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IRRC No. 877
Over the centuries, our perception of the main actors in warfare has been shaped by stereotypes of men as the aggressors and women as peace-loving and passive bystanders. However, the reality is women also take an active role in armed conflicts and in their aftermath; as politicians, combatants, leaders of non-governmental organisations, social and political groups and peace campaigners. Appropriate action requires a greater understanding of the impact of armed conflict on women and the particular vulnerabilities they face.
Table of contents
Editorial: Women
Interview with Mary Robinson
Between Amazons and Sabines: a historical approach to women and war
Today, war is still perceived as being the prerogative of men only. Yet history shows that through the ages, women have also played a role in armed hostilities, and have sometimes even been the main protagonists.
The dialogue of difference: gender perspectives on international humanitarian law
This article examines the meaning and potential usefulness of a 'gender perspective' on international humanitarian law (IHL). In order to do so, it considers a number of 'gendered' themes found within IHL, including the role of women as combatants, and the gendered use of sexual violence during times of armed conflict.
Women fighters and the 'beautiful soul' narrative
This article explores women's presence in military forces around the world, looking both at women's service as soldiers and at the gendered dimensions of their soldiering particularly, and soldiering generally.
Women's participation in the Rwandan genocide: mothers or monsters?
The participation of women in the 1994 Rwandan genocide should be considered in the context of gender relations in pre-genocide Rwandan society. Women in leadership positions played a particularly important role in the genocide, and gendered imagery, including of the 'evil woman' or 'monster', is often at play in their encounters with the law.
From helplessness to agency: examining the plurality of women's experiences in armed conflict
This article argues for the need to consider the plurality of women's experiences in war, including as female heads of households, as victims (and survivors) of sexual violence, as community leaders, and as armed combatants.
Women in detention
Prison systems are rarely gender sensitive, and are even less so in conflict situations. When women are detained, it is crucial that international standards, applied with sensitivity to women's particular needs, are brought to bear.
Women, armed conflict and language – Gender violence and discourse
In this article, the author provides an analysis of Chapter 5.10 of the United Nations Integrated Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Standards, arguing that policy makers, scholars, students and practitioners cannot avoid making and/or changing meaning through their well-meaning interventions, but that this need not lead to political or practical inertia.
Women, economy, war
This article explores the realities of women's work amid political violence, post-war development, and across the spectrum of in/formality. The conclusions serve to challenge established notions of power, profit, economy, and the role of gender within these.
"They came with two guns": The consequences of sexual violence for the mental health of women in armed conflicts
Sexual violence has serious and multiple consequences for the mental health of women. It has a lasting negative impact on the victim's perception of herself, of events and of others. This article discusses these consequences of sexual violence for the mental health of women, especially those who are its victims during armed conflicts.
The Security Council on women in war: between peacebuilding and humanitarian protection
The following article first analyses the foundations on which the Council has been able to assume responsibility for protecting women in situations of armed conflict, and then considers the actual protection it provides. The author proposes that the Council's role could be better accomplished through situational resolutions than through resolutions declaratory of international law.
UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820: constructing gender in armed conflict and international humanitarian law
This paper highlights important developing norms on women, peace and security. Although these norms are significant, they may not be radical enough to expand constructions of gender within international humanitarian law. This leaves existing provisions open to continued scrutiny.
Between rhetoric and reality: exploring the impact of military humanitarian intervention upon sexual violence – post-conflict sex trafficking in Kosovo
By analysing the phenomenon of post-conflict trafficking in Kosovo following the NATO intervention, the author presents a challenge to the 'feminist hawks' who have called for military intervention in situations of systematic sexual violence.
Lost in translation: UN responses to sexual violence against men and boys in situations of armed conflict
The article assesses the state of knowledge and work in the field of sexual violence against men and boys and notes that although there have been many positive developments, the issue is not always moving in the right direction.
National implementation of international humanitarian law (Spring 2010)
Biannual update on national legislation and case law July–December 2009
Books and articles (Spring 2010)
Recent acquisitions of the Library & Research Service


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Alexander Ma came back from two sets down in the No. 8 match to help the Crimson win 5-4 over Cornell Sunday (Gil Talbot).
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – As the 2011 CSA Men's National Team Championship came to a conclusion Sunday, the No. 6 Harvard men's squash team finished play off with a victory in the consolation finals. The Crimson went 2-1 in the Potter Cup division with wins over No. 7 Dartmouth and No. 5 Cornell.
The Big Red jumped out to an early 3-0 on the Crimson, taking the No. 3, 6 and 9 matches. Cornell was up 2-0 in the No. 2 and 8 matches, ready to close out the match when Harvard shifted the match momentum. While Zeke Scherl was sweeping through the No. 5 match for Harvard's first victory, Endresen and Ma were mounting comebacks in the No. 2 and 8 bouts. Endresen and Ma each stormed through the final three sets of their respective matches and evened the overall match at 3-3.
Brandon McLaughlin quickly dispatched of Arjun Gupta in the No. 4 match, 3-0, to give Harvard a 4-3 lead. Thomas Mullaney served as the clincher for the Crimson, taking down Owen Butler in the No. 7 match, 3-1.
The win over Cornell avenged a 7-2 loss to the Big Red earlier in the season. Harvard will turn its attention to the CSA Individual National Championship next weekend.
No. 1 Nicholas Sachvie (C) def. Gary Power (H) 3-1
No. 2 J. Reed Endresen (H) def. Alex Domenick (C) 3-2
No. 3 Thomas Spettigue(C) def. Richard Hill (H) 3-1
No. 4 Brandon McLaughlin (H) def. Arjun Gupta (C) 3-0
No. 5 Zeke Scherl (H) def. David Hilton (C) 3-0
No. 6 Rishi Jalan (C) def. Nigel Koh (H) 3-1
No. 7 Thomas Mullaney (H) def. McKay Claghorn (C) 3-1
No. 8 Alexander Ma (H) def. Owen Butler (C) 3-2
No. 9 Stephen Peever (C) def. William Ahmed (H) 3-1

subset: commoncrawl


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OC ReMix: From Fans To Game Maestros
from the Street-Fighting-Men-And-Women deptIn the niche realm of videogame music, fans are as intense about the medium as they are with any other musical genre. There are plenty of sites out there that index original works, torrent trackers that offer up collections, and YouTube videos showing off fan remakes done in Mario Paint. But for another look at how truly artistic this type of thing can be, and the rather profound impact videogame music remix artists can have on original composers and game producers alike, it's instructive to take a look at one of the genre's kings, OverClocked ReMix.
For those of you unfamiliar with OverClocked ReMix, they are a non-profit organization created to pay homage to gaming soundtracks through incredibly artistic reimagining of original videogame music. Their website offers up thousands of free fan-made arrangements, details on the original composers, tools and resources for remix artists, and a community forum for fans. It was started by David Lloyd (djpretzel). I asked David a couple of questions to get details on the experience.
OC ReMix is adamant that the works they promote should be truly derivative, rather than plagiarizing. I asked David about the reaction he's received from original composers and if he's ever had to rely on fair use arguments as a defense.
"We haven't had to. Knock on wood, right? I think companies have started realizing that fan art - be it visual, textual, or aural - can only help expand their market, enrich the universe of their franchises, etc. We do believe that our not-for-profit community, the free music it releases, and the educational & creative spirit we try to foster among artists is all in keeping with the spirit of fair use."This is something that gets talked about a lot at Techdirt: fan involvement is a benefit, not something of which to be fearful. Many artists consider it an honor. Perhaps it's the nature of the medium with game music, but it seems like game producers are more open to fan involvement of all kinds from their customers, be it mods and content, or musical arrangements. But the obvious question is what benefits have been seen from fan-generated works, both for the game producers and the fans themselves? David offers insight there, as well:
"So far, the response from the game composers we've talked with has been unilaterally positive, and we've also had great feedback & interaction with community representatives and others in the game industry.He then goes on to inform me of the cross-interaction he's had with his fans, original composers, and game producers. A few examples: a published interview with Wizards & Warriors and Donkey Kong Country 2 composer Dave Wise, working with Tommy Tallarico and Video Games Live, interest in the site by Secrets Of Mana music composer Hiroki Kikuta and Contra 4 composer Jake Kaufman, who went so far as to submit his own Bollywood-style remix of his own original music for Shantae: Risky's Revenge. The point is that the games get talked about, interest is generated in the music, the composers, and the games... and everyone benefits. And, of course, everyone has a great time doing so.
The culminating example of this was when Capcom reached out to David in the midst of producing Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix. They had heard the free album OC ReMix released in 2006 as an homage to the Street Fighter 2 soundtrack, called Blood on the Asphalt, and were so enthralled with the music that they commissioned OC ReMix to produce the entire soundtrack for the new game. And the reviews of the game went out of their way to mention the strength of the soundtrack, even if David tries to play down how good it was.
"Well, it was Street Fighter, so it was probably going to be successful on some level even if the soundtrack had consisted solely of some random guy playing the Guile theme on kazoo, but the majority of reviews had positive things to say, and Capcom did make comments to the effect of being happy with our work. Equally as important, we've had great feedback from hardcore SF fans, who are always going to be your toughest audience."Too humble, if industry reaction is to be judged. One Capcom V.P. described showing the game to guests, nearly all of whom praised the game's soundtrack before any other aspect. In its review of the game, IGN made specific mention of OC ReMix and praised their work, as did GameSpot, GamesRadar, and 1UP.com.
Overall, OC ReMix is a great study in how fans can help content producers and also be involved in future works. OC ReMix has put their work out there for free, often times via bittorrent, and that has led to interest and further work. All of this promotion, all of this fandom, serves only to help the games, in one case going so far as to have fans essentially compose the music for an entire game. Why can't music and movie producers find the same value in fan-made creations as some of these gaming companies have?
Filed Under: copyright, music, videogames
Companies: ocremix


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It is always a joy to taste Xavier Borie's Grand Puy Lacoste, there is such elegance to the fruit here and a wonderful sense of cohesion and effortless charm. The 2015 is crafted from 74% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. This is a classic GPL with perhaps even more refinement that usual. The profile is one of violets, pure Cabernet fruits, pencil shavings and Asian spice. There is an ethereal character to the fruit, it is velvety, sleek and complex yet so refreshing and almost weightless. There is a stunning structure with honed tannins and mouth-watering acidity. One of the finest Grand Puy Lacostes we can remember tasting.
Contains Sulphites.
A very old Chateau - it's first mention in official documents appears at the beginning of the XVIth century - this estate extends over 225 acres in a single plot of land to the south of Pauillac - which is where the original name "Grand-Puy" came from. Mr Lacoste added his name to the Château when he bought the property and kept it until the epidemic of phylloxera at the end of the XIXth century. GPL's reputation in the wine world will be down in part to Mr. Raymond Dupin, a legendary figure in the Medoc, who was proprietor until 1978 when he sold the estate to M. Borie.Nowadays, François-Xavier Borie is managing things. He renewed the cellars of the Château just before producing the great vintage of 1982. The vinification and ageing of Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste is conducted with the same technique and attention to detail, as those of the other estates managed by Borie - such as Château Haut-Batailley.
The Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the appellation, in fact some might justifiably call Pauillac the most classical expression there is of Cabernet based Claret. It is sandwiched between St-Julien to the south and St-Estèphe to the north, a stone's throw from the Gironde Estuary. The excellent drainage of the intensely gravely soils are the key to quality, producing some of the world's most long-lived wines. The First Growths of Latour, Lafite and Mouton-Rothschild are found here, while other great Châteaux include Pichon Baron, Pichon Lalande, Pontet Canet, Lynch-Bages and Grand-Puy-Lacoste.
A classic partnership. The stock left bank Bordeaux blend also used to good affect in the New World. Cabernet's, acidic, tannic complex qualities marry ideally with Merlot's sweet, softy flesh characteristics.
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September 2019
Refuge Recovery: Is a mindfulness-based addiction recovery community that practices and utilizes Buddhist philosophy as the foundation of the recovery process. Drawing inspiration from the core teachings of the Four Noble Truths, emphasis is placed on both knowledge and empathy as a means for overcoming addiction and its causes. Those struggling with any form of addiction [...]Find out more


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NYPD Update: Stop-And-Frisk Now Under Federal Oversight; Muslim-Spying 'Demographics Unit' Disbanded
from the somewhere,-Mike-Bloomberg-is-choking-on-his-own-indignation dept
Time for an update on the NYPD scene. As you'll recall, both Mayor Bloomberg and Police Chief Ray Kelly exited their respective offices in their respective huffs, claiming the city would fall apart if the sanctity of the NYPD's Constitution-skirting programs (stop-and-frisk, the Muslim-watching Demographics Unit) weren't preserved.
The legal battle over the constitutionality of the stop-and-frisk took several turns, including the removal of the presiding judge for "appearances of partiality." Incoming mayor Bill de Blasio promised to drop the city's appeal of Judge Scheindlin's ruling, and oddly enough, actually did.
An attempt to keep the appeal going was filed by the union representing the NYPD, but this was shot down by the appeals court. It did, however, allow it to be part of the final negotiations. The end result was the installation of five years of oversight over the NYPD's controversial program in order to move it towards something more resembling compliance with the Constitution.
The apocalypse Bloomberg and Kelly claimed was unavoidable if stop-and-frisk was curbed has failed to materialize. Even before the ruling was handed down, the program had been scaled back, with 86% fewer stops being recorded in the first quarter of 2014 than in the same quarter of 2012. Despite this lack of pushing random people up against the wall, crime is down 13% compared to 2013. Was stop-and-frisk ever truly essential? Or was it simply something that became an all too easily abused "tool" of the NYPD? At this point, the numbers seem to indicate that stop-and-frisk had very little real effect on criminal activity.
More good news on the NYPD v. Constitution front: the infamous Muslim-spying wing of the NYPD -- the stupidly-named "Demographics Unit" -- has been disbanded. This program, started by a former CIA officer who leveraged the city's post-9/11 anxieties to craft major changes to guidelines governing the surveillance of New Yorkers, spent a considerable amount of time infiltrating and surveilling entire mosques under the pretense that each and every member was somehow related to ongoing counterterrorism investigations.
The investigations performed by this unit did considerable damage to the civil liberties of mosque attendees over the last decade, but failed to turn up any credible suspects, much less terrorism-related arrests. The unit's pervasive surveillance so thoroughly violated First and Fourth Amendment protections that the CIA and FBI were unable to avail themselves of the "intelligence" collected by the NYPD without violating federal guidelines. When even the CIA can't look at your investigative results for fear of violating its own minimal civil liberties protections, you know you've got a problem.
Bill Bratton, returning to the NYPD commissioner's office, seems to have realized that programs like the Demographics Unit ultimately do more harm than good. When heading the Los Angeles Police Department, he was approached with a similar idea for tracking that city's Muslim community. He had this to say then:
"A lot of these people came from countries where the police were the terrorists," he said at the time. "We don't do that here. We do not want to spread fear. We want to deal with criminals."The NYPD, before his return, had no such concerns. If anything, the NYPD actively created distrust -- both in the New York Muslim community and around the world, sending its officers uninvited to peer over the shoulders of local police and investigative units at scenes of terrorism activity in countries like Kenya and Bali.
The new NYPD is still staffed with the old NYPD, which means change will be slow and likely fought every step of the way. Muslims are understandably concerned that the public disbandment of the Demographics Unit will just result in the level of surveillance being unchanged, if only a bit more unfocused. Bratton seems to be nudging the department towards a more FBI-esque set of rules, which isn't ideal, but is certainly much better than the abusive behavior permitted under the NYPD's internal guidelines.
It does appear the NYPD will be moving towards something resembling an actual police force, rather than a law unto itself. Without Kelly and Bloomberg around to defend its every overstep, the NYPD can no longer expect to skirt the Constitution with impunity. But there's a long way to go to fix things, so any optimism must be tempered by the fact that good habits are tough to instill and bad habits are extremely hard to break. Five years of oversight is a start, but the city -- meaning the mayor and the police commissioner -- must be willing to hold its officers accountable.
Filed Under: demographics unit, nyc, nypd, profiling, stop and frisk


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Atlanta Rising From the Phoenix
Yesterday we went to Atlanta.
Years, ago, BK, we went to Atlanta often – as a matter fact, daily, we both worked in Atlanta.
Now, many years later Atlanta has changed and we have to. I think there is a movie, and if not, there should have been, called "MA & PA KETTLE GO TO NEW YORK". That could be us.
Or, when Tarzan went to London; or think of King Kong in New York tearing down subways and letting out mighty growls at the things he didn't understand. That's us!
Seriously one of the things I would have let out a mighty growl at if it concerned me and that was parking. We rode down Northside Drive, near the Georgia Dome, which was about to host a football game between Clemson and Alabama…and up and down the street for blocks were people holding up signs saying PARKING $50 and PARKING $60. That is a high price to rent a 5 by 12 piece of land or pavement for a few hours. Outrageous! Greed!
It seemed the graffiti art was coving old buildings, some houses, and a lot around MARTA (rapid transit) structures.
Many things were covered in graffiti. Although, I thought most of the graffiti pieces were artistically good – still the bottom line is that it is damaging or defacing somebody else's property.
We had lunch at Fox Brothers Barbecue on Dekalb Avenue, which is known for their quality cooked pulled pork. I thought the meat was delicious. And I thought the Brunswick stew was delicious. They boast on their website about their mouth watering homemade tater tots. They were a disappointment. The many signs hanging were interesting as well as the many types of people hanging out with one thing in common: Good BBQ.
They piled so much meat on our plates we had enough left over to carry home for dinner.
We told the waitress "No." when she asked what I think is the most common question asked by waitresses at barbecue eateries: "Did you save enough room for some banana pudding?"


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Published Jan 7, 2015
Beautiful fairways, challenging bunkers and immaculate greens. What is... see the Top 5 →
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The 2014 A-List awards are based on more than 91,000 votes from local Milwaukee-area experts.


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How to Make Your Own Brine Shrimp Hatchery
Article and photos: Mike Hellweg
The incredible amount of energy packed into brine shrimp makes them the single most important food item in the worldwide tropical fish industry. Without them, we likely would not have the aquaculture industry that we have today. Almost every fish farm and nearly every home fish breeder use newly hatched brine shrimp to help get their larval fish to a good start. Newly hatched brine shrimp are often the difference between success and failure with raising fish larvae, known in the aquarium hobby as "fry."
While some aquarists inexplicably dispute their usefulness, the simple fact is that newly hatched brine shrimp have been used successfully by many generations of fish breeders for the past 80 years. The aquaculture industry uses tons of brine shrimp eggs every year. This would be a waste of time and money if it didn't work. The fact is that feeding newly hatched brine shrimp to fish works.
Brine shrimp eggs are actually cysts. These cysts are an amazing adaptation to a harsh environment. They can withstand years of high heat, desiccation, and the freezing cold. When the waters return, they burst forth into life within a few hours of being rehydrated. About 80 years ago, aquarists began gathering, drying and storing them in containers until needed. These humble beginnings evolved into the brine shrimp industry aquarists know today.
When the cysts become wet, they begin to swell with water. After about 18 to 24 hours at 78 degrees Fahrenheit, they begin to hatch. Larval shrimp look nothing like adults and are called nauplii. They have a single eye, no mouth, and no anus; so they do not eat and cannot process food. But they are packed with energy: proteins, highly unsaturated fatty acids, enzymes and more. All of these just happen to be what larval fish need to help them off to a good start.
During the first 12 or so hours of life (called Instar 1), nauplii use this stored energy. They are attracted to light, so they begin swimming near the surface of the water and preparing for their first molt. Immediately after the first molt, the nauplii take in water and swell up before the chitin in their shells hardens. This is the way all crustaceans grow. At this point, they are known as Instar 2, and they have a mouth and anus, so they can begin eating. Their diet is exactly the same as that of the adults, consisting of microscopic free-floating algae, bacteria, and even some detritus, though algae make up the vast majority of their diet. Over the next several days, they molt up to 10 more times before finally reaching adult size and form.
This basic knowledge tells us a few things about caring for and using brine shrimp nauplii as food for our fish. First and foremost, the best thing to do is use them quickly after they hatch while they are still packed with energy. The longer we wait to use them after hatching, the more energy the nauplii use up. They cannot eat in their first stage, so there is no benefit to feeding them. After the first molt, while still nutritious, they are drained of most of their initial supply of fatty acids and need to be fed (or "enriched") before feeding them to our fish. Also, at this stage, they are considerably larger, and our fry may not be able to eat them.
In addition, newly hatched brine shrimp are attracted to light. We can use a small light bulb outside the hatch container to attract the nauplii to a single area of the hatch container and gather them all up without getting too many shells or unhatched eggs mixed in with the shrimp.
How to Hatch Hatching brine shrimp is easy. I started when I was only 9 or 10 years old back in the early 1970s, and I have been hatching and feeding brine shrimp nauplii almost every day since. I started with a simple nonaerated hatching dish that was popular at the time, but I've since learned that aeration greatly increases the chances of success. I use two hatchers made from 2-liter soda bottles that I made more than 20 years ago, but I realize this is overkill for most folks with only one or two aquariums and an occasional need for newly hatched brine shrimp, so what I describe in the paragraph "Making a Half-Liter Hatcher" is making a simple hatcher from water bottles. There are likely nearly as many methods of hatching brine shrimp as there are aquarists who do so. What I describe next is how I do it. This method is foolproof and has stood the test of time. What You'll Need
- Commercial unit or homemade brine shrimp hatcher
- Untreated tap water
- Table salt from the grocery store
- Epsom salts
- Plain household bleach with no additives
- Aeration
- A strainer (such as a coffee filter) to collect the shrimp
- A baster or pipette to feed the brine shrimp to your fish
Set up the hatcher following the manufacturer's instructions in an area where splashed saltwater won't cause a problem. The ambient temperature should be around 78 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. If the area is too cold, you can make an insulated hatching box out of an old Styrofoam box.
If you are using the half-liter homemade unit, add 1.5 teaspoons of salt, a half teaspoon of Epsom salt, and from a pinch up to an eighth of a teaspoon of brine shrimp eggs. Add plain cold tap water; don't bother to remove chlorine or chloramine. Add a single drop of bleach and put the cover on the hatcher. Add aeration with rigid air line tubing, cut at an angle. Adjust the aeration with a simple and inexpensive gang valve, which allows for fine-tuning of the output. You just want it to mix slowly and be well-aerated. You don't want it bubbling out of the top. Leave it alone for 24 hours. If the airline tubing gets clogged with salt, use an untwisted paperclip to remove the clog.
After approximately 24 hours, shut off the aeration and let the water settle for about 15 minutes. I set up a night-light next to the hatcher. The bulb's light should reach about halfway up the water column, which is where the shrimp will gather in a bright orange ball. The entire unit is set on the counter next to a sink. Using the airline tubing, siphon the water into the coffee filter and let the water flow down the drain. Manipulate the end of the airline in the hatcher and siphon as much of the orange ball of shrimp as possible without siphoning the empty egg shells at the surface or the dead eggs at the bottom.
Making a half-liter hatcher. After the shrimp have drained, rinse them under a gentle stream of cool tap water, and then insert the coffee filter into a container of clean dechlorinated water. From this, use a baster or pipette to feed the brine shrimp nauplii to your fish.
Making a Half-Liter Hatcher
Materials needed: three half-liter water bottles, a 6- to 8-inch piece of rigid airline tubing, clear packing tape, and a sharp knife or pair of scissors.
Making the Cuts
- Cut the first bottle about 2 to 3 inches from the bottom and discard the top. The bottom will become the base. (See A)
- Cut the bottom off the second bottle, leaving just a bit of the bottom to create a lip around what will become the top. (See B)
- For the third bottle, cut the bottom off about an inch from the base. This will become the cap. (See C)
Putting It Together
- Tightly seal the cap of bottle B, and invert this second bottle inside of bottle A. You may need to trim bottle A just a bit so that the cap of the inverted bottle sits firmly on the base.
- Tape the seam, joining the two bottles to become one hatcher.
- Cut or drill two quarter-inch holes in the cap (piece C) to allow a rigid piece of airline tubing to fit through and for air exchange.
- Finally, cut the tip of the rigid airline tubing at an angle to keep it from quickly becoming blocked. Attach an airline to the rigid tubing, and you're in business.
Why Bleach?
Bleach kills any bacteria on the surface of the eggs, and it keeps the eggs from clumping in the hatching container. When eggs clump, the inner eggs can't hatch. So by using the bleach, you perform two functions: sterilizing the eggs and improving the hatch rate. The bleach will dissipate by the time the nauplii hatch out.
Myth Busting Any widely used product that has been around for many years has an associated body of lore and myth that accumulates as "fact" when people try to explain their varied experiences with said product. Brine shrimp are no exception. Here are some of the most popular myths.
Myth 1. Reuse the hatch water to save money. Used hatch water is filthy with bacteria, as well as decaying unhatched and dead nauplii. Each time you reuse it, the hatch rate will decline. There is no economic or biological reason to reuse it.
Myth 2. Decapsulation is better than hatching because it preserves all of the nauplius' energy. Decapsulating the eggs simply removes the cysts. The amount of energy lost to hatching is measured in nano or possibly even pico calories. It might make a difference if the fry only ate one or two shrimp, but they eat hundreds at each meal. Consuming a single extra shrimp will make up for all of the cumulative energy used in hatching.
Myth 3. Store brine shrimp eggs in the fish room. Brine shrimp eggs will last for many years if stored in a freezer. If kept in a warm, humid fish room, the hatch rate will decline fairly quickly.
Myth 4. Copper from pipes will kill brine shrimp nauplii. Even badly corroded copper pipes do not release enough copper into the water to kill brine shrimp. They can survive at many times the concentration of copper that is released by corroded copper pipes.
If you don't really want to make your own brine shrimp hatchery then you can go to eBay and purchase a commercially available that will enable you to breed brine shrimps for your food.


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"Shit" is a fairly versatile word. It can be used to refer to fecal matter, express apathy, or refer to that stuff you need to get together. Having trouble telling your hot shit from your holy shit? Stephen Wildish has helpfully classified all your shit in one handy chart.
Wildish's A Taxonomy of Shit is available as a card, print, or poster from RedBubble.


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Events for May 27, 2018 › Exhibit
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Exhibit on display Mon-Fri: Beyond the Periphery
April 18th – June 8th: Mondays through Fridays from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm – Art exhibit on display: "Beyond the Periphery" – landscape paintings and mixed media art by Mary Cantline of St. Regis Falls and Kris Rozelle of Norwood. Sales of art benefit the artists and SLC Arts. At Town Hall, 18 Elm St, Potsdam. Free & open to everyone, wheelchair accessible.Find out more »


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When you are thinking about improving the outdoor looks of your home, you must keep in mind that it is not necessary to spend a lot of money in order to achieve a new look for the outdoors because you can do so by making simple and small changes in the outdoors such as changing the lights and sitting arrangement and improving the overall look with the help of a center piece.
Since all of this is easy, you have to keep in mind that you must also have something to keep people warm during the winters so that you and they can have a great time in the outdoors. Therefore, you must make sure that you have outdoor heaters in your home so that you are not only able to improve your decor but you are also able to keep your guests warm and comfortable in the patio outdoor furniture.
The outdoor heaters are available in different designs that are very attractive looking which really helps to amplify the looks of your home in the outdoors. The outdoor patio heaters also help you to ensure that your friends and family stays warm and comfortable in the outdoors by choosing the best outdoor patio heaters for your home.
The outdoor patio heaters are very unique looking and they are able to keep everyone around them warm and comfortable in the outdoors. The outdoor patio heaters are very easy to use and anyone can use them without much problems.
Therefore, if you are concerned about improving the outdoor decor of your home and you also want to ensure that your friends and family can have a great time in the outdoors even in the winters, then you must opt for the outdoor patio heaters that will help you to do all of these things without many problems.


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The Castor Bay Presbyterian Church on Auckland's North Shore has been sold – but it will still remain as place of religious worship.
The church and adjoining hall have been bought by the Auckland branch of a well-established Buddhist religious education society with other existing premises throughout the city.
Mairangi and Castor Bays Presbyterian Church property and finance convenor George Wyman said the church had been sold as the size of its congregations no longer warranted its own premises. Congregation members will now integrate into the Mairangi Bay Presbyterian Church some two kilometres away or to the Anglican Church in neighbouring Milford.
The church will hold its final religious worship sessions over Easter in April next year. The sale of the Castor Bay Presbyterian Church was brokered by Bayleys Takapuna.
The two buildings have a combined floor space of 250 square metres with off-street car parking for eight vehicles, and sit on 1133 square metres of land with vast views over Milford Beach and the Waitemata Harbour. The Castor Bay land and buildings have a capital valuation of $1.125milllion.
Bayleys Takapuna sales person Peter Christoffersen said that seven tenders were received for the Castor Bay premises after an extensive marketing campaign which embraced both the commercial and residential development potential for the land and buildings.
"Some of those tenders were for the commercial development of the site, while most were for development of a residential nature in line with its zoning of Residential 4 under the Auckland Council plan," Mr Christoffersen said.
"When the final round of tenders was assessed, the best deal put forward at the end of the process was that of the Buddhists. This sits well with the church's philosophy of encouraging spiritual worship, peace, and harmony and ensures the legacy created over almost 100 years in Castor Bay is maintained.


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"Hey Kurt, look what I found at my Dad's house."
Coworker Jim was in the process of moving his father from a Bellevue home into a care facility; cleaning had been going on for several weeks, and Jimbo was netting all sorts of treasures. In his hand that day at our office was a beautiful old camera in a brown leather case. The Zeiss Ikon Ikonta was flat; I had never seen anything like it up close. The lens was hidden inside behind a door that opened on a hinge along the bottom of the camera body. With the press of a button, the viewfinder popped up and the lens door reluctantly started to open. I had to pry it gently with my fingernail.
When I did, the lens extended out from its bellows and locked into place.
It smelled like the Fifties, a wafty blend of mechanical technology, leather, and dust – familiar scents to anyone who has owned or used a slide projector. It took a while for me to figure out the controls; the shutter button didn't seem to work, which released a mechanism that was manually cocked on the lens. But the aperture, shutter speed, and focus worked fine. Eventually I discovered that the shutter mechanism wasn't working quite as designed. In order to take a picture, I had to press and hold shutter preload (for lack of a better term) while also holding the shutter button; then I would release the preload first before releasing the shutter button. While it was a confusing bit of Photography Twister, the camera actually worked after figuring out the right combo of moves.
But best of all, I discovered that the Ikonta used medium-format 120 film – which is still made today.
I got the itch to try it out, but the only 120 film I had was fast black & white – Ilford Delta 3200. While it wasn't an ideal film to test with, there wasn't much to lose by shooting it anyway. So I loaded up and headed out, with the Ikonta attached to my grandfather's 1950s tripod. I did so, knowing that the film roll might be sacrificed if something about the camera didn't work. Oh well. It's just film.
The first place I stopped was the Old Highland School, built in 1934 and still used as an extension of Highland Middle School:
I wrote about this building last year, in an article called Highland School's Long Legacy in Overlake. The conditions shooting pictures at Highland are never good, because to capture the front of the building one has to shoot into the sun – with the exception of early morning and late evening. To point fast film at a light source pretty much doomed it to some kind of bleed. The resulting shots glowed around the source of light. After taking another picture of the "New" Highland Middle School – built in 1961 – I headed to my next destination.
Next place I stopped was Bel-Red Mini Park:
This stretch of land is technically a road, right-of-way no longer used by the city and repurposed as green space. In 2010 I wrote about how it came to be in 124th and Bel-Red Road – Back In The Day. It clearly lines up as an old road bed; this picture was taken from the park last year. The first photo in this set, showing the camera itself, was also taken at Bel-Red Mini Park. The fuzziness you see around the two photos above is from film getting overloaded by light. In the future I should be able to compensate for this, now that I know how the camera works – and if Jimbo lets me use it again 🙂
To shoot with this Ikonta, the tripod was absolutely necessary; it required set up and adjustments that would be very difficult if I was holding the camera by hand. First, I "guesstimated" the distance and focus the lens. Second I set the shutter and aperture (my middle-aged eyes had trouble seeing the little numbers on the lens, so off with the glasses). For these settings I sometimes used my Canon Rebel as a light meter of sorts, by pointing the SLR at the subject and using its computer's shutter/aperture recommendations for the settings on the Ikonta. Cheating? Maybe to some. I just wanted to give my film the best chance possible to develop well. The final step was cocking the shutter and then two-handing the release as described before. It probably needs some kind of repair.
I headed to Old Bellevue after spending time at Bel-Red Mini Park. I've written extensively about Old Bellevue recently, which to some degree maintains the original spirit of what Bellevue once was. Of course in 100 years it has seen a lot of change, but there are still buildings left of the early part of the last century and – even more important – a side of the city that isn't spit polished like the squarish skyline parts of downtown. I love it there.
My next stop was on 103rd Avenue NE, between Old Bellevue's Main Street and NE 2nd to the north:
T'Latte is seen towards the end of the block; best thick-cut toast and peanut butter outside of my own kitchen. The graininess of the fast film is very evident in this shot, but Ilford does a great job of at least making the grain consistent – to the point that it sometimes becomes an enduring part of the photograph; with grain, suddenly new is old. Ilford 3200 also produces fine tones, and is my favorite medium format film for winter shooting.
The next step for testing this camera was to do an interior shot, and the quickest subject I could think of was capturing a barista working the equipment:
This worker at Cupcake Royale was happy to help when he saw the retro Ikonta camera attached to a vintage tripod. The interior of this former IHOP restaurant has all sorts of retro charm. While the shot itself does look a bit staged, there was none of that; I simply asked the barista to work the machine while I set up the camera. The result almost has the feel of an older setting. The film captured more tonal quality inside than I expected, especially since it was done using the natural light; fast film will do that, but I also attribute some of that to the quality of the lens in the Ikonta.
I headed the East Bellevue after that, and found this abandoned house:
In 1950, two smallish homes were built at the 1500 block of 173rd Avenue NE. Each one sat on more than two acres of land. For the past five years now, those houses have been empty. About two weeks ago, one of them was mowed down before its lot was cleared for development. The remaining house next door was boarded up, potentially awaiting a similar fate.
I've taken pictures of these houses in the past, with this Holga photo being my favorite. Of course abandonment brings on ancillary character, like dead travel trailers and busted mailboxes – both which this site had but are gone. Is the little house above next? Very possible; it's a sad truth that an 800 sq foot house on a two-acre lot in this area isn't bound to stay around.
Thankfully, I've captured them before the new stuff goes in. Look for "Back In The Day" posts from 173rd in the future.
Out of twelve shots on the roll, eleven came out; shooting with the Ikonta was fulfilling, and the results were satisfactory. Next roll will be color, and a slower speed; I'm looking forward to playing with depth of field on this nice clear lens. Nearly sixty years after it was made, this Zeiss Ikon still performs. It goes to show that – even without a digital sensor – photography can live on in many facets.
Alessio Beretta recently wrote at Lomography about shooting with film. "We have reached a point of total fiction," he states about digital photography. "Some photos are a collage of photos and other images created ad hoc." When it comes to film, he considers that medium as more honest to the subject. "[A]nalog is photography in the true sense of the word, there are no tricks, what you see is what you have recorded on the film and will remain unchanged." Everything in the framing of the camera is captured on film; one shot, mistake or not. There is no delete button. Honesty is not always perfect, but the notion of capturing the real deal is what interests many people – even today in the waning days of analog.
While film sales overall are only a fraction of what they were a decade ago, there is still a dedicated culture of photographers who love celluloid. Growing numbers of younger photographers, in fact, are "discovering" what it's like to capture life through something other than a phone or digital camera. My sons, while favoring the digitals, know well that I still shoot film and that it's a different experience; they no longer ask, "Where's the picture?" after I snap a film shot, accepting that they have to wait for me to scan the developed negative before they can see what came out. If anything, it helps them understand that the world isn't completely flooded with instant gratification.
Sometimes waiting is okay.
A big round of thanks goes to Jimbo, for loaning me this mechanical treasure. Next time, another set of pictures from another corner of Bellevue. Until then, enjoy the view – Digital OR Analog!


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Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs showcases the immense contribution of this tiny country to the archaeology of the region.
Read the interesting article below.
HT: Joe Lauer
Greatest archaeological finds in Israel
Every day, the Israel Antiquities Authority has 30 active digs. In a country rich with history, exciting major discoveries are unearthed all the time
|By Avigayil KadeshAs countries go, Israel is quite tiny. But as archeological sites go, it's vast.Archeologists in search of biblical evidence have been digging up ancient treasures here since the mid-19th century,In December 2011 alone, a rare 2,000-year-old clay seal found near Jerusalem's Western Wall was one of the few Second Temple artifacts ever unearthed; and the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) found the remains of a Byzantine bathhouse when a new water supply system in the Judean coastal hills was under construction. but shovels really started flying after Israel achieved statehood in 1948.Fascinating discoveries often make the news
Also during December, researchers from Tel Aviv University published a paper on their newsworthy find from the previous year: Modern human teeth in a cave near Tel Aviv that predate by 200,000 years the African Homo sapiens. The discovery has put into place a new piece of the puzzle of human evolution.
The IAA had a field day during the building of Jerusalem's recently completed light rail. Among the discoveries were part of a Jewish village dating from around 135 CE (65 years after the Romans destroyed the Second Temple and exiled many Jews), 264 identical gold coins of the last Byzantine emperor who ruled in Jerusalem; a Roman Legion camp from the second century; a 12th-century village; and Byzantine monasteries.
And in 2009, Israeli archaeologists in Migdal (near Tiberius) found the most ancient depiction of the menorah, a carving dating from the Second Temple period 2,000 years ago.
Unearthing and preserving history
Jon Seligman, IAA's head of excavations and surveys, can't help but laugh when asked to name the most notable finds over the last 64 years.
"The archeology in this country has been revolutionized over the 60-plus years of the state," he says. A complete listing of sites numbers 70:
Most major archeological sites were preserved as national parks after excavations were complete. Some of these include
• Masada, Herod the Great's ancient fortress overlooking the Dead Sea (now one of Israel's most popular tourist sites because of its dramatic role in the story of Jewish resistance against the Roman Empire;
• Megiddo, a key ancient and modern crossroads that was already a fortified city with huge walls by the third millennium BCE;
• Beit Guvrin-Maresha, with its thousands of years' worth of quarries, burial caves, storerooms, industrial facilities, hideouts and dovecotes;
• Ashkelon, the oldest and largest seaport known in Israel, and a thriving commercial center during the Roman period; and of course
• the City of David, the nucleus of ancient Jerusalem, as well as all the Western Wall and Southern Wall areas surrounding the Temple Mount.
"Each is important in its own way," Seligman says.
The IAA supervises about 300 annual excavations, accounting for about 95 percent of all the archeological digs in Israel. The digs usually take place at mounds composed of the remains of ancient settlements (tel in Hebrew). "We have 30 excavations every day," says Seligman. Israel is so rich in archeology that even at this pace, he adds, "We can carry on for many more years."
The IAA also provides instructors for a five-month English-language program in archeology and historic preservation through the International Conservation Centre in Old Acre (Acco). In addition, Israel's universities partner with overseas universities on summer digs open to volunteers.
The digging, discovery and analyzing is part of a carefully considered process, Seligman stresses. "We have to look not only at what we excavate but also at what we don't. We do the minimal amount necessary, since excavation is a destructive process and we have to think about what we must leave for future generations," he explains.
"In general, we try to keep material at the site in its context, and only consider bringing things to a museum when there is no alternative. A mosaic, for example, is meant to be on a floor, not hanging on a wall."
Not every excavation site is preserved for public viewing. "Maintenance is expensive, so we can't afford to make each into a presentation site," Seligman says. Those that aren't developed into national parks are covered over after the archeologists have finished their investigations.
Best finds
Seligman and Aren Maeir, a noted archeologist from Bar-Ilan University, identified some of the most notable archeological digs in Israel over the past 25 years, listed in no particular order:
Archeology teams have spent 22 summers digging through 22 layers of civilization at this UNESCO World Heritage site near the Lebanese border, one of the largest archaeological sites in Israel.
Judging by the ruins of palaces and temples, a water system and many cuneiform documents, the book of Joshua was correct in describing Hatzor (also spelled "Hazor") as the "head of all the Canaanite kingdoms" in the period of 1800-1200 BCE. Ancient scribes came for training at Hatzor, a major center for administration and scholarship in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages.
Here in 2010, Hebrew University archeologists discovered two fragments of a legal tablet written in Akkadian from the same time period as the famous Hammurabi Code. The contents were similar – referring to personal injury law, slaves and masters. They also found the first Iron Age basalt workshop ever discovered in the Middle East.
In the mid-1990s, three fragments of a large stele (inscribed stone) with an Aramaic inscription were found at this northern site, probably constructed by Hazael, king of Damascus, when he conquered the Dan region in the ninth century BCE.
The first royal inscription ever found in Israel, the stele describes the victory of a king of Aram over "the king of the House of David," making it the earliest reference to the Davidic monarchy outside of the Bible, and it fills in aspects relating to stories recounted in the biblical text about encounters between Arameans and Israelites.
Tel Dan has also revealed treasures such as flint tools and primitive pottery; stone ramparts and houses, metallic pottery and seal impressions; a mudbrick gatehouse from the 18th century BCE; grain storage pits and an oil press from the Iron Age; a bilingual Greek and Aramaic inscription; and a wine press, irrigation pipes, fountain house, Venus statue and coins from the Roman period.
Here in the Beit Shean Valley, Hebrew University excavators found evidence in 2007 of a major Iron Age (biblical era) honey production facility. Maeir calls it "an absolutely unique find, because until now it was assumed that the honey referred to in 'the land of milk and honey' was date honey, but here's clear proof there were bee hives at that time." Most likely, wax was also produced here commercially.
The 30 intact hives arranged in orderly rows, and remains of up to 200 more, were made of straw and unbaked clay. There were even remains of bees, bee larva and pupae. By studying the DNA from these remains, researchers in 2010 determined that these bees were similar to the Anatolian species in modern Turkey. Indeed, an Assyrian stamp from the eighth century BCE shows that bees had been brought 400 kilometers from southern Turkey.
Tel Rehov, one of the largest Iron Age sites in Israel, has also yielded some of the largest collections of Greek pottery from the 10th to ninth centuries BCE found in Israel, along with clues as to the chronology of events in early Israel's monarchy.
In 2006, the IAA found evidence of a large ancient settlement at this central Israel site, dating from the Early Islamic to Crusader periods.
Both Christian and Muslim symbols were found, such as crosses on clay lamps and inscriptions in ancient Greek that mention "the mother of God," as well as bronze coins struck with the Arabic inscription, "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his servant."
The highlight was the discovery of a unique round Byzantine-Islamic stone structure paved with a colorful mosaic decorated with geometric patterns and a palm-tree motif. It might memorialize a religious martyr, a miracle that occurred at the site or a visit by a saint.
The archeologists also found ruins of an industrial zone for the large-scale production of wine.
Built in the early eighth century on sand dunes about nine miles southeast of today's Tel Aviv, Ramla was the only city in ancient Palestine founded by Arabs. Most of its buildings were lost, but archeologists have been reconstructing the remains of the Umayyad-period White Mosque, with its distinctive minaret, since 1949.
In the 1990s, they unearthed an ancient dye factory as well as underground reservoirs and cisterns, and a trove of glass, coins and jar handles stamped with Arabic inscriptions.
In May 2006, a cement quarry bulldozer serendipitously broke into what turned out to be the second largest lime cave in Israel, on the outskirts of Ramla. Inside were several previously unknown species of invertebrates including 10 eyeless scorpions and seven species of crustaceans and springtails.
The 2007 discovery of the remains of Herod the Great's tomb made international headlines. Maeir explains that archeologists had been searching for the gravesite for decades. Although it was partially destroyed, with the body of the king stolen by ancient grave-robbers, it was nevertheless clear what Hebrew University's Ehud Netzer finally came across, following 35 years of excavations at Herodion (also called Herodium) in the Judean Desert.
Herod (74 to 4 BCE) was the Roman client king who built expansively throughout Israel, most notably the Second Temple in Jerusalem, Caesarea and Masada. Roman historian Josephus Flavius wrote that Herod was buried near his two palaces and gardens at Herodion, one of the largest royal sites in the Roman-Hellenist era, but nobody had ever found it. The Israelis weren't able to get to the site, sometimes described as an ancient royal country club, until after the 1967 Six-Day War.
Archeologists unearthed many interesting architectural features at the site, which later served as the seat of the Roman governors, as a hideout for rebels during the Bar Kochba Revolt (see Te'omim Cave), and even as a Byzantine leper colony.
Click here for a video tour of Herodion
A cache of 9,000-year-old flint blades was among the latest Neolithic (9,000-8,700 BCE) treasures unearthed at this large Lower Galilee site that was once an important Crusader city. Flint blades were rare in Neolithic times, as people started to transition from a nomadic shepherding existence to a more settled agricultural life.
The collection – which was probably used for barter — includes 80 blades, eight arrowheads, three lumps of flint, two sickle blades and two bone implements. They were concealed under the floor of a building, discovered in 2008 during the construction of a new traffic interchange at the nearby Movil Junction.
"This is a unique find that tells us about international trade and culture connections," says Maeir. He explains that frescoes of this style represented the Minoan culture of Crete, pointing to a direct link with their neighbor to the south.
The body of a sorceress or witch doctor from the Epi-Paleolithic period (16,000 to 8,300 BCE) was found buried in a cave at this Western Galilee site, giving it the nickname of the Shaman Cave or Witch Cave. There were also 28 skeletons of men unearthed here, but the shaman is of particular interest because her body was methodically surrounded by 50 turtle shells, bones of a leopard and wild boar, a human foot, a cow tail, two martens (an animal related to the badger) and a golden eagle's wings, providing a fascinating picture of the social and cultic practices of this period.
Rebels against the Roman occupation once hid out in a series of natural caves in the Jerusalem hills east of Beit Shemesh, including the Te'omim Cave. In a recently discovered continuation of this cave, archaeologists found artifacts from the 132-136 CE Bar Kokhba Revolt, such as silver and bronze coins, weapons, pottery storage jars and oil lamps. Filled with stalactites, stalagmites and bat colonies, the cave also had human bone fragments — indicating that at least some of the rebels never made it out alive.
It's called Twins Cave, by the way, because legend has it that a 19th century barren woman drank water dripping from the cave's ceiling and subsequently gave birth to twins. But, thanks to the resident bats, it's also sometimes called the Bat Cave.
Located on the hills bordering the Elah Valley, this six-acre strategic fortress is circled by a 700-meter long wall of eight-ton stones. Here, along the main road from Philistia and the coastal plain to Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Hebron, the young David felled the giant Goliath with stones from his slingshot.
Excavations began only in 2007, yielding evidence of David's kingdom and also the earliest Hebrew inscription from a clear context. The two major layers of this tel date from the Iron Age and the Hellenistic era, with shards discovered from the Bronze Age as well as from the Persian, Roman, Byzantine, early Islamic, Mameluke and Ottoman eras.
Otherwise known as Gath, the hometown of the biblical giant Goliath, this tel has been under excavation since 1996 and still yields treasures such as the world's oldest known siege system; the earliest metal production area for iron and bronze ever unearthed in Philistia; and a large stone Philistine altar built to the exact dimensions of the Israelite altar in the desert Tabernacle as described in the Bible, except that it has two "horns" rather than four.
Maeir's team is aided in its work at Tel es-Safi by the Kimmel Center for Archeological Science at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, which provides a portable field lab at the excavation site and another lab at the base camp to facilitate more intricate analyses of the day's finds. The results help archeologists decide on the day's excavation strategy and provide an integrated perspective on the past, says Maeir.
An ancient water reservoir was uncovered here in 2010 with the aid of a 250-ton crane to remove the five 10-ton rocks forming the collapsed top of the cave in which the water was stored.
Now a kibbutz/conference center on the southern outskirts of Jerusalem, Ramat Rachel was first settled in the days of the Judaic monarchy during the eighth and seventh centuries BCE. It was home to Persian, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic settlers, and then lay abandoned for about 1,000 years until Jewish pioneers rebuilt it in the 1930s.
A luxurious Assyrian palace, a Roman villa, a bathhouse, gold coins from the Second Temple period, a dovecote and a Byzantine church are also among the finds here.
Among the finds there so far are two limestone podiums from a Roman temple; a Byzantine olive oil factory; a winepress; shops; a colonnaded road; and a bath complex constructed after the collapse of the temple in an earthquake in 363 CE. Because a first- or early second-century Roman temple is a rare find in Israel, Omrit will probably be preserved as a national park for tourists to get a glimpse of what political and cultural life was like in those days.
This Roman-period village in the eastern Lower Galilee just west of the Sea of Galilee was first excavated in 2007 and holds the key to dating the many synagogues found in this area.
Most Galilee villages had their own Jewish houses of worship, many featuring intricate mosaic floors, but the one found at Khirbet Wadi Hamam is particularly well preserved and wider than most. It depicts craftsmen at work, a scene found in no other mosaic of the time period. Made of limestone and basalt, this synagogue had two rows of benches and three rows of columns holding up a tiled roof.
Jaffa was an ancient Egyptian administrative center, as evidenced by the ruins an Egyptian citadel and "Lion Temple" harboring a lion's skull. A huge royal scarab found there bears an eight-line inscription in hieroglyphics declaring that by the 10th year of his reign, Amenhotep III (pharaoh of Egypt in the 14th century BCE) had successfully hunted 102 lions.
Archeologists also found the concrete remains of a 19th century BCE house with a bench in a paved area inside that may have been a kitchen, since next to it they found a plastered niche containing 12 Egyptian bowls.


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Square is shuttering its Square Wallet app for smartphones, a sign the mobile-payment startup is struggling to expand beyond its low-margin business of credit-card readers. Square Wallet was recently pulled from Apple's App Store and Google Play because the app "didn't have a lot of the utility value" for consumers, Square director Ajit Varma said in an interview with technology blog Recode.
The company will continue to support the service for customers who have already downloaded the app.In its place, Square unveiled a new mobile app called Order, designed to let customers place take-out orders from local businesses and skip the line when they arrive. "We learned from Wallet that people loved paying with their name and we knew there was more value we could add to the customer experience," a Square spokeswoman said in an email. "We moved fast on this strategy and decided that the most efficient way to add this value was to build a new technology on a more agile platform, hence we built Square Order."
Square is trying to appeal to more consumers and create new lines of revenue as losses in its core business of credit-card readers mount. The company charges merchants 2.75% to swipe cards through the readers, but pays about four-fifths of that money out in fees to payment networks like Visa and MasterCard.
Square recorded a loss of roughly $100 million in 2013, broader than its loss in 2012, two people familiar with the matter said last month. The closely held San Francisco company has suspended plans for a possible initial public offering and held talks about a potential sale to Google Inc. and others has losses mount.
The new Order app will eventually charge merchants a higher rate of 8% to take orders and process transactions. The service competes with a growing field of food-ordering apps that includes Grubhub and Eat24.
Square has been adding services that could eventually be more profitable than its main payments business. In the past 12 months it began Square Cash, which helps people send money to friends via email, and Square Market, a digital marketplace for small businesses. It also offers Square Register to help stores track customer data and is testing a lending program for merchants who have difficulty getting a bank loan.
via Square Pulls Failed Wallet App as Troubles Mount – Digits – WSJ Article by Douglas Macmillan.
Square Pulls Failed Wallet App as Troubles Mount – WSJ Article by Douglas Macmillian – PDF


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5 Gmail lessons from Petraeus affair
It's become the email equivalent of separating church and state: work email is for official communications while private accounts are for personal — and sometimes inappropriate — messaging.
But as the scandal that has enveloped former CIA director David Petraeus and Gen. John Allen has shown, Gmail and other Web-based email services are not completely safe zones.
Story Continued Below
The FBI probe into Petraeus — which led to his resignation last Friday — serves as a reminder that even the most private emails sent on commercial online services among people using pseudonyms can be discovered and thrown into the harsh light of scrutiny.
Here are Gmail lessons to be learned from the Petraeus affair:
1. It's not anonymous.
Petraeus and his biographer Paula Broadwell apparently took steps to protect their communication, such as using pseudonyms to set up an online service account and in communicating with each other. But FBI investigators were able to figure out some information about the account from looking at emails sent from the account to another party. Reportedly this is what led authorities investigating threatening emails to Tampa socialite Jill Kelley from Broadwell.
( See also: Photos place Broadwell in D.C.)
"Who you are saying it to and where you are saying it from has the least protection under the law," said Chris Soghoian, principal technologist at the ACLU. "A warrant is needed to find out what you are saying."
Internet service providers and most websites keep complete records of the Internet Protocol addresses of those who use their services for 18 months, and then slightly blurred records of IP addresses after 18 months. Investigators can obtain that information under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act as long as they have reasonable grounds to believe that it is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation — less than the probable cause needed to secure a warrant. In the Petraeus case, the FBI reportedly got the necessary court clearances.
( See also: Kelley claims 'honorary' diplo status)
The only way that people can use pseudonymous webmail accounts safely is via an anonymizing service like Tor, said Peter Eckersley, technology projects director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Tor is installed on a computer and reroutes website visits, instant messages and other communications to other Tor users so it is not possible to identify a single computer, sort of like hiding in a crowd.
2. Government requests for access are increasing and Google and other services play ball.
Google reported Tuesday that law enforcement and courts in the United States made nearly 8,000 requests for user information in the first half of 2012 from all of Google's products — including Gmail, search, Google Docs, etc. The number of requests from the American law enforcement alone jumped 26 percent from the previous six months, when 6,321 requests were made.
Government officials wanted information on 16,281 accounts, Google said, and Google complied roughly 90 percent of the time.
The report shows governments around the world not only wanted more data for law enforcement purposes but also increased requests to Google to remove content.. "Government surveillance is on the rise," Dorothy Chou, a senior policy analyst at Google, wrote in a blog post announcing the report.
3. You're not in cyberspace.
A person's physical location when sending an email can often be pinpointed from the email they send. Email metadata contains IP addresses of the computers and servers they come in contact with, as well as the unique number associated with the device that sent the emails. Sometimes, the traceable IP of the sender's device is visible in a sent email — email services such as Yahoo and others reveal information about the sending computer, while messages sent from Gmail's Web interface do not reveal the information about the sending computer, privacy experts say. Even if it isn't visible, investigators can obtain it with the use of a subpoena or court order, and determine other accounts accessed from the same location.
( See also: Gen. David Petraeus is dumb, she's dumber)


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Novgrad earned a BM Degree from the Manhattan School of Music
After graduation, he worked in NYC for the next ten years, as a freelance artist. He\'s performed at the Blue Note, Seventh Avenue South, the Jazz Center of NY and Carnegie Hall. He\'s also shared the stage with Randy Brecker, Lou Soloff, Jim Pugh, Lou Marini, Scott Robinson, Jerry Dodgion, Gerry Niewood, Anthony Jackson, Jeff "Tain" Watts, and Marvin "Smitty" Smith.
In the Latin Music Field, toured Nationally with Lucho Munoz and played with Mario Bauza, Paquito D\'Rivera and Daniel Ponce. Also, worked with Hank Lane Orchestras and recorded two CD\'s with the Tom Pierson Orchestra.
Returning to CT in 1992, formed the Ross Novgrad Trio which performs through out New England and has performed with the New England Jazz Ensemble, The New England Jazz Septet and Avalon Express with guitar great Ron Murray.
More recently, The Ross Novgrad Latin Jazz Quintet has performed at "First Night Hartford 2010" as well as the 2010 "Enfield 4th of July Celebration" and at the "Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz 2010"
Also, Ross is a Private Instructor at the Community Music School of Springfield and has been there for the past fifteen years. At the school, he has done numerous Clinics and Workshops.
Ross is certified as a Conn-Selmer Artist and Clinician and is available for High School and College Workshops.
For bookings, call (860) 875-5913 or e-mail at email@example.com
Ron Murray and Avalon Express
Lorena Garay
Charlie Parker, Michael Brecker, Dave Liebman, Lynn Klock, Paul Brodie


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BeliefNetworks API - Developers
It's about The Concepts The BeliefNetworks service is about discovering concepts locked within data such as unformatted text documents, HTML documents, Word documents, PDF files, RSS feeds and XML representations dumped from databases. It�s this simple idea, coupled with automation, which provides a foundation for your next-generation, intelligent web application. The discovery of concepts is fundamental to the BeliefNetworks service. If you are familiar with search text discovery, then consider a starting point of "I'm a little teapot". This, in turn, is the basis for �Finding Not Searching�.� Keywords, in this context, have no relevance. However, that's just scratching the surface. Once DataChasm has mined a document for concepts, or conceptually mapped its concepts, the document becomes a resource for richer search features enabled in applications powered by BeliefNetworks. Up until now, conceptually mapped documents were the potential endpoints of a search scenario, that is, a document to be discovered. However, BeliefNetworks applies an interesting twist by making the conceptually mapped document also the starting point of a search. For example, a conceptually mapped document can be the target of the statement "Find me all documents that are like this document". And, as soon as you consider that documents don't have to be literally documents, that they can actually be unstructured information that represents anything in your domain, then the possibilities begin to multiply. Finding Not SearchingTM Imagine you�re trying to find all documents related to a document about "The History of Military Aircraft" using a straight-up search appliance. First, you read the document closely, extracting the concepts you believe represent the essence of the document, and then you start a search with those concepts as search keywords. We've already seen an example of the subtle differences between discovery of search keywords and the discovery of higher-level conceptual meaning. What can you expect? You'll probably find a lot documents about camels, for starters. With a BeliefNetworks� application, that last step might actually be as simple as "pushing a button". The action of that button would extract concepts that you would otherwise be forced to do manually, and then search for other documents that represent similar concepts. With a BeliefNetworks� application, if you started with a document on the History of Military Aircraft, you might get results ranging from World War Aircraft and Classic Aircraft to Lethal Aircraft. Bingo. Recommendations based on what you know. That was a discovery scenario. Let's think about a recommendation scenario. Suppose you are building an application, the premise of which is that you can provide value to a user base by matching pet owners to pet service providers (groomers, walkers, stables, supplies vendors, etc). Both pet owners and pet service providers can register in your system, but they are two separate groups that are managed separately by your application. There are affinities between the two groups that, if discovered, may lead to greater user satisfaction with your service, good buzz, more customers, and ultimately higher profits for you. For instance, obviously you don't recommend a stable to someone looking for a kennel, but a person looking for a kennel for Roscoe for the weekend may have some particular likes and needs that can be matched to the right kennel with minimal effort for Roscoe's owner. In this case, the "documents" scanned for concepts are pet owner profiles they freely enter at registration time describing themselves and their pets (with appropriate confidence the details won't be sold or revealed). Profiles would be fed, as created, into the conceptual mapper. Meanwhile, pet service providers would fill out some forms describing their offerings that ultimately could be rendered as XML documents. As you can see, there are a number of approaches for each major actor in your application. Now, imagine a pet-services discovery service powered by BeliefNetworks. The conceptual information for all pet owners is mapped and placed into one silo, and likewise another silo of conceptual information is built for all pet service providers. Finally, we return to Roscoe's owner who pushes a button on the BeliefNetworks� powered application to start searching for recommendations in the pet services silo based upon the conceptual information gleaned from their owner's profile. It could also work another way. Suppose you offer anonymous direct marketing, something that would inform pet owners of goods and services but would not expose their personal data to the service providers. This approach would not be as annoying as a phone call, but could be a message on their customer page linking them to the service provider that they can click on if they�re interested. Conversely, the pet service provider, interested in buying a batch of push marketing, pushes a button and your service discovers pet owners most likely to be interested in their products and services by asking BeliefNetworks to match the pet service provider's profile to the most conceptually relevant profiles of pet owners. The DataChasmTM Service Version 1.0 of BeliefNetworks� DataChasm� web service provides RESTful programmatic conceptual discovery against two large data repositories - The World Wide Web and Twitter. No additional effort is required on the part of the programmer other than to make the call. These two data repositories are most useful for interesting search applications and mashups. As an example, the MashMeUp web application illustrates the functionality of concept discovery with Twitter and web site recommendations. The DataChasm web service also provides the means to build your own silos of conceptual information, closely tuned to your own application business needs. Once built, those silos become the foundation for recommendation features, that until now, you've only wished you could have. But, to use the APIs properly, some conceptual information should be introduced (pun intended). Concepts, Concepts, Concepts We started with concepts, and now we return to them. Concepts are key to successful use of the DataChasm service. We like to think of concepts as information thumbnails (actually, we consider them a higher cognitive learning process, but that is another discussion). The habit of pushing simple keyword search, while actionable by the APIs, isn�t as successful as starting with a document that expresses and represents the concepts you are interested in discovering. You'll find many APIs accept a generic "text" parameter. This may refer to as little or as much text as you need to represent your concepts, or it can refer to a fully qualified URL which points to a document or resource on the web (think article, publication, XML output from some other API) that encapsulates the concepts. For instance, you may have better results pointing to an article on The Cramps for a punk band search than simply the text "The Cramps". Recommendations A recommendation is the relationship between your starting point (text or URL) and the haystack of information with which you wish to establish an affinity with that starting point in order i to discover the �needles�, sorted for relevance. What BeliefNetworks believes to be the most relevant possibilities are returned first; if you wish, you can go deeper into the stack with successive queries. For instance, when you ask for recommendations from Twitter, you are returned ongoing conversations considered most relevant to your conceptual starting point. We like to call that �tweaning�; in other words, bringing meaning to tweeting. "Weight" is the term we use for the degree of relevance a recommendation has to your chosen starting point. You'll see various weights returned for recommendations, and you can build logic around this such as sorting, cut-off, etc. Custom APIs Our custom APIs allows you to build applications against your own business data. You can define silos of information by business need, seed them and maintain them with resources, and then query them for recommendations, just like you can with our Twitter and Web APIs. This is a powerful tool that allows you to discover conceptual relationships of the highest relevance against between your own repositories of business data. One Corpus, Many Corpora The "Corpora" referred to by BeliefNetworks� APIs are your information silos. You create a corpus to hold the results of resources that are related by conceptual consistency. For example, if you were Amazon, one corpus might hold Books, while another might hold Reviewers. A resource list is typically provided at creation time. The corpus resources are subsequently managed and updated as resources come and go. Every 24 hours, DataChasm crawls any new resources for addition to, and removes all those marked for deletion from, your corpus. Once a corpus is created, you may begin to query it for recommendations.


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Join the Conversation: What makes a great dancer?
We often head over to Dance Forums to check out some of the great articles readers and moderators share on the site, today we thought we'd pass one on, this thought-provoking article discusses 'what makes a great dancer' (i.e. is your ability pre-determined, does it boil down to our individual genetic makeup or do we all have equal ability that is fulfilled or not depending on our motivation and drive?). What do you think? If you feel like sharing your thoughts feel free to do so in the comments below or by heading over to the dance forums page here. Happy reading!
Ask the Pros: What makes a great dancer?
Discussion in 'Dance Articles' started by Dance Notes
What attributes do some people have that make them naturally great dancers while others have to work very hard to make minimal improvements?
- John Rudnick — Indianapolis, IN
Yvonne Marceau (British Exhibition Champion and Coach)
Your reader's question is very interesting, and I think, to a degree, it defines what great dancing is. Ultimately, the answer is that some people have more 'talent' than others, but then what makes for dance talent, one could ask. A combination of many things, because dance is a combination of many things. There are the undeniable physical attributes: coordination, facility (amount of strength or stretch), internal connection (a result of neurological connections, I believe), and simple anatomy (the size and shape of the bones, how they're placed in relation to each other). These are gifts one can't do too very much about, although all dancers try to enhance the gifts they're born with. You can increase stretch or strength and connection; it's just easier for someone who is born with a great deal of one of those elements.
Then there's emotion. How do you move these natural gifts around in some way that expresses something? (I guess that's a result of response.) Is someone musical? (Does the music motivate movement?) Does the person feel they want to 'say' something, and is moving the way they wish to say it? (Musicians are notoriously inept dancers, I believe, because what they wish to express is done through the playing of music and NOT by motion. They have no NEED to move).
And then there's use of intelligence. Can you see what is required to improve? Can you see (truly understand) what needs to be done, and then send out the proper brain signals to the proper muscles to get the required result? Some people are decidedly better at that than others. Some people have extraordinary powers of concentration (you know, The Inner Game of Tennis kind of thing).
When you see a good dancer, you're seeing some combination of all these things, but like in cooking, five cooks can start with the same ingredients and end up with five differently delicious dishes. Vive la différence.
Jennifer Booth (Competition Organizer and Adjudicator)
First of all, I don't believe there are any 'naturally great dancers'. Some dancers have physical attributes that allow them to develop more easily, such as strong and flexible feet, excellent posture and muscle tone, and, very important, feeling for the music. Some dancers are open to input from their coaches/teachers and have an ability to analyze and train new information into their bodies. Some are close-minded and slow to change. A willingness to learn and make changes is an important facet of development throughout life, though, not just for dancers.
Bill Davies (Coach and Adjudicator)
Physical and mental superiority.
Pierre Dulaine (British Exhibition Champion and Adjudicator)
Good physical attributes.... both in looks and physique. Co-ordination and a natural 'feel' for music. Therefore, if one can start learning to dance at an early age, (ten or eleven years old), co-ordination and the learning of music will develop side by side.
Elizabeth Knoll (U.S. International Standard Champion)
I think that there is no such thing as a natural dancer. No one is born knowing the physical disciplines required by any dance style. There are definitely people who have a natural aptitude for movement, and a 'feel' for the music. But all dance is trained skill.
I certainly feel that early exposure to music and movement by aware parents helps. Children who have a studied knowledge of music, and who have been fortunate enough to see dance from an early age, understand the correlation of music and movement. There are different parts of the brain that process artistic information differently. Some people have the ability to translate that easily to physical movement, and some don't. My mother, a former concert violinist, is a lovely dancer. My father, an accomplished singer, pianist and trumpet player, has twelve left feet. My brother, a trained musician with a natural ear and talent also for math, is a graceful and stunning athlete with some dance background. I am a trained pianist, didn't start ballroom dancing until college, but have found a niche for my natural musical and artistic abilities.
I believe everyone can understand artistry, but those who are more, shall we say, 'practical' in nature may have some difficulty. To make a blanket statement, engineers and mathematicians (people who deal on a daily basis with the tangible world) put in greater effort to learning artistic movement than those who are of a more aesthetic nature. (Having said that, I have always enjoyed teaching engineers the most! They have a greater conscious desire to improve, because they recognize the challenge of learning something foreign.)
In summary, the attributes that 'great' dancers have are no different than from those who are not 'great' dancers. Commitment, devotion to the craft, and intelligence are not exclusive to anyone. However, the one thing that puts a 'natural' dancer aside is that truly natural aptitude for movement to music. To a certain extent that can be taught, but to have it develop to its highest potential requires the elusive thing we call 'IT.'
Ray Rivers (Coach and Adjudicator)
First of all I am not an advocate of natural ability, born naturals or the like. The only relevance that I can associate to this factor would be that a person who is born with a good physique and, at an early age, nurtured by someone in postural and coordinated physical exercise of any description, then possibly has what one would call the beginnings of 'natural attributes'. It is my observation, in my entire lifetime, that the majority of champions are made by a combination of the learning of skills, discipline, dedication and attitude.


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Mitt Romney is not a career politician. He has spent most of his life in the private sector, giving him intimate knowledge of how our economy works. But he has also been an outstanding public servant. In one chapter of his distinguished career, he reversed the decline of a state mired in recession. In another chapter, he salvaged the 2002 Winter Olympic Games from certain disaster.
When Mitt was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, the state was in severe disarray, its budget was out of balance, spending was soaring, and taxpayers were being required to pay more and more in taxes for diminishing services. The state economy was in a tailspin, with businesses cutting back on investment or even closing and unemployment ticking up. Mitt made hard decisions that brought state spending under control. He restructured and consolidated government programs, paring back where necessary and finding efficiencies throughout.


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Get the Flash Player to see this player.Flash Image Rotator Module by Joomlashack.Image 1 TitleImage 2 TitleImage 3 TitleImage 4 TitleImage 5 Title
J & P Wire Products is the northwest's leading manufacturer of custom wire and steel fabrication, servicing a wide variety of customers nationwide since 1971.
We have an experienced staff to help design and manufacture products to your specifications.
While we specialize in point of purchase displays , wire shelves, wire guards , water bottle storage
racks , literature and brochure holders , grids and grid accessories, wire baskets , wire
forms, masonry frames, carts, face masks, and cabinet security doors, we are not limited to any specific product line or field.
We welcome the opportunity to work with your company to supply the custom metal products you need and contribute to the success of your business. From beginning to end, customer satisfaction is our top priority.


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Tips for Maintaining Family Sanity During the Holiday Season
26-Oct-2007 1:00 PM EDT
Binghamton University, State University of New York
Available for logged-in reporters only
Social and Behavioral Sciences
KEYWORDStips, Holidays, Sanity, Stress, To Do Lists
Newswise — Tips from Mary Muscari, PhD, associate professor at Binghamton University, State University of New York, and author of Let Kids Be Kids: Rescuing Childhood.
Have your holidays become more pain than pleasure? If so, take some time to recoup your sanity and make the holiday season the joyous time is was meant to be for you and your family.
"¢ Remember the reason for the season. Have your family assist with and participate in religious, cultural and family traditions. If you don't have any traditions, start some. The holiday season is the perfect time to reflect on how these important aspects are really the core of your lives. "¢ Be realistic. Unless you have a huge staff at your fingertips, don't expect cover-photo perfection. Besides, you'll cherish the memories of the bloopers, not the lump-free gravy. "¢ Make a to-do list that has something already done and scratched off. It feels much better to have something that verifies you've finished at least one thing. "¢ Start early. Buy ahead for the not-so-picky folks, and give the kids a reasonable deadline for writing their wish lists. Tell them to put alternatives on their list to prevent the stress from the yearly toy sellout. Santa's elves aren't even perfect. If you didn't start early this year, shop those post-holiday sales to get a jump start of 2008. "¢ Avoid store mobs. Shop online, through catalogs or with home shopping television channels. You can save time and often money. Just make sure you are shopping with a reputable dealer with an appropriate returns policy. "¢ Say "no." "No, you can't have an Uzi." "No, I cannot possibly bake a gross of cupcakes tonight." You can't do it all, and you don't have to. "¢ Beware of Santa. Toddlers tend to fear strange things, like big dogs, clowns and Santa Claus. The photo op may be great for you, but is stressing out your child if he is shrieking at the mere sight of the jolly old elf. "¢ Keep it simple. If you love to bake, go for it. But if your oven is designed for storage space, toss some store-bought cookies on a pretty plate or add mini-chips to the frozen cookie dough. "¢ Give the kids some holiday chores. It's their holiday, too, let them participate in the mayhem. Have them volunteer or give some of their old toys to charity. Helping out teaches responsibility and values, and helps them to feel good about themselves. "¢ Don't forget the spouse! Dad's can do more than string lights at holiday time. "¢ Bring in the reinforcements " friends and neighbors. Holiday plan together over a cup of coffee or tea. Swap ideas and recipes, or better yet, swap tasks. Let the bakers bake and the shoppers shop. You'll save time and have shoulders to cry on when things go wrong. "¢ Don't forget your basic stress management tools " eating well, exercising, and getting enough sleep. You can't beat stress without these.


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Bridgeway Lakes Real Estate
Bridgeway Lakes is an established, yet newer, neighborhood in the southern region of West Sacramento. Located in Yolo County, West Sac is transforming quickly from an industrial area to a diverse, thriving city with family-friendly neighborhoods and amenities.
Anchored by the Bridgeway Lakes Park and Boathouse, the community is comprised of large homes crafted in muted colors, blending among the river and lush wetland landscape it sits against. The streets are wide with spacious sidewalks, ideal for walks, small bikes, and scooters. A river meanders throughout the meticulously designed streets and scenic walkways.
Residents can take advantage of the 12-acre eponymous park, which is home to a large baseball diamond, turf area, amphitheater, walking paths, and water play area for hot summer afternoons. A number of classes and recreational activities take place at the Boathouse, including Spanish for toddlers and Camp Lakeside (a program for kids in the summer months). A man-made lake with paddleboats furthers the summertime activities.
More activities (and shopping) abound just three quick miles away on Jefferson Blvd. The West Sacramento Recreation Center offers a myriad of yoga, Zumba, bootcamp, cardio, and toning classes. There's also cardio and circuit training equipment, but the family fun comes in the form of a climbing wall, pool with waterslide and special events like the Soggy Doggy Swim Day for pooches that like to work out.
The center is adjacent to River City High and just down the street is Southport Shopping Center with Target, grocery stores, coffee shops, and restaurants.
A quiet community, seemingly worlds away from the hustle and bustle of city life, Bridgeway Lakes is said to be ideal for someone who works downtown and looks forward to a short 15-minute commute to their very own retreat.
Search for Homes in Bridgeway Lakes, CAView all Bridgeway Lakes listings
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4"x 4" Abstract Landscape on Wood Panel with Acrylic Paint. Edges are painted a brownish/ green. This is a 100% one of a kind original painting. It can be hung easily with two nails, or stood up on a desk or shelf/mantel.
Feel free to message me any questions. I enjoy helping people when I can and respond quickly.
Painting ships in 3-5 business days.
Colors may differ very slightly, depending on monitor calibration settings.
Let's connect:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/leitner_studios/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeitnerStudiosArt/
Website: http://www.leitnerstudios.com
About the Artist:
I am a professional artist based out of Raleigh, North Carolina with 15+ years of experience. I earned my BFA in Fine Art with a concentration in painting and drawing from Appalachian State University. My work explores abstracting the landscape form using experimental color palettes and expressive brush strokes to capture a certain mood of each unique image. My abstract landscapes are very inspired by Hudson River School and William Turner. My miniature paintings are a way that I can create affordable art that is a one of a kind painting that anyone can afford.


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This is our newly designed 42" diameter single papasan frame. The total price of $210.00 includes the frame, tufted cushion in any of our standard fabrics AND includes shipping within continental US.
The most common sized papasan frame available in the US is 46" in diameter (being the distance directly across the dish without allowing for the depth/curvature of the dish). However this 42" frame has been made only 4 inches smaller so that it can be shipped via either UPS or Fedex, thus avoiding additional shipping costs, whilst maintaining superior comfort.
The dish in which you sit in on the rattan papasan chair is seperate from the base, thus allowing the dish to be tilted to any angle. This is a very comfortable chair.
All frames come with our guarantee of product excellence, and don't forget to have a look at our customers testimonial page.
The cushion for the 42" papasan frame is only available in the tufted style from our Standard range of fabrics.
About our Tufted Single Papasan cushions
The Tufted papasan cushion has 21 circle tufts to give the cushion the tufted/dimpled look. Cushion measures 46 inches in diameter, and are designed to fit the 42" single papasan frame.
Tufted papasan cushions are only available in fabrics from our Standard range.
The filling inside your papasan cushion is compression resistent polyester. It is light weight, and an excellent product for papasan cushions.
Our papasan cushions are reversible ie. can be turned over.
Price includes the 42" frame and cushion being delivered to you with either UPS or FedEx, within continental USA. We e-mail you with tracking details once items are dispatched - within 15 working days of receiving your order.
Note that we also offer the 46" single papasan frame, as detailed on single papasan frames.
Available Options: