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It rained.
But I always try to have a back up plan. We had Mo and Fry bring another DVD of "Full Metal Alchemist"; and Jill and Obi brought "So I Married An Axe Murderer". We had pesto that Jill and I made last fall with the basil and garlic from her mother's garden. SSB got some awesome black forest rye - it was the chocolate cake of breads! I made salsa from scratch (dice tomatoes, garlic, green onions, and cilantro and add a little salt - delicious!). And we had apples and the best damn caramel EVER!
As our guests were chatting it up in the kitchen, SSB and I were moving an end table so that we could move the food into the living room. SSB turned to me with a DVD in his hand, "I found 'Munich'!" To which I replied, "No!! I just told J that I was sure that I had returned it already! If that wasn't the video that we returned that day, what one DID we return? One of ours?" At that point Mo, the boss of J and head of circulation at the library, comes in to find out what all the yelling is about. I told her, with my head hung in shame (I mean, I want a job from this woman at the library and I can't even manage to bring my own items back). Fry laughed and she offered to take it in for me the next day when she went to work. Later while we were talking about something some one asked me, "Are you sure?" To which I replied, "Well, I was wrong about Munich." I think I will be throwing that into my inside-joke rotation - it sounds so ominous and important.
We played Uno (and the first card that Mo laid was a Draw 4 - she is ruthless! Nice to meet you - DRAW 4 you sorry bastard!). While we were playing, SSB replied to something that Fry had said with, "Like 'Sofa King'?" Fry chuckled. Mo, Obi and Jill had no idea what was going on. I told them to ignore it because it's offensive. Mo kept pushing the matter (most likely because she didn't like that her husband knew what it was and she didn't) until I finally broke down and wrote it out for her to read. So here I am, with my potential boss, in my living room, and I am having her reading out loud to a room full of people, "I am Sofa King. We Todd it."
Yep, that's how I roll.
And the more she said, "I don't get it", the more her husband laughed and the more frustrated and determined she got. Finally I couldn't take it anymore and I read it out loud. When she still said that she didn't get it, well, I thought her husband was going to pee his pants. He's a little immature - I like that about him.
Mo gathered Fry up and left shortly after I explained the joke - and reminded everyone that I had told them that it was offensive. Oh, well. Obi and Jill stayed to watch "So I Married An Axe Murderer" - awesome movie. I love it every time I watch it.
In the end I couldn't have offended Mo too badly because the next morning she called me to ask if I was interested in getting my old position back for the summer. Uh - HECK YEAH!
OK, I know what you are thinking "aren't you already working enough?" Well, it's for a good cause. J has health issues and needs the time off to recoup. Her bosses don't like to give her the time because they need that time covered by someone who knows the job. That would be me. So to help her out, I cover the hours she cuts back by. PLUS it keeps my foot in the door at the library and gives me a sanity break from my other job. That's what we call a Win:Win:Win situation.
I will leave you with that and beautiful pictures of my poppies which started to bloom this morning:
4 comments:
We were talking about how great our harem sofa is, and right after that we were talking about what to call the person who won at Uno. Someone suggested Uno King, and then I suggested maybe Sofa King.
That last picture is awesome by the way.
You guys are such fun nerds. Wish we had you guys as neighbors rather than the arses that live next to us now.
The same thing happened to us when we returned Lost Season One to the video store, we swore up and down that we returned them all, but they said they were missing one disk. Finally they caved, and let us off the hook.
A year later we found it under a couch.
Before I read this, I was trying to think of all the ways you could've been wrong about Munich. That Sofa King story is hilarious. I can't believe she didn't get it. Her husband really should've stepped up to tell her rather than leave you wit h the dirty work!
SSB, if anyone was offended by it, they got over it quick enough.
I like the way that the poppies look like they are reaching for the sky.
Evil Spock, "fun nerds", I like that.
Did you have a little Abbott and Costello going about the "Lost 'Lost'"?
Shannon, I know!! But someone had to do it - and that usually ends up being me.


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|» Crude Petroleum Oil
We are renowned name engrossed in offering a wide range of quality assured Crude Petroleum Oil. This oil is processed using best quality raw material incorporating latest machineries. The offered oil is widely used in different types of industries like chemical, lubricants, and other various industries. It is acknowledged in the market due to its attributes like reliability, excellent quality and long service life. The Crude Petroleum Oil is inspected on various quality parameters to ensure its purity, safety and defect free nature.

subset: commoncrawl


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Laser Dentistry – To Help Calm Your Uncomfortable Child
Posted on: 13 December 2015
Oftentimes kids are afraid of the dentist because they are fearful of the needles and feeling of being numb after the work is complete. One solution to this problem is laser dentistry.
What is laser dentistry?
Laser dentistry is the use of laser energy and water to remove decay from the tooth.
Why is laser dentistry a better option for kids?
Laser procedures in family dentistry can remove many of the elements of dental work that kids aren't comfortable with.
- Numbing the tooth is not necessary. This means no needles and no funny feeling hours after the dental work is complete and there won't be a sore area where the injection was given.
- No drilling sound. That noise is unsettling to even grownups. Taking the sound out of the situation can help put your kid at ease while in the dentist's chair.
- No burning smell. When the tooth is drilled with a traditional tool, the smell of the burning tooth material can turn your stomach.
- Sterilization. Traditional drilling doesn't sterilize the area that the dentist is working on, leaving the area at risk of infection. The laser energy kills all of the bacteria and germs in the area, reducing the chances for infection after the work is complete.
What do kids experience during laser dentistry?
Laser dentistry is quick and effective. The only thing your child should experience during the treatment is a bit of water spraying into his or her mouth and the clicking sounds that come from the laser. Dentists are using specially-designed suction devices that are placed in the mouth to suck all of the water out as it is released from the laser.
Tip: If the clicking noise is discomforting to your child, a set of noise-canceling headphones with your child's favorite music can remove it from the situation.
Do kids need to be sedated during laser dentistry?
Full sedation is not necessary in many cases. However, children with special needs or very young children do better with mild sedation – nitrous oxide gas. In this case, your child will wear a small mask that goes over the nose and releases nitrous oxide and oxygen to keep your child relaxed – not sleeping.
If your child is uncomfortable during cavity repair procedures, it is time for you to talk with your family's dentist about utilizing this innovative method of removing the decay. Your child may find it much more comfortable now so dental work isn't so difficult later.Share


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Our new Life at VetCor Program is all about elevating our employees through their professional success, individual wellbeing, and community connection. This spring, we've seen so many wonderful examples of connections within the VetCor family, as well as out in our practices' local communities!
Dan, Steve, Peter and Jess from the home office visited New York for a regional Life at VetCor Meeting. They even took an obligatory selfie with Regional Manager Jill, and Parkside Veterinary Hospital's Dr. Meyer and Jeanine! After all, you know what they say…selfie, or it didn't happen!
We love seeing our VetCor family members get together for networking and leadership meetings. We know that we can do more for our internal community and purpose when we work together. But Life at VetCor doesn't stop there – it extends to our local communities, too.
We believe in "doing the right thing," for our co-workers, patients, clients and beyond – and doing good is never something our practices shy away from.
Here are some of our favorite community connections from May:
|The teams at High Ridge Animal Hospital in CT and Animal Hospital of Verona in WI got active and raised thousands of dollars to help beat cancer in our canine and human companions.
|Dr. Harris from North Austin Animal Hospital in TX has been helping the homebound, elderly and disabled care for their pets through the Pets Assisting the Lives of Seniors Program.
|Hebron Animal Hospital in IN donated pet oxygen masks to their local fire department.
|South Bend Animal Clinic in IN raised money to get heartworm-positive dogs the life-saving care they need.
And that's just a few of the amazing things going on at Life at VetCor!


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Come and visit the Newhaven Display Village and explore our beautiful displays from WA's best builders while taking part in the free activities!
We will have a delicious FREE doughnut wall and coffee van on offer for parents.
There will also be the super fun Slime Science Lab and free balloon giveaways available to entertain the kids!
Saturday 4 November
Location – Doryanthes Avenue, Piara Waters


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We Wish
Donating items from our Wish List is a wonderful way for individuals, and school, corporate and community groups to help Kids In Crisis with some of our programming needs.
- Sport watches
- Water bottles
- Duffel bags/back packs/sports and gym bags
- Recreational clothing (girls & boys): yoga pants, joggers, sweatpants and sweatshirts
- Digital alarm clocks
- Journals and Planners
- Bath towels
- Hygiene products (male and & female) body sprays, brushes, deodorant, shampoo
Arts and crafts supplies
- Arts & Crafts Brushes/Paint Brushes –flat, wide, all sizes
- Paint sponges and arts and crafts rollers
- Paints-watercolor, Tempera paint, Metallic paint, neon paint, glitter paint,
- Acrylic Paint-bottles, tubes, solids, Washable Tempera Paint, Solid Tempera Paint, Fabric Paint – (comes by Gallon and smaller)
- Crayola (or other brand) Tempera Mixing Mediums
- Erasers-to use with colored pencils/pencil drawing
- Sketch Books smaller sizes-portable sizes for outdoor drawing/painting
- Charcoal sets for drawing
- Paint Pens
- Paint Markers
- Canvases
- Poster Boards
- Elmer's Glue (small and gallon container)
- Smodge Podge (comes in large container)
- Clay and dough compounds
Therapeutic supplies
- Stress balls
- MP3-Players
- Sketch books
Items we regretfully cannot accept due to health and safety regulations:
- Used clothing
- Linens, pillows
- Beds/mattresses
- Stuffed animals
- Furniture
- Cribs
- Car seats
- Strollers
- Riding toys
Drop Off
Please contact Jasmine Gorey at 203.622.6556 or email@example.com to schedule a drop-off time.
Shop Amazon and 5% of your purchase goes to Kids In Crisis.
AmazonSmile! offers the same products, prices and service as Amazon. Just designate Kids In Crisis as your charity of choice and you'll be supporting the agency in a simple way by doing something you do every day!


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In this video we perform an unboxing review of the Foxeer Legend 1. We measure its weight and size and compare it to the Mobius and the RunCam HD. We then evaluate the latency of its live out in comparison to other cameras. Finally we demonstrate the radio transmitter remote control feature of it.
Some more information from the manufacturer:
The FOXEER action camera is tiny and light at only 49g. It's equipped with an Ambarella A7LS processor and 16MP Sony Exmor R BSI CMOS Sensor. Using 7G optical glass lens of 166°ultra-wide angle, it also has wide, normal, narrow options for selection. 1080P 60 frames per second recording allows you to capture every moment perfectly. You can capture 16MP still photos or Time Lapse photos at set intervals from 3 to 60 seconds. Featuring exclusive R&D UAV wireless control capturing technology, you can wirelessly activate the photo/video functions by UAV remote controller (RC handset). recommend class 10 or above Sandisk MicroSD card.
The Foxeer Legend 1 is available from Surveilzone at: http://www.surveilzone.com/Foxeer-Legend1-16MP-1080P-60fps-HD-Camera-with-Ambarella-A7LS-and-166-Degree-Lens-g-1435
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MARVEL developed lots of super characters which we are not going to forget any time. One of them was Captain America and you're about to go through a guide that will let you download Captain America TWS for PC. This game is developed by Gameloft developer which is among Top Developer over Google Play store. The game is official version of the series and you're going to see all characters and game story as real as it was from MARVEL.
You're about to lead yourself as Captain America and your little but skilled team named S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm going to share the guide directly and later I'll share features with review of this game so that you can know what you're about to experience while playing it.
Also check - Download Tennis 3D for PC
Download Captain America TWS for PC
In order to download Captain America TWS for PC you need to go along the following sets of three simple instructions. Once you're done with the installation process then within few minutes the game will be there on your PC for free.
- You need to first download and install BlueStacks on your computer. You can get it for free over here.
- Start BlueStacks and use its search tool to find out Captain America TWS Android game.
- Now just download the game as you found it in the search results.
If you find any error during installation then you need to update the graphics drivers of the PC first and then later retry with the installation again. Otherwise the installation will happen without any other problem and it will be simple.
Captain America TWS features
According to the official description of the game at Google Play store, it's an intense combat action with lots of tactical options. Following are the features of Captain America TWS Android game.
You're about to lead yourself into the shoe of Captain America and your very own and skilled S.H.I.E.L.D. team. The America is going through a civil war due to some narrow minded people who have somehow found some super powers and now using it for the bad instant. You as a super hero, need to stop them, kill them and save your country.
The complete America is going through the pain and you need to prove yourself as the source of right over wrong and help the citizens to restore peace in the country. You're about to fight with the enemies, their troops and some extraordinary special bosses who are tough to kill.
Also check - Download Calorie Calculator for PC
The graphics of this game are of superb HD quality and so does the sound effects which match with each other and create a stunning game visuals throughout. I can't describe the game play experience you're about to get through this game as I don't have enough words to explain that. This game is near to win the Editor's Choice badge on the Google Play store.
I hope you like this and also share the guide on how to download Captain America TWS for PC with your social network friends.


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Senior Associate, Solicitor, UK and EU Trademark Attorney
London, EIP Europe LLP
As an IP Solicitor Carissa focuses on contentious matters. She has experience of proceedings in the High Court (both Queen's Bench and Chancery divisions), Privy Council and the Court of Appeal, as well as and in cross-border disputes. She currently focuses on multi-jurisdictional patent litigation. Carissa has also advised clients on copyright, trademarks and IP ownership issues. Further, in her role as a Registered Trade Mark Attorney, Carissa also manages a number of active trademark portfolios.
Before joining EIP Carissa worked in the commercial litigation department at a leading London law firm specialising in media and entertainment. Prior to entering the Law she worked as a toxicologist at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London.
Carissa has a degree in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Loughborough and was awarded the AstraZeneca first place prize for her final year research project and a Law Conversion Degree from The College of Law. In addition, she also has a Certificate in Trademark Law and Practice from Queen Mary College, University of London and qualified as a Trade Mark Attorney through Nottingham Law School. She speaks Spanish fluently.


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Haemimont Games and Wired Productions announce new Victor Vran DLC
If you're a fan of Haemimont Games' award-winning RPG, Victor Vran, then there is good news is coming your way. Yesterday, the guys at Wired Productions announced two new DLC; Fractured Worlds and Motörhead: Through the Age, both of which look to add some awesome new adventures to the already popular title. as expansions to the current game and will also be available on
For those already owning the standalone game, the two DLC will be available to purchase as expansions. For those who may not have got in on the action yet but want to, then you're in luck, as Haemimont Games are releasing Victor Vran: Overkill Edition which will come with the original content plus Fractured Worlds and Motörhead: Through the Age.
We'd tell you more but that requires effort typing up information and it also takes away some of the fun exploring the developer's website. So if you'd like to find out more about the developer, the game and where you can get it, then visit their site HERE. In the meantime, here is the release trailer for the Overkill Edition.


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Come And Knock On Our Door / One Cup of Java Challenge
Tuesday's One Cup of Java Challenge: We had so many calls on our M*A*S*H question yesterday that I've decided to tackle another 70s sitcom for today's One Cup question. Three's Company aired on ABC from 1977 to 1984 and featured the adventures of roommates Jack, Chrissy and Janet. Your One Cup question this morning: what were Jack, Chrissy and Janet's last names?
Answer: Jack Tripper, Chrissy Snow, and Janet Wood
Answer: Jack Tripper, Chrissy Snow, and Janet Wood
Bonus Blog Trivia: The Three's Company theme song was sung by Ray Charles. No, not THAT Ray Charles, but the man who worked for a number of years with Perry Como and wrote the grade school choir staple "Fifty Nifty United States." He now bills himself as "the other Ray Charles" in honor of the more famous musician with that name, with whom we worked on several occassions. "The other Ray Charles" has been musical director for the Kennedy Center honors for the last 25 years. "The other Ray Charles" also wrote the ditty "We got letters, we got letters, we got stacks and stacks of letters" for Perry Como's television show; it is now used by David Letterman for his Viewer Mail segment.


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Car accidents are the leading cause of injury in the U.S. Many of these injuries and deaths result in car accident lawsuits. If you've been involved in a car accident, you may have a legal claim against the person responsible. Read on to learn about car accident lawsuit basics, including the processes involved, theories of liability, and more.
Pre-Litigation Negotiation
Before filing a car accident lawsuit, there is typically an early opportunity to settle the claim. You, or your attorney, will communicate with the responsible party's insurer, who will often offer to settle the claim. If the offer seems fair and appropriate you can agree to the insurer's terms and receive a payment in return for your agreement not to sue. When an agreement cannot be reached a lawsuit is filed.
No-Fault Insurance
In states that have "no-fault insurance" laws, there is a reduced chance of litigation. In these states, your own insurer is required to pay for your personal injuries up to the policy limit unless the accidents involved drugs, alcohol, or criminal behavior on your part. This doesn't necessarily eliminate all claims, if your insurer refuses to pay you may have to sue them, but by providing a streamlined method to receive compensation and eliminating argument about fault it does reduce the number of car accident lawsuits.
The no-fault process sets thresholds beyond which a lawsuit is still permitted. There are two kinds of thresholds set by states:
Some states have both a monetary and a verbal threshold that need to be met before a lawsuit can be filed.
In states where no-fault is inapplicable, or where thresholds have been met, the car accident lawsuits are nearly always based upon a theory of negligence. Negligence occurs when a person who owes a duty of care to another person acts in a careless manner and their actions, or failure to act, result in an injury to someone else.
All drivers have a duty to follow the rules of the road, drive at a reasonable speed, keep their car in good repair, and to pay attention to the road. Driving while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs and violating rules may raise a presumption of negligence.
Contributory and Comparative Negligence
Some states apply theories of negligence that can reduce or eliminate the driver's responsibility for injuries where the injured person's actions were also negligent. These are referred to as contributory and comparative negligence.
Comparative negligence is further divided into two categories:
Types of Compensation
A car accident lawsuit may result in a variety of different claims for compensation. These claims may include damages relating to:
Accidents that result in a death may also result in a wrongful death claim and associated damages.
Filing a Car Accident Lawsuit? Ensure a Better Outcome With Legal Help
Car accident lawsuits tend to involve a series of interactions with insurers, even before a lawsuit takes place. Insurance companies are certain to have legal representation, sometimes a whole team of lawyers. If you're considering a lawsuit over a car accident claim, you should consider contacting a local car accident lawyer today.
Contact a qualified auto accident attorney to make sure your rights are protected.


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- Product Overview
- Supplement Facts
- Quality Guarantee
Green Tea EGCG
Green tea has become a popular antioxidant based on its high concentration of polyphenols, a powerful class of bioflavonoids. These compounds have been shown to assist in the destruction of free radicals and increase metabolism. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the most researched polyhenol component.
Super Antioxidant
About the Botanical
Camellia Sinensis is an evergreen tea plant native to China, Tibet and northern India. It can reach a height of approximately 10 feet and thrives in the cool, high mountain regions of central China. The leaves are shiny and dark green with lighter new growth. The plant has fragrant white flowers and small fruits that resemble a hazelnut. Tea plants have a growth phase and a dormant period, usually during the winter. The new shoots or "flush" are plucked as they emerge. In hotter climates, the plants have several flushes and can be picked year-round.
|High-Potency 50% EGCG 98% Polyphenols 80% Catechins
| Supplement Facts
Serving Size: 1 Capsule
Suggested Use: As a dietary supplement, take 1 capsule daily with a meal. (Do not take on empty stomach)
Amount Per Serving % Daily Value
Green Tea Extract (Camellia sinensis) 400 mg *
(Leaf) (Standardized Extract) (Contains 4 mg of Caffeine)
[80% Total Catechins, and
50% EGCG (Epigallocatechin Gallate) (200 mg)]
Decaffeinated Green Tea (Camellia sinensis) (Leaf) 50 mg *
* Daily Value not established.
Other Ingredients: Cellulose capsule, silica, and magnesium stearate (vegetable source). Vegetarian/vegan product.
Do not exceed recommended dose. Do not take on empty stomach.
What is a standardized extract?
A standardized extract is a concentrated herbal product containing one or more components of the herb in a specific, guaranteed, amount. These components, known as active constituents, have been isolated and extracted from the herb for their medicinal benefits. The amount of extract and its guaranteed potency are two ways to compare herbal products. Standardized extracts cost more because of their high-potency.
For example, our ginkgo biloba formula contains 120 mg of standardized ginkgo biloba extract in each capsule. It takes 50 pounds of ginkgo leaf to produce 1 pound of concentrated extract (50:1) with our standardized level of active constituents. Each batch of extract is laboratory tested and guaranteed to contain a minimum of 24% Ginkgolavonglycosides and 6% Terpene Lactones. These two natural components of the ginkgo leaf have been isolated for supporting memory, concentration and healthy circulation.
Thank you for supporting eco-friendly solutions!
|Quality Ingredients Tested for Purity Verified Potency GMP Assured
Purity and Potency Guarantee
GreenPacks supplements are made according to Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) established by The Natural Products Association (NPA). The GMP Certification Program is designed to enforce standards mandated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and to verify products meet established specifications for quality, composition, purity and potency.
100% Money-Back Guarantee
When you purchase GreenPacks supplements, you can be sure you're getting pure, high-quality products.
All ingredients and finished formulas are routinely inspected for both purity and potency. The testing of raw materials, in-process formulas and finished products is essential to ensuring supplements meet potency claims and are free from contamination. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll gladly refund the purchase price. Simply return the item to us within 30 days after delivery.
Environmentally Responsible Packaging
GreenPacks are the first nutritional supplements offered in 100% biodegradable and compostable packaging. Our supplement bags are FDA approved for direct food contact and certified to the Industrial Composting norm, ASTM D6400, and the OK Compost Home Composting Standard. By refilling your existing supplement bottles, or our reusable dispensers, you save money and reduce harmful use-and-toss packaging. We hope our quality, value, and commitment to preserving the environment helps earn your business.
Thank you for supporting eco-friendly solutions!


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Zwilling J.A. Henckels Pro Ultimate Serrated Utility Knife, 5"
- Only at Williams Sonoma
- Exclusive
Easy, hassle-free returns online and in-store for eligible items.Learn More
Earn 5% Back in rewards4 plus free standard shipping3every day when you shop with your Williams Sonoma credit card at Williams Sonoma.Apply Now Learn More
- Summary
Perfecting the unique dual-serrated edge on this utility knife took Wüsthof three years, 15 variations, and lab testing using specially designed robots. The resulting blade cuts easily through tough ingredients, is gentle on the foods and retains its sharpness. The knife works wonders for slicing foods that are hard outside and softer inside, such as sausages, tomatoes, bread rolls and cheese. It's also the perfect take-along for picnics and lunches.
- Precision forged using Zwilling's Sigmaforge process, which incorporates the Friodur ice-hardening technique to produce corrosion-resistant blades that are exceptionally hard yet flexible.
- Precise lasers ensure each blade's edge is at the optimal cutting angle for maximum sharpness.
- Arched bolster perfectly supports the thumb—and allows the full length of the edge to be sharpened, from tip to end.
- Made in Germany by Zwilling J.A. Henckels, founded in 1731.
- Dimensions & More Info
- Contoured for a secure, comfortable grip, the sleek ABS resin handle is triple-riveted to the blade.
- 5"-long blade, 4"-long handle.
- 11.2 oz.
- Made in Germany.
- Use & Care
- Always use caution when handling sharp objects.
- Avoid cutting on hard surfaces such as stone, metal or glass.
- It is not advisable to use any knife but a meat cleaver to cut through bone, as other blades can be easily damaged.
- Hand-wash with warm water and a mild detergent. Rinse and dry immediately.
- Sharpen your knife at home using a sharpener specifically designed for a serrated blade, or have it sharpened by a professional.
- Store knife in a safe place to protect its edge and prevent injury.
- Shipping
Shipping Information
UPS can deliver most in-stock items within 3–5 business days. UPS is unable to deliver to P.O. boxes.
Shipping Rates
The shipping rate varies depending on your order total and shipping destination. View Shipping Options and Charges.
Next Day Delivery
For an additional charge of $26 per address, we can expedite delivery to most destinations. This service is not available for some oversize items, items shipped directly from the supplier (including perishable and custom-manufactured items), out-of-stock items and items to be shipped outside the contiguous 48 states.
Orders received by 9:00 p.m. ET Monday through Thursday will arrive the next business day; orders placed Friday through Sunday will arrive on the following Tuesday.
Return Policy
At Williams Sonoma, we take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of our products. Attention to design, materials, safety and construction are our priority. Upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage; we will arrange for a prompt replacement.
If within 30 days, you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may return your purchase for a refund of the merchandise value. An original receipt or gift receipt is required for all returns and exchanges. Returns with a gift receipt will be refunded in the form of a Merchandise Credit for the amount indicated on the gift receipt. Returns with original receipt will be refunded in the original form of payment, cash and check refunds over $100 will be issued as a company check (may take 14 business days from time of request).
For all cutlery returns (knife sets, single knives, cutting boards, knife sharpeners and knife storage), please contact us at 888.922.4108 to initiate the return.
We cannot accept returns on monogrammed, personalized, special-order items, custom upholstery, food, items shipped direct from the vendor or on items damaged through normal wear and tear. Final sale items ending in .97 or .99 cannot be returned.
Made to Order and Final Sale Furniture items are non-returnable and cannot be cancelled once the order is placed.
For returns of items purchased from your Williams Sonoma Gift Registry, we will gladly provide a refund or exchange for the merchandise within 90 days of your event or within 90 days of purchase, whichever date is later. View Full Returns Policy.
- Free Knife Sharpening in Stores
Working with a sharp knife is safer, more effective and much less tiring than trying to cut and slice with a dull one. To ensure top performance, bring your favorite knife into your local store and one of our cutlery experts will give it a fresh, new edge using our precision equipment. The first knife is free; each additional knife is just $5.
Our stores also offer knife demonstrations to teach you the correct grip, positioning and basic knife techniques and can help you find the perfect cutlery for your needs – just ask a store associate for assistance.
- Price Match Guarantee
Williams Sonoma Price Match Guarantee
At Williams Sonoma, we're committed to bringing you the best quality at the best prices.
If you find a lower price on any of our products, we'll match it—guaranteed. Click here for details.


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The Man Who Played Rockefeller
Clark Rockefeller had incredible wealth and a powerful family legacy. Except he didn't. In this exclusive adaptation from his upcoming book, "The Man in the Rockefeller Suit," Mark Seal tracks how a German-born con man fooled New York City's elite.
The man who became infamous as Clark Rockefeller grew up Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter in the small, picturesque town of Bergen, Germany. In 1978, the handsome 17-year-old flew to the U.S. on a tourist visa, showing up unexpectedly in Meriden, Connecticut, the hometown of a student backpacker he'd met on a train in Germany. Gerhartsreiter showed an avid curiosity about America. His favorite TV show was "Gilligan's Island" and he took to mimicking the millionaire castaway Thurston Howell III. His favorite movie director was Alfred Hitchcock.
Shortly after his arrival, Gerhartsreiter disappeared into what a district attorney would later call "the longest con I've seen in my professional career." The elaborate, labyrinthine nature of his shape-shifting adventures makes his story more bizarre than any writer of fiction could invent.
When he appeared in the wealthy, leafy town of San Marino, California, three years later, Gerhartsreiter, now 20, had transformed himself into Christopher Mountbatten Chichester, a self-proclaimed computer expert, film producer, stockbroker and the nephew of Lord Mountbatten. The new arrival was a whiz at Trivial Pursuit, the American pop-culture game, and proved especially popular with women, who were charmed by his royal bloodline and courtly manners. "He knew everything about everything," one woman told me recently. "He was fabulous."
Soon Chichester had talked his way into producing a small cable show called "Inside San Marino." He began taking classes, without enrolling, at USC film school, where he talked of directing his own film-noir movies.
Although he told tales of great wealth (including inheriting a cathedral) and claimed addresses in the most affluent section of town, he was soon renting a small dwelling in back of a home in a downtrodden neighborhood. What happened inside that house in the next couple of years is a dark mystery worthy of Gerhartsreiter's favorite director.
The owner was an alcoholic perpetually dressed in a housecoat named Didi Sohus. Also living there were Sohus's only son, John, a 5-foot-5 Dungeons & Dragons fan with Coke-bottle glasses, and his wife, Linda, a 6-foot-tall redhead. The San Marino police chief later speculated that at some point Chichester and Linda Sohus may have become romantically involved. Other reports say Chichester had fallen deeply into debt.
Two years after Chichester moved in, John and Linda Sohus disappeared. Soon afterward, Didi Sohus disinherited her beloved son, perhaps after being convinced he had abandoned her. When Sohus died, her $180,000 estate had been looted.
Christopher Crowe: Greenwich, Connecticut
In June 1985, Christopher Chichester drove John and Linda Sohus's Nissan pickup truck across America to the ultimate bastion of Waspy wealth: Greenwich, Connecticut. He rented a post office box there under a new name, Christopher C. Crowe, which he'd taken from the producer of the series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
For the freshly minted Crowe, the doors to an incredible new career opened at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club, an exclusive sailing organization that dates back to 1889. It is a picture-perfect setting, a white wooden building festooned with yachting flags looking out onto Long Island Sound. "Imagine hundreds of people here for a regatta," said my local guide, a woman I'll call Samantha. "Nobody would know anything. The guy could sneak in [easily], coming up from the shore."
Samantha was a member of Indian Harbor, a longtime resident of Greenwich and a veteran Wall Street player—all of which made her inclusion in Gerhartsreiter's growing list of dupes seem unlikely. Press reports claimed Crowe walked into the yacht club "like he owned the place." That was most likely true, said Samantha. "He gave everyone the impression that he came from incredible wealth."
He had pictures, she said, of his mansion in Los Angeles, though the photos seemed devoid of personal touches. "He looked like he walked out of a magazine. He always had his Burberry winter coat, the Burberry umbrella, very fine cotton button-down white shirts, with CCC monogrammed on his pockets, for Christopher Chichester Crowe. Always pristine, always perfect."
I looked around the yacht club. Many of the men were dressed in exactly the style she was describing. But the newcomer had sucked them in by acting as if he were better than they were. "He's talking to you as if he's smarter, wealthier, more connected, more everything than you—no matter who you are!" said Samantha.
Through a woman named Catherine, whom he met and romanced at Indian Harbor, Crowe found his way to S. N. Phelps and Company, one of the East Coast's most esteemed securities firms. A 1990 Forbes story described its founder this way: "One of the more colorful characters in the bondmail business, Stan Phelps is also one of the toughest and meanest."
" He asked, 'Do you know anybody who buys this type of Eurobond?' That was supposed to be his job! It was like a dentist asking, 'Do you know what a bicuspid is?' "
"Catherine convinced Stan to hire Christopher," recalled Samantha, who was then a vice president at the firm. "Just like that?" I asked her. "Someone with no background in finance was hired by a major East Coast brokerage firm and allowed entrée into its computer system, where reams of confidential information were stored?"
"Somebody that's going to be a techie is maybe one step above an amoeba," explained Samantha. "Who cares?"
But Crowe not only had to get through a personal interview with the shrewd Phelps, he also had to pass difficult tests. Everyone who works at a broker-dealer company must take the Series 7 and Series 63 exams, which consist of more than seven hours of questions. The Series 7, which has 250 multiple-choice questions, takes about six hours to complete; Crowe most likely took his test at One Police Plaza in New York City. "Two three-hour parts, with a one-hour break," said Samantha. "Some people have to take it two or three times. I've taken this test. It's not easy. He might have been odd. He might have been arrogant. But he's smart."
Crowe let Samantha and everyone else at S. N. Phelps know that in addition to being a techie he was also the producer of a new series, "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." "And if you looked at the credits, you would see Christopher Crowe," said Samantha. "I asked him one time, 'Christopher, it's illogical to me. You're a producer. And you've become a techie at a junk bond shop making $24,000 a year?' He said, 'I wanted to try something different.' "
He would regale her with stories of his glory years as a Hollywood producer, giving her the inside dirt on his favorite Hitchcock episodes. What Samantha found strange, however, was his behavior in the tech department. "When I walked into his room, he would always hide his screens. Later, when the detectives came, the first thought that came to my mind was, he was going into people's accounts and skimming off a half cent in volume, and that's how he was supplementing his income."
Soon, however, Crowe's arrogance wore thin with his colleagues. Some say the final straw for Phelps was when Crowe wouldn't tell him how to access his computer. For a hands-on business titan, this was blasphemy. Was Crowe trying to make himself invaluable and irreplaceable? Some later said that was the plan. But Phelps didn't give him the chance.
Two years after Crowe's dismissal, an interesting item on his job application came to light. When the social security number he'd given was finally checked, it came back as the number of a David Berkowitz, the name of the serial killer known as Son of Sam.
After his firing, Crowe not only survived, he landed at a bigger, more prestigious firm, in a much more senior position. On July 13, 1987, Nikko, one of Japan's "Big Four" brokerage firms, announced the creation of a corporate-bond department: "Christopher Crowe, who formerly ran the Battenberg-Crowe-von-Wettin Family Foundation, will lead the endeavor as vice president," the release stated.
The Christopher Crowe who presented himself to the brass at Nikko Securities was, on the surface, a perfect candidate for the roaring 1980s Wall Street. He appeared smart, educated, connected. He knew the lingo of the long bond and the short sell. He had a resume with experience at the distinguished S. N. Phelps, and boasted of running a family foundation with royal names and deep pockets. Most important, he dressed the part, impeccably attired in suits from J. Press and Brooks Brothers.
At Nikko, he would be running an entire department, responsible for trading extremely high-value financial instruments. As one corporate bond trader told me, "The minimum sale you're dealing with is a million dollars."
How did he wind up in such a position? As usual, his entrée came through a single impressionable individual, in this case a man named Don Sheahan, now deceased. Sheahan had worked in the securities business for years, and Nikko's Japanese executives entrusted him with assembling much of their New York team. "Apparently Crowe met Sheahan at a cocktail party and sold him a bill of goods," said Richard Barnett, who worked at Nikko with Crowe.
Another Wall Street veteran said of Sheahan, "Don was a former Air Force pilot, he'd been with Goldman Sachs—he was not a dope." So how did he get taken in? "This guy, Crowe, had a fantastic gift about him. He was like that character Tony Curtis played in 'The Great Impostor,' passing himself off as an airplane pilot, a doctor and everything else. I think the reason Don fell for it was Don seemed impressed by anybody that was either extremely wealthy or had some type of family background. A name like Mountbatten would have caught his attention immediately." (The birth certificate he presented to Nikko identified him as Christopher Chichester Crowe Mountbatten.)
Not yet out of his 20s and with little experience or knowledge, Crowe was in charge of staffing Nikko's new department, and he sought out seasoned finance professionals. Richard Barnett, who had just left a research-analyst job at the respected brokerage firm E. F. Hutton, was one of Crowe's first hires. "The head of research at Merrill Lynch gave my name to Christopher Crowe," Barnett told me, and soon he met the well-dressed young supervisor, whom he described as "erudite" with "an aristocratic air." "We met in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt on 42nd Street. He told me, 'The Japanese have asked me to put together an operation rather quickly.' The interview lasted 20 minutes, and I was hired on the spot."
They worked in a trading room in Nikko's offices at the World Financial Center. As at S. N. Phelps, the quarters were tight, and everyone knew nearly everything about everyone else—except their boss, who usually sat alone in his sizable office, often staring into space.
"I remember he came up to me one time and asked, 'Do you know anybody who buys this type of Eurobond?' " said Bob Brusca, who later became chief economist at Nikko. "That was supposed to be his job! It would be like somebody who is supposed to be a dentist coming up to you and asking, 'Do you know what a bicuspid is?' "
Yet the men who worked with him at Nikko agreed that a certain amount of swagger was an important asset for bond salesmen, and Christopher Crowe had swagger in spades. While playing the part of a high-flying Wall Street executive, Crowe also continued to impersonate a fabulously wealthy aristocrat, making liberal mention of his relatives Lord Mountbatten and of the Battenberg-Crowe-von-Wettin Family Foundation, which he had formerly run. He said the foundation owned a huge collection of luxury cars and European castles. (In truth, the foundation did not exist.)
A different side of Crowe emerged when a securities salesman visited a Nikko employee I'll call Jim Rivers. "My friend picked up something on a desk, a souvenir or something," recalled Rivers, "and Crowe went nuts. My friend said, 'I'm sorry, I didn't know it was yours.' When I walked him to the elevator, my friend said, 'That guy's got a screw loose. You better watch your back.' I went back and said, 'Christopher, we don't talk to anybody like that!' "
Crowe snapped back, "If you ever touch anything on my desk again, I'll bring in my Luger!" Rivers found the threat strange, because a couple of weeks earlier the guys in the office had been discussing guns and Crowe had insisted that he knew nothing about weapons of any kind.
"I said to him, 'What caliber is your Luger?' He said, 'Nine millimeter.' "
"You know a lot more about guns than you admitted," Rivers told him. Rivers shot me an uneasy smile. "That's when I started worrying a little more about this character," he said.
Crowe was living the life of a Wall Street player: a six-figure salary, an office in the World Financial Center and an estate in Greenwich—or at least a few rooms behind an estate in Greenwich. A list of some of the charges on his American Express card (issued in the name of CCC Mountbatten) from 1987 to 1988 shows he dined in Manhattan's finest restaurants: the "21" Club, Le Bernardin, the Quilted Giraffe and Bellini by Cipriani, among others. He was a regular on Broadway and at the opera, charging tickets to shows including "Phantom of the Opera" and "Madame Butterfly." There were numerous charges for clothing, from such stores as Burberry, Church's English Shoes and J. Press. He bought chocolates or flowers on almost a weekly basis—gifts, presumably, for people with whom he wanted to ingratiate himself.
The securities business being a small community, someone eventually remembered Crowe's torturous tenure at S. N. Phelps—and not just anyone, but the big man himself. "Stan Phelps called me up," Jim Rivers recalled. "He said, 'How the hell did you hire this guy Crowe?' I said, 'I heard you hired him and you fired him.' And he said, 'Yeah, I fired him because when we got his social security number back, it was Son of Sam's.' I said, 'Does Sheahan know this?' 'I don't think he does.' "
Rivers reported to Don Sheahan that Crowe had used the social security number of the serial killer. "Don said, 'We'll check into it.' But Crowe was there for at least another six months before he got blown out."
In fact, according to Bob Brusca, Phelps's warning wasn't the real reason for Crowe's end at Nikko. "Crowe wasn't successful because he didn't have customers," Brusca said. "No matter what your background is, no matter what your pedigree, at some point you've got to do some business."
Disastrous as it might have been, Christopher Crowe's tenure at Nikko was merely a prelude to bigger things. Kidder, Peabody & Co. was a venerable, all-service American securities firm, established in 1865 and known for its stellar investment-banking division. (It was later acquired by PaineWebber and folded into UBS.) One day in the summer of 1988, Crowe showed up at its headquarters, located in the heart of the financial district in Lower Manhattan, and walked unannounced into the office of Ralph Boynton, who had recently left Goldman Sachs to run Kidder, Peabody's international bond operation.
"In those days there was no security in the building," Boynton remembered. "He knocked on my door and said he was looking for a job. I was new to Kidder, and I was looking to build a small team in New York to distribute or sell Eurobonds [a type of bond issued by multinational corporations and subject to little regulation]. I didn't have a budget to do this. Kidder, unlike Goldman, was a strict commission house."
Despite the fact that he seemed to have wandered in off the street, Crowe made a very favorable impression on Boynton. "I thought he was good—bright, polite, presentable. Selling Eurobonds doesn't take a rocket scientist. He didn't look too bad compared to some of the salespeople."
So Boynton, like so many others before him, decided to give him a chance: a two-week tryout. "We didn't do a background check, because we never got that far," he said. "I took him to Los Angeles for a meeting with several clients who bought Eurobonds. I was trying to determine his skills as a salesman, to judge whether he was the right guy to deal with these people."
Crowe performed well. "He was intelligent, articulate; very pleasant, not gregarious or presumptuous. He was a pretty nice guy from a personality point of view."
Having apparently won over yet another potential employer, he seemed on his way to landing his third prestigious job in the financial sector. On the trip, Crowe had discussed his background. "He talked about his parents' being in the secret service of some clandestine organization, and said that they were agents on the run," Boynton recalled. "He told me he had lived near the San Gabriel Mountains and was interested in going back to see that part of California. I let him talk. I got the impression that he had sort of a gray background, cloaked in espionage."
Back in New York, Boynton was at home taking a nap when he was awakened by a telephone call. It was his old friend Richard Cook, a vice president at S. N. Phelps.
"Do you know a guy named Christopher Crowe?" he asked.
"Yeah," said Boynton.
"I've heard bad things about him," said Cook. "I'd stay away from him."
"Gosh, I wish I'd known that before I went to California with him!" said Boynton.
"A few hours later," said Boynton, "I got a call from the Greenwich Police Department." The detective told him, 'Crowe's a person of interest in a missing-persons case in California. Do you mind if we come in and interview him?' "
"Every morning for three days, when I went to work at my office on Wall Street at six in the morning, the Greenwich police and the Connecticut state police were there, waiting for Christopher Crowe," Boynton said.
But Crowe never showed up. After calling in sick on the day of the detectives' first visit, he phoned Boynton. He said he had to leave New York immediately to deal with an emergency concerning his mother and father. According to Boynton, "He said, 'My parents have been kidnapped! They're on the run or in harm's way!' " Crowe requested a leave of absence to locate his parents, who he said were missing in Pakistan or Japan.
Soon afterward, the man whose American Express card identified him as CCC Mountbatten disappeared—simply vanished, seemingly off the face of the earth.
Clark Rockefeller: New York, New York
St. Thomas Church, founded in 1823, is the epicenter of Episcopalianism in New York City, located on one of the most stellar stretches of Fifth Avenue. Services were attended by many of the leaders of New York business, politics and society, including Brooke Astor.
When he entered the magnificent Gothic church in early 1992, the former Christopher Crowe had a new name and a meticulously researched persona to go with it. "Hello," he greeted his fellow worshippers in his perfectly enunciated East Coast prep-school accent, wearing a blue blazer and private-club necktie, which he would usually accent with khaki pants embroidered with tiny ducks, hounds or bumblebees, worn always with Top-Sider boat shoes, without socks. "Clark," he said, "Clark Rockefeller."
The newcomer had quite a tale to tell. "He intimated that he was from the Percy Rockefeller branch of the clan—not John D. ultrarich, but plenty rich," said a member of the congregation I'll call John Wells. "He claimed to have grown up on Sutton Place [the East Side enclave of some of the grandest townhouses in the city]. He claimed to have gone to Yale at something like age 14. He had the Yale scarf with the blue stripes on it. He said he had one of the J-boats from his grandparents—you know, the classic 1920s, 1930s sailing yachts."
Crowe was referring to the big yachts built during the great Depression for the likes of Vincent Astor and Harold Vanderbilt, great-grandson of Cornelius. He told Wells that his J-boat was named "True Love," and that the family was miffed that the producers of the 1940 film "The Philadelphia Story," starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, had lifted the name to use for the yacht in the film. But then Rockefeller added that he had recently sold "True Love" to the pop star Mariah Carey and her then-husband, Sony Music CEO Tommy Mottola, "who wanted it for a fancy yacht to watch the fireworks from." Wells recalled Rockefeller saying this with "utter disdain" for the nouveau-riche couple. "And he was laughing at the idea of them using it as a pleasure boat, because, he said, 'A J-boat is a racing boat, not a proper place to host parties.' "
He was brilliant, John Wells added, casting himself as properly eccentric, telling Wells that he was "paranoid about security." "He would walk around with a radio device that he claimed was connected to a security office," Wells said. "And he would periodically check in—report where he was, who he was with. He claimed it was some sort of extra-high-level security service, and he had to report in at all times."
Another early sighting of "Clark Rockefeller" came in February 1992. By then, he had deduced one of the credentials that are catnip to the cognoscenti: a purebred dog. In Rockefeller's case, it was a Gordon setter named Yates. One day he met Sharlene Spingler, who was taking her black shar-pei and red-and-white English setter for a walk. Suddenly, he came bounding across the street to greet her. "I love your dog, that English setter!" said the stranger. "I'll do anything for you! I'll walk your dog."
Then came what Spingler, a socially connected young blonde with a rapier wit, called infinite tales that the enigmatic young man began telling her, all improbable upon reflection, but seemingly plausible—for a Rockefeller—at the time: He was friends with Henry Kissinger. He flew on a Learjet with his dog to London, where "the food is so terrible I just bring cereal." He regularly invited friends to run their dogs with him at the storied 3,400-acre Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills near Tarrytown. He said his profession was "advising foreign governments on how much money to print."
Once, Spingler introduced him to some friends who suggested it would be nice to have a Rockefeller on the board of a satellite company they were launching and asked him what he would like in return. Rockefeller said, "Gentlemen, there is nothing you can do for me, as I don't wish to jeopardize my tax status. I am tax exempt by an act of Congress, and Texas is my official residence."
If he was indeed a human sponge, absorbing ideas, dreams, identities and personas from everyone with whom he came in contact, what Rockefeller gleaned from Sharlene Spingler was how to gain entry to some of the world's most exclusive private clubs. "He knew how to work the churches, so the obvious next step would be the private clubs," said Spingler. "Back in 1993, you could join the India House, a private gentleman's club on Wall Street, for $850 to $1,200, for which you would get reciprocal memberships at"—and here she listed some of the premier private clubs in the city, among them the Lotos, one of America's oldest and most esteemed literary clubs and a preferred destination for Vanderbilts, Whitneys, Roosevelts and Rockefellers since 1870.
Thus, with just a down payment, Rockefeller gained membership in the private clubs of the richest and most powerful citizens of East Coast society and was also able to take an important first step in making their members think he was one of them.
Shortly after his 1992 reemergence, Clark Rockefeller moved into a one-bedroom apartment at 400 East 57th Street, an imposing prewar white-brick Art Deco building. One day in 2008, I rode the elevator to the seventh floor, where I was greeted by a statuesque and effervescent brunette named Martha Henry, who runs Martha Henry Inc. Fine Art. She lived in the apartment catty-corner to Rockefeller's. "He introduced himself as Clark Rockefeller. He never flaunted it or elaborated on it." He just let it lie there, having its hypnotic effect. "He told me his work was solving Third World debt, particularly on the Pacific Rim." She laughed. "When I heard the part about Third World debt I decided, you know, he's crazy. That's not a real job. But then I thought, OK, he's a Rockefeller, he's eccentric.
"He told me his parents had died when he was 16 in a car crash, that he had grown up in Cambridge and Boston, that he went to Harvard. I said, 'If your parents died when you were 16, who took care of you?' And he said, 'I took care of myself and lived in the townhouse and went to school myself. But I graduated early.' And I thought, OK, he's a mathematical genius and therefore is solving these Third World debts."
As Henry got to know him, his "quirks and oddities and paranoias" multiplied. "He told me once that he never ate in restaurants," she said. "So I said, 'Clark, this is crazy! Why wouldn't you eat in a restaurant?' He said, 'Because you can't trust the kitchen. I only eat in private clubs.'
"He was very particular about his food," she continued. "He would only eat his little sandwiches—you know, the cucumber and watercress on white bread with the crusts cut off? He would only eat a certain Pepperidge Farm cookie: the Nantucket. He would only drink Earl Grey tea. His favorite food was haggis. And his favorite drink was Harveys Bristol Cream."
One day Clark called to tell her he had inherited some paintings, and asked for her help in determining their value.
"Well, I've got a Jackson Pollock, a Mondrian, somebody named Rothko and I think Twombly or something," said Rockefeller. "I was literally almost on the floor!" said Henry. "A Rothko alone would have been eight million dollars back then. Today, Rothkos sell for 30, 40 million."
The art dealer cut Rockefeller short and rushed from her apartment to his, "doing the math" along the way. When she entered, she was stunned by what she calculated to be a multimillion-dollar, museum-quality collection of paintings, haphazardly hung on walls and sitting on the floor. She blurted out, "You need an insurance policy immediately, and you should probably get an alarm system! Clark, these are very expensive paintings!"
"He said he had inherited them from his great-aunt Blanchette" (the Museum of Modern Art benefactor and widow of John D. Rockefeller III), who, Rockefeller threw in, "started that little old museum on 53rd Street." (In fact, where Rockefeller got his convincing forgeries—and who painted them—remains a mystery to this day. Everyone I interviewed has a different opinion, none conclusive.)
"He then said, 'I'm really disappointed because I wanted to inherit the Bierstadt,' " meaning he wished his great-aunt had left him a work by the German-born 19th-century Western landscape painter Albert Bierstadt and not "all this modern stuff."
" Clark said he had inherited some paintings. 'Well, I've got a Jackson Pollock, a Mondrian, somebody named Rothko and I think Twombly or something' "
"I did a little research," said Henry, "and Blanchette Rockefeller indeed died in 1992, so there could have been an estate settled. And so I thought, 'He's a Rockefeller! What else could he be?' You don't go out onto Madison Avenue and pick up any of these paintings! You just can't do that in an afternoon!" Next she got upset, not with Rockefeller but with herself. "I was living next door to somebody—right under my nose!—who had the means, being a Rockefeller, to purchase major works of art, and I had somehow missed this," she said. "I am an art dealer, so I was very upset about this."
She immediately reverted from neighbor to art dealer. And she wanted to stake her claim on Clark Rockefeller. This became immediately clear when she invited him to an opening in a gallery she had rented; as soon as his famous name floated through the air, the other dealers surrounded him like bees to honey. "He calls me the next day and says, 'I'm being bombarded by all of these art dealers!' " Henry remembered. "I said, 'Well, you can't go to an art opening and tell everybody that you're Clark Rockefeller! If you want to keep a low profile, you need to leave that part out.' "
It was time for her to take him shopping for a major piece of art. First stop: Knoedler & Company, the esteemed Upper East Side gallery that had been in existence since before the Civil War, and where John D. Rockefeller had been a client. Here, Henry showed him a work from the estate of Adolph Gottlieb, a significant painting from the 1950s. They agreed that, at $300,000 to $400,000, it would be an extremely prudent addition to his collection. "It's a perfect provenance for someone like Clark," Henry said. "The Gottlieb estate was allowing this picture out. They would not necessarily sell it to anyone. But to a Rockefeller they would do it."
Rockefeller kept returning to Knoedler, sometimes alone, to inspect the Gottlieb. I spoke to a woman who repeatedly showed him the painting. She had been chief of staff of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the preeminent museum for contemporary art on Madison Avenue. So she was an expert in contemporary art, and, she quickly discovered, Rockefeller was too. "He knew his art history," she remembered.
While debating whether or not to purchase the Gottlieb, he invited the woman from Knoedler to see his other pieces. Like everyone else, she was dazzled by the large and iconic works in his collection. "Honestly, it never occurred to me for a second that those paintings weren't authentic," she said.
When it came to buying the Gottlieb, however, Rockefeller kept balking. Things came to a head at Knoedler when he studied the painting for the umpteenth time with Henry. They looked at the Gottlieb this way and that way, until the scion of the great family finally spoke. "That painting has green in it," he said. "I don't buy pictures with green in them."
"What are you talking about?" asked Henry.
"Well, Mondrian only painted in primary colors, and he would never have put green in a canvas," Rockefeller said huffily.
"Oh, Clark, you've got to get past primary colors," Henry told him. "We're not in kindergarten anymore." "But he would not budge, and we could not do the sale."
In 1995 Clark Rockefeller married a woman he met through St. Thomas Church, Sandra Lynne Boss, a Harvard MBA who rose to be one of the youngest partners in history at McKinsey, with a $2 million salary. Rockefeller explained the absence of any family members at the wedding by saying there had been an argument and he'd disinvited them; the only guest on the groom's side was Yates, the Gordon setter.
The couple had a child, Reigh, who Rockefeller nicknamed Snooks and insisted on raising and educating single-handedly. The man who was able to flee all remnants of his past so successfully had at long last acquired an anchor—a person he couldn't cheat, con or escape. "The one real thing in his life was his daughter, and his love for his daughter," said a police official later. "Everything else has been a fraud."
The Rockefellers moved from Manhattan and eventually settled in the prestigious enclave of Beacon Hill in Boston, where the marriage fell apart in the winter of 2006. Nevertheless, when Boss finally decided to leave her husband, she did not realize that the man she'd been married to for 12 years had been an impostor. When she was later asked in court how she could have been fooled so completely for so long, she explained that she was 26 when she met him, young and naïve, and never imagined that someone would perpetrate such an elaborate fraud. "One can be brilliant and amazing in one area of one's life," she testified, "and really stupid in another."
Boss ultimately paid Rockefeller $800,000 in alimony and won the right to raise Reigh, whom she took with her to London. In 2008, on a court-supervised visit back in Boston, Rockefeller kidnapped his 7-year-old daughter and fled with her to Baltimore, where he had set up a new identity as Chip Smith, a professional yacht captain and catamaran designer.
This time, however, his carefully constructed new identity collapsed. The kidnapping had launched a nationwide manhunt. Real-estate agents in Baltimore who had found Chip Smith his new home recognized him from a report on the "Today" show and called the FBI. After agents surrounded the house, the fugitive was lured out by a call from a nearby marina, where he was keeping a catamaran.
In June 2009, Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter was convicted and sentenced to four to five years for abducting his daughter and two to three years for assault on the social worker who had been injured by the SUV Gerhartsreiter used in the kidnapping.
On March 15, 2011, after the remains of John Sohus were identified in the backyard of the San Marino house, Gerhartsreiter was charged with murder. He is now awaiting extradition to California where he will stand trial.
—Reprinted by arrangement with Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., from "The Man in the Rockefeller Suit" by Mark Seal. Copyright © 2011 by Mark Seal
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Please read this Privacy Policy carefully before using the Site and/or the Content, in which case you will be bound by this Privacy Policy. Please be aware that any use of the Site and/or the Content constitutes acknowledgment and acceptance of the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy, and your agreement to be bound thereby. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY, PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SITE AND/OR THE CONTENT. This Privacy Policy should be read together with Morphisec Terms of Use ("Terms"), and together they constitute the entire agreement between you andMorphisec with respect to any matter relating to the Site and any Content.
Scope of Privacy Statement
Please note that this Privacy Policy does not apply to any use and/or collection of information by third parties or third parties' linked websites, information or content, which Morphisec does not control, own or manage, as further described in the Terms and in the "Disclaimer Regarding Third Parties' Linked Websites, Information or Content" paragraph below.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
Morphisec reserves the right to modify this Privacy Policy from time to time. In any such event, Morphisec will let you know of such changes or modifications, and you shall be entitled to decide of you want to continue to use the Site and/or the Content under the revised terms. However, please note, that your continued use of the Site and/or the Content indicates your acceptance of any revised terms. If you do not agree to the revised terms, please refrain from using the Site and/or the Content. The last date these this Privacy Policy was revised is set forth below.
Information Gathered Using the Services
For the purposes of this Privacy Policy, "Personally Identifying Information" shall mean information which is identifiable to you, including inter alia, name, e-mail, phone number etc., whether provided by you during your use of the Site and/or the Content and/or in the course of registration. "Non-Personal Usage Information" shall mean information regarding the use of the Site and/or the Content which does not enable identification of an individual user.
The primary purpose of Morphisec in collecting information is to provide you with a safe, efficient and customized experience. Accordingly, Morphisec may collect Non-Personal Usage Information of the users in order to ensure the quality of the Site and/or the Content and enrich the offerings of services and products available to the users, and also to continuously improve the performance of the Site and/or the Content as described below.
Morphisec may collect, including by using third parties' web analytics services, aggregated Non-Personal Usage Information about the time, type and manner of use of the Site and/or the Content. This Information may include inter alia information regarding the IP Address and Geo-IP parameters, non-personal usage statistics (e.g. time of usages, number of clicks on each link etc.), crash reports, information regarding your browsing history and web activities and other information regarding the use of the Site and/or the Content. Morphisec may use such information to understand how its users use the Site and/or the Content, to analyze retention, to ensure that the Site and/or the Content are up to date and provide automatic updates, and to improve the Site and/or the Content and enhance the experience of the users.
As described in the Terms, in the process of registration you may be required to provide certain Personally Identifying Information, including, but not limited to, first and last name, your e-mail address at work, your phone number, the name of your workplace, the country and size of such workplace (how many employees are employed in such workplace), your role and function at such workplace and/or other identifying information. It is your choice whether to provide any of the aforesaid Personally Identifying Information. However, please be aware that if you choose not to do so, you may not be able to complete the registration process and/or to use certain functionalities on the Site.
Within the process of registration, you will be required to opt-in the option to sign up for Morphisec mailing list for receiving updates, newsletters or news, and notices regarding Morphisec and its services and products. If you are not willing to receive such updates, newsletters or news and notices, do not opt-in the option to sign up for Morphisec mailing list. However, please be aware that if you choose not to do so, you may not be able to complete the registration process and/or to use certain functionalities on the Site. You may easily remove yourself from Morphisec mailing list by following the instructions provided in the emails that you will receive from Morphisec.
Cookies and Clear Gifs Policy
As mentioned above, Morphisec may gather information concerning your use of the Site and/or the Content. Such gathering is made by using various types of cookies and clear gifs. Cookies, which are small text files, stored on your computer, in order to improve the performance of the Site and/or the Content and collect data which enhance the functionality and offering of the Site and/or the Content. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier (but not retain any Personally Identifiable Information), which are used to count your visits/clicks to web pages while using the Site and/or the Content. Third parties' web analytics services, if used by Morphisec as aforesaid, may also use such cookies and clear gifs in order to learn the usage patterns of Morphisec's users. It is your choice whether to accept or reject cookies/clear gifs and you can set your browser to reject cookies/clear gifs or to delete these cookies/clear gifs. However, if you choose to reject cookies/clear gifs or delete them, it may limit some of the functionalities available or affect your experience with the Site and/or the Content.
Use of Gathered Information
Morphisec may use certain trusted third party companies and/or individuals to help Morphisec to provide, analyze, and improve the Site and/or the Content (including but not limited to, data storage, maintenance services, database management, web analytics, and improvement of the Services' features). These third parties may have access to your information only for purposes of performing these tasks on Morphisec's behalf and under obligations similar to those in this Privacy Policy.
Except as described herein, Morphisec will not sell, rent or otherwise provide any gathered information to any third party. Notwithstanding, Morphisec reserves the right to disclose any gathered information as required by law and when Morphisec believes that such disclosure is necessary to protect its rights, the integrity of the Site and/or the Content, Morphisec's systems and technology, and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served in connection with the Services.
Any information gathered by Morphisec is stored by Morphisec, whether in its internal servers and/or by using third party's external servers or cloud services, and is secured by Morphisec as further described in the "Information Security" paragraph below.
Information Security
Morphisec is committed to protecting the security of its users' information and takes commercially reasonable measures to assure information security. However, no method of Internet transmission or electronic storage is 100% secure, and Morphisec cannot guarantee its absolute security. By using the Site and/or the Content, you expressly agree that Morphisec will not be liable for any third party action, misuse, abuse or infringement of data and information security.
Disclaimer Regarding Third Parties' Linked Websites, Information or Content
As described in the Terms, while using the Site and/or the Content, you may be linked to third parties' websites, information or content. Morphisec is not responsible for any information, content, terms of use of privacy policy at these sites. Morphisec takes a careful notice in choosing its business partners and affiliates and aims to associate only with reliable partners who are committed to users' privacy. However, remember that when you use a link to go from Morphisec's Site to another third parties' website, this Privacy Policy shall no longer in effect. By your browsing and interacting on any other websites, information or content, you are subject to that websites' own rules and policies, including its Privacy Policy.
As described in the Terms, in connection with the using the Site and/or the Content, you may provide Morphisec with information regarding your experience while using the using the Site and/or the Content. This feedback is very important to Morphisec, but you are not obligated to provide any information. However, any and all information that you voluntarily choose to provide Morphisec in feedback forms, and any survey that you may participate in, shall be used solely and anonymously for the purpose of reviewing the feedback and measuring and improving the quality of the Site and/or the Content and the user's experience.
General Provisions
This Privacy Policy (including the Terms) constitute the entire legal agreement between you and Morphisec and govern your use of the Site and/or the Content and replace any prior agreement of understanding between you and Morphisec in relation thereto. Any waiver of any provision of these Terms will be effective only if in writing and signed by the waiving party.
This Privacy Policy (including the Terms) shall be treated as though it was executed and performed in the State of Israel, and shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Israel (without regard to conflict of law principles). Any dispute arising out of or related to this Privacy Policy will be brought solely in the courts of Tel Aviv, Israel, provided that any claim that you may have in connection with this Privacy Policy must first, and before taking any other legal action, be submitted to Morphisec in the form of a complaint (to: email@example.com), to enable the parties to resolve the claim in a friendly and effective manner. Notwithstanding the foregoing, Morphisec may seek injunctive or other equitable relief to protect its intellectual property rights in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Morphisec shall be entitled, at its sole discretion, to assign this Privacy Policy or any rights hereunder to any third party, without giving prior notice. In any event of assignment as aforesaid, all the provisions of this Privacy Policy shall apply, mutatis mutandis.


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When launching your small business startup, you likely know you need a strong web presence, but you're lost on where to start. Have no fear, Turn The Page Online Marketing is here! We've prioritized the steps you need to take while establishing your business startup's presence in the online marketing world.
Register a Domain Name
The next step after creating a name for your business startup should be registering the domain. Registering your domain is possibly the easiest thing you can do, but it's also very important. You don't want to be stuck in a situation of not getting the one you want. Once you've done this, you can move forward with the hosting and design of your business startup's website.
Setup Your Social Media
We recommend you start with setting up a LinkedIn page for your business startup. This is not the same as your personal LinkedIn profile. By setting up your business startup's social media pages, you can reveal your new logo and provide links to your website.
Get Familiar With Google's Many Tools
It's time to become very familiar with Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools. These will give insights on your business startup's web traffic, SEO, bounce rates and much more. These tools will hold the foundation of your online marketing efforts.
Create Your G+ Business Page
While you're already using Google's many tools for your business, claim your Google+ business page. On your G+ page, you need to provide your customers with a well-organized and professional summary of your business startup to be shown at the top of search results. This business page will also be vitally important to your local search optimization. For more information on Google+ Local, take a look at our business listings services and see if we can give you a hand.
Submit Business Listings
Now it's time to claim your citations on Yelp, Foursquare, Yahoo, Bing, etc. We recommend always using the same format, spelling and syntax for your business startup's physical address (e.g., 206b SE 2nd Street not 2nd St.).
Blog Away
A great way to claim authority and generate a buzz is through blogging. Introduce yourself and share your expertise to build credibility. This is a great way to welcome people to your new website and create links back to your domain.
Don't Limit Yourself to Facebook & Twitter
Once you've established your business startup on Facebook and Twitter, we don't want you to think you're "done". You need to be just as active on Instagram and Pinterest. Another way to be active on social media while also initiating sales is through making YouTube videos. Explain your business startup and help drive traffic to your website by associating your video keywords with your business' domain.
If you have any questions or would like more information on growing your business through online marketing, contact Turn the Page today! Your results are our expertise, and we look forward to helping your business achieve the results you want!


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Lancemore Milawa offers boutique accommodation set within beautifully manicured gardens, right in the heart of the Milawa Gourmet Region.
There are 40 tastefully decorated hotel rooms, all featuring king size beds, high ceilings, intimate lighting, modern ensuites and European-style shutters. Ground floor rooms open directly onto the gardens, while the upstairs rooms feature balconies which offer views of the surrounding vineyards.
The hotel includes several guest lounges, a library, solar-heated outdoor pool and a day spa facility which includes a sauna and treatment rooms.
Enjoy a fine dining experience at the Restaurant Merlot. Dishes are designed to showcase the local area's produce, and there is an extensive wine list of local and international labels.
Guests staying at Lancemore Milawa enjoy a complimentary breakfast consisting of either a light continental menu or fully cooked fare.
Nightly rates from
Property features
• Pool
• Restaurant on-site
• Spa pool or hot tub
• Wi-Fi internet


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As followers of Jesus Christ, members of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church strive to be better disciples who make disciples of others through personal relationships, share God's love, and spread the Good News of the gospel with all people.
By the power of the Holy Spirit, we boldly go into the world to witness our Christian faith. In that faith we share the love of God, spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, and make disciples throughout our community and to the ends of the earth.
39020 5 Mile Rd
Livonia, Michigan 48154
Phone: 734.464.0211 734.464.0211
Saturday Evening 5:00 pm
Casual Worship
Sunday Morning 10:00 am
Traditional Worship
Holy Communion celebrated at all services
All are welcome!
Worship Volunteers
Sign up Here
Spread the word and raise awareness about what we do. The best way to do it is through social networking!


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10+ million hectares burnt. 2,000 buildings destroyed. 27 lives taken. 1 billion animals perished. Australia has suffered inconceivable destruction from megafires the size of Manhattan, with flames taller than the Sydney Opera House. Yet what is burning brighte...[more]
On Friday, January 10 Anjunabeats mainstay Oliver Smith returned to San Francisco's Halcyon for an extended four hour set. Halcyon is the third venue in the world to implement the innovative Dolby Atmos technology, allowing for music to go beyond the bounds o...[more]
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I feel like there's a lot of stuff going on at the moment. My brother Jocke and his girlfriend broke up some time ago, and this weekend she and my nephew moved out. So there was a lot of packing and moving stuff, which I was spared due to my fibromyalgia. Instead I was in charge of watching little Viggo, which was fun as always.
Sunday evening we drove over to their new apartment to drop him off with his mom. The place looks really nice and I'm sure they'll be doing fine there. But it was still a bit sad. After all, I'm used to having them live in the apartment upstairs, and would see him nearly every day. Now it'll be a lot less often. In the end though, I just really hope everyone will be okay. That's the most important thing.
So, that's one thing. The other is that my brother Seb lost his job. He moved here in December to look for one, got one at the end of January, and now lost it. It's his own fault to be fair, because he had a lot of "sick days", overslept every so often and sometimes to the point of not even going to work. I write "sick days", because he wasn't actually sick. He just couldn't be bothered going into work. I'm not surprised they fired him.
When I was getting up in the mornings for my 10 week course I would
wake force him up as well and drive him to work. Fridays I was off, but I still set my alarm and made sure he got up and to work. I eventually grew tired of it though, and stopped. It wasn't worth it, because he was just angry and grumpy in the mornings and I was sometimes late because it took him such a long time to get up.
He's moving back to his mom (in a town 3 hours from here) when his job ends. (In Sweden you have a notice period, in his case one month since he was on a trial contract.) So he leaves mid-June. Interestingly enough, he's not told me any of this yet. I found out from our other brother, Jocke. I do wonder when he's planning to tell me, since the three of us share the rent on the house. Him leaving means a lot more rent money for me and Jocke, but he apparently doesn't think that's important enough to tell me…


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INTERVIEW: Beauty In The Bleak
Ned Raggett
, January 23rd, 2015 14:17
From London, tQ favourite Kemper Norton and Thomas Bloch will be linking up with a disused silo-turned-musical instrument in a Californian dry lake for an intercontinental collaboration as part of the SAISONSCAPE series tomorrow. Intriguing, eh? Ned Raggett talks to LA visual artist Lauren Bon and Art Assembly director Julia Dempsey about the project
This Saturday a particularly interesting transatlantic recording event will be linking up artists in California and London. Lauren Bon, the visual artist and director of Los Angeles' Metabolic Studio, will see Requiem For Water, her permanent installation in the now-dry Owens Lake near the Sierra Nevada range, combined with the work of glasses performer Thomas Bloch and sound artist (and previous Quietus interviewee) Kemper Norton in the BBC's Maida Vale studios, with the resultant collaboration, Beauty In The Bleak, set to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 next week.
The recording will inaugurate this year's SAISONSCAPE series of experimental music, which will also include a new suite of compositions by tQ favourite Richard Skelton, overseen by Art Assembly, led by founder Julia Dempsey. As Bon and Dempsey discussed in separate interviews earlier this week, Beauty In The Bleak's origins come from multiple sources, initially growing out of Bon's larger work over the past ten years with the Metabolic Studio. Her specific focus has been water and Los Angeles' connections to it over time, most crucially the LA Aqueduct and its shipping of water from the Owens Valley beginning in 1913, the famed inspiration of Chinatown. Now emptied of surface water directly, the valley is a transformed, haunted area, the more so at present given the current California drought.
"When I moved from London, where I had been for a decade," remembers Bon, "I was interested in what Los Angeles was - where is this city, how does it function? I was especially fascinated by the intersection of the highest and lowest places in the continental US - Mount Whitney and Death Valley - and the Owens Valley, where we get our water. So I found myself in this location of immense beauty and geographic significance, 240 miles northeast of Los Angeles, at an incredibly important time in our consciousness in terms of the history of water."
Bon has been working out of the Owens Valley for ten years, and among her many projects centring around water (especially in 2013 when the aqueduct celebrated its 100th anniversary) is Requiem For Water itself. A massive aeolian harp-cum-wind flute-cum-broadcasting area located in a disused silo in the valley, it can be accessed any time via a live stream. The resultant combination of environmental sounds and the drones and musical notes generated is quietly compelling listening.
"It's a mature piece at this point," says Bon about Requiem. "It will be playing the sounds of the environment for as long as the building stands. The basic concept was to take the ruins of an industrial factory on the edge of the Owens Valley dry lakebed into a resonant instrument that plays itself. The concept behind that is that from nothing, something emerges by vibration. But it's a work in progress as well in that any sound that enters its silo can become part of its score."
"I'm an independent producer," Dempsey notes, "and events come out of ideas I have. William Basinski [a frequent Bon collaborator] introduced me to Lauren, and projects of hers like One Hundred Mules Walking The Los Angeles Aqueduct became very fascinating, prompting me to explore her work and discover new things with it. I had an opportunity to see her work in Los Angeles and to visit the Owens Valley, to do a pilgrimage there to see Requiem For Water, listening to it on the radio, driving in the car, hearing it, feeling it through the window - experiencing that made it work really well, especially in that devastated landscape."
The two-hour scheduled performance will begin with Requiem at its base, and feature the sounds produced by Norton and Block being fed through the silo, but, as Bon notes, a further key element comes from the participation of a unique choral group, one that draws together from a variety of local communities and which has performed at Requiem before.
"There's a quality of devotional sounds that happens whenever a group of people get together, speak together, pray together, sing together," she says. "For a number of years I've been inviting people into the silo for various performances, and one of the most powerful actions we've done is to invite people in to simply murmur together, a choir that gets together and speaks amongst themselves in very low tones, and that's what we'll be doing this Saturday. There will be about 200 people in this thirty-by-one-hundred foot silo just speaking with each other in an open-ended platform, and you'll hear it as almost like an incredible non-denominational choir."
The transformation of Requiem into Beauty In The Bleak fits into Art Assembly's SAISONSCAPE as the starting point for a full visit through the seasons of the year. Dempsey describes Beauty as something that's not simply being inspired by midwinter: "It's a theme I've been working out for a couple of years. Compositions and minimal landscapes, focus and reflection - a period of heartbreak, devastation that's self-reflective. In the context of the seasons, January is the grey and bleak period, and it's okay to take yourself 'out' for a while. To enjoy wallowing a little bit, it's almost necessary! In contrast, when we move into spring, the starting point is the landscape coming alive, which will be the focus of Richard Skelton's piece Landscape in March.
"The themes in Lauren's work, that in devastation there is creativity that can make change, made a logical starting point. Thomas Bloch's work as a glasses artist, with its use of water, connects as a further contribution, while Kemper Norton has done work with water before, as well as addressing the political fact of water, such as the Camelford water scandal of 1988. The way he works his 'folk miniatures', with aspects of folk stories overlaid on further elements, will be sonically trying to affect the whole, getting everything to reflect back on the Owens Valley."
As Bon concludes, much of the joy of this type of project is that not everything in the work can ever or should ever be fully predicted: "One of my most memorable experiences has been listening in the dead of night to the owls that live in that empty building. The cooing and hooting of the family of owls that have made it their home for as long as I've been going there has been very, very moving, because they're incredibly private animals. Somehow, having this acoustical window into their private space is really fantastic. And you never know when you're going to hear it!"
The live performance element of Beauty In The Bleak can be heard on Saturday 24 January from 10 am to noon PST and 6-8 pm GMT via the permanent stream, with the full version, featuring Bloch and Norton's contributions, set to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3's Late Junction on Thursday 29 January at 11 pm GMT. Richard Skelton's performances will take place from March 20-22 in Salford, Bexhill-on-Sea and London; for full details and tickets head to Art Assembly's website
If you love our features, news and reviews, please support what we do with a one-off or regular donation. Year-on-year, our corporate advertising is down by around 90% - a figure that threatens to sink The Quietus. Hit this link to find out more and keep on Black Sky Thinking.


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The 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland
On July 1st, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the meeting celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland and the inaugural ceremony of the fifth-term government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region(HKSAR). Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was sworn as the fifth-term Chief Executive of the HKSAR.
Photo: Mr. Li Song, the Charge d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Pretoria hosted a reception on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland. He is pictured with South African Minister of Communications, Faith Muthambi.
In the speech, President Xi reviewed the success the "One Country, Two Systems" concept has brought, and envisioned a brighter prospect for Hong Kong with proposals to further and fully apply the concept:
— Since its return to the motherland, Hong Kong has joined the remarkable journey toward the great renewal of the Chinese nation. As a special administrative region directly under the Central Government, Hong Kong has been re-integrated into China's national governance system since the very day of its return. The people of Hong Kong have played an active part in China's reform, opening-up and modernization drive and made their unique and important contribution to this endeavor. They have ever stronger confidence in China's development and national renewal, and share with the people on the mainland the dignity and honor of our great motherland.
— Since its return to the motherland, Hong Kong has maintained prosperity and stability. Under the practice of "One Country, Two Systems", Hong Kong has retained its previous capitalist system and way of life, and its laws have remained basically unchanged. The people of Hong Kong, now masters of their own house, run their local affairs within the purview of autonomy of the HKSAR. The people of Hong Kong enjoy more extensive democratic rights and freedoms than at any other time in its history. Having withstood the impact of the Asian financial crisis, the SARS epidemic and the global financial crisis, Hong Kong has emerged stronger as an international financial, shipping and trading center; and it has been consistently rated by many international institutions as one of the freest economies and most competitive regions in the world.
— "One Country, Two Systems" is a great initiative pursued by China. It offers a new way of thinking and a new formula to the international community in addressing similar issues. It is another contribution made by the Chinese nation to promoting global peace and development. And it embodies the Chinese vision which values openness and inclusiveness. To uphold and implement the principle of "One Country, Two Systems" meets the interests of the Hong Kong people, responds to the needs of maintaining Hong Kong's prosperity and stability, serves the fundamental interests of the nation, and meets the shared aspiration of all Chinese.
— "One Country, Two Systems" is a pioneering initiative that has no precedent to follow. Its application entails an evolving process. Currently, some new developments have occurred and new issues emerged regarding its application in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong economy also faces quite a few challenges. To address these challenges, meet the expectation of Hong Kong people for a better life and advance Hong Kong's development in all sectors, we must stay on the right and steady course, gain a full understanding of the policy of "One Country, Two Systems" and faithfully implement it.
— The Chinese Central Government will continue to support the Chief Executive and the HKSAR government in exercising law-based governance. We will continue to support Hong Kong in growing its economy and improving people's lives, and in leveraging its strengths and role in advancing the Belt and Road Initiative, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Renminbi internationalization and other major development strategies. The relevant Central Government departments will actively consider adopting concrete measures to make it more convenient for the people of Hong Kong to study, work and live on the mainland, and provide more opportunities for them to pursue career development on the vast mainland.
— China is now in a decisive phase to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. People of all ethnic groups across the country are engaged in a joint endeavor to realize the Two Centenary Goals and fulfill the Chinese Dream of national renewal. Ensuring the continued success of the practice of "One Country, Two Systems" in Hong Kong is part and parcel of the Chinese Dream. A cause with public participation and public support is sure to achieve success. We should ensure the success of development on the mainland which practices the socialist system; we should also ensure the success of development in Hong Kong which practices the capitalist system. We should have every confidence that we will succeed!
You can read full text of President Xi's speech here:
Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of South Africa