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I am still having trouble accepting the fact that we are heading into colder weather. Wasn't it just yesterday when I was sharing some lovely spring and summer shots with you all?
Today I actually picked up the first yellow maple leaf from the pavement! It's been raining, dull and cold all week and I have already taken out my boots, scarfs and warmer sweaters. On Saturday we went shopping for warmer clothes for Soeren.
Then earlier today some good friends who live in Switzerland invited us over to spend New Year's with them. Man! It's gone by too fast.
Another thing that had me thinking how fast the year has zoomed by, is the fact that Tami over at Running With Tweezers is already hosting the second annual Souper Challenge. Although the first Souper Challenge was in November 2006 it's still hard to believe that we're all thinking soup for her event so soon again.
I do love soups and am delighted to be a part of Tami's great event again. This is a wonderful tasting soup - well balanced, light, healthy and quick. The hint of maple syrup and cayenne pepper gives the soup a wonderful contrasting highlight. Served with fish wraps or cheese sandwiches this soup makes the perfect weeknight dinner.
4 red bell peppers - de-seeded and coarsely chopped
2 red onions - finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon paprika powder
500 ml tomato juice
1 teaspoon maple syrup
Dash of cayenne pepper
Freshly cracked black pepper
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Sauté the pepper and onions for 2-3 minutes, then sprinkle with paprika powder. Allow to cook for another 2-3 minutes.
Pour in the tomato juice and maple syrup. Add the dash of cayenne pepper, salt and pepper and simmer covered for 20 minutes.
With a puree machine puree the soup finely. If you find it too thick add some more tomato juice, however my recommendation is that this soup tastes best thick and creamy.
Serve on pre-warmed soup plates with a splodge of sour cream.
This soup is comforting and warming. I find the flavors perfect for this time of year. The summery tomatoes and peppers with the sweetness of the maple syrup and sharpness of cayenne pepper harmonize perfectly with each other. Just like me, the soup still leans towards Summer in it's lightness but offers the full bodied flavor of all things Autumn.
More soups on WFLH:
Souper Challenge 2006: Pea Soup
Ginger Carrot Soup with Lemon Cream
Coco Mango Soup
Italian Vegetable Soup with Gnocchi
Spinach Soup with Coconut Milk
Technorati Tags: pepper, paprika, tomato, soup, food, recipe, food blog, photography, nikon d70s
All photographs and written content on What's For Lunch, Honey? © 2006-2007 Meeta Albrecht unless otherwise indicated. | All rights reserved | Please Ask First


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Hyde Park Cafe (28)
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"If You're HOT, You're HERE!" Tampa is a city on Tampa Bay, along Florida's Gulf Coast. A major business center, it's also known for its museums and other cultural offerings. Busch Gardens is an African-themed amusement park with thrill rides and animal-viewing areas. The historic Ybor City neighborhood, developed by Cuban and Spanish cigar-factory workers at the turn of the 20th century, is a dining and nightlife destination.
Tampa Bay's economy keeps chugging along, with output totalling $148.6 billion last year. That's more than the entire state of Arkansas. It's also more than Nebraska. For the geographically adept, it surpasses Hungary and Angola, and comes up just short of Venezuela and Kazakhstan. According to a report released Friday, Tampa Bay squeaked into the top 25 metro areas nationally, and ranked second in Florida, behind Miami and ahead of fast-charging Orlando.

subset: commoncrawl


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The good news is that John Ely pitched five solid innings. The bad news is that in the sixth, he gave up a two-run homer to Nick Hundley, putting the Dodgers in an insurmountable 4-1 hole. Kenley Jansen and Lance Cormier came in with gas cans, and the Dodgers settle for two of three.
Aaron Harang was effective enough, allowing only three hits and two runs over six innings. The Dodger bats cooperated completely; only Matt Kemp (2-for-4, SB) and Tony Gwynn, Jr. (1-for-3, SB) really showed up.


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EMV Implementation: Who Is Ready?
With EMV deadlines approaching, merchants, acquirers, issuers and consumers are all going to be affected as new merchant terminals and messaging protocols must be developed and customers need to be educated about what EMV will mean for them. Today, there is a growing incompatibility between traditional magnetic stripe payment cards still used in the U.S. and widespread EMV acceptance abroad. EMV adoption is no longer an option, as the U.S. needs to catch up as well as lessen the risk of fraud migrating to the U.S. from other countries that use more secure EMV technology. In addition, mobile payment acceptance is quickly accelerating and will need EMV terminals to fully leverage this form of payment. EMV needs to permeate the payment system here, and there are now guidelines and deadlines in place to make it happen.
The EMV standard was first introduced in 1994, when Europay, MasterCard and Visa formed EMVCo, and the EMV organization defined the interoperability standards for chip-bearing smart card technology. EMV is not a technology itself; it is a global standard for chip-based payment cards and acceptance devices. These standards dictate the physical nature and capabilities of the chip, the format of the hosted data applications and the way they interact with point-of-sale (POS) devices.
• As of April 1, 2013, acquirer processors are required to support merchant acceptance of chip transactions; some infrastructure updates will be required.
• In October, 2015, the liability will shift to acquirers for domestic and cross-border counterfeit fraud card-present POS transactions if the merchant does not have an EMV-enabled POS device.
• In two more years, October, 2017, the liability shift takes effect for transactions generated from automated fuel dispensers - this allows more transition time to account for higher equipment/pump costs.
As these new standards come into play, EMV will affect the entire payment system and its players, from acquirers, to issuers, to consumers –all in very different ways. Mandates and deadlines are quickly approaching, although banks and merchants tend to believe they have more time. In order for EMV to be successfully adopted, every player must do their part and be prepared for conversion. There are several steps, all along the chain, to best ensure that this happens.
Step One: Processors and Acquirers Prepare for EMV – Certify to the Card Brands and Update Software at the Point-of-Sale
It's estimated that over 16 million devices will need to be upgraded to support EMV payments in the U.S. alone. The costs will range from $200-$1500 per device, a substantial expense for acquirers and a considerable change for the industry. As EMV certification standards are very rigorous to ensure security, acquires need to make sure every EMV capable device or solution they install is in fact EMV certified. Each device will need to have the software in the proper EMV data, interfacing in applications with the appropriate function and feature parameters. With such a new dynamic and interactive environment, it is more important than ever to properly certify EMV card acceptance and equip merchants with the tools they need to be able to accept secure, safe and effective payments. Essentially, in conjunction with processors certifying their readiness to support EMV with the card brands, specifications need to be updated for POS software development to accommodate EMV.
Processors and Acquirers will have to:
o Add EMV data elements to authorization and clearing messages
o Review disputes processes to support EMV
o Certify network interfaces, authorization, and clearing for Card Brands
o Educate the merchant and provide staff training assistance
Step Two: Issuers Implement EMV Cards
With updated point-of-sale interfaces to support EMV, issuers need to implement the newly defined standard and arm cardholders with EMV cards. Visa recently expanded its EMV migration roadmap to include debit cards and ATM's. Essentially, Visa will provide some of its proprietary EMV chip technology to debit card issuers to help facilitate adoption and compliance with debit regulations, helping to move the cause along. It will fall on the issuers to educate the consumer and bring this technology into practice. EMV provides some leeway for issuers to select their own approach to authentication methods and online/offline processing, so these are the decisions they need to make.
• To implement EMV successfully, issuers will:
o Support EMV data elements in authorization messages
o Define chip cards feature, functionality and interface capability
o Enhance risk management systems to leverage chip
o Determine the card migration strategy
o Update customer support and operational systems to support chip cards
o Certify network interfaces, authorization, and clearing for card brands
o Replace card base
o Educate the consumer
Step Three: Usage in the Hands of Consumers
Mobile payments continue to come into practice, and will inevitably change the world of payments. As consumers turn to a world increasingly controlled by their mobile devices, they will play a significant role in adoption of "contactless EMV". With EMV, consumers will become much more actively involved in the payment transaction experience, as they are today in markets such as grocery and petroleum, regardless of whether they are using an EMV chip card, or a contactless EMV card or a mobile device. This transition to increase cardholder involvement will continue with EMV in markets such as specialty retail, where the merchant has been doing virtually all of the input to-date for credit card purchases. The issuers will need to play a role in educating cardholders on their new, expanded role in administering the purchase experience with their EMV card. In addition, acquirers will need to train merchants on the new user interface flow for purchases using EMV cards, so they can assist the consumer as the EMV payments begin to be accepted.
Benefits for the consumer include the following:
• Fraud Reduction: Data from the chip will be examined by the issuer as part of processing each transaction, which prevents card cloning. Also, dynamic data will exist that is only pertinent for one transaction. If the card payment is compromised, a counterfeit attempt would not be usable at the point of sale; without the ability for multiple fraudulent transactions per card, this in turn makes the stolen cardholder data less valuable for criminals. Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) that are tied to a specific chip on the card prevents fraud as well.
• Global Interoperability: US cardholders will be able to make purchases abroad, and foreign visitors will be able to use their chip cards in the U.S.
The key to ultimate EMV success is to ensure partnership with the right processor, issuing platform, point of sale software providers and an understanding of their priorities. For consumers, EMV will be at minimum a step toward widespread adoption of contactless/NFC/Smartphone usage for payments.
Joe Cohane is the CEO of Veracity Payment Solutions, a North American acquirer that provides payments solutions to more than 100 financial institutions.


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One of my favourite ways to enjoy ramps or wild leeks is simply with eggs in various forms. While I was making the ramp pesto for the asparagus and ramp pesto mac n cheese I thought of a new way to enjoy that combo, a ramp pesto omelette. I really liked the sound of mixing a tasty pesto into an omelet especially a wild leek pesto and I just had to try it! The omelet started off sounding really good but it needed something more and when I think about omelettes I almost always include cheese. I figured that a creamy and tangy goat cheese would be the perfect fit! I was beginning to think that I was done but then I thought about how lonely the asparagus must be being left in the fridge all alone so I invited him to the party as well. Besides, it never hurts to add a green vegetable to the mix!
I always like to use a bit of fat when frying eggs to help make sure that they do not stick to the pan and why not take the opportunity to add some flavour by using some bacon grease, which I tend to save in a small container in the fridge. You could of course go with lighter options like oil or butter but the bacon grease goes particularly well with the ramps. I have to say that I quite enjoyed the ramp pesto omelette with asparagus and goat cheese! The pesto worked amazingly well in the omelet and its flavour really shone through. The the creamy goat cheese melted into the omelette with an amazing effect and the juicy asparagus rounded things out nicely. What a great way to start a weekend!
Ramp Pesto Omelette with Asparagus and Goat Cheese
A spring omelet with ramp pesto, asparagus and goat cheese.
- 1 teaspoon butter or oil or bacon grease
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon ramp pesto
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon goat cheese, crumbled, at room temperature
- 4 spears asparagus, cleaned, trimmed and blanched
- Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat in a small pan.
- Meanwhile mix the eggs, ramp pesto, salt and pepper
- Pour the eggs into the pan and top with the goat cheese and asparagus.
- Cook without disturbing until the eggs have set, about 2-4 minutes.
- Slide the omelette out of the pan and enjoy.


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Associated Press
LARGO, Maryland — With just five days to go before Americans can begin signing up for health care under his signature law, President Barack Obama on Thursday ridiculed Republican opponents for "crazy" doomsday predictions of the impact and forecast that even those who didn't vote for him are going to enroll.
With polls showing many Americans still skeptical of the law known as "Obamacare," the president went back to the basics of explaining how nearly 50 million uninsured Americans will be able to buy coverage in new government-run exchanges while mocking Republicans for trying to block its implementation. "The closer we get, the more desperate they get," Obama argued.
"The Republican party has just spun itself up around this issue," Obama said. "And the fact is the Republicans' biggest fear at this point is not that Affordable Care Act will fail. What they're worried about is it's going to succeed."House Republicans are inserting provisions that undermine the health care law into a short-term spending measure needed to avoid a government shutdown on Oct. 1 and into legislation that would increase the government's borrowing ability, which the Treasury says will hit its limit in mid-October.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor Thursday that Obama is trying to sell the law to a skeptical public.
"It must be frustrating for the president that folks seem to keep tuning out all the happy talk anyway," McConnell said. "This law is a mess. It needs to go. It's way past time to start over."
Obama won loud applause from a friendly audience at Prince George's Community College in the Washington suburbs when he vowed that he wouldn't let Republicans block the law. "We are going to see it through. The Affordable Care Act is here," Obama said.
The six-month enrollment period for the exchanges starts Tuesday, with consumers in most of the country able to comparison shop between plans online. The Obama administration needs millions of Americans — especially young, healthy people — to sign up in order to keep costs low for everyone.
The White House said Prince George's County, Md., has a high rate of uninsured, with about 16 percent of residents under 65 without insurance. Obama's audience was full of the young people he is targeting for enrollment.
Obama acknowledged there would be glitches in getting the exchanges up and running, and even as he was speaking administration officials were quietly telling key interest groups to expect initial problems signing up online for coverage. Small businesses will not be able to enroll online starting Oct. 1 when new health insurance markets go live and will have to enroll by paper, and the Spanish-language version of its healthcare.gov website will be not be ready to handle enrollments for a few weeks. An estimated 10 million Latinos are eligible for coverage.
Three-and-a-half years after Obama signed the bill into law, his nearly hour-long speech showed he's still having to educate consumers about what will be available to them and convince them to sign up. He predicted success once people learn they can save money or get insurance for the first time.
"Even if you didn't vote for me, I'll bet you'll sign up for that health care plan," Obama said.
Obama said Republicans want "to shut this thing down before people find out that they like it."
Obama didn't call out any of his Republican opponents by name, but he laughingly taunted some of their arguments. He mentioned House Speaker John Boehner's prediction right before the bill was signed into law in March 2010 that "Armageddon" was impending. He quoted Louisiana Rep. John Fleming, who said earlier this month that "Obamacare is the most dangerous piece of legislation ever passed in Congress." He cited Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's appeal to colleagues on the House floor six months ago to "repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens."
And he quoted New Hampshire state Rep. Bill O'Brien's declaration in August that Obamacare is "a law as destructive to personal and individual liberty as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850." That was met by a chorus of gasps and boos from the largely black audience.
"Think about that. Affordable Health Care is worse than a law that lets slave owners get their runaway slaves back," Obama said. "I mean, these are quotes. I'm not making this stuff up.
"All this would be funny if it wasn't so crazy," Obama said.


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audio example by a male speaker
audio example by a female speaker
the above transcription of aspire is a detailed (narrow) transcription according to the rules of the International Phonetic Association; you can find a description of each symbol by clicking the phoneme buttons in the secction below.
press buttons with phonetic symbols to learn how to precisely pronounce each sound of aspire
press the "test" button to check how closely you can replicate the pitch of a native speaker in your pronunciation of aspire
An example use of aspire in a speech by a native speaker of american english:
"… journalism or whatever you aspire to be …"
Aspire means to have a strong desire to achieve something.
the word aspire occurs in english on average 4.2 times per one million words; this frequency warrants it to be in the study list for C2 level of language mastery according to CEFR, the Common European Framework of Reference.
it is hard to perfectly classify words into specific topics since each word can have many context of its use, but our machine-learning models believe that aspire can be often used in the following areas:
1) people, society, and culture;


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The "Beware of Mud" School
Some oil painters are wary of overmixing colors to avoid colors that look "dead" or "dirty."
Virgil Elliott, in his popular new book Traditional Oil Painting writes, "a clearer color sensation is possible with a single pigment than with any mixture of two or more."
Daniel Parkhurst, a student of Bouguereau, said in his 1903 book, The Painter in Oil, "Over-mixing makes color muddy sometimes, especially when more than three colors are used. When you don't get the right tint with three colors, the chances are that you have got the wrong three. If that is not so, and you must add a fourth, do so with some thoughtfulness, or you will have to mix the tint again."
Partially mixed colors, he says, are more apt to yield harmonious variations in the final painting. He goes on to recommend that the artist keep the palette scrupulously clean and use a lot of brushes.
Another cause of mud, some artists believe, is having too many colors on the palette. Teachers say that art students tend to use browns or black habitually for toning or graying color. They recommend using only pure primaries as the only source colors, especially when learning to mix colors. The primaries could be warm and cool variations of blue, yellow, and red, plus white.
Some watercolorists use only primary pigments laid over each other transparently in varying amounts to achieve all other colors. Other painters, in the name of achieving purity of color, set the palette with many different tube colors, so that they don't have to mix as many component colors to achieve the colors they want.
The "Mud is a Myth" School
On the other hand, there's a group of equally sensitive colorists arguing that there's no such thing as a muddy color mixture. There are only muddy relationships of color in a given composition. Grays are the artist's best friend. A given color either works in its pictorial context or not. The effect of drabness or dullness, they would argue, comes from poor value organization more than from bad mixtures or bad mixing practices.
As Richard Schmid puts it in Alla Prima: Everything I Know about Painting, "There are no 'beautiful' or 'ugly' colors. 'Muddy' colors are simply mixtures that are the inappropriate relative temperature for the area in which they are placed."
Kevin MacPherson, in his book Oil Painting Inside and Out, recommends scraping up unused paint on the palette, stirring it together, and putting it into empty paint tubes that he actually labels "MUD." He uses these tubes of gray instead of white for mixing a medium value color. "These grays are in harmony with your primaries," he writes, "since they are a mixture of all of them, and most of nature is made of grays."
These artists might point out that a given color can be mixed from many different constituent colors. A neutral gray can be blended from red and green, or from blue and orange, or from all the colors on the palette. It really doesn't matter to the painting how you arrived at a given mixture.
And you don't necessarily have to wash your brush all the time or use a lot of different brushes unless the painting calls for saturated tints. A "dirty" brush is infused with unifying grays or browns (which some artists affectionately call "sauce") that can help bind a painting together.
What have you been taught? What has been your experience? What practices do you follow to get luminous color? Start mudslinging—but please, no criticism of living artists.


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SELLER: Tom and Cinda Hicks
LOCATION: Dallas, TX
SIZE: 28,996 square feet
NOTE: For heaps and piles of photos of every corner of this house, guesthouse, pool house and grounds, head on over here.
YOUR MAMAS NOTES: They say everything is bigger in Texas and when it comes to the sprawling estate owned by financier turned professional sport team titan Tom Hicks and his wife Cinda the adage certainly holds true, especially when it comes to the gargantuan $135,000,000 asking price they're rumored and reported by Candy Evans at Candy's DIrt to have quietly slapped on their epic, 25 acre estate in the fancy-schmancy Mayflower Estates 'hood in Dallas.
Mister Hicks made a mountain of money in the leveraged buy out and private equity industries before he started buying up professional sports teams. At various times he's owned the Mesquite Championship Rodeo, fifty-percent of the Liverpool FC (soccer), the Dallas Stars (hockey) and the Texas Rangers (baseball), which he sold in 2010 for around $590 million. Many reports indicate Mister Hicks has lost a significant amount of his net worth over the last few years but make no mistake he and the missus remain filthy rich and financially able to live in whatever manner they choose. Their decision to sell their vast Dallas estate likely has less to do with their declining but still substantial wealth and far more to do with the fact that they're empty nesters rambling around in a house more than ten times the size of the average American home.
According to Miz Evans' thorough discussion, the Hicks' humongous, compound-like estate includes a titanic, chateau-style 28,996 square foot main house, a matching 6,300 square foot guest house and a 7,200 square foot pool house, plus additional outbuildings.
The stately and downright imposing main manse was originally designed in 1939 for Italian count Pio Crespi and his American wife Florence by distinguished high society architect Maurice Fatio and acquired by Mister and Missus Hicks about 16 years ago for an unknown amount of dough. The Hicks spent 5-10 years and—according to Candy's canaries—close to $100,000,000 on a soup-to-nuts renovation, restoration and expansion headed up by motorcycle riding and leather gear loving New York City-based architect Peter Marino.
We're not sure exactly how many bedrooms and bathrooms are in the main house and/or on the property but Your Mama thinks it's probably safe to say there's plenty to room to comfortably house several families.
The grounds are a studied mix of manicured and rustic and include meadow-like rolling lawns, long allees of mature trees, a spring-fed creek criss-crossed by stone bridges, rose and vegetable gardens, several ponds and water features and dense forests woven with quiet pathways. There's also a resort-scaled swimming pool, and adjacent a pool house with recreation facilities and movie theater, a tennis court and second guest house.
The next owner of the Hicks' estate may want to know that maintaining the vast estate will require an astonishing amount of water. Even with a private well Mister and Missus Hicks consistently rank among the highest users of water in a state regularly racked by drought. In August 2011 reports numerous multiple media outlets in the Dallas/Houston/Fort Worth area reported that Mister and Missus Hicks used 1.35 million gallons of public water for the month of June alone and in July 2012 the Dallas Morning News reported they consumed a total of 12,315,020 gallons of public water in 2011.
Like we usually do when it comes to dissin' and discussin' high-priced real estate in Dallas Your Mama gave the deliciously dishy Dallas-based property gossip Candy Evans a ringy-dingy and asked if she thought there was much of a market for a $135,000,000 house in Dallas. She told us, "It is likely there is not a market in Dallas for a $135 million estate but I have no doubt there will be offers because where else can you have 25 acres and horses and be 8 miles from downtown? But then, never underestimate the power of oil money. One local tyke owns a home on Turtle Creek Blvd. plus a home in nearby Highland Park just because he likes to have Sunday picnics on the creek. Rich people are nine kinds of odd ducks so maybe some billionaire oil tyke will indeed thinks it's worth it to cough up $100 million plus for 25 acres to ramble around in?" Well, stranger things have happened, haven't they?


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Whenever making a large purchase or sale it is always prudent to get evidence of the transaction. Usually this is in the form of a receipt which documents the goods purchased, the price and date. When the purchase is atypical or from a private seller, a receipt may not be available so you must look to a North Carolina Bill of Sale in order to document the transaction.
The most common items which require a bill of sale are cars, boats, motorcycles, and trailers however the list is virtually endless when you consider all of the items that we buy and sell everyday. Other less common items includes ATVs, dirt bikes, UTVs, golf carts, snowmobiles, moped, lawnmowers, and even farm animals. When buying or selling any of these items a North Carolina Bill of Sale helps document the time, price and details of the transaction, but also stipulates the condition, mileage, hours, type, and warranties of the item. It can also protect you from future liabilities involving this vehicle and from persons making a claim of ownership.
What Does a Bill of Sale Need to be Valid?
A bill of sale acts as a contract between the buyer and seller of the car. Each state has different rules for what they consider a valid bill of sale, but a contract itself must abide by the following general rules:
Offer: The agreement to exchange the vehicle for an amount of money. May also include conditions of the sale for the buyer and the seller.
Consideration: The amount of money being exchanged. Usually in a numeric and written form.
Acceptance: Signatures of both parties on the bill of sale.
Competent Parties and Legal Intent: Both parties entering the contract must be competent (age, mental capacity, and not impaired or forced). The contract is also valid only if it is lawful. A contract to complete an illegal act is not binding.
What Should the Buyer do with the Bill of Sale?
After you have made a purchase and received an executed bill of sale the first thing you should do is put it in a secured location. If lost, you won't be able to apply for registration, won't be able to prove ownership if someone claims the vehicle is theirs, and you may have some difficulty selling the item. We always suggest locking up your bill of sale in a filing cabinet or safe, where a combination or key is needed to access, and also making a digital copy.
Does the Seller Need a Copy?
It is also a good idea that the seller keep a copy of the Bill of Sale, and the buyer keep the original. This will ensure the seller can document the sale of their vehicle if property is damaged or someone is injured during its use.
North Carolina Bill of Sale Templates
North Carolina Car Bill of Sale Template
North Carolina Motorcycle Bill of Sale Template
North Carolina Trailer Bill of Sale Template
North Carolina Golf Cart Bill of Sale Template
North Carolina ATV Bill of Sale Template
North Carolina Dirt Bike Bill of Sale Template
North Carolina UTV Bill of Sale Template
North Carolina Snowmobile Bill of Sale Template
North Carolina Moped Bill of Sale Template
North Carolina Lawnmower Bill of Sale Template
North Carolina Horse Bill of Sale Template


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Chiropractic Care can be Your Tool to New Year's Resolution Success
Many New Year's resolutions focus on health-related outcomes including exercise and weight loss. The personal discipline required to participate in these activities is itself a substantial reward. Regular chiropractic care assists greatly in helping achieve the intended outcomes of these specific lifestyle upgrades.
A healthy nerve system is needed to obtain maximum benefit from your positive lifestyle changes. That is, as you begin to consume enhanced nutrition, and as you begin to progressively challenge your muscles, ligaments, and joints in cardiovascular and strength training exercises, all your body's systems must be able to communicate effectively so that the right things may happen. Regular chiropractic care, by detecting, analyzing, and correcting sources of nerve interference, helps ensure that your nerve system is functioning at peak capacity. In this way, regular chiropractic care helps you reach your New Year's resolutions of greater and longer lasting health and well-being.
New Year's resolutions, beloved by some and loathed by others, are an integral part of the New Year's tradition. We wish our relationship to the new year to be one of joy and anticipation, and we hope that we'll be able to forge some new habits and accomplish some new things that will further the welfare and well-being of families and ourselves.
For most of us, exercise and a healthy diet are at the top of our New Year's resolutions lists.1 We may have made such commitments in the past, only to fall by the wayside of our exercise routines or see the pounds we worked so hard to lose slowly creep back as we became less committed to our nutrition plans. The resignation that lies concealed behind the all-too-thin veneer of lifestyle upgrade optimism is ready to leap forward at the slightest opportunity and slam the brakes on any forward progress we've made.
We need to be on the lookout for such internal negativity and put a stop to it before it hampers our mental and physical abilities to fulfill our New Year's resolutions. Memories of the lack of previous success may be at the forefront of our consciousness whenever we think about recommitting to healthier ways. The only way we can set ourselves in motion is to acknowledge those memories and past experiences and then reorient ourselves and focus on what we intend to accomplish in the present.
In order to successfully fulfill our New Year's resolutions, we need a rehabilitation plan to get away from the addictive hold our memories have on us. The center of this plan is an intentional focus on what there is to do today. We help ourselves by setting out goals for today and then committing ourselves to accomplishing those tasks. We gain personal power, day by day, when we complete our daily list. Gradually, step by step and meal by meal, we begin to build new habits of health.
Our exercise and nutritional plans begin to become realities as we accomplish our daily, weekly, and now monthly goals. Soon we begin to have more energy throughout the day and sleep much more restfully at night. We stand taller, our skin appears brighter, and our sense of well-being and self-confidence begins to be noticed by our families, friends, and coworkers. Now we are well on the way to fulfilling our New Year's resolutions and enjoying long-term health and well-being.


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Obama to visit Israel in spring
First visit as president
WASHINGTON — President Obama will make his first visit to Israel as president in the spring, a White House official said.
Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, told reporters about the trip in a briefing Tuesday.
Carney said Obama discussed the planned trip during a recent phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama also will meet with Palestinian leaders and visit Jordan, he said during the daily briefing with reporters.
Obama visited as a candidate in 2008, but Republicans during the last election chided him for not visiting as president, noting that he had visited a number of Muslim nations.
Obama's new secretary of state, John Kerry, plans to visit Israel in March.
Netanyahu suggested in September that spring would be his deadline to decide whether to strike Iran to keep it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The Obama administration is leading Western efforts to bring Iran into negotiations to make its nuclear plans more transparent.
Iran denies planning a weapon, although Western intelligence agencies have accumulated much evidence that such a weapon is in the development stages.
Kerry said during his confirmation hearings that one of his priorities would be reviving moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, and suggested that whatever Israeli government emerged after the Jan. 22 elections would be more amenable to such talks than its predecessor.
Netanyahu, who led the last government, is currently in talks to set up a new one, and has indicated he would prefer a centrist coalition likelier to engage in peace talks than his last government.


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December 11th, 2012 at 3:12 pm (Uncategorized)
This is an amazing story of courage and bravery of one woman making a difference. It also shows the role that corrupt law enforcement and corrupt judiciary play in sex trafficking, which in many countries is tantamount to putting the fox in charge of the hen house. Read and learn.
By EMILY SCHMALL | Associated Press
LA PLATA, Argentina (AP) — Susana Trimarco was a housewife who fussed over her family and paid scant attention to the news until her daughter left for a doctor's appointment and never came back.
After getting little help from police, Trimarco launched her own investigation into a tip that the 23-year-old was abducted and forced into sex slavery. Soon, Trimarco was visiting brothels seeking clues about her daughter and the search took an additional goal: rescuing sex slaves and helping them start new lives.
What began as a one-woman campaign a decade ago developed into a movement and Trimarco today is a hero to hundreds of women she's rescued from Argentine prostitution rings. She's been honored with the "Women of Courage" award by the U.S. State Department and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on Nov. 28. Sunday night, President Cristina Fernandez gave her a human rights award before hundreds of thousands of people in the Plaza de Mayo.
But years of exploring the decadent criminal underground haven't led Trimarco to her daughter, Maria de los Angeles "Marita" Veron, who was 23 in 2002 when she disappeared from their hometown in provincial Tucuman, leaving behind her own 3-year-old daughter Micaela.
"I live for this," the 58-year-old Trimarco told The Associated Press of her ongoing quest. "I have no other life, and the truth is, it is a very sad, very grim life that I wouldn't wish on anyone."
Her painful journey has now reached a milestone.
Publicity over Trimarco's efforts prompted Argentine authorities to make a high-profile example of her daughter's case by putting 13 people on trial for allegedly kidnapping Veron and holding her as a sex slave in a family-run operation of illegal brothels. Prostitution is not illegal in Argentina, but the exploitation of women for sex is.
A verdict is expected Tuesday after a nearly yearlong trial.
The seven men and six women have pleaded innocent and their lawyers have said there's no physical proof supporting the charges against them. The alleged ringleaders denied knowing Veron and said that women who work in their brothels do so willingly. Prosecutors have asked for up to 25 years imprisonment for those convicted.
Trimarco was the primary witness during the trial, testifying for six straight days about her search for her daughter.
The road to trial was a long one.
Frustrated by seeming indifference to her daughter's disappearance, Trimarco began her own probe and found a taxi driver who told of delivering Veron to a brothel where she was beaten and forced into prostitution. The driver is among the defendants.
With her husband and granddaughter in tow, Trimarco disguised herself as a recruiter of prostitutes and entered brothel after brothel searching for clues. She soon found herself immersed in the dangerous and grim world of organized crime, gathering evidence against police, politicians and gangsters.
"For the first time, I really understood what was happening to my daughter," she said. "I was with my husband and with Micaela, asleep in the backseat of the car because she was still very small and I had no one to leave her with."
The very first woman Trimarco rescued taught her to be strong, she said.
"It stuck with me forever: She told me not to let them see me cry, because these shameless people who had my daughter would laugh at me, and at my pain," Trimarco said. "Since then I don't cry anymore. I've made myself strong, and when I feel that a tear might drop, I remember these words and I keep my composure."
Micaela, now 13, has been by her grandmother's side throughout, contributing to publicity campaigns against human trafficking and keeping her mother's memory alive.
More than 150 witnesses testified in the trial, including a dozen former sex slaves who described brutal conditions in the brothels.
Veron may have been kidnapped twice, with the complicity of the very authorities who should have protected her, according to Julio Fernandez, who now runs a Tucuman police department devoted to investigating human trafficking. He testified that witnesses reported seeing Veron at a bus station three days after she initially disappeared, and that a police officer from La Rioja, Domingo Pascual Andrada, delivered her to a brothel there. Andrada, now among the defendants, denied knowing any of the other defendants, let alone Veron.
Other Tucuman police testified that when they sought permission in 2002 to search La Rioja brothels, a judge made them wait for hours, enabling Veron's captors to move her. That version was supported by a woman who had been a prostitute at the brothel: She testified that Veron was moved just before police arrived. The judge, Daniel Moreno, is not on trial. He denied delaying the raid or having anything to do with the defendants.
Some of the former prostitutes said they had seen Veron drugged and haggard. One testified Veron felt trapped and missed her daughter. Another said she spotted Veron with dyed-blonde hair and an infant boy she was forced to conceive in a rape by a ringleader. A third thought Veron had been sold to a brothel in Spain — a lead reported to Interpol.
Trimarco's campaign to find her daughter led the State Department to provide seed money for a foundation in Veron's name. To date, it has rescued more than 900 women and girls from sex trafficking. The foundation also provides housing, medical and psychological aid, and it helps victims sue former captors.
Argentina outlawed human trafficking in 2008, thanks in large part to the foundation's work. A new force dedicated to combating human trafficking has liberated nearly 3,000 more victims in two years, said Security Minister Nilda Garre, who wrote a newspaper commentary saying the trial's verdict should set an example.
Whatever the verdict, Trimarco's lawyer, Carlos Garmendia, says the case has already made a difference.
"Human trafficking was an invisible problem until the Marita (Veron) case," Garmendia said. "The case has put it on the national agenda."
But Trimarco wants more. "I had hoped they would break down and say what they'd done with Marita," she said.
"I feel here in my breast that she is alive and I'm not going to stop until I find her," Trimarco said. "If she's no longer in this world, I want her body."


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Iced tea and iced coffee have been a "hot" ticket beverage item around this house the past few weeks with this extended heat wave. I am very grateful for my central air conditioning right now and c'mon fall is about all I can say about that!
Well... to celebrate the end of Deep South Dish's 1st birthday week, I thought that I would host another giveaway courtesy of MyBlogspark and Macaroni Grill, that will help to get you out of the kitchen quick!
First off, I'm a big fan of easy skillet dinners, and especially ones that involve pasta, so I was excited to try the new Macaroni Grill Grilled Chicken Florentine frozen entrée. We don't have a Macaroni Grill Restaurant where I live, so it's nice that Romano's Macaroni Grill is offering four new frozen entrées available right at your supermarket! This entrée contains grilled white meat chicken and spinach with farfalle bow-tie pasta, tossed in a delicious creamy Parmesan cheese and garlic sauce. It's the perfect size for two adults. And let me tell you. Nothing could be easier.
Just literally dump the package in a microwave safe covered casserole dish, or a non-stick skillet, add 1/3 cup of milk - cover and cook for about 15 minutes. That's it!
The flavor of this dish is so fresh and yummy y'all that nobody will know it came out of a package from the freezer. Even my non-veggie eating husband - who wouldn't knowingly touch spinach if his life depended on it - gobbled this dish up and declared it "delicious." If you know The Cajun, you know that means this dish was a winner for sure. I can't wait to try the other varieties!
Macaroni Grill frozen entrées are available now in your grocery store's freezer section and there are several to choose from. Now you can enter for a chance to try it for yourself!
The giveaway is closed! Congratulations to Linda in New Mexico!! Send me your contact info within 48 hours to claim your prize. Thanks for participating y'all!!
Win a delicious frozen entree, pasta bowl & tongs from @MacaroniGrill & @DeepSouthDish #myblogspark http://bit.ly/cv1j0x
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Disclosure: Macaroni Grill provided me with the free product, information, and prize pack through MyBlogSpark.


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A Princeton-led research group has discovered an isolated community of
bacteria nearly two miles underground that derives all of its energy
from the decay of radioactive rocks rather than from sunlight.
According to members of the team, the finding suggests life might exist
in similarly extreme conditions even on other worlds.
The self-sustaining bacterial community, which thrives in nutrient-rich
groundwater found near a South African gold mine, has been isolated
from the Earth's surface for several million years. It represents the
first group of microbes known to depend exclusively on geologically
produced hydrogen and sulfur compounds for nourishment. The extreme
conditions under which the bacteria live bear a resemblance to those of
early Earth, potentially offering insights into the nature of organisms
that lived long before our planet had an oxygen atmosphere.
The scientists, who hail from nine collaborating institutions, had to
burrow 2.8 kilometers beneath our world's surface to find these unusual
microbes, leading the scientists to their speculations that life could
exist in similar circumstances elsewhere in the solar system.
"What really gets my juices flowing is the possibility of life below
the surface of Mars," said Tullis Onstott, a Princeton University
professor of geosciences
and leader of the research team. "These bacteria have been cut off from
the surface of the Earth for many millions of years, but have thrived
in conditions most organisms would consider to be inhospitable to life.
Could these bacterial communities sustain themselves no matter what
happened on the surface? If so, it raises the possibility that
organisms could survive even on planets whose surfaces have long since
become lifeless."
Onstott's team published its results in the Oct. 20 issue of the
journal Science. The research group includes first author Li-Hung Lin,
who performed many of the analyses as a doctoral student at Princeton
and then as a postdoctoral researcher at the Carnegie Institution.
"These bacteria are truly unique, in the purest sense of the word,"
said Lin, now at National Taiwan University. "We know how isolated the
bacteria have been because analyses of the water that they live in
showed that it's very old and hasn't been diluted by surface water. In
addition, we found that the hydrocarbons in the environment did not
come from living organisms, as is usual, and that the source of the
hydrogen needed for their respiration comes from the decomposition of
water by radioactive decay of uranium, thorium and potassium."
Because the groundwater the team sampled to find the bacteria comes
from several different sources, it remains difficult to determine
specifically how long the bacteria have been isolated. The team
estimates the time frame to be somewhere between three and 25 million
years, implying that living things are even more adaptable than once
"We know surprisingly little about the origin, evolution and limits for
life on Earth," said biogeochemist Lisa Pratt, who led Indiana
University Bloomington's contribution to the project. "Scientists are
just beginning to study the diverse organisms living in the deepest
parts of the ocean, and the rocky crust on Earth is virtually
unexplored at depths more than half a kilometer below the surface. The
organisms we describe in this paper live in a completely different
world than the one we know at the surface."
That subterranean world, Onstott said, is a lightless pool of hot,
pressurized salt water that stinks of sulfur and noxious gases humans
would find unbreathable. But the newly discovered bacteria, which are
distantly related to the Firmicutes division of microbes that exist
near undersea hydrothermal vents, flourish there.
"The radiation allows for the production of lots of sulfur compounds
that these bacteria can use as a high-energy source of food," Onstott
said. "For them, it's like eating potato chips."
But the arrival of the research team brought one substance into the
underground world that, though vital to human survival, proved fatal to
the microbes -- air from the surface.
"These critters seems to have a real problem with being exposed to
oxygen," Onstott said. "We can't seem to keep them alive after we
sample them. But because this environment is so much like the early
Earth, it gives us a handle on what kind of creatures might have
existed before we had an oxygen atmosphere."
Onstott said that many hundreds of millions of years ago, some of the
first bacteria on the planet may have thrived in similar conditions,
and that the newly discovered microbes could shed light on research
into the origins of life on Earth.
"These bacteria are probably close to the base of the tree for the
bacterial domain of life," he said. "They might be genealogically quite
ancient. To find out, we will need to compare them to other organisms
such as Firmicutes and other such heat-loving creatures from deep sea
vents or hot springs."
The research team is building a small laboratory 3.8 kilometers beneath
the surface in the Witwatersrand region of South Africa to conduct
further study of the newly discovered ecosystem, said Onstott, who
hopes the findings will be of use when future space probes are sent to
seek life on other planets.
"A big question for me is, how do these creatures sustain themselves?"
Onstott said. "Has this one strain of bacteria evolved to possess all
the characteristics it needs to survive on its own, or are they working
with other species of bacteria? I'm sure they will have more surprises
for us, and they may show us one day how and where to look for microbes
Other authors of this work include Johanna Lipmann-Pipke of
GeoForschungsZentrum, Potsdam, Germany; Erik Boice of Indiana
University; Barbara Sherwood Lollar of the University of Toronto; Eoin
L. Brodie, Terry C. Hazen, Gary L. Andersen and Todd Z. DeSantis of
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif.; Duane P. Moser
of the Desert Research Institute, Las Vegas; and Dave Kershaw of the
Mponeng Mine, Anglo Gold, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Pratt and Onstott have collaborated for years as part of the
Indiana-Princeton-Tennessee Astrobiology Institute (IPTAI), a
NASA-funded research center focused on designing instruments and probes
for life detection in rocks and deep groundwater on Earth during
planning for subsurface exploration of Mars. IPTAI's recommendations to
NASA will draw on findings discussed in the Science report.
This work was also supported by grants from the National Science
Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Council
of Taiwan, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of
Canada, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research
Foundation) and the Killam Fellowships Program.
More information about the discovery can be found at
http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/4229.html and
Long-Term Sustainability of a High-Energy, Low-Diversity Crustal Biome
By Li-Hung Lin, Pei-Ling Wang, Douglas Rumble, Johanna Lippmann-Pipke,
Erik Boice, Lisa M. Pratt, Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Eoin L. Brodie,
Terry C. Hazen, Gary L. Andersen, Todd Z. DeSantis, Duane P. Moser,
Dave Kershaw, and T. C. Onstott
Geochemical, microbiological, and molecular analyses of alkaline saline
groundwater at 2.8 kilometers depth in Archaean metabasalt revealed a
microbial biome dominated by a single phylotype affiliated with
thermophilic sulfate reducers belonging to Firmicutes. These sulfate
reducers were sustained by geologically produced sulfate and hydrogen
at concentrations sufficient to maintain activities for millions of
years with no apparent reliance on photosynthetically derived


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Oconee County
GAGenWeb Oconee County
Do you have some information that will fit on this page? If so, please send an email to Jimmy so others may find your information... you never know when you might find a relative you didn't know you had!!
Paula Perkins
Jimmy Epperson
Vivian Saffold
Links to sites that are not part of the Oconee Co. GAGenWeb site are provided for your convenience and do not imply any endorsement of the sites or their contents by Oconee Co. GAGenWeb. Oconee Co. GAGenWeb is not responsible for the contents of any "third party" site which you may access from a link on this page.
Please be aware I do not live in Oconee County, and I am not able to do local research for you. If you have specific questions, I would recommend submitting a query to Oconee Co. Message Board on Rootsweb.
Copyright ©
GaOconee - Jimmy Epperson
For comments, ideas, suggestions, etc please e-mail


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From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...My curiosity led me to this bread. It gets its name from a passage in the Book of Ezekiel (4:9). To the best of my knowledge, it's the only place in either the Old or New Testament where a recipe, at least a recipe of sorts, is given. The exhortation is meant for the Israelites who will be in exile for 390 days. The recipe is for a bread intended to help them survive famine and the rigors of life in the diaspora. While it is not particularly tasty, the combination of grains used to make the bread, combine to make a complete protein that satisfies all the body's nutritional requirements. It was the original survival bread and it came from a prophet who recommended cooking it over a dung fire. Every word of this is true. You can't make this stuff up, folks.
"But as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt, put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days."
I suspect only a few of you will be tempted to make the bread, but it has a history I thought all of you might fine interesting. I don't recommend this bread for beginning bakers. The dough is tricky to work with and the bread is not to everyone's liking. My beloved's comment on sampling it was, "Nutritious." That is the kiss of death around here. I know from experience he won't take another bite. Here's the recipe.
Ezekiel's Bread...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Food.com
4-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon honey
8 cups wheat flour, finely ground
4 cups barley flour, finely ground
1/2 cup millet flour, finely ground
1/4 cup rye flour, finely ground
2 cup cooked lentils, mashed
1-1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon salt
4-6 tablespoons olive oil
1) In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water to which honey has been added. Let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
2) Combine wheat, barley, millet and rye flour in a separate bowl. Set aside.
3) Place lentils, oil and 1/2 cup water in a blender. Puree mixture. Place puree into a large mixing bowl along with remaining 1 cup water. Stir in yeast mixture and salt. Beat in 2 cups of flour mixture. When smooth stir in remaining flour mixture.
4) Place on a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 6 to 8 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl. Let rise until double in bulk, about 1 hour. Knead again and shape into 4 loaves. Place in greased loaf pans and let rise again until double, about 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Yield: 4 loaves.
One Year Ago Today: Shrimp and Rice Salad with Cucumbers
Two Years Ago Today: Pork Medallions with Ancho Chili and Cherry Glaze
You might also enjoy these recipes:
Rye Spelt Bread - Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
Whole Grain Bread - Divine Baking
Pete's Whole Wheat Bread - The Recipe Girl
Multigrain Wheat Bread - Living in the Kitchen with Puppies
Whole Wheat Flax Bread - The Local Cook


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Pencils School Supplies
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BJ's Wholesale Club has been providing well-made products, delicious food, and superior gasoline to our members at unbelievable prices for over three decades. When you shop online for pencils school supplies, you can rest assured you're taking home an unparalleled value. Whether you're shopping for yourself, your family, or choosing a gift for a lucky friend, you know you'll be getting the best in affordability and quality with items from this line. Browse today and live generously with a club discount from this popular store.


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ATLANTA - Sunlight is free, but if you use it to make electricity your power company wants you to pay.
Utilities in many states say solar-friendly rate plans, conceived to promote alternative energy sources, are too generous and allow solar customers to avoid paying for the grid even though they use it.
Some power companies are proposing an extra fee for solar customers. Others are trying to roll back or block programs that allow those customers to trade the solar power they generate during sunny days for power they need from the grid during other times.
As rooftop solar expands from a niche product to a mainstream way to save money on power bills, utilities are afraid they will lose so many customers -- and revenue -- that they won't be able to afford to build and maintain the grid.
"We want to make sure that as we change the way our system works that all of that is good for all customers," said Greg Roberts, vice president of pricing and planning at Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power. The utility is proposing additional fees for renewable energy users, including one that would add up to about $22 per month for typical home solar systems.
Solar installers say the utility industry is trying to hold onto customers -- and protect profits -- as U.S. homes and businesses become more efficient and generate their own electricity. Rooftop solar systems would not be economical with some of the new fees or rate changes being pushed by utilities.
"They are trying to punish people for buying less electricity," says Bryan Miller, vice president for public policy at Sunrun, a solar financing company. "They are trying to kill solar."
Mike Easterwood, who paid about $320,000 to install nearly 400 solar panels on top of his self-storage business near Atlanta, says the new charges are designed to discourage people from installing new systems if they go into effect next year as proposed.
"I think it scares the heck out of (utilities), quite frankly," Easterwood says. "They are a monopoly, and so they operate in monopolistic fashion."
The fight has come about because solar systems have plummeted in price and grown more popular at a time when U.S. electricity use is flat or even declining. Utilities, already facing the prospect of weak sales for years to come, are seeing more customers buy drastically less power when they generate their own with solar panels, fuel cells, or other so-called "distributed generation" technologies.
That reduces the need to build big new power plants and transmission lines -- which is how utilities grow their business, make a profit for shareholders and keep their borrowing costs low. Regulators allow utilities to earn higher profits when they build large projects.
In most states, solar customers are allowed to trade the power that their panels generate during the day for power they need during the night. That reduces the amount they pay to their traditional utility and the amount they contribute to maintaining the grid -- even though they still use it.
"The cost is being born by everyone else," says Richard McMahon, vice president for energy supply and finance at the Edison Electric Institute, a utility industry lobbying group.
Forty-three states have some sort of power-swapping plan, most of which include a cap on how large the programs can grow. There are 283,000 electric customers participating in these programs in the U.S. as of July, according to the Energy Department.
Solar advocates argue rooftop systems instead benefit other customers and the grid. When a home uses the power produced by solar panels, it pulls less power through the system. Even when the panels are producing more power than needed at home, the excess goes to the closest house that needs power -- and not through the whole system -- as a matter of physics. Both scenarios mean less stress on the grid.
"Solar customers are paying more than their fair share," says Sunrun's Miller.
Utilities disagree, and have proposed charging special fees or rolling back power-swapping rate plans in Georgia, Arizona, California and Idaho.
Arizona Public Service Co. officials estimate that a typical solar customer is avoiding $1,000 a year in payments to support the electricity grid. The company proposes either charging new solar users a rate that recaptures more of the utility's costs or reducing the benefit of the energy swapping program.
California utilities made a similar push recently. Legislators there voted in September to allow the state's solar rate plan to continue and even expand for now, but said it would change the way the state structures rates in a way that may address utilities' concerns. A report commissioned by state regulators and released last week says non-solar customers in the current rate system are paying between $75 million and $254 million per year in extra grid costs now, and that could expand to $1.1 billion per year by 2020.
Georgia Power has asked regulators to add a new fee for solar customers who install new systems beginning next year. Alternatively, those new solar customers could buy power at prices that the utility says better recoups its costs. The solar industry in Georgia is fighting the proposal.
"If I turn off my lights, the power company shouldn't send me a bill," says James Marlow, CEO of Radiance Solar in Atlanta.
Power companies say Marlow should at least pay for the option of turning the lights back on when the sun isn't shining.
The question for both sides to resolve is how much.
Fahey reported from New York. He can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey. Ray Henry can be reached at http://twitter.com/rhenryAP .


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"There aren't any", they said,"Too current."
"Oh" But I did find this wonderful Tim Burton doodle on a scrap of newsprint.And I found The dasterly Red Queen in the catalog. Off to see Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. I planned to stay an hour, take a quick snooze.Instead I was enthralled and enchanted.
J'adore Alice! Mia Wasikowska is perfect.
She has a lovely luminosity. An inner something or other that grabs you and does not let go. When the Mad Hatter tells Alice,
"You're not the same as you were before.
You were much more..."muchier"
You've lost your "muchness"
You find yourself rooting for Alice to find her muchness.
And she does. Like Jeanne d'Arc, she slays the dragon and comes out so much stronger.Girls rule!To channel your inner Alice, hightail it over to the new Anthropologie at Chelsea Market. They've got the best Alice Blue headbands.
And "Alice" pinneys in all colors and prints. How thoughtful of Anthro to provide man-sized comfy armchairs, while your beau naps, you shop till you drop.
Alice:Well, I haven't had any yet, so I can't very well take more.March Hare:Ah, you mean you can't very well take less.Mad Hatter:Yes. You can always take more than nothing.


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Three missing Ohio women found a decade later, police ID suspects
LATEST: Police identify suspects arrested | Girl found in home is Amanda Berry's daughter | Authorities probing how girls were taken, how they remained undetected | Reports: Women forced to have sex with captors
The woman's voice was frantic and breathless, and she was choking back tears. "Help me. I'm Amanda Berry," she told a 911 dispatcher. "I've been kidnapped and I've been missing for 10 years and I'm, I'm here, I'm free now."
Those words led police to a house near downtown Cleveland where Berry and two other women who vanished a decade ago were found Monday, elating family members and friends who had longed to see them again.
Three brothers are in custody in the disappearances, and law enforcement officials say they are probing how and why the girls were taken, and how they remained undetected in the home for so many years.
Cleveland police identified the suspects this morning as 52-year-old Ariel Castro, 54-year-old Pedro Castro and 50-year-old Onil Castro.
Officials said they would be charged within 36 hours.
Ariel Castro was the owner of the house where the women were found. The other brothers lived elsewhere, police said.
Ariel Castro, a former Cleveland school bus driver, had lived in the two-story house since 1992. He was arrested in 1993 for domestic violence, but a grand jury declined to indict him, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Police Chief Michael McGrath said he thinks Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were tied up at the house and held there since they were in their teens.
Berry, now 27; DeJesus, now 23; and Knight, now 32, were taken to a Metro Health Medical Center. The three were released from the hospital this morning, according to the medical center.
A 6-year-old girl also was found in the home. Authorities said this morning that she is Berry's daughter and the investigation into the girl's father was ongoing.
The women were forced to have sex with their captors, resulting in multiple pregnancies that ended in miscarriages, police sources told the Cleveland television stations WKYC and WEWS.
The women's escape and rescue began with a frenzied cry for help.
A neighbor, Charles Ramsey, told WEWS-TV he heard screaming Monday and saw Berry, whom he didn't recognize, at a door that would open only enough to fit a hand through. He said she was trying desperately to get outside and pleaded for help to reach police.
"I heard screaming," he said. "I'm eating my McDonald's. I come outside. I see this girl going nuts trying to get out of a house."
Neighbor Anna Tejeda was sitting on her porch with friends when they heard someone across the street kicking a door and yelling.
Tejeda, 50, said one of her friends went over and told Berry how to kick the screen out of the bottom of the door, which allowed her to get out.
Speaking Spanish, which was translated by one of her friends, Tejeda said Berry was nervous and crying. She was dressed in pajamas and old sandals.
At first Tejeda said she didn't want to believe who the young woman was. "You're not Amanda Berry," she insisted. "Amanda Berry is dead."
But when Berry told her she'd been kidnapped and held captive, Tejeda said she gave her the telephone to call police, who arrived within minutes and then took the other women from the house.
On a recorded 911 call Monday, Berry declared, "I'm Amanda Berry. I've been on the news for the last 10 years."
She said she had been taken by someone and begged for police officers to come to the home on Cleveland's west side before the man returned.
"I've been kidnapped, and I've been missing for 10 years," she told the dispatcher. "And I'm here. I'm free now."
Berry disappeared at age 16 on April 21, 2003, when she called her sister to say she was getting a ride home from her job at a Burger King. About a year later, DeJesus vanished at age 14 on her way home from school. Police said Knight disappeared in 2002.
"Due to Amanda's brave actions, these three women are alive today," McGrath said at a press conference this morning.
Ramsey, the neighbor, said he'd barbecued with the home's owner and never suspected anything was amiss.
"There was nothing exciting about him — well, until today," he said.
Attempts to reach Ariel Castro in jail were unsuccessful Monday. Messages to the sheriff's office and a jail spokesman went unanswered, and there was no public phone listing for the home, which was being searched by dozens of police officers and sheriff's deputies.
The uncle said Ariel Castro had worked as a school bus driver. The Cleveland school district confirmed he was a former employee but wouldn't release details.
Martin Flask, Cleveland's director of public safety, said this morning that authorities had had two prior encounters at the home. In March 2000, he said, Ariel Castro reported a fight in the area. And in January 2004, officials spoke with him about a child who was apparently mistakenly left on a school bus he drove.
The women's loved ones said they hadn't given up hope of seeing them again.
A childhood friend of DeJesus, Kayla Rogers, said she couldn't wait to hug her.
"I've been praying, never forgot about her, ever," Rogers told The Plain Dealer newspaper.
Berry's cousin Tasheena Mitchell told the newspaper she couldn't wait to have Berry in her arms.
"I'm going to hold her, and I'm going to squeeze her and I probably won't let her go," she said.
Berry's mother, Louwana Miller, who had been hospitalized for months with pancreatitis and other ailments, died in March 2006. She had spent the previous three years looking for her daughter, whose disappearance took a toll as her health steadily deteriorated, family and friends said.
Councilwoman Dona Brady said she had spent many hours with Miller, who never gave up hope that her daughter was alive.
"She literally died of a broken heart," Brady said.
Mayor Frank Jackson expressed gratitude that the three women were found alive. He said there are many unanswered questions in the ongoing investigation.
At Metro Health Medical Center, Dr. Gerald Maloney wouldn't discuss the women's conditions in detail but said they were being evaluated by appropriate specialists.
"This is really good, because this isn't the ending we usually hear in these stories," he said. "So, we're very happy."
In January, a prison inmate was sentenced to 4 1/2 years after admitting he provided a false burial tip in the disappearance of Berry. A judge in Cleveland sentenced Robert Wolford on his guilty plea to obstruction of justice, making a false report and making a false alarm.
Last summer, Wolford tipped authorities to look for Berry's remains in a Cleveland lot. He was taken to the location, which was dug up with backhoes.
Two men arrested for questioning in the disappearance of DeJesus in 2004 were released from the city jail in 2006 after officers didn't find her body during a search of the men's house.
In September 2006, police acting on a tip tore up the concrete floor of the garage and used a cadaver dog to search unsuccessfully for DeJesus' body. Investigators confiscated 19 pieces of evidence during their search but declined to comment on the significance of the items then.


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Clayton Kershaw (5-3, 2.86) vs. Travis Blackley (1-2, 4.60).
Here it is, Clayton: your chance to salvage one in Oakland and even out the Dodgers' interleague record, which stands at 5-6. The Dodgers head to Anaheim next for another three with the Angels, so a little momentum would be nice, no?
Speaking of the A's, this blew my mind: according to Ken Gurnick, Rickey Henderson "has no official role with the A's but suits up and hangs out as he chooses." Didn't the Dodgers run into this issue with Manny Mota? Anyway, I love that Rickey loves the game so much and/or has nothing better to do.


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Words of Life 1 - Miri: Miching
Is this recording useful?
Short audio Bible stories and evangelistic messages that explain salvation and give basic Christian teaching. Each program is a customised and culturally relevant selection of scripts, and may include songs and music.
Program Number: 62165
Program Length: 58:13
Language name: Miri: Miching
Downloads and Ordering
1. Do you know God? ▪ Attributes of God ▪ The Lord our Creator ▪ The story of Noah ▪ While you and I are still alive let's worship the Lord
2. Creation and redemption of man ▪ Heaven and Hell ▪ God or Baal? ▪ O! Jesus you shed your blood for me
Downloads and Ordering
- MP3 Audio ZIP (54.9MB)
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- Download M3U playlist
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These recordings are designed for evangelism and basic Bible teaching to bring the gospel message to people who are not literate or are from oral cultures, particularly unreached people groups.
Copyright © 2007 GRN. This recording may be freely copied for personal or local ministry use on condition that it is not modified, and it is not sold or bundled with other products which are sold.
Contact Us for inquiries about allowable use of these recordings, or to obtain permission to redistribute them in ways other than allowed above.
Making recordings is costly. Please consider donating to GRN to enable this ministry to continue.
We would love to hear your feedback about how you might use this recording, and what are the results. Contact the Feedback Line.


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Maine Turkish Angora Rescue |
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Turkish Angora Cats can make good pets in Maine if they match your IifestyIe. The Turkish Angora is a typically white, silky cat. Turkish Angoras are attention-seeking, playful, active cats. Turkish Angoras can be very vocal and almost seem to converse with their people. Turkish Angoras are sociable, but are not lap cats. Turkish Angoras are great with children, seniors, and pets, but have dominant tendencies with other animals.
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♥ This page is in fond memory of these Turkish Angora Cats who are no longer with us... ♥ If you have experienced the loss of a beloved pet, or if you know someone who has... [POST A MEMORIAL HERE] |
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95 Reviews
Cleveland is a major industrial city and gateway with a storied past and an improving future. The city's industrial heritage is notable, with steel mills and shipping facilities along the waterfront and in the Cuyahoga River valley to the south. A number of factors—the decline of core industries in the 60's and 70's, the decay of the inner city, and pollution problems which culminated in the ignition of the river into a fiery inferno—gave the city a black eye from which it is still recovering, and the local nickname "mistake on the Lake." A massive urban renewal program has cleaned up some of the industrial zones, created the entertainment-oriented "Flats" waterfront section, and brought new sports stadiums into the city.
The spruced-up downtown has become a more attractive commercial center, although it's still not among the best. Some inner neighborhoods, particularly east, have begun to gentrify and attract new business, but this is by no means universal. The I. M. Pei–designed Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a major draw and cultural icon, and local sports enthusiasm is strong. There are a number of other nationally-recognized amenities, some brought by strong and generous endowments funded by its industrial past. Health care facilities are nationally recognized, led by the Cleveland Clinic, and there is an emerging biotech and medical research industry. The Cleveland Symphony Orchestra is world-class and is considered one of the "Big 5" orchestras in the U.S.
Like many large cities in the "rust belt," Cleveland is a city of neighborhoods, with plain, working-class neighborhoods to the south and west and a mix of more affluent areas to the east and southeast, notably Shaker Heights, University Heights, and Chagrin Falls. The University Circle area around the Case Western Reserve University just east of town is noted for museums and cultural amenities. Some of these better residential areas offer fine homes on large, wooded lots for reasonable prices. Elyria is a middle-class suburb on the west side, while Mentor, middle class with more upscale areas near the lake and a strong commercial/retail presence, stretches along Lake Erie some 25 miles east of downtown. Good neighborhoods surround both, including the aptly, if not creatively named Westlake on the west side near Elyria and Eastlake near Mentor.
With all of its efforts, Cleveland still has some troubled areas, with poverty, unemployment, low educational attainment, and some public school problems. Some areas of the city are quite unattractive, and the city still has a bit of an inferiority complex and image problem. Ask someone where they're from, and they're likely to say "Shaker Heights", "Elyria", "Parma", "Westlake", not Cleveland. That said, and perhaps for the same reasons, many are very loyal to their city and will evangelize at any opportunity. But the city's grimy past and rough winters trade off against numerous entertainment options and housing values continue to be a well-kept secret. For those willing to deal with the negatives and take a chance on an area with promise, the ranking may understate reality.
Cleveland has 31 miles of Lake Erie frontage. The surrounding terrain is generally level except for an abrupt ridge on the eastern edge of the city rising some 500 feet above the shore. The Cuyahoga River, which flows through a rather deep but narrow north-south valley, bisects the city. Areas around the city, particularly to the south and southeast, have heavy deciduous tree cover. The climate is continental with a strong Lake-Erie influence. West to northerly winds blowing off the lake moderate the summer and winter temperatures. Summers are warm and humid with occasional days above 90 degrees. Winters are cold and cloudy with an average of 5 days below 0 degrees. Weather changes are common with passing cold fronts from the north. Clouds and precipitation are abundant in all seasons; more than 1 in 2 days are cloudy year-round. Lake snow squalls can drop significant snowfall particularly in the eastern half of the city. First freeze is early October, last is late April.
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Happy Thanksgiving Eve!!!
I hope you guys have just the loveliest Thanksgiving with family and friends. And pie. Lots of pie.
It's a little treat to hold you over until the shopping starts on FRIDAY. Do you hear me Macy's? Target? FRIDAY.
This is my new favorite piece: it's the Golden Eternity Heart necklace.
"A happy family is but an earlier heaven."
I love it. It's perfect...just big enough, but still delicate
We're having a Vintage Pearl giveaway!
The Vintage Pearl is offering TWO $50 gift certificates to you guys! Yay!To enter, go visit The Vintage Pearl, come back and leave a comment here telling me one of the items you love.
For an extra entry, leave a separate comment stating whether you're a silver or gold person (or both)!
*If you are reading this post in an email, click the post title to open it in your web browser. Then, leave a comment.*
Entries accepted through 11:59pm CST, December 2nd.
(I cannot believe that I just typed "December.")
Happy, happy Thanksgiving!
I YAM so thankful for you all.


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Rule #1 - Be Patient - Rule #2 - Don't ask when, if you don't contribute - Rule #3 - You have coding skills - LinuxMCE's small brother is available: http://www.agocontrol.com
Thanks trippleghttp://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Insteon_-_Setting_Up_PLM_Template
Thanks aviator Just an FYI users are better off using the existing plm Ruby code contained within the source rather than the one on the wiki. I have submitted changes that add functionality for the venstar thermostat.
Trippleg,Since you're appearantly familiar with the PLM code, could you tell me/us if it presently supports Insteon scenes? If so, would it support creating a scene in LinuxMCE that gets pushed into the devices, or merely triggering a scene that already exists in the devices (e.g. Manually linked scenes)?Thanks!/Mike
From what I can tell scenes are setup directly through LinuxMCE. It takes the place of the insteon software. So scenes will be defined within the web interface of LinuxMCE.


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Are you interested in studying at Japanese universities?
Do you want to learn about Japan's university application and enrollment processes, as well as the types of programs on offer?
This course will help you to both discover great programs offered by different Japanese universities and prepare a study plan through project-based learning.
We introduce a number of options to match a variety of goals, from full degree to non-degree programs, programs taught in English, as well as short-term programs in Japan. During the course, international students at UTokyo will provide you with useful information and advice to start you on the path to studying in Japan.
At the end of this course, you will produce a draft of your action plan for applying to Japanese universities.
The overall goal of the course is to start you off on the right foot to a happy, productive and fulfilling student life in Japan!


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Knowledge is something that no one can take from you. It's the eternal wealth that will help you thrive in a Post-Collapse world.
Mad Max: Village Roadshow Pictures |
Jeffrey Green
Activist Post
Some experts see the perfect storm emerging for a dramatic collapse of Western civilization claiming we've reached environmental, economic, and geopolitical tipping points. Clearly, some skills will be far more valuable than others if this societal breakdown occurs. Sorry bankers, lawyers, and accountants, there won't be a need for you in a post-collapse world.
Before we quantify the skill sets that will be viable, it is important to define the severity of a "post-collapse" scenario. When taken as a whole, together these tipping points could potentially converge to create a post-apocalyptic Mad Max-type world for the vast majority of humanity. However, given the advanced technology that we possess today, it is unlikely to ever become quite that primitive ever again. Surely there will be pockets of energy and food independence no matter what possible scenario unfolds, but the vast majority may be left to fend for themselves.
It would take a serious cataclysmic earth event like a super volcano, a meteor impact, major electromagnetic pulse event, or dramatic pole shift to affect the entirety of humanity. Man-made events like nuclear war, environmental damage, or total economic collapse, no matter how devastating, will be somewhat isolated and contained to specific areas and populations. Incidentally, every nation or territory that has experienced these man-made catastrophes has roared back to life in less than one generation. The only example of nuclear survival was in Japan, while the largest recent economic collapse was the break-up of the Soviet Union. In both cases those countries went through a very tough period, but ultimately they persevered.
For sake of this article, let's assume that some level of devastation is caused by each type of tipping point in the United States. Our ever escalating wars finally reach our shores by way of long-range nuclear missiles, total economic collapse occurs rendering the dollar worthless, and we would likely have less electricity and water than Iraq did after Bush's "shock and awe" campaign. Gasoline and oil supplies would likely be down to a trickle, halting all supply lines of food and other goods to big box stores. Factory farming will be impossible without cheap oil products readily available. The suffering will be dramatic.
The only question will become, how do the citizens react? Both the USSR and early 1950s Japan were far more agrarian, and far less dependent on big box stores than America currently is. American dependence on long supply lines, interconnected yet vulnerable electric grid, and pharmaceutical-based healthcare may lead to a more severe breakdown of society than witnessed in those countries. Although, innovative technology for alternative energy and agriculture practices will play a part in surviving; but they can only help the few with the knowledge, means, and stability to use them. And stability will be in low supply for some time, resulting in only small groups with relative comfort — those who planned for the worse. However, as an optimist, I believe that after the initial chaos Americans will rediscover solidarity for one-another, much like they did after 9/11, but this time it will be more sustained out of absolute necessity.
Many articles have been written about how to survive the coming collapse, or what is needed to survive, but not many articles have been written about what skills will have value in a post-collapse world. Imagine fulfilling human necessity without consistent fuel or electricity, large-scale food production, or fully-stocked pharmacies and hospitals. The only form of wealth in a collapsed civilization is the knowledge and skills to produce something of human value.
Here are 10 invaluable skills that will likely help you sustain yourself in a hand-made local world:
1. Organic Gardening and Seed Saving: Skills involving food production will be the most valuable in a post-collapse society. Learning to grow your own food is a must. Obviously, it is necessary to feed your family, but you will also be able to trade your abundance for other items. Additionally, learning to save seeds will also provide another excellent means of trade.
2. Food Processing and Preservation: Learning to process and preserve foods will be another huge skill in a post-collapse world. Taking seasonal abundance and preserving it for future consumption or trade will be vital. Remember, learning to do this with limited electricity is a must. This can also include learning to brew beer, mead, vinegar, or other alcoholic beverages from meager ingredients.
3. Hunting, Fishing, and Gathering: Learning to fish and hunt is essential to survival. Having the proper gear and training will be priceless after the collapse of modern civilization. Having reference guides for edible plants in your region, repairing weapons, trapping wild game, and fishing are great tools to have if you haven't the time to learn them now. In regards to weapons, your ability to use them also gives you the skill of working security.
4. Animal Husbandry: Notice the first four categories are related to food production. It's that important. Just gaining knowledge of one of these categories will give you an invaluable skill to thrive in a post-apocalyptic world. Knowledge of animal husbandry can provide endless amounts of sustainable meat, eggs, and milk to you and your tribe.
5. Construction: Construction skills will be very important in a shattered civilization. These skills, especially without power tools, are not something you learn overnight. If you have some basic skills it may be worth learning a few techniques for building small structures with crude hand tools. There are many books teaching anyone how to build basic cabins, sheds, and composting outhouses.
6. Alternative Energy and Fuels: Having the knowledge to implement alternative energy systems will make you a wealthy survivor in a "dark" world. You can learn to build your own alternative energy systems, or you can purchase back up solar generators in preparation for emergencies. There are also small fuel refinery systems available like the biodiesel Fuelmeister, and the new invention from Japan that turns plastic into oil. Knowledge of how to create energy would be invaluable when oil is scarce.
7. Water Purification: Since it's difficult to pump well water without electricity and with surface water likely to be contaminated, clean water will be in very limited supply. Learning to purify water will allow you thrive during this time. You can also purchase water filters for your go-bag that will last weeks, and you can have back-up tablets should you need them. However, the skill and knowledge to purify water should be the goal as that can never run out.
8. Basic First Aid and Natural Medicine: This is another skill that can take years to develop and learn, but that will be crucial when supply lines of pharmaceuticals are cut off and hospitals are over-run. Knowledge of growing herbal gardens for making medicine at home will prove to be very important. Learning basic procedures for stitching wounds, CPR, and more will also be of great assistance. Being the tribe's shaman with a natural medicine chest is a prestigious position
9. Mechanics: Mechanics for cars, motorcycles, tractors and other machinery will likely be in high demand. In addition, bicycle mechanics will also fair well in world where fuel is very expensive or hard to come by. These are also skills that are not learned over night, but it will be wise to at least have access to books or how-to videos.
10. Soap and Candle Making: With long supply lines decimated and electricity on the fritz, soap and candle makers will provide a valuable product. Clearly some preparation of storing raw materials may be needed to achieve trade-able levels of these goods. Even if you just had the knowledge to make soap or candles just for your immediate tribe, you will be much better off for it.
You'll notice that many of these skills also fall into the category of what you would need to be self-sufficient. Again, learning all of these skills will be virtually impossible, especially if the collapse isn't that far off as many predict. Determine which skills that most appeal to you and focus on them by studying and acquiring the tools needed. Since you can't become an expert in everything it may be wise to recruit tribe members with various survival skills. It will also be beneficial to build up your library of "how to" books and videos for tasks that you are not proficient in. You can download any video from Youtube by using Keepvid.com and build your library into an external hard drive.
Remember, knowledge of and skills to produce human necessities will be the only form of wealth creation in a hand-made world. Knowledge is something that no one can take from you. It's the eternal wealth that will help you thrive in a Post-Collapse world. Get Prepared Now!