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Boutique Birds & a freebie
" 1 Then you will say on that day,
"I will give thanks to You, O LORD;
For although You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away,
And You comfort me.
2 "Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For the LORD GOD is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation."
3 Therefore you will joyously draw water
From the springs of salvation.
4 And in that day you will say,
"Give thanks to the LORD, call on His name.
Make known His deeds among the peoples;
Make them remember that His name is exalted."
5 Praise the LORD in song, for He has done excellent things;
Let this be known throughout the earth.
6 Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. " Isaiah 12:1-6
This is my Boutique Birds Kit. Click the image to enlarge. Click the Buy It Now Button below to purchase from my PayPal Store for only $2.99, and there's a freebie at the bottom of the page as always.
I love your comments, so please leave one at the bottom of this post as I have disabled 4shared comments. Please support this blog by shopping my PayPal store. God bless you!
Download here. Check out my TERMS OF USE here.The password is jesuschristislord.Digifree CraftCrave CraftCrave


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A Lake County, Ill., family dairy is calling it quits after more than 140 years of farming.
By: Mick Zawislak, Arlington Heights Daily Herald
The milking barn was cleaned that morning but the air remained pungently reminiscent of the Holsteins that for generations had been the focus at the Diebold farm.
About a week earlier, the last of the milking cows were sold, ending a long tradition of family dairying in Lake County, Ill. The old stanchions -- 13 on each side -- where the cows would be secured for milking and two stalls at the end of the ancient barn had literally become history.
"Everybody my age basically quit," said George Diebold, who at 66 has the creaky knees and back that come with a lifetime of milking, twice a day, every day, and growing and harvesting hay and corn for feed. "There's a few who farm but nobody wants to milk cows."
At one time, there were many processing plants and hundreds of dairy farms in Lake County, said Greg Koeppen, manager of the Lake County Farm Bureau.
Some were large farms and others had only a few cows to produce milk for the family or as barter for other goods, he said. The Diebold farm, which was settled in 1872, was the last true family dairy operation.
"It's the end of a long era in Lake County," Koeppen said.
That also means the age-old Diebold family practice of moving the herd to pasture in spring and summer along Fremont Center Road -- much to the delight of onlookers and the occasional police escort -- has become another footnote.
Virginia, the family matriarch who died about five years ago, relished that duty well into her 80s. Sometimes, people would bring their kids to watch and take pictures.
"It's kind of strange," George Diebold said of the quiet, empty barn. "Now, you walk in and you know they're not here."
Golden Oaks Farm in Wauconda is now the last dairy operation in Lake County, Koeppen said, but it is a corporate concern run by hired managers and employees. The modern, computerized operation with three milkings a day attracts visitors from around the world, Koeppen said.
"It's not what we would classify as a family farm," he said.
To get a sense of how long the Diebolds have endured, consider that the dairy barn was remodeled in 1933 with concrete replacing the dirt floor and metal stalls replacing wooden ones. The date is etched in the foundation for posterity.
At its peak, the Diebold farm had about 40 milking cows. George Diebold, who was born and raised there, said he has been cutting back the past few years due to a combination of age and economics.
He used to sell to a dairy plant that supplied Dean Foods, but its operators wanted a premium to pick up his milk.
"The trucks didn't want to come this far because there was no one else," Diebold said. "We just phased out slowly."
Diebold cows could produce as much as 400 gallons of milk every two days. It is something the family will miss, said George's sister, Mary Lou.
"That's what we were raised on," she said. "That's going to be an adjustment."
President of the Lake County Heritage Farm Foundation Nancy Schumm said the demise of the family farm is ironic, given the emphasis these days on local crops and markets.
The span of generations is also a significant characteristic that is disappearing, she added.
"To me, it's kind of sad because it signals the end of something that was a priority years ago," Schumm said.
Diebold, whose great grandfather established the farm, considers himself semiretired.
He'll still work the grounds, plant, harvest and bale hay, grow corn and soybeans, tend to the remaining heifers and maintain the 10 buildings on the property among other duties.
"It's still a full-time job but it's part time from what I was doing," he said.

subset: commoncrawl


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USATF masters athlete Charles Allie (Pittsburgh, Pa.) has been named male Best Masters Athlete of the Year by World Masters Athletics. He will be awarded his title at the IAAF Gala Dinner to be held in Monaco, Saturday, Nov. 16.
Competing in the M65 division, Allie in 2013 broke outdoor world records in the 200 meters (24.65) and 400m (56.09) in 2013, and set an indoor world mark of 25.41 in the 200m. He won individual world titles in the 100m (12.55), 200m (25.00) and 400m (56.60), winning the 400m by 7.85 seconds. At the USA Masters Indoor Championships in Landover, Md., Allie won the 60m (7.90) and 400m (58.81) in American record time, in addition to setting the WR in the 200m. At the USA Masters Outdoor Championships in Olathe, Kan., he won the 100m (12.89), 200m (25.51) and 400m (56.90AR).
"I still haven't gotten over it yet," said Allie. "It's so amazing. A lot of the athletes were telling me I was having a fantastic year, but I didn't know what it took to earn this honor. This is at the top of my list of achievements right next to setting a world record in 2013, and being able to go to a world meet and win five gold medals."
Allie's track & field success began when he was named city champion as a junior in high school. He went on to compete collegiately for Hampton University, running 100m, 200m and 400m races. After completing his studies, he returned home to Pittsburgh where he was an educator for 34 years.
Allie ran in several open meets during his 30s before competing in his first masters event at age 40. Now age 66 and the oldest sprinter of the Houston Elite Track & Field Club team, he runs anchor for both relay events.
"They call me 'One Speed' because I run the same speed in all my events instead of pacing myself," said Allie. "I guess the longevity paid off and competing all these years to stay healthy has really put me on this particular level."
Allie follows Bob Lida (Wichita, Kan.), Phil Raschker (Marietta, Ga.) and Bill Collins (Houston, Texas) to become the fourth member of Houston Elite to be named World Best Masters Athlete of the Year.
Charles Allie and his wife are both retired teachers, and they have two children.
Canada's Christa Bortignon was named the female World's Best Masters Athlete of the Year.


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Overview | Guidelines | Information Correction Requests and Appeals | Contact
|You are here: Guidelines > Background
Information quality is important to the Department of Education because educators, researchers, policymakers, and the public use information that the Department disseminates for a variety of purposes. Thus, it is important that the information the Department disseminates be accurate and reliable.
The Department's Strategic Plan emphasizes the importance of information quality. For example, goal four of the six strategic goals is to "Transform Education into an Evidence-based Field." Under this goal, the Department seeks "to ensure that research funded or published by the Department is of the highest quality." The Department places priority on ensuring "... that high-quality research - whether or not it is funded by the Department - is synthesized, publicized, and disseminated widely."
The Department also relies on high quality information in the administration of its grant programs. For example, Objective 1.1 under the Strategic Plan requires the Department to "... link federal education funding to accountability for results." Consequently, programs that cannot demonstrate evidence of effectiveness will be candidates for reform or elimination. High quality information is required to demonstrate evidence of effective programs. To make sound decisions, the Department intends to accept and use only information that is accurate and reliable.
To serve the public, the Department of Education prepares and disseminates information products that describe the condition of American education and the Department's policies, programs, and services. The Department also disseminates profiles of the learner populations served by Department programs, evaluations of Department programs, and research products describing what works in American education. In addition, the Department reports statistical data describing the educational achievement, attainment, and the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of America's students; the characteristics of the education labor force in the United States; the financing of education in the United States; and international comparisons of education systems and their students. The Department disseminates most of its information products in both printed and electronic formats, as well as in oral presentations. Many information products are announced on the Department's Website (www.ed.gov), where they can be accessed and downloaded.
|Table of Contents


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The American dream is to own a home. In North Carolina, helping working families realize that dream is a building block to prosperity for all.
Sadly, certain unscrupulous practices enable a select few to take advantage of hardworking North Carolinians who just want a piece of the dream. Shady dealings in the real estate industry allow companies to take advantage of everyday people struggling to pay their mortgage.
Because the North Carolina lacks even the most basic common-sense regulation on issues like foreclosure rescue scams, "rent to own" contracts and contracts for deeds, consumers can be manipulated into bad deals that devastate families and undermine the economic well-being of us all.
North Carolina lawmakers have an opportunity to put a stop to this. Senate Bill 1015, Homeowner and Homebuyer Protection Act, is a wise and practical way to protect people who own or are looking to purchase a home. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Josh Stein, would offer valuable safeguards to the people who are investing in our common future.
That's what homeownership represents: an investment in North Carolina. Owning a home is a way to create prosperous communities and help families accumulate wealth across generations.
A North Carolinian who buys a home makes an investment that can be passed on to children, building prosperity and keeping it right here in North Carolina. As a state, it's in our best interests to help keep people in their homes.
If we want to encourage homeownership – and encourage the economic stimulus it represents – we need to crack down on misleading and dangerous practices.
Sen. Stein's bill would do just that.
This bill would prohibit foreclosure rescue scams, where fly-by-night operations offer to "help" struggling homeowners by robbing them of hard-earned wealth. It would also create reasonable regulation and standards for rent with an option to purchase contracts and contracts for deeds.
The unfair and unscrupulous use of these real estate transactions exploit and manipulate families struggling to pay a home loan or families who are having trouble obtaining a loan to purchase a home.
In these challenging economic times, as many North Carolinians face lost jobs and the threat of foreclosure, we must make sure that struggling homeowners and aspiring homebuyers are protected from predatory real estate practices. Supporting the Homeowner and Homebuyer Protection Act represents protecting the economic well-being of our communities — and the interests of every lawmaker's constituents.
North Carolina's people work hard to earn what they have. Especially in the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, we have to work as hard as we can to help our state's families stay in their homes.
When the House Committee on Financial Institutions meets on Tuesday, May 25, those lawmakers will have an opportunity to offer that help.
We urge our representatives to vote "yes" on the Senate Bill 1015 (Homeowner and Homebuyer Protection Act) to help every North Carolinian achieve their own personal American dream.


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Oh, Also…
New thing we're trying out around here: the link-post (or link dump if you're going to be crude about it.) Everything here is 100% AT approved.
- GOOD Magazine is a pretty solid source of socially-conscious writing, and they've got a great piece on the "Urban Cowboys" who illegally explore the tunnels of the world's greatest cities. (GOOD)
- I used to know the words to Where the Wild Things Are better than I knew the names of close family members, so I'm incredibly excited for the Spike Jonze adaptation, which has a new poster out. It's over at Pajiba, which is possibly my favourite website of all time. (Pajiba)
- Paul Neave has turned web design into an art form. His creations are simple, but they're also immensely inspired. He's created a 3-D virtual dandelion that you can blow on through the mike of your computer. It's pretty incredible. (Neave)
- Some Welsh farmers recreated the Mona Lisa with sheep with light-packs on their backs. It's an Android's dream. (DarraghDoyle)
- Adam Buxton (who has a great show with Joe Cornish on BBC 6Music) created this video for the release of Radiohead's In Rainbows. It's not very topical, but I had to share it. [ Continue Reading ]


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WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Sirens wailed and church bells tolled in Warsaw as largely Roman Catholic Poland paid homage Friday to the Jewish fighters who rose up 70 years ago against German Nazi forces in the Warsaw ghetto uprising.
The mournful sounds marked the start of state ceremonies that were led by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes to honor the first large-scale rebellion against the Germans during World War II. The president was joined by officials from Poland, Israeli and beyond as well as a survivor of the fighting, Simha Rotem.
'We knew that the end would be the same for everyone, but we wanted to choose the kind of death we would die,' said Rotem, an 88-year-old who one in a tiny number of surviving fighters and the key figure at the ceremony. 'But to this day I have doubts as to whether we had the right to carry out the uprising and shorten the lives of people by a day, a week, or two weeks. No one gave us that right and I have to live with my doubts.'
During a morning of ceremony, Komorowski bestowed one of the country's highest honors on Rotem - the Grand Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland. Later the two of them, along with Israeli Education Minister Shai Piron and Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, a Polish Auschwitz survivor who helped rescue Jews during the war, walked side-by-side to the monument and bowed before it as soldiers laid a wreath for them.
Officials had announced that a second surviving fighter, Havka Folman Raban, would participate but she was not highlighted in television coverage and it was unclear whether she actually was there.
To a military drum, other dignitaries followed them in paying their respects at the now famous memorial, including Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, members of Poland's Jewish community and U.S. Ambassador Stephen Mull along with an American survivor of the Warsaw ghetto, Estelle Laughlin.
Rabbis also recited mournful Hebrew prayers, flanked as they stood by three Polish army chaplains, a Catholic, an Eastern Orthodox and a Protestant, one of whom recited Psalm 130. 'Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! ...' it starts.
Throughout Warsaw, national and city flags fluttered from city buses, trams and public buildings as authorities made an unprecedented effort to encourage Poles to remember the ghetto fighters and Jewish suffering during the war. Warsaw city hall said it is the first time that churches in the capital rang their bells to mark the anniversary of the uprising.
The events come exactly 70 years after about 750 Jews with few arms and no military training attacked a much larger and well equipped German force, which was about to send the remaining survivors of the ghetto to death camps. The revolt was crushed in May, and the ghetto was razed to the ground, most of its residents killed.
'The Nazis made a hell on earth of the ghetto,' Komorowski said in a speech. 'Persecuting the Jews appealed to the lowest of human instincts.'
The events Friday followed an evening of commemorations. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta, performed works by Beethoven in Warsaw's Grand Theater in honor of the fighters - a gala event attended by Komorowski, Tusk and Rotem. Before the concert, a cantor appeared on a stage whose set evoked the brick ghetto walls and windows with painted burning flames that recalled the ghetto as the Nazis burned it to the ground. The audience also gave Rotem a long standing ovation.
Later, a less formal event took place around the ghetto memorial, beginning with the Israeli orchestra's first violinist Julian Rachlin performing a Bach sarabande, followed by more music and speeches.
Israel also marked the anniversary of the uprising on its Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 7, which coincides with the Hebrew date of the anniversary of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.
--- AP reporter Monika Scislowska in Warsaw contributed to this report.
-- Follow Vanessa Gera at twitter.com/VanessaGera


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Indiana farmer looks at a unique storage solution
Storing liquid fertilizer can be a hassle—and expensive. It bothered Bryan Corn enough that he began looking for an alternative that didn't involve erecting concrete silos and retaining walls. Corn is operations manager for New Carlisle, Ind.–based Wykoff Brothers Farms.
Just 20 miles away in South Bend, Ind., GTA Containers, Inc., manufactures rugged but mobile collapsible storage containers for military and industrial clients. The company takes base nylon or polyester fabrics and applies one of several custom coatings to create the end product, says Simon Addicott, general manager. The fabrics are durable enough to store relatively corrosive materials such as diesel fuel.
The other advantage is size versatility. The company can build containers that hold between 3,000 gal. and 210,000 gal. Height determines how much pressure the fabric has to bear, Addicott explains, so the designs tend to be long and low—up to 100' long, but just a few feet high.
All of this led Addicott to believe there might be some useful applications in agriculture. That's where Corn and Jason Wykoff entered the picture.
"We talked to a few farmers, and Bryan and Jason were the first ones who took off and ran with it," Addicott says.
It was easy for Addicott to convince Corn, who had experience using similar types of containers.
"I spent 11 years in the military, so I've seen the ones that store diesel fuel," Corn says. "GTA did tests at their facility to see if it could bear the weight and corrosion of liquid fertilizer. It could, so we gave it a try."
A good fit. The result was three custom-built storage containers, the largest of which has a 130,000-gal. capacity. The containers are stored in an abandoned hog barn, safe from the elements. It took 12 people to unfold and install the containers, but after setup was complete, Corn began to see benefits almost immediately.
"We estimated a 25% or more increase in efficiency," he says. "Last year, we had a lot of problems getting everything we needed in a timely manner. Now, we're able to get up and running whether or not the co-op is open or closed, and there's no more waiting in line."
Addicott notes that storing the containers inside was probably a good idea—UV exposure is a primary factor in degradation of the fabric's life span.
"The military fuel and water tanks made from the same general construction are used outside in some pretty brutal conditions," he says. "In Iraq, experience has shown that even with extreme exposure to UV radiation, tanks can last as long as 10 years. We expect fertilizer tanks to last five to 10 years outdoors and from eight to 15 years or more if located inside."
The setup includes a depression in the ground, covered with a liner supplied by GTA. Drains are installed in the liner to remove rainwater.
For now, the converted hog barn is the ideal place for the containers, but their mobility offers a unique advantage if they ever need to be moved.
Storing fertilizer is just one potential agricultural use of the containers, Addicott says. He speculates that farmers could use them to blow in grain for storage or to hold onto large quantities of water for irrigation.
Wide Range of Uses
Simon Addicott, general manager of GTA Containers, Inc., says his company's storage containers have seen an interesting mix of military and industrial uses over the years, including:
diesel fuel storage
wine transport
strategic water placement for firefighters
salt-brine storage for winter ice removal
miner safety tents
You can e-mail Ben Potter at firstname.lastname@example.com.
MachineryJournal: Expansion Provides a Wider Reach
Tailgate Talk: Farm Journal December 2012


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Hello and welcome!
I'm so excited to launch my blog and share my very first post with you, the first of a regular series of posts I'll be doing, expressing my love of gothic-inspired fashion. Halloween (or rather the eve of Halloween, as it's not quite the witching hour as I type this) seems an especially appropriate time to make my entrance into the blogging world, as I love Halloween, and the opportunity to dress up and be theatrical. Although I haven't donned a full costume, I wanted to add some gothic drama to my everyday look by going to the dark side. This wasn't a stretch for me at all, as I already love black, and I understand perfectly what Mick Jagger must have meant when he penned the lyrics to Paint it Black. There are times when only black will do, and I want to be enveloped by its comforting and sombre quality. However, I wanted to avoid 'basic black' so I opted for a structured silhouette with different textures, wearing a blazer with exaggerated puffed shoulders, and a delicate lace top with a rare cameo necklace. The blazer has been a faithful companion of mine for quite some time now, and I never want to take it off. Maybe it's the extra height afforded by its wonderfully puffy shoulders that makes me feel like a person of note. Ironically, it's also one of the least expensive items I own, and was a lucky sale purchase a few seasons ago.
Lace blouse - Karen Millen, Blazer - A Wear, Trousers - Principles Petite by Ben De Lisi at Debenhams (similar), Black trainers - Lonsdale, Necklace - 1928 Jewellery
With my fashion statement complete, I required a suitably dramatic location to take pictures. I'd heard of St Dunstan in the East from other photography enthusiasts, and this secret garden set in the ruins of a Wren church lived up to all I'd heard, and made for a grand and awe-inspiring backdrop. Despite its location a stone's throw from the heart of the city, it was strangely still and made for a pensive atmosphere. A decision was made not to restore the Church after it was badly damaged during the Blitz in 1941. It was made into a public garden which opened in 1970, and is now decked with ornamental vines and adorned with exotic plants. I also saw a few tombstones in one section of the grounds, but could see no details on who was laid to rest there.
Do you like getting dressed up in a Halloween costume, or prefer to adopt a subtler approach like me?
Whatever your Halloween style, I wish you all an exciting and suitably scary day.
St Dunstan in the East, St Dunstan's Hill, off Lower Thames Street,
London EC3R 8DX
Nearest tube: Monument, Tower Hill
Open 7 days a week throughout the year 8am – 7pm or dusk – whichever is earlier


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This is the thirteenth entry in a fourteen part series discussing the time management classic Getting Things Done by David Allen. New entries in this series will appear on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings through July 16.
It is easy to set big, audacious goals for ourselves like "spend more time with our kids" or "get our finances in the right order." The big problem, though, is that such goals often seem enormous and vague. What can you really do to make these things happen?
Allen touches on this on page 250:
"Create a way to regularly spend more time with my daughter" is as specific a project as any, and equally demanding of a next action to be determined. Having the vague, gnawing sense that you "should" do something about your relationship with your daughter, and not actually doing anything, can be a killer. I often work with clients who are willing to acknowledge the real things in their lives at this level as "incompletes" – to write them down, define real projects about them, and ensure that next actions are decided on – until the finish line is crossed. That is real productivity, perhaps in its most awesome manifestation.
The solution to such a big, vague project is to focus on a very small handful of things.
First, what's the outcome you want from this? Do you want a better relationship with your children? Do you want to have a grip on the money that's going in and out of your accounts? You need to spend some time imagining what you want at the end of any idea for life change that you have. The more specific you are, the better.
Next, what's the next step you can personally take to get there? If you want a better relationship with your children, the first step is to push away from your desk and spend some time with them – and then start doing that regularly. If you want to get a grip on your finances, the first thing you need to do is select a software package to help you figure this out. You need an action step that you can actually do that will start moving this initiative forward.
That really covers it. Just execute that next step, then ask yourself "what comes next?" again and again until you're there.
What if you have no idea what you want? Allen addresses that on page 251:
As an experte in whole-brain learning and good friend of mine, Steven Snyder, put it: "There are only two problems in life: (1) you know what you want, and you don't know how to get it; and/or (2) you don't know what you want." If that's true (and I think that it is) then there are only two solutions:
- Make it up
- Make it happen
In other words, if you don't know what you want, it's time for some soul-searching. A person without a goal is a person idling and not growing. Even if the things you want are mundane, they're still goals. You can still focus on them, achieve them, and grow as a person.
On the other hand, if you know what you want and can't figure out how to get there, start breaking that big thing you want down into smaller bites. Focus on nothing more than the absolute next step you ned to take to get there – something so small you can accomplish it in an hour.
Both of these things might require some help from others during the thought process – and that's not only okay, that's encouraged. Others can almost always offer very good help when it comes to figuring out such significant things in our lives.
There's another interesting problem, too: on our way to achieving any big goal, an awful lot of steps are pretty mundane.
In order to be a great basketball player, you have to spend hours in a gym making shot after shot. You have to run all the time to keep yourself in pristine shape. The end product – being great at a sport you care about – seems wonderful, but the work to get there can be really mundane.
In order to be a great parent, you have to spend a lot of time with your children, not just hovering over them or trying to be their friend, but encouraging their problem-solving skills and their independence. You have to change diapers and deal with disciplinary issues over and over again. The end product – a child who is self-motivated to maximize their own potential – is a great target, but the work to get there is mundane.
To accomplish something big like this, you have to revel in the mundane. You have to know and appreciate how those endless free throws or those infinite diapers or those countless time-out sessions are pushing you towards your goal. Allen riffs on this on page 252:
My clients often wonder how I can sit with them in their offices, often for hours on end, as they empty the drawers of their desks and painstakingly go through the minutiae of stuff tha they have let accumulate in their minds and their physical space. Aside from the common embarrassment they feel about the volume of their irresponsibly dealt-with details, they assume I should be bored to tears. Quite the contrary.
Allen's big goal is to be a good time management consultant. One of the mundane details of doing this is that he has to sit in people's offices while they do their collection brainstorm for the first time and sift through mountains of junk on their desks. The thing is, though, that the mundane step here, if executed well, brings him closer to his goal. By focusing on that mundane detail and looking for ways to do it as well as possible, he inches towards something enormous.
One of my big goals is to be a writer that positively affects people's lives. In order to get there, I have to do a ton of mundane work, from dealing with correspondence to doing interviews to reading contracts. Sometimes, I want to blow it off. Other times, though, I recognize that really nailing this little step helps me build to my dreams. I focus in on that task and get a great deal of personal joy from doing it right.
That's the power of outcome focusing.
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Seeking a new carpet for your floor could be a tedious task for you. There are some situations that require us to buy a new carpet for our house. It can be your plan to remodel your house in the next summer or perhaps your old carpet just looks too old and ugly and you can't stand seeing it. However, the very first thing that becomes the consideration in choosing new carpet is about the budget. Most people will firstly think about budget and then try to find the best or the most suitable carpet that fits the budget they have calculated before. Unfortunately, as the number of demands rises up, the price of carpet keeps rising and it is not an easy job to find the best yet affordable carpet.
If you are a newlyweds or just ordinary people who have no experience in searching for affordable carpet earlier you might want to ask this frequently asked question: how do I find affordable carpet? Well, there are some places where you can get cheap carpet for sure. Some people tend to go to home remodeling stores and grab the carpet that has fair amount of discount so they can grab cheap carpet. However, there are also certain people who grab really cheap carpet in carpet distributor so they can get way cheaper price compared to home remodeling store. In this post, I would like to tell you that the second way is the most effective way to find quality yet affordable carpets for you. There are several carpet distributors that offer really cheap carpet and some of them often offer special member only pricing carpet in which allow you to grab a few more discount to buy good carpet if you become their member.
If it seems to be so difficult for you to seek carpet distributor in your town, perhaps you can make use of the internet to find the closest carpet distributor in your town. There are now so many promotions and websites in the internet promoting carpets so you can find many of them without any hassles.Readmore,..


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PORTSMOUTH -- Every year the Jumbo Circus Peanuts throw down a rocking good Mardi Gras Dance Party, (or two) the likes of which has never been seen north of Slim's Y-Ki-Ki on Main Street in Opelousas, Louisiana.
Every year these progenitors of Seacoast Carnival-style revelry devote more of their funk, soul, and horn-driven rock and roll to charitable causes.
All of the impulses listed above come together this time around the moveable feasts. The Jumbo Circus Peanuts' own unique addition to the Carnival calendar, Samedi Gras, aka Fat Saturday, aka the Saturday before Mardi Gras, happens this year on Saturday February 9. The place; the JCP's beloved stomping grounds, the VFW International Ballroom, 238 Deer St. in Portsmouth. Doors open at 8pm, admission is $10.
Due to the kindness of an anonymous philanthropist associated with the Seacoast Family Food Pantry, all of the expenses involved in putting on this particular rocking good time at the VFW International Ballroom will be covered beforehand and every dollar in admissions taken at the door will go to the Food Pantry. The Seacoast Family Food Pantry is local non-profit striving to fulfill the needs of low-income individuals and families with food, personal care products and education for healthy living.
Per usual, expect any sense of obeisance or normality to expire with the filing of this press release from the Jumbo Circus Peanuts. On Fat Saturday expect a heavy dose of the sights, sounds and sensations representative of New Orleans at Carnival time. You'll hear songs originally done by Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, The Rebirth Brass Band, Jelly Roll Morton, The Meters, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and The Neville Brothers along with the JCP's everyday gumbo of funky rhythm and blues spiced with swing, mambo and Tijuana Brass.
The VFW International Ballroom contains a large wooden dance floor, a bar the length of the floor featuring value-priced cocktails along with top-notch service, free onsite parking, sparkling restrooms, and a timeless sense of old Portsmouth.
The Jumbo Circus Peanuts' Mardi Gras parties at the VFW have typically been those types of events where the line between the band and the crowd can become delightfully blurry. Toward that end, costumes are strongly encouraged.
Please visit the Seacoast Family Food Pantry's web site: http://www.seacoastfamilyfoodpantry.org/
Jumbo Circus annual Mardi Gras Dance Party. "Fat Saturday" February 9 at the Portsmouth VFW, doors open at 8pm, admission is $10. This year 100% of the money taken at the door will go directly to the Seacoast Family Food Pantry. Eh toi!
Mardi Gras with Jumbo Circus Peanuts
PORTSMOUTH -- Every year the Jumbo Circus Peanuts throw down a rocking good Mardi Gras Dance Party, (or two) the likes of which has never been seen north of Slim's Y-Ki-Ki on Main Street in Opelousas, Louisiana.


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Both Havelock and West Craven�s track teams know that a Coastal Conference championship is a far stretch, but both hope to make an impact in certain events.
Both Havelock and West Craven�s track teams know that a Coastal Conference championship is a far stretch, but both hope to make an impact in certain events.
For the West Craven boys and girls, and coach Dorel Watley, most of his best female runners will be in Philadelphia, Pa. at the nationally renowned Penn Relays.
His 4x100 team of Jamie Cherry, Jasmine Raynor, Ashley King and Tajah Walston will be competing in Pennsylvania.
Watley says that best chances for his boys� team to place are with sprinter Nick Sieber in the 100 and 200 and Latrail Scott in the long and triple jump.
�We have some guys and girls improving gradually and they will have a chance to place, but most of our best will be with me in Pennsylvania,� Watley said.
West Craven�s Alexis Willis is expected to compete in the discus and Samantha Hall in the shot put.
As for fellow Craven County competitor Havelock, Rams� head coach Caleb King feels their best shot of doing damage is in relays.
�Our 4x100, 4x200, 4x400 and 4x800 all have a chance to win if they run well,� King said.
�Relays are where it�s at for us. They are by far our strongest events.�
The Rams� 4x100 and 4x200 teams feature Derrell Scott, A.J. Coplon, Taylor Woods and Matt Boykin.
The 4x100 team typically post times around 43 seconds, while the 4x200 team averages roughly 1:32.
Zack Bruns is expected to compete in the 800 meters and also is 1/4 of the 4x400 relay team with B.J. Boyd, Dashone Godette and Andrew Ramirez.
For the girls, Iesha Godette and Serenity Nolan should be strong in the discus and shot put, and Tempestt Frazier is the favorite in the high jump.
As for teams, White Oak, South Central and Jacksonville figure to battle for the conference crown, with West Carteret dominant as always in the distance races.
The meet is Wednesday, with an 11 a.m. start at West Carteret High School.
Jordan Honeycutt can be reached at 252-635-5670 or at email@example.com Jordan on Twitter @JHONEYnbsj29.


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WE INTERRUPT the drama over the "fiscal cliff" to bring you news of yet another scary precipice: the "milk cliff." Congress has not yet passed a new five-year bill reauthorizing agriculture programs. If lawmakers do not pass a bill by Dec. 31, the country will revert to 1949 dairy price support law. Under those 63-year-old rules, the Agriculture Department would be required to buy dairy products at $40 per hundredweight, or about twice the current market price. That would deliver a windfall to producers but drive milk prices up to as much as $8 per gallon in the supermarket.
The conventional wisdom is that this pending mess is yet another symptom of congressional gridlock — for which dairy policy itself is blameless. The Democratic-controlled Senate has passed a farm bill, and the Republican-controlled House Agriculture Committee has passed one, too, though it has not yet come to the floor. Both versions would replace existing milk subsidies with a new subsidized insurance program to ensure producer profits even when prices are low. The impasse over the farm bill relates to other provisions and to cost — currently $969 billion over 10 years in the Senate version, which is $12 billion more than what is in the House version, which many Republicans want to cut even more.
Supporters of the Senate bill argue that it would reform the most egregious direct-payment subsidies for crop farmers, thus saving at least $23 billion over what would have been spent absent the changes. This is a compelling argument, if you accept the warped logic of subsidized agriculture. The supposed savings would come from replacing direct payments with a lush "crop insurance" program that some economists believe could end up costing as much or more as the old system under certain circumstances.
In other words, the true cause of the "milk cliff" is Congress's endless attempts to manipulate markets in favor of the various farm lobbies. Like other commodity programs, dairy supports are so complex that even many farmers can't comprehend them without accountants and lawyers. But their objective is simple enough: to protect dairy farmers from the market vicissitudes with which every other business in America must contend, all in the name of a "secure" supply of milk.
This was always a wasteful endeavor, but it's especially so now that America does not want or need a secure supply of milk as much as it once did. Per capita consumption of fluid milk has fallen 30 percent since 1975 and is likely to continue declining because of an aging population (fewer young drinkers) and the shift in consumer preferences toward such substitutes as soy milk, juice and bottled water. Dairy producers have managed to offset some of this by boosting demand for cheese.
The bottom line, however, is that federal dairy policy increasingly amounts to using public resources to protect producers of a decreasingly popular commodity. Going over the "milk cliff" would harm many consumers, but the pain might be worth it if it finally shocks the country into demanding an end to Congress's fiddling with the milk market.


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Brussels 2GO4 Quality Hostel City Centre
Our hostel is ideal for budget travellers, friends and individuals.
We offer quality at affordable prices, with maximum comfort, style and an urban home-away-from-home.
This place is unusual and strikingly different by way of its pleasant design, friendly atmosphere and relaxing ambience.
Were located right in the heart of downtown Brussels! All major points of interest are within walking distance. Fashion, food, art, architecture and nightlife - just step out and enjoy all the sweet pleasures of your visit to Brussels.
A triple room consists of one double bed for two people and one single bed. We make no difference in price or allocation between the four-bed and six-bed dorms. Some rooms have a bathroom in the dorm room, while others have a bathroom shared with other rooms. Some rooms are smaller, some are bigger. Allocation is based upon our availability. Not all rooms have air conditioning.
We have free city maps of Brussels, including insightful information on the areas best pubs, nightclubs, major tourist attractions and where to get the cheapest and tastiest food, chocolate, waffles and beer. Theres also free Internet and Wi-Fi available.
Please note that there is a maximum age limit of 35 years in our dorm rooms. Theres no maximum age limit in the private rooms. Minimum age in any of the rooms is 18.
We only accept groups of up to six people.
- Tourist tax of €2.50 per person per night
Availability & RatesTo view availability and prices please select dates and click 'Update Dates'
Hostel Facilities & Policies
- 24 Hour Security
- Adaptors
- Age Restriction
- Board Games
- Book Exchange
- Breakfast Not Included
- Café
- Common Room
- Cooker
- Credit Cards Accepted
- Elevator
- Free City Maps
- Free City Tour
- Free Internet Access
- Free WiFi
- Hair Dryers
- Hair Dryers For Hire
- Hot Showers
- House Keeping
- Internet Access
- Iron / Ironing Board
- Key Card Access
- Self-Catering Facilities
- Linen Included
- Security Lockers
- Luggage Storage
- Microwave
- No Curfew
- Non Smoking
- Taxes not included
- Towels For Hire
- Vending Machines
- Wi-Fi
Cancellation PolicyThis property has a 2 day cancellation policy. Failure to cancel within this time will result in a cancellation charge equal to the first night of your stay.
Must-Read Hostel InfoThis property has specific Terms & Conditions.
We do not offer bicycle storage!
Please note: Belgian government has introduced a city tourist tax of €4.24 per night per person for your stay, which must be paid on arrival.
Check-in: from 1500.
Check-out: 1100.
When you give your arrival time remember to use the 2400 clock system.
The reception and kitchen are closed from 23.00 hours till 07.30 hours. You can still check in after 23.00 hours by using our electronic keybox at the entrance door of the hostel. You can also checkout before 07.30 hours if needed.
Credit cards are subject to an additional 1,8% surcharge.
We do not accept debit cards, travelers checks or foreign currencies.
Credit cards are accepted when the balance due is over 50 euro!
There is an option to drop off your key card if you have an early departure. Early arrivals are welcome to use our luggage storage.
There is also a refundable cash deposit payment:
Dorm rooms: �10 for sheets and keycard.
Private rooms: �5 for each keycard received.
Please make sure you have your deposit receipt (for sheets and keycard) with you on the day you check out from the hostel.
Towels are included in the private rooms. They can be rented for �2 by guests staying in the dorms.
Padlocks are available to buy for �5.
There�s no lockout or curfew.
Please note that there is a maximum age limit of 35 years in our dorm rooms. There's no maximum age limit in the private rooms. Minimum age in any of the rooms is 18.
We only accept groups of up to 9 people.
We have a 48hr cancellation policy.Cancellations must be made at least 48hrs before the date of your arrival (not the time). Late cancellations and no-shows shall be charged the equivalent of the first night's accommodation.
This is a non-smoking premises.
DirectionsShow MapHide Map
Brussels Central train station:
Take the metro : (Line 1A, direction 'Koning Boudewijn'): one stop: from Central station to Brouckère square (Place Brouckère), then take metro exit 'Avenue Anspach' (marked in green), at the exit: walk to the right and cross the Brouckère square (not really a square anymore) and walk straight into the big avenue 'Boulevard Emile Jacqmain' (= the left avenue of the 2 big 'V'- avenues that end on Brouckère square), pass 2 traffic lights, the hostel is at number 99 on the right side!
Brussels North train station:
easy on foot:
Take the main front exit by walking always straight ahead through the lenght of the train station, go down the stairs into the Avenue Albert II (where the high office buildings are) and follow 400 meters this big avenue to the left (along the green parc route), continue straight, until you arrive at a big roundabout on the big Botanique avenue, cross the traffic lights, and go straight, into the 'Emile Jacqmain boulevard', the hostel is at nr. 99 (on the left side, +- 200 meter into Boulevard Emile Jacqmain)
Brussels South train station (Midi):
Take the tram: go to the metrostation (don't take metro, but TRAM!), take any tram direction NORD (north), exit tram at stop 'Brouckère square' (place Brouckère), exit the metrostation at the sign 'Jacqmain avenue' - do not take the long horizontal automatic walker (= direction metro)-, walk into the Jacqmain avenue (the avenue on the left side of the big Coca Cola neon lights, and with white streetlights at night), walk along the right side, pass 2 traffic lights, until you arrive at the hostel, nr 99.
By car:
From the highway ring arround Brussels, follow always 'city center', the hostel is in the very heart of downtown Brussels, along the central Boulevards: with 'La Bourse' (at avenue Anspach) - Place 'Brouckère' and into 'Boulevard Emile Jacqmain', where the hostel is (on the left side of the big Coca-Cola neon lights), pass 2 traffic lights, the hostel (blue neon) is on the right side, nr. 99.
From Brussels South-Charleroi airport (for Ryanair-wizzair passengers):
A 45 minute direct shuttle bus ride between the airport and the Brussels South ('Midi') train station (best option!). ATTENTION: when returning to airport: make sure to take the shuttle bus at least 2 hours before your flight time!
From the national airport ('Brussels Airport'):
Take the train at the airport for a 10 minutes train ride to the Brussels North station.
From Eurolines bus company:
Ticketoffice + departures/arrivals: under the stairs of the front entrance of the Brussels North train station
From the European District (15 min from hostel with metro):
Take the metro at the Brouckère square (see description Brussels Central train station), Line 1, direction Hermann Debroux, 5 stops until Schuman metro station.
Located Near
Located near Brouckere Square (Place Brouckere), shops, bars, nightclubs, restaurants, subway station, museums and the Grand Place (10 min. walk).


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Sneijder aware of Manchester United link
Inter Milan midfielder Wesley Sneijder says he is aware of interest in his signature from Manchester United, although has not received any official contact from the Premier League champions.
The 27-year-old has been frequently linked with a move to Old Trafford for a number of months, and had been tipped as a natural successor to Paul Scholes.
However, amid suggestions United could move for Sneijder in January, Scholes came out of retirement to end any hopes the Dutchman could move to Manchester during the transfer window.
The return of Scholes is, though, only a short-term fix for Sir Alex Ferguson, and the United boss may be tempted to make a formal approach for Sneijder at the end of the season.
Sneijder, meanwhile, is currently content with life at the San Siro, but could be tempted to leave Inter, should the right offer come in.
"There have never been any concrete contacts with Manchester United," Sneijder told Nos. "I see everything, I am not blind, but there is nothing concrete right now.
"I am happy at Inter, but we will see. I currently have no contacts with other clubs and I am living day by day.
"If on the last day of the transfer window an offer had arrived, maybe I would have left.
"The truth is that I feel at home at Inter, but I do not know where I will play next season."
Sneijder has also been linked with a move to mega-rich Anzhi Makhachkala, before the Russian transfer window closes on February 24.
According to Sportmediaset, Anzhi are lining up a €25 million offer for Sneijder, in the hope of bringing him to Dinamo Stadium.News Now - Sport News


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Discover our inspiring collections of exclusively made homeware. From elegantly designed dinner sets to plush, soft furnishings, Fox & Ivy can transform any room into a beautiful space.
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We refresh our ranges twice a year to evolve with the seasonal trends, but classic pieces mean you can create a collection over time
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Our bed and bath collection is a dream combination of comfort and luxury. Wrap yourself in our sublimely thick Egyptian cotton towels, and savour the superior smoothness of our cotton bedding, with a thread count of up to 400.
Effortlessly update every corner of your home with our exquisite luxury accessories. Discover vintage-inspired lamps, intricately patterned vases and burnished metallic picture frames in our inspiring, trend-led collection.
Turn every meal into an occasion with our dining range. Whether your style is contemporary, vintage or classic, you can serve up a real statement with our elegant bone china tableware, superbly finished glassware and high-grade steel cutlery.
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text: Friday, October 25, 2013 Global Stroke Burden Increasing In what its authors describe as the first study of its kind, the burden of stroke was found to be a growing global issue, with a 25% increase in the number of strokes suffered by adults aged 20-64 around the world, and disparities among higher and lower-income countries. The study, published in The Lancet (free one-time registration required) this month, states that the rise in strokes among younger populations will put increased burdens on countries throughout the world, albeit at rates that more heavily impact lower-income countries. The increases need to be addressed through greater awareness of risk factors and preventive measures, according to the authors, and further study is needed to examine the causes for disparities in stroke burden among countries with varying levels of income. The researchers included 119 studies (58 from high-income countries and 61 from low- and middle-income countries), published between 1990 and 2010. They applied the analytical technique from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2010 to calculate estimates of stroke incidence, prevalence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years lost by age group and country income level. The authors also write that the numbers point to a "need for health-care services … to pay more attention to provision of stroke chronic care (including prevention of secondary stroke)" and the incorporation of "community rehabilitation, including self-managed rehabilitation strategies." APTA offers resources to physical therapists (PTs), including a podcast, around care of patients with limitations in functioning after a stroke, and has created a PT's "guide to stroke" and pocket guide to physical fitness for survivors of stroke at its Move Forward website.


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After a long night of reveling and merriment celebrating their latest victory, one of the PCs awakens with his/her head shaved and a large ornate tattoo on top of their head. Tacky, yes but also a painstaking work of art that has left them with a headache to beat their hangover. The kicker? It is a huge symbol of the god of Evil, Assassins, the Drow, Munchkins, something really really offensive
Ideas ( Plots ) | March 9, 2005 | 0xp


text: Sometimes the only way to make something old new again is to increase its proportions to a gigantic scale. The mantra has worked for the fast food, automobile and twine industries for some time. So its introduction into the vintage console modding market was inevitable. Take this gigantic, functional Atari Joystick. In video, this oversized controller has both Oscar performance and Nobel Prize written all over it. Award cat fight! [boingboing]


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Get the Best Value for Your Trade-In
Finance Your Car with Us
2017 Honda Ridgeline V6 Touring AWD
With our Taylor Your Way program, you can call, email, or text with our team, and we'll let you shop how you want to. Want the car brought to work to test drive on lunch? Let us know. Want to do your finance application online? Let us know. You're in the drivers seat when it comes to getting in the drivers seat.
We are celebrating over 40 years of serving Regina and southern Saskatchewan! Satisfaction is Taylor made!
Confidence for the road ahead.
Your Volkswagen will be sure to offer you many kilometers of driving pleasure and confidence on the road. We want to help make sure that every experience with your new Volkswagen is as enjoyable as possible even when the unforeseen happens. That is why all of Taylor Volkswagens Pre-Owned Cars have Platinum Tire and Rim Protection. Platinum Tire & Rim Protection
Protect your tires and wheels from road hazards.
Over the course of their life, your tires will take a beating. Unfortunately, road hazards such as debris from other vehicles, nails and screws, fallen rocks, or broken glass can cause damage that prevents your tire or rim from even holding air.
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Coverage applies to both original and replacement tires. Coverage is not prorated, is transferable, and there are no deductibles. Platinum Tire & Rim Protection is available for both new and used vehicles.
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Fully inspected and serviced by our Certified Technicians and protected by the Taylor 90-day, 9,000km Guarantee. Come on down to Taylor Volkswagen, 3615 East Quance Gate to take it out for a test drive and see for yourself.
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* Suggested retail price of the manufacturer. Taxes, shipping and preparation not included. Does not include current promotions. Apply online to know applicable specials.


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The following marriage license application was filed in the office of Fayette County Clerk and Recorder Vicky Conder:
Zackery James Scott
St. Elmo
Haley Krystine Sorg
St. Elmo
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The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) launched its new online data visualization resource that highlights real-time green building data for each state in the U.S. and Washington, D.C. The enhanced state market briefs—highlighting LEED projects, LEED-credentialed professionals, and USGBC membership in each state—provide green building advocates and the general public a look into LEED's impact within any U.S. state.
"Our state-level market briefs demonstrate USGBC's commitment to data and information transparency at an important level of granularity," said Mahesh Ramanujam, USGBC chief operating officer. "You can't find this data anywhere else in the market. The choice to build green buildings is simple. These state-level data visualizations make it even simpler."
The dynamic market briefs for each state were created to supply green building advocates with on-the-ground information to tell robust stories about the multifaceted benefits of LEED green buildings. Each market brief acts as a state-level barometer of economic activity taking place in an industry that McGraw-Hill projects could be worth up to $248 billion and represent more than half of all commercial and institutional construction in the U.S. by 2016.
Market briefs for countries outside the U.S. are available upon request, and LEED for Homes and LEED for Neighborhood Development data and projects will be added later this year. The market briefs highlight data regarding:
"The ability to tune in to what the green building marketplace looks like in real time is remarkably impactful, no matter what your connection to the industry is," said Ari Kobb, director of sustainability and green building solutions for Siemens Industry, Inc. "The state market briefs are clean and simple snapshots for each state. As someone who loves to dig into data—especially LEED data—I find this a useful tool for analysis."
USGBC chapters and platinum-level members were given an exclusive first look at the tool before it came online. "Working at the state level, I see story after story of LEED success in North Carolina," said Emily Scofield, executive director for the USGBC North Carolina Chapter. "The state market briefs are really useful to us in the way that they aggregate individual successes into crisp numbers that have a real impact on our conversations with businesses and policymakers."
USGBC prioritizes data transparency and access through its data access policy campaign, its Green Building Information Gateway and as a joint organizer of the Data Access and Transparency Alliance. No other green building organization provides access to this level of data and information.
"Providing the green building market with this detailed level of information is critical to the success of USGBC's mission of market transformation," added Ramanujam.


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Our 2012 numbers are in, and we're proud to say that 24 million people now subscribe to Greenpeace information or action alerts around the world. That's 24 million people who don't accept that cataclysmic climate change is acceptable, 24 million people ready to alert their networks to threats to the Earth's oceans and forests, 24 million people prepared to champion sustainable agriculture and a clean, renewable energy revolution.
We define a "Subscriber" as anyone who has given us permission to contact them, be it by email list, a cell phone number, as a Twitter follower, a "like" for one of our our Facebook pages or membership in any of dozens of social media channels we use. A little more than 1 in 10 of our subscribers are also active donors: 2.8 million, and 17,000 people donate time to us at least once a month around the world. Since we refuse to take money from governments or corporations, those donors and volunteers are the lifeblood of the organisation, keeping our ships afloat and our activism in action.
Greenpeace has 27 national and regional offices in 44 countries. Our strongest fundraising bases are in the Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. But the countries where we have the strongest reach within an internet population may surprise you: they're New Zealand, Argentina, Greece, and Turkey.
In 2012 the Chinese microblogging site Weibo became our third largest source of subscribers among social media sites after Facebook and Twitter. As we shift more and more of our global programme and resources into the regions where the fate of the planet will be decided, watch for more growth from China, India, and Southeast Asia; Africa, the US, Russia, and Brazil.
If you are one of the 24 million people who helped share and amplify our stories and actions in 2012, or if you volunteered time or money, Thank You, Gracias, Merci, Danke, Obrogado, 谢谢.
"The shift in national power may be overshadowed by an even more fundamental shift in the nature of power. Enabled by communications technologies, power will shift toward multifaceted and amorphous networks that will form to influence state and global action."
I like to think that we're each individual cells in a planet-wide organism looking to "influence state and global action" for the planet's future. It's an organism with a communications backbone that bypasses the corporate media, a central nervous system built of synapses that fire at the speed of tweets, and a global musculature of people willing to put their purchasing power, their creativity, and their social weight behind a simple idea: that there's a better way to run a planet.
If you're NOT yet part of this network, will you join us? Let's change the world together.


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VANCOUVER - Gerry Oldman had half an hour Thursday morning to salvage as many vegetables as he could from a community garden he tended along the Arbutus Corridor before work crews hired by Canadian Pacific moved in and tore up his plants and raised beds.
The rail company had warned residents along the track weeks ago that it was restarting operations on the line and gave them until Aug. 1 to remove their property from its land before it would be removed for them.
The company made good on the threat two weeks after the deadline when a trackhoe and backhoe operated by A & B Rail Services Ltd. laid waste to about 150 metres of community gardens located south of Southwest Marine Drive.
Oldman's garden was among the first to go. He said he had been tending the garden for the past 15 years, and for a time he even coexisted with the railway before CP stopped running trains along the line 14 years ago.
"What's the point? We weren't hurting anyone," said Oldman, holding a ripped-up plant bearing long green beans. He had picked and dug-up as many fruits and vegetables — many of them underripe — as he could before the machines came.
"We could have harvested in another month," he said, pointing to a swath of land that had been reduced to bare dirt.
Oldman's garden had boasted peonies, kale, potatoes, carrots, beets, melons, lettuce, artichokes and other vegetables.
"It was beautiful, tasty food … totally organic," he said.
Oldman said he had considered lying in front of the machines but thought against it. He said he'd written Mayor Gregor Robertson stating his concerns but the crews still came.
"We went as far as we could go. What else can we do now? We're people living in a coop doing something we love — growing our own food," he said.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS HERE, or if you're using a mobile app, tap the story image and swipe.
The mayor's office released a statement about CP Rail's work in the afternoon.
"It's very disappointing, given there is no business case for reactivating cargo trains. We've asked CP to respect the wishes of the local neighbourhood, and to continue to work with the City towards a long-term solution."
The mayor has said the city is prepared to purchase the land for "fair market value." But in a letter he sent to CP Rail chief executive officer E. Hunter Harrison July 28, Robertson stated CP's idea of fair market value for the land is a figure five times that of the city's.
"I would appreciate the chance for our respective staff to discuss additional creative options to acquire the Arbutus Corridor, and to recommend a few individuals who could be willing to facilitate a discussion going forward," read the note, which also asked CP not to remove the gardens.
Staff at the mayor's office said they did not receive a reply from CP.
Breanne Feigel, a CP spokeswoman, said she was not in a position to comment on the confidential discussions between the city and the company, but "CP has been in communication with the city on its letter."
Residents along the line Thursday suggested CP's move to rip up gardens was a way to put pressure on the city to pay it more than the land was worth.
But Feigel said the move was simply to return the rail line to federal operating standards.
"To do that, we need to move obstructions."
After the work crew left for the evening, nearby resident Daria Stark walked outside her home and began searching for something in the overturned dirt along the rail line.
Stark explained that when Lili, her 14-year-old Bichon Frisé, died, her daughter buried the dog's collar in the garden under a rose bush that had been torn from the ground.
It was just one of many other bushes and trees that had been planted in memory of people and animals along the corridor, she said, adding that some still stood — for now.
Feigel said CP will continue to clear the corridor of structures this month.
"You saw a large amount of work happening today and we're going to keep proceeding," she said.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS HERE, or if you're using a mobile app, tap the story image and swipe.
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About "Mary Poppins"
• It was filmed entirely on the Disney Studios lot in Burbank.
• The studio lot is home to one of L.A.'s largest sound stages (Stage 2), now christened the "Julie Andrews Stage" because the 31,200-square-foot building housed much of the filming of "Mary Poppins" in 1963.
About "Saving Mr. Banks"
• It was filmed entirely in the Los Angeles area, with key locations that included Disneyland in Anaheim, TCL Chinese Theatre (formerly called Grauman's Chinese Theatre) in Hollywood (where the 1964 premiere of "Mary Poppins" took place), the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank (which opened in 1940) and the 10,000-acre Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley (which doubled for the film's early 20th century Australian landscape).
• "Mr. Banks" is the first feature-length, theatrical drama to depict the iconic entrepreneur Walt Disney, who is played by two-time Oscar-winner Tom Hanks.
• "Mr. Banks" is only the third feature film to ever shoot scenes at Disneyland. The last feature to film at the park was Tom Hanks' directorial debut, "That Thing You Do," with only one other film before that to shoot inside the 58-year-old theme park — Norman Jewison's 1962 directorial debut, "40 Pounds of Trouble."
• Richard Sherman, who with his brother Robert, wrote the now-classic songs for "Mary Poppins," was a consultant on "Saving Mr. Banks" and his insights into the era and engaging anecdotes were highly regarded by cast and crew alike. He recalls that Walt Disney was very fond of the song "Feed the Birds," which apparently touched him with its message that it doesn't take much to give love. Disney would call the Sherman Brothers up and ask them to come play the song, so they would go to Disney's office and play it for him. It became a regular almost-every-Friday ritual.
• Playing an extra in "Saving Mr. Banks" is Leigh Anne Tuohy, the heroine of the book and movie "The Blind Side," also directed by John Lee Hancock. In it, she plays a Disneyland visitor who asks Walt Disney for his autograph just after the arrival of "Mary Poppins" author P.L. Travers.
— Courtesy of Disney Studios


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London borough's interactive newsroom courts press, visitors
Using a PressPage platform, Hackney grabs news coverage and offers a splashy site for tourists.
Last summer a gambling company called Paddy Power won an appeal against an east London council trying to prevent it from opening a betting shop.
Hackney, another London borough, was fighting the proliferation of gambling establishments and wanted to piggyback on the news.
Hackney posted a sharp statement from the mayor, calling companies like Paddy Power "financial vampires, preying on vulnerable people in areas of high deprivation." Then communicators tweeted key media, scoring coverage, even though Hackney wasn't a party to the suit.
The tweet proved the success of a strategy of eschewing press releases in favor of blogging and targeted tweets, says Polly Cziok, head of Hackney's communications and consultation.
Part of the credit goes to PressPage, the social media newsroom platform that the borough uses for its main council website and for its Destination Hackney, a visitor-oriented site. (Find out how PressPage helped MasterCard Netherlands.)
"What PressPage has allowed us to do was to provide a commentary on that story, and send it straight out to our social media channels and target it to individual journalists via Twitter," Cziok says.
"What that resulted in was really, really strong coverage for us … It wasn't our story. It was somebody else's story, but it allowed us to respond to that story in a news blog style."
PressPage, a Ragan partner, is providing free demonstrations of its newsroom technology to qualifying participants.
[Get a 15-minute demonstration of PressPage, the optimized social media newsroom technology used by MasterCard Netherlands, UNICEF, and Heineken, and Ragan will send you a free $15 Amazon.com gift card, if you qualify.]
Opera reviews and a 'ghostpoet'
You can't fire off a press release every time you want to comment on the news, Cziok says. But you can blog your position and spread it socially, which PressPage makes it easy to do.
The council website targets the borough's 246,000 residents looking to pay a fine or figure out library hours, drawing 300,000 users per month. Its old newsroom was just a list of press releases and downloadable images. Hackney turned to PressPage.
"We've been looking to create a much, much more interactive newsroom for our website," Cziok says.
The visitor-oriented Destination Hackney is an appealing site resembling the Time Out London guide. It touts Hackney restaurants, clubs, and events. There are tabs at the top for things like "what's on" and "food and drink," and Destination Hackney provides information on topics like clubs. It posts opera reviews ("Aida") and articles ("Ghostpoet to perform at Hackney Empire").
A richer home page
Unlike many organizations, Hackney used PressPage to create the front page, rather than just the newsroom. PressPage allowed Hackney to cheaply get more mileage from a website that otherwise was creaky and old-fashioned. The home page is much richer in video and images than the rest of the site, Cziok says.
This means that page looks better than the rest of the site, but "it was so much easier and cheaper just to shove PressPage on the front than to completely redesign the site," she adds.
The simple platform is easy for communicators to manage, so that everyone on the team can update it, Cziok says. This means content stays fresher.
The social media-friendly platform makes it easier to optimize the content for search engines. A content editor on searched Google for "What's the best place to get a drink in Hackney." Communicators were delighted that their page came up second only to Time Out.
"That was brilliant," Cziok says, "because obviously Time Out is such an established London brand—and for us to come in just behind that is fantastic."
Blog coverage
Destination Hackney (and its YouTube channel) are also landing coverage and mentions places like Blog London, which posted a video on "Hackney's best markets."
The new platform, both for the city and its tourism efforts, encourages staffers to be more creative, Cziok says.
"They're not just thinking, 'Is this story a press release?'" she says. "Well, no, it doesn't matter if it isn't. You can do something else with it instead."
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Home- a place where a family seeks refuge after a seemingly hectic day that leaves no room for rest and relaxation. It is an eye in a storm, a calm place in a busy city, a place where a family grows together and enjoys the blessings of life. But in the context of today's times, where four out of ten families live farther apart from each other and are continually set apart by many problems, distractions and several other toxic influences in our society, homes are not what they used to be. We have reduced and deconstructed our homes into a merely technical house- not a refuge but just a default building where we go home after a day's work. In a world where familial break-ups have become a natural occurrence, how do we transform our house back into a place where our family can enjoy bonding with each other? What does it really entail to grow together as a family in a home? How does the physical aspect and makeup of our house influence our actions and emotions as a family?
In any case, our homes should ideally make us feel comfortable and at ease so that we can be incentivized to be drawn towards our home no matter what problems we meet every day. Since the beginning of time, man by instinct has created a home for himself and his family. Even cavemen had that characteristic of creating a place for his family where they could bond and survive not as individuals but as a group of socially cohesive human beings. Up to this date, that same instinct is present in all of us. But due to the distractions and other problems that we meet every day, this intrinsic value slowly fades away from us. So how do we really make our homes comfortable? If you are new to your space or you want to have a fresh start over your home, these tips would help you transform your house into more of a home and less of a mere building.
Bring Back Memories Of a Beautiful Past
We don't often realize that what dissolves all our stress is the actual feature of our house. We don't usually give importance to the color or design of our walls, the arrangement of our very windows or even the types of sofas that we bring in. But the thing is, imagine living in a house with just a solid gray concrete, a brown wooden chair and a generic set of windows. You can probably imagine how flat and dry that kind of home is. Actually, if your home is close to that, then you might really end up being stressed or fights may easily occur in your family as the environment affects how much space and peace of mind you would have while you are at home. It is never too expensive to invest in some paint or a few wallpapers for your home. Choose colors that may bring back happy memories just like the color of the room where you met your husband or the color of your shirt when your wife accepted your proposal- all these colors even if they are just subtle, can bring back a spark to how you felt on those moments. Choose happy and lively colors and try to avoid dark and melancholic ones.
Nothing Can Beat Nature
Your heating or air conditioning units at home may be the best but all the adjusting can still make you uncomfortable. Also, the temperature that is produced by these units might be so unnatural. Well, yes, you will need them eventually but on calm afternoons or mornings, a cool natural breeze of outside air can help you relax and even set things straight all throughout the day. Try to maximize your windows and open them whenever possible to let some breeze enter your home. If you think that it is too humid, or you feel sticky always, then this is something you should definitely do. Opening your windows help better the air circulation in your home.
Go Green Indoors
We always have an instinct to be calm and at ease whenever we are at nature, after all we were made to co-exist with them. Hence, it wouldn't be bad to invest some space and effort to try to as much as possible bring in nature into your homes. A small or portable water fountain can be refreshing to look at as it brings tranquility and peace of mind. Bringing in some plants, investing in wood materials or furniture and in some natural stones can be good to look at and it also brings depth in your house. But some may not like to maintain too much when it comes to plants or fountains, so if you are always on the rush and you have virtually no time for other things, then you can bring in the colors of nature instead of nature itself. Buy decorations or items that are of all shade of blue, brown, yellow and even green. This can surely bring you a different mood and aura every day.
Be Yourself
This is your home right? So it is just probably correct for you to personalize your home to your heart's content. The best way to make your house a home where everyone can be very happy to stay is putting on some personal touch and making everyone relate to the house and eventually build an affinity towards it. You might want to post you son's project or drawing in the wall. You might want to show off your daughter's medal or awards. Or, you might just want to simply make everyone feel welcomed and connected through displaying several albums and picture frames of your family. Be sure to pick photos that can bring back a lot of happy moments. Try to even organize a family activity where you can all take a photo and help design your house. There are a lot of ways by which you can add a personal touch to your very residence.
Always Keep It Simple
Try to maximize the space in your home. Throw away things that are not being used or better yet sell them in a garage sale. Dispose things that are too outdated or those that take up so much space. We're not saying that you have to throw that fridge, the thing is if it is already very old or it has virtually no use at all, them don't hesitate to let go of it- except for the things that have utmost sentimental value. Invest on things that are minimalist by nature. Remember a lot of space can affect your mind psychologically. According to studies, having a spacious home can also clear up a lot of things in your mind.
A family should invest in a home that can bring utmost comfort. If we want everyone to go home with a smile of anticipation in their faces, then try to build a home that will allow your kids to play, your family to unwind and relax. The colors that you choose, the air flow that your house has, the touch of nature, the amount of space in your home- all these things contribute towards a beautiful and relaxing home. Follow those steps and we are more than sure that you can increase your family's bonding moments in just a few days.


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"It seems to be working," says John Ugoretz, a habitat conservation manager with California's Department of Fish and Game. He's aboard a furiously bobbing 40-foot research vessel, Garibaldi, a few miles from Santa Cruz, the largest island in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. By "it" he means the marine sanctuary around the islands, which lie some 25 miles off Santa Barbara's coast. Five years ago, fishing was either prohibited or greatly limited in about one-fifth of the ocean around the islands. Since then, the marine protected areas (MPAs) have seen a greater abundance of marine life. It's almost more than many involved in the effort dared to expect. They thought that the benefits, if there were any, would be at least a decade in coming. That's what Mr. Ugoretz means by "working."
"When you create marine protected areas, you end up impacting people's livelihoods," says Ugoretz. "It's good to know that it actually works."
MPAs protect a portion of the ocean and its inhabitants the way a national park does on land. Fishing and other human activities are restricted or banned, so fishermen tend to view them with suspicion. But scientists increasingly think that they are key to sustaining sea-life diversity and bounty.
In times past, vast areas of the ocean were naturally off limits to human activity. They were too distant or too deep to fish. Scientists now say that the abundance humans associate with the sea was possible only because of these natural refuges. But technology has made nearly every corner of the ocean accessible. Humans fish almost everywhere. Many say the added burden of climate change, with its potentially negative effects on sea life, makes the establishment of refuges even more urgent.
"The only places that will serve as refuges in the ocean are those places we intentionally put off limits," says Callum Roberts, a professor of conservation at the University of York, England. "We have to … take control of the refuges ourselves."
The national-park metaphor works from a conservation point of view as well. Nations have long protected swaths of wilderness not only out of utility, but also because they were viewed as part of a natural heritage. The sea deserves the same consideration, the argument goes.
"There's a value in having unaltered areas," says Pete Raimondi, chair of the University of California at Santa Cruz's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. "It's a good idea to set aside sites for our children that are kind of pristine."
Scientists often cite Australia's 1,200-mile-long Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, established in 1975, as the best example of a large, well-managed MPA. Although closures for military and other uses created de facto MPAs earlier, the US's first national marine sanctuary was established in 1975 around the remains of a sunken Civil War-era ship, the USS Monitor, off North Carolina's coast. That was just over 100 years after the first US national park was established. Today the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oversees 13 such MPAs.
About 13 percent of Earth's land is protected, up from 3 percent in 1962. But less than 1 percent of the world's seas enjoy protection of any kind, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a nonprofit environmental group. Only a tiny fraction – 0.05 percent – is completely off limits to fishing. The IUCN estimates that, as on land, between 20 and 30 percent of the sea should be set aside to preserve marine ecosystems. International organizations, including IUCN, the G-8 Group of Nations, and the Convention on Biological Diversity, have called for the establishment of a worldwide MPA network representing the entire range of marine ecosystems by 2012, a goal many consider noble if not entirely realistic.
But many countries are moving ahead. As of 2004, South Africa has 0.4 percent of its 200-mile-wide exclusive economic zone (EEZ) protected, and is looking to expand it. New Zealand hopes to have 10 percent of its EEZ protected by 2010. And back in 2000, President Bill Clinton signed an executive order calling for the strengthening and expansion of the nation's MPAs. In 2006, President George Bush signed the 139,797-square-mile Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument into law. Today it's second in area only to the California-size (158,453 square miles) refuge created this year by the small Pacific island nation of Kiribati. Not counting de facto reserves – areas off limits for reasons like shipping and military use – the US currently has about 3 percent of its EEZ protected for conservation purposes.
Some states, meanwhile, are moving ahead in state waters, which extend out three miles from shore. California's Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, an ambitious attempt to establish an MPA network along the state's 1,100-mile coastline, just completed a laborious, year-long phase. Heartened by results so far in the Channel Islands, in April a 45-person stakeholder group that included fishermen, divers, teachers, and harbor masters submitted proposals for the north central coast. Many say the proposal was as much an experiment in sociology as it was in marine biology.
The classic approach is to simply declare an area off limits. But increasingly scientists and lawmakers see that if those living near MPAs don't buy in, the MPA will exist only on paper. This is a global problem. Of the 1,300 MPAs worldwide, says Robert Steneck, a professor of oceanography at the University of Maine's Darling Marine Center in Walpole, Maine, most are ineffectual.
"Until the fishing community can see that it's in their best interest … there will simply not be enough government agencies on the planet to make protected areas work," he says. "It has to come from the stakeholders."
Fishing removes both large species and larger individuals within a species. But larger fish are much more fertile, producing an exponentially greater number of eggs compared with smaller fish. In theory, MPAs provide a haven for BOFFs (big old fat females), creating a de facto nursery. Fish larvae then spill over and replenish adjacent areas. Indeed, satellite data from the US Northeast show that the most intense fishing – and presumably the best catches – occur along the borders of closed areas.
MPAs have other, less-direct effects. In California's Channel Islands, for example, lobsters have grown in size and abundance since closure. Bigger lobsters eat more sea urchins. Sea urchins eat kelp, so fewer urchins means more kelp. The end result of more lobsters is a healthier kelp forest, which provides more habitat for seaweed-loving fish like kelp bass.
Increased biodiversity is another gain. Like diverse stock portfolios, biologically diverse ecosystems tend to fail less often than simpler ones. They're more resilient to disease and extreme weather.
Intact ecosystems are thus more likely to survive the predicted disturbances of human-induced climate change. And for fisheries biologists, closed areas serve as a reference, a way to determine what percentage of observed changes are due to local human impacts versus natural variation or global climate change.
"Climate change is going to affect inside and outside, but now you can actually use [MPAs] to decouple the relative effects of climate change from the effects of fishing," says Mark Carr, a professor of marine ecology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and science adviser to California's MLPA Initiative.
Confronted with the prospect of losing fishing grounds, fishermen often assume they'll lose income, too. But Chris Costello, an associate professor of resource economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, says MPAs' economic impact depends on placement. If they are placed wisely (closing remote areas that are costly to fish, anyway, rather than heavily fished ones that are closer), economic losses can be minimized. In closing some 20 percent of California's north central coast, for example, he estimates only a 6 percent loss to fishermen. Modeling indicates that if MPAs are placed in alignment with ocean currents, they can continually flood adjacent areas with larvae, having a net positive effect on nearby fisheries.
"This is not intuitive to policymakers or fishermen," Dr. Costello says. But "at least in theory, you can have your cake and eat it, too."
Scientists conceived California's MPAs as a network. Each area has to be larger than the distances that target organisms wander, 6 to 12-1/2 miles along the coastline and extending three miles out to sea. They have to be spaced close enough (no more than 62 miles apart) so that larvae from one MPA can drift and settle into another. Designed with the greater whole in mind, in theory the network's benefit will be greater than the sum of its parts.
Not everyone agrees with all the assumptions guiding the process.
Ray Hilborn, a professor at the University of Washington's School of Fishery and Aquatic Sciences in Seattle, and a science adviser to the north central coast process, thinks the presumed benefits to fisheries are questionable. The MPAs are only large enough to protect the least mobile of species, which leaves out commercially important ones like hake, squid, and sardines – open-water species that swim hundreds of miles during feeding and spawning cycles.
Also, he says, traditional management schemes are working fine in California waters. (Many fault poor oceanographic conditions and water use in the Sacramento River, not overfishing, for this year's dramatic West Coast Chinook salmon collapse.)
"The MLPA was basically sold on the … 'ecosystem is in trouble' perspective," he says. "And I think that's a serious exaggeration." The network should be called what it is, he says: a biodiversity tool.
Indeed, the Marine Life Protection Act explicitly declares conservation as a primary goal, a fact not lost on either scientists or stakeholders.
"We went in there knowing we were going to have to give up some [fishing] grounds," says Michael McHenry of Half Moon Bay, Calif., who has fished for nearly 40 years. "We just tried to go in and soften the blow."


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