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If you didn't file your taxes on April 15th, you can breathe a sigh of relief. Thanks to the Emancipation Day holiday in the District of Columbia, the tax deadline was switched to April 18 this year. Already ahead of the game? While the final hours tick down, we have just the history of fiscal fairness for you.
In Taxing the Rich, Kenneth Scheve and David Stasavage analyze the history of taxes and take a look at when and why countries tax their wealthiest citizens. The authors argue that governments don't tax the rich simply because of striking inequality—they do it when its citizens believe that such taxes compensate for the state unfairly privileging the wealthy. What matters most is society's views on how the inequality is being generated in the first place.
The Atlantic recently wrote about the book, including quotes from Scheve and Stasavage:
Relative to the past 200 years of U.S. history, how heavily are the rich being taxed today? Kenneth Scheve and David Stasavage, professors of political science at Stanford University and New York University respectively, looked into when countries have taxed their wealthiest citizens most heavily, and what societal conditions might have produced those tax rates. In a project that took five years, the two constructed databases of tax rates and policies in 20 countries over the last two centuries in order to answer those questions. They recently published this research in a book, Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe.
One of their motivations for starting the project was a disconnect they noticed between rising inequality and static tax rates. "With inequality rising over the last three or four decades, why have there not been public policies that seem to address that in an important and substantive way?" says Scheve. But while it would seem intuitive that taxes would increase at the times when inequality is highest, Scheve and Stasavage found that this relationship hasn't held true over the course of history.
You can read the full piece in The Atlantic here, and an exclusive interview with Scheve and Stasavage here.


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Believe it or not, there are some settings where you shouldn't have your smartphone around. Places like a doctors appointment, job interview, or court hearing are fairly obvious places where you should leave it in the car or at least put it on silent. So what happens when the professional across the table breaks this rule, especially if it's your own? In the case of a Michigan judge, you hold yourself in contempt. No, this not the Onion.
Judge Raymond Voet has a policy in his courtroom that any smartphone disturbance results in citation for contempt. If you aren't working on your law degree or don't care for Judge Judy and have no clue what it means to be in contempt of the court, we've got you covered. It basically means you've been disrespectful or disobedient in a court setting. So what made Judge Voet hold himself in contempt? Something that most of you are probably familiar with. We'll let him explain:
I'm guessing I bumped it. It started talking really loud, saying "I can't understand you. Say something like Mom."
You've probably accidently bumped the power button of your phone while it's in your pocket followed by an accidental long press of the Windows logo. That's right, Judge Voet has a new Windows Phone that made him break his own court rule.
He came over from a BlackBerry and wasn't familiar with his newfangled touch screen device. Over the years Judge Voet has taken away phones from police offices, attorneys, spectators, and witnesses over his courtroom rule. When he broke it himself he said not even a judge is above the law, cited himself and paid the $25 fine.
No word on which Windows Phone Judge Voet uses. I'm guessing a Lumia 920 with that super sensitive screen. What do you guys think? Either way, you're one of us now Judge Voet.
Source: AP

subset: commoncrawl


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(Phaseolus coccineus) Another New World native. Grown like ordinary beans with one major difference: they prefer cooler temperatures. Sow in spring about two weeks before last frost; young seedlings tolerate a light frost. Plant the large seeds 1-3 inches deep, 4-6 inches apart at base of trellis or other support. Use the robust pods as snaps, or allow the seed to mature further for shell or dried use. Hot summer weather usually shuts production down, but the plants may start bearing again when the weather cools.
COOK IT! Runner Bean Recipes HERE
GROW IT! Runner Bean Growing Tips HERE


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Students and Staff Honor Glenholme Parents
Saturday, January 21, 2012
By: Devereux Glenholme
Washington, CT
Washington, CT - The exchange between a child's family and school is vital to his or her growth and development, especially when the child has special needs. For this reason, The Glenholme School strongly encourages parents to be involved in their children's treatment, and provides them with regular training opportunities and around-the-clock support. By actively participating in the Glenholme program, following through with recommendations and expectations, and maintaining frequent communication, Glenholme parents help to bridge the gap between their children's school and home lives, allowing for a more successful transfer of treatment. Though it may not always be easy, Glenholme parents have risen to the challenge - demonstrating grace, humility, and a much-needed sense of humor in even the most trying circumstances. During Parent Appreciation Week, held from January 2 - 8, The Glenholme School thanked parents for their unwavering commitment to their children and to the Glenholme community. Through daily notes, e-mails, photos, phone calls, videos, and mailings, students and staff shared some of their favorite experiences at the school while acknowledging Glenholme parents' tireless effort and dedication. The response was nothing shy of sensational - below are just a few of the many wonderful affirmations that staff received from Glenholme parents: "Wow! This video is packed with good work, effort and care: the concept, organization, direction, cooperative community spirit, tech, timing and person power. We played it three times--it was so much fun to watch--and it works great. Best of all it feels great."-Jerry and Myron "What a wonderful phone message to receive! Certainly was a bright lift to our day. Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words about our son. Whatever he has been achieving at Glenholme musically is due to the help and support of the staff and the confidence that has gradually been instilled upon him, and especially from you."-Vicki and Larry "Thank you so much for the wonderful work you are doing with our son. It is nothing short of amazing. Your picture of our son holding the basketball with the other student brought tears to our eyes. Please keep them coming. They are precious."-Kim and Arthur Thank you, Glenholme parents, for all that you do!The Glenholme School is a therapeutic boarding school for young people diagnosed with Asperger's, ADHD, PDD, OCD, Tourette's, depression, anxiety and variouslearning differences. The program provides a treatment milieu designed to build competence socially and academically. Our learning environment supports and enhances the ability for young people with special needs to succeed. For more information about The Glenholme School and its program, visit http://www.theglenholmeschool.org/. Devereux Connecticut.
©Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health • 444 Devereux Drive, Villanova, PA 19085 • (800) 345-1292
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GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNCG senior runners and twin sisters Shaina Sumney (Washington, Pa./Trinity) and Chelsea Sumney (Washington, Pa./Trinity) have qualified for the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Regionals, held May 29-31 in Jacksonville, Fla., hosted by North Florida. To qualify for the NCAA East Regional, runners had to post times in the top 48 during the season.
Shaina qualified in two events at the NCAA East Regional, the 3,000-meter steeplechase and the 5,000-meter race. She posted the 19th fastest time in the steeplechase this season at 10:18.13 on May 4 at the Payton Jordan Invitational. She owns the 40th best time in the 5,000-meter distance, clocking in at 16:26.39 at the Stanford Invitational April 4.
Chelsea earned a spot in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to run with her twin sister by posting the 44th best time in the region. She clocked in at a time of 10:27.64 at the Virginia Challenge May 9, in her second to last race of the season.
The 3,000-meter steeplechase is slated as the last race of the day May 30 at 9:30 p.m. while the 5,000-meter contest is scheduled for Saturday, May 31 at 8:45 p.m. The top 12 finishers in each race will advance to the NCAA National Championships June 11-14 in Eugene, Ore.


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Chase Race 7: Talladega made me cry…Posted by in General
All I can say about Talladega is wow. Well maybe wow and Oww. Funny thing was that I sat down with my notepad to watch Talladega. That is funny because lately I have been relying more on my memory and less on notes taken during the race. But for some reason I sat down with my notepad and my favorite, freshly sharpened pencil and settled in to watch the pre-race and then the race.
Because of a rained out qualifying session- Tony started fourth. Not bad at all.
I wrote this during the first several laps:
Watching the cars race at Dega is like driving on the southbound highway 101 from northern California to southern California. It gives me a knot in my stomach. When the cars start to get four wide is like when the 101 goes from two lanes of spread out traffic to the claustrophic, four-lane, bumper-to-bumper traffic where all you can do is watch out the best you can and hope other people are paying attention too.
I mean I was seriously putting effort into this- especially since I have been slacking off lately. While I took several pages of notes throughout the race (most of them were mundane things like: Yawn-single file racing bores me and Kevin Harvick wants cruise control he's so bored), I will not be rehashing on these notes for most of this post. A day after the race, I am still reeling at the Ryan Newman wreck at 5 laps to go (thanks to ryannewmaninfo.info for that link).
I happened to be looking down for a minute…I was probably either doodling in my note book (not making a note…but actually drawing flowers) or trying to get my dog to shake my hand…when something made me glance up at the TV in time to see smoke and what appeared to be the rear bumper of a car pointing straight up. I yelled "Oh SHIT" so loud that the dog retreated to her favorite hiding place and I barely heard Andy Petrie say that a car was airborne.
The part of the accident that stands out the most to me is the part after Ryan's car comes to a complete rest and the view switches to an aerial shot of the car- and all you can really see is the undercarriage of his US ARMY IMPALA and…stillness. I sat- on the very edge of my couch just watching horrified. As soon as they had played a little snippet of Ryan saying he was alight- I may have cried a little. My friend and I texted each other back and forth while the safety team cut open his car like a freaking tuna can…
After watching the wreck a few times online- and talking to my friend a couple hours after the wreck (and judging by her Facebook comment- sounds like Trixie thought the same way) my friend and I think that it could have been a lot worse if Ryan's car hadn't first landed on Kevin Harvick's hood. That softened the initial blow and I think probably kept the car from getting crushed further despite the fact that it went all the way up the track and back down again and flipped some more (into the grass- which is a lot softer than the track where he first went airborne. I know that the car has rollbars and stuff…and from Ryan's comments after the race it sounds like they had pretty much caved down all the way to the helmet for him…I think that the car would have completely pancaked if it hadn't been for Kevin Harvick's hood absorbing that initial blow.
Also- despite what the announcer say during the race- it looks to me like Marcos Ambrose hit Ryan Newman (whether he was bump drafting or Ryan checked up slightly I dunno) and Ryan hit Tony who was in front of him. But because of how Ryan and Tony hit- Tony went into the wall and Ryan went down towards the infield.
There has been a lot of talk about Talladega and the COT and how to keep the cars on the ground. I personally think this is a product of restrictor plate racing. NASCAR attempting to address concerns from the spring race at Talladega where Carl Edwards went airborne into the catch fence, made the restrictor plates even smaller, and made a new rule (only 1.5 hours before the beginning of the race so the drivers didn't get to really practice this) that cars could not bump draft through the corners (they kept stressing DAYLIGHT between the bumpers in the corners). Did these help or contribute to Ryan's wreck? I have no clue. Is there something that can be done? Again I have no clue…except that the roof flaps didn't work in this case. Do they need to be bigger? Deploy sooner?
It was clear that the changes (smaller plates and no bumpdrafting) made the race fairly boring for most of it. Even drivers Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart joked with their respective crews earlier in the race that the single file racing was boring THEM. Harvick wanted a cruise control, Tony wanted someone to tell him something interesting so he didn't fall asleep. Something is WRONG when your points leader is just riding around at the end of the field at half throttle. That isn't racing that is riding.
I am not claiming to have an answer- but I really think maybe they should do away with restricting the engines…that just either bunches the field up so you are waiting for an accident.
Anyway, both Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart got dnf's for Talladega giving Tony a 35th place finish and dropping him to fifth in the champion standings 279 points out of the lead with only three races left to go in the chase for the Sprint Cup. Ryan Newman also fell one spot in the standings down to eighth spot 402 points out of the lead.
Notes About Talladega:
- So like me, Tony Stewart does like scary movies (if you follow me on twitter- you heard me announce this last week after trying to watch some of Halloween- the original). Yeah no thanks. Not my thing. I think it's a little brave of him to admit on national television though.
- I am really enjoying the "PREVIOUSLY IN THE CHASE" segments before each race- you know the little narrative by Mike "Dirty Jobs" Rowe. I think it might be his voice, but I really think it gives a little something something to the race.
- I have decided that Kim Burton is probably my favorite NASCAR wife right now- and this holds true only more so after watching the segment during the preshow about NASCAR wifes and superspeedways.
Next Race: Texas
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Remember me?
It was a little bit of a shock to see the date of my last post to this blog, nearly one year ago. It's not that I haven't been living the urban homesteading dream—in fact, I just got a food dehydrator for my birthday and have produced jars and jars of dried apples and pears. Next up will be the grey dove oyster mushrooms coming in in a few weeks. The chickens are cackling and laying, I canned tomatoes, green beans, pickles, five different kinds of jams, blackberries in bourbon, and applesauce this summer. John has been brewing lots of delicious IPAs and red ales, and we cured duck prosciutto and pancetta in the basement last winter.
I've been knitting like crazy, too. It's been busy and productive around here.
But I have spent most of my time in the past year in a different kind of garden. A garden nonetheless, but one with recording equipment, computers, instruments, and musicians. Finally and at last, I have grown a second CD of my original music.
There is a direct line of inspiration from my little Southern Urban Homestead to the songs on this collection. It winds through the vegetable patch and around my laundry line, and it even pauses for a visit with the chickens. And there's food–oh, yes, there's food. And love. Here's a little sampler:
If you'd like to own the entire CD, they are available by mail order right here:
Or you can download it:
Or if iTunes is how you roll, that is right here.
I hope you enjoy Songs from the Garden. And I promise to be a better blogger!


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Franck Bohbot Studio
KATZ'S DELICATESSEN NYAbout this photograph
These photographs come from the Light On series that Franck Bohbot produced between 2013 and 2014 in New York. The artist captured the lights and colours that illuminate the nocturnal cityscape thanks to the lighting from the myriad storefronts of grocery stores, restaurants, apartment buildings, or fair grounds. While they conserve their activity, the latter become gradually devoid of people as the night goes on, thus giving way to a ?second life?, a calmer and more laidback one. Like the photographs of Robert Frank, particularly those of Detroit and New York, Franck Bohbot succeeds in revealing another side to America, through urban scenes and portraits of Americans taken in the course of their daily life. His various views, each taken with a long exposure time, give a highly contrasted and dynamic effect to the compositions, which highlight the various kinds of architecture he encounters. They also confer a deliberately cinematographic character to his shots, bearing witness to the photographer?s fascination for architecture and its importance in films.Read more Read less
|Standard Delivery
|Icon, Classic, Colorful
|Giant, Collector, Exception
Born in the suburb of Paris, Franck Bohbot set down his suitcases in 2013 in the borough of Brooklyn in New York. Since 2008, he has been recognised for his photographs in colour of urban scenes and public spaces. Fascinated by cinematic iconography, he focuses his creation around the relationship between individuals and architecture. Each series contains this same photographic intention: the enigmatic atmosphere, documentary approach and timeless character of each of them evoke a cosy, dreamlike, and almost unfathomable space, as though taken straight from a dream. Franck Bohbot thus immortalises street scenes, swimming pools, libraries, basketball courts, museums, cinemas, and fairgrounds but also artists, athletes or artisans. His works have been hailed by numerous critics and published in New York Times Magazine, The Financial Times, National Geographic, Corriere Della Serra, Le Nouvel Observateur, or Les Inrockuptibles. He received the Prix International de Photographie in 2013 and the Prix Archifoto 2014.


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Your credit score and debt-to-income ratio have a big influence on your home loan options and rates. Learn how lenders use them, as well as how you can improve them.
An interest rate is the cost of borrowing money shown as a percentage. For example, if you borrow money at a 5% fixed interest rate for a year, the cost of the loan will be 5% of the total amount you borrowed.
Some factors that help determine an interest rate include:
The Annual Percentage Rate (APR) is the total cost of borrowing money for a mortgage. It's shown as an annual rate and includes certain closing costs, interest, finance charges and points over the full loan term.
The APR helps you compare different mortgage options, because all lenders calculate the APR according to federal requirements. Lenders are also required by law to provide the specific APR for your mortgage in the Loan Estimate.
A good credit score makes it easier to qualify for a home loan—at a lower interest rate.
Your credit score shows your overall credit history and helps lenders decide if you qualify for a loan. The higher your credit score, the more mortgage options available to you and the more likely you'll qualify for a lower interest rate.
When you apply for a mortgage, your lender looks at your credit score from the 3 major credit agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, usually taking the middle score for your application. If you are applying with another person, the lender will take the lower, middle score of the 2.
Credit scores generally range from 300 (lowest) to 850 (highest). For most lenders:
We understand that many circumstances can affect a credit score, so we can help with additional mortgage options.
You can access the 3 major credit agencies online to check your credit report and score. If you find any mistakes that need correcting, it's best to contact the credit agency as soon as possible.
Credit agencies typically take these 5 things into account when calculating your credit score:
Consistently paying your debts on time every month generally gives you a higher credit score.
The less debt you have, compared to your total available credit, the higher your score.
The number and types of accounts in your name, such as credit cards, retail accounts and car payments, are listed in your credit report. Lenders also consider whether you're a joint account holder or an authorized user of an account.
The amount of time since your accounts opened and the last time you used each account is factored into your credit report. The longer your established history, the higher your score.
Every time you apply for credit or open a new account, an inquiry is added to your report. The more inquiries you have, the lower your score. Activity on joint or co-signed accounts will also affect credit scores. For example, if you co-sign for a relative and they default on their payments, both scores are affected.
Having a lower debt-to-income ratio can help you qualify for the mortgage loan you want.
Your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio is the percentage of your monthly gross income that goes toward paying debts. The lower your DTI ratio, the more likely you are to qualify for a mortgage. Lenders include your monthly debt expenses and future mortgage payments when they consider your DTI.
You can find your DTI ratio by dividing your debt by your income.
For example, if your monthly income is $4,000 and your monthly debt expense plus future mortgage amount is $1,320, your DTI ratio is 33%. Most mortgage options have specific DTI ratios.
The preferred DTI ratio is generally around 36%. You can reduce your DTI ratio by limiting your credit card usage and paying down your existing debt.
Depending on the available rates for your mortgage, you may be able to pay mortgage points to lower your interest rate.
Mortgage points are fees that you can pay to lower your interest rate or closing costs.
There are 2 types of points:
Depending on available rates for your mortgage type, you could pay mortgage points to lower your interest rate.
You could also get credit against closing costs, known as rebate points, by paying a higher interest rate. The amount of the credit against your closing costs and increase in your interest rate depend on your mortgage option.
The longer you plan to stay in your home, the more likely you'll benefit from paying points.
To decide if paying points is right for you, you can calculate the "break-even point" or how long it would take for the cost of the points to equal your total savings.
The result is the number of months you'd need to live in your home to break even on the amount you paid for points.
$100,000 loan — 30 year term
In this example, it would take 64 months for you to regain the cost of paying points. If you don't plan on staying in your house for that long, paying points might not make sense.
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Editors' note: Several of the design and features are identical between the Canon PowerShot SX40 HS and the
The Canon PowerShot SX40 HS is a nice improvement over its predecessor, the SX30 IS. Sure, they look the same, have the same ultrawide-angle 35x zoom lens, and, for the most part, have the same shooting modes. But a switch to a new sensor and new image processor seemed to have improved both photo quality and shooting performance, though its performance is still sucking wind a bit behind competing models from Nikon, Sony, and Panasonic.
For that matter, so is its feature set and its design, particularly if you want to take advantage of its electronic viewfinder and manual controls. On the other hand, it has some of the best JPEG photo quality you're going to find from a high-end megazoom.
|Key specs
|Canon PowerShot SX40 HS
|Price (MSRP)
|Dimensions (WHD)
|4.8 x 3.6 x 4.2 inches
|Weight (with battery and media)
|21.2 ounces
|Megapixels, image sensor size, type
|12 megapixels, 1/2.3-inch backside-illuminated CMOS
|LCD size, resolution/viewfinder
|2.7-inch vari-angle LCD, 230K dots/None
|Lens (zoom, aperture, focal length)
|35x, f2.7-5.8, 24-840mm (35mm equivalent)
|File format (still/video)
|Highest resolution size (still/video)
|4,000x3,000 pixels/ 1,920x1,080 at 24fps
|Image stabilization type
|Optical and digital
|Battery type, CIPA rated life
|Li-ion rechargeable, 370 shots (400, EVF only)
|Battery charged in camera
|No; external charger supplied
|Storage media
|SD/SDHC/SDXC, Eye-Fi SD/SDHC cards
|Bundled software
|ZoomBrowser EX 6.8/PhotoStitch 3.1 (Windows); ImageBrowser 6.8/PhotoStitch 3.2 (Mac)
Overall, photo quality is excellent for this class of camera. Images do get softer and noisier above ISO 200--typical for point-and-shoots--but ISO 400 and 800 are still very usable. Like other "HS" models I've tested this year, the noise and noise reduction are well-balanced so you still get good color and detail up to ISO 800.
Colors desaturate some at ISO 1600 and 3200, subjects look very soft, and detail is greatly diminished. While you might not want to view them at larger sizes or heavily crop them, the high-ISO results should be satisfactory for the Web or prints at small sizes, though, again, colors will look a little off. Keep in mind, too, that if you're shooting indoors with lens extended, you'll need the higher ISOs to keep shutter speeds fast enough to prevent blur. Also, the auto white balance is warm indoors, which doesn't help color when combined with higher ISOs; use the presets or use the custom option when possible. Unfortunately, there is no option to shoot raw files with this camera so if you're a pixel peeper and not happy with Canon's JPEG processing, you're stuck.
Color accuracy is excellent, producing bright and vivid results. Exposure is generally very good, but highlights tend to blow out. Other manufacturers have been solving this to some degree with high-dynamic range modes that will take two or three shots at different exposures and overlay them for a more-balanced shot. Canon doesn't offer a mode like that and its i-Contrast feature is more for rescuing shadow detail than highlights. However, the SX40 does have exposure bracketing, though it shoots slowly, so your subjects need to be still.
Video quality is on par with a very good HD pocket video camera: good enough for Web use and nondiscriminating TV viewing. The full HD video records at 24fps, and though panning the camera will create judder and there is visible trailing on moving subjects, the video is watchable. Those things are typical of the video from most compact cameras, too. You can drop the resolution to 1,280x720 at 30fps, but the judder actually seems to get worse. The low-light video is predictably grainy, but it's at least as good as this camera's high ISO photo performance. The zoom lens does work while recording; it moves very slowly, though, likely to prevent the movement from being picked up by the stereo mics on front. It can only really be heard in very quiet scenes.
|General shooting options
|Canon PowerShot SX40 HS
|ISO sensitivity (full resolution)
|Auto, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600, 3200
|White balance
|Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Tungsten, Fluorescent, Fluorescent H, Flash, Custom
|Recording modes
|Auto, Program, Shutter-speed priority, Aperture priority, Manual, Creative Filters, Sports, Scene, Movie, Custom 1 and 2
|Focus modes
|Face AF, Center AF, User-selectable AF (FlexiZone), Macro, Normal, Infinity, Manual
|0 inches to 1.6 feet (Wide)
|Metering modes
|Evaluative, Center-weighted average, Spot
|Color effects
|Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin, Darker Skin, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color (adjustment of contrast, sharpness, saturation, red, green, blue and skin tone are available)
|Burst mode shot limit (full resolution)
|8 shots
While it doesn't have a lot of trick shooting modes like the Sony HX100V or the plentiful controls over photo quality that you'll find on the Panasonic FZ150, the SX40 HS has all of the important things for the category. You'll find full manual and semimanual shooting modes. Available apertures at the wide end include: f2.7, f3.2, f3.5, f4.0, f4.5, f5.0, f5.6, f6.3, f7.1, and f8.0; available in telephoto are: f5.8, f6.3, f7.1, f8.0. Shutter speeds go from 15 seconds down to 1/3,200 second. If you come up with a set of values you'd like to use regularly, there are two Custom spots on the mode dial. For those times when you want the camera to do the thinking there is a very reliable full-auto mode as well as stock scene modes like Portrait, Landscape, and Fireworks.
In addition to the company's standard creative-shooting options--Color Accent and Color Swap--it has other creative options: Toy Camera, Monochrome, Miniature Effect, Fish-eye Effect, a Super Vivid mode that intensifies colors, and a Poster Effect that posterizes photos. These modes aren't necessarily must-haves, but they can be fun to play with, if only to add some interest to what would be an otherwise boring shot. Plus, they're available when shooting movies, too.


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New Deal
From The Mason Historiographiki
Progressive Roots
As a number of books on the New Deal suggest, the New Deal did not emerge from nothing, but had its beginnings in Progressivism. As Jordan A. Schwartz in The New Dealers argues, FDR borrowed politically from Woodrow Wilson and that there was in fact no New Deal. The New Deal reforms were more an effort of FDR using the economic and social ideas of the Progressive movement to address a new set of problems.
Economically, Schwartz suggests that the Southern Progressives, who believed in capitalism but distrusted Wall Street, provided the impetus for the government to provide capital. Christine Bold in The WPA Guides suggests that Washington policy makers were guided by the Progressive belief in labor and achievements of workers, thereby seeking new opportunities to maintain that legacy. Also in the Progressive tradition, though, policy makers had good intentions but also mistakenly thought they knew the best solutions to America's problems, especially race.
In Black America in the Roosevelt Era, John B. Kirby argues that northern, elite, intellectualism became the 1930s version of Progressivism. These intellectuals expanded the hold of Progressive ideas from the middle class to push for the improvement of the conditions for black Americans in the South, but still had a poor sense of the problems others faced.
The Progressive roots of New Deal reform highlights regionalism as a mode of analysis as important as race, class, gender, and ethnicity for understanding the era. The South and West saw unprecedented government involvement in the New Deal because of the Northeastern intellectual tradition of social betterment. These intellectual Progressives of the Northeast dictated the terms of progress. Some states, like Missouri, valued the legitimacy and wealth that association allowed, but others like Idaho held fast to its own identity and individuality, despite massive investment in Western electricity and water sources (The WPA Guides). New Deal regionalism underscores Progressive influence on policymaking and the process of dissent.
But who were its authors? What was its character? And what was its legacy? For Patrick D. Regan, in this book Designing a New America: The Origins of New Deal Planning, 1890-1943, these are the important questions from the period. Regan argues that the New Deal was a continuation of Wilsonian ideals which matured during the Progressive Era. These ideals sought to ensure greater social order---which would ensure greater corporate profits---by using governmental authority to secure modest initiatives designed to improve the quality of life for lower classes. The architects of the New Deal came of age during the Progressive Era as businessmen, academics, and social theorists. They were all associated with the Hoover administration in some capacity where they honed their practical policy skills. And practical those shills were, for when Roosevelt established the New Deal, these architects did not seek a utopian state, but rather focused on reorganizing the federal executive branch into an organ which could project governmental authority into all levels of american society. While this projection did not resolve the issue of the Great Depression, it did reform the executive in ways that are still resonating. Regan argues this reform was the greatest legacy of the New Deal.
The Crash
Why did Americans abandon a long tradition of suspicion of central government?
Small, traditional institutions had been threatened even before the Crash. Chain stores put small shops out of business and got people used to dealing with large, impersonal institutions. As Americans moved to cities, they could no longer depend on their own land for subsistence. Lizbeth Cohen, in Making a New Deal, depicts the collapse of neighborhood, ethnic, and municipal systems for dealing with poverty.
Scholars debate the responses of President Herbert Hoover. In his book, Freedom from fear, David M. Kennedy "argues that Hoover was in fact quite aggressive in his attempt to revive the economy once the depression hit and was not the "hands off" president that he has been labeled previously. Instead, Kennedy believes that the Congress that Hoover faced caused much of this lack of action, refusing to act on many of the legislative acts sent to them." Hoover sought to makes reforms and was not blind to the suffering wrought by the Great Depression, he was just politcally inept.
At the same time, though, in Picturing Faith, Colleen McDannell suggests that the New Deal photo project captured the images of depression through a lens reflecting the beliefs of the photographer. This perspective did not always reflect the reality of the lives portrayed.
To be read:
- Harold Bierman, The Causes of the 1929 Stock Market Crash: A Speculative Orgy or a New Era?
- Ben S. Bernanke. Essays on the Great Depression. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press 2000.
Policies and Programs
What was the New Deal?
According to William Leuchtenberg's Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940, The New Deal was "the most extraordinary series of reforms in the nation's history." Leuchtenberg considers as major components legislation fostered government-industry cooperation, relief for millions of farmers, programs of regional planning, billions to save homes and farms from foreclosure, huge public works like the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Federal Deposition Insurance Corporation, and federal regulation of Wall Street. Later legislation included the Wagner Act, Social Security, and the Rural Electrification Act. The Banking Act of 1935 that was a "significant shift toward centralization of the banking system and the federal control of banking." Leuchtenberg also sees problems and unforeseen consequences with the New Deal.
David M. Kennedy, in Freedom from fear, is more skeptical. He seems to believe that Roosevelt really did not have a clear plan developed and instead simply stood behind those programs that were most beneficial to him politically. His beliefs would change with what the environment held and or who he was talking to; Roosevelt was not good with direct confrontations. If saying something would make a person happy, he would say it – five minutes later, he may tell someone else something completely contradictorily. Above all else, Roosevelt was a politician. Kennedy highlights how virtually every one of Roosevelt's proposed programs was based in politics.
Kennedy's book covers much the same ground as Leuchtenberg's, but as part of the Oxford History of the United States series it is intended more for a mass popular audience. Kennedy's account of the New Deal relies more on secondary than primary sources. He breaks no new ground, although he is stronger than Leuchtenberg in his defense of Hoover. Both authors conclude that the New Deal, while not effective in ending the Great Depression, did fundamentally change America for the better by instituting needed reforms and tempering the excesses of free enterprise capitalism. Both books mostly ignore the cultural and social history of the era. Neither paya attention to the plight of Native Americans or African Americans, and, except for leaders such as Eleanor Roosevelt and Frances Perkins, women are not mentioned.
On the other hand, Colin Gordon argues in New Deals: Business, Labor and Politics in America, 1920-1935, that many of the programs and reforms of the New Deal were simply an extension of earlier private efforts by business and industry leaders who tried, and failed, to control the increasing instability and destructive competition of the economy; the Great Depression marked the failure of their efforts but they continued to follow "rational self-interest" (10) in their efforts to shape the New Deal reforms in what they perceived to be their best interests. Gordon also argues that they were less successful than many radical critics of the New Deal would later come to believe.
Economic Reform
In The end of reform, Alan Brinkley stresses the difference between the relief and recovery programs of the early New Deal and the reform efforts that followed the election of 1936. He argues that "The new liberalism that evolved in response to this changing world wrapped itself in the mantle of the New Deal, but bore only a partial resemblance to the ideas that had shaped the original New Deal." Brinkley argues that there were two New Deals – the first of which only focused on relief and recovery. It was not until after the 1936 election that saw Roosevelt achieve the overwhelming victory he felt he needed and a Congress dominated by the Democrats friendly to him, that any type of reform could be attempted.
The narrative of Elliot A. Rosen's book, Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and the Economics of Recovery, focuses on the causes of the depression, the conflict between rival responses, and the difficulties the New Deal encountered in stimulating recovery. For Rosen the Depression was the product of several converging agents of mayhem: disorder in the international monetary community, economic deflation, and traditional American economic policy. For Sound-money Hooverites, the solution to the Depression was a gold-based dollar, deflation, a balanced federal budget, and voluntary commercial commitment to Sound-money reforms. The New Deal favored a modified gold-standard that would permit inflation of the dollar, which would raise prices and draw money back into circulation. Deficit spending on make-work and public works, and the application of Federal authority to commercial affairs to promote recovery rounded out the New Deal Agenda. Rosen argues that the New Deal failed to achieve its goal of substantial recovery due to its reoccurring focus on manipulating supply and the profound nature of flaws in American economic institutions.
Policies and programs can be broken down into three distinct categories, each with their own ramifications: race, technology, and job creation. In the area of race, Kirby concludes that policies towards blacks were successful to a degree, but did not help in the long run as they addressed economics, but not the roots of segregation and prejudice. As is made clear in Black America in the Roosevelt Era, FDR was the consummate politician and as such, refused to cross certain lines in order to keep Southern votes.
Public Works
According to Schwartz and Sarah Phillips (This Land, This Nation), the South was also key in government investment in technology. As a prime beneficiary of electrification and hydraulics, the Southern constituency supported technology initiatives and the overriding goals of the New Conservation movement that sought to improve quality of urban life by providing resources to make it comparable to life in industrialized areas. As Schwartz argues of the West, another area changed by New Deal policies, New Deal technology initiatives were successful in that they enabled a population boom and the growth of the defense industry in World War II.
Finally, the government was actively involved in creating jobs for Americans. Beyond massive industrial, technological, and agricultural programs such as the TVA, the government provided employment for professions as diverse as archaeologists (Digging for Dollars), photographers (Picturing Faith), and writers (The WPA Guides).
More specifically, with a A New Deal for the American People. Roger Biles gives a concise history of the New Deal. He discusses the factors which contributed to the Great Depression and looks at the New Deal's successes and failures.
Biles acknowledges the fact that the New Deal "clearly failed to restore economic prosperity."(225) In spite of the aid provided by the federal and state governments the "enormity of the economic problems throughout the country left much of the president's pledge unfulfilled." However, he does not argue that the New Deal prolonged the Great Depression as some historians do. One such historian, Professor Gary Dean Best, argues that Roosevelt's regulatory programs created an antibusiness environment, which stunted the United States' economic recovery. Biles argues that in spite of its "minimal reforms and non-revolutionary programs," the New Deal created a limited welfare state that "implanted several stabilizers that have been more successful in averting another such depression."(227) According to Biles, the New Deal's most important contribution was the implantation of these stabilizers.
Biles identifies these four stabilizers as the following. The first is The Securities and Exchange Act of 1934. Second, is the Wheeler-Rayburn Act, which allowed the Securities and Exchange Commission to do the same with public utilities. Third, The Glass-Steagall Banking Act, which forced the separation of commercial and investment banking and broadened the powers of the Federal Reserve Board to change interest rates and limit loans for speculation. The fourth stabilizer is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which increased government supervision of state banks and greatly lowered the number of banks that failed.(227) According to Biles, these four "stabilizers" "established a firm economic foundation that performed well for decades thereafter," thereby making the New Deal a success. (228)
The New Deal was not about the radical overthrow of capitalism or institution of new formats of government. It was far more cautious, even as it shifted the fulcrum of power and participation.
The New Deal included the "Alphabet Soup" programs such as PWA, TVA, CCC, CWA, FERA and WPA. In addition, welfare policies including the Social Security Act and mother's aid known as Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) were enacted.
Linda Gordon in Pitied but Not Entitled, began her research with a question, what is welfare? She first defined the term and the ways in which the usage and meaning of this singular term was redefined in only two generations. Initially, around the turn of the twentieth century, the term was a means of inquiring about the health and well-being of a friend, however by 1935 this term was synonymous with poverty and the stigma associated with needing and accepting financial assistance from the government to survive.
Gordon examines the historical transformation of the term welfare between 1890 and 1935. Initially the term welfare was used when you inquired about the "prosperity, good health and good spirits" of a friend or neighbor because you were concerned about their "welfare". (1) However, over time the term "welfare" became synonymous with "poverty, bad health and fatalism" and grudgingly providing aid to poor and destitute strangers. (1) The welfare system has been shaped by the cultural meanings which have been associated with it over the years. (2) While Gordon discusses a variety of welfare programs, she focuses on those programs which provided relief to "single" mothers and children.
Gordon focuses on single mothers and their children in particular because they have historically been exceptionally poor, leading to the feminization of poverty. (6) The term "single mothers" refers not only to mothers who have never been married, but instead refers to all women who raised children alone including widows, divorced and separated or deserted mothers. (6) "Many Progressive Era reformers were intensely concerned about sexual immorality and women's sexual victimization" and therefore as they advocated for mother's aid laws they praised widows as "models of true womanhood" making widows synonymous for the "virtuous mother". (27-28) Mother's aid, initially known as Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) was inconsistent and insufficient providing conditional assistance based upon the mother's ability to "demonstrate a class – and race-defined standard of maternal success". (51-52) In 1962, this program was changed to Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and continued to provide assistance to mothers and their children until its demise in 1997.
In Civilizing Capitalism: The National Comumers' League, Womens Activism, and Labor Standards in the New Deal Era Landon R. Y. Storrs takes a look at labor reform through the lens of women, in particular the National Comumers' League, finding they played an integral part in shaping New Deal labor policy.
To be read
- Biles, Roger. A New Deal for the American People. Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press. 1991.
- Gordon, Linda. Pitied but Not Entitled:single mothers and the history of welfare, 1890-1935. New York: Free Press, 1994
- Lawson, R. Alan. A Commonwealth of Hope: The New Deal Response to Crisis.
- Reagan, Patrick D. Designing a New America: The Origins of New Deal Planning, 1890-1943. University of Massachusetts Press, 2000.
- Rosen, Elliot A. Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and the Economics of Recovery. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005.
In Dealers and Dreamers Joseph Lash says... In The New Dealers Jordan Schwarz says...
Bottom-Up Approaches
How did the New Deal appear to ordinary Americans? Who joined the Democratic party?
In Making a new deal, Lizabeth Cohen looks at the New Deal from the perspectives of the workers. She finds that American workers remained committed to the status quo; that is, they worked through an established political party—the Democrats—and union organization.
American Indians enjoyed a less democratic New Deal. In Organizing the Lakota, Thomas Biolsi argues that while the goal of the Indian New Deal, with the establishment of Tribal Councils, was to bring self-government and autonomy to the Lakota, the end effect was the opposite. Because the Tribal Councils ran counter to traditional Lakota forms of self-government, and because they had little independent authority, the Tribal Councils simply added another form of governmental control of the Lakota people.
Further, the New Deal programs appeared differently to ordinary Americans than to policy makers in Washington. As discussed above, policy makers in Washington believed they understood the problems of the country and how to solve them. While overall the southern constituency accepted the government involvement in agricultural policies, it was because, as Phillips argues in This Land, This Nation, those policies were controlled by the planter elite at the local level. In turn, the policies solidified white power in the south and encouraged black out-migration north into the cities.
In Picturing Faith, McDannell also documents how citizens were sometimes distrustful of the government photographers. The photographs were controversial when they portrayed men as debilitated and when they did not reflect the ideals of individual responsibility. Farmers particularly understood New Deal reforms to be a threat to the notion of individuality. Also in regards to the cultural implications of New Deal programs, it is unclear how receptive citizens were to being told what was legitimate about their local history and art as Bold in The WPA Guides does not elaborate on this topic.
In And A Time For Hope, James R. McGovern examines the reactions of those Americans most adversely affected by the economic catastrophes of the Great Depression. He begins by briefly discussing the events in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's life which helped define both his private and public personalities as well as his presidency, but does not focus on the political history of the Great Depression. McGovern stated, "Roosevelt's caring leadership and New Deal programs...do not explain adequately the remarkable stability of American society or the confidence manifested by Americans in the 1930's." (x) This is instead a social history which encompasses the experiences of Americans from various regions, social, racial and ethnic groups and how their strengths sustained them during the Depression years.
James R. McGovern takes a new and innovative look at the Great Depression, not from the standpoint of political history, but that of social history. He focuses on the American people and their responses to the Great Depression providing a new interpretation of this era of American history. McGovern's new interpretation of the Great Depression comes from the bottom up rather than from the top down.
McGovern examined various groups of people and discussed their collective strengths which helped each group endure the hardships of the Depression. Among the groups of people he discussed were farmers, migrant workers, African Americans, union organizers and members, immigrants both first and second generation, and groups of people living in rural and urban areas. For most of these groups of people the "three major institutions that shaped character were family, church and community." (102) These were the same qualities which drew American's to faith and trust in their president.
To be read:
- Brad D. Lookingbill, Dust Bowl, USA: Depression America and the Ecological Imagination, 1929-1941. Ohio University Press, 2001.
- Jacobs, Meg. Pocketbook Politics: Economic Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America
- McGovern, James R., And A Time For Hope: Americans in the Great Depression. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2000.
- Sitkoff, Harvard. A new deal for Blacks: the emergence of civil rights as a national issue. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978.
Who objected to the New Deal, and how did their criticisms shape policy?
In Voices of protest, Alan Brinkley reminds us that there were alternatives. He draws our attention to two of the most flamboyant critics of the New Deal: Huey Long and Father Coughlin. Ray Clark complains that Brinkley marginalizes a third critic, Townsend.
Not everyone benefitted under the New Deal policies and programs. Blacks, for example, continued to suffer in the sharecropping South. In Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression, author Robin Kelley shows how southerners, particularly blacks, were drawn to Communism as a way to have a voice. Although the movement eventually faltered, for a time, blacks held some power and paved the way for future leaders to agitate for civil rights--indeed, a few of the 1930s Communists participated in the later movement.
While the New Deal might have conferred benefits on the local southern economies, these benefits did not always reach blacks. For example, the money promised under the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) did not trickle down to the sharecroppers, as local (white) landowners had the power to distibute the checks written by the government to bolster the dying cotton areas. (53) Furthermore, black women were kicked off WPA rolls in 1938 to induce them to fill the demand for domestic household labor (the demand for this sort of labor supposedly indicated an upswing in the economy). (156-7) And the WPA itself was woefully mismanaged in Alabama. As Kelley notes, "the WPA in Alabama was launched with very little direction or planning." (152) Finally, Kelley does not mention this fact, but FDR, afraid of angering powerful southerners, was hardly receptive to an anti-lynching bill. With the number of lynchings in the South of that era, coupled with the lack of benefits from New Deal programs, it would be little wonder that southern blacks were not necessarily impressed by FDR and his D.C. powerbrokers.
As Kirby argues, contrary to popular conception, African Americans generally did not have a great affection for Roosevelt and questioned New Deal reforms. Their dissent via the rise of economic boycotts and other displays of political power laid the framework for the civil rights movement.
Other forms of dissent centered on regional identity. Picturing Faith shows the split between the secular north and the religious south and the ways memory had to be constructed to serve the purposes of the administration and its policies. In The WPA Guides, Bold outlines the efforts of community leaders to resist the formulaic local identities supported by the New Deal policies.
To be read:
- Mark Naison, Communists in Harlem During the Depression. University of Illinois Press, 1983.
New Deal Culture
New Deal programs designed to get people working and to inject money into the economy had the side effect of sponsoring major cultural projects in the humanities, social sciences, and the arts. How did federal money shape American culture?
In his book Digging for Dollars, Paul Fagette explains the role that the New Deal played in shaping American Archaeology. He argues that archaeological excavations and other programs set up through New Deal programs such as the Civil Works Administration and later on, the Works Progress Administration played a great role in unifying the discipline and establishing codes of conduct and procedures.
Additionally, Picturing Faith and The WPA Guides illustrate other ways the federal government became involved in cultural production of New Deal America that would standardize popular memory. Both examine how culture was used to lay out the parameters for citizenship to create the image of a nation responding well to New Deal programs and as a nation united on the eve of World War II. However all three of these books miss major cultural features of the time such as music and movies and the government's censorship of them.
New Deal Foreign Policy
Domestic New Deal reforms tied to foreign policy and international relations addressed communism. As Schwartz argues essentially that capitalism eliminated the extremes of communism and fascism, thereby creating a compromise that made government involvement palatable via state competition for government investment. Despite the government's capital investment in the South, southern communists were quite active, but as Kirby states were never able to engage blacks (primarily farmers) in a labor movement. In This Land, This Nation, Phillips argues that policymakers sought to use New Deal land policies to build support among agricultural Third World nations for the U.S., the capital marketplace, and anti-communism.
One of FDR's boldest moves was Recognition of the Soviet Union.
- The juggler: Franklin Roosevelt as wartime statesman, by Warren Kimball.


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Women Could Have Greater Role in Church, Says Pope
Interview Suggests More Decision-Making Power, Shift on Divorcées
ROME—The Vatican could soon make significant changes to the role of women in the Catholic Church and to its approach to divorcées, Pope Francis said in a newspaper interview.
As the anniversary of his election approaches, the Argentine-born pontiff also sought to rebuff criticisms that he has done too little to respond to the sex-abuse scandals that have rocked the church. He also touched on the issue of artificial birth control and sought to play down his huge popularity, saying that he is "not some sort of superman."...


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Miami-Dade County
South Beach Wine & Food Festival spurs plenty of spillover parties
Like Art Basel, the Miami Marathon and the Winter Music Conference, the South Beach Wine & Food Festival brings tens of thousands of visitors and millions of dollars into South Florida.
And much like Basel's off-site pop-ups and WMC's after-parties, the food festival, which opens its four-day run on Thursday, also has spurred a spillover of unsanctioned, unofficial events. From new restaurant openings to guest-chef dinners to master-mixology sessions, no fewer than two dozen rival soirees will compete with the festival's 70-some events for attendees.
Chef Ralph Pagano will launch Naked Taco, his new Mexican restaurant at South Beach's Dream Hotel, on Friday with a party that is billed to include "sexy taco dancers."
"Why wouldn't I open up this week?" Pagano said. "The culinary sensibility and awareness for this weekend has no comparison by Miami standards. "The town is littered with big-name chefs, TV stars and restaurant royalty. To me, it was a no-brainer."
While Pagano is hoping to benefit from the festival's popularity, others say they are filling a void for affordable food parties with breathing room.
"When I participated in the Burger Bash, it got to the point where I stopped asking my friends to come," said Buzzy Sklar, founding owner of South Beach's Burger & Beer Joint. "I couldn't in good conscience ask them to spend so much money on a ticket only to be jam-packed under a tent, competing for little bites of food that most places run out of anyway."
So Sklar helped organize Eats & Beats, a Saturday night event in the Design District's Moore Building that will feature food from Red, the Rusty Pelican, City Hall, Brother Jimmy's and other local restaurants along with live DJ sets. He said he expects about 1,500 people to attend; tickets cost $100, and proceeds will benefit DJ Irie's nonprofit Irie Foundation.
Sklar said he has received no pushback from festival organizers about his event, and he's already set on making Eats & Beats an annual party.
"We had to ask ourselves at first if we were crazy, going head to head with the Wine and Food Festival on Saturday night," Sklar said. "But restaurants jumped on board right away, and ticket sales have been almost entirely to locals. It's overwhelming how well Eats & Beats has been received."
Lee Schrager, the festival's founder and director, said he's proud of the butterfly effect the festival has had. He said it highlights just how successful the event has become.
"I've always said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and in this case that really is true," Schrager said. "Similar to what we've seen happen with Art Basel over the years, we've seen an influx of pop-ups, dinners and other events leading up to and during the festival weekend as well. I think it's great that everyone is embracing the festival spirit and offering additional ways to celebrate."
Now in its 13th year, the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival has raised more than $18 million for Florida International University's Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management. A big part of that went into building the school's new $7.5 million Wine Spectator Restaurant Management Lab, which hosted an inaugural dinner Wednesday emceed by Martha Stewart.
The festival got its start as the Florida Extravaganza, a one-day food and wine tasting on FIU's Biscayne Bay campus that ran from 1997 to 2001 and drew a few hundred people. The next year, Schrager and Southern Wine and Spirits brought the festival to Miami Beach, expanding and rebranding it as the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.
Organizers extended the length of the fest as attendance continued to grow at tasting tents, wine auctions, chef demonstrations, book signings, beach parties and more. Last year, ticket sales exceeded $5.1 million for some 65,000 guests; the festival sold more than $4.1 million in sponsorships and handed over a check to FIU for $2.1 million.
Several of the star chefs who pour into Miami this week for festival duties also will carve out time and sell tickets for nonfest events.
Robert Irvine of Food Network's Restaurant: Impossible helped create a $75 lunch menu for Tongue & Cheek on Friday. Über chef Daniel Boulud will get behind the stove of his db Bistro Moderne for a $93 lunch on Saturday. James Beard Award-winning chef Michael Anthony of New York's Gramercy Tavern will cook a $300 dinner at the Cypress Room on Sunday.
For Boulud, the festival's 2010 tribute dinner honoree, this week gives him the opportunity to interact with his fans and other food enthusiasts as well as to check in on his two South Florida restaurants.
"It's the perfect timing to fulfill the needs of the festival but also do what we need to do to promote our restaurants, without stepping on the festival," Boulud said. "Doing a lunch gives me a chance to see our regular customers in Miami and spend some time with our team there."
Miami restaurateur Michael Schwartz is not personally participating in any official festival events this year, but his Genuine Hospitality Group is bringing in out-of-town chefs to host pop-up dinners at Harry's Pizzeria and Michael's Genuine Food and Drink, in addition to the Gramercy Tavern dinner at Cypress Room.
Other events you won't find on the festival's website: Pubbelly Steak had a $125-a-person wine dinner Wednesday, and its flagship sibling Pubbelly will be passing out free bites of pork after midnight. New York bar The Dead Rabbit is taking over the stick at Patpong Road on Friday and Saturday, and master mixologist Jacques Bezuidenhout will shake up free tequila cocktails at the Social Club on Friday.
Riding the festival's coattails makes good business sense, said Pagano of Naked Taco.
"For chefs, hospitality and service-industry pros, this week is our Super Bowl," he said.


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By Atchison Frazer, KEMP Technologies
IT budgets have been on the move in recent years. The shift from central IT purchasing to line of business (LOB) responsibility has been spurred in part by C-level initiatives to drive greater departmental accountability without the problems of amortizing centralized IT overheads. In parallel to this, there has been a pronounced migration in data center resourcing from the large fixed capacity, compute and storage hardware systems, to virtualized and cloud delivery models.
Gone are the days of "big iron" dominating the centralized IT enterprise; today's corporate infrastructures include a dynamic mix of physical, virtual, and cloud deployments. Server virtualization has rapidly become the default platform for modern data centers with some 50 percent of all new workloads deployed in a virtual machine (VM).
Two key attributes of server virtualization have accelerated this trend. Server-to-server and resource-to-resource isolation facilitate dynamic sharing of core data center hardware that prevents peak demand from one LOB from affecting the service quality for another's workloads. Additionally, direct visibility into resource utilization enables a metered "utility" chargeback model, solving that difficult-to-amortize overhead problem. Even though they draw from a common pool of shared hardware infrastructure, there is no need for autonomous LOB IT projects to be coordinated if they all run in their own well-isolated virtual environments. It is critical that LOB users have predictability in their application performance, and that their apps will not be randomly starved in favour of other apps running in the same virtualization environment.
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Or How to stick things to canoes
Using glue (Adhesive) is probably the most versatile way of attaching things to your canoe hull. It allows you to position things where you want them, even below water line, does not harm the structural integrity of the hull and with care it is usually possible to remove them in the future. When things go wrong it is often because the wrong adhesive was used in the first place. To form an effective bond you need to use one that can overcome the surface tension of the two materials that you are trying to stick together: some materials, notably plastics, have a high surface tension so some care is required in choosing the right one. The other reasons that bonding fails are poor preparation and not following the instructions. It is no good reading them AFTER you have stuck your D-Rings in!
Non-Structural Bonds
For canoeists this probably means kneeling pads. Although we dont want these to fall out they dont experience an excessive load and mostly the force is sideways, known as a shearing motion which gives the glue the easiest life as the whole of the stuck surface gets a chance to resist the force being applied. From a practical point of view we may also want to replace the pads at some point if they wear out. The best glue to use for this is a contact adhesive, one that bonds as the two pieces are brought together. This removes the need to hold the flat pads on to the curved canoe while the glue sets. Good old Evo-Stik is still probably the best, in the red or green tin, solvent based so you will need to take the little card up to the counter in the store.
Once you have decided where you want your pads mark round them with a pencil and gently sand inside this line. I generally use wet or dry paper though the new Brillo pad style sheets are good. Next wipe the area with some meths to remove any dirt or grease and allow to evaporate off. Apply the glue thinly to both pad and canoe with a ridged spreader. This will make a pretty pattern and is supposed to help adhesion. Next comes the tricky bit. Wait. Go and have a cup of tea. Check your emails. Talk to your partner. Just wait. You need to let the glue dry and all the nasty solvent escape. If not the bond may not work and the solvent could work its way through into the hull and make it delaminate or go wobbly.
When the glue is touch dry, probably about 10 minutes, carefully position the pad over the marked area. Then, bend the pad so you can roll it down onto the canoe. Start at one corner, applying pressure as you go. As contact adhesive sets immediately you need to get it right first time but at least with knee pads there is no need to be millimetre perfect.
Structural Bonds
Things become much more critical where structural bonds are concerned. If you have a Discovery or one of the other polythene based boats then you will need to take additional measures to ensure that your work doesnt come adrift.
Although the canoe dealers tend to sell stuff like Vynabond for sticking in D-Rings by far the best glues are the family of viscous polyurethanes that have come onto the market in the past few years. These also work well for items such as pedestal saddles and can also be used for filling gouges in the hull. Although once the preserve of professional users they are now marketed by Evode for DIY use. I have mostly used Loctite professional range (£8 ish for a cartridge) but I can foresee me switching to the new Serious Stuff or Wet Grab in the next boat I outfit. At around a £5 for a cartridge this is better value especially when you consider that you only need part of a tube and the rest goes to waste. These adhesives bond well to almost all plastics provided you take time to prepare the surface before sticking things down. Roughen the surface and clean thoroughly with meths or another similar degreaser before applying the glue. Adhesive is only needed for one surface and again should be applied thinly with a corrugated spreader. To improve adhesion Old Town recommend reducing surface tension by flaming the surface of their PE canoes with a blow torch set to yellow flame before applying the adhesive. An alternative to this is a primer such as the ones made for the professional adhesives. These are however pretty nasty so make sure you work in a well ventilated space or better still use a respirator. Polyurethanes do require time to set so should be left overnight before applying any load.
If you have a composite or wooden canoe then things get so much easier. Adhesives hold much more easily than with other plastics and there is no need to buy expensive D-Rings. A piece of 50mm webbing with a D-ring sewn on and saturated with boat-building epoxy will stick perfectly well to the hull and forms a strong attachment point. Webbing can also be used on Royalex hulls if you saturate the underside with thin polyurethane such as Aquasure or Seamgrip to create a surface for the polyurethane to adhere to. Leave this to cure for a couple of days then stick down as you would a vinyl pad.
For further information you may want to visit the following links:-


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By Allah's leave, technological progress in the End Times will lead to tremendous advances in the field of medicine. All kinds of scientific and technological progress will speed up medical research and again by Allah's leave, reduce the scope for error, prevent many diseases, make it easier to diagnose illnesses and increase the chances of successful cure.
Our Prophet (saas) notes such advances in the field of medicine in the End Times when Hazrat Mahdi (as) lives in a hadith. He described how diseases that could not be treated in his own time would later be cured:
THE BLIND WILL GET VISION and THE SICK WILL BE CURED in the time of Imam az-Zamaan [Hazrat Mahdi (as)].
Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 51, p. 70
In his [Hazrat Mahdi's (as)] time ... life spans will grow longer.
(Al-Qawl al-Mukhtasar fi'alamat al-Mahdi al-Muntazar, p. 43)
As well as noting how life expectancy will be prolonged in the End Times, our Prophet (saas) also says that Hazrat Mahdi (as), who will appear in the End Times, will be long-lived like the prophets Adam (as) and Nuh (as):
"Hazrat Mahdi (as) will possess certain characteristics of earlier prophets. Among these is his BEING LONG-LIVED, LIKE THE PROPHET ADAM (AS) AND THE PROPHET NUH (AS)."
(Bihar al-Anwar, Vol. 51, Ansariyan Publications, collected by: Muhammad Baqr al-Majlisi, Iran-Qum, 2003 p. 217)
Hürriyet, 13 September 2008
"More than 36,000 people in Japan are aged over 100"
Hürriyet , 5 Temmuz 2009
Hürriyet, 4 Kasım 1999
habervaktim.com, 22 Temmuz 2009


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George Gissing
About the Author
George Gissing (1857-1903) wrote a series of startling novels principally set in London, including New Grub Street, The Whirlpool, The Nether World and The Odd Women. He lived a chaotic, often poverty-striken life from which he frequently drew for his fiction. He is generally viewed as the greatest English realist novelist. He was a friend and contemporary of Joseph Conrad, H.G. Wells and Henry James.


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After finalizing his divorce from Katie Holmes this summer, Tom Cruise appears to be dating again, but it's not a fellow actor, it's a New York City restaurant manager and Queens native.
According to In Touch, the 50-year-old "Jack Reacher" star is wooing a 26-year-old brunette named Cynthia Jorge, who works at Beauty & Essex in the Lower East Side.
They first met at the restaurant on December 16, an eyewitness told the magazine.
Jorge handed Cruise her card that night, and the next day he called Beauty & Essex several times asking for her.
On December 18 the two met up, along with some friends, at Le Baron, a nightclub in Manhattan's Chinatown, where they did some "dirty dancing," according to In Touch.
"He's enamored with this woman," a source told the magazine.


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Fognini gives Italy lead over Britain in Davis Cup
NAPLES, Italy (AP) Fabio Fognini overcame an injury and tough resistance from James Ward to give Italy a 1-0 lead over Britain on the rain-delayed opening day of their Davis Cup quarterfinal Friday.
Andy Murray's match against Andreas Seppi was then suspended due to poor light with the British No. 1 leading 6-4, 5-5 after just under two hours of play. The match will resume Saturday morning ahead of the doubles.
Fognini was made to struggle against a player ranked 148 places below him before winning 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in more than three hours to preserve his remarkable Davis Cup record on clay.
The start was delayed by more than two hours because of rain in Naples.
Ward powered into a 3-0 lead as Fognini double-faulted twice in his first service, game but the 13th-ranked Italian fought back by winning four games in succession before taking the opening set.
It looked to be a similar story in the second set as Ward again rushed into a 3-0 lead before allowing Fognini back in. But this time it was the Briton who took four games in a row and leveled the match with a drop shot.
Fognini had been hampered by a left thigh injury in the buildup to the series and also had heavy taping by his ribs. He had to receive medical treatment before the start of the third set.
Fognini broke quickly in the third and maintained the advantage, saving two break points before serving out the set.
Ward then seemed to tire as Fognini comfortably took the fourth and final set, sealing the win with a short volley at the net.
Murray, who is ranked eighth in the world, was made to work against Seppi before breaking in the seventh game and going on to claim the opening set.
Both players struggled with their service game and Murray had to save four set points in an enthralling final game of the day.
The two-time Grand Slam champion is looking for his sixth consecutive win against Seppi as Britain attempts to reach the Davis Cup semifinals for the first time since 1981.
Italy has not lost at home to Britain since 1926 and will be hoping the vociferous home support can help it reach the final four for the first time in 16 years.


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The Alpina Vector ia an in-mould construction, CE1078 compliant, adjustable llid and could easily be dismissed as just another universally competent entry level road helmet. But look a little closer and the detailing beats some other mid range offerings, with anecdotal evidence suggesting it's particularly accommodating of unusual head shapes.
Modest ventilation and average weight shout winter/training but our anthracite/black sample was the proverbial chameleon, blending with all sections of the cycling wardrobe from bog standard Lycra to street inspired technical attire while tourists will welcome some of the finer touches too. My one minor niggle was the shell's tendency to channel rain into my eyes but wearing the classic clubman's cap underneath sorts this.
Standards of workmanship are surprisingly high and share similarities with other German marques. In-mould construction means the shell and EPS liner are formed together seamlessly, maximising quality and strength and I'm pleased to report the finish is flawless-unlike many in the sub £50 price bracket.
Most commu-tour lids boast twenty odd vents so eighteen seems a bit Spartan by modern standards, although this might be very welcome come the depths of December. Flat woven straps coupled with a tactile chinstrap sleeve feel gentle against the skin and the quick release thumb catch means easy clunk-click every trip.
To my surprise ventilation is refreshingly good, even through muggy midsummer I could feel a gentle swoosh through my hair. Insect netting is a real boon and oft neglected, barring entry to kamikaze bumble bees, wasps and a particularly unwelcome hornet. Nocturnal descending at forty-odd mph didn't induce painful 'ice cream' headaches but while the stealth livery works very well in most settings, it's less visible at night and in dull, overcast conditions. However, using a reflective headband and rear LED in addition to the bike's lights made all the difference.
Versatile entry level road design that would be ideal as a second/winter training lid.
If you're thinking of buying this product using a cashback deal why not use the road.cc Top Cashback page and get some top cashback while helping to support your favourite independent cycling website
road.cc test report
Make and model: Alpina Vector Helmet
Size tested: Anthracite/Black - 58-63cm
Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?
"A road helmet with top-end features and styling handmade in Alpina's own German production facilty. The Price for all this top-end performance? Less than you would think". Statements I generally agree with and the polycarbonate outer shell is a nice touch too.
Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?
HI-EPS stands for High Expanded Polystyrene'. The inner shells of all IN-MOLD helmets are made of HI-EPS. It absorbs the forces resulting from an impact to provide the wearer with the greatest possible degree of protection. HI-EPS is a material with particularly small pores. It consists of innumerable, microscopic air pockets. It is these air pockets which provide the protective effect. In addition, HI-EPS is not water (read sweat) absorbent.
Edge Protect
EDGE PROTECT is applied to the lower edges of the helmet by the IN-MOLD method. This is a crucial safety feature in the case of a sideways crash and is effective protection against damage to the HI-EPS in daily use.
Run System
This ALPINA adjustment system has by now become a classic, but one which is continually being optimized. Using the comfort adjustment knob, the helmet can be optimally adjusted to fit any head size in a matter of seconds, using only one hand. Quick adjustment to take hairstyle, headgear or children's' growth spurts into account.
Swing Fit System
The tried and tested RUN system for size adjustment has developed into a complete SWING-FIT system. It permits the inclination to be adjusted into three positions and hence enables perfect adaptation to the shape of the back of the wearer's head.
The Y-CLIP brings the two straps together and fixes them comfortably under the ear. Easy opening and closing makes adjustment to personal requirements child's play.
Well finished with excellent attention to detail.
Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose
The Vector is a very well made lid with high standards of detailing. Helmets have, with some notable exceptions become universally competent and this is very much the case here, although the design is more accomodating of unusual head shapes. Ventilation is surprisingly good despite a modest eighteen vents and the insect netting is a welcome touch. However, in my view and colour aside, these features lend it best to winter/training duties.
Tell us what you particularly liked about the product
Great detailing and easy set-up.
Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product
Ventilation could be improved and a lack of reflective detailing.
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? As a winter/training lid, yes
Would you recommend the product to a friend? In the above context, yes.
About the tester
Age: 37 Height: 1m 81 Weight: 70 kilos
I usually ride: Rough Stuff Tourer Based around 4130 Univega mtb Frameset My best bike is: 1955 Holdsworth Road Path and several others including cross & traditional road
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Most days I would class myself as: Experienced
I regularly do the following types of riding: cyclo cross, commuting, touring, fixed/singlespeed, mtb,
Shaun Audane is a freelance writer/product tester with over twenty-eight years riding experience, the last twelve (120,000 miles) spent putting bikes and kit through their paces for a variety of publications. Previous generations of his family worked at manufacturing's sharp end, thus Shaun can weld, has a sound understanding of frame building practice and a preference for steel or titanium framesets.
Citing Richard Ballantine and an Au pair as his earliest cycling influences, he is presently writing a cycling book with particular focus upon women, families and disabled audiences (Having been a registered care manager and coached children at Herne Hill Velodrome in earlier careers)


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CLASS: Freshman
COACH: George DeVita
ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Won New England, state and conference titles. …Shot a four-over 78 at Orange Hills CC to win individual state championship and lead Farmington to a second-place finish. …Had scoring differential of 0.8 and stroke average of 36.7 this year. ... Earned medalist honors in 10 matches. …Low round of the year was a 35, shot multiple times. … At age 14, was the second youngest player to win the Connecticut Women's Amateur last summer.
WHALEY SAID: "Since it was my first year, I was a little nervous. I didn't expect to medal every time, but I also didn't expect myself to shoot high every time. I thought I'd be somewhere in the middle. ... It definitely was a little different because I knew the team was counting on me, so there was a little more pressure. ... I made a couple of bets with my dad to meet my goals of winning conference, winning states, getting player of the year and winning New Englands. ... My favorite moment of the year was probably getting the double-eagle because it was my first match and I was nervous and I had started out really badly. It was cool because it was my first one and not many people get it."
DEVITA SAID: "I've only had her for one year in high school, but I've actually known her since she was 10 or 11 years old. She is very focused and goes about her business, knows what she has to work on, but goes about achieving her goals without much fanfare. She's very humble and dedicated. …The one thing that separates her is her determination to get better. She has the ability to bounce back from adversity with the right attitude, desire and work ethic. A lot of people have talent, but her X-factor is the ability to bounce back."
UP NEXT: Will continue her high school career at the IMG Golf Academy in Hilton Head, S.C. "I'm so excited; I'm looking forward to more discipline. I haven't really had that much practice in a day, since they do like five hours every day, so it will be a good way to pick up more skill."
IN 10 YEARS: "I'm definitely hoping to play in college down south. ... I don't know if I want to play on Tour yet, because I think a lot of that depends on how I do next year. ... If not golf, I'd always thought about med school and always wanted to be a doctor."
MISCELLANEOUS: Favorite course ever played is PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. ... Favorite Connecticut course is Twin Hills CC in Coventry. ... Would like to play Pebble Beach one day. ... Low 18-hole score is a 67, at a tournament at Twin Hills last year. ... Played forward for Farmington basketball in the winter. … Sister, Jennifer was a senior on the team and will play at Quinnipiac next year. … Mom, Suzy was the first woman to qualify for a PGA Tour event in 58 years when she made the Greater Hartford Open field in 2003. … Dad, Bill is the general manager of the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell.
Michael Rondon


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Hi everyone, and welcome to my new Blog, which will focus much more on the "basics" of guitar, the music business and much more. In the course of these Blogs, which are also going to accompany my line of more "basic" Gibson lessons, we'll be talking about taking you from "Guitar Hero" to you first gig and beyond! Maybe even to being a real guitar hero! Regardless, I'll be focusing on the real nitty-gritty of what it takes for you to really make your way in this world as a guitarist, whether it's for your own personal pleasure, or if you, like I did, intend to make it your life. The guitar, and music in general, is such a continuing learning experience, and with myself being a self-taught musician I have countless stories, "words to the wise" and many other tips and pointers I can impart to really help you navigate the sometimes turbulent waters of a musical career.
We'll be discussing everything, from buying your first guitar to copywriting and publishing songs. All that you'll need to know will be passed on to you, by me, someone who has learned it all in the real "school of life," and who knows how to pass it on. I also must say, that I welcome your comments and questions always, so please do not hesitate to write to me, and I will try as hard as I can to answer all of them!
So, please be sure to stay tuned, as you'll never know what new ideas and inspiration you'll be able to draw from these Blogs I'll be posting! I truly hope you enjoy them!


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We've touched on this topic before, but it's time to revisit it:
Should flashing headlights to warn motorists of a speed trap be illegal?
A Florida man has won his First Amendment case against the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, which ticketed him for flashing his lights to warn other drivers of a speed trap. The Orlando Sentinel says a judge said that the deputy who ticketed Ryan Kintner, 25, had misapplied a state law banning aftermarket flashing emergency lights. The judge went even further, and ruled that flashing your lights to communicate with other drivers qualifies as constitutionally protected speech.
If you're in Florida, flash all you want!


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Michael Snow
Canadian, b. 1929
Noon and Skirt, from the Walking Woman Series, 1964
enamel, oil, cloth, graphite on canvas
152.3 x 51 cm
Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; Acquired with funds from The Winnipeg Foundation
Painting, Canadian Modern (1910-1979)
Noon and Skirt reflects a range of influences—from Dada to Pop Art to modern abstract painting—that the Toronto artist Michael Snow was drawn to when he began producing the Walking Woman series in the early 1960s. In this familiar body of work, a striding female figure in profile, often with hands and feet cut off, is used as an arbitrary constant from which the artist investigates formal issues related to perception and painting. Snow produced hundreds of versions of the silhouette, as paintings, sculptures, wallpaper, and in film. At the same time, the figure's serialized typicality provokes questions about the confines of a certain type of feminine identity in the post-World War II era.
Gallery Hours
- Tuesday 11am-5pm
- Wednesday 11am-5pm
- Thursday 11am-5pm
- Friday 11am-9pm
- Saturday 11am-5pm
- Sunday 11am-5pm
- Closed Monday


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JACKSON, Mississippi -- Mississippi's insurance commissioner is going ahead with a state health insurance exchange, over objections from Gov. Phil Bryant, a fellow Republican.
Commissioner Mike Chaney sent a letter Wednesday to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services saying Mississippi will run its own exchange. He said the state will submit the full plan by Friday. Federal officials must approve the plan, but Chaney says he's confident Mississippi will ultimately get the go-ahead.
"It's done," Chaney told the health insurance exchange advisory board, which has helped design the online insurance marketplace, at a meeting Wednesday.
Chaney has worked toward building an exchange despite pressure from Bryant and others to abandon participation in the federally subsidized marketplace.
"The whole goal here is to help the consumer in this state have more information and make an intelligent decision about what they are going to buy," the commissioner said
Chaney said he and Bryant discussed the submission in a Tuesday meeting, but Bryant said Wednesday he is still opposed.
"I have, again, been against the expansion of Obamacare throughout the state of Mississippi. I believe a health care exchange is a portal for that," Bryant said in response to reporters at the state Capitol. "I'm worried about the federal government taking over that system, and I worry about expanding a large entitlement program in the state of Mississippi through what was to be a free-market based system in the insurance exchange. So, I'm disappointed."
Bryant and other state leaders also have also opposed Mississippi's participation in an expansion of the federal-state Medicaid program to cover hundreds of thousands more poor people, saying the state government can't afford its share of the future costs. That expansion is optional, though, and separate from the insurance exchanges.
States face a Friday deadline to say they would run their exchange. The federal government extended the deadline for submitting the plan until Dec. 14. Without action, the federal government would set up exchanges for each state.
Chaney said he's no fan of the new federal health care law, but says Mississippi would be better off controlling its own exchange.
"If you default to the federal government, you forever give the keys to the state's health insurance market to the federal government," he said.
State regulation means Mississippi can set the minimum coverage requirements, regulate policies and make sure claims are paid promptly, Chaney said. The state plans to operate an exchange where policies won't be subsidized alongside the subsidized market mandated by the health care law.
Bryant said he believes the federal government will essentially control the exchange.
"At some point the federal government is going to require you to maintain the guidelines they established," Bryant said. "I do not believe that since the federal government has put over $20 million into this exchange that they're going to say, 'It's yours, Mississippi, and you can manage it.' Certainly, they're going to take it over."
Opponents say the state won't have enough freedom and Mississippi should have no association with a law they find odious.
"They're showing us there are lots of free market ideas that supposedly the exchange will give us, but they're in direct conflict with the socialist ideas being put out by the Obama administration," said Laura VanOverschelde of the Central Mississippi Tea Party.
At times, tea party opponents appeared in force at advisory board sessions to protest, but Chaney wasn't swayed.
"I don't like it; I would not vote for it; I think it needs to be repealed. But it is the law," Chaney said.
Former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, unlike Bryant, favored the concept of an exchange. State legislation to establish an exchange failed, but Chaney said he had legal authority to go ahead even without the law. Chaney said that only an act of the Legislature could derail the process now, but since federal money is being used to launch the exchange, he predicted lawmakers wouldn't interfere.
One advisory board member, Therese Hanna, said Chaney's determination was validated after President Barack Obama's re-election.
Hanna, who is executive director of the Center for Mississippi Health Policy, said it was still unclear if the market will flourish, but she said an exchange tailored to Mississippi conditions could provide a better home for the hundreds of thousands of state residents who are supposed to get federal money to help them buy policies.
The state Insurance Department has received more than $20 million in federal money to develop the exchange. The marketplace will be operated by the Mississippi Comprehensive Health Insurance Risk Pool, which will contract with outside groups for most services. The risk pool group was established in 1992 to help people with pre-existing conditions find health coverage.
Chaney said one advantage of state regulation is that more insurers were likely to offer policies.
United Health Group already offers two policies on the Mississippi exchange. Chaney said more insurers would begin offering policies starting in about six months, assuming federal approval, growing to as many as 10 insurers.
Jeff Amy wrote this report. Emily Wagster Pettus contributed to this report.


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Pierrette polo shirt: without any logo on the chest
Pierrette is a classic, straight cut polo shirt made from top-quality cotton piqué. The slightly strengthened collar and the ribbed cuffs offer a stable shape and a perfect fit at all times.
- Classic straight cut
- 100% cotton (top quality piqué)
- Meticulous workmanship
- Slightly strengthened collar ensures a perfect fit
- Without any animal logo on the chest
'Made in Europe'
Although I have a French name, I come from a clothing manufacturer in the European part of Turkey.
This family company, founded in 1978, creates high-quality polo shirts such as me with a great passion for detail, as well as -shirts and underwear from the BLACKSOCKS range.
Top-quality cotton piqué
Meticulous workmanship and the materials used in the manufacturing process are vital to ensure that we make good polo shirts which are comfortable to wear and fit perfectly.
I am made from 100% finest cotton in a breathable piqué weave. This means that I stay in shape and I ensure a pleasant body temperature and a wonderfully comfortable fit at all times.
Without any animal logo on the chest
Crocodile, horse, moose or hare? Preferably none! Those of you fed up of the endless zoo on your chest have come to the right place.
Thanks to my timeless design with a two-hole button line and a side slid in the torso edge, you will be consistently well and comfortably dressed. My slightly strengthened collar also ensures that I always provide a perfect fit.
Also in blue
As well as black, I am also available in blue. And of course, with the same high-quality piqué and without any animal logo on the chest.


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Outdoor Edge Hybrid Hook Hunter
Outdoor Edge does hunting products better than anyone we have seen. We try to offer their selection as completely as possible. These new gut hook fixed blades are awesome and worth a look if you have the need. They are made in a top-of-the-line factory in Japan with great materials – no compromises here.
Here is the Outdoor Edge Information: Continue Reading


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Wilderness New Zealand
Wilderness New Zealand brings travellers to enjoy some of New Zealand's most beautiful luxury lodges and resorts for golf, fly fishing, wilderness travel, wellness and city breaks. We can book all your travel - airfares, lodges, tours, golf, fishing
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New Zealand has some beautiful luxury lodges and resorts. Whether you're travelling to New Zealand to enjoy some world-class fishing or golf, to enjoy unbeatable adventure and wilderness travel or a sumptuous city break there are plenty of luxury options available.
We work with the best fishing lodges and golf resorts, the finest luxury lodges and exceptional wilderness stays in New Zealand. The trout fishing is the best in the world, the golf resorts are PGA standard and the luxury lodges are five star plus. New Zealand is also well known for its amazing outdoor activities and pristine national parks, where a stay in a remote wilderness retreat will leave lasting memories.
We arrange single and multi-lodge stays, itineraries and tours.
Adresse postale
Wilderness New Zealand, 2297 Takaka-Collingwood Highway, Collingwood, Nelson, 7073, New Zealand.


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WHITEHALL, OHIO: A police car has been involved in a crash in a Columbus suburb that left one person dead and an officer hospitalized in serious condition.
Whitehall police Sgt. Dan Kelso said the police car was rushing to back up other officers in pursuit of a suspect when it was hit at an intersection at about 4:30 a.m. Friday.
Kelso said a person in the other vehicle was killed, and Whitehall Officer Enrique Ortega suffered multiple injuries.
Ortega was backing up other officers chasing a suspect who had threatened his girlfriend and showed up at her house. Kelso said he is still at large.
Whitehall is just east of Columbus.