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I am living in country where it has no four seasons. There are no spring, summer, autumn, nor winter. In my country (Indonesia), we have only two seasons: dry season and rainy season. Most of Indonesians dislike the peak of dry season where the weather gets very hot (around 33 degrees of Celcius). Okay, I know that means "nothing" to those who lives in four seasons country, because on summer their average temperature can be between 41-57 degrees of Celcius. But for Indonesians, 33 degrees is hot. Especially living in busy city like Jakarta with its traffic jam, walking under the sun is the least favorable option for the citizens. We desperately long for a cooler weather and get addicted with air conditioner in every room. That is why Indonesians also has greater interest to travel to cooler country or perhaps certain country during the winter time. We long to see SNOW! For us, it is exciting! But as I have observed, the people who live in four seasons country may not see winter season as an enjoyable one. In contrast to Indonesians, they may much prefer summer than winter. Winter is dreary, the sun sets earlier, the city gets more quiet because people prefer to stay within their warm home, the road gets more slippery so that people have to be more careful in driving, and many more. Isn't that interesting? For some, winter is fun, while for some others winter is dreary!
Isn't our life's approach similar to the seasons that happen in where we live to? Although each of us may have different preference regarding our favourite season, I would like to share my illustration from the general point of view. Let us assume that summer is associated when things in our life are running well. Then winter is associated when things are not as smooth as we planned it to or even bad things are really happening in our life such as disaster, "big" problems that seem impossible to solve, etc. Most of people love when summer season is happening. Life seems so free from its problems, they can do what they want to do, have fun, and "enjoy" life. But as certain as the season changes, so does the season of our lives will change. Your summer time perhaps was in your childhood. As you grow up as teenager you started to face that your parents have to divorce, your school friends dislike you, and life seems so "dark". No dream, no hope. Or maybe your summer is your single life back then. The season changed as you entered marriage life with "wrong" man. You cannot stop wishing how you would make a better decision back then which is not choosing him as your life partner. The point is, either it is because of your mistake or others' decision in your life, your season of life will change. Summer is not for forever, neither winter is for the end of time. Joy does not last forever, neither sorrow is meant for the end of time. Knowing this seasons of life and anticipating its changes is a wisdom. If you embrace this wisdom, you may be better prepared to face the winter time. Just because the winter is cold doesn't mean you have to become a cold person too. I know that the heaviness of problems you are facing offer many chances to let you become one. But again, I want to encourage you to embrace the wisdom and anticipate the change in your life well.
I know exactly that winter time can really be awful. Your car can be all covered by snow and ice which takes a lot of effort to remove it. You can get flu. Even waking up in the morning requires high level of determination. But try to imagine this.. In the midst of the coldness that your body is difficult to bear, you start to sip and holding on your hot chocolate. Hmm.. I bet that the hot chocolate will taste so much better than when you drink it in summer. What I want to show you is, yes problems in your life can really make your life seems bad. It can even make you feel helpless, desperate, tired, worry, angry, and so on. Yes, it can also make you sick, either mentally or physically. But realise that only in this "winter" season, you can allow some works God has to do inside of you. It is the only season where the smallest act of kindness such as a simple smile given to you can mean the world to you. Just a feeling that someone cares for you will influence your soul so much. It is the season where you can see who your friends really are. And as odd as it seems, it is a season where your friends can turn to strangers, and strangers turn to friends. It is a fragile moment where if you open your heart enough, you can allow some "strangers" to be the extension hands of God and touch your heart. There is still a beauty in winter time. It depends on how you choose to see it.
Believe that God will not allow winter time in your life for no reason. If He allows you to face difficult circumstances, He has a purpose for you. You may be bored with these words. But I cannot tell other truth besides this. There once a girl who has just went home after serving the Lord in the church. She was practicing choir until late at night. When she had almost arrived at her home, some guys approached her and almost rape her. She wasn't being raped at that night. But she could feel the disgust brim over her mind knowing that she has been sexually abused. After that happened, she took a bath again and again. The water from the shower washed her crying face. In her heart she kept screaming, "Why Lord? Why Lord?" She didn't do anything bad. She had just SERVING the Lord. Why would God allow such thing to happen? She didn't find the answer until 20 years later her ministry came to reach the women who became victims of rape. At first she started to reach one woman, the woman lashed out her saying, "You don't know how it feels!" Now she realise why would God allow that horrible night 20 years ago to happen. She confidently said to the victim, "I do. I know how it feels. Although I wasn't being raped fully but all the condemnation and disgust feeling was the same as yours." I will never forget the lesson here. God will make you so strong at the broken places in your life so that you should minister to others out of that hidden strength. God may allow you have a background of alcoholic and drug users so that one day you can reach those who are just the same as you used to be. I am not saying if you never be in their position God can never use you. I am saying that God can use all things that happen in your life (including bad things) to serve a greater purpose in others' life.
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people." -Genesis 50:20
"And we know that in ALL things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -Romans 8:28
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." -Ecclesiastes 3:11
Winter is not always bad. The thick ice can be used for ice skating. You can spend more time with your family at home or read your untouched books so far. You can make snowballs, ski, etc. There is a beauty in every winter. It may be hidden, so you need to use your eyes of faith to see it. In the midst of the plants that run dry during winter, there is one type of flower grows in it. It is snowdrop flower. Snowdrops symbolize new beginnings and hope because they typically bloom at the end of winter and announce the approach to spring. Growing close to the ground, they also represent death. In winter time, your character is being purified. That will require the death of "self". No more selfishness, no more "I" in everything. You try to see things as God sees it, treat people as God wants them to be treated, and even consider them more important than your needs (not being a martyr of course). And out of the death of "self" is actually the beginning of hope. Snowdrops are beautiful not just physically but because of the message they bring. There is a hope in the midst of your heavy problems. Do not let the light of hope diminish in your life. Pray to God, ask Him what He wants to teach you in this season. Keep believing that this winter time won't last forever. And as you keep trusting in the goodness of the Lord, keep praising and giving thanks to Him, the spring is approaching you. The hope will announce its coming. And you may no longer realise that the season of your life has changed simply because you are embracing the beauty of your winter time. Don't wait for things to be better first to be thankful, start with today and your life will change! Life is not about waiting the storm out there to pass, but to get out and dancing in the rain :)
"God grant me the courage not to give up what I think is right even though I think it is hopeless" -Chester W. Nimitz
"A little more persistence, a little more effort and what seems hopeless failure may turn to glorious success" -Elbert Hubbard
Leticia Seviraneta


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Wifi Changes in the Park
As of September 1, 2017, Coba Systems will be taking over our Wifi service from Bit-O-Heaven. All Accounts will be transferred to Coba Systems as of that day. All billing and service calls from this point forward, should be directed to Coba Systems at 956-616-5060. Coba Systems has set up a special website for Bit-O-Heaven … Continued

subset: commoncrawl


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See the www.w3.org, and check out it's problem with P3P technology. W3C is working to keep this important security technology in the public domain. They need everyone with the time to research the prior art for this technology in order to get the patent claim rejected. It is currently owned by Seattle software company www.intermind.com. See the W3C site for details on this software and its applications. I will devote space on my website http://www.ompages.com/ to the findings. I will update the responders on the specifics after we discuss matters further. I hope to hear from you. Thank you. -- NatePuri Certified Law Student Debian GNU/Linux Monk McGeorge School of Law Sacramento, CA firstname.lastname@example.com
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Air Conditioning Repair Service Mesa, AZ
Residential & Commercial Air Conditioning Service and Repair In Mesa Arizona.
When you Air Conditioning unit is acting up there is no time to delay. With the high summer temperatures in Mesa a faulty AC unit can really make things difficult. The Cooling & Plumbing Co has been trusted for years by residents in the east valley and throughout Maricopa County for air conditioning repair, maintenance, and service.
We make sure to take care of any service quickly and efficiently while doing the job accurately, the first time.
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Our technicians are professionally trained and HVAC certified to complete any service or repair.


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I'm in sunny California this week speaking to the very bright students at Hope International University. I really loved this group, and hope to return again someday. Several students approached me after my chapel talk to ask for copies of some of the quotes I used. I figured everyone could benefit from these inspiring words, so here they are:
"Our little systems have their day:They have their day and cease to be;They are but broken lights of thee And thou, O Lord, art more than they."- Tennyson
"If you think you understand, it isn't God." – Augustine
"We are often taught that it is unfaithful to question traditional religious beliefs, but I believe that we must question them continually—not God, not Christ, who are the center of our lives as believers and creators—but what human beings say about God and about Christ; otherwise, like those of the church establishment of Galileo's day, we truly become God's frozen people...Galileo's discoveries did nothing whatsoever to change the nature of God; they threatened only man's rigid ideas of the nature of God. We must constantly be open to new revelation, which is another way of hearing God, with loving obedience."Artists keep us from frozenness, from smugness, from thinking that the truth is in us, rather than in God, in Christ our Lord. They help us to know that we are often closer to God in our doubts than in our certainties, that it is all right to be like the small child who constantly asks, "Why? Why?" - Madeleine L'Engle
"Belief is always a risk, a gamble—an adventure if you will. The line between faith and doubt is the point of action. You don't need certainty to obey, just a willingness to risk being wrong." - David Henderson
"If there's one thing I know for sure, it's that serious doubt—the kind that leads to despair—begins not when we start asking God questions but when, out of fear, we stop. In our darkest hours of confusion and in our most glorious moments of clarity, we remain but curious and dependent little children, tugging frantically at God's outstretched hands and pleading with every question and every prayer and every tantrum we can muster, "We want to have a conversation with you!" God must really love us, because he always answers with such long stories." -Evolving in Monkey Town
So what are some of your favorite quotes about faith and doubt?
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Re-posted from old site. Original post: June 28, 2015
About a month ago I began to make a system using Google App Scripts to help my teammates log the tasks they worked on during the week. One method was using a Google Form, but my teammates wanted to be able to skip the form and just tag commit messages in order to log their tasks. This meant I had to connect our repository on GitHub to my Google App Scripts. I quickly realized there isn't a lot of documentation on how to do that. So I decided that once I figured it out I'd share, so here it goes.
Step 1: Making a Google App Script
Pick a document, form, spreadsheet, or some other Google file in your Drive to be the base of where your scripts will live. (I attached mine to my Google Form so that everything was in one place.)
You access the Script Editor via the Tools tab in your Google file. If this is the first time you are editing a script on a file a prompt will show up. Choose "Blank Project". This will set you up with a file called Code.gs and it should contain a function called myFunction.
Step 2: The doPost Function
In order to receive data from GitHub you need to have a function called doPost. There are two functions that get used when making a Web App to handle data they are doGet and doPost. doGet is for when you want to intercept HTTP GET Requests and doPost is when you want to intercept HTTP POST Requests. Since we will be getting a POST Request from GitHub we want to use doPost. Therefore add the following to your script:
// Required to receive data from GitHub function doPost(data) { GitHubGrab(data); }
"data" will be holding the JSON data you will receive from GitHub. In my case I pass it along to a function called GitHubGrab. You can just edit your myFunction that was provided to take "data" as a parameter and put it in place of my GitHubGrab function.
Step 3: Turning your script into a Web App
In order for your script to be accessible by GitHub it has to be made into a Web App. To do this go to the Publish tab and select "Deploy as web app.."
It might prompt you to name your project but then it should bring up a couple settings you will need to change. The first being the Project version. If you make new changes to your script and want them to be reflected in your Web App (most of the time you do) ALWAYS select New as your version (it's usually not the defaulted choice). Otherwise it doesn't update the code being run from the Web App.
Next it will ask you "Execute the app as:". What you choose here might also depend on what you are trying to do but if you are editing your own files just select "Me: firstname.lastname@example.com". The last thing is asking "Who has access to this app:". Set this to "Anyone, including anonymous".
There are three options. Here are what they mean:
Only myself – only you can run the app
Anyone – anyone with a Google account and is logged in can run the app
Anyone, even anonymous – anyone even without a Google account can run the app
GitHub isn't a person so we don't want it to need to login in order to run our app. That is why we choose the third option. Once you hit Update you will be provided with a link. If you were to go to this link it will run your Web App. We want to save this link.
Step 4: Getting GitHub to use your Web App
If you go to your repository on GitHub and go to the sidebar. Choose Settings. On this page there should be a box of Options. Click on "Webhooks & Services".
Click "Add webhook". The first box is for the Payload URL. This is where you put the link to your Web App. Also leave the Content type box as application/json. A little farther down you can choose which kind of events trigger your Webhook. For the basics just ensure "Commit comment" and "Push" are selected. Ensure "Active" is checked and click "Add Webhook" or "Update Webhook".
If you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will see a box title "Recent Deliveries". You may have a red icon next to the first one listed. This means it was unsuccessful.
If it is green this means it was successful. If you've followed the steps until now it should be green. Once you start filling in your functions and expanding your Web App you may encounter more errors.
Step 6: Debugging Delivery Info
One of the nice things about the Webhook setup is that you can Redeliver a packet. That way you don't have to wait for someone to commit/push something or push constantly just for testing. If you need a specific type of commit message I recommend sending a test commit and then just using the Redeliver button on that commit.
The Request tab can give you some info about how the Webhook ran along with what the Payload looked like. It sends all the data in JSON so if you are looking for something specific you can just sample your commit Payload and later I'll show how to access that in your script.
The Response tab also has helpful data. Here you can see if your Web App sent back any errors. If you go down to the Body section and look towards the bottom it will usually mention an error your script encountered like if something was undefined. If there were no errors it will look something like this:
GitHub can show your Webhook as a success even if you had errors. So it's always good to go and check the Body section.
Step 7: Using the Payload in Your Scripts
So now you have GitHub running your Web App, but how do you access what it's sending you. For this you will be using JavaScript's functions for parsing JSON.
// Get the data sent from GitHub var jsonString = data.postData.getDataAsString(); // Turn it into a JSON object so it can be accessed easier var payload = JSON.parse(jsonString);
The lines above take the data and turn it into a string then parses that string into a JSON object. Now you can access members as if they were members of a struct or class. For example:
// Grab Commit Message var origMessage = payload.head_commit.message;
Now you can treat the origMessage variable as a string and parse out the things you do and don't want.
That is the basics for connecting your Google App Scripts and GitHub repository. From here you can do whatever you want with the data like append it to a file or email it out to someone.


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Corian has been around for over 30 years and one of it's first colors was Glacier White. It's still around… Read more Groove Repair in White Corian
Category: cracked ssv
Corian vs. Heat
Corian is very heat resistant, but not heat proof. Sometimes long-term exposure to heat can cause your Corian to crack. … Read more Corian vs. Heat
Groove Repair in a White Corian Island
I recently repaired a unique crack in a white Corian island. The crack went through the top of the counter… Read more Groove Repair in a White Corian Island
Another Crack Repaired in Corian
I know it seems like Corian gets damaged quite often. That's really not the case, it's a great product. Corian… Read more Another Crack Repaired in Corian
Plug Repair in Cracked Corian
I had the opportunity to do another plug repair in Corian the other day. This customer had a curved crack… Read more Plug Repair in Cracked Corian
Solid Surface Table Repair
What's great about Corian and solid surfaces like it is their versatility. Not only can they be fabricated into counter-tops,… Read more Solid Surface Table Repair
Repairing Multiple Cracks in Corian
Sometimes Corian cracks, a lot! Over the summer I repaired a counter-top that had multiple cracks in the corner of… Read more Repairing Multiple Cracks in Corian
Repairing a Crack in SSV
If you don't know what SSV is, let me explain. SSV stands for Solid Surface Veneer. Several years ago, in… Read more Repairing a Crack in SSV


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First Nation Fiscal Relationship and Economic Development, APEC 2670
Students will examine how current First Nation fiscal relationships limit economic growth and development in their communities and the changes that can be made to current public finance policies and systems to address this concern. Students will be introduced to the key knowledge and skills necessary to participate in negotiating a new First Nation fiscal relationship and to help successfully implement it in their communities. Topics include public finance in Canada; the history of the First Nation fiscal relationship; problems with the First Nation fiscal relationship; options to improve the First Nation fiscal relationship; and First Nation and other government public finance and fiscal interests. The capstone of the course is a First Nation fiscal relations negotiation simulation and role play.
3 credits. Prerequisites: Introduction to Basic Economics or both ECON 1900 and ECON 1950
This is an on-campus class in Kamloops, BC.
This is the fifth course of the Certificate in First Nation Applied Economics program


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Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul>Safety & Regulatory Global Regulatory Update, May 13-19, 2018 May 14, 2018 Start Slideshow › A listing of airworthiness directive and bulletins from EASA and FAA. Start Slideshow › 0 comments Hide comments Comment * Switch to plain text editorMore information about text formats Text format CommentsPlain text CommentsAllowed HTML tags:

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In a society that increasingly sees business — and in particular, business for profit — as dirty, Andreas Widmer, a Swiss guard turned CEO entrepreneur, delivers an essential message: For-profit business can be a force for good in the world, especially if its leaders live out a "person-centered ethic."
Widmer offers a seemingly unlikely model for business leaders today – Blessed John Paul II, namely because of the great pope's emphasis on the humanity of each individual. Business, even in a for-profit context, exists to serve man. It serves employees, who strive to earn a living; it serves customers, who gain a service or product; and it serves investors, who earn returns on financial investment. The leader who loses sight of the fact that business exists to serve people sets himself and his company up for long-term failure (even if there is material profit in the short-term).
This is not to say that profit is bad, of course; according to Widmer, profit is the incentive that helps us serve employees, customers, and investors even better. But profit for its own sake, without any concern for man, is dangerous. That's why Widmer so strongly advocates for a "person-centered ethic," so distinctively embodied in John Paul II.
Widmer offers 9 lessons — drawn from John Paul II's teachings and from anecdotes of personal encounters with the pope — to help the business leader cultivate his ethic, virtue, and humanity. What makes this book so outstanding, however, is that while it is directed towards business leaders, anyone can apply John Paul II's teachings to their lives. Virtue, after all, is to be lived out no matter what your situation in life — whether you are a layman, a CEO, or a pope.
in short…
Content: 9 chapters dedicated to 9 leadership lessons, based on Andreas Widmer's encounters with the pope while he was a Swiss guard.
Style: Very colloquial, which makes for an easy and light read. (Read through it on your next long plane flight!) Alternates fluidly between (auto)biographical sketches, encyclical quotes, and abstract lessons.
Catholic?: It's refreshing to find a businessman and author like Widmer who sincerely tries to live out his Catholic faith in all aspects of his life, instead of compartmentalizing faith, work, and play like so many of us are wont to do. It is Widmer's attitude that will leave the reader convinced that business for profit, too, can be a vocation.
Overall: 4/5


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Trash Pollution Prevention Program
Trash impairs the water quality and ecological integrity of our ocean and Ventura County 's beaches, wetlands, rivers, and waterbodies. Additionally, trash lining Ventura County streets, neighborhoods, parks, wildlife areas, and beaches, is a public health threat, decreases resident well being, drives away tourists, and reduces spiritual, aesthetic, and recreational enjoyment of Ventura County 's natural resources.
VCK's Trash Program strives to reduce trash pollution in Ventura County through: 1.) Community Trash Pickup Events; 2.) Advocacy to improve local and state policy, regulations, best management practices, and stormwater infrastructure; 3.) Education, Outreach, and Community Mobilizing; 4.) Utilization of the Clean Water Act and MS4 Permit; 5.) Monitoring and reporting conducted by Wishtoyo's VCK Watershed Monitoring Program.
California Coastal Clean Up Day 2013 Event
Join Wishtoyo Foundation and its Ventura Coastkeeper Program at Mugu Rock Beach for the California Coastal Commission's 29th Annual Coastal Clean Up Day on September 21, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. The Coastal Commission Event has been coordinated by the Ventura County Coalition for Coastal & Inland Waterways - please click here for volunteer information and for more details! Please bring a signed waiver available at http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/bring.html.
Click here for a 2010 Monthly Trash Pickup Schedule & to Volunteer
Click here for VCK Trash Pickup Data
Click here to learn about VCK's J-St. Drain Beautification and Trash Pollution Prevention Project
How Trash Impairs Waterbodies
"Trash in waterways causes significant water quality problems. Small and large floatables can inhibit the growth of aquatic vegetation, decreasing spawning areas and habitats for fish and other living organisms. Wildlife living in rivers and in riparian areas can be harmed by ingesting or becoming entangled in floating trash. Except for large items such as shopping carts, settleables are not always obvious to the eye. They include glass, cigarette butts, rubber, construction debris and more. Settleables can be a problem for bottom feeders and can contribute to sediment contamination. Some debris (e.g. diapers, medical and household waste, and chemicals) are a source of bacteria and toxic substances. Floating debris that is not trapped and removed will eventually end up on the beaches or in the open ocean, repelling visitors away from our beaches and degrading coastal waters." - Revised Draft: July 27, 2007 Los Angeles River Watershed Trash TMDL
How Trash Harms Our Ocean
Trash entering the Ocean from Ventura County's storm drains and waterways impacts the ecological integrity of our oceans, and our ocean's marine mammals and fishes. Its is estimated that suspended in the North Pacific Gyre in between North America and Asia is a mass of trash twice the size of Texas. (click here for more info)
Plastic trash is particularly alarming, not only due to its presence and toxicity, but because it does not biodegrade, but photodegrades and exponentially multiplies into smaller and smaller pieces the size of zooplankton. According to Algalita Fish Research, "broken, degraded plastic pieces outweigh surface zooplankton in the central North Pacific by a factor of 6-1. That means there is approximately six pounds of plastic for every single pound of zooplankton in that region." (click here for more info) Fish ingest plastic, mistaking it for food, and consume other hydrophobic contaminants sorbed to the plastic along with the pollutants contained in plastic and plastic's additives. Marine mammals and fish also die from trash entanglement and suffocation. Additionally, researchers are investigating the effect that plastics and trash may have on the water chemistry of our oceans.
Trash is a Threat to Public Health & Wellbeing
Not only does trash significantly impair the ecological integrity of Ventura County's inland and coastal Waterbodies including Mugu Lagoon, the Ormond Beach Wetlands and its tributaries, the Santa Clara River, Santa Clara River Estuary, the Ventura River, and Ventura County Beaches, but trash in the quantities recorded by VCK's Watershed Monitoring Program in Ventura County's waterways, on and originating from Ventura County streets, and on Ventura's beaches is 1.) a public health threat and safety hazard because it is a source of and is a conduit for bacteria growth, can be laden with toxic substances or sharp objects, and can provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes; 2.) decreases property values; 3.) decreases resident well being and enjoyment of their communities; 4.) detracts from resident's and visitor's aesthetic enjoyment waterbodies and wildlife; and 5.) and drives away visitors and tourists from Ventura County beaches, neighborhoods, commercial establishments, and wildlife sanctuaries.


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I have way too many hobbies. Knitting, spinning, weaving, running events, triathlon events, yoga, dog training. I cook, I bake, I tried to make leather wrapped beaded bracelets last year. All of that and you'd think I'd be too busy to pick up new interests. You'd be wrong. My latest one I blame on Whole Foods. Yep, I can trace this all back to a trip to Whole Foods last year when I saw the display essential oil diffuser. The neat little gizmo that turns water and a couple drops of essential oil into a cool vapor that disperses the oil fragrance.
I fell in love. I had no idea the dark hole of essential oils I had just fallen down.
A couple months later, and well my house started smelling a lot less like dog and a lot more like lavender.
Like just about every interest of mine, one thing leads to another so why stop with basic aromatherapy? Massage oil, bath salts, body butter, lotion bars, and lip balm were soon to follow, which turned into many hours browsing natural beauty product recipes on Pinterest. And once you start pinning sugar scrubs, well Pinterest will start showing you all the beautiful natural soap pictures. So there you have it. My yarn is being neglected due to Whole Foods and Pinterest.
As much as I wanted to make my own soap, lye scared the hell out of me. Hazardous! Toxic! Must use safety equipment! Um, thanks, I'll pass. I tried making melt-and-pour soap, where you buy a block of soap base, melt it, add color, fragrance, texture, whatever, and voila..soap. Only the soap sort of sucked, and I went back to dreaming about making real soap from scratch. I read a dozen tutorials and pinned a ton of pretty soap pictures. But I'm a wimp when it comes to hazardous chemicals that could burn the crap out of me and was never brave enough to attempt the scary lye process on my own.
A trip to Atlanta to visit family and a natural soap shop that offers classes finally solved my problem. My sister wanted to take the class too and we convinced my mom to go to meet the 3-person class minimum, and boom, awesome family outing + someone to hold my hand while I mix lye. Win, win!
Measuring oils:
Listening to the lye instructions. Safety equipment? Check.
Final mixing!
End result? Lovely lavender oatmeal soap.
Also, I'm not afraid of lye anymore. Oh, this is happening.
To be continued...


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Looking for the Constitution in Rand Paul's proposed felon voter law
Last month, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky proposed a federal law that would guarantee the right of ex-felons to vote in federal elections. The text of the bill, S.B. 2550, has just been released.
It's just missing one small things: a constitutional basis for the federal government to enact such a law.
A few months ago, a group of senators, led by Senator Ben Cardin, introduced S.B. 2235, the Democracy Restoration Act, that would do a similar thing.
But what, exactly, is the constitutional basis for Congress extending the right to vote to ex-felons in federal elections?
It isn't, as Section 2(2) of Mr. Cardin's bill says, the Times, Places and Manner Clause, which Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council expressly notes precludes federal authority over voter qualifications (and, indeed, apparently killed Oregon v. Mitchell in the process regarding federal power over voter qualifications in federal elections).
Section 2(3) of Mr. Cardin's bill cites "[b]asic constitutional principles of fairness and equal protection," which is not exactly a basis for legislative authority. The third sentence of the section cites the 13th, 14th, 15th, 24th, and 26th amendments empowering "Congress to enact measures to protect the right to vote in Federal [ed: this power also extends to state] elections," which is true, but does not necessarily (except, see below) empower Congress to enforce qualifications regarding felon status. And the third sentence of the section cites the 8th Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishments, which is certainly correct, but, alas, does not empower of Congress.
Section 2(4)(C) or Mr. Cardin's bill notes that felon disenfranchisement law "disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities," (see also Section 2(10)-(11)), which is certainly the case--the harder question, under existing Supreme Court jurisprudence, is whether a racially disparate impact is a sufficient basis for the exercise of congressional power to expand voter qualifications under the Reconstruction Amendments--which, I think, is a great question, and would likely fracture the majority that wrote the statements in Inter Tribal regarding the congressional power over voter qualifications.
So that's, I think, the best possible constitutional hook for Mr. Cardin's bill.
Mr. Cardin's bill would enfranchise all ex-felons, violent, non-violent, and those who convicted of an election-related felony.
Mr. Paul's bill does something different.
First, Mr. Paul's bill extends only to "non-violent" ex-felons, "non-violent" meaning crimes that defined as crimes of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 16 and analogous state laws.
Second, Mr. Paul's bill excludes felons serving a term in prison from the scope of his bill, and those serving a term of probation if it's less than one year (or the first year of a longer probation term). Mr. Cardin's bill extends to enfranchise those who are serving a term of probation.
Third, Mr. Paul's bill includes no mention of a constitutional basis for enacting this law.
Given Mr. Paul's abiding concern over the scope of federal authority in other areas, I found the complete lack of any constitutional hook as a slight surprise.
Perhaps Mr. Paul would rely on similar constitutional bases as Mr. Cardin, but he would run into some of the same problems. At best--in my own understanding of the Constitution's authority granted to the federal government--he might be able to argue that the disparate impact of felon voting laws on racial minorities would authorize Congress to enact this law, pursuant to its power under the Reconstruction Amendments.
But that constitutional claim is not made explicitly. And we are left merely to guess.
Portions of this post originally appeared in emails sent to the Election Law listserv.


text: Home > News Archive > 2015 News > MBA Infographics MBA InfographicsApril 09, 2015The Minnesota Board on Aging released infographics that summarize the 2014 year in review. These infographics are graphic visual representations of information and data collected by the Senior LinkAge Line®. Senior LinkAge Line® A One Stop Shop for Minnesota Seniors Return to Community Initiative Results Health Insurance Counseling for Seniors Minnesota Long Term Care Policies MinnesotaHelp. info


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U.S. Open Preview: The Women Behind the Curtain
As everyone gathers in New York for the final grand slam event of the year, a player's career could be about to change forever. But, then again, that's no different from the rest of this season, which has unflinchingly pushed forward, making unexpected turns, since the calendar turned over to 2014.
Li Na became a multiple slam winner in January but soon parted ways with her coach, and now a knee injury will deprive us of even a glimpse of her at Flushing Meadows. Quick! Who was the other finalist in Melbourne? If you had to think about the answer, well, that says a lot about her season. Pssst... it was Dominika Cibulkova, difficult as that is to remember now. Elsewhere, a Canadian -- a CANADIAN -- has been the most consistent slam performer all season, while Vika Azarenka's year has essentially been a bust. Ana Ivanovic has been welcomed back into the elite party she pretty much self-evicted herself from five years ago, while Maria Sharapova has seemingly never left (and it now providing the guests with candy). Simona Halep is currently the #2-ranked player in the world, while Venus Williams -- again! -- is the second-best American.
Oh, and about the only woman ranked above both Halep and Venus... well, Serena Williams comes to this U.S. Open with high career stakes. Her year-end #1 ranking isn't yet solidified as she attempts to become just the second woman to three-peat in New York in the last sixty-one years, Simultaneously, she's staring down the notion of possibly not only taking home no slam titles in '14, but also failing to reach a single slam final in a full-participation year at the majors for the only time since she first arrived on the WTA scene sixteen years ago.
Of course, those are all the storylines that will be played out and added to over the next two weeks. Here's a quick overview of the women's draw, quarter-by-quarter:
1. Serena Williams, USA ...Serena weaved her way through the North American hard court circuit, wobbling but winning in Stanford, falling to Venus in Montreal and then taking Cincinnati for the first time ever, playing her best match of the summer in the final against Ivanovic. But Serena has found a way to win titles in the "regular season" before in '14 (a tour-best five times, in fact), but it hasn't translated to slam success when the pressure was really on. She hasn't yet advanced past a Round of 16 in the majors, and now stands THIS CLOSE to experiencing her first season without an appearance in a slam final since 2006, and just her second since winning the Open in 1999 at age 17. The only year in which she's played all four slams and didn't reach a final was her debut season of '98. So, history would seem to be on her side to at least advance to the final weekend, right? Maybe, but winning a third straight title might be another matter. It hasn't happened on the women's side since Chris Evert's four straight titles from 1975-78, and you have go back to the early 1950's (Maureen Connolly 1951-53) to find the last time someone did it before that.
2. Ana Ivanovic, SRB ...AnaIvo has turned a significant corner in '14, rediscovering her ability to win titles (three) as she's climbed back into the Top 10 for the first time since 2009. She even upset Serena in Melbourne, pushed her to three sets on two other occasions, and outlasted Maria Sharapova in another dramatic three-set affair in Cincinnati that had everyone checking their blood pressure. But the Serb is still looking for her first true deep run in a slam since winning Roland Garros in '08, having only reached the QF stage at two of her last twenty-five majors. Barring an unforeseen early collapse, Ivanovic should be fine to the Round of 16, then the Knob of Intrigue will get turned up a few notches.
3. Samantha Stosur, AUS ...for most of the season, the 2011 U.S. Open champ has seemed a lost cause searching for answers. Briefly, she seemed to find a few over the last two weeks. After losing to world #406 Naomi Osaka in the Japanese teen's main draw tour debut in Stanford, Stosur put up just two games against Serena in Montreal. But she rebounded in recent weeks by battling Williams through two tie-breaks in Cincinnati and riding a week of fine serving stats to the semifinals this week in New Haven, her first final four result since Week 2 in Hobart. If the Aussie could somehow reach the second week she'd be a legitimate threat, but that's a scenario that's a big reach for anyone other than a true Stosur fan. For everyone else, it's hard to envision without calling upon an illusionist.
THE BRACKET BUSTERS: Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP & Coco Vandeweghe, USA... both are positioned in the same section as Stosur in the quarter. #15-seeded CSN and unseeded Vandeweghe are set up for a possible 2nd Round match-up, with the winner getting the chance to face the #24-seeded Aussie a round later, or to slip through the hole left in the draw should Stosur fail to make it that far. The Spaniard is generally thought to be at her best on clay, but she's put up a hard court win over Maria Sharapova this summer and took Venus Williams to three sets in the Montreal QF. The big-serving Bannerette upset Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic in Montreal and played Angelique Kerber into a 3rd set in Stanford. If Serena has another first week stumble, either woman -- both first-time title winners in '14 -- would be in contention for a surprise semifinal run.
THE WILD CARD: Flavia Pennetta, ITA... After a slow comeback from wrist surgery, Pennetta was on the verge of retirement in the middle of '13, but a good run at Wimbledon was followed up by a first career slam SF in New York and everything changed. She grabbed the biggest title of her career in March in Indian Wells, pushing her to within shouting distance of a Top 10 return at age 32. She's had a hard time getting her game back up to speed since, going 10-11. She won just three matches on the North American hard court circuit, with a loss to Serena in Cincinnati sandwiched between tournaments in which she was upset by Yulia Putintseva and Alison Riske. Can the Italian find her fire again in New York, her best slam even before 2013 (three QF results, and that memorable gut-check vs. Vera Zvonareva in '09)? She doesn't have a "gimme" draw, with Julia Goerges, Shelby Rogers and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova likely early-round foes. But if she can get to a Round of 16 match-up with, say, AnaIvo and keep playing beyond it, she could still go from crowd favorite to serious threat.
DON'T COUNT HER CHICKENS: Samantha Stosur, AUS... did she peak too soon? The wake-up-the-echoes loss against Serena in Cincinnati and a win over Genie Bouchard in New Haven aside, it's questionable whether the Aussie can get past her tough early-round draw (Lauren Davis, then likely Kaia Kanepi and CSN or Vandeweghe) and get her third summer '14 shot at Serena in the 4th Round. Stosur won the Open three years ago, but she's failed to reach the 3rd Round in seven of her other nine trips to New York. A year ago, she dropped her opening match to Vicky Duval.
THE POOR SOUL: Taylor Townsend, USA... considering Serena is 55-1 in career 1st Round slam matches, the chances that the 18-year old wild card will follow in the footsteps of Virginie Razzano (at Roland Garros '12) are pretty slim. Still, after a 3rd Round run in Paris this year, whatever happens will be a good learning experience.
=Final Thought...=
It's Serena's quarter, and likely tournament, to win... but that was the case at the other three slams this season, too. At this point, it would seem prudent to not expect career slam #18 to come until 2015.
1. The Hat ...any hat. Take your pick. As in: you can pretty much pick the winner of this quarter out of a hat. Yep, this quarter is loaded with big names, but whether it's loaded with legitimate title contenders is up for debate.
Petra Kvitova won Wimbledon, but saw her results sag once again on the hard courts of North America until this past week. She's had a great run in New Haven, but playing in the summer heat and in the middle of the daily buzz of New York is a different animal altogether, and the Czech is still looking for her first QF result there. She could be tested in the 3rd Round by Madison Keys. Victoria Azarenka has reached the final in NYC the last two years, but comes to the city seeded #16 and nursing a knee injury. How match tough can she be with just eight matches (and three wins) since the Australian Open? 2014 can't end quickly enough for Vika, so that she can wash the bad memories out of her hair and move onto next season. Svetlana Kuznetsova is the only former U.S. Open champion in the quarter, but she hasn't reached the QF in Queens since a run to the final in 2007. Meanwhile, Eugenie Bouchard has been the most consistent slam performer on tour in '14, reaching two semis and the Wimbledon final. But she's had a disappointing summer hard court campaign, going 1-3 and having questions being raised about how hard the WTA is pushing her as the tour's new "It" Girl. But the Canadian has been the picture of an even-keeled and confident performer in the slams in '14, and she'll have the chance to prove herself again in New York. Bouchard seems to have a good early draw, but she's just a few matches past having been served a pair of bagels by Shelby Rogers in her home tournament in Montreal, and Ekaterina Makarova (4th Rd.) has been known to knock high seeds down a peg or two when given an opportunity.
THE BRACKET BUSTER: Madison Keys, USA... the American has shown an ability to gain confidence from her victories and learn from her losses. With '14 wins over Halep, Kerber and Jankovic, the #28-ranked Keys is poised to push Sloane Stephens as the highest-ranked of the young Bannerette corps. Keys doesn't have an easy draw by any means, as she's positioned in the same section of the quarter as three slam winners -- Kvitova, Kuznetsova and Azarenka. But with all three having their own reasons for possibly disappointing in New York, Keys could slip through to set up a "battle for the hearts of North American youth" in the QF in a clash between Team Madison and Genie's Army.
THE WILD CARD: Kuznetsova, RUS
...ten years ago, Sveta became the third Russian to lift a slam title in the '04 season, taking the Open as a braces-wearing 19-year old with what seemed like an amazing future. She's had a very good, likely Hall of Fame-worthy (when you factor in her Fed Cup history), career. But she hasn't become the great champion her talent said she COULD be. But while Kuznetsova is still capable of being ousted in the 1st Round of a slam and surprising no one with the result, the same can be said about her if she put together a deep run into the second week that could potentially put a career-defining THIRD slam on her racket. She's already "missed" on a trio of additional slam wins in the past, three times failing to convert match points or serve out victories in slam matches against players (Henin, Myskina and Serena) who would go on to win the title. At 29, an age which has come with something of a buy-two-get-one-free deal for many on tour in recent seasons, Kuznetsova has shown "signs" of, well, SOMETHING. A brief return to the Top 20, her first final since 2011 and her first title since 2010 have her ranked #21 and once again playing the role of Ultimate Wild Card at slam time. She has a rough potential draw: Erakovic in the 1st, followed by Vesnina, Azarenka, Kvitova and Bouchard to just reach the semifinals. But considering the current fallibility of that entire group, Kuznetsova might not even have to face anyone from that "murderer's row" other than the Kiwi. Curses! What am I trying to talk myself into???
DON'T COUNT HER CHICKENS: Dominika Cibulkova, SVK... not that anyone is expecting much from the Slovak, of course. But that says something about her season, which began with an Australian Open final and included a 16-2 run from February to April. She's only won five of her last fifteen matches, though, and is far, far off the radar heading into this Open. She's seemingly a "given" to win her 1st Rounder against 15-year old wild card CiCi Bellis, the youngest player in the draw, but what version of Cibulkova we'll see after that is anyone's guess.
THE POOR SOUL???: Kristina Mladenovic, FRA... the Pastry has been spinning various webs of Mladenovic Magic over the past few months, from her upset of Li Na in Paris to her Istanbul semifinal and three doubles finals (including at Wimbledon) since June. But Kiki's gone 0-3 in those finals, retiring in the Cincinnati decider with Timea Babos due to a back injury. She gets reigning Wimbledon champ Kvitova in the 1st Round at the Open, and would seem to be soon left to nurse only her doubles and mixed hopes by Day 3 of the tournament. Hmmm, but then again, Kvitova lost in the 1st Round at the Open in '11 after winning Wimbledon, and Mladenovic already has one 1st Round slam win (Australian Open champ Li) this season over the woman who won the previous major on the schedule. Could Petra, tired from her run in Connecticut, make it two?
=Final Thought...=
The best story of the women's draw seems likely to emerge from this collection of talent. I hesitate to say which storyline I'm leaning towards happening, for fear I might curse the outcome. But...
1. Angelique Kerber, GER ...Kerber surprisingly emerged in New York in 2011, reaching the semifinals while barely being ranked in the Top 100. While she hasn't racked up singles titles, the German has admirably maintained a Top 10 ranking since the spring of '12, reaching a second slam SF ('12 Wimbledon) and reaching at least the Round of 16 at ten of the last twelve majors. She's never reached a slam final, though. At SW19, she upset Sharapova, only to be caught in the scheduling web of the All-England Club, getting little rest and going out in the QF a day later to Bouchard. She opened her summer hard court campaign by reaching the Stanford final, and might just end it on another high note, for she has what could be the best draw of any top contender, opening with back-to-back qualifiers in the only quarter that doesn't sport a former slam singles champion (each of the other three have more than one).
2. Aga Radwanska, POL
...with her title run in Montreal, Radwanska seemed to finally turn back the unable-to-finish-anything mojo that began with her loss in the 2013 Wimbledon semifinals. Her "blue period" gave most of her results a sour aftertaste, and the magical quality that went along with watching her take down opponents while reaching into her bag of game day tricks just wasn't quite as fun. The evil joy of it all might be back... but that doesn't mean she's going to put on a deep run at this U.S. Open. She's never reached the QF at this slam, and while the draw would seem to set up to give her at least a chance to reach the 4th Round again and play for her best Open result, it's hard to get over the thought that it won't happen. But even if Lucie Safarova doesn't trip her up in the Round of 16, Kerber could do it in the QF. The German is 4-3 against Aga on hard courts, winning two of their last three meetings.
3. Jelena Jankovic, SRB ...JJ is forever in search of what she lost. The former #1 reached the U.S. Open final in '08, playing and losing a tight two-setter against Serena. The Serb has been all over the board ever since. Rising, falling, doing splits and spinning around like a top. Well, maybe not that last one... but would you put it past her if she did? JJ climbed back into the Top 10 last year, but she hasn't reached a slam semifinal since 2010. This Open might just provide her with the best shot she's had to do it in years, though. If she can get past a 1st Round match against her countrywoman, that is.
THE BRACKET BUSTER: Bojana Jovanovski, SRB... BoJo comes to NYC on a four-match losing streak, having dropped eight straight sets. And that's not even her longest losing streak of the season, having survived a six-match skid earlier this year before rebounding by upsetting Azarenka at Wimbledon and reaching the Baku final in July. She'll face countrywoman JJ in the 1st Round (1-2 in their head-to-head, she defeated Jankovic on hard court in 2010), with a shot to deliver the first draw-altering upset of the Open. The removal of JJ from the equation would surely immediately set off a firestorm of talk on ESPN about how the "draw has opened up for Sloane." Of course, as things played out, that wouldn't likely last long. But, really, it'd be so much more fun to just keep Queen Chaos alive and ticking in this draw for as long as possible.
THE WILD CARD: Lucie Safarova, CZE... since (barely) failing to convert match point in the 3rd Round against eventual AO champ Li Na in Melbourne, Safarova has been on something of a grand slam mission. She went to Paris and upset AnaIvo en route to the Round of 16 (matching her career RG best), then reached her first career slam semifinal at Wimbledon. This past Monday, Safarova reached a career-high ranking of #15. She's never been beyond the 3rd Round in New York, but she put up a win over Venus in Cincinnati and has a draw that seems suited to the Czech setting up a Round of 16 clash with Radwanska, who's never been to the final eight in New York. A break or two and Safarova might find herself in her second slam semifinal this summer.
DON'T COUNT HER CHICKENS: Alize Cornet, FRA... The Pastry has given every sign of being the tour's Most Improved Player in '14, notching two wins over Serena and being a drama queen of immense proportions. In a good way. Most of the time. But Cornet has gone 1-5 since defeating Williams in the 3rd Round at Wimbledon. She was one-and-done in both D.C. and Cincy, and even lost to an injured Vika in Montreal. That doesn't speak well for a deep run in New York.
THE POOR SOUL: Sloane Stephens, USA... a victim of her own success, Current Sloane's slips are now more noticeable. Coaching changes, a 1st Round loss at Wimbledon, being passed by fellow North American Bouchard on the tour landscape, then countrywoman Venus in the rankings (with Keys not far behind). If Future Sloane ever becomes a reality, her birth will be a very public triumph. The blessed event probably won't happen in New York, though. If she makes it that far, Stephens is slated to face Jankovic in the 3rd Round. She's already lost to the Serb twice on hard courts this summer.
=Final Thought...=
Kerber is the only current Top 10 player without an appearance in a slam final. With ten different finalists at the last five slams, you'd think the law of averages would get the German into one of those championship matches at some point, right?
1. Maria Sharapova, RUS ...the '06 champion SHOULD cast a bigger shadow at this tournament than she actually does. But she's only reached one QF in New York since she won the title eight years ago, and ever since her shoulder injury Sharapova has been more of a consistent threat on clay than hard courts. That she comes into the Open after being forced to three sets in five of six hard court matches this summer -- losing to CSN and AnaIvo, the latter in the sort of dramatic match that Maria always usually wins -- doesn't exactly speak highly of the form -- especially on serve -- she's dragging to Flushing Meadows, either. But, still, even with all that, she's the favorite in this quarter. A combined 10-3 in her head-to-heads against #2-seeded Halep (5-0, including a recent win in Cincinnati) and Venus Williams, Sharapova has lost just once to the latter since 2008. She's 5-2 against Caroline Wozniacki, too, with the Dane putting up a only one win since 2010. There are pitfalls in this quarter for the Russian, of course, starting in the 1st Round with countrywoman Maria Kirilenko. But Sharapova has to be looking at this draw -- with Serena all the way on the other side of it -- and thinking, "Yeah, this is doable." Then again, she probably always thinks that.
2. Venus Williams, USA ...maybe the best developing story of this '14 season has been the re-emergence from the shadows of her condition and all the endless "r"-word talk of a Venus whose game has, at times, looked better than it has in years. Back in the Top 20 and having won her first title in two years, Williams' summer included a run to the Montreal final and her first win over Serena in five years. She hasn't reached a slam QF since 2010, and the day-by-day nature of the fatigue associated with her Sjogren's, even as she's managed it better and better, still make Venus a question mark over the course of a two-week slam event. But for the first time since before we -- and she -- finally learned the cause for the lethargy that often engulfed her tennis game a few seasons ago, there's reason to believe that a deep slam run from Venus isn't just a fairy tale-like story emerging from one's imagination and heartfelt desires. It could really happen.
3. Simona Halep, ROU ...Halep arrives with little match play (2-2) on North American hard courts, and one wonders just how much her second straight long season might be wearing down the Pride of Romania, especially as she's likely still being bothered by the ankle she injured in the Wimbledon semifinals. If the world #2 can get her teeth into this Open, she might be able to ride her all-purpose game into yet another slam semi, or maybe better. But a reinvigorated Venus would seem to be slated to be waiting for her in the Round of 16, and she's 0-3 against the American. A deep run from Halep at this Open would be good for the game, as it'd be nice to see the Romanian's low-key personality and reassuring court intelligence/athleticism combo given a proper showcase on the biggest stage the sport has to offer. Not sure if it'll play out that way, though.
4. Andrea Petkovic, GER ...lost in the weeds of this high octane quarter is one of the most well-liked players on tour, and a former quarterfinalist (in 2011, before injuries dragged the German's career into a corner and pummeled it for a few seasons). Petko has recovered quite nicely this year, as she's won two titles and reached the SF in Paris. She's got a 3rd Round date with the Dane, and if Andrea is seen dancing on the court afterward, well, things could get very interesting down here in this quarter.
THE BRACKET BUSTER: Maria Kirilenko, RUS... we all KNOW she's capable of it. We've even seen her do it, in the 1st Round of the Australian Open in 2010. Sure, that's the only time Kirilenko has converted a match point to defeat Sharapova in eight career meetings (she won a match in' 05 via retirement), but the all-Russian match-up will surely be one of the most closely watched 1st Round matches at Flushing Meadows because everyone immediately went on Upset Alert as soon as the draw became public. Thing is, Kirilenko just might not be up to it. After a long injury break, the #113-ranked Kirilenko has played just seven matches in 2014, and none since her 2nd Round exit at Wimbledon. Even in her few outings this season, though, she's shown some fight. Still, Sharapova being ousted in the 1st Round in New York for the first time ever would send shock waves through the draw right out of the gate. And when that happens so early in a slam, almost anything can happen next.
THE WILD CARD: Camila Giorgi, ITA... a year ago, the hard-hitting little Italian (and her papa) put on quite a show as she charged into the Round of 16. She might be warming up for something again, too. Giorgi ended a four-match losing streak this week, showing up in New Haven and taking out Caroline Wozniacki (she beat Caro at last year's U.S. Open, as well) and Garbine Muguruza (despite 19 DF's!) en route to the semifinals. After facing qualifier Anastasia Rodionova, she'd get the Errani/Flipkens winner, and then maybe Venus.
DON'T COUNT HER CHICKENS: Caroline Wozniacki, DEN... did she play TOO much this summer? Maybe, but after leading the tour with thirteen match wins since Wimbledon, grabbing a title in Istanbul and getting a pair of Top 10 wins (A-Rad, Kerber) on her way to the Cincinnati semifinals, she's finally earned a passing grade in "Wozniology-101" by proving that she can actually learn to move TOWARD the net on occasion. Because of that the Dane shouldn't look at the Open as a barometer of where her career stands at the moment. After such a successful post-tabloid fodder summer, another of her recent early exits at a slam would be only a blip this time, not the reason for a revolt by tennis watchers against all that is Wozniacki's game. Again. She gets New Haven achiever Magdalena Rybarikova first, but it's hard not to point toward a possible 3rd Rounder vs. Petkovic. A QF+ run is possible for her, but it's not a "necessity."
THE POOR SOUL: Sara Errani, ITA... she put up an aberrational semifinal in 2012, but the Italian hasn't gotten past the 3rd Round in her six other U.S. Open appearances. She's was just 1-3 on the summer hard court circuit, and very well could challenge for "First Seed Out" when she faces Kirsten Flipkens in the 1st Round. She and Roberta Vinci are the favorites to take their second Open doubles title, though. In a season in which no singles player has really stood above the others, the Italian doubles pair should be given serious consideration for "Co-Players of the Year" honors.
=Final Thought...=
This is a complicated quarter. What with the issues of the contenders placed here, you get the feeling that the path for the survivor is going to include multiple three-set victories that won't exactly put them in an advantageous position when it comes time to play for a spot in the final. But everyone might be rooting for them to take it all.
**US OPEN TOP SEEDS - since 2002**
2002 Serena Williams, USA
2003 Kim Clijsters, BEL
2004 Justine Henin-Hardenne, BEL
2005 Maria Sharapova, RUS
2006 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
2007 Justine Henin, BEL
2008 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2009 Dinara Safina, RUS
2010 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2011 Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2012 Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2013 Serena Williams, USA
2014 Serena Williams, USA
101...Chris Evert
89...Martina Navratilova
73...Steffi Graf
62...Lindsay Davenport
2004: Svetlana Kuznetsova (W), Elena Dementieva (RU), Jennifer Capriati, Lindsay Davenport
2005: Kim Clijsters (W), Mary Pierce (RU), Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova
2006: Maria Sharapova (W), Justine Henin-Hardenne (RU), Jelena Jankovic, Amelie Mauresmo
2007: Justine Henin (W), Svetlana Kuznetsova (RU), Anna Chakvetadze, Venus Williams
2008: Serena Williams (W), Jelena Jankovic (RU), Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina
2009: Kim Clijsters (W), Caroline Wozniacki (RU), Yanina Wickmayer, Serena Williams
2010: Kim Clijsters (W), Vera Zvonareva (RU), Venus Williams, Caroline Wozniacki
2011: Samantha Stosur (W), Serena Williams (RU), Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki
2012: Serena Williams (W), Victoria Azarenka (RU), Maria Sharapova, Sara Errani
2013: Serena Williams (W), Victoria Azarenka (RU), Li Na, Flavia Pennetta
2005 Victoria Azarenka/BLR def. Alexa Glatch/USA
2006 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/RUS def. Tamira Paszek/AUT
2007 Kristina Kucova/SVK def. Urszula Radwanska/POL
2008 Coco Vandeweghe/USA def. Gabriela Paz/VEN
2009 Heather Watson/GBR def. Yana Buchina/RUS
2010 Daria Gavrilova/RUS def. Yulia Putintseva/RUS
2011 Grace Min/USA def. Caroline Garcia/FRA
2012 Samantha Crawford/USA def. Anett Kontaveit/EST
2013 Ana Konjuh/CRO def. Tornado Black/USA
[Open Era]
1968 Virginia Wade, GBR
1979 Tracy Austin, USA
1990 Gabriela Sabatini, ARG
1998 Lindsay Davenport, USA
1999 Serena Williams, USA
2004 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2005 Kim Clijsters, BEL
2011 Samantha Stosur, AUS
1997 U.S. Open - Venus Williams
1999 U.S. Open - Serena Williams (W)
2004 Wimbledon - Maria Sharapova (W)
2004 U.S. Open - Svetlana Kuznetsova (W)
2007 Roland Garros - Ana Ivanovic
2008 U.S. Open - Jelena Jankovic
2009 U.S. Open - Caroline Wozniacki
2010 Roland Garros - Francesca Schiavone (W)
2010 Roland Garros - Samantha Stosur
2010 Wimbledon - Vera Zvonareva
2011 Australian Open - Li Na
2011 Wimbledon - Petra Kvitova (W)
2012 Australian Open - Victoria Azarenka (W)
2012 Roland Garros - Sara Errani
2012 Wimbledon - Agnieszka Radwanska
2013 Wimbledon - Sabine Lisicki
2014 Australian Open - Dominika Cibulkova
2014 Roland Garros - Simona Halep
2014 Wimbledon - Eugenie Bouchard
2012 AO: Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2012 RG: Maria Sharapova, RUS
2012 WI: Serena Williams, USA
2012 US: Serena Williams, USA
2013 AO: Victoria Azarenka, BLR
2013 RG: Serena Williams, USA
2013 WI: Marion Bartoli, FRA
2013 US: Serena Williams, USA
2014 AO: Li Na, CHN
2014 RG: Maria Sharapova, RUS
2014 WI: Petra Kvitova, CZE
1999 Serena Williams, USA
2000 Venus Williams, USA
2001 Venus Williams, USA
2002 Serena Williams, USA
2003 Justine Henin, BEL
2004 Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2005 Kim Clijsters, BEL
2006 Maria Sharapova, RUS
2007 Justine Henin, BEL
2008 Serena Williams, USA
2009 Kim Clijsters, BEL
2010 Kim Clijsters, BEL
2011 Samantha Stosur, AUS
2012 Serena Williams, USA
2013 Serena Williams, USA
7...Serena Williams (5-2)
4...Venus Williams (2-2)
2...Svetlana Kuznetsova (1-1)
2...Victoria Azarenka (0-2)
1...Maria Sharapova (1-0)
1...Samantha Stosur (1-0)
1...Jelena Jankovic (0-1)
1...Caroline Wozniacki (0-1)
1...Vera Zvonareva (0-1)
[won Girls & Ladies titles]
Lindsay Davenport (1992 Jr. Champion; 1998 Women's champion)
Martina Hingis (1994 Junior RU; 1997 Women's Champion)
Svetlana Kuznetsova (2001 Junior RU; 2004 Women's champion)
Victoria Azarenka (2005 Junior champion; 2012-13 Women's RU)
1970 Margaret Court, AUS
1972 Billie Jean King, USA
1976 Chris Evert, USA
1982 Chris Evert-Lloyd, USA
1983 Martina Navratilova, USA
1986 Martina Navratilova, USA
1987 Martina Navratilova, USA
1988 Steffi Graf, GER *
1989 Steffi Graf, GER
1993 Steffi Graf, GER
1995 Steffi Graf, GER
1996 Steffi Graf, GER
1997 Martina Hingis, SUI
2000 Venus Williams, USA *
2001 Venus Williams, USA
2002 Serena Williams, USA
2012 Serena Williams, USA *
* - also won Olympic Gold
**LOW-SEEDED US OPEN SEMIFINALISTS - since 2000**
Unseeded - 2000 Elena Dementieva, RUS
Unseeded - 2009 Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
Unseeded - 2011 Angelique Kerber, GER
Unseeded - 2013 Flavia Pennetta, ITA
Wild Card - 2009 Kim Clijsters, BEL (W)
#28 - 2011 Serena Williams, USA (RU)
#19 - 2006 Jelena Jankovic, SRB
#12 - 2005 Mary Pierce, FRA (RU)
#12 - 2007 Venus Williams, USA
#10 - 2001 Serena Williams, USA (RU)
#10 - 2002 Amelie Mauresmo, FRA
#10 - 2012 Sara Errani, ITA
306...Martina Navratilova
299...Chris Evert
278...Steffi Graf
252...Serena Williams *
218...Venus Williams *
210...Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
198...Lindsay Davenport
180...Monica Seles
174...Conchita Martinez
164...Gabriela Sabatini
162...Maria Sharapova *
#1 S.Williams d. #24 Stosur
#11 Pennetta d. #8 Ivanovic
#20 Kuznetsova d. #3 Kvitova
#7 Bouchard d. #17 Makarova
#6 Kerber d. #9 Jankovic
#4 A.Radwanska d. #14 Safarova
#5 Sharapova d. #10 Wozniacki
#19 V.Williams d. #2 Halep
...Stosur likely peaked in New Haven. Same with Petra. Meanwhile, it'd be a case of reverting to form if '13 U.S. semifinalist Pennetta rights her listing ship in New York while AnaIvo's result comes up a bit shorter on the biggest stage than it did on the smaller ones. If Bouchard gets past this round, she will have properly earned another set of wings as a big event player... then she'll head into '15 hoping she doesn't turn into a Current Sloane-like pumpkin overnight. Kerber/JJ would be, well, not for the faint of heart. Aga breaks out of her Round of 16 doldrums at the Open. Halep could certainly sail through to the QF, but Venus has a better summer track record, as well as large history in Queens.
#1 S.Williams d. #11 Pennetta
#20 Kuznetsova d. #7 Bouchard
#6 Kerber d. #4 A.Radwanska
#5 Sharapova d. #19 V.Williams (I WANT to go the other way)
...it's oh so tempting to push Venus forward at least another round, but I won't. If Kuznetsova makes it this far on the tenth anniversary of her '04 Open championship run, well, the Tennis Gods will be up all night, chuckling over their clever maneuverings and the mere mortals who would surely marvel at them. Sharapova survives. Barely.
#20 Kuznetsova d. #1 S.Williams
#6 Kerber d. #5 Sharapova (for the second straight slam)
...after so many near-misses against Williams in slams that Serena ultimately won, Sveta finally scales the peak. The last three matches in which they faced off have come in slam QF, with the winner going on to take the title. Kuznetsova won Part I of the trilogy in Paris in '09. About Kerber being the only player currently ranked in the Top 10 who has yet to reach a slam final.... well, it might be time to correct that. And she already has a slam win over Sharapova this year at Wimbledon.
#20 Kuznetsova d. #6 Kerber
...after winning slams in '04 and '09, it'd be just like Sveta to close out another five-year block of her career with a third slam that would make her just the fourth woman who played in the Open era to win three slam without ever reaching the #1 ranking. Of course, this prediction pretty much assures that it'd be smart to go ahead and get those congratulatory messages prepared to send off to Marina Erakovic on the occasion of her 1st Round victory. I'm just sayin'.
#1 Djokovic d. #9 Tsonga
#3 Wawrinka d. #5 Raonic
#4 Ferrer d. #19 Lopez
#2 Federer d. #20 Monfils
...there's no Rafa in the draw, but #1 Novak Djokovic, who hasn't exactly been in great form since winning Wimbledon and getting married, has still managed to get stuck on the same side of the draw with the likes of '12 U.S. champ Andy Murray, Rogers Cup winner (and Djoker conqueror) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, AO titlist Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic, who just claimed the U.S. Open Series. Meanwhile, #2 Roger Federer is joined by #4 David Ferrer in the bottom half, along with a slew of underachievers (if they have "FRA" beside their name, they probably qualify), never-have-beens and good players who come into NYC in bad form (Grigor Dimitrov, Tomas Berdych). The six-time Open champ couldn't have asked for a better draw even if he'd put it together all by himself during some quiet time between middle-of-the-night crying fits by the twins.
#3 Wawrinka d. #1 Djokovic
#2 Federer d. #4 Ferrer
...the entire population of Switzerland stops the clocks and collectively watches with rapt attention.
#2 Federer d. #3 Wawrinka
...and Federer's longevity and late-career success adds a little fuel in his favor in the "Greatest of All-Time" debate... or at least the greatest of HIS own time race, which has become a bit muddy as Nadal as inched closer and closer on the major title list.
All for now. Day 1 -- and the Daily Backspin -- awaits, as well as a Q-Round round-up and quick Week 34 recap.


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Wednesday, June 17
We usually arrive at camp a day before the horse ride begins, like most of the other riders, but this time we decided to go early and enjoy a day alone. Only the ride master and a few others are here, so Sterling and I set up camp in our traditional spot (away from everyone) just in time for a hail storm to welcome us. Then it rained off and on all afternoon. We went for a walk with Dakota (Sterling's horse), and now we're snuggly warm in the trailer watching the rain drizzle down the windows and reading. (Sterling's reading a horse magazine, and I have a book I need to read before a meeting on Tuesday, The One Page Project Manager—exciting, huh?) We're both looking forward to going to bed early and sleeping in.
Thursday, June 18
We woke during the night several times to light rain but didn't get out of bed until after 8:00—a glorious thing! After leisurely getting ready and eating a late breakfast, it was time for me to make a few phone calls, so we drove the 20 minutes to civilization and while I made my calls, Sterling went into the General Store and bought what has now become my all-time favorite fudge—smooth and creamy and in several delicious flavors! Sterling might need to drive the hour and thirty minutes just for the fudge when he's wondering what to get me for any given holiday! I guess there's always UPS, as long as he thinks about it early enough.
The space around us has filled up with friends. We've visited around the soggy campfire, and everyone is getting ready for the ride tomorrow. I'm reading. What a relaxing day! In fact, I didn't realize how relaxed I was until one of our friends commented that he'd never seen me just sit and do nothing.
Friday, June 19
It's about 8:00 in the morning and Sterling is just about ready to ride off. It should be a gorgeous day, especially when it warms up a bit.
Our heater didn't work last night, and it got pretty cold—not as cold as it must have been for the people who were in tents, but the horse's water had a thin layer of ice on top. I don't know how people tent it. Sure, we did it when Sage was a baby, but that was in the summer at Lake Powell when it was warm!
So I'll work on birthday cards (Shalae prepared most of the pieces so all I have to do is a little stamping and assemble), wait for the stores to open, and then I'm going to town (30 minutes away) to buy a little heater for Sterling for Father's Day. One thing about the two of us—if you don't already know–we do not like to be cold!
(Later) I'm back from town with heater in hand. Sterling should be getting back from his 25-mile ride soon. I'll just sit in my chair out in the warm sun and organize my work until he returns. The sun has been bright all day with the temperatures ranging so far from below freezing to almost 70—an amazing day!
It's so quiet here except for the wind rustling through the pine trees and a few neighboring horses whinnying once in a while—a great time to think. I'm remembering what our friend said and counting the many times Sterling has thanked me for coming with him, and it makes me ponder. I really need to make time to join him more often. He doesn't mind that I bring work if it means I can be with him (and spend some time not working, of course). And I have thoroughly enjoyed camping (with a shower—cheating, I know!) and spending time with Sterling.
Saturday, June 20
We woke to rain again this morning and Sterling's knee is bothering him, so we've packed up and are heading home a little earlier than planned. As we drive down the canyon, I realize I didn't have Sterling take a photo of me relaxed in my camping chair. Oh well, you'll just have to imagine me sitting in the middle of beautiful green grasses surrounded by tall pine trees, reading letters and cards from demonstrators and customers while nibbling on red grapes. I'm visualizing it, and it's a great memory!
I'm glad for these past three peaceful days. It's been a nice change of pace!


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Nights are starting to hold a hint of a chill, leaves are beginning to quiver, and the air is alive with the promise of change on the horizon. Fall is one of the most beautiful times of year, when the vibrant colors of nature make a spectacular farewell to another harvest season. Right around the beginning of September, we find ourselves craving pumpkin flavored treats, and pulling our sweaters and jeans back out of hiding. Autumn represents so much transition and excitement, especially for those of us who have new back to school routines to establish. We rediscover comfort foods like soups and stews, roasted vegetables, and local apples, and we revel in a whole new palette of Fall fashions!
There are lots of little ways that we can revamp our homes to bring the colors and traditions of Autumn inside! Festive candles, especially scented ones, bring a pleasant, toasty flicker indoors with rich reds, orange, brown, and yellow to reflect Autumn's glory. Pillows and throw blankets can be added to existing décor, encouraging a cuddly ambiance, and providing an opportunity to toss in some seasonal shades. Welcome everybody to your home with mums, pumpkins, and gourds by the front door, and even try placing a mini pumpkin in the bathroom for an unexpected Autumn delight! To warm up walls, removable wall decals are the perfect seasonal accent! WallPops wall art comes in all of Falls favorite tints and makes it easy to DIY Fall decor ideas! Here are a few of our favorite Fall picks, what do you cherish most about the season?


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lnevo wrote:Honestly, you said you had problems when the portal gets the IP address from your controller and getting stuck. Thats the same thing dyndns does...your provider could be doing something odd on their network with load balancing and/or nat'ing your outbound connection.
I've never had issues with any of my other dyndns connections (VPN, web based ui for an application)
What happens on the portal is that the portal removes my dyndns address from the settings and replaces it with whatever the controller sends it. So if my AP closest to the RA gets turned off or reboots (happens sometimes), then the RA doesn't automatically reconnect to the wifi when it comes back up. I have to unplug the wifi module and replug. This is when the portal gets "stuck"
I can browse to the RA web server using my dyndns address with no problem, every time. Never get any errors


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April 2013: NBC speeds up late-night transition: Jimmy Fallon immediately replaces Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show; Seth Meyers replaces Fallon; Leno replaces Barbara Walters on The View; Walters joins the cast of Duck Dynasty.
May 2013: A traumatized Conan O'Brien, assuming Leno will find a way to take his job, leaves TBS, becomes beloved dean of students at undisclosed liberal arts college; O'Brien is replaced by George Lopez; George Lopez is replaced by Chelsea Handler; Chelsea Handler is replaced by Betty White.
June 2013: Lorne Michaels becomes head of programming at NBC, replaces all shows with Saturday Night Live running characters, makes Stefon co-anchor of The NBC Nightly News with Whitney Cummings; Fox establishes late-night presence with hour of Harris Faulkner and Megyn Kelly breathing heavily
July 2013: To counterprogram Stefon and Whitney Cummings, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are convinced to host, respectively, the actual CBS Evening News and ABC World News, and are given huge bags with "$" signs on them; Daniel Tosh comes out of "retirement," replaces Stewart and Colbert, runs hilarious video of guy burning his penis in endless loop
August 2013: Jay Leno is fired from The View, replaces Matt Lauer on The Today Show, does four-hour morning monologue punctuated by "Denim News" updates; Barbara Walters is accidentally shot in foot during hunting excursion with Si Robertson, quips: "It's still less painful than listening to Joy Behar"
September 2013: David Letterman snaps on-air and strangles Kim Kardashian, scores highest ratings in years; CBS encourages him to kill a guest once a week, twice during sweeps; as a result, Jimmy Fallon's ratings plummet, The Tonight Show is repeatedly beaten by reruns of Jimmy Kimmel eating breakfast
October 2013: Seth Meyers again replaces Jimmy Fallon; Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin replace Meyers; Arsenio Hall replaces Cooper and Griffin; a can of green snap beans replaces Hall; Jay Leno is fired from The Today Show, joins Soledad O'Brien in co-hosting CNN series Unemployed in America **
November 2013: Matt Lauer joins Keith Olbermann in pirate broadcast from Hugh Downs' basement in which Olbermann reads random words from a thesaurus; Tavis Smiley and Charlie Rose combine shows, interview each other; Jimmy Kimmel cuts Jimmy Kimmel Live! down from an hour to five minutes, explaining, "We're saving you time by showing the bits you'll just watch on YouTube anyway"
December 2013: David Letterman runs out of guests to kill, sets fire to Ed Sullivan Theater, is moved to Late Night Convalescent Home, shares room with Craig Kilborn; Jay Leno is booked on Carnival Cruise Lines to make imminent catastrophes seem not so bad to passengers
January 2014: NBC declares bankruptcy, replaces all original programming and news with reruns of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; Al Gore buys NBC for $150, sells it to the Koch Brothers for almost twice that amount
February 2014: Craig Ferguson hosts the Academy Awards, leaves The Late Late Show, scores huge hit with series of films in which he ad-libs for two hours; robot skeleton Geoff Peterson takes over for Ferguson, eventually leaves to star with Jimmy Fallon in sequel to Taxi
March 2014: Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart quietly leave the CBS Evening News and ABC World News, spend years in seclusion and shame
April: 2014: All networks and cable channels shut down, pour money into Internet webisodes; Jay Leno finds steady work at Pep Boys in Burbank, is quoted as saying, "I've never been happier"; Carson Daly is alerted that the cameras in his Last Call studio have not actually been working for the past eight years
** This never airs


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Shrewsbury returned to the top of League One after turning on the style to beat Bristol Rovers 4-0.
Paul Hurst's unbeaten side have now won 10 and drawn four of their 14 league games this season to sit two points clear of Wigan.
Shell-shocked Rovers just had no answer to a stunning first-half display as Shrewsbury scored all four goals.
Alex Rodman opened the scoring in the 12th minute, neatly exchanging passes with Shaun Whalley before rolling his shot under goalkeeper Sam Slocombe.
A second goal arrived in the 24th minute when Junior Brown's cross from the left was headed home by striker Carlton Morris.
Shrewsbury were hungry for more and moved further ahead five minutes later as Morris, released by a fine pass from Ben Godfrey, crossed from the right for Jon Nolan to sweep home.
A fourth goal followed four minutes from the break as Whalley's free kick was headed in off the far post by left back Brown who climbed higher than anyone.
Ellis Harrison came closest to scoring for Rovers when he bent a shot just wide in the first half.
Shrewsbury return to League One summit after comfortable win
Shrewsbury returned to the top of League One after turning on the style to beat Bristol Rovers 4-0.


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Navy Media Spokesperson Captain Akram Alevi speaking to our news team stated that weapons aboard other vessels will also be moved.
He further stated that this would not affect maritime security services carried out by the Avant Garde company.
At a recent meeting held with regard to the Avant Garde controversy the President ordered the agreement with the Company to be annulled and the operations to be handed over to the Sri Lanka Navy.


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KANA VINAKA showcase at the Asian Organic Gourmet Festival/
Colin and the Kana Vinaka team are currently over in Bangkok taking part in the Annual Asian Organic Gourmet Festival, a four day food, wine and wellness extravaganza.Read More
Catering and Hospitality Consulting
Raglan chef Colin Chung's blog.
Colin and the Kana Vinaka team are currently over in Bangkok taking part in the Annual Asian Organic Gourmet Festival, a four day food, wine and wellness extravaganza.Read More
Back In January, we started a short, 3-week cooking class in Raglan teaching the basics of cooking to those that felt they didn't have the skills to cook their own meals at home.Read More
Talk about gourmet connections. When people know you love edibles, they will go out of the way to make sure you connect. Recently while at one of my Wednesday morning's wood-turning sessions at the Waikato Guild of Woodworkers in Hamilton where for about 2 1/2 years i've been turning large native wood bowls and platters, Clive, one of the senior turners, approached me with a question. It seems that one of the old fellows has on his Te Kowhai farm some pine trees whose large pine cones he was using for stoking his winter fire. Accidentally as one was burning, some nuts popped out on to the floor in front of the fireplace and he wondered whether they might be edible, so he asked Clive to bring some pine cones in for me to analyse. Well, to my surprise these were the cones from pinus pinea, the favoured Mediterranean pine nut.Read More
Not many people are into eating Octopus, probably because they don't know how to prepare it properly, it's not served on many restaurants' menus, and they have not yet enjoyed or tasted it's flavour and texture. Since the favourite diet of octopus is crayfish, especially when they are trapped in locals' craypots, you can understand why it would taste like crayfish and have a similar texture to its tail meat. You can also understand why cray fishermen hate octopus so much when they see one or several of their captured crays eatened from within, leaving just the intact empty shells left in the pot along with the fat culprit. You can now probably see why i get so many hated culprits given to me by the local cray fishermen.Read More
Just arrived yesterday on this beautiful paradise island where everything is in your face... the flowers, fruits (moli-bush lemon season), sea, local seafood cooking on the grill (crayfish, opakapaka, local crabs and oysters), need I say more. I'm looking forward to working with our team of chefs, many whom I have previously trained, in catering for the grand pre-opening week-long visit of the L.A. entrepreneur owner and his family of 24 - wife, grown kids, their partners and their children. i know it will be hectic with high expectations and lots of coordination and planning, but we are all looking forward to creating beautiful food out of our 5 acres of organic gardens, bountiful seas and native wildlife from the surrounding islands. More later on in the week.Read More
Well, this is the final day of our training and everyone is amped and excited. Ater a long and arduous assembly of produce and other cooking ingredients , we head down to the Fiji National University's training kitchen to begin prep for the big finale dinner to end the conference on Agritourism, celebrate our week's accomplishments and enjoy the best Contemporary Island cuisine to be had anywhere (not my words).Read More
Starting this past Monday, 10 top chefs from around the South Pacific: Cook Islands, Samoa, Niue, Tonga, Solomons, Kiribati, Vanuatu and 10 chefs and chef tutors from Fiji were introduced and trained in the use of local produce in creating contemporary island cuisine by myself, Shailesh Naidu, Executive Chef at the OutRigger Hotel & head of the Fiji Chefs Association, and Robert oliver, celebrity chef and famous cookbook author.Read More
I returned to Suva late last Friday to have a week to do research for my book, Kana Vinaka and prepare physically and mentally for conducting the Pacific Chefs training session next week, sponsored by SPC, SPTO, and USP in Nadi. Up early on Saturday morning to search the markets for any new produce and to find out what is and isn't in season, I purchased some classic and fresh seafood and fresh local produce to prepare some new dishes for my book and to help Hogamata Farms with the marketing of their very special HoP, hearts of palms.Read More
A few weeks ago when visiting Hawaii to research the connection between Oahu's community farms and the chefs that run the vibrant hospitality industry's appetite for local grown produce, I had the chance to visit one of my old childhood haunts, Chinatown markets. This is where I spent many days and hours with my tireless cooking grandmother, Popo LIm, shopping daily for fresh seafood, meats and vegetables to feed her large extended family after the war. Although she is long gone, the memory comes back as I gaze down rows of vibrant, just harvested gobo (burdock root), seqwa (loofah squash), banana flowers, papayas, longans, bananas, papayas and lychees, almost hearing her advice on selecting the best o the lot. Checking through the fresh prawns and local fish, I can almost hear her saying "that's a good one over there". Having quickly purchased some prawns and fresh veges for a tempura, some nice young seqwa for a soup, some look fun rolls (freshly steamed rice sheets wrapped around slivers of green onions & char siu) and the ingredients to make kombu maki ( kelp sheets, gobo, shiitake, kanpyo (dried gourd strips), we were ready to head home to create a grand Hakka (southern Chinese cuisine) dinner.Read More
ust the other day, Louie Agard, a long time childhood friend, called to tell me about Kahumana Organic Community Farm, because he knew that I was looking for that connection between farmers and community, especially with the hospitality sector to improve their incomes and the community well being, as I'm trying to do with my work in Fiji. So we head out to Waiana'e in Leeward O'ahu where the farm and facilities are nestled on a plateau at the base of the Waiana'e ranges. We got more than we expected as Christian, the farm manager, and CJ, his able and pert assistant, who runs the gift shop and creates herbal extractions, showed us around their facilities. Their 40+ acres not only has sustainable 10 acres of poultry, orchards, aquaculture, trading seed bank with nursery, and about 5 acres of production, but also permanent housing for the homeless, accommodation for farmstays, a vegetarian restaurant and giftshop, an apprenticeship program for farming and many scheduled events and workshops.Read More
While visiting Milton Wong's Kahulu'u farm/orchard, I noticed a couple of lone Peach Palms growing in the corner of his property. I wouldn't have noticed them, but for my recent heavy exposure to the same palms in Fiji which came from Hawaii. Milton had purchased them from a local nursery because he had heard of this hearts of palm and "millionaire's salad" and wanted to try it. Well, we quickly harvested the largest palm (about 2 meters high) letting all the keikis (baby shoots) grow up. The next night i prepared watermelon balls, spoon-meat coconut noodles, baby watercress and spinach, toasted some sliced almonds and cleaned, prepared and sliced the heart of palm into different slices, shapes and thicknesses ready to make a "Millionaires Salad" for 20 family and freinds who had been summon to enjoy with some kanuka spit-roasted NZ lamb that i had brought over to share with the ohana (whanau).Read More
Just after arrival in Kaneohe, Hawaii, Milton Wong, a close friend and former classmate of Uncle Jim Tom, dropped by to say Aloha, catching up about family and his prolific backyard farm of 10 acres. Speaking about my new book, Kana Vinaka, I became very curious about what local farmers were growing for their markets and Milton, a high school teacher for some 30+ years and US Army communications NCO during he Vietnam war, invited me to see and taste his new hobby and semi-retired lifestyle. So our Hawaii farm adventure begins.Read More
A couple of weeks back, we did a gourmet grazing reception for the N.Z. wedding of Kurt and Alyssa Cederman at Kurt's parents, Brent and Diane's Raglan Sunset Motel. They had been married earlier in the week back in Nevada, Missouri where Alyssa is from and where they now live.Read More
Here it is the end of summer already, but the bananas don't know about it. There's about a dozen bunches in our patch plus 2 more new blooms and I've just harvested 2 bunches (17 hands) to share with locals and friends. For some reason our little patch in Whale Bay on the Tasman Sea is in a little subtropical micro clime as our figs, limes, bananas and feijoas all do so well here.Read More
I have recently returned from Fiji where I was working on my cookbook Kana Vinaka, which is about creating contemporary island cuisine to increase consumption of local produce, and connecting farmers with hospitality outlets. On the trip we came across an interesting, long-time local, Dick Watling. He is an environment consultant who has some land next to the river at Hogmata, some 23kms up the Sigatoka Valley. Dick grows the Peach Palm, which he acquired from Hawaii.Read More
Fig season has been in full flight at our Whale Bay, Raglan home. Every year in late summer, our two fig trees groan with fruit. We get up early every morning to pick the fruit that ripened overnight before the birds beat us to it.
Tree ripened figs are juicy and succulent. They're soft and need to be handled with care. We store them carefully in open egg cartons and often give them away by the tray-full. We eat figs on everything - our breakfast, in salads, desserts. We slow-dry them in the oven to use in our catering and still can't use all we grow!
They're a fantastic fruit that thrives in the micro-climate of our seaside garden.Read More
Raglan Catering | Weddings | Functions | Colin's Kitchen


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Donner DM-1 Lapel Microphone Mini Clip-on Omnidirectional Condenser Lavalier Mic (Electronics)
I have been looking for a microphone to plug into my computer to help with my video reviews. When I saw this at the price of 5.99 I figured this may be just what I am looking for, I went to test it on a video I was doing. Turns out I was very disappointed. I couldn't hear what I was saying. I , I then tried to plug it in my Samsung phone and was able to record on that but even with my volume being all the way turned up it still sounded very muffled. I am looking for a better microphone that is within budget to use for my video blogging. I just haven't been able to find one yet. I did look at the reviews before purchasing this Mic, and some people said it should work with a pc, but after trying this out. It will not work with a pc. I have to say I am unhappy with this product.


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Dr. Harbut to Contribute Articles to Breath of Life Foundation Website
June 26, 2014
Michael R. Harbut, MD, MPH, FCCP is an internationally recognized expert in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the environment and workplace.
He is co-author of the American Thoracic Society's most recent criteria for the diagnosis and treatment of asbestos-related diseases and is also co-author of findings published in the New England Journal of Medicine which reported two bio-markers for the presence of mesothelioma. He also published a report which discovered the probable cause of intractable pain in persons with pleural disease.
Harbut was chair of the Occupational and Environmental Lung Disease section of the American College of Chest Physicians and was the director of the National Center for Vermiculite and Asbestos-related Cancers. He has testified in front of the United States Senate and has lectured at the White House on the diagnosis of asbestos-related diseases.
Dr. Harbut has attended patients from around the world. When workers in the tunnels beneath the U.S. Capitol were found to have been exposed to asbestos, they traveled to Michigan to see Dr. Harbut for diagnosis and treatment.
Dr. Harbut was the chief U.S. medical advisor to Poland's Solidarity during the Cold War and was medical coordinator of the Kibumba refugee camp during the Rwandese genocide of 1994. The Centers for Disease Control found the death rate in the part of the camp under Harbut's direction was 30% of that of the remainder of Kibumba.
A Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine at Detroit's Wayne State University, Dr. Harbut has appeared in many media outlets ranging from "Nightline" to "Consumer Reports", and has been the recipient of a number of awards, medals and honors.
In the book, "An Air That Kills," authors Andrew Schneider and David McCumber stated, "Dr. Michael Harbut is one of the courageous ones who have added to (Dr. Irving) Selikoff"s legacy.
"Harbut is not willing to sit back and watch as asbestosis patients die. He is one of only a few physicians trying to treat the disease aggressively, hoping to find a way to change the course of a longtime killer."
Among his current activities, Dr. Harbut is medical advisor to the Breath of Life Foundation, the Insulators International Union and is a staff member at Michigan's St. John's/Providence Hospital.


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CONCORD, NC - The highly anticipated battle in the bluegrass state is all but here for competitors on the VEGA/TSRacing National Road Race Series and the hotshoes from the midwest in the KART Series as the Fall Brawl hits the ultra modern NCM Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky this weekend for the final event of the season. With point titles on the line for national championships, World Karting brings their full compliment of national racers and classes to the National Corvette Museum for the first time ever. 35 National WKA Classes, along with 26 potent classes from the KART Series, and 4 Local Option classes running both days, has the event and the paddock area busting at the seams.
Activities for the Fall Brawl kick off Friday with a full day of practice slated to run from 9am-5pm. On Saturday, following practice, the first group takes to the track at 10:45am. At least 7 groups of competition will keep the West Course busy all day, with racing slated to end at 5pm. On Sunday, following the Mandatory 2 Hour break in late morning, the track will be open for the final day of competition beginning at 1pm, with another full day of racing running till 5pm again.
Parking for the event will get underway Thursday, beginning around 3pm. Any competitors utilizing awning poles or trailers jacks will be required to have plywood placed underneath.
For more information on the Fall Brawl, click here.