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Half Flat Weft - Colour 5/20
Half Flat Weft - Colour 5/20
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Angela Hartnett's Plum & Almond Tart with it's delicious frangipane filling was easy to make.
I found that it made enough pastry and frangipane for two tart's so as I had plenty of plums I made one for afternoon tea and one for the freezer, for us to enjoy later.
Plums and almonds were made for each other and this homely plum crumble was delicious. A perfect pud for a cold wet evening.
The weather this month has been dreadful and the comfort foods of our childhood are what we turn to as the afternoons get shorter and the shadows lengthen.
It's Fall y'all.
Linking this post to Mosaic Monday #3
which is now being hosted by
Judith @ Lavender Cottage

subset: commoncrawl


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[Reality Tea] Axl and his LadyLove are calling it quits on their relationship and as their past comes to light, it shows their time together was far from idyllic.
Axl had quite the active 'life on the side' – including paying for an apartment for his mister/mistress. The Piece on the side was well known in his workplace and nobody asked questions. The Piece even had a secret hiding place if LadyLove stopped by. The affair with The Piece included a romp in LadyLove's own office. The icing on the cake is that The Piece even engaged in a little phone sex with another cast member's husband.
Don't despair – LadyLove was happy and might not have cared too much about the cheating (which she may have known about – just not the "who") since each time she got a bigger and better gift out of it – including plenty of trips to the best designer stores. The Piece got plenty of lavish gifts, as well. LadyLove got everything her heart desired, including a career.
The Piece:
Other Cast Member with Husband:


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U.S. to Iran: You Have Until March to Cooperate With IAEA
The United States set a March deadline on Thursday for Iran to start cooperating in substance with a U.N. nuclear agency investigation, saying it would otherwise urge reporting the issue to the U.N. Security Council.
Comments by U.S. diplomat Robert Wood to the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency signalled Washington's growing frustration at a lack of results in the IAEA's inquiry into possible military dimensions to Tehran's nuclear program. Iran says the program has only peaceful goals.
"If by March Iran has not begun substantive cooperation with the IAEA, the United States ... would urge the board to consider reporting this lack of progress to the U.N. Security Council," Wood said, according to a copy of his statement.
"Iran cannot be allowed to indefinitely ignore its obligations ... Iran must act now, in substance," Wood said.
IAEA chief Yukiya Amano earlier on Thursday said the U.N. agency had made no progress in a year-long push to find out if Iran worked on developing an atomic bomb.


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Cancer Cases Could Soar to an Unbelievable Rate by 2030
A study published this week revealed a sobering statistic: if worldwide population growth continues at its current pace, the number of cancer cases could rise 75% in the next two decades.
In 2008, 12.7 million people were diagnosed with some form of cancer, but the International Agency for Research on Cancer predicts that by 2030, that number will jump to 22.2 million.
Dr. Freddie Bray and his colleagues found that any reductions in infection-related cancers like stomach, cervical or liver cancer — most common in lower-income regions of the world — are being offset by "an increasing number of new cases that are more associated with reproductive, dietary and hormonal factors."
Nathan Grey, national vice president for global health for the American Cancer Society, said while middle and low-income countries are often equipped to deal with diseases like HIV and tuberculosis, they don't have the means to handle an increase in cancer diagnoses.
Middle-income regions are especially at-risk. They haven't yet conquered infection-related cancers (those caused by bacteria and viruses), and now they'll be dealing with a rising number of lung, breast and colorectal cancer cases that often stem from a more "Westernized" lifestyle.
"Sustained prevention efforts are also needed to lower these projected increases. As cancer becomes more globally prevalent, initiatives like tobacco cessation and immunization are crucial in reducing the disease's worldwide burden," says Dr. Michael P. Link, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.


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Nourish the Flock of Christ
One of the abiding tragedies of Nephite society was its failure to maintain spiritual strength through constant spiritual nourishment. As strength waned, the effects of spiritual malnutrition were quick to be felt. In the book of Mosiah we read that during one period of relative spiritual strength, "there began to be much peace again in the land; …
"And the Lord did visit them and prosper them." (Mosiah 27:6–7.)
Yet, only a few years later, the Church was full of wickedness. From Alma chapter 4 we read:
"And thus, in this eighth year of the reign of the judges, there began to be great contentions among the people of the church; yea, there were envyings, and strife, and malice, and persecutions, and pride, even to exceed the pride of those who did not belong to the church of God. …
"And the wickedness of the church was a great stumbling-block to those who did not belong to the church; and thus the church began to fail in its progress." (Alma 4:9–10.)
The lesson is clear: if we do not constantly receive the spiritual nourishment needed daily, we will soon—as individuals and societies—be in dire straits, bereft of God's protection, cut off from the healing influences of the Spirit. Just as one who is weakened by malnutrition soon may fall prey to infectious disease, so, too will we, if spiritually weakened, be ready prey for the adversary and his legions of dupes and devils.
What, then, is the source of the spiritual nourishment we need? Where can it be found? Jesus, as always, had the answer. To the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, He proclaimed, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:14.)
The woman, puzzled and unsure of the meaning of Jesus' words and not knowing His true identity, exclaimed, "I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things." (John 4:25.)
Then said Jesus, in words of such calm assurance and power that they ring in our hearts two millennia later, "I that speak unto thee am he." (John 4:26; italics added.)
Jesus, then, is the living water which we require for constant nourishment of our spirits.
Jesus' position as the source of essential spiritual sustenance is further illustrated in His glorious sermon to the multitude at Capernaum, as described in the sixth chapter of John. "I am the bread of life," He said; "he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." (John 6:35.)
Jesus, then, is both the bread of life and the living water needed to nourish our spirits and to keep us spiritually strong.
To faithful souls who labor in His service, in whatever calling, Jesus gives the blessing of acting as His undershepherds, charged with nourishing the sheep of His pasture and the lambs of His fold. How do wise undershepherds fulfill that sacred responsibility with honor and energy, striving always to be true and faithful to the trust reposed in them? The scriptures provide the guidelines within which faithful servants carry out sacred tasks.
Faithful undershepherds nourish with the good word of God, as occurred in the "Zion Society" phase of Nephite history. Moroni wrote: "And after they had been received unto baptism, … they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God." (Moro. 6:4.)
Faithful servants of the master use the scriptures to learn and teach the grand and glorious principles of salvation and exaltation. Wrote Paul to Timothy:
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
"That the man of God may be perfect." (2 Tim. 3:16–17.)
The gift of the scriptures, which testify of Christ, is free to all. "Whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—
"And land their souls … at the right hand of God in the kingdom of heaven." (Hel. 3:29–30.)
Christ is at the center of the scriptures. Said He of them, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." (John 5:39.)
Indeed, all truth, both spiritual and temporal, testifies of Him. When we learn to read the "signs, and wonders, and types, and shadows" (Mosiah 3:15) properly, with the eyes of faith, we will realize that all of history, all of science, all of nature, all divinely revealed knowledge of any sort, testifies of Him. He is the very personification of truth and light, of life and love, of beauty and goodness. All that He did was done out of love. In Nephi's words, "He doeth not anything save it be for the benefit of the world; for he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him." (2 Ne. 26:24.)
Faithful undershepherds nourish through commitment to sacred covenants which bind the children of God to their Father and His glorious Son. In a remarkable revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith on April 26, 1832, Jesus pointed out the supernal power of sacred and solemn agreements between man and God. "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." (D&C 82:10.)
Wise undershepherds are never casual in their commitment to Christ and His cause, and do all in their power to encourage others to honor sacred agreements, solemnly made in the Lord's house.
Faithful servants nourish by focusing on the individual. God loves us one by one. How eloquently the Savior taught that lesson in the masterful parable of the lost sheep found in Luke 15. The parable tells of a shepherd who was prepared to leave the main flock of sheep—the ninety and nine—and go out into the wilderness in search of the one straggler which was lost.
"And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
"And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost." (Luke 15:5–6.)
Note the attention paid to the individual. It must have been at best a nuisance, and most likely dangerous, for the shepherd to leave the ninety and nine and go out into the wilderness to find the lost sheep. For one thing, wildernesses tend to be dangerous and lonely places, where unwary travelers can get into a great deal of trouble. And what about the worries the shepherd must have had as he thought about the flock left behind without a shepherd's care to safeguard its members from predators, accidents, acts of nature, and so on? After all, anyone who knows anything about sheep understands just how prone they are to get into trouble spontaneously, without anyone having to help them. I learned as a farm boy many years ago that sheep and trouble go together! Come to think of it, so, too, do people and trouble often go together!
Whenever I think of the shepherd's loving and caring efforts on behalf of the one, I'm reminded of the Savior's deep and abiding love for each of us. Oh, how He rejoices when a lost soul is found by a faithful undershepherd and then is tenderly and lovingly brought home again! "The worth of souls is great in the sight of God." (D&C 18:10.)
Though even the best of us cannot love others as perfectly as Christ does, the sentiments expressed by Alma come close. As he left the land of Zarahemla to head a mission to reclaim the apostate Zoramites, Alma expressed his love for them and his hope for their return to the fold of Christ in this way:
"O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ.
"Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee." (Alma 31:34–35.)
True undershepherds help others to partake of the bread of life and the living water through selfless service. They know that service solves the seeming paradox of the scriptures: one has to lose his or her life to find it. Service, wise undershepherds understand, is the golden key which unlocks the doors to celestial halls. For many, Christ is found through serving Him. With King Benjamin, inspired undershepherds proclaim, "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." (Mosiah 2:17.) Armed with that understanding, they are "willing to mourn with those that mourn … and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and … stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places." (Mosiah 18:9.)
Wise undershepherds, in helping others to partake of the bread of life and the living water, seek neither acclaim nor accolade. The honors of men are of no consequence to them. They seek only "to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with [their] God." (Micah 6:8.) They become as little children, "submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [them], even as a child doth submit to his father." (Mosiah 3:19.)
May we all love, care for, and serve each other that all may receive the bread of life and the living water, and be perfected in Christ, is my prayer in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.


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I'm suddenly interested in cheap food. Not that I've succumbed to the oily and addictive horrors of Chicken Valley in the South Lambeth Road. No. What I've woken up to is how well you can eat on a modest budget, and by "modest", I really mean modest. And by "well" I really mean well. Forget the dreaded pasta bake, we're thinking serious food.
The late- and great- Jocasta Innes led the field with The Pauper's Cookbook, first published back in 1971. I'm the proud owner of a well-thumbed penguin. It's a classic, although perhaps now slightly limited by the constraints of the period it was written in. The Cordon Bleu Cookery Course meets the WI.
I've got two other books on the subject: Great Value Gourmet, Meals and Menus for £1 by Paul Gayler and David Chater's Impoverished Gastronome. The first was published in 1996, so taking inflation into account, we can forgive the optimistic title. The second book is a collection of cheffy recipes from various trendy restaurants, which is fun; but I'm not convinced that the recipes are that cheap. One of the problems is that you'll need a well-stocked larder to cook them. That chicken thigh from Lidl might be great value it's true, but the overall cost of the spices, bayleaves, lemon grass, jar of honey, tub of yoghurt, whipping cream, Thai paste, chilli and ginger required to cook the recipe is going to leave a whopping hole in your modest supermarket budget if you haven't got these ingredients in the first place.
No, I'm thinking seriously cheap food. And to do this properly, you need to broaden your horizons. Take tarka dhal for example. In England most people come across this as a side-dish to eat with their curry. If you go to one of the better chains (Masala Zone or Dishoom immediately spring to mind) this will be served to you in a small bowl.
Of course, in India dhal is a staple food and often served as a course by itself with rice or bread. We've started to have it as a supper dish on a regular basis (served with steamed basmati rice) and I'm really beginning to appreciate it's silky, buttery, subtle, savoury, comforting taste. Personally, I prefer it to be quite thin in consistency- almost like a soup- and I'm glad to hear that's how the Indians like it too.
Get into dhal and you will find there's a whole sub-culture out there; one region likes it this way, another region prefers it with this or that spice- there's room for experimentation. This recipe comes from the excellent Anjum Anand, and I've now made it on numerous occasions with great success. All the ingredients can be found in the Indian section of a standard British supermarket:
Take 100 g of chana dhal lentils and mix them in a bowl with 50 g of dried red lentils. Cover with water and wash them through several times, until the water becomes reasonably clear. There's no need to soak either lentil beforehand. Put the washed lentils into a large pan and cover with 1 litre of cold water. Bring the pan to the boil and skim off the white foamy scum that will start to collect on the surface of the water.
While this is going on, chop up the flavourings. Peel four cloves of garlic and chop and smash them up with a large pinch of sea salt to form a juicy paste. I use the back of a knife. Grate a large knob of peeled ginger and again, chop and smash it up with a knife to form a smooth paste. Add a teaspoon of turmeric, then the salt, garlic and ginger to the pan and simmer on a low heat, with the pan covered for forty minutes.
Now it's time to make the tarka, which involves frying spices in oil. Heat a combination of oil and butter in a small frying pan. Add three dried red chillies and a teaspoon or so of cumin seeds to the pan and cook them until they are slightly browned. Be careful not to burn the cumin. Add a small onion, finely chopped and cook until well browned.
Next, add two chopped tomatoes, a decent pinch of garam masala and another pinch of sea salt and cook until the masala releases the oils. Anjum says ten minutes but I find this can happen sooner.
After the lentils have cooked for half and hour pour the finished spicy tarka into the pan with the lentils. Take off the lid and raise the heat and cook on a highish heat for another ten minutes or so. I like to add more water at this stage, so that it's a bit like a soup. Check the seasoning and serve in a bowl with crisply fried onions and some chopped coriander.
I find that red onions for some reason are much easier to shallow fry than white or yellow onions and don't seem to burn to the same extent. I've also tried adding more tomatoes- nice flavour, but shame about the colour, as I think for this classic dish you want more of a yellow colour which you'll get (surprisingly) from the red lentils, once they're cooked, as well of course, as from the turmeric.
There you are. A delicious, filling classic. Incredibly good for you too. And Mein Gott, it's cheap. This recipe is enough for two people- and with small second helpings to spare. You can buy a 500 g packet of chana dhal lentil on the net for £1.05. A 500 g packet of red lentils from the same source costs £1.25. That works out as 21 p for the chana dhal and 12½ p for the red lentils. For two people.
Obviously you've also got to factor in the other ingredients, and if I've got time later on this afternoon, I might get my maths into action and work out the exact cost. I'll report back with an update. But I think you will all agree, this recipe is amazing value for money. And it tastes fantastic, which is half the battle won.


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MANILA, Philippines (AP) ? Concealed by the night sky, the two aging Philippine air force planes unleashed a surprise high-tech weapon: U.S. satellite-guided bombs that whizzed down with deadly precision toward a long-elusive terrorist suspect and two other top radicals dozing with their men in Jolo Island's jungle.
The use of smart bombs, confirmed to The Associated Press by four senior Philippine security officials, marks a new chapter in the long-running battle against an al-Qaida-linked movement in the southern Philippines, viewed by the U.S. as a key front in the global effort to keep terrorists at bay.
Successive blasts shattered a hillside rebel encampment of Abu Sayyaf, which remains one of Southeast Asia's most violent groups despite a decade of battle losses. The Vietnam War-era turboprops roared away after delivering a bull's-eye hit near mountainous Parang town around 3 a.m. on Feb. 2.
Thermal imaging from a U.S. drone, described by two of the senior officials, depicted the aftermath: Several slain gunmen lay amid a clutter of destroyed trees, huts and tents, while survivors pulled away the dead and wounded in the pitch darkness.
Although it remains unclear whether all three of the most-wanted terrorists were killed, the introduction of smart bombs reflects shifting battlefields and strategies.
The U.S. has been assisting the Philippine military since shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, providing advice, training, and intelligence, including drone surveillance, but the smart bombs are the first major high-tech hardware supplied to the Philippines.
They offer a less manpower-intensive way to combat Abu Sayyaf at a time when both the Philippines and the U.S. militaries want to focus resources on tensions with China in the South China Sea. They also dovetail with a change in recent years from massive offensives to surgical, intelligence-driven strikes that target holdouts of the battered Abu Sayyaf.
The four senior officials said the strike on the Abu Sayyaf lair employed GPS-guided bombs, a previously unavailable technology acquired from the United States under a confidential military assistance project. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized to discuss those details with the media.
A Philippine military document detailing the project, a copy of which was seen by the AP, said that U.S. defense contractor Raytheon Co. was to deliver 22 kits last year to convert conventional bombs into precision-guided munitions that could be launched from the OV-10 turboprop. Accompanying that was crew training, equipment upgrades to allow the OV-10s to deploy the bombs and two test runs.
A military spokesman, Col. Arnulfo Marcelo Burgos, said the Armed Forces of the Philippines "neither confirms nor denies the existence of such munitions citing operational security reasons. However, its pilots have been training vigorously to further improve their proficiency particularly in the precise delivery of munitions to its identified target."
Many Western, Middle Eastern and Asian countries have acquired smart bombs since they were first widely used by the U.S.-led coalition in the 1990-91 Gulf War. They have guidance kits and fins and use the U.S. GPS satellite system, laser and other technologies to zero in on targets.
Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin praised "the carefully planned precision attack" in a statement days after the strike. The well-planned assault, he said, avoided the military casualties often incurred in ground raids.
Gazmin would not respond to questions about the new bombs in an interview with The AP last week, but he said that technology from the Americans has given the military lifesaving skills such as enabling pilots to fly at night. Training with U.S. forces has focused on ways to avoid harming noncombatants and wasting resources, he said, citing last month's airstrike.
"We were able to trace that they were all together at a certain time so that was the time to hit," Gazmin said. "So we took off early morning and bombed them, delivering four bombs. We were successful."
The Philippine military announced that a top Malaysian terrorist suspect, Zulkifli bin Hir, also known as Marwan, was among the dead, along with Singaporean martial arts instructor Muhamda Ali ? whose rebel name is Muawiyah ? and Abu Sayyaf commander Gumbahali Umbra Jumdail.
But doubts have arisen about the fates of the two foreign terrorists, and two government reports seen by the AP contend that Marwan and Muawiyah survived the airstrike with minor wounds after they heard the buzz of the OV-10s and fled.
Between nine to 15 militants were killed in the barrage but others quickly dragged away the dead, making it difficult to confirm who was killed, according to military officials.
Marwan is on the FBI list of most-wanted terrorists and has a $5 million bounty on his head. Jumdail had been a key target because he sheltered foreign radicals such as Marwan and Muawiyah and has been blamed for deadly bombings and kidnappings.
The military presumes they are dead until an investigation shows otherwise, spokesman Burgos said, though he added that huge cash rewards for informants who helped find the militants have been put on hold.
The airstrike shook the militants, according to the government reports. The precision of the attack, and that it came in the dark, told them that they were being targeted by more advanced technology. It also indicated there were government spies in their ranks and reinforced fears that harboring foreign fugitives would make them magnets for attack.
"They have become very wary of things and equipment that are being brought into their camp, suspecting these were laden with beacons that can be used to track them," Gazmin said.
Marwan and Muawiyah were lying low with gunmen in a Jolo mountain stronghold, the government reports said, but the Abu Sayyaf commander in the area, Radulan Sahiron, ordered them out.
Sahiron, who is in his 70s and the group's most senior commander, has long been wary of outsiders ? unlike Jumdail, who also had been treating ill villagers as a quack doctor, providing a window for government surveillance.
The Abu Sayyaf ? or Bearer of the Sword ? was founded in 1991 on southern Basilan Island. With an unwieldy collective of preachers and outlaws, it vowed to wage jihad, or holy war, but lost its key leaders early in combat, sending it on a violent path of extremism and criminality.
Today, it has degenerated into a few loose factions with 381 ragtag fighters and no central leader. But the group remains resilient and is more violent, a military assessment said, citing 74 atrocities committed last year, including 17 kidnappings, 16 bombings and 14 killings and ambushes ? far more than each of the five previous years.
Still its setbacks are reflected in a poster of the most-wanted terrorists printed nearly 10 years ago by the U.S. and Philippine governments. Of the 24 portraits, 19 have been killed or captured. The deaths of two ? Marwan and Jumdail ? are unconfirmed. Only three others remain at large.


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For a while, neither Stacia Taylor nor her husband, Mike, found it surprising that their 4-year-old, Kristin, was drawn to her father's old textbooks — or that Kristin liked talking to adults more than children.
"We were thinking, 'Oh look how cute it is that she likes picking up these big books that Daddy used in college'," Taylor recalls. "It never really occurred to us that what she was doing was just completely out-of-the-box unusual."
It wasn't until three years later, when her daughter was in second grade, that Taylor got the message. The teacher pulled Taylor aside and said her daughter clearly didn't belong in the class. Still in the dark, Taylor asked, "Oh no, what's wrong with her?" The teacher said that nothing was wrong, but didn't it strike Taylor as odd that her daughter was working her way through Harry Potter while her classmates were just starting to tackle chapter books? No, Taylor replied, it didn't seem at all strange. "In our world, this was normal, and we had adjusted accordingly," she says.
As a first-time parent, it can be a challenge to know whether your child's behavior is typical, a little different, or exceptional. If your 2-year-old whips through puzzles designed for children three times her age, or your 10-year-old asks brain strainers about theoretical physics, you may feel a mixture of pride and panic. Is your child a regular Matilda, a certified savant? And if so, how will you possibly manage to meet your gifted child's needs?
Gifted: yes or no? It may depend where you live.
While we like to think everyone is special, some people have extraordinary abilities — intellectual, artistic, social, or athletic. Many experts believe only 3 to 5 percent of the population is gifted, though some estimates reach 20 percent. A far smaller percentage — maybe one tenth of 1 percent — are what experts call profoundly gifted: they are the rare prodigies who devour complex texts before kindergarten or play a violin sonata that would make Itzhak Perlman proud.
Alas, there's no universal standard to define giftedness. There is, however, a national standard used in the Javits Act (a federal law passed in 1988 but defunded in 2011) and adopted by NCLB. However, parents hoping to find clarity by this definition will be sorely disappointed. To wit, our murky federal definition says a gifted student is anyone who shows "evidence of high achievement capability in areas such as intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership capacity, or in specific academic fields, and who need services and activities not ordinarily provided by the school in order to fully develop those capabilities."
Faced with such vagueness, 41 states have penned their own definitions. In 2006, about 6.7 percent of U.S. public school students were in gifted or talented programs, according to the U.S. Department of Education, but depending on where you live, the percentage varied widely, swinging from 16.1 percent in Maryland to a mere 0.7 percent in Massachusetts. While much of that difference hinges on whether schools offer such programs — not all do — the numbers also reflect the disparate ways school districts define giftedness. Some focus purely on academic prowess, while others put a high premium on other traits. Florida, for example, mentions only intellectual skills, but Iowa also considers abilities in leadership and visual or performing arts.
But it's not just the states and school districts muddying the gifted waters, says Dona Matthews, author of Being Smart About Gifted Education. "No two experts in the field will agree entirely on what giftedness means or what one ought to do about it," Matthews says. For years, it meant that once you aced an IQ test, you assumed the gifted crown. But such left-brain favoritism is starting to change as educators increasingly see giftedness as encompassing other types of intelligence. There's also debate whether giftedness is a result of nature or nurture, or an amalgam of the two. Some spurn labeling anyone as gifted — preferring to identify a certain behavior or traits as gifted ("She is a gifted leader" versus "She is gifted.")
Signs of being gifted: what to look for
"I'm always in awe of these parents who know really early that their kids are gifted, Stacia Taylor says. "We were the most clueless parents."
But that was then. With her first daughter, Taylor had to learn how to spot her child's talents — and associated needs — from scratch. Now the mother of three gifted girls, Taylor can point to a number of signs beyond Kristin's early penchant for advanced reading. All of her daughters — Kristin, Olivia, and Emma — have what she describes as an "incredible" ability to pull information from their surroundings. Her daughters mention things that astound her. "I'd say, 'How do you even know that?'" she says.
Experts cite a number of signs that may indicate your child is gifted, including (but, given the range of definitions and possibilities, certainly not limited to):
- Exhibiting unusual curiosity and asking questions
- Being good at solving problems
- Reasoning well and understanding and adapting ideas
- Having many interests
- Reading avidly
- Learning quickly and remembering what's learned
- Communicating well
- Enjoying intellectual challenges
But what if you see the signs and others — like your child's teachers — do not? This is particularly likely to happen if your child is both gifted and has a learning disability — a combination known as "twice exceptional." Rich Weinfeld, a special education expert and author of Smart Kids with Learning Difficulties, who advocates for "twice exceptional" kids, says schools may see only the deficiency, leaving you to press the argument that your child is gifted, too.
Early signs of giftedness
You may see indications even earlier than Taylor did — when your child is still a toddler. Joan Franklin Smutny, founder and director of the Center for the Gifted in Glenview, IL, offers a number of tipoffs that a preschooler may be gifted, including if he:
- sits through the reading of a long book and asks to hear it again
- shows an early interest in the alphabet
- remembers complex events
- organizes or sorts things
There are even those who suggest you can see signs of early giftedness in infants. Take, for example, this article, "Is my baby gifted?" from the What to Expect website, that sees everything from being "particularly perceptive" to having "trouble sleeping" as clues that your infant is well on her way to toddling towards Harvard.
Whether or not your baby will grow up to be preternaturally precocious may not be clear for several years. While it's fine to encourage your young child, there are limits, particularly for preschoolers. Researchers have found little to no benefit in so-called educational DVDs and games marketed to parents of gifted children, and most experts question the value of academically oriented preschool.
Is it giftedness or just challenging behavior?
Here's one of the toughest pieces of the gifted puzzle: problematic behavior can also indicate giftedness. Obsessive interest in a particular subject — a fascination with how washing machines work, for example — may prompt a parent to worry if her child has Asperger's — but it could also be a sign of giftedness. Or both.
Or say your child is hypersensitive and has chronic intolerance to tags on her shirt. Is it Sensory Integration Disorder or giftedness… or both? Polish psychiatrist and psychologist Kazimierz Dabrowski theorizes that the same sensitivity that lets gifted people pull information from the world around them can make them extremely sensitive in other ways (physically and emotionally), too.
Of course, not all sensitive or obsessive children are gifted. Neither, contrary to popular myth, are all children who do well in school or who love books.
How, then, is a parent to know? Try your best to separate objectivity from subjectivity: if you think your son is gifted, but people look at you a little oddly when you make the claim, consider the possibility that love could be clouding your judgment. That said, experts advise that, in the absence of any clear guidelines, parents should trust their gut. Pay close attention to your child. Listen when friends and family point out your child's special talents, and always trust your instincts as a parent.


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Vivette Glover, M.A., PhD, D.Sc.
- Professor in Perinatal Psychobiology, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London
- Honorary Senior Lecturer, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London
- Adjunct Professor, University of Rochester, NY, USA
Glover trained as a biochemist at Oxford University, and did BA Biology in Oxford and her PhD at University College London. She has had a long term interest in biological psychiatry including post- natal depression.
Publications. Over 400 papers, with over 200 in peer reviewed journals.
Research Interests: In 1997 Glover set up and became Director of the Fetal and Neonatal Stress Research Group. This is a multidisciplinary centre which aims to study fetal and neonatal stress responses, methods to reduce them and their long term effects. The effects of psychopathology in the mother, both on the developing fetus and on the neonate, are also being studied. This is a new field of study and involves linking obstetrics, pediatrics, psychology and psychiatry.


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Keeping the default settings on any Internet-connected service is just asking for trouble. It's easy enough to scoff at people whose brilliant "12345" password fell victim to hackers, but it's just as simple to target usernames. A number of WordPress bloggers discovered this the hard way, when their "admin" accounts became part of a hostile, exploitative botnet.
The attacks began last week, and have affected more than 90,000 blogs so far. The hackers behind the attacks have combed through WordPress accounts and attempted to guess passwords via brute force.
Their program cycles WordPress accounts through 1,000 common passwords. While this tactic is useless against savvy users, enough people utilize easy-to-guess passwords to make it worthwhile for the hackers.
After the hack compromises a user's system, it drafts the blog into a botnet, a collection of compromised systems that communicate with one another and often come in handy for online attacks. Private blogs aren't too useful in this system, but blogs that are housed on Web servers are. Servers recruited into the botnet can attack a multitude of machines at once, and grow the system exponentially.
The ultimate goal of the botnet is a mystery; having administrative access to a number of blogs is not that useful in and of itself. However, a network of more than 90,000 compromised machines can wreak all sorts of havoc, especially in denial-of-service attacks.
Matt Mullenweg, a WordPress founder, took to his blog to provide some advice. He explained that hackers had been targeting users who never changed the "admin" username for their account — in retrospect, an obvious security risk. "If you still use 'admin' as a username on your blog, change it," he recommended. [See also: 5 Looming Threats That Keep Security Experts Up at Night]
By using a strong password, turning on two-step authentication and updating to the latest version of WordPress software, users will "be ahead of 99 percent of sites out there and probably never have a problem," Mullenweg said.
WordPress.com users would be wise to heed Mullenweg's words, especially when it comes to two-step authentication. This won't benefit the myriad bloggers who use WordPress software and host their work elsewhere, but Mullenweg's other tips will still help.
If your blog has already been compromised, there's not much to do at this point except change your username and password, and hope for the best.


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Experience Metropolis
Pet-friendly hotel adjacent to Harrah's Casino
Experience warm hospitality near the Ohio River at our Baymont Inn & Suites Metropolis hotel. Located off US Highway 45 and near I-24, we are close to downtown Metropolis, Fort Massac State Park, and Paducah. Allow us to make you feel at home with many convenient amenities.


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A. Lange & Söhne Datograph
"A. Lange & Söhne Datograph: Ahead of the Game
The A. Lange & Söhne Datograph is among the world's best in-house chronographs. This luxury watch is also available with a perpetual calendar and tourbillon. The Triple Split is limited to a run of 100 pieces and measures intervals of up to 12 hours.
5 Reasons to Buy a Datograph
- Limited run of 100 watches: the Triple Split
- Available with a perpetual calendar and tourbillon
- Flyback chronograph with outsize date display and in-house caliber
- Power reserve of up to 60 hours
- Gold or platinum case
The Datograph: A. Lange & Söhne's Star Chronograph
The Datograph from the German manufacturer A. Lange & Söhne quickly developed into an icon. Its name hints at its special features: "Dato" is a reference to its outsize date display, a characteristic feature of many Lange watches that is reminiscent of the Dresden Semperoper's famous five-minute clock. The clock has a numeric display which can be read easily from a far distance. The "graph" in the name comes from the word chronograph. The Datograph is part of the Saxonia collection and premiered in 1999. A. Lange & Söhne released the Saxonia together with the Arkade, Tourbillon "Pour le Mérite," and Lange 1 in 1994.
One highlight of the timepiece is its flyback mechanism. On a regular chronograph, you have to first stop timing before you can set the hand back to zero and restart. However, on the Datograph, all you need to do is press a push-piece once. When you let go, the chronograph second hand begins timing anew.
The case of the Datograph is made exclusively of platinum or 18-karat gold and ranges in size from 39 to 43.2 mm in diameter. The dial comes in black, gray, or silver and features two or three subdials depending on the model. As usual, an outsize date sits at 12 o'clock. A tachymeter scale, which you can use to measure speed over a certain distance, runs around the edge of the dial. Applied indices serve as hour markers, though older models have Roman numerals at 2, 6, and 10 o'clock.
Detailed Price Information
Model (case material) | Price | Caliber | Features |
Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon (platinum) | 307,000 USD | L952.2 | Tourbillon, perpetual calendar
Triple Split (white gold) | 159,000 USD | L132.1 | Triple rattrapante chronograph |
Double Split (platinum) | 114,000 USD | L001.1 | Double rattrapante chronograph |
Datograph Perpetual (white gold) | 91,000 USD | L952.1 | Perpetual calendar |
Datograph UP/DOWN (platinum) | 68,000 USD | L951.6 | Outsize date, power reserve indicator |
Datograph (platinum) | 43,000 USD | L951.1 | Outsize date |
Datograph (pink gold) | 37,500 USD | L951.1 | Outsize date |
1815 Chronograph (white gold) | 36,500 USD | L951.5 | Pulsometer |
How much does a Datograph cost?
A. Lange & Söhne belongs to an exclusive group of luxury watch manufacturers capable of building their own chronographs. You can get a well-maintained platinum model for around 43,000 USD. If you're looking for a pink gold case, you can find pre-owned watches for about 37,500 USD. This chronograph usually comes with a brown or black crocodile leather strap.
The manual L951.1 caliber powers the Datograph with no power reserve indicator. Lange completely redeveloped this movement, which has a 36-hour power reserve. One special feature is the way in which the minute counter's hand jumps exactly from one minute to the next so you can read exactly how many minutes have gone by when timing. Hands on the minute and hour counters are in constant motion on many chronographs. Lange has patented the jumping minute counter as well as the mechanics behind the outsize date display. The outsize date is made up of two discs, and rapid date correction is possible by pushing a rectangular push-piece located between 9 and 10 o'clock.
The 1815 collection contains a possible alternative to the Datograph. This collection's flyback chronographs have an entirely different design, dominated by Arabic numerals and a pulsometer scale. Its caliber, the L951.5, is also manually wound and is composed of 306 pieces. This movement provides timepieces with a small seconds dial, minute counter, and 60-hour power reserve. You can purchase an 1815 chronograph in white or pink gold for 36,500 USD.
The Datograph UP/DOWN with a Power Reserve Display
A. Lange & Söhne released the Datograph UP/DOWN in 2012. UP/DOWN (AUF/AB in German) is how Lange traditionally refers to their power reserve indicators. "UP" signifies that the watch is wound, while "DOWN" means it is out of energy. The timepiece has a diameter of 41 mm, and the outsize date display grew by 4% to adapt to the larger case. The design has remained almost unchanged since the first generation of Datograph timepieces. The most noticeable change is the circular power reserve indicator at 6 o'clock.
The manual caliber L951.6 ticks away inside the Datograph UP/DOWN. A. Lange & Söhne extended the movement's power reserve by 24 hours. Now, the watch can run for 60 hours before it needs to be rewound. They also redesigned the oscillation system: It was the first Datograph to feature a balance wheel with an in-house balance spring.The caliber L951.6 is made up of 451 parts. Like the L951.1, every individual component receives intricate finishing, as seen in the exquisite, hand-engraved balance cock. A sapphire glass case back offers a view of this delicate movement, which is among the most beautiful of its kind. The Datograph with a power reserve display is also available in gold or platinum. Both versions cost around 68,500 USD in very good to mint condition.
A Limited Edition Masterpiece with a Tourbillon
The manual caliber L952.2 features a patented balance stop. Together with a spring located on the balance wheel, this balance stop allows you to set the time to the exact second. In total, the caliber is made up of 729 individual pieces. Lange houses this movement in a 41.5-mm platinum case.
The Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon uses two subdials for its perpetual calendar. The left subdial serves as the small seconds dial and displays the current day with a small, extra hand. The subdial on the right does triple duty as a minute counter, month display, and leap year indicator. The moon phase display is located at 6 o'clock and will only deviate by one day in 122.6 years time. You can set the perpetual calendar and moon phase display using three push-pieces. The push-piece at 10 o'clock corrects all displays at once. This means, even if the watch doesn't run for a day or so, you can correct everything quickly and easily. The tachymeter scale and "AUF/AB" power reserve display are located on the edge of the dial. The Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon is limited to a run of 100 pieces and costs around 307,000 USD.
If you're on the market for a chronograph with a perpetual calendar and can do without a tourbillon, the Datograph Perpetual may be just what you're looking for. Its movement, the L952.1, is composed of 556 parts, allowing for the somewhat smaller, 41-mm case. White gold models with a gray dial are especially elegant and sell for about 91,000 USD. The pink gold Datograph Perpetual sits in a similar price range.
The Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon unites three grand complications in one timepiece:
- A perpetual calendar
- A flyback chronograph
- A tourbillon
Double and Triple Rattrapante Functions
A. Lange & Söhne introduced the Double Split in 2004. It was the first mechanical chronograph to feature a double rattrapante mechanism. This split-seconds chronograph can measure intervals not only on the second counter, but also on the minute counter. Most rattrapante chronographs are limited to 60-second intervals, but the Double Split can measure intervals of up to 30 minutes. This is all thanks to the L001.1 caliber and its 465 components. Where most Lange watches feature an outsize date display, the Double Split has a power reserve indicator in its stead. You can choose from models with Roman numeral hour markers or indices. Prices for this 43.2-mm platinum or pink gold timepiece come in at over 114,000 USD.
The storied Glashütte-based manufacturer outdid themselves with the 2018 release of the Triple Split. This chronograph has an additional rattrapante hour counter, allowing for measurements of up to 12 hours. For example, you can use the Triple Split to time multi-hour sporting events such as the Tour de France. The power reserve display has shifted to 6 o'clock to make room for the hour counter at 12. Despite its many hands, the gray dial still feels clean and tidy. The movement L132.1 was redeveloped specifically for the Triple Split. A. Lange & Söhne even managed to combine the 567 parts in such a way that retains the case dimensions of the Double Split. This white gold watch is limited to a run of 100 pieces and costs around 159,000 USD.
Reunification and the Reestablishment of a Manufacturer
Walter Lange breathed life back into Lange Uhren GmbH on December 7th, 1990. His great-grandfather Ferdinand Adolph Lange had founded the watch manufacturer A. Lange & Cie. exactly 145 years before. After the Second World War, all watch manufacturers in Glashütte were nationalized. They merged to become the VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe, and A. Lange & Söhne ceased to exist until 1990. German reunification in 1990 brought with it the chance to rebuild the company.


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The author of a new book has claimed that St Patrick was a native of Brittany in France and not Britain, as is generally accepted.
The County Wicklow based Church of Ireland clergyman Rev Marcus Losack made the claim after years of research.
Well known religious journalist Sarah McDonald has written an extensive piece on the claims made in Rev. Losack's book in an article for the Irish Times.
She says that the notion that Ireland's patron saint was born in Brittany and not Wales may create 'ripples' in scholarly and ecclesiastical circles.
Labeled by some scholars as the 'unknown apostle', St Patrick offered little clue as to his own roots in his fifth century writings.
The common theory is that St Patrick was taken hostage as a teenager and brought to Ireland from Roman Britain, probably Wales.
Now the new book, launched by Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Michael Jackson, has thrown a spanner in the works by stating that Patrick was in fact a native of what we now know as Brittany and not Britain.
The book is titled 'Rediscovering Saint Patrick: A New Theory of Origins' and is published by Columba Press.
The report says that Rev. Losack is an experienced pilgrimage leader and spiritual guide, as well as a lecturer at St George's College in Jerusalem.
McDonald reports that his historical sleuthing began when he visited the Château de Bonaban near St Malo in Brittany more than four years ago.
There he was told of a local tradition that claims an earlier building on the site belonged to the late Roman period and was owned by St Patrick's father, Calpurnius.
The report adds that in his Confession, St Patrick wrote that his father Calpurnius owned an estate which in Latin he called Bannavem Tiburniae, from where he was taken captive when he was about 16.
The location of Bannavem Tiburniae was lost to historical memory in the years after Patrick's death.
Now Rev. Losack argues that Château de Bonaban in Brittany is Bannavem Tiburniae, not a completely new theory according to the paper as almost 200 years ago another Irish scholar also proposed Patrick came from Brittany.
Rev Losack however has located a specific settlement and, in doing so, integrated a whole swathe of new research after engaging the services of linguistics expert Christine Mohrmann.
From a detailed study of Patrick's Latin, she has suggested that there are definite Gaulish influences in his writings, influences that in her opinion could not have come from Scotland, Wales or anywhere else in Britain.
Rev Losack has said he is hopeful that an archaeological dig can take place that may reveal other evidence of a Roman settlement and possibly provide confirmation for his theory of St Patrick's origins.
The Irish Times report says he is currently in negotiation with the new owners of the château to see if this is possible.
Rev Losack has said: "There is a lot about St Patrick that we haven't been told."


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The muffins were inspired by Sweet Artichoke's blog event Healing Foods: Artichokes (coordinated by Siri). She mentioned that even though she was artichoke by name, she had not cooked much with artichokes on her blog. Which made me curious. When I checked my blog, it seemed I haven't cooked much with artichokes either. The event seemed like a good chance to make amends. And I wanted to make muffins. Sweet Artichoke makes such gorgeous savoury cupcakes that I am sure she will appreciate these.
I appreciate buying the ingredients from a local deli where a nice man told me that the artichokes in brine were softer than the ones they were selling in an olive oil marinade. I wanted them to melt into the muffin. And they did. The muffins are also packed with sun-dried tomato, parmesan cheeese, parsley and facon.
I was rushing so much to get us organised to go out that by the time the muffins came out of the oven, I remembered I hadn't had breakfast. A muffin did me very nicely, thank you! Once I thought we were all packed, E pointed out that I had a huge hole at the back of my skirt. I got out a needle and thread, put on my new reading glasses and sewed up the skirt. Then Sylvia and I went ahead for the train and E missed it so he had to get the next one and meet us at the zoo.
We had a lovely time at the zoo. I love the giraffes and seals, which I have shared with you before. It was so hot that seeing the graceful seals gliding through the water made me yearn to be in there with them. E loved the otters who were amazingly playful today. It was almost as if they were performing for us. I think Sylvia might have loved the orangutans most because it was the animal that was hardest to part her from. One big old orangutan sat right in front of her and then took his blanket and went to lie down in the corner.
We walked the Trail of the Elephants. This is a relatively new "experience". I took a photo of the above old cage to compare the old zoo with the new. This is a cage from the 1890s when there was no shame in curiosity. People caged and watched the animals, with (apparently) not much thought for what sort of life they lived.
Today the zoo experience is different. We are made to forget that the animals are held in captivity. In fact it almost feels as though the zoo visitors are the ones in cages looking out at the animals in their lush surroundings.
What I find interesting about the Trail of the Elephants is that it is so much more than animals. Signs and jungle architecture recreate the milieu of the Asian elephant and make us feel like a tourist in their world. According to the zoo website, the trail "incorporates a human element for the first time". Indeed, it did give some inkling of what it might be like to share a habitat with these animals.
There are currently two baby elephants in the zoo. For some this might bring to mind the Baby Elephant Walk. For me, it brings to mind the great poster that parents of childhood friends had up in their house: Getting anything done around here is like elephants mating: it is done at a high level with a lot of fuss and takes a long time to get any results. Well, they were very cute.
The muffins were an excellent snack to have on hand. We stopped and got a seat in the shade. Sylvia seemed to like them but had to be reminded to eat them because there was so much to watch. We also had fruit balls and grapes. E refused to buy any food because he was horrified at the entrance price ($24). I succumbed to the heat and bought an icy pole as we left to catch our train. We got home just in time to bring the washing in as it started to rain. Not a bad effort!
Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
This time last year: MLLA Soba salad and orange tempeh
This time three years ago: MM Vegetable nut crumble
Artichoke, Sun Dried Tomato and Cheese Muffins
adapted from Baking Obsession
makes 12 regular muffins
- 1 cup plain wholemeal flour
- 1/2 cup plain white flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt (I think I will use less next time)
- 1/2 tsp freshly coarsely ground black pepper (I couldn't find my pepper and used a dash of chilli powder)
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup fried facon (optional)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 eggs
- 3 artichoke hearts (about 1/2 cup) diced (mine were canned in brine)
- ¼ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil
- ¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley
In a largish bowl, stir together the flours, baking powder, salt, and pepper. Stir in parmesan and facon. Place milk, oil and eggs in a small bowl and whisk lightly with a fork. Stir in artichokes, sundried tomatoes and parsley. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin papers. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out cleanly. Serve warm or cool.
On the Stereo:
Twighlight Rituals: TAC


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OMAP wishlist
OMAP developers' wishlist for TI
- Better access to TI documentation
- Hardware registers in machine readable format (partially happening for omap4 already)
- More long term maintenance approach
Wishlist for companies developing on OMAPs
- More participation from companies using omaps
- Concentrate on doing the core features well to recycle code between omaps
- Let the original patch authors submit the code on the mailing lists
- Review patches internally
- Coordinate development on firstname.lastname@example.com mailing list
Pin-mux framework
Feature list
- dynamic, run-time alloc/free of pins
- handle various SoCs: 34xx, 35xx including the various packages of 35xx
- IP based Revision and errata handling framework
- capability for I2C to handle board+bus based timing parameters (SCLL and SLH)
Initial plans (from Tony, for next merge window)
1. Do the include directories for mach-omap1 and mach-omap2 as suggested by Russell earlier: http://email@example.com/msg15087.html
2. Move all mux code to only live under arch/arm/*omap*/ and make sure drivers don't call omap_cfg_reg() any longer
3. Remove the enumeration for the mux and require all the boards to register the pins they'll use
After these it should be trivial to improve the mux code further. The steps 2 & 3 above will be most likely breaking things for some boards, so help will be needed with testing.
Update: New mux code is now merged for omap3. Next steps are to convert 24xx to use the new mux framework and then to add omap4 support.
PXA uses MFP (Multi-Function Pin) framework for pin multiplexing. Brief MFP description can be found at Documentation/arm/pxa/mfp.txt.
Update: We ended up not using the PXA approach, as we need to mux some pins dynamically. We also wanted pin debugging support, and support for overriding bootloader pins from cmdline. This all needs signal name based approach. Signal name based approach also should be more future proof with new omaps.
The concept of MFP is as follows:
- There's an enumeration of all possible configurable pins.
- The enumeration values are used as indexes to the mfp_table that defines pin configuration register address and pin configuration for active and low power modes. The table entries are quite similar to OMAP's pin_config, and the mfp_table is much like omapXXXX_pins[]. The main difference is that omapXXXX_pins[] tries to define all possible mux modes and the mfp_table has exactly one entry for a pin.
- Possible pin configurations are encoded together with pin enumeration index with a set of a macros, e.g
#define GPIO32_UART1_CTS MFP_CFG_LPM(GPIO32, AF2, FLOAT) #define GPIO32_UART1_RTS MFP_CFG_LPM(GPIO32, AF4, FLOAT) #define GPIO32_UTM_PHYDATA_2 MFP_CFG(GPIO32, AF3) #define GPIO32_USB_P2_4 MFP_CFG(GPIO32, AF1)
- Processor initialization code sets pin configuration register addresses in the mfp_table for all pins present of the CPU variant
- Board initialization code uses MFP API to set actual pin configuration both in the mfp_table and in the pin configuration registers, e.g :
static mfp_cfg_t cm_x300_mfp_cfg[] __initdata = { /* LCD */ GPIO54_LCD_LDD_0, GPIO55_LCD_LDD_1, GPIO56_LCD_LDD_2, GPIO57_LCD_LDD_3, /* BTUART */ GPIO111_UART2_RTS, GPIO112_UART2_RXD | MFP_LPM_EDGE_FALL, GPIO113_UART2_TXD, GPIO114_UART2_CTS | MFP_LPM_EDGE_BOTH, /* STUART */ GPIO109_UART3_TXD, GPIO110_UART3_RXD | MFP_LPM_EDGE_FALL, } static void __init machine_init_func(void) { pxa3xx_mfp_config(ARRAY_AND_SIZE(cm_x300_mfp_cfg)); ... }


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Diana Gabaldon · @Writer_DG
4th Sep 2013 from TwitLonger
Scottish Natives Graham McTavish and Gary Lewis Join Cast of Anticipated Original Series as Dougal and Colum MacKenzie Respectively
Beverly Hills, Calif., September 4, 2013 – Starz in association with Sony Pictures Television has announced today that Graham McTavish (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, "24") will play Dougal MacKenzie and Gary Lewis (Billy Elliot, Gangs of New York) will play Colum MacKenzie in the highly anticipated original series "Outlander." The series will be adapted from Diana Gabaldon's international best-selling books, with the first two episodes written by executive producer Ronald D. Moore ("Battlestar Galactica," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "Star Trek: The Next Generation") and directed by John Dahl ("Dexter," "Breaking Bad," "Justified"). "Outlander," which is set to premiere on STARZ in 2014, will begin filming in Scotland, where the series is set, this fall.
McTavish and Lewis, who both hail from Scotland, will join fellow Scot Sam Heughan, who was recently cast as Jamie Fraser for the series. Fraser, whose full name is James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser, is nephew to Dougal and Colum; when the series begins, Fraser has yet to swear allegiance to the MacKenzie clan causing a heated tension amongst the hot-blooded Scottish clan.
The "Outlander" series spans the genres of romance, science fiction, history and adventure in one epic tale. It follows the story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743, where she is immediately thrown into an unknown world where her life is threatened. When she is forced to marry Jamie Fraser, a chivalrous and romantic young Scottish warrior, a passionate affair is ignited that tears Claire's heart between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
Dougal MacKenzie is the War Chieftain of Clan MacKenzie. His older brother Colum is the ruling Laird but would be nothing without Dougal, his loyal right hand. Dougal is a skilled and experienced warrior. A strong leader, he commands respect in any setting and is feared by many. Unlike his brother, Dougal secretly supports the rebel cause against the British.
Colum is Jamie's maternal uncle. He is a man who reigns over a powerful clan, but must rely on Dougal to be the true muscle. Colum suffers from a condition now known as Toulouse-Lautrec Syndrome, a degenerative disease that renders his legs immobile at times, and fills his days with great physical pain. Colum, using wine to dull the pain, is able to rise to the occasion when needed, parading around at clan dinners and gatherings, solidifying his position as clan leader.
Graham McTavish has starred in a number of film and television roles including opposite Sylvester Stallone in Rambo and as the Russian Diplomat Mikhail Novakovich on the final season of "24." He recently starred as Dwalin in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and will reprise his role in the last two installments of the Peter Jackson trilogy. Graham has had leading roles in the feature films Green Street 2: Stand Your Ground and The Wicker Tree. His other feature roles include Middle Men, Secretariat and Colombiana. Graham has served as the voice of Dante Alighieri in the recent animated film and video game of the same name, "Dante's Inferno," and has also performed voices for "Wolverine and the X-Men," "Hulk Vs." and "The Avengers." He has appeared in leading roles in prestigious UK theatres including, the Royal Court, the National in London and the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh. He is represented by Cheri Barner Management and the Stone, Manners, Salners Agency.
Gary Lewis has become internationally known for such high profile roles as the troubled father in Billy Elliot and the volatile McGloin in Gangs of New York. He has appeared in many critically acclaimed films, including My Name Is Joe and the Oscar nominated Joyeux Noel. He won a Best Actor award at Gijon Film Festival for his role in Peter Mullan's Orphans. His work on flagship television shows such as Prime Suspect attracted praise and he was BAFTA nominated for his role in Mo alongside Julie Walters. His most recent work includes Libertador, a film about the life of Simon Bolivar and The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich, about the last years of Wilhelm Reich. Gary also starred in the acclaimed BBC One drama "Case Histories." He continues to work on short films, such as The Terms directed by Jason LaMotte. Gary is represented by Creative Artists Management in the UK.
Diana Gabaldon's seven-book series has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and has graced the New York Times best-sellers list six times. The eighth installment of the "Outlander" series is slated to be released in the spring of 2014.
Ronald D. Moore and Jim Kohlberg are executive producers of "Outlander," which is produced by Tall Ship Productions, Story Mining & Supply Company and Left Bank Pictures in association with Sony Pictures Television.
About Starz
Starz (NASDAQ: STRZA, STRZB) is a leading integrated global media and entertainment company with operating units that provide premium subscription video programming on domestic U.S. pay television channels (Starz Networks), global content distribution (Starz Distribution) and animated television and movie production (Starz Animation), www.starz.com.
Starz Networks is a leading provider of premium subscription video programming through the flagship STARZ® and ENCORE® pay TV networks which showcase premium original programming and movies to U.S. multichannel video distributors, including cable operators, satellite television providers, and telecommunications companies. As of June 30, 2013, STARZ and ENCORE serve a combined 56.9 million subscribers, including 21.8 million at STARZ, and 35.1 million at ENCORE, making them the largest pair of premium flagship channels in the U.S. STARZ® and ENCORE®, along with Starz Networks' third network MOVIEPLEX®, air more than 1,000 movies monthly across 17 linear networks, complemented by On Demand and authenticated online offerings through STARZ PLAY, ENCORE PLAY, and MOVIEPLEX PLAY. Starz Distribution develops, produces and acquires entertainment content, distributing it to consumers globally on DVD, digital formats and traditional television. Starz Distribution's home video, digital media and worldwide distribution business units distribute original programming content produced by Starz, as well as entertainment content for itself and third parties. Starz Animation produces animated TV and movie content for studios, networks, distributors and audiences worldwide.
About Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television (http://www.sonypicturestelevision.com), a Sony Pictures Entertainment company, is one of the television industry's leading content providers. It produces and distributes programming in every genre, around the world and for a multitude of platforms. In addition to one of the industry's largest libraries of award-winning feature films, television shows and formats, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) boasts a current program slate that includes top-rated daytime dramas and game shows, landmark off-network series, original animated series and critically acclaimed primetime dramas, comedies and telefilms. SPT has 18 wholly-owned or joint venture production companies in 15 countries outside the U.S. and also maintains offices in 32 countries. SPT's worldwide television networks portfolio includes 124 channel feeds available in 159 countries, reaching more than 800 million households worldwide. SPT also creates original content for and manages SPE's premium video website, Crackle. Additionally, SPT owns production company Embassy Row and is a part owner of cable channel Game Show Network (GSN), 3D channel 3net, premier horror/thriller website and VOD service FEARnet and national U.S media sales company ITN Networks, Inc. SPT advertiser sales is one of the premier national advertising sales companies and handles the commercial inventory in SPT's syndicated series as well as in U.S. digital businesses including FEARnet, DrOz.com and PlayStation.
"Outlander" Online
Facebook: www.facebook.com/outlandertvseries.starz
Twitter: @Outlander_Starz - join the conversation with #Outlander and #STARZ


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Canon T3 Operation
Like the Rebel XS before it, the Canon T3 relies on its modestly sized 2.7-inch color LCD screen for all user interaction. This makes for a clear, highly visible user interface, but probably does contribute to slightly shorter battery life, since the LCD has to be fired up any time you want to change anything beyond the most basic settings. (Exposure mode, aperture, shutter speed, exposure compensation, and exposure lock are the only things that can be configured without using the rear-panel display). One feature we miss from Canon's mode advanced models that's missing from the XS is the infrared proximity sensor that turns off the LCD screen when you hold the camera up to your eye. It would not only conserve battery life, but would also reduces glare from the LCD when using the optical viewfinder. The Rebel XS instead disables the LCD when the shutter button is half-depressed. (You can optionally leave it on until the DISP or Set button is pressed.)
Overall, the control layout places a few main controls (Power switch, Shutter button, Main dial, Mode dial, and Flash button) on the right side of the Canon T3's top panel, with most of the other controls on the back of the camera. Let's take a closer look at some of the user-interface elements:
Canon T3 Rear-Panel LCD Display
The image below shows callouts for all the information shown on the Canon T3's rear-panel display, by default. (Illustration courtesy Canon USA.)
There are four Screen color options on the Status display, adjustable in the first Settings menu, under Screen Color. The color choices--and indeed, the information layout--on the Canon T3 are pretty radically different from those on the XS. I found myself preferring the default color scheme (top left in the group of shots above) in the daytime, thanks to its strong contrast. Color scheme 4 (bottom right) was similarly useful for shooting at night, reducing the contrast just slightly so as not to tire my eyes.
Whatever exposure parameter is currently being controlled by the Canon T3's Main Dial is highlighted with arrows in the corners of its box, to indicate that it can be changed by rotating the dial. Here, we're adjusting the shutter speed, marked by the outlined box. Note the arrows. (They're pretty subtle; we would have liked to see them a bit more prominent.)
The rear-panel display on the Canon T3 is also used for Canon's Quick Control menu system, first introduced in the Rebel T1i. As with the later T2i model, though, nstead of using the SET button to enter the Quick Control menu, there's a Quick Control button dedicated to this purpose. Regardless of whether the LCD display was active or disabled, pressing the Quick Control button on the Canon T3 while in capture mode takes you to the Quick Control menu system, where you can adjust various settings shown on the rear-panel display. You navigate between the various setting options with the arrow keys, and the chosen setting will be highlighted as shown above. Once a setting has been selected, you can change it either by rotating the Canon T3's Main Dial, or by pressing the SET button, and then using the arrow keys to choose from the available options. The Quick Control menu is dismissed with a second press of the Quick Control button.
Pressing any of the arrow keys to the right of the Canon T3's LCD screen (if available in the current exposure mode), or the Set button while making changes in the Quick Menu, immediately brings up a screen for the exposure parameter associated with that button. Once the option screen is displayed, you can use either the arrow keys or the Main Dial to scroll the cursor highlight through the options presented. You can continue to press the same arrow-key button, or turn the Main Dial in the same direction, and the highlight will scroll through all the options, wrapping around when it gets to the end of the list. When you've made the choice you want, pressing Canon T3's Set button confirms it and returns you to the main shooting display or Quick Menu, as appropriate.
Canon T3 Playback & Record Review Displays
Like the Rebel XS, the Canon T3 shows each image as it's captured, though you can turn off this function through the Record menu. The display mode in Record Review defaults to the same as was last used in Playback mode, or you can hit the DISP button to cycle to a different mode. Likewise, in Playback mode, you can cycle between the available display options by pressing the Canon T3's DISP button repeatedly. (Display mode selection is persistent across both record and playback modes, no matter which mode you make the selection in.) You can also select between the normal luminance-based histogram and the RGB histogram option via a Playback-mode menu item. The screenshots below show the various displays and options available.
Canon T3 Image Display Options | |
This is the default display in playback mode. The folder and file number is displayed upper right, and the shutter speed, aperture, and exposure compensation (if applicable) in the upper left, while the file sequence number and quality are shown below left. |
Pressing the DISP button cycles through the four available displays. This is the second option, which shows a histogram and more detailed exposure information. A setting in Playback Menu 2 lets you choose between a conventional luminance-only histogram, or the separate red, green, and blue displays. If there are any blown highlights, they'll blink in this mode. |
The Canon T3's third playback display option shows both RGB and luminance histograms side by side, along with an intermediate level of exposure information. If there are any blown highlights, they'll blink in this mode. |
The final playback display option is image with no overlay. Since the T3's screen doesn't match the aspect ratio of its images, this still leaves a bar at the top of the image with the shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation (if applicable), folder numbre, and file number. |
If you press the Zoom Out button while viewing a single image on the LCD screen, it'll take you first to a 4-image thumbnail display, and then to a 9-image one, if you press it once again. The arrow keys let you navigate among the thumbnail images. The text above the thumbnails displays the same basic exposure info for the currently-selected image as does the default single-image display. Pressing the DISP button in this mode overlays the image size/quality and file number for the currently selected image, as in normal playback mode. |
You can also zoom in on an image, up to 10x at the highest resolution. The small navigator window in the lower right-hand corner shows you what part of the larger image you're currently viewing. The arrow keys let you navigate around the full image, and the zoom in / zoom out keys increase or decrease the magnification level. We like that you can step between images with the main dial while maintaining the zoomed display. This makes it easy to compare focus or other fine details from one shot to the next. |
By turning the Main dial on the Canon T3 in Playback mode, you can "jump" through images in a variety of ways. An option on the Playback menu sets options of jumping through images 1, 10, or 100 images at a time, between shots captured on different dates or stored in different folders, between groups of movies, or groups of still shots. You can also jump between images by rating, either viewing only rated images, only unrated images, or only those with a specific rating. The jump menu setting only applies when you're in single-image playback mode. In thumbnail display mode, the Main Dial always jumps ahead one screen of thumbnails at a time, regardless of the menu setting for the Jump option.
Pressing the Delete button brings up this display, giving you the option to erase the current image, or cancel out of the delete option. The Delete display will show either the full image, a thumbnail plus histogram, or a screen of thumbnails with border highlighting the selected thumbnail, depending on the playback mode you've selected. |


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Feb 13, 2014
Logan Lynn, The Strokes, The Dandy Warhols, Pink Martini, The Shins + More Raise Money For Portland's Homeless Community
In an effort to flood some $$$ into programs and services for Portland's homeless community during this winter storm we are currently experiencing in the Pacific NW, the charity record I was on with Elliott Smith, Spoon, The Strokes, The Dandy Warhols, Bright Eyes, Pearl Jam, Wilco, Pink Martini, The Shins and a bunch of other Pacific NW bands is now available for whatever price you feel like paying.
Get your copy of Live From Nowhere Near You : Volume Two from Greyday Records HERE now and pay what you want. When naming your price, just remember that 100% of the money goes to the programs and services of Outside In.


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Little Giant Skimmer
MPN: 566131Designed by professionals - for professionals, WaterMark skimmers were created to provide an efficient, effective method of maintaining a beautiful water garden. An easy flow-through design combined with simple installation and minimal maintenance offers ideal solution for any existing or new water garden or Koi pond. The purpose of these skimmers is to provide complete pond surface cleaning - removing grass, leaves and more. Add one of our biological waterfall filters for a complete system, or connect to a bottom drain kit for additional filtration.
Watermark skimmers truly are a water gardening innovation. The new wildlife gate inhibits fish, frogs and other aquatic life from swimming into the skimmer. The weir gate latches shut to allow for easy maintenance, allowing access to the skimmer or pump without draining the pond. New Bio Brush technology offers flow-through advantage - adding filtration to increase biological surface area and agitation action to break up small debris. A multi-port design for discharge kits allows the installer to choose which side of the skimmer to discharge water, increasing the flexibility of the pond design and installation. An optional bottom drain port, located on either side, is ideal for Koi and other fish ponds. This helps keep the bottom of the pond sludge-free. Finally, a durable lid was created strong enough to place a flagstone of small boulders on top of the skimmer, helping to conceal its location. A special fill port in the lid allows you to add sand for extra weight and stability.


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Brave Man Attempts to Eat Burger King Whopper With 1,050 Strips of Bacon
Burger King Japan recently introduced a special where customers can add 15 strips of bacon to a burger for only 110 Yen ($1.24). One man took advantage of this artery-clogging promotion by adding a staggering 1,050 strips of bacon-y goodness to a Whopper. He has it his way and, before long, his stomach makes him regret it.
The video above shows the man carefully unwrapping the towering burger and then proceeding to attack it like it's his last meal. But before he gets halfway through, he starts to sweat uncontrollably and his pace slows considerably.
Eventually, the man cups his hand over his mouth in the universal sign for nausea and walks off camera to what we presume is the bathroom. Fortunately, the video stops there. (We don't need to see the aftermath. We can imagine.)
We love bacon as much as the next guy, but this might be overdoing it. What do you think? Does the sight of this burger/bacon stack make you hungry or green around the gills?


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Bass BM
From €24.40 *
Prices incl. 19% VAT (only European Union) plus shipping costs
available, delivery time appr. 1-3 days Germany, 3-5 days Europe, 5-7 days other countries
Please configure your desired product in the order, starting from the top with the color.
We hereby declare that cancellation law shall not apply to contracts pertaining to the delivery of goods which are not ready-made like these, nor shall it apply to products which are manufactured according to the customers express wishes or specially adapted to the personal needs of the consumer and single tuners.
I have read and understood the information/ links in red and I know what a left and a right machine head/tuner is and I know that the length of the post is measured according to the pictures shown here from the bottom of the housing to the center of the hole for the strings.
- Order number: 10250101.26.71


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The Penobscot Marine Museum is reaching out to those students failing in the traditional classroom. Studies of information retention put reading and verbal instruction as the least effective way of retaining information, yet that is how we teach in traditional classroom settings. Museums with their exhibits and living history demonstrations where students can hear and see the information has a 50% retention rate. The highest rate of retention is actually doing a task. The Penobscot Marine Museum has partnered with the Searsport District High School and local boat-builder Greg Rössel in developing a hands-on science and math curriculum geared for optimum retention. The SDHS teachers have developed science and math curriculum tied to building the Shellback dinghy. A select group of SDHS students during the spring semester take a class at the Penobscot Marine Museum with Greg Rössel. While few of the students will pursue a career in boatbuilding, they come away with an understanding of trigonometry, physics, algebra, geometry and their own skills. Wanting to know more and connect with similar programs, the Museum sent me as a representative of this partnership to the Teaching with Small Boats Alliance conference.
The Teaching with Small Boats Alliance (TWSBA) is a network of maritime schools, boat-building shops, museums and community groups whose vision is to give young people an awareness of and resulting pride in their learning through the hands-on study of the maritime arts, its history and its relationship to success in math and science. TWSBA's mission is to improve the effectiveness of these organizations through a sharing of 'best practices' that promote the values of scholarship, craftsmanship, ingenuity, self-discipline and a true sense of accomplishment. The conference this year focused on organizational development, program development and curriculum development. It is all too easy to feel isolated when pursuing non-traditional models in schools and museums; it is such a relief to meet with sister institutions from across the United States that have implemented similar programs and who are willing to share their successes and failures. There is no need to reinvent the wheel when so many are willing to share their resources. There were sessions on the nitty-gritty issues of insurance, fundraising, human relations, and leadership which, while not that fun, are necessary to fulfill our programmatic mission to inspire, educate and recreate. Other sessions discussed how to get passionate adult volunteers to provide necessary, but otherwise costly, assistance in the boat shop and providing one-on-one tutorials in boat-building with the students. Representatives from the United States' nineteen maritime primary and high schools provided insights in how to "marinize" the Common Core standards, reflecting how the sea connects all things and all subjects. Our location on Penobscot Bay provides students with an open-air classroom in history, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, etc.
Of course all talk and no hands-on activities is an anathema to this group. I brought down the Passamaquoddy ocean-going canoe built by members of the Penobscot and Western Abenaki nations during the summer of 2006 on the Museum grounds. Between 2005 and 2010, native apprentices learned the art of birchbark canoe-building on our campus and demonstrated the process to our visitors. The canoe was a project of note in the Indigenous Programs presentation at the TWSBA conference. Attendees spent three afternoons admiring their workmanship and taking it out for a paddle in the Mystic River. In addition to paddling our canoe, I took a row in the four-man St. Ayles Skiff and one-man Bevin's Skiff built by other student organizations.
I returned from the conference inspired to do more hands-on learning projects. If you are interested in this way of learning, please visit the Teaching With Small Boats Alliance website at https://sites.google.com/site/twsballaince/ . Once you too are inspired, contact the Museum about volunteering with our area students at 207-548-2529 or [email protected] .


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Creative new use for border crossing posts at German/Austrian border.
In the late 1980s, an American spending a summer traveling across Europe with a Eurailpass would see his or her passport stamped possibly dozens of times. With a few exceptions, every time a border was crossed, an immigration agent would pop his or her head into a train compartment, look at everyone's passports, in most cases stamp them, and move on. Every Eastern Bloc country required visas, some of which could be obtained at the border and others of which had to be applied for in advance.
Today, an American can enter the Schengen zone in Helsinki, fly to Oslo and then on to Amsterdam, proceed by train through Belgium, France, Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland, then by bus to Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and then by ferry back to Helsinki before catching a flight to Athens and landing in Greece without once needing to submit a passport to a border guard's scrutiny.
The development of the Schengen agreement across Europe has altered the geopolitical map of the continent in many ways. For tourists, the development of the Schengen zone has simplified travel by drastically reducing the number of times a passport can be checked and stamped as national borders are crossed.
The Schengen Agreement is named after the town of Schengen in Luxembourg. It was here in 1985 that five countries-Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, West Germany, and France-signed an agreement to essentially create borderless travel between them. A model for this agreement had been created years before by the Benelux countries (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), which eliminated border controls back in 1948. The Nordic countries also did away with internal border posts, in 1958.
In 1995, the five original Schengen countries plus Portugal and Spain inaugurated the zone. In 1997, Austria and Italy joined. Greece followed in 2000 and the five Nordic countries joined in 2001. In late 2007, nine more countries joined the Schengen zone; most recently, Switzerland signed up in 2008.
Abandoned border crossing between Slovakia and Hungary.
Today, 22 European countries are part of Schengen. Every European Union country (save the UK, Ireland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Cyprus) belongs. Other members include EU holdouts Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland. The European microstates present a few complications. Monaco's borders are administered by France, which makes the tiny principality a part of Schengen, while Liechtenstein's accession, approved by the European Parliament in February, is pending. San Marino and the Vatican are de facto versus official members, while mountainous, landlocked Andorra remains outside of the zone altogether.
There are five EU countries not currently part of the Schengen zone. The UK and Ireland (as well as the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands) operate a Schengen-like agreement called the Common Travel Area. Neither country is obligated to join the zone.
Romania, Bulgaria, and Cyprus, however, are all bound by treaty to eventually join. Romania has fulfilled all the criteria for joining Schengen and Bulgaria is close to fulfillment as well. These two countries will accede together, likely later this year. Cyprus presents a more complicated situation given the division of the island between the Republic of Cyprus in the south and the largely unrecognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the north.
With the coming accession of the Western Balkans to the European Union, the Schengen zone will almost definitely continue to grow. Might it one day cover the entire landmass of Europe? Check back in two decades.
[Images: top image Flickr | Mike Knell; middle image Flickr | jczart]