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Princeton to celebrate football success with bonfire tonight
The Princeton University community is celebrating the achievements of its football team this fall with a bonfire on Cannon Green, to be lit in a ceremony beginning at 7 p.m. today. This is the second year in a row Princeton has swept Harvard and Yale in football in a season, leading to the bonfire, a campus tradition that dates to the late 1800s.
As the day began, there was some question whether the fire would be lit because of high winds. University and town of Princeton officials monitored forecasts and conditions during the day and by 5 p.m. decided to proceed as planned.
At the bonfire, student groups will be raising funds to benefit relief efforts for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
The bonfire festivities were to be webcast live on the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students website. The Undergraduate Student Government and the four undergraduate class governments are sponsoring the event.
The football team comiled an 8-2 record on the year to share the Ivy League title with Harvard. The Tigers lost their final game 28-24 Saturday at Dartmouth.
Photos and videos from selected bonfires since 1897 are available online through University Archives at the Mudd Manuscript Library.

subset: commoncrawl


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6 Best Practices for Improving AML Screening
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What are the Buddhist views on (a) Self injurious behavior (such as mutilation) to distract self from mental pain and (b) suicide?
What are the Buddhist views on (a) Self injurious behavior (such as mutilation) to distract self from mental pain and (b) suicide?
Hi John,
As to self injurious behavior, such as "cutting" ... it would be seen as as manifestation of the poor person's inner self-anger, self-loathing, frustration and other Dukkha suffering. As with any destructive behavior ... to self or others ... the medicine would be to treat that anger and other Dukkha. The behavior itself would be seen as very unfortunate and tragic.
The same for suicide brought about by some hopelessness or depression of the small self. If that hopelessness and depression can be removed, it should be. The ONLY possibility where suicide might be countenanced that I know** would be perhaps (because it is ethically debated in Buddhism as in other religions) cases of suicide as euthanasia or "assisted suicide" in the face of a painful, incurable terminal illness or the like where the person was facing great pain that cannot be relieved. Here are some articles on the debate.
Gassho, Jundo
** There are also some other cases, such as the Tibetan and Vietnamese monks who set themselves on fire as political protest. The most well known is Ven.Thich Quang Duc, who set himself on fire on a busy Saigon street in 1963 to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the then South Vietnamese government.
On a trip to Vietnam a couple of years ago, I found that some there and elsewhere consider him a great hero. Other (most, I feel) Buddhists around the world think that such form of suicide, especially merely to make a political statement, is not in keeping with the Precept on Life (which we are looking at during our "Precepts Study" for the Jukai).
Was he a hero, or merely our own form of "suicide bomber" ... although perhaps not acting out of anger or hate, and not taking any other people with him? Anyway, I do not want to debate this here ... we can save it for our "Precepts Study" class.
Through the centuries, some other folks would sometimes commit suicide for religious reasons, such as "getting to the Pure Land" faster! Generally, that also is not widely accepted by the rest of the Buddhist community.
Last edited by Jundo; 11-08-2012 at 03:20 AM.
In a sense, people who wish to commit suicide do so, because they are essentially trying to make their situation better.
Yet, they confuse their problems and feel the cause of it all, is the outside world, and the body. Since they identify themselves as the body, they think; get rid of body, get rid of suffering.
In a way, we all too better our situation, yet instead of blaming everything out there, we go directly to the source. Our attachments, thinking patterns, and sense of "I"
清竜 Seiryu
Suicide is complicated. Sometimes people do it because they are no longer mentally stable, not producing the appropriate chemicals to keep the brain in balance. Deep depression is a result of this; it's hard to "see" clearly when the brain isn't functioning properly. It's like being diabetic; if you can't produce insulin, you need to seek medical treatment. Anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts should absolutely seek therapy.
Very sensitive question. Extremely difficult, indeed. Threapy, counselling. Are good options. Keep all the channels of communication open. Killing oneself is a tragedy for other people and a dead end for the victim for it does not solve anything and does not dissolve the prison. The greatest non jdugemental compassion should be experienced and cultivated for the victims, parents, friends and the deceased.
Never forget this please: judging is nothing but another subtle form of killing.
Thank you for your input.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I can only agree with most what has been said already. This is indeed a very serious topic and we all should tread lightly with our advice and judgement.
What comes to my mind (and I did lose a friend to suicide once) is also the need to distinguish a form of suicide ultimately caused by severe depression with either physiological and/or psychological root causes....and on the other hand an individual's right to choose when to die.
If a young person kills him/herself because of too much heartbreak etc. it's in a different ethical ballpark for me than for example a 75 year old who consciously chooses his/her own death instead of having to endure certain stages of a terrible illness.
Yet the word "suicide" could be applied to both scenarios.
Traditionally religions have often glorified suffering in a way that I don't think is completely compatible with our current medical reality.
Just my two cents....and yes, anyone experiencing suicidal thoughts should absolutely seek professional help.
Hans Chudo Mongen
Being in a line of work where I have seen over a hundred suicides and suicide attempts (speaking not of euthanasia) I can say with sincere compassion that suicide due to hopelessness and depression is a completely selfish act that creates more problems than it could ever solve. Mostly this is due to our relationships or interdependence with all people but especially those closest to us. the effects of this act can be devastating and catastrophic. There are alternatives, good ones that were mentioned above.
Deep Gassho,
I feel judging individuals who have taken their own life displays a lack of empathy and compassion.
Jundo's, Taigu's and Han's comments come closest to how I feel.
I would add that we are in danger of copping out of acknowledging the dire circumstances that some people find themselves in that are not of their own making.
Attaching too fervently to Buddhist doctrine of dukkha coming from attachment can harden people's hearts not soften them.
Suicide is often tragic, but what is more tragic is that we live in a world where so many people feel desperate and alone because they are in mental or physical pain - or both - IMHO.
Hi Willow
I respectfully am going to have to disagree with you. There is no loss of empathy in taking a stance against a person who has committed or is considering suicide, a completely selfish act. In fact their is great empathy. No judgement made against the person but the act itself. If they could only see the devastation and repercussions.
For me the answer is no and i would not give a person permission to do it. I myself will not support the decision of suicide (other than euthanasia) but fight against it.
I find it ironic to think disagreeing with suicide would be seen as having a lack of empathy for people.
Maybe I am wrong maybe. But no one dies on my watch I I can help it.
A disclaimer here. I really do respect all opinions on this forum as this is a powerful thread with a lot at stake.
Hi Daido,
Cannot agree more with you when you say you would do anything to stop it. As to the "selfish act", allow me to disagree, the person might be sick, mentally sick or totally deluded by the self but not selfish.
Thank you for your patience
I understand where you're coming from Daido and I respect your view.
For myself - I do not feel comfortable with labelling all suicides (apart from euthanasia) as 'a completely selfish act'.
This would mean that the person was totally in control of their actions and deliberately setting out to selfishly hurt others. I feel it's a bit dualistic to separate the act from the person - because the act is the manifestation of the despair that the person feels.
Anyway - this is a complex topic and I don't think I can do it justice with my few words.
Food for thought for sure. I was not considering mental in the sense of unable to care for himself completely. I can see that. I have seen that. At the same I believe that while a person may have mental problems even serious ones they in most cases should not completely absolve him of all responsibility.
No perfect answer. No pride just how to better help.
Gassho Taigu and Willow
Yes, yes.
Even in the case of a mass murderer who commits a heinous act, for example, harming many other sentient beings ... it is typical in Buddhism to say that the real "wrong doer" is the greed, anger and ignorance within the murderer, not the person himself. That does not mean we do not do what may be necessary to stop the murderer and save lives, including (in the majority Buddhist opinion, some might disagree) violent police action if needed to protect others and stop the murderer. It does not mean that we forgive the person on all levels, or do not put them in jail. It simply means that, deep down, we look at the murderer as also a victim of his inner suffering, anger, etc. ... the true murderer.
Gassho, J
Last edited by Jundo; 11-09-2012 at 03:25 AM.
Something else to consider is that some accidents are viewed as suicide and some suicides are viewed as accidents. The only real response is compassion and understanding for the living friends and family.
I now view violence in any form as a sickness, something that needs to be healed.
Gassho, Shawn Jakudo Hinton
It all begins when we say, I. Everything that follows is illusion.
"Even to speak the word Buddha is dragging in the mud soaking wet; Even to say the word Zen is a total embarrassment."
There is a book on the subject: "Night Falls Fast:
Understanding Suicide" by Kay Redfield Jamison.
The SHORT answer to the question of how a Buddhist should deal with the matter of suicide and the matter of self-injury is "compassion." And compassion requires understanding, which requires (wait for it) that we not be afraid to truly, wholeheartedly use our capacity for empathy to enter into psychologically uncomfortable territory. You don't have to have been suicidal to empathize with someone who is, but you do have to be able to understand, without judging, how a person might have come to that state of mind, and what it might feel like. When you can put yourself there, it becomes a lot harder to moralize about it from the proverbial high horse.
The LONGER answer:
I too must agree with those who have taken exception to the popular cliche that "suicide is selfish." I mean, sure, it is selfish to a degree, as are many human actions we would not think to characterize as such, like eating breakfast in the morning, but not in the sense most people mean when they use it. People kill themselves for different reasons, and sometimes suicide is done as an act of anger or revenge, but I could say that the overwhelming common factor in suicide is an inability to cope with a present level of pain or distress. What you have to understand is that in most cases it takes a HUGE amount of pain or distress to override a person's life preserving instincts. Especially if the act is done after a long period of contemplation rather than impulsively. People tend to have to "psych" themselves up to do it, and many, if not most, attempts end up being quasi-lethal -- overdoses not strong enough to kill, nonlethal self-injury, and so on, which I believe has to do with how hard it is to override that instinct. So a person has to really be pushed to be able to make that fatal action.
I think as Buddhists it is our duty - our vow - to expand our capacity for empathy and compassion. And to enter compassionately into the realm of the suicidal is to understand that the amount of pain a person on the brink is being asked to endure, without any certainty it will ever get better, requires a huge amount of SELFLESSNESS on that person's part - to be willing to suffer incredibly by continuing to live, so as not to hurt his or her loved ones. For those who do finally say, I can no longer tolerate this pain for others' sake, it is not a simple case of "selfishness." It is simply failure to be a saint, a martyr, for others. Can we really condemn people for failing to be able to live COMPLETELY for the sake of others? Are we really THAT morally superior?
The problem of suicide is the problem of ignorance. I base this statement on personal and professional insight. Despite how I may have been mischaracterized here, I have not been suicidal since I was 13 years old (I am now 29), and even that period was fleeting and without action or any serious sustained intent. However, it was enough that I have some direct experience of what that state of mind is like. I am not alone among those who experienced such extreme states of mind as an adolescent, and what I was amazed by was how, three years later, the amazing turns my life had taken that I would never have imagined at that time. Research has shown that depressed people are actually physically less capable of imagining positive outcomes or even recalling positive memories. The neurochemistry of depressive states makes the chemical pathways to positive thoughts less able to become activated. The problem of suicide, at least in non-impulsive cases, is not as much to do with the emotional (or physical) pain, but more to do with the thought it will never get better, which almost always is untrue. Life is change and impermanence - and that is as true of the "bad stuff" as the good. That is why one of my number one purposes as a social worker is to "instill hope." To help a person who is mentally blocked from seeing the good aspects of his or her life or the good possibilities see and consider those, and act from them.
My current job actually makes me part of the process of involuntary commitment in my state, in which I assess and decide if a person needs to be temporarily hospitalized against their will to prevent harm to him or herself or others. I would say the majority of cases I see in this aspect of my job are those of people who are psychotic and simply incapable of caring for or protecting themselves, but I deal with many suicidal people as well, especially in the other part of my job where I assess people for outpatient mental health services. Two common components of suicidality, whether impulsive or planned, are being overwhelmed and being without hope.
For people who are either easily overwhelmed by what to others might be slight emotional stress, or who have trauma histories so profound that the average person could not even conceive of the inner struggle they endure, self-harming behaviors without suicidal intent can become a sort of "release valve" that shifts the focus from an overwhelming mind state to the sharp clarity of physical pain sensation. For some, there is symbolic meaning in masochism and the sight of blood, for some it is a way to communicate and express via the body something they may not be able to communicate to others in words, and for others yet it may be a simple, tactical neurological distraction mechanism.
To effectively prevent suicide, a person has to be able to help the suicidal person find hope and find supports and/or skills that increase his or her ability to cope with the painful feelings or circumstances driving the suicidal thoughts. Often, the very first part of the process is allowing a person to feel heard and respected. Knee-jerk, fearful reactions and moralizing are counterproductive - they only act to make a suicidal person feel more alone, more broken, and less hopeful. Now, in some cases, to those of us on the observing side it can seem like a person is overreacting, being "dramatic" or "manipulative." I have to struggle with my own reactions daily to people I see as giving up or going into crisis way too easily.
In the last few weeks I have noted how quickly I am judging people and have seen the need for a "compassion rehab." As part of this, I am trying to read and learn more from people who are able to articulate their experiences of suicidal behavior and self-harm, and what I am learning is that what may look like "drama" to a jaded outsider is in many cases a HUGE internal struggle. In some cases there is what in clinical terms is called a "low distress tolerance," in which even small stressors can precipitate a huge internal reaction - "freaking out," in the non-clinical term. The bottom line is that it is no different whether a person is flooded with stress due to circumstances that would be overwhelming to anyone, or is flooded with stress because they have a brain that is less able to counteract stress. Either way, they are overwhelmed by a state of mind that doesn't know how to deal with itself. When you are overwhelmed by the feeling your mind can't handle itself, that is so incredibly frightening it can lead to panic - and impulsive behavior.
Thank you everybody for your wisdom,
In my experience, people kill themselves because they see no other way out, out of desperation. Up to a certain point, responsability to family may keep a person alive, but beyond that, the world becomes so contracted that there is no space for anything but one or two dark thoughts running in tight circles (as Kojip described it in a thread about anger). Indeed the three poisons are the real killer. The person is innocent. The precept about not killing does not apply, because to that person, there is no choice.
In a spring outside time, flowers bloom on a withered tree;
you ride a jade elephant backwards, chasing the winged dragon-deer;
now as you hide far beyond innumerable peaks--
the white moon, a cool breeze, the dawn of a fortunate day
Thank you all for your input.
There is a book on the subject: "Night Falls Fast:Understanding Suicide" by Kay Redfield Jamison.
She is a world renowned psychologist on mood disorders and this is a good book and an easy read.
The brain is the body organ responsible for decision making. The act of suicide is made by a body organ that is not working well, a cancer if you will.
Sometimes people are lucky and they have a good support system that includes good families, doctors, psychologists, counselors, and a less severe form of this cancer.
Sometimes the cancer is more aggressive, but the resources to treat it are still enough.
Sometimes the cancer is aggressive, but people are lucky and survive its ugly grasp.
Sometimes faith and morality prevent the act. Sometimes faith and morality cause the act.
Sometimes its accidental, a cry for help that turns lethal.
I cry for the souls that are affected by this cancer. Their families, their friends, their counselors, their doctors, their animals, and mostly for the departed ones.
Thank you Stephanie for sharing your insightful experience.
"I cry for the souls that are affected by this cancer. Their families, their friends, their counselors, their doctors, their animals, and mostly for the departed ones.
me too
無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...
I lost a very dear friend to suicide about 3 years ago. There were so many victims.
I have not had much to say in regards to this thread, but you all have shared some wonderful insight, thank you.
That about sums it up. You can only put up with so much crap being dumped on you before you lose hope of it ever being better. And once you lose hope, really, what else is there to live for?
You cut to be able to feel something, anything, other than the numbness that gets you through the day, and that alone, the act of being able to feel is worth the pain.
I want to pick up on JC's comment comparing the compelling need to hurt or destroy one's self to cancer. I understand why this comparison is used however cancer is not a communicable disease. I believe the type of mental illness we have been discussing here is more like AIDS; it is like a virus that can spread to those that are most venerable living in a close relation to those that are afflicted.
Over the past eight years as a father and a grandfather I have watched the insidious spread of family destruction caused by my daughter in law's depression, bi-polar, self-hate, disassociation and "self" destructive behavior. It is not a road traveled by the person who is ill, but one where everyone who loves or cares about the person is dragged along.
Over the last years Jundo's advise, teachings and his just being there when I crash, have carried my wife and I through the tough times. Sharing this guidance with my son has also, up till recently, gave him strength to do his work and then come home to rescue the children, clean the house, cook dinner and give what support he can to his wife. It was recently I realized that his wife's illness that she was fighting was not just her affliction, but a communicable disease. In the last couple of years my son contracted restrictive lung disease and as a result was removed from his position of managing the law enforcement horse operations at his duty station. He was placed in a job he was unqualified for and now is failing in that with a real threat of removal from his department. As a result he is now suffering from reactive depression. I relate this so you all will understand that like AIDS, healthy people can co-exist with a person afflicted with mental illness by taking a margin of care however if the care giver becomes ill and his body systems including his mind become vulnerable, then the affliction of the person they care for can spread.
Several months ago I contacted Jundo. I had earlier that evening received a call from my son who had just come out of a meeting with his departments Human Resource Specialist and was crying saying he had lost everything worthwhile, everything that gave him identity. We talked for a while and then he hung up after saying he was leaving the office to drive home but would probably find a convenient telephone poll on the way. I sat for a while, then contacted Jundo, then sat again waiting, and hoping my son would be the next person to call, and not a DPS officer.
I have been on the phone with my son each evening for the past couple of weeks. His wife took the kids and left him. She explained that she could not deal with his anger and depression. She could not deal with the disease that had now spread to my son and to their son. Yesterday she did return and hopefully will keep her agreement to enter into family counseling with my son.
So a long story, however since all the comments have been in relation to the condition of a person afflicted with mental illness leading to self-destructive behavior, I felt it was necessary to point out that it is a communicable disease, but like all such diseases one can protect themselves from it by remaining physically healthy and following the practices taught by Jundo and Taigu at Treeleaf.
Four years ago, Jundo gave me the dharma name Shozan (life mountain) recognizing my struggles in trying to care for myself and family. Sometimes it feels more like "life bog" than Life Mountain. Still "just sitting" is a wonderful practice that allows me to watch this life pass without being sucked down in the bog.
Peace be with all of you.
Deep bows Jim and thank you for sharing this part of your life.
Thank you for sharing Jim and metta to you and your family.
Metaphors are tricky and don't always resonate. Mental illness likened to cancer doesn't quite work for me either - but that's just my subjective response.
I understand what you mean by contractable - it is worrying, painful, distressing, to cope with a loved one who has a mental illness but the teachings/practice do help.
It's past 2 in the morning here and I've taken another sleeping pill in the hope of a few hours sleep - the first didn't work! Worry and concern as I heard earlier today that a young relative of mine is self harming and had to be collected from school as she'd cut her wrist three times in the classroom.
The effects of family karma are running deep through my family just now - clearing my mum's house I've had to process a lot of difficult material - the karmic seeds of distress from the past that have affected future generations. It has made me think more on the way in which everything is connected and what might be done to heal and plant more positive seeds for the future. I feel we do this by standing by our families, friends and those in the wider world in their difficulties.
Metta to all who are supporting family members with mental health difficulties.
Last edited by Jinyo; 11-13-2012 at 09:51 AM.
Thank you Jim for sharing your story with us. Be well!
Jim, my friend, today's Koan on Mt. Sumeru ... also life-mountain ... is dedicated to you, who embodies such in life's eruptions.
Gassho, Jundo
Jim, thank you for sharing this and much metta and prayers for your family. Seeing your son or daughter in suffering and distress is the most difficult situations to deal with. I don't know if it is communicable but we are most deeply affected by those around us and our inherited genes give us tendencies to react in sometimes negative ways. Hopefully this new day will be a gift to see a path to a better life.
無 (MU, Emptiness) and 氷 (HYO, Ice) ... Emptiness Ice ...
This is a powerful thread. Thank you for sharing your stories. I've had a form of depression that has been mostly lifted by therapy and antidepressants. Living in the present, a cornerstone of Buddhism, works!
(Jack K.)
Thanks to all
Fortunately my son is doing much better with meds, therapy and our frequent and long talks. His deep depression is situational, I think they call it "reactive depression" which hit him as he seemed to be losing everything and was most vulnerable. It is obvious that those suffering like his wife have a much deeper cause and perhaps cannot be cured but hopefully they can learn to live with it at some level that allows them relief for themselves and those close to them.
Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread, while there are no answers it has helped to see the issue from other perspectives.
Thank you for sharing this Jim. We can never know what life may serve us and you show how this practice gives us the Way to face it. May your family be well and find peace. Metta.
Heisoku 平 息
Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home. (Basho)
Thank you so much for sharing this with us Jim, I have been touched by depression as well, and i am happy to hear your son is feeling somewhat better. It is very hard for people to be open about these sort of problems so you are an inspiration.
Gassho, Shawn.
Gassho, Shawn Jakudo Hinton
It all begins when we say, I. Everything that follows is illusion.
"Even to speak the word Buddha is dragging in the mud soaking wet; Even to say the word Zen is a total embarrassment."
like so many threads I missed this and your story. Take good
care of yourself, may you all find peace and health.
Sorry for your loss. Suicide is so tragic.
Dr. Jamison is one of my heroes. She "came out" to the world regarding her psychiatric difficulties when no one else had the courage to do so.
Gasho, Jishin, _/st\_
Sorry for the loss of your brother Anneliese
Gassho, Kyotai
I am very sorry for your loss. Not only for your brother but also for what might have been.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Meido Shugen
明道 修眼
Very sorry for the loss of your brother and Metta to you and to your family.
This is a very deep and heart moving thread.
Deep bows to all of those that commented and to those that must cope with these very difficult situations in life.
This really hits close to home.


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You may want to read this twice if you're older than 45. In fact, you may have to.
That's because your mental abilities are already in decline, according to a study of 7,390 British civil servants just published in BMJ, the British Medical Journal.
For men and women who were between 45 and 49 when first tested, the ability to reason declined 3.6 percent over the next decade, the study found. And the decline was even faster for people in their 50s and 60s, especially men.
Other mental abilities that faded included memory, and so-called verbal fluency, which measures a person's ability to quickly say words in a particular category. However, people's vocabulary didn't change.
Previous studies have found little evidence of cognitive decline until people turn 60. But this study was larger than most earlier efforts and took the unusual step of testing each participant three times over 10 years.
The results suggest that efforts to head off mental problems late in life need to begin in middle age, the study's authors write at the end of their paper. These efforts should include "aggressive control" of problems such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure, which are linked to dementia and Alzheimer's disease, they say.
Perhaps, says epidemiologist Francine Grodstein of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, who wrote an editorial accompanying the new study. The problem is that "we don't know yet how to prevent the small amounts of decline which begin to happen at younger ages," she says.
Even so, it may well turn out that the same things that affect memory at older ages also make a difference for younger people, Grodstein says. If so, "living a healthy lifestyle (e.g., a good diet, physical activity, etc.) starting at young ages might protect our brains when we're older," she says.
And even if you notice some lapses in memory as you age, there are likely to be other realms of thinking and decision-making where you improve. Barbara Strauch, author of The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind, says people's feeling of well-being is highest when they hit middle age. And some research indicates that older brains are better at solving problems than younger ones.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Curiosity rover has, for the first time, used a drill carried at the end of its robotic arm to bore into a flat, veiny rock on Mars and collect a sample from its interior. This is the first time any robot has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mars.
The fresh hole, about 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) wide and 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) deep in a patch of fine-grained sedimentary bedrock, can be seen in images and other data Curiosity beamed to Earth Saturday.
The rock is believed to hold evidence about long-gone wet environments. In pursuit of that evidence, the rover will use its laboratory instruments to analyze rock powder collected by the drill.
"The most advanced planetary robot ever designed is now a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars," said John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. "This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the sky-crane landing last August, another proud day for America."
For the next several days, ground controllers will command the rover's arm to carry out a series of steps to process the sample, ultimately delivering portions to the instruments inside.
"We commanded the first full-depth drilling, and we believe we have collected sufficient material from the rock to meet our objectives of hardware cleaning and sample drop-off," said Avi Okon, drill cognizant engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Rock powder generated during drilling travels up flutes on the bit. The bit assembly has chambers to hold the powder until it can be transferred to the sample-handling mechanisms of the rover's Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA) device. Before the rock powder is analyzed, some will be used to scour traces of material that may have been deposited onto the hardware while the rover was still on Earth, despite thorough cleaning before launch.
"We'll take the powder we acquired and swish it around to scrub the internal surfaces of the drill bit assembly," said JPL's Scott McCloskey, drill systems engineer. "Then we'll use the arm to transfer the powder out of the drill into the scoop, which will be our first chance to see the acquired sample." "Building a tool to interact forcefully with unpredictable rocks on Mars required an ambitious development and testing program," said JPL's Louise Jandura, chief engineer for Curiosity's sample system. "To get to the point of making this hole in a rock on Mars, we made eight drills and bored more than 1,200 holes in 20 types of rock on Earth." Inside the sample-handling device, the powder will be vibrated once or twice over a sieve that screens out any particles larger than six-thousandths of an inch (150 microns) across. Small portions of the sieved sample will fall through ports on the rover deck into the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument and the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument.
These instruments then will begin the much-anticipated detailed analysis. The rock Curiosity drilled is called "John Klein" in memory of a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011. Drilling for a sample is the last new activity for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project, which is using the car-size Curiosity rover to investigate whether an area within Mars' Gale Crater has ever offered an environment favorable for life.
JPL manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
For images and more information about the mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl, http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .
You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .
Guy Webster 818-354-6278 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. email@example.com
Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726 NASA Headquarters, Washington email@example.com


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Home » Full Catalogue » LUSSIER, RENE: Le Prix du Bonheur
LUSSIER, RENE: Le Prix du Bonheur
It's been long since Rene's last record, and now he's back with another twist to his biography, this time a CD of songs, sung, played and - as ever - brilliantly arranged by himself, with additional bass, drums and occasional violin (except on one track where Lars Hollmer and a lap steel player also jump in). This CD covers a lot of ground, often in a short space of time, without making a fuss about it. Hawaiian influences, some Albert Marcoeur (inevitably), the whole French Chanson tradition and some rock eruptions, with a universe of guitar playing attached. In general quite a late night listen, but with disruptive edges. Nice texts by Paule Marier. Pretty unclassifiable. Me, I like it.
Code: TRICD7236
Price: £14.50


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Homemade buttered popcorn, made the old fashioned way, in a pot on the stovetop, can truly bring folks together. Make some and see where it takes you!
Old Fashioned Homemade Popcorn
Don't think I've gone off the deep end for publishing a "recipe" for popcorn. Today's post is more about a story than a recipe. It's a story about the simple act of popping corn.I don't mean sticking a bag of popcorn in the microwave either. Not that there is a thing wrong with that of course! Heaven knows I've popped my share in that metal box, though today we most often eat it popped in a hot air popper {affil link}.
I love that little thing!! No, this is about pouring popcorn kernels into a pot with some hot oil and popping corn on the top of the stove - like we once used to before those air poppers were around and before microwaves were a central appliance in our homes.
One day recently, when my son and daughter in law came to pick up the grandkids, on the kitchen counter sat the remnants of a large bowl of cold popcorn we had popped earlier. My son dove right into that bowl and looking a little nostalgic, mentioned something to the effect of "I used to have popcorn like this at Nuna Helen's house. We used to make it all the time." Nuna Helen was what my son called my mama, and I took notice that his memory was not of having popcorn with his mama even though we'd certainly had our share of popcorn together, but he remembered sharing it with his grandma. It hadn't even occurred to me when I made popcorn for my grandkids that day - it was just an automatic thing to pop some popcorn while they were here. Seeing my son munching on that popcorn and hearing him say that, brought a smile to my face and a warm feeling, deep in my heart.
There really is something magical that happens when the corn begins to pop. It gathers up people from all across the house. It brings people together. The aroma instantly transports your mind to memories of people and places long passed. Times where people engaged with one another instead of being glued to some handheld contraption. Times with family gathered around the television. Sitting and coloring with your grandma. And, it might even make your mom, dad, and even your grandma, recall days past with her own grandma. Yes, the simple act of popping corn can do this!
Don't believe me? Joan T. is a reader from the New Jersey area who is dear to me and we've exchanged emails with one another for awhile now. In late October, Joan shared something that touched my heart so deep, that it caused my eyes to well up. Y'all do that to me often with your letters. You want to know how magical the simple act of popping corn can be? Joan gave me permission to share with you, what she shared with me. I might as well warn you. Better grab a tissue.
"You know my Mother is in hospice in long term care. She doesn't eat much but I still cook... ok so today I was given permission to bring in a hot plate and make "home made" popcorn.You see? This is the connection that we have to our food and one that other folks who live outside of the southern region of this country sometimes just don't understand. Until the magic happens. For us, food is love. The act of preparing and sharing food is way more than the physical process of preparing it and the act of nourishment. It nourishes our soul too and it's a very big way that we southerners express our love. When a southerner sets a plate of food that they have lovingly prepared down in front of you, know that it is an expression of our love.
Mother is on a hospice and dementia ward with most of the aides & caretakers from other countries. Anyhow, you would have thought popping corn was magic.
Of course I let a couple of the bouncing kernels pop out of the pan before I put the lid on. Many of the residents who are cognitively impaired or with dementia smiled, and couple laughed. Maybe it was the real butter and salt. The Doc on duty was good and said that wouldn't hurt them.
The smell must have spread as I was asked to make more on the rehab section. Comments like "wow, microwave doesn't taste like this," "do you have a recipe?" and "is it expensive?" were heard.
Expensive.. haha, must have cost me one dollar to make three big pots full.
Mary, just more proof that cooking is a tangible form of Love. Mom smiled and called me a "good girl" and several other residents hugged me. I know that they can't explain with words what they were thinking, but something as simple as 'old fashioned' popcorn, maybe it was the smell, got through to them."
Sometimes it may be nothing more than the simple act of popping corn for it to be magical. Joan's mother passed away not long after she wrote to me. I am glad that she was able to share her love with those elders with something as simple as the act of popping corn. Sometimes, that's really all it takes.
We usually spend time with the grandkids at their house because that is where all their "stuff" is, but when they come over here, you can bet there will be chairs pulled out from the table with caves fashioned from blankets. There will be things to color and cut out and play pretend, and other simple old-fashioned fun things that don't require batteries. And, I can guarantee you that there will be always be popcorn popped, on the stove, just like my mama did and just like her mama before her did. I want that same feeling to reside in the memories of my own grandchildren.
One important note. These instructions are intended for a gas range top, or the old fashioned coil type of electric stoves. Most of us have a glass or ceramic cooktop these days, so to make popcorn the old-fashioned way without damaging your cooktop, you'll want a popcorn popper that allows you to stir, rather than shake the pot, like the original Whirly Bird popper.
Now, go make some homemade buttered popcorn the old fashioned way. You'll save a few bucks, and you'll get to see the magic happen.
By the way, here's how I like to make buttered popcorn. I have a couple variations I do to flavor it sometimes, but this is the basic way I make it, in a vintage Revere Ware Copper Clad 1970-something pot, on the stove. Using a paper bag isn't written in stone of course, you can certainly manage without it. But it does have a great way of distributing the salt evenly all over the popcorn - something that you don't get tossing it in a bowl.
For more of my favorite snacks, visit my page on Pinterest!
If you make this or any of my recipes, I'd love to see your results! Just snap a photo and hashtag it #DeepSouthDish on social media or tag me @deepsouthdish on Instagram!
Recipe: Old Fashioned Homemade Popcorn
©From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish
Prep time: 5 min |Cook time: 5 min | Yield: About 4 quarts
- 2 tablespoons of canola or vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup of raw popcorn kernels
- Large pinch of kosher salt
Set aside a large paper grocery bag. Prepare popcorn using your favorite method. If using a gas or coiled burner (not a flat top), add 2 tablespoons of oil and three corn kernels in a large heavy bottomed lidded pot, cover and heat over medium to medium high heat until you hear a pop. Uncover and add in the 2 tablespoons of butter and the popcorn, stir together and cover the pot. Using oven mitts to protect your hands and arms from the steam, with two potholders to hold your pot, gently shake the pot back and forth over the burner constantly until popping accelerates and then begins to slow down, with a second or two delay between pops.
Remove from heat and carefully pour the popcorn into the paper bag. Season with a large pinch of kosher salt, close the bag, shake well. Transfer to a large bowl, or several small ones and serve immediately.
Cook's Note: These instructions are intended for a gas range top, or the old fashioned coil type of electric stoves. If you have a glass or ceramic cooktop you'll need a popcorn popper that allows you to stir, rather than shake the pot, like the original Whirly Bird popper, to cook stovetop, or use an air popper or microwave popper.
Movie Theater Popcorn: Prepare popcorn using your favorite method. Melt 1 stick butter. Pour 1/3 of the popcorn into the bag and top with about 1/3 of butter; repeat layering. Season with salt, then toss again.
Cheesy Popcorn: You will need between 1/3 and 1/2 cup cheese powder. {affil link} Prepare popcorn using your favorite method. Pour 1/3 of the popcorn into the bag and top with about 1/3 of cheese powder; repeat layering. Drizzle with melted butter, as desired, then season with salt and toss again.
Source: http://deepsouthdish.com
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Images and Full Post Content including Recipe ©Deep South Dish. Pinning and sharing links is welcomed and encouraged, but please do not repost or republish elsewhere such as other blogs, websites, or forums without explicit prior permission. All rights reserved.
Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.


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Man, I didn't know Selma Blair was even married until now! Where have I been? I've got to admit she's got the simple combination West Cost / Midwest girl-next-door look down to a fine science. I guess her now-ex-hubby Ahmet Zappa (think son of the late and lengendary rocker Frank Zappa) thought so too, because he married her in 2004.
I only became aware of Selma via the movie "Cruel Intentions" -- one of my favorites. In the movie, which also features now coupled Ryan Philippe and Reese Witherspoon, Blair became very well-known for this kiss:
Well she's not going to be kissing on Zappa anytime soon because they had a nasty argument in a parking lot, which ended with her screeching off in her car after he walked off.
She's on the market and free to give a kiss like the one above to some deserving guy -- this time!


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by M.L. JOHNSON
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend millions of dollars to help farmers and ranchers improve pastures in five Midwestern states to provide food for the nation's struggling honeybees under a program to be announced Tuesday.
Commercial honeybees pollinate an estimated $15 billion worth of produce each year. Many beekeepers bring hives to the Upper Midwest in the summer for bees to gather nectar and pollen for food, then truck them in the spring to California and other states to pollinate everything from almonds to apples to avocadoes.
But agricultural production has been threatened by a more than decade-long decline in commercial honeybees and their wild cousins due to habitat loss and pesticide use. Colony collapse disorder, in which honey bees suddenly disappear or die, has made the problem worse, boosting losses over the winter to as much as 30 percent per year.
The USDA hopes to stem those losses by providing more areas for bees to build up food stores and strength for winter. The new program, details of which were provided to The Associated Press ahead of the announcement, will be "a real shot in the arm" for improving bees' habitat and food supply, said Jason Weller, chief of USDA's National Resources Conservation Service.
Dairy farmers and ranchers in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas can qualify for about $3 million to reseed pastures with alfalfa, clover and other plants appealing to both bees and livestock. Farmers also can get help building fences, installing water tanks and making other changes that better enable them to move their animals from pasture to pasture so the vegetation doesn't become worn down. The goal is to provide higher quality food for insects and animals.
"It's a win for the livestock guys, and it's a win for the managed honey bee population," Weller said. "And it's a win then for orchardists and other specialty crop producers across the nation because then you're going to have a healthier, more robust bee population that then goes out and helps pollinate important crops."
The USDA is focusing on those five states because 65 percent of the nation's estimated 30,000 commercial beekeepers bring hives there for at least part of the year. With limited funds, Weller said, the goal is to get the biggest payoff for the investment.
Corn, soybean and other farmers can qualify for money to plant cover crops, which typically go in after the regular harvest and help improve soil health, or to grow bee-friendly forage in borders and on the edges of fields.
The program is just the latest in a series of USDA efforts to reduce honeybee deaths. The agency has partnered with universities to study bee diseases, nutrition and other factors threatening colonies. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also recently created a working group on bees to coordinate efforts across the department.
The work is already paying off with changes to once-common beekeeping practices, such as supplementing bees' diet with high-fructose corn syrup, said David Epstein, a senior entomologist with the USDA. He noted that the quality of bees' food is as important as the quantity.
"You can think of it in terms of yourself," Epstein said. "If you are studying for exams in college, and you're not eating properly and you're existing on coffee, then you make yourself more susceptible to disease and you get sick."
Tim Tucker, who has between 400 and 500 hives at sites in Kansas and Texas, said he may take some of his bees to South Dakota this year because the fields around his farm near Niotaze, Kan., no longer provide much food for them.
"There used to be a lot of small farms in our area that had clover and a variety of crops, whereas in the last 20 years it's really been corn, soybean and cotton and a little bit of canola," Tucker said. "But those crops don't provide a lot of good nectar and pollen for bees."
Tucker, who is president of the American Beekeeping Federation, said the last "really good" year he had was 1999, when he got more than 100 pounds of honey per hive. Last year, he averaged about 42 pounds per hive.
He hopes dairy farmers, beef cattle ranchers and others will sign up for the new USDA program by the March 21 deadline.
It's not a "cure all," Tucker said, but "anything we do to help provide habitat for honeybees and for native bees and pollinators is a step."


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Back in July, the most amazing thing happened. Better Homes & Gardens showed up at my door and spent four days taking photos of our little abode... You can check out my behind the scenes story here.
I knew the feature was set to be released around Christmas, and Christmas came early for us this year, as I snagged a copy {or eight} at a local Barnes & Noble a few days before hand.
Better Homes & Gardens Storage Magazine is their quarterly publication which is packed to the gills with eye candy, storage solutions, organizing ideas, product picks and beautiful rooms. It has been my favorite magazine for years, so I get choked up just trying to spit out the words, "We were featured!"
And by saying featured, it is a huge understatement. We are talking six front and back pages for a total of TWELVE pages of glossy goodness!
The team of friends at Storage magazine did such an amazing job capturing our home, our family and our story. Every photo is radiant and it was really incredible to see our home from another perspective. My heart is oozing with overwhelming amounts of gratitude for the opportunity that came our way.
Oh, and check out this sweet shout out on the "From the Editor" page. I may have squealed right in the middle of the book store.
As you can see, I whipped up some organizing printables which you can download for free at BHG.com here. You can also snag a peek at our favorite organizing "kits" over on their site here.
For the non-sentimental types, you are free to go. For everyone else, I am about to get my sap on.
For years and years I have been hoarding shelter mags. Long before this blog and even long before I owned a home. My happy time is curling up on the couch with a cup of coffee, a cozy throw, and a good glossy read. I love reading the stories, but more importantly, I just soak up all of that inspiration like a sponge. After taking a moment to relax and read, I am invigorated to pop up and organize a drawer or paint an old piece of furniture. So knowing that majority of my inspiration has been found through print, it is a full circle experience for me to now be gracing the pages of my favorite publication.
It is moments like this when I sit back and reflect. How did I get so lucky? I am just a girl from an itty bitty town trying to keep our crazy life beautiful and reduce some of the stresses that come along the way. Never in a bajillion years did I think I would be here today, writing a blog post about one of the most incredible experiences to date.
This blog sure has given me some amazing opportunities, however, it wouldn't exist if I didn't have you. And although I have said it before, and I will say it a hundred times more, thank YOU for helping my dreams come true. Thank you for stopping by each day. For writing me the sweetest emails. For leaving daily comments and encouragement. For tweeting me even though I have no idea how to tweeter back. For dropping a line on Facebook or pinning one of my projects on Pinterest or saying sweet somethings on Instagram. Every visit and comment are appreciated from the bottom of my happy heart. I have no idea where this blog gig will take me {or how long it will last}, but I am honored to have all of you joining me along the way.
This was a great finale to an incredible year, and I have so much more planned for 2013 {like some fun monthly challenges, site enhancements and a few new contributing faces!} You can snag your copy of the recent Better Homes & Gardens Storage Magazine on newsstands through March of 2013.
Huge THANK YOU hugs and smooches go out to Samantha Thorpe for seeing something in me and our home, to Chelsea Evers for writing such an amazing article and being so great to work with, to Molly Sinnett for making our home shine in print and to Jay Wilde for being a photographing genius. To my kids for putting up with my daily antics, photo taking and "blog talk" and most importantly to my husband, who has been my biggest cheerleader and supporter as I follow my dreams. He has been my rock and keeps me grounded through it all. He stays up late to finish up projects and rubs my back after hours of typing. He turns my visions into reality and none of this would be possible without his help, love and support.
From our family to yours, Merry Christmas and have the happiest New Year ever!


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Mongolia is a land of nomadic people whose lives have not changed much from the days of mighty Mongol Empire in many ways. A half of the nation roam freely in the vast countryside of Mongolia with their five kinds of livestock: horses, camels, cows, sheep and goats. Selena Travel Mongolia work closely with nomads everywhere they operate and we believe that tourism should benefit the communities in the regions that our tours visit - and we must reduce the negative impacts of tourism should there be any - not to repeat bad practices in some countries in the world.
Our community based tours are designed to allow Selena Travellers to explore Mongolia and its' culture in depth while benefiting the local nomads without sacrificing the tour features and comfort. We purchase services and facilities from local nomads and involve them in responsible tourism - support their livelihoods which is dependent on the traditional pastoral nomadism.
Moreover, headed by a PhD in Biology, we are actively engaged in nature and culture conservation activities in Mongolia, hence, offer the best of nature expeditions in Mongolia including excellent bird watching tours, wildlife safaris and many other eco holidays.


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The Misses
I went to Chicago this week to see what there was to see. And do a little business. Or the other way around.
At the last second I made the decision to go alone. This Chicago trip was going to be stuffed like a Thanksgiving bird with meetings and rushings around. This trip to Chicago was no place for a baby. This trip was no place for a mommy. So I left them both at home.
There was duality in my decision to introduce the bottle to the babe. I wanted, I didn't want. I felt fine, I felt guilt. I love nursing because it means I am the only one in the world who is keeping the baby alive. I fear nursing because it means I am the only one in the world who is keeping the baby alive. Nursing keeps me sane, and nursing--as it turns out--makes me crazy.
But the minute I said good bye to her, all tucked into the safety of her pod in the car, I missed her. I missed her when I printed out my boarding ticket. Missed her going through security. Missed her waiting at the gate as we boarded to leave east over the fall-imprinted mountain range.
Missed her in Chicago as we walked on the riverfront parkway.
Missed her at dinner with my new BlogHer friends, an exotic mix of all things Asian (the dinner, not the friends). (The friends were an exotic mix of Irish New Yorker, Gay New Yorker, Chicagoan, LA Transplant and a Relief Society President from Herriman, Utah.)
And I missed her that night as I went to bed, when I felt my milk come in.
In the morning I met up with everyone at breakfast. We were an instant family of a corporate nature. It was like sharing the breakfast table with my siblings, teasing and story telling--a comfortable mix of two. While following a conversation, my eyes caught a baby newborn bouncing around at the next table. My instincts made me believe I could go ask the mother if I could please breastfeed her fussy baby, my lucidity made me stay put.
But just for a second or two? I battled and day dreamed of nursing.
When the day was done--a day of Pollack-like splats of conversation all over the place, I arrived at the airport to come home. My chest was tight with a two-day milk supply. It spared no pain in reminding me about home, about that baby and mom I had left behind. I could feel it pulsating with desire for relief. Ease. Draining.
On the plane ride home a man sat next to me. He was the same age as my dad. He looked like my dad. About thirty two minutes into the flight I started to miss my dad too. I had an extra newspaper and asked if he wanted to read it. He did. As I sat there my instincts told me to look at his hands, just to see if they were the same hands as my dad. I miss my dad's oval fingers and flat nails--hangnails that are promptly removed with his squinty eyes and precise teeth. But when I looked, the man sitting next to me had skinny hands with triangular nails.
Then he fell asleep. I could tell by his breathing and expanded body. Somehow his large chest slumped over and started to push against mine. It hurt. Oh, how it hurt.
But the missing. That hurt worse.
When I was home I checked on The Chief. He was curled up into a ball at the bottom of the bed. I moved him back to his proper place and tucked him in. Then I slowly opened the nursery door and peaked into the crib. I found her on her side--her white silky blanket tucked below her chin. I thought about all the things I could do to relieve my chest of the heaviness but decided to wake her up and give her the honor. It's all for her anyway.
And in the milk-letting, the mom was home again.
I am c jane and I am glad to be home. Like always.
contact me:
c jane on facebook
c jane on facebook


text:
Make sure the shipping address you left in your Paypal is the same address as the website, or we will hold the item and contact you to confirm the address.
Discounted figures and free shipping to the USA for most purchases. No $150 Orders or waiting for figures to ship together, yay!
Custom Tax
There is NO Custom Tax for the USA. We always write $20 on our package value.
Best Pre Order Price Guaranteed!
ShowZStore is trying to provide the best pre-order price for you!
If we dropped the price after your pre-order, you will get an extra coupon via email for the difference.
Make sure you can be reached via the email address you left!
Double Deposit Discount/DDD PreOrder
ShowZStore.com will match your deposit on pre-order items, contributing the same amount as your deposit toward the remaining balance.
(It means if the full price is $100 and deposit is $2, then after you pay $2 deposit, the total price will be reduced to $98 so the balance will be $98-$2=$96)
Click here for more details about DDD PreOrder
Our Feedback:
Contact Info:
[email protected]
You can contact us if you found any reliable vertical sites have a lower price than us and we will send you coupons as rewards after confirmation.
Q/A(This will help you understand how we get things done)
1. How to track my items?
You can always check the tracking # of your orders in "My Orders"-"View Order Details".
We will upload the tracking right after we got it from the shipping company, it will take about 3 days normally.
2. What's the difference between different shipping methods?
In most cases, we will use fast and stable commercial shipping methods to ship packages
*For packages under 2kg we will use"Economic Shipping" or "Standard Shipping".
The difference between these two shipping methods is delivery time. Both of them are stable, but "Standard Shipping" is relatively faster than the other one. On average, "Economic Shipping" will take around 12-25 days to deliver, and "Standard Shipping" will take around 8-12 days in most cases.
*For packages over 2kg we will use "Economic Large Package Shipping", As the name suggested, this shipping method is relatively cheap. The delivery time may vary depends on the country. You can also select "Express Shipping" to upgrade the shipping method. It will cost more, but worth every penny and we highly recommend you to use this shipping method.
Contact us if you find your package has been returned or any weird thing happens.
You can contact your local post office once it's in your country for more info.
3.Why I didn't get a shipping notification?
We send emails to your registered address for each order we ship. Please make sure the email address is correct before purchase.
Check trash if you didn't get an email after your register.
You can also add these email addresses to your contact so all the mails from us won't go into the trash:
[email protected]
-General customer service
[email protected]
-All tracking and order info
[email protected]
-Shipping issues
4.Will you ship all my items together or would be multiply packages?
If you bought some items in one order, we won't ship them together normally. We ship them separately to reduce the customs tax and the risk of breakage during the shipping
5. If I just preorder an item with a deposit, how long do you give me to pay for the balance of the item once it arrives?
You have 14 days to pay the balance after we change the order status to "waiting for rest of the payment"
In fact, you can just click "complete your payment" anytime you want to pay the balance.
6. How to get a Replacement Part?
Contact us first with the transaction ID and the issue part photo, we will reply to you when we received these.
It may take up to 1-2 months to get the replacement part from the factory(Normally two weeks).
We will send you the tracking when we ship the piece out.
You can follow up with us every 1 or 2 weeks.
7. How do you guys deal with custom tax?
We always write the value around 15-20USD for each package so you can avoid some custom tax.
There is no Tax for USA buyers.
You may have a less than 5% Probability to pay tax if you are in Europe.
Contact us first if the shipping company asked you to pay tax, we may help you out there.
8. Didn't get a reply from you guys.
We are off work are weekends, we may reply to your messages, but still, most messages will be replied to on Monday(Beijing Time)
If you didn't get a reply for 36 hours on workdays, send us a message again. (We reply to all messages every day but send us again anyways just in case we missed it)
The shipping company will also be closed at the weekend so no new tracking will be uploaded on Sunday.
9. Do pre-orders ship as they arrive or do you wait for all items in orde before shipping? I ordered challenger and mmc arcee in the same order for example. Will challenger ship soon or will it be held till arcee comes in?
We ship whatever comes first. So challenger will be shipped right after we get it.
10. Should I pay in full before the item is in stock?
We will ship the items by final payment sequence when the item came in different batches.
For example, if the total full payment per order is 20 sets, the deposit pre-order is 40 sets and the first batch item is 30 sets in total, we will ship the 20 full payment orders directly and ask 15 deposit pre-order buyers to pay the balance and pick first 10 guys to ship the item by balance payment sequence(since not all buyer will pay the balance).
Since you are already here, let me show you more info about our site
1.Business Cooperation
Show.Z Store welcomes all kinds of cooperation.
We do wholesale.
2.All Our Channels are here:
-You can add me there and send me FB messages directly
[email protected]
-For questions based in Show.Z Store Website.
Feel free to send us an email if you have any questions or advice!
Show.Z Store


text:
AnimalGalleries.org provides pictures of animals big and small. These photo galleries are a collection of animal photos from around the world.
All of the photos used on this site are licensed either under Creative Commons, GNU General Public License, or they are Public Domain. All images remain the rights of their respective photographers.


text:
In a complete reversal of the last (horrific) trip to San Francisco, the Dodgers complete a three-game SWEEP(!!!) of the Giants, to climb back into (a tie for) first place in the NL West.
Clayton Kershaw was masterful, pitching a complete game shutout. It was, as Vin noted several times during the telecast, the first time the Dodgers have shut out the Gnats in back-to-back games in SF since the teams moved west.
Today wasn't as much of the Hanley Show as the last two days, but it's clear he's rubbing off on the rest of the lineup. Everybody threw up the above gesture when they got on base!
Luis Cruz continued his attempt to de-Gordon the Dodgers with a double, 2 RBI, and some dazzling glove work. A.J. Ellis had the most A.J. Ellis game possible, walking four times.
Dodgers finish the road trip 7-3 (which is flippin' AMAZING after some of those games in St. Louis), and, perhaps more importantly, Sax evens the Sons' road record at 1-1.
Home tomorrow against the D-Backs. We've got first place back, boys. Let's keep it for good this time.


text:
Painted with 2 coats of Sherwin-Williams Virtual Taupe SW 7039 in Eg-Shel/Satin finish this 12″ x 12″ peel and stick paint sample will not only save you time, money and effort, but will also show the true paint color on your walls. Compare colors instantly to make the best choice for your space and re-use in different spaces and lighting.
All about Finish
A flat finish has no sheen and is a good option if you have heavily textured walls or if you have places on your wall that you would like to appear less noticeable.
An Eg-Shel/Satin finish will hide potential markings on the walls and is perfect for high traffic areas. Eg-Shel/Satin is the perfect in-between (not too shiny, not too matte) and is my tried and true finish color of choice.
A Semi-Gloss finish is one step down from glossy, but still has some sheen to it. A Semi-Gloss finish tends to work well for trim, baseboards, doors, etc.
A Gloss finish will provide the highest level of shine/sheen that you can get from paint. It has a high cleanability factor and is useful for front doors or sometimes trim. A Gloss finish does have the potential to cast a glare when light bounces off of it.
All about Color Schemes
FAQ & Refunds
Yes! We hand paint 2 coats of the Sherwin-Williams color you select in Eg-shel/Satin finish. Our peel and stick paint samples are painted with the true color and finish offered by Sherwin-Williams.
Our paint sample will not damage the sheetrock. However, depending on how long the sample is left on the wall and how fast you remove the paint sample from your wall, specks of the current paint may be removed. If specks of paint do come off, it is not noticeable.
If used correctly, then yes, the paint samples are reusable. As long as you move the paint samples directly from one wall to the next, you can easily reuse for viewing in different spaces and different lighting. However, once the paint sample is removed from its paper backing, you most likely will not be able to place it back on the paper backing. Once the paint sample is removed from the paper backing, make sure to only move the paint sample from wall to wall. If you want to use the paint sample in another home or save the paint sample for the next time you paint, then we recommend not removing it from its paper backing and instead use another method to stick the paint sample to your wall.
To qualify for a refund a paint sample must be either: the wrong color or finish than ordered, damaged or missing.
Before we can process your refund we request that you send photos of your sample. You may email them to firstname.lastname@example.com and we will process your request ASAP.
When purchasing please take note of the shipping method you choose to ensure that you receive your paint samples within the timeframe that you need.
After 30 days, we will not be able to offer a refund or exchange.


text:
Conservatory companies in and around
Conservatories and Porches in HowdenIf you're looking for conservatories in and around Howden then you are in luck! The nearest principal town is York with 0.59 conservatory companies per 1000 head of population.Competition Index is 1.63 against a nationwide median of 3.39. We provided 0 quotations for conservatories in the York area in the past year.
The Competition Index for conservatories in Howden is lower than the national
average. This means that there are fewer conservatories companies actively
competing to secure your business.
We gather this information from the thousands of quotes provided by our network of
companies every week in York and the surrounding area, and compare
this with national statistics.
if ($comp_index < $median_comp_index) {
echo "Because there is less competition between $lcproduct companies\n";
echo "in $town, you are advised to find a better quote by ensuring you see three\n";
echo "companies before proceeding. ĀBy preparing yourself beforehand you will be better\n";
echo "placed to drive a harder bargain.\n";
else {
echo "Because there is more competition between $lcproduct companies\n";
echo "in $town you are in a good position to get a better quote than average.\n";
echo "However, be wary of companies that may try and get your signature on a deal quickly\n";
echo "before you've seen any others.\n";
echo "Follow the link here for an instant online\n";
echo "quote price for $lcproduct in $town, which will allow you to see the range of prices\n";
echo "you should be expecting to pay for $lcproduct in $town.\n";
Satisfied conservatories customers around York Highly delighted not only with the service but courtesy shown at all times.
— E.S., Scarborough
Very prompt service at a reasonable price. Would definately recommend this company.
— Mr. C., Driffield
Excellent product.
Very prompt initial appointment and follow-up.
Very quick build.
Builders very polite and hardworking - no bad language or loud music!!
— Mr M. W., Market Weighton
very good workmanship,price very reasonable. Only bad thing amount of calls and contact following installment for more trade.
— Mrs C. B., York
Professional business like presentation. No hard sell. Product style did not meet my very specific requirements. Visited factory, small but good quality. Price quoted was mid range. Worth considering.
— Mr. B., York
Good family business. Not pushy, just honest advice.
— Mrs. P., York
Places near YorkAcaster Malbis, Acomb, Aldborough, Allerston, Alne, Ampleforth, Appleton Roebuck, Askham Bryan, Bagby, Barlby, Barmby Moor, Beeford, Bempton, Beningbrough, Bessingby, Bilbrough, Bishop Wilton, Bishopthorpe, Boroughbridge, Boynton, Brandesburton, Brayton, Bridlington, Briggswath, Buckton, Bulmer, Burniston, Camblesforth, Carlton Miniott, Carnaby, Castleton, Cawood, Cayton, Cayton Bay, Clifton, Cloughton, Copmanthorpe, Cranswick, Cropton, Crossgates, Dalton, Danby, Dishforth, Driffield, Dringhouses, Dunnington, Earswick, Easingwold, East Ayton, East Cottingwith, Eastfield, Easton, Ebberston, Ellerton, Elvington, Escrick, Fangfoss, Filey, Flamborough, Flaxton, Flixton, Folkton, Fraisthorpe, Fulford, Full Sutton, Fylingthorpe, Ganton, Gate Helmsley, Glaisdale, Goathland, Goodmanham, Great Ouseburn, Green Hammerton, Grindale, Gristhorpe, Grosmont, Hambleton, Haxby, Helmsley, Helperby, Hemingbrough, Heslington, Heworth, High Hawsker, Holgate, Holme-On-Spalding-Moor, Hotham, Hovingham, Huby, Hunmanby, Hunmanby Gap, Huntington, Huttons Ambo, Irton, Kelfield, Kilham, Kirby Misperton, Kirk Hammerton, Kirkbymoorside, Langthorpe, Lealholm, Lebberston, Linton On Ouse, Lockton, Malton, Market Weighton, Marton Cum Grafton, Melbourne, Middleton, Middleton On The Wolds, Minskip, Muston, Naburn, Nafferton, Nawton, Nether Poppleton, New Earswick, Newby, Newton On Ouse, Norby, North Newbald, Norton, Old Malton, Osbaldwick, Overton, Pickering, Pocklington, Potter Brompton, Primrose Valley, Reighton, Riccall, Rillington, Robin Hoods Bay, Roecliffe, Rosedale Abbey, Rufforth, Ruswarp, Sancton, Sandsend, Scalby, Scarborough, Seamer, Seaton Ross, Selby, Sewerby, Sherburn, Sheriff Hutton, Shipton By Beningbrough, Shiptonthorpe, Sinnington, Skelton, Sleights, Slingsby, Snainton, Sowerby, Speeton, Stainsacre, Stamford Bridge, Staxton, Stillington, Stockton On The Forest, Strensall, Sutton On Derwent, Sutton-On-The-Forest, Swinton, Terrington, Thirsk, Thornton Dale, Thorpe Willoughby, Tockwith, Tollerton, Topcliffe, Upper Poppleton, Weaverthorpe, Welburn, West Ayton, Westow, Wetwang, Wheldrake, Whitby, Whixley, Wigginton, Wilberfoss, Wilsthorpe, Wrelton |
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text:
Please allow 1 - 2 weeks for samples to be delivered.
- From the Folium Collection by Osborne & Little.
Please note : Burke Decor does not accept wallpaper returns at this time. Why? Wallpaper is produced in batches (similar to tile) and due to dye-lot variations that occur based on when the rolls are produced, we are unable to accept returns.


text:
"I see we're expected," the small man said, continuing to stroll toward the large open gate in the long, high, ancient wall. As if by chance, his hand brushed the hilt of his long, slim rapier.The small man is, of course, the Gray Mouser and the big one Fafhrd, the two greatest adventurers in Lankhmar. Once again, the Twain find themselves being pursued by armed men, intent on doing them harm. This time, however, their pursuers are of a somewhat different sort, employed by "a venerable, clean-shaven, stern-visaged man in a black toga narrowly bordered with silver."
"At over a bowshot distance how can you--" the big man began. "I get it. Bashabeck's orange headcloth. Stands out like a whore in church. And where Bashabeck is, his bullies are. You should have kept your dues to the Thieves Guild paid up."
"It's not so much the dues," the small man said. "It slopped my mind to split with them after the last job, when I lifted those eight diamonds from the Spider God's temple."
The big man sucked his tongue in disapproval. "I sometimes wonder why I associate with faithless rogues like you."
The small man shrugged. "I was in a hurry. The Spider God was after me."
He raised his hand in a dignified salute. He said gravely, "I am chamberlain of Glipkerio Kistomerces, Overlord of Lankhmar, and here is my wand of authority." He produced a small silver wand tipped with a five-pointed bronze emblem in the form of a starfish.The service the Overlord of Lankhmar wishes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to undertake is a seemingly easy one: to escort a shipment of grain by ship as a show of gratitude to the Eight Cities for having fought off Mingol pirates and raiders that were harassing Lankhmar. In addition to the grain, the Overlord is also sending along "twelve large white rats distributed among four silver-barred cages" who, have been trained to "dance to music, to drink from cups, hold tiny spears and swords, even fence." Their trainer, a young woman named Hisvet, is also aboard ship and Fafhrd worries, somewhat uncharacteristically, that she too is part of the Overlord's gift to the leader of the Eight Cities.
The two men nodded slightly, as though to say, "We accept your statement for what it's worth."
The chamberlain faced the big man. He drew a scroll from his toga, unrolled it, scanned it briefly, then looked up. "Are you Fafhrd the northern barbarian and brawler?"
The big man considered that for a bit, then said, "And if I am?"
The chamberlain turned toward the small man. He once more consulted his parchment. "And are you--your pardon, but it's written here--that mongrel and long-suspected burglar, cutpurse, swindler, and assassin, the Gray Mouser?"
The small man fluffed his gray cape and said, "If it's any business of yours--well, he and I might be connected in some way."
As if those vaguest answers settled everything, the chamberlain rolled up his parchment with a snap and tucked it inside his toga. "Then my master wishes to see you. There is a service which you can render him, to your own considerable profit."
It should come as no surprise to anyone that this mission for the Overlord is not as simple as it first appears. Before long, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser find themselves contending with unexpected obstacles, not least being the truth about the rats and their trainer, leading to one of the more unusual adventures they've ever undertaken, which is saying something!
As I mentioned some weeks ago in another context, I'd never read this novel in my younger years. I'm not even sure I was aware of its existence until comparatively recently, when I was warned by others that Leiber's later Lankhmar tales, starting with The Swords of Lankhmar were not as accomplished as his earlier ones. I think that warning was a fair one, if taken in context. This novel is a bit more ponderous than the short stories that won me over to Leiber as a teenager. Some of that is a function of its length: novels are almost always less fast-paced than are short stories. However, some of it is also a function of Leiber's having changed -- or "matured," if you prefer -- as a writer when he wrote this. Though still packed with all the excitement and derring-do one would expect of a swords-and-sorcery story by one of its acknowledged masters, it's also strangely introspective at time, a reflection not only of its writer's age but also of his characters', for, unlike many pulp fantasy writers, Leiber does not shy away from showing his protagonists growing older and being affected by that growth.
Regardless, The Swords of Lankhmar is a superb fantasy story well told. Reading through it, I found myself many times thinking, "This is what D&D is supposed to be like" -- lovable rogues, evil wizards, dimension-hopping zookeepers, dark and decadent cities, and rats. Forget Vance and Howard and Tolkien (well, not literally), because Leiber is where Dungeons & Dragons was born. Even if you've already read and enjoyed his stuff, it's worth picking up again. You won't regret it.


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text:
LOS ANGELES — Kim Kardashian's divorce attorney told a judge Wednesday that the reality star wants to move on with her life but is "handcuffed" to her estranged husband because the case is not yet ready for trial.
Superior Court Judge Stephen Moloney told attorneys for Kardashian and NBA player Kris Humphries to return to court in mid-February to set a trial date to either dissolve or annul the couple's 72-day marriage. He didn't set a deadline for depositions and other pre-trial investigation to be completed, but indicated a trial could be held early next year if it is ready by Feb. 15.
Humphries, a power forward for the Brooklyn Nets, is seeking an annulment based on fraud, but his attorney says he needs more time to collect documents from companies that handle Kardashian's reality shows.
Kardashian is seeking a traditional divorce and her attorney Laura Wasser has cited both the marriage's short duration and a prenuptial agreement as reasons for why it should be quickly resolved.
"I don't think his client has a fraud case," Wasser said in court of Humphries' attorney. "I think there's a fishing expedition going on here."
Humphries' attorney Marshall Waller said he needed to be sure he had documents from E! Entertainment and NBC Universal before deciding the scope of his case, but that he was narrowing it down.
"I do understand the desire to get this case moved," Waller said. "There's nothing in particular about this case that makes it more important than anybody else."
Wasser however said that unlike in a regular divorce proceeding, Kardashian cannot have her marriage dissolved and resolve other issues later. "Ms. Kardashian is now handcuffed to Mr. Humphries," she said.
Kardashian filed for divorce more than a year ago, citing irreconcilable differences just weeks after the couple's star-studded and televised wedding. Humphries later filed for an annulment, claiming the marriage was based on fraud but he has yet to lay out any specific evidence for his claim.
Wasser says Kardashian's mother, Kris Jenner, and current boyfriend, Kanye West, have been deposed in the case.
Kardashian, 32, has not yet been deposed in the case. She is the star of the E! Entertainment Television series "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," the network's top-rated show, which averaged more than 3 million viewers in its sixth season. She also appears on other series involving her family.
Kris let it go


text:
The softball diamond, that is.
M. Brown at theLFP.com is organizing a 2012 Blogger Softball Tournament:
All of the bloggers that are pictured have been contacted and have expressed an interest in playing. [...]
Teams need a min of twelve players and must have a min. of two female players per team. The tournament date is still being worked on to satisfy all the teams and players. The location will be at the Big League Dreams park in West Covina. All teams will play a minimum of three games in the tournament. It will also include food and beverages during the day.
The charity I'm working with will hopefully be announced shortly. It's one that all Dodger fans can get behind and support. If you have a business or company and would like to sponsor a team. Feel free to contact me also. This tournament is open to anyone who wants to participate male or female over the age of 18.
There was some chatter in another thread about throwing together a team of SoSG readers, so how about it? Do we have enough interest to field a roster of at least twelve people who are of legal voting age? Including two females? Tell us what you think in the comments!