond clinical practice as a Department Chair, Medical Director of the Billings Clinic Cancer Center, and Chief Medical Officer of the clinic. In November 2016, Dr. Gibb was named Interim CEO after the retirement of long-time Billings Clinic CEO, Nicholas Wolter, M.D. Billings Clinic's cornerstone principles require the CEO to be a physician. A nationwide search attracted over 150 high quality physician CEO applicants.
"Billings Clinic is a nationally respected organization, and it is the strong commitment of the physicians, leaders, staff, and Board of Directors that sustains our focus on excellent quality, safety, service and value," said Joy Ott, Chair, Billings Clinic Board of Directors. "In his successive physician leadership positions and as a practicing surgeon, Dr. Gibb has gained a deep understanding of Billings Clinic, our patients, his physician colleagues, and the complexity of health care in our region and nation. This experience has allowed him to develop a vision that builds on our firm foundation as a physician-led organization. We are excited to continue Billings Clinic's tradition of excellence under Dr. Gibb's leadership."
"I am humbled to have this opportunity to serve this great organization and continue to work with our team of dedicated and talented physicians, nurses and staff who care for our patients every day," said Dr. Gibb. During their 11 years in Billings, Dr. Gibb, his wife Lee, and their two children have established strong roots and are actively involved in the community.
###About Billings ClinicBillings Clinic is Montana's largest health system, serving Montana, Wyoming and the western Dakotas. A not-for-profit organization led by a physician CEO, Billings Clinic is governed by a board of community members, nurses and physicians. At its core, Billings Clinic is a physician-led, integrated multispecialty group practice with a 304-bed hospital and Level II trauma center. Billings Clinic has more than 4,200 employees, including 450 physicians and advanced practitioners offering more than 50 specialties. Billings Clinic is the first Magnet-designated health care organization in Montana and a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. More information can be found at www.billingsclinic.com.
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COVER- Attack of the clones? Have freedom and tradition taken a back seat to fan uniformity at UVA?
"This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it."
–Thomas Jefferson on the University of Virginia, December 27, 1820
"Beginning this year, signs are not permitted inside athletics facilities. Thank you for your cooperation."
–University of Virginia administration e-mail sent to students, August 19, 2008
The former of these quotes comes from correspondence sent by the University of Virginia's founding father to a friend, four years before he would see his "Academical Village" to fruition. It adorns the front gates of the Grounds at Mr. Jefferson's University, carved in the limestone for all students, faculty, and visitors to see. The latter was tucked deep into the body of a Grounds-wide e-mail sent to students just before they returned from summer break this year.
The sign ban has since been rescinded, but how is it that an institution of higher learning would put such an unequivocal defense of personal expression in such a place of prominence while at the same time forbidding homemade signs at its football games? Administration critics say fans shouldn't be surprised–- that it's just the latest example of the university's attempt to squelch the long-standing, often quirky, football traditions in the name of, as the university put it in the e-mail announcing the sign ban, "a positive game-day atmosphere."
While a stadium packed with nearly 65,000 howling 'Hoos certainly can be an intimidating setting for a visiting team, would it be any less positive if those fans were waving signs? Would Saturday afternoons at Scott Stadium be any less exciting with a soundtrack provided by the UVA Pep Band rather than, or perhaps in addition to, the UVA Marching Band? Would that student cheering section be a less formidable "12th Man" wearing jackets and ties than they would be wearing "Power of Orange" t-shirts?
As the team attempts to bounce back from three embarrassingly lopsided losses early in the season, some are wondering if the recent changes in the Scott Stadium experience are really for the better.
Pep banned
If it can be said that any organization ever rose from the ashes, it's the UVA Pep Band.
In 1941, the Pep Band's predecessors in the UVA Marching Band suffered a devastating blow to their program when the band was traveling home from New Haven, Connecticut following a road football game against Yale. The bus in which they were traveling caught fire, and while no major injuries were reported, the blaze destroyed the band's uniforms and instruments. A few private donations bought some new instruments, but by all accounts the band was never the same, unable to maintain the same membership or endowment it had previously enjoyed. Finally, in 1962, the remaining student members voted not to play at football games anymore and ended the program.
Seven years later, several UVA students got together without the direction or even the suggestion of the school's administration with the idea of reviving the band in some form and began performing as the UVA Marching Band. They marched in formation at halftime of UVA games, just as the old band had done. But in 1974, this ensemble decided it was going to be a very different brand of band. The UVA Pep Band was born.
Their halftime shows looked more like Laugh-In than The Music Man. A ragtag bunch of co-eds donning bright orange vests and khakis ran or "scrambled" from position to position between songs, as a student announcer told jokes or sometimes wove a satirical narrative as a means of segueing from song to song. Usually the butts of the jokes included the university administration and pop culture figures, but the Band always reserved its sharpest barbs for the opposing team. According to former UVA president Robert O'Neil, the jokes varied in taste.
"During my time, they did some very creative things," says O'Neil, "but they also did some things that crossed the line."
In 2003, University officials decided that line had been crossed one time too many.
The last halftime show the Pep Band ever performed was at the 2002 Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which the Cavaliers took on the Mountaineers from West Virginia University.
"We wanted to do a show making fun of West Virginia as hillbillies," says James Maxwell, a 2004 graduate of UVA and member of the Pep Band's show committee that year. "We thought the show was as tame as could be."
The band, as per an agreement with the university reached in 1993, sent the script of their show to an official in the Athletic Department.
"They looked at it, and they said it was okay," says Maxwell.
When the curtain finally rose on December 28, 2002, it soon became clear that not everyone agreed. The show was a parody of ABC's reality TV show The Bachelor in which an orange-vested man had to choose between two women, one "a biology major from UVA" wearing an orange UVA t-shirt, the other "a sociology major from WVU" sporting pigtails and denim overalls, whose post-graduate plans included, "Heading to California, out to Beverly... Hills, that is. Swimming pools, movie stars!"
West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise (D), was in attendance, and didn't take kindly to his constituents being likened to The Beverly Hillbillies. Two days later, he dashed off a letter to university president John Casteen demanding an apology.
"This type of performance merely perpetuates the unfounded stereotypes that we in West Virginia are fighting so hard to overcome," Wise wrote. "The incident on Saturday was conduct unbecoming of the University of Virginia."
Casteen did Wise one better than an apology. In April, he announced that longtime university benefactor Carl Smith had pledged $22 million toward the building of a performing arts center, $1.5 million of which was dedicated to the foundation of the Cavalier Marching Band. The Pep Band was barred from performing at any future university athletic event.
That summer, the university locked up the Pep Band's facilities in the music department, confiscated their instruments (they would return them later), and painted over the group's zany orange-and-blue color scheme in favor of a more sedate color palate in anticipation of the room's new occupants.
Some believe the marching band is an overall improvement to Saturdays at Scott Stadium.
"We had that goofy band before," says Gene Corrigan, who was athletic director at the Pep Band's inception and would go on to serve 10 years as commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference. "I was just at a game, and there was a wonderful dignity to the band we've got now, and the student section really seemed to enjoy their participation."
O'Neil knows from personal experience it means the elimination of a major headache for the university administration.
"Back in the '80s they did another show that was offensive to a lot of West Virginians," he says. "We got a barrage of complaints, and I answered every single one of them."
However, rather than take disciplinary action against the band, O'Neil opted to use his background as a lawyer to reason with the Pep Band.
"I met with the Pep Band, and said, 'It'd be better for you, for me, and for the university if you didn't ridicule neighboring states,'" recalls O'Neil. "But I never even considered imposing any sanction on them."
Still, he says he prefers the new group.
"When I went to Harvard, we had a marching band. The same was true at the University of Wisconsin [where O'Neil had been president prior to UVA]," says O'Neil. "It's certainly done both ways. Princeton has a crazy band like the Pep Band, for example. But I guess in my experience I'm more comfortable with a marching band."
Maxwell, now a Ph.D. candidate in the UVA physics department, concedes that the band that replaced his may look and sound better, but the wounds of the Pep Band's exile still run deep.
"My wife was also a member of the Pep Band," he says, "The first time she saw the marching band, she cried.
"Maybe," he continues, "we weren't the greatest musicians or the funniest people, but we tried really hard to be this thing that was uniquely UVA. It's the defeat of student governance and the death of an ideal UVA we believed in."
Fit to be tied
"Uniquely UVA" is a descriptor often applied to another quirk of Wahoo tradition, the custom of male students wearing coats and ties to football games and their female counterparts wearing sun dresses or a warmer equivalent.
Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, getting gussied up for game day was the norm on Grounds, even as the tradition faded at other schools.
"It was a great tradition passed down from class to class," says Logan Riddick, a lifetime Wahoo fan and 2007 UVA alum. "A big buzz concept at UVA is learning in all aspects of your life. Well, by learning to tie a tie as a First Year, you're learning, and it made for something that was not a typical football game."
O'Neil says that the tradition brought a smile to his face, as it harkened back to his younger days.
"Growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard was just down the street," says O'Neil, "so I was used to seeing the neat and tidy look of Harvard students. Then when I was a student there, I remember the ties hanging on a rack outside of the dining hall, because that's the only place you were required to wear them. I was glad that students had the choice to go somewhere where that was still the case."
Some weren't such big fans of UVA being so natty. ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd opined on the air, "UVA football is the softest bunch of cream-puff, bow-tie-wearing, brie-cheese eating, ascot-wearing wussies I've ever seen in my life!" adding, "They wear suits to games! That's absurd!" and, "Congratulations, you're very sophisticated. Good luck with that Chardonnay. But Virginia Tech would walk up and punch you right in the neck!"
So, on Thursday, October 16, 2003, months after the Pep Band's demise, came the clarion call that signaled that the ways of the coat and tie were becoming unraveled.
In anticipation of a big home game against the Florida State Seminoles, head football coach Al Groh announced in a press release he wanted everyone's Sunday Best kept in the closet. Instead he implored Cavalier fans to bring "their loudest voices and brightest orange shirts."
His press release concluded by pointing Wahoo Nation in the direction of the UVA Bookstore to purchase official "Orange Crush" t-shirts.
No 'magical powers'
A First Year at the time, lifetime fan Riddick, much as he enjoyed donning orange-and-blue ties he'd seen at games while growing up in Charlottesville, was willing to go along with this new idea. The Cavaliers came up short that Saturday, losing to Florida State 19-14.
"That was the last time I wore anything orange to a game," Riddick says. "Not that I thought it had any magical powers in the first place."
Still, the orange tide was rising. Bright orange shirts emblazoned with the slogan "Orange Fever" were available for purchase from the Bookstore for the price of $9.99 for the 2004 campaign. In 2007 came the official "Cavalier Nation" shirt, available in only one shade of bright orange.
In 2008, the marketing campaign reached a new level. In the summer, local television ads featured popular NFL-bound defensive end Chris Long standing in front of the Rotunda screaming "I've got the Power of Orange!" as he wore a t-shirt emblazoned with the same slogan, which, through the magic of special effects, also emitted orange bolts of electricity.
Then, at the opening game against the University of Southern California, came the beginning of a new tradition at Scott Stadium. Just before kickoff, twin Cavalier gridiron standouts turned NFL superstars Tiki and Ronde Barber stood atop Scott Stadium's famous hill. As the theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey blared over the public address system, they raised the official "Power of Orange" flag.
What isn't so obvious about the "Power of Orange" campaign is that just below the neckline of each t-shirt is the unmistakable "swoosh" logo of Nike, the athletic outfitter with whom UVA has a licensing agreement.
However, athletic director Craig Littlepage says that the movement away from coats and ties and toward orange t-shirts is not monetarily motivated.
"It's more comfortable, for one thing," says Littlepage. "It also makes for a better atmosphere because the opposing team can look up and see one dominant color. We do things every year to get fans excited about the season and the t-shirts are one of them."
O'Neil says that while he doesn't have a strong opinion about the movement toward t-shirts, he does say it would have been preferable if the wardrobe change had come from the students themselves.
"Standards and mores change naturally," says O'Neil. "I wouldn't be prepared to enforce my standards on anyone else."
Whether the university has "enforced" the dressing down is a matter of debate, but what is clear is that five years after making his request, Groh got has gotten his wish.
On August 30 in game against USC, national television got an eyeful of orange, when 64,497 fans packed Scott Stadium, exceeding the official capacity by nearly 3,000, and setting an attendance record, with the vast majority wearing UVA orange.
Tell-tale signs
As it turned out, that wasn't the only change that administration officials would try to bring about this football season. On Tuesday, August 19, with students' arrival back to Grounds still days away, came the announcement that signs were heretofore banned from all UVA athletic events in order to promote a "positive game day environment."
Somehow this was lost amid the excitement of playing the #2 USC. The policy change got a cursory mention in local media when it was first announced, but once the party was over and UVA had been stomped 52-7 at the hands of the Trojans, orange blood began to boil.
Students demanded further explanation and formed a group called Tees Overseas, dedicated solely to protesting the sign ban by asking students to get rid of their orange t-shirts in protest of the ban, with the intent to ship them to charity.
O'Neil says that public relations issues aside, there is still the problem of determining what constitutes a sign.
"It's impossible to determine whether this is constitutional, because it's so vague, and this key term was never defined," says O'Neil.
Indeed at the USC game, plenty of students were allowed to spell out words with letters painted on their bare chests and bellies. Even on the official 2008 UVA football poster there appears a fan holding the letter "D" in one hand and a miniature fence in the other. (That spells "defense" for those who don't enjoy football or rebus puzzles.)
Still O'Neil says the policy did have one thing going for it.
"At least it wasn't viewpoint specific," he says. "By banning all signs, they were being viewpoint neutral."
Some outside observers were less charitable. ESPN commentator Rick Reilly ripped the university for its decision, calling the administration "communist," "un-American," and "totalitarian," before making a plea for civil disobedience.
"Bring signs that say nothing. Bring signs that say, 'This Is Not a Sign,'" he implored in a column that ran in ESPN: The Magazine. "Or bring 60,00 signs and let the athletic department goons try to sort them out."
While a protest on that scale never happened, thousands of students did respond to Reilly's idea by going to the September 6 home game against the University of Richmond and hoisting 11" x 17" sheets of blank, white paper aloft at different pre-determined times during the game.
The Cavaliers left the field that day with a 16-0 win. They would not be so successful over the next three weeks.
On Saturday, September 13, the Cavaliers headed north to play the University of Connecticut Huskies. In the 2007 season, UVA defeated UConn in a Charlottesville nail-biter, 17-16. This time, the Huskies exacted revenge many times over as they trounced the 'Hoos, 45-10. Some said this was due to the fact that starting quarterback Peter Lalich was left home due to a violation of his probation for an underage drinking conviction–- a decision that had been ostensibly made by Al Groh, but that Lalich's father would later tell the Daily Progress had come from "on high." University president John Casteen vehemently denied his part in the decision.
"If that were the case, I'd have heard about it, right?" Casteen told the Hook when questioned at the dedication of a new student residence. "I didn't hear anything about that."
Lalich finally pled guilty to violating his probation, and was promptly booted from the team and left the university.
The scandal of Lalich's ouster still swirled in the Charlottesville media that week as the Cavaliers headed to Durham on Saturday, September 27 to play ACC rival Duke. The Blue Devils had not won an ACC game in four years.
The Cavaliers lost to the Blue Devils 31-3.
With the Cavaliers' record standing at 1-3, the discontent with the sign ban continued to grow louder. The UVA Student Council began to join forces with Tees Overseas to organize a mass protest. Students were to wear blue– instead of orange– to the primetime match-up against the University of Maryland Terrapins to voice dissent with the sign ban policy.
So, on the afternoon of Thursday, October 2, perhaps to avoid embarrassment on a nationally televised game, or perhaps just to give fans something to rally around before a key in-conference showdown, athletic director Craig Littlepage announced he was lifting the sign ban.
"The policy prohibiting signs, banners and flags in all UVA athletics venues has become a distraction and has taken the focus away from supporting our student-athletes," Littlepage said. "Our football team needs our support right now, and that should be our collective focus. With that in mind, I am repealing immediately the policy prohibiting signs, banners and flags in all athletics venues."
He added, perhaps with an eye toward the looming blue-out protest, "My hope is our fans will wear orange and be prepared to support the Cavaliers."
The decision to reverse the ban seemed to have been Littlepage's alone if the comments of his boss were any indicator.
"I don't do signs," Casteen said when asked at the dorm dedication.
Asked whether he could do something about the sign ban if he wanted to do so, Casteen says, "You could make the same argument about trash cans in academic buildings. That's the buildings department's job. This is a sportsmanship issue, that's the job of the athletic department."
Regardless of whose call it was, Casteen's predecessor agrees with it.
"It was a wise decision," says O'Neil. "Not only had it become a distraction, but the policy had been worded so vaguely, there could have been a legal challenge."
Not everyone in the sports media celebrated.
"I wish they'd kept the sign ban," said Michael Wilbon, a Washington Post columnist and ESPN personality, when asked about the ban in a live chat on the Post's website. "Why do people feel the need to do everything except watch the game? Drink to excess, hold up signs, for what? I don't get it. I don't want to have to ask some inconsiderate person in front of me to put down his stupid sign so I can see the game I paid to see."
Indeed, this was the main motivating factor behind the ban, according to Littlepage.
"We were concerned about obstruction of the field, and whether fans could see the game unimpeded," says Littlepage.
However, Littlepage also notes that allowing signs was also putting ushers and ticket-takers in an awkward position.
"It was an impossible situation for people at the gate," says Littlepage. "They would have to make decisions about signs over what was in good taste and what was not in good taste."
So, with the sign ban lifted, but with the Power of Orange campaign still very much on, and with the Pep Band still on the outs, what would the atmosphere at Scott Stadium be like as a struggling Cavaliers' squad returned to Charlottesville to take on the Terps?
Game time
The Hook scoured the student section during that October 4 game and found that the student presence was pretty much like any other recent contest at Scott Stadium. Though the official attendance was just over 50,000– well short of its official 61,500 capacity– students wore their orange t-shirts. The Hook spotted only one necktie, and only one blue shirt. They gestured in unison as they mimicked the referee's signal every time the Cavaliers made a first down, they swayed and sang as one every time the marching band struck up "The Good Ol' Song" after each Wahoo touchdown.
As for the sign ban's repeal, there were no huge "Fire Groh" posters (though there were a few homemade t-shirts with that message), nor were there any hand-printed words of encouragement like "Go 'Hoos." In the entire student section, the Hook could spot only one sign, bearing the at once disappointed yet motivational statement "One win is not enough."
That night, new starting quarterback Marc Verica threw two touchdowns and ran for another. The Cavaliers left the field with the Cavs' second win, having defeated Maryland 31-0 and leading some students to remark aloud, "Peter who?"
So it seems Lalich is closer to being little more than a memory at Scott Stadium, just like jackets and ties, just like the Pep Band, just like the civil disobedience of raising a blank sheet of paper.
According to former AD Gene Corrigan, that's for the best.
"I was at that Maryland game," he says, "the students are fabulous, the band is great, and the team really seems to respond."
Indeed, since the 2003 end of the Pep Band and the beginning of the era of orange, the Cavaliers have a Scott Stadium record of 24-6. So while less quirky, and less individualistic, perhaps the university's efforts at making their student cheering section has made them more effective against the opposition.
Yet, perhaps if Mr. Jefferson were alive these days, he wouldn't recognize Wahoo Nation. After all it was he who said, "Our attachment to no nation upon earth should supplant our attachment to liberty."
Lindsay Barnes has been a reporter for the Hook since 2005.
The "Power of Orange" was in full effect just before kickoff against Duke on September 24, 2005.
The two recent bands for UVA football games vary wildly in style. The Virginia Pep Band incorporated a more informal "scramble" style in their halftime performances, seen here at a 2002 game, whereas the UVA Marching Band incorporates a more traditional precision marching style, seen here as they form the "power-V" in 2007.
Little did they know at the time, but these three Pep Band members and their sketch in which "Dude" (center) must choose Bachelor-style between a mate from UVA or West Virginia University at halftime of the 2002 Continental Tire Bowl when they invoked the ire of both West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise (D) and ultimately led to the demise of the Virginia Pep Band.
It didn't take long for a sea of orange t-shirts to replace coats and ties at UVA football games. The first request for orange from head football coach Al Groh came midway through the 2003 season. This was the scene at the home opener against Western Michigan on September 3, 2005.
At the outset of the season, before the ban, a pair of signs– "D" + "fence"– were exalted on the official Power of Orange poster.
"UVA football is the softest bunch of cream-puff, bow-tie-wearing, brie-cheese eating, ascot-wearing wussies I've ever seen in my life!" said ESPN Radio's Colin Cowherd on UVA students' coat-and-tie dress code.
"I don't do signs," says UVA president John Casteen.
13 comments
It's an outrage. It's unconstitutional. UnAmerican. UnJeffersonian. The pep band should be allowed to poke fun at toothless hillbillies and slobbering rabbis and watermelon-chomping field hands and anyone else they darn well please.
This is America not Canada, for goodness sakes.
That's right! Though in Canada, we consider all Americans as toothless hillbillies who chomp watermelons and slobber all over their gefiltefish while sitting with the rabbi at the Dew Drop Inn.
And Pep bands are free to wear whatever color ascots they please
I was a member of the pep band. The first class that never got to play in Scott Stadium (or any AD function for that matter). It was a shame to be distrusted and vilified for actions I was never involved with. Even with the Student Council supporting a two band solution several years ago, the AD refuses to let the pep band back. So, the pep band has gone and played at Washington Nationals and Washington Capitals games on many occasions. Always asked to return, and always commented for our professionalism. Yet, the AD refuses to let us play at Olympic sports or other venues in which the marching band does not play at. Its a shame that we are considered professionals at the highest echelons of sports, yet not worthy to represent our university. Even today, the pep band continues to scramble around the parking lot at scott stadium for students and alums alike. We even perform at club sports to support our University any way we can.
Over the last six years the Pep band has proven it deserves to represent the University body once again, when will the AD listen to the students and bring this band back?
It's ok us toothless hillbuillies make fun of the members of the pep band too.
Does this mean that West Virginians can make fun of southern planters making southern comfort with their slaves? I never saw the UVA pep band ever poke fun at folks in Augusta County, or Northhampton County VA - home to a lot of privies and outhouses. Funny how the Virginia forgets what's in its own back yard.
I second Matt's comment. The Pep Band lives, and wants back in! Make room for the Pep Band in olympic sports, at least. The Pep Band can work cooperatively with the marching band, as we tried to convince the Athletic Department in 2003. Look at Virginia Tech: their Marching Virginians and Highty Tighties perform together on game day. The only thing preventing such cooperation is a stubborn Athletic Department!
Seeing as we never played the University of Augusta County, Mr. Wartell, it doesn't seem terribly relevant for the Pep Band to poke fun at Staunton-ites.
We ARE rivals of a certain Virginia Polytechnical Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia.
From a 2001 Show:
Hokie fans, welcome to beautiful Scott Stadium. We would like to remind you that re-entering the stadium is not allowed, but don't worry, we have indoor plumbing.
Rumor has it that when the University of Virginia wanted to make football a serious priority they needed to get rid of the Pep Band, both because they were "undisciplined" (where undisciplined here means independent, free-thinking, and student-run) and because the Pep Band was better entertainment than the games themselves. Old alums still have fond memories of the Pep Band.
I'm currently a second year at UVA and am a tenor sax player and conductor for the Virginia Pep Band and am greatly saddened that I cannot play on Scott Stadium's field.
My parents, both UVA alums, told me of a band with a "ridiculously long name" that everyone at the University loved because of their spirit and untraditional way of playing music. They said they were proud of having a student run band as opposed to a traditional Marching Band. When we went to the Music City Bowl in Nashville to see UVA play Minnesota, my parents were dumbfounded at the appearance of a true marching band in UVA colors. My mother was wondering where the Pep Band had gone.
Now, I'm in the Pep Band and I couldn't ask for a better group of people. What Matt Dreher said is true, we have been on good behavior, have kept our jokes to a non-offensive, but still funny, standard, and have played for numerous club sports events, which are outside of the Athletic Department's control.
I have friends in the Marching Band, and don't have any problems with them. The only problem I have is the stubbornness of the AD and their inability to reconcile differences and let us play at games that the Marching Band does not.
I'm proud to wear an orange vest and hope that one day, maybe not in my time here, but one day, The Award-Winning Virginia Fighting Cavalier Indoor/Outdoor Precision (?) Marching Pep Band & Chowder Society Review, Unlimited!!! (aka the Virginia Pep Band) will be allowed to play for the University and its students once again.
A plague on both the pep band and marching band. The pep band was dreadful and unfunny, a pale imitation of Stanford's annoying scramble band, or however they refer to themselves. Stanford is at least a decent university. The marching band is just dreadful and symptomatic of the State U. culture that Al Groh likes to foster. They should bring back George Welsh, but not the pep band.
Good story in the C'ville alternative newspaper.
If the Univ. exists to support the football team, rather than the football team exists to support the Univ. spirit, then Groh is right on target. I miss the things that made UVA football unique and fun - winning occasionally but also dressing for games, catered tailgates, the Pep Band, and the Good Ole Song.
This year was the last straw for me and is the first year since 1990 that I haven't bought football tickets - and my family is skipping any possible bowl as well.
I guess next year Groh will target the Song...
Wahoos really need to get over themselves. "Uniquely UVA" is drunken rich kids dressed to the nines with superiority complexes.


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This second part of the Kennet & Avon Canal video details the Western section of the navigation, concluding the 86 miles through 106 locks. We continue the journey from the summit through Wiltshire and into the County of Avon, the rich arable countryside providing marvellous backdrops throughout the navigation's course. See the tremendous Caen Hill flight in Devizes which became the focal point for the official re-opening of the canal by HM The Queen, who, in 1990 navigated through lock 43 at the summit. The flight with its straight 16 locks and a further 13 near the town is an impressive feature and one that shouldn't be missed by any enthusiast. Afterwards, enjoy the tranquil descent of the Avon valley and the marvellous Georgian city of Bath; experience the impressive Avoncliffe Aqueduct with its neo-classical design. But the programme doesn't stop there as we continue along the unpredictable section of the tidal river and into Bristol itself to record the once-thriving docks. The two videos that make up the entire Kennet & Avon canal form a comprehensive archive, providing a unique insight into this endearing waterway. (Run Length 57 mins)
In PAL DVD-R format, suitable for the UK, European and Australia / New Zealand markets. Will also play in laptops anywhere.


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- 1.4 million Facebook reach
- 225,000 guaranteed video views
- 20% achieved over views KPI's
The Brief
Drive awareness and generate bookings for the London City – Geneva route among AB 25-45 male business travellers.
The Idea
Create a relevant connection between affluent winter sport enthusiasts and the LCY – GVA route by creating fun, shareable content on the surrounding resorts. Illustrating how British Airways City Flyer gives you more time to spend doing what you love.
The Execution
- 3 x Video edits (30 sec)
- 1 x Competition page and social promotion to win flights
- 1 x Longform feature: How A Weekend In The Alps Is Much Easier Than You Think
- 1 x Shortform feature: 22 Reasons Why You Should Spend Your Weekends Skiing This Winter… Instead of in London
- 1 x Infographic: London To The Alps: What's The Quickest Way?
- 2 x Resort guides on Chamonix and Tignes
- 2 Million Ad Impressions: Co-branded double MPU's promoting content on Factory owned and operated sites and audience extension to find our audience beyond our sites


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Making Shorten2Ping really work
Most of the plugins we are using are not at all prepared for WordPress 2.8 and almost all forgot that multi authors in a single blog may require independent plugin options too.
This is just a test post to see if all is working as expected. Cross fingers!
Update: It works!
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Note: this article was last updated in November 23rd, 2009
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Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken-Corn Soup
4 pounds stewing chicken (cut up)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped including leaves
1 cup all-purpose flour
10 cups water
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 cups fresh or frozen corn
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 egg beaten with 1/4 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Simmer chicken in boiling water until tender, remove chicken and strain the stock. Return stock to pot, add onions, celery,and corn. Remove chicken from bone and cube then add to soup. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Just before serving, add hard boiled eggs, salt and pepper. Mix flour with egg and milk mixture, rub mixture with a fork until it crumbles. Drop crumbles into the soup. Cook covered over low heat about 10 minutes,without stirring. Serve immediately.
Serves 6.
The Florida Conference of The United Methodist Church
450 Martin L King Jr Ave
Lakeland, FL 33815
(863) 688-5563 or toll free (800) 282-8011


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DAY 1 Sofia
Arrival. Transfer to the hotel. Overnight in Sofia.
St George Hotel
DAY 2 Sofia (B)
Full day sightseeing tour of Sofia.
Your day start with a visit to Boyana Church, a UNESCO listed site, followed by a visit to the National Historical Museum. Here you will see many collections of artifacts of Balkan history. Then you will go to Pancharevo Lake for a lunch break (food at your own expense) and rest in nature. The tour will continue with a visit of the Museum of Communism. Proceed to the city center and go across the National Palace of Culture. See the ancient St. George Rotunda, the Administration of the President, the National Archaeological Museum, the 16th century Banya Bashi Mosque, St. Nedelya (old metropolitan cathedral), the National Theater and the former Royal Palace (now housing the National Revival Art Gallery and the Ethnographic Museum). Also see the Russian Church St. Nikolay, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and The National Assembly Square where the impressive Tsar Osvoboditel (King Liberator) monument was erected in 1907 by the Italian sculptor Arnoldo Zocchi. Admire the National Art Gallery The Holy Synod, Saint Sofia Church, The Bulgarian National Gallery for Foreign Art, and the Alexander Nevski Cathedral, the biggest one in Bulgaria and, according to many, the most spectacular building in Sofia. The tour ends at Alexander Nevski Cathedral.
DAY 3 Sofia – Thessaloniki (Bulgaria – Greece) (B/L/D)
Sofia – Thessaloniki (Bulgaria – Greece), 310 km 4 hours' drive
In the morning we leave Sofia for Rupitе. This is the place where Baba Vanga (Grandmother Vanga – one of the most famous prophets of the World.) had received people for almost 20 years before she passed away. Rupite is a sacred place, suggested to her by the forces from above. When Vanga was asked why she chose this site to spend the rest of her life and to build the temple she said mysteriously: "I have my time here. This site is very special. I use it like an accumulator and it gives me energy and power. A terrible fire burned there in the past and a great secret is hidden in the ridge above us."
Following a lunch break, we leave for Thessaloniki, Greece. After we pass the border, we arrive in Thessaloniki. The name of the city comes from Alexander the Great's half-sister. It was founded in 315 BC by Cassander of Macedon. Thessaloniki is Greece's 2nd major economic, industrial, commercial and political centre. It is the only city in Greece that has ministry building (Ministry of Macedonia) outside of capitol. In Thessaloniki we will visit Ataturk's house (the founder of the Republic of Turkey), the White Tower, St. Dimitrios Cathedral, the Statue of Alexander the Great, Venezelo and Constantine statues, Vardar, Eleftherios, Macedonia and Aristotle Squares.
We will check into the hotel in Thessaloniki at the end of the tour. In the evening, we can go to a Greek Tavern, listen to music and enjoy Greek bouzouki. (Optional)
Anatolia Hotel
DAY 4 Thessaloniki – Bitola – Ohrid (Greece – Macedonia) (B/L/D)
In the morning we leave Thessaloniki for Bitola. In Macedonian language Bitola means monastery. When we arrive there we will enjoy a nice stroll on Shirok Street (Wide Alley); we will visit the Old Bazaar (Ottoman Bazaar), the new mosque and Isaac Celebi Mosque. We will also see the Military School where Mustafa Kemal Ataturk graduated and we will visit the Ataturk Museum. After some time spent nicely in the monastery, we leave for Ohrid. Ohrid is in the World Heritage list of UNESCO. It is settled next to Ohrid Lake. In the city we will visit Ottoman houses, Ottoman Bazaar, Ali Pasha Mosque, Haydar Pasha Mosque, St. Panteleimon Church, Hagia Sofia Church and Roman Theatre. We will have a shopping break in Sycamore Square. Check into the hotel and overnight in Ohrid.
Hotel Aleksandrija
DAY 5 Ohrid – Tetovo – Skopje (Macedonia) (B/L/D)
In the morning we leave Ohrid for Skopje. Our first stop will be Tetovo. We will visit Alaca Mosque which has been decorated by Ottoman ladies the way they liked it and then will be Harabati Tekke. After our lunch in Tetovo we leave for Skopje.
When we arrive in Skopje, we will see the Stone Bridge built in the time of Mehmet II on the Vardar River, Alexander the Great Statue, King Samuel Statue and Mother Theresa Memorial. We will have a shopping break in Skopje Bazaar. After the break, we check into the hotel to stay overnight in Skopje. Macedonian spectacular night is extra for the ones who like to see more of Macedonian culture.
Ibis Hotel
DAY 6 Skopje – Prizren – Budva (Macedonia – Kosovo – Albania – Montenegro) (B/L/D)
In the morning we leave for Prizren. There we will see Bistrica, Gazi Mehmet Pasha and Sinan Pasha Mosque. We will travel to Montenegro through Albania.
When we are in Montenegro, our first stop will be Budva with its colourful nightlife and fabulous beach. Budva is one of the oldest settlements on the Adriatic Sea coast. We will have a nice walk around Budva Stari Grad (Old Town) and we will visit the castle there. You can even have a coffee break with the beautiful views of the Adriatic Sea. We will check into our hotel in Budva and stay there overnight.
Hotel MB
DAY 7 Budva – Kotor – Dubrovnik (Montenegro – Croatia) (B/L/D)
In the morning we leave for Dubrovnik. On our way we will enjoy the great scenery of Kotor Gulf and the lovely panoramic view of Dalmatia. Then we will proceed to the best-preserved medieval city of Dubrovnik, another place on the UNESCO list of World Heritage. Dubrovnik is also called Ragusa Croatia. In Dubrovnik we will see Francis Monastery, the Rector's Palace, the City Gates and Old Town Square with the towers. After the free time in the Old Town, we will leave for our hotel.
Hotel Lapad
DAY 8 Dubrovnik – Mostar – Sarajevo (Croatia – Bosnia and Herzegovina) (B/L/D)
We leave our hotel for Sarajevo in the morning. Our first stop will be the village of Pocitelj, which is the first Turkish settlement on the Adriatic coast in the 16th century. You can get a small gift from the village. Our second stop will be Mostar. The name of the town comes from the bridge (Mostar Bridge) which was built by Ottomans in the 16th century. You may see the most interesting traditions of the city – jumping from the bridge into the river. This is for the girls to be convinced that boys are in love with them. We check in our hotel and we go to Bascarsija which has been settled in the Ottoman period. The name comes from Turkish language and means 'main bazaar'. We will have free time there.
We will check into our hotel and stay overnight.
Hotel Grand Sarajevo
DAY 9 Sarajevo – Belgrade (Bosnia and Herzegovina – Serbia) (B/L/D)
We leave for Belgrade. Belgrade means 'black and white'. It is also known as the capital of culture and sport. Belgrade was the capital of former Yugoslavia, now it is the capital of Serbia. We will start our tour where Sava and Danube River meet. We will see Kalemegdan (Castle Square), Stambol (Istanbul) Gate, Military Museum, Clock Gate and Museum, Nebojsa Tower. We will walk on the famous Knez Mihailova Street with lots of cafes and famous shops. St. Sava Church and Republic Square are also in our list of places to see. We will check into our hotel and stay overnight. You can enjoy the famous night life of Europe in Belgrade.
Jump Inn Hotel
DAY 10 Belgrade (Serbia) (B)
After breakfast, transfer to the airport for flight home.
Between 6 - 10 passengers
- Double/Twin Sharing: $1595
- Triple Sharing: $1525
- Single Supplement: $495
Between 11 - 16 Passengers
- Double/Twin Sharing: $1475
- Triple Sharing: $1405
- Single Supplement: $495
More than 17 Passengers
- Double/Twin Sharing: $1355
- Triple Sharing: $1295
- Single Supplement: $495


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The BEST WESTERN HOTEL JENA is a Tourist hotel. Located in City Centre area. Shopping is accessible by bus/taxi and the nightlife/restaurants are located in the hotel.
Welcome to the BEST WESTERN Hotel Jena. Our hotel offers modern comfort with an individual service to pamper our guests and to make them feel at home. The spacious and comfortable 160 rooms and suites are well equipped with bath/shower/WC, hairdryer, telephone, satellite TV, pay TV, radio, minibar and complimentary wireless LAN, which is also available throughout the hotel. Non-smoking rooms are available. Our wellness area is a source of relaxation. Take time out to enjoy all the benefits from our sauna, solarium, massage and beauty studio with natural products.
تواصل معنا، متواجدون على مدار 24/7


text:
Joe Corbett
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Opera houses survive, even thrive, despite Boulez's pessimism
- Culture
- May 28, 2014, 01:00
Ten years ago I interviewed Pierre Boulez in connection with the 2004 RTÉ Living Music Festival. I had to ask him about opera, given his famous 196(...)
Curtain call for Cork, a city proud of its operatic leanings
- Culture
- January 15, 2014, 01:00
There's something about opera and Cork. It's not just that the city has a theatre called the Cork Opera House: it's that Cork just won't lie down w(...)