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Two years after the best-selling Arthur & George, Julian Barnes gives us a memoir on mortality that touches on faith and science and family as well as a rich array of exemplary figures who over the centuries have confronted the same questions he now poses about the most basic fact of life: its inevitable extinction.
If the fear of death is "the most rational thing in the world," how does one contend with it? An atheist at twenty, an agnostic at sixty, Barnes looks into the various arguments for and against and with God, and at the bloodline whose archivist, following his parents' death, he has become—another realm of mystery, wherein a drawer of mementos and his own memories (not to mention those of his philosopher brother) often fail to connect. There are other ancestors, too: the writers—"most of them dead, and quite a few of them French"—who are his daily companions, supplemented by composers and theologians and scientists whose similar explorations are woven into this account with an exhilarating breadth of intellect and felicity of spirit.
Deadly serious, masterfully playful, and surprisingly hilarious, Nothing to Be Frightened Of is a riveting display of how this supremely gifted writer goes about his business and a highly personal tour of the human condition and what might follow the final diagnosis.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Julian Barnes is the author of ten novels, two books of stories, two collections of essays, and a translation of Alphonse Daudet's In the Land of Pain. His honors include the Somerset Maugham Award, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2004 he was named Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture. He lives in London.Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
I don't believe in God, but I miss Him. That's what I say when the question is put. I asked my brother, who has taught philosophy at Oxford, Geneva, and the Sorbonne, what he thought of such a statement, without revealing that it was my own. He replied with a single word: "Soppy."
The person to begin with is my maternal grandmother, Nellie Louisa Scoltock, nee Machin. She was a teacher in Shropshire until she married my grandfather, Bert Scoltock. Not Bertram, not Albert, just Bert: so christened, so called, so cremated. He was a headmaster with a certain mechanical dash to him: a motorcycle-and-sidecar man, then owner of a Lanchester, then, in retirement, driver of a rather pompously sporty Triumph Roadster, with a three-person bench seat in front, and two bucket seats when the top was down. By the time I knew them, my grandparents had come south to be near their only child. Grandma went to the Women's Institute; she pickled and bottled; she plucked and roasted the chickens and geese that Grandpa raised. She was petite, outwardly unopinionated, and had the thickened knuckles of old age; she needed soap to get her wedding ring off. Their wardrobe was full of home-knitted cardigans, Grandpa's tending to feature more masculine cable stitch. They had regular appointments with the chiropodist, and were of that generation advised by dentists to have all their teeth out in one go. This was a normal rite of passage then: from being rickety-gnashered to fully porcelained in one leap, to all that buccal sliding and clacking, to social embarrassment and the foaming glass on the bedside table.
The change from teeth to dentures struck my brother and me as both grave and ribald. But my grandmother's life had contained another enormous change, never alluded to in her presence. Nellie Louisa Machin, daughter of a labourer in a chemical works, had been brought up a Methodist; while the Scoltocks were Church of England. At some point in her young adulthood, my grandmother had suddenly lost her faith and, in the smooth narration of family lore, found a replacement: socialism. I have no idea how strong her religious faith had been, or what her family's politics were; all I know is that she once stood for the local council as a socialist and was defeated. By the time I knew her, in the 1950s, she had progressed to being a communist. She must have been one of the few old-age pensioners in suburban Buckinghamshire who took the Daily Worker and--so my brother and I insisted to one another--fiddled the housekeeping to send donations to the newspaper's Fighting Fund.
In the late 1950s, the Sino-Soviet Schism took place, and com-munists worldwide were obliged to choose between Moscow and Peking. For most of the European faithful, this was not a difficult decision; nor was it for the Daily Worker, which received funding as well as directives from Moscow. My grandmother, who had never been abroad in her life, who lived in genteel bungalowdom, decided for undisclosed reasons to throw in her lot with the Chinese. I welcomed this mysterious decision with blunt selfinterest, since her Worker was now supplemented by China Reconstructs, a heretical magazine posted direct from the distant continent. Grandma would save me the stamps from the biscuity envelopes. These tended to celebrate industrial achievement--bridges, hydroelectric dams, lorries rolling off production lines--or else show various breeds of dove in peaceful flight.
My brother did not compete for such offerings, because some years previously there had been a Stamp-Collecting Schism in our home. He had decided to specialize in the British Empire. I, to assert my difference, announced that I would therefore specialize in a category which I named, with what seemed like logic to me, Rest of the World. It was defined solely in terms of what my brother didn't collect. I can no longer remember if this move was aggressive, defensive, or merely pragmatic. All I know is that it led to some occasionally baffling exchanges in the school stamp club among philatelists only recently out of short trousers. "So, Barnesy, what do you collect?" "Rest of the World."
My grandfather was a Brylcreem man, and the antimacassar on his Parker Knoll armchair--a high-backed number with wings for him to snooze against--was not merely decorative. His hair had whitened sooner than Grandma's; he had a clipped, military moustache, a metal-stemmed pipe, and a tobacco pouch which distended his cardigan pocket. He also wore a chunky hearing aid, another aspect of the adult world--or rather, the world on the farther side of adulthood--which my brother and I liked to mock. "Beg pardon?" we would shout satirically at one another, cupping hands to ears. Both of us used to look forward to the prized moment when our grandmother's stomach would rumble loudly enough for Grandpa to be roused from his deafness into the enquiry, "Telephone, Ma?" An embarrassed grunt later, they would go back to their newspapers. Grandpa, in his male armchair, deaf aid occasionally whistling and pipe making a hubble-bubble noise as he sucked on it, would shake his head over the Daily Express, which described to him a world where truth and justice were constantly imperilled by the Communist Threat. In her softer, female armchair--in the red corner--Grandma would tut-tut away over the Daily Worker, which described to her a world where truth and justice, in their updated versions, were constantly imperilled by Capitalism and Imperialism.
Grandpa, by this time, had reduced his religious observance to watching Songs of Praise on television. He did woodwork and gardened; he grew his own tobacco and dried it in the garage loft, where he also stored dahlia tubers and old copies of the Daily Express bound with hairy string. He favoured my brother, taught him how to sharpen a chisel, and left him his chest of carpentry tools. I can't remember him teaching (or leaving) me anything, though I was once allowed to watch while he killed a chicken in his garden shed. He took the bird under his arm, stroked it into calmness, then laid its neck on a green metal wringing machine screwed to the doorjamb. As he brought the handle down, he gripped the bird's body ever more tightly against its final convulsions.
My brother was allowed not just to watch, but also to participate. Several times he got to pull the lever while Grandpa held the bird. But our memories of the slaughter in the shed diverge into incompatibility. For me, the machine merely wrung the chicken's neck; for him, it was a junior guillotine. "I have a clear picture of a small basket underneath the blade. I have a (less clear) picture of the head dropping, some (not much) blood, Grandpa putting the headless bird on the ground, its running around for a few moments . . ." Is my memory sanitized, or his infected by films about the French Revolution? In either case, Grandpa introduced my brother to death--and its messiness--better than he did me. "Do you remember how Grandpa killed the geese before Christmas?" (I do not.) "He used to chase the destined goose round its pen, flailing at it with a crowbar. When he finally got it, he would, for good measure, lay it on the ground, put the crowbar across its neck, and tug on its head."
My brother remembers a ritual--never witnessed by me--which he called the Reading of the Diaries. Grandma and Grandpa each kept separate diaries, and of an evening would sometimes entertain themselves by reading out loud to one another what they had recorded on that very week several years previously. The entries were apparently of considerable banality but frequent disagreement. Grandpa: "Friday. Worked in garden. Planted potatoes." Grandma: "Nonsense. 'Rained all day. Too wet to work in garden.'"
My brother also remembers that once, when he was very small, he went into Grandpa's garden and pulled up all the onions. Grandpa beat him until he howled, then turned uncharacteristically white, confessed everything to our mother, and swore he would never again raise his hand to a child. Actually, my brother doesn't remember any of this--neither the onions, nor the beating. He was just told the story repeatedly by our mother. And indeed, were he to remember it, he might well be wary. As a philosopher, he believes that memories are often false, "so much so that, on the Cartesian principle of the rotten apple, none is to be trusted unless it has some external support." I am more trusting, or self-deluding, so shall continue as if all my memories are true.
Our mother was christened Kathleen Mabel. She hated the Mabel, and complained about it to Grandpa, whose explanation was that he "had once known a very nice girl called Mabel." I have no idea about the progress or regress of her religious beliefs, though I own her prayer book, bound together with Hymns Ancient and Modern in soft brown suede, each volume signed in surprising green ink with her name and the date: "Dec: 25th. 1932." I admire her punctuation: two full stops and a colon, with the stop beneath the "th" placed exactly between the two letters. You don't get punctuation like that nowadays.
In my childhood, the three unmentionable subjects were the traditional ones: religion, politics, and sex. By the time my mother and I came to discuss these matters--the first two, that is, the third being permanently off the agenda--she was "true blue" in politics, as I would guess she always had been. As for religion, she told me firmly that she didn't want "any of that mumbo-jumbo" at her funeral. So when the undertaker asked if I wanted the "religious symbols" removed from the crematorium wall, I told him I thought that this is what she would have wanted.
The past conditional, by the way, is a tense of which my brother is highly suspicious. Waiting for the funeral to start, we had, not an argument--this would have been against all family tradition--but an exchange wh...
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Book Description Knopf, 2008. Hardcover. Book Condition: New. New Condition. Clean crisp tight copy, no marks or tears. Email Notification. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Bookseller Inventory # var1607207607
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Book Description Knopf, 2008. Book Condition: New. Brand New, Unread Copy in Perfect Condition. A+ Customer Service! Summary: "[Nothing to Be Frightened Of] sports a dazzling blend of wry humor, keen philosophy and perceptive observations as Barnes ruminates about the inevitability of death and what it all means." Verna Noel Jones,Rocky Mountain News "Brilliantly written and also funny.the book is cunningly composed, in fact held together in a rather Proustian fashion.Barnes has an extremely lively mind, and a distinctive voice, which gives a certain welcome jauntiness or gaiety to his darker musings." Frank Kermode,TheNew York Review of Books "Barbarously intelligent [and] a rare thing in literature.marvelously engaging, even uplifting.Briskly, rigorously, this unusual book gives us something to think about until that nothingness comes knocking." John Freeman, NPR "A delicious mix of personal reminiscence, family history, literary criticism, and philosophical speculation." Frank Wilson,The Philadelphia Inquirer "Strange and marvelous.Despite[its] mordant wit, erudition, and typically British understatement, the fear and trembling at its heart are always palpable.It issogoodan item of high literary quality and, paradoxically, great good humor." Dan Menaker, Barnes & Noble Review "Surprisingly jocularalthough also dead earnest.highly literary, thoughtful but playful." Heller McAlpin,San Francisco Chronicle "Barnes is a great conversationalist, and this is a humorous book in spite of its serious subject." Vikram Johri,St. Petersburg Times "An elegant memoir and meditation, a deep seismic tremor of a book that keeps rumbling and grumbling in the mind for weeks thereafter.What gives this book life and keeps the reader happily churning forward is [Barnes's] affection for the people who wander in and out.I will say a prayer for retail success. It is a beautiful and funny book, still booming in my head." Garrison Keillor,The New York Times Book Review(front cover) "Erudite and entertaining." J. David Slocum,Playboy "A brilliant bible of elegant despair.that most urgent kind of self-help manual: the one you must read before you die." Tim Adams,Men's Vogue "Barnes is a writer of impulsive insights, many of them remarkable.of humane irony, antic imagination, and unsettling perceptiveness. He constructs a many-leveled scaffolding of argument, memoir, literary reference, and musings all around the dark pit." Richard Eder,The Boston Globe "For those who think that facing death is life's most pressing test, Barnes is an amiable and articulate companion [who] sees humor in the impossibility of finding lasting comfort.His contemplation of death invariably becomes a treatise on living." Sean Kinch,The Tennessean "Beautifully done.an extended meditation on human mortality, but one that is neither clinical nor falsely consoling. Instead, the witty and melancholic author simply converses with us about our most universal fear. Michael Dirda,The Washington Post "Very entertaining and, best of all, wholesomely provocative." Vince Passaro,O, The Oprah Magazine "[A] satisfyingly riverine blend of inquiry and apologia.Barnesreflective and erudite, a stellar stylist and a piquant witconfronts the paradoxes, fantasies, horrors, mystery, and inevitability of death in this bracing, mordantly funny, and expansive mix of musings, literary criticism, and memoir." Donna Seaman,Booklist "In this virtuosic memoir, readers will find themselves granted access to an unexpectedly lar. Bookseller Inventory # ABE_book_new_0307269639
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Book Description Knopf, 2008. Hardcover. Book Condition: New. Bookseller Inventory # DADAX0307269639
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Book Description Knopf, 2008. Hardcover. Book Condition: New. book. Bookseller Inventory # 0307269639
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Book Description Knopf, 2008. Hardcover. Book Condition: New. Bookseller Inventory # P110307269639
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Springtime is a difficult time of year for mountain bikers. It's getting warm and we want to get out, and get our bikes onto the dirt, after being cooped up inside all winter. […]
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The smooth look and feel of your favorite microfiber bra designed for nursing mothers.
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kingslam wrote:Hi guys, I just acquired a new yixing teapot. It's been a long time since I last bought a "new" teapot. It's kind of big, but I have been using it as fairness pot.
socaljohn wrote:Bought some teapots, how do I determine if they are safe to drink from? I was wondering if there is a test to detect if there is lead or harmful chemicals in the clay. We don't know much about these teapots, but bought them from someone that had bought them all in an estate sale. They were priced cheaply, and we thought they looked cool.
TIM wrote:Before 1970's Yixing collection:
Finally, the long wait for a hot summer to take some long due pictures.
ROC to CR periods Yixing. Mostly from Factory 1.


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Fair ~
High: 51°F ~ Low: 44°F
Monday, Jan. 23, 2017
Blackberry summerPosted Wednesday, July 23, 2008, at 9:58 PM
These blackberries (Well, some are red, but those aren't ripe, of course) are growing in a convenient location along my lane, but the ever-present poison ivy plant still lurks among the leaves, so watch out!!
Blackberries usually get ripe in the month of July, a normally sweltering time of year in Southeast Missouri, when no person in his/her sane mind would want to cover up in the long pants and long sleeves necessary when tracking the wild blackberry.
That was always my problem and the reason why I had to retire from the sport many years ago. In my great foolishness, I tried to pick blackberries in shorts and sleeveless tops. (Well, actually, the blackberries were not in shorts. I doubt that they even owned a pair...) Because of my idiocy, I had to go to the doctor for shots after every excursion into the blackberry brambles. My husband, who could pull poison ivy up by the roots with no reaction (from either himself or the poison ivy) finally suggested that the blackberries had become too expensive, when factoring in the doctor bills.
Poison ivy is not the only vicious beast lurking in the blackberry patch. There are, in no particular order of significance:
1) Chiggers (very small red bugs, who, for some unknown reason, like to get under your skin, much like a certain blogger we all know and love...) Once firmly burrowed under your hide, these red bugs itch and itch and ITCH, until you paint them with fingernail polish and wait for them to suffocate.
2) Stink bugs (green or brown), who lurk on the berries until some unsuspecting human pops one in his/her mouth, and then voila! What a surprise!
3) Ticks, which crawl up from ground level, searching for a home sweet home, from which to set up housekeeping and grow, and grow, and GROW.
4) Copperheads - those ill-tempered and not at all shy beauties with the lovely orange-and-brown-patterned skin and the big pointy teeth.
5) Rattlesnakes - a noisy but somewhat less ill-tempered slithery creepy-crawly member of snakedom. A stomping, beating, noisy entrance on your part MAY scare these creatures off - unlike the copperhead, who will simply lie in wait for you and bite your leg off...
Doesn't blackberry picking sound like fun??
Ah, but it's all worth it, as this berry is simply packed with antioxidants and the most fiber of any fruit. You can make blackberry cobbler (my own personal favorite use of the berry), wine (my son's own personal favorite use of the berry), jam (seeds still in it), jelly (strained through muslin to remove the seeds and pulp)...And I guess that's about all we ever did with them. I'm sure there are some other uses that I haven't thought of.
So, there you have it, folks. Put on your wide-brimmed Indiana Jones hat, your long-sleeved shirt, long pants and tall boots, spray yourself with a coating of Deep Woods Off, and take the plunge into the blackberry patch!
Happy hunting!
This is your rural blackberry blogger, Madeline, signing off from the green, poison ivy-covered hills of downtown Tillman, Missouri.
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Oh, my gosh! There it is - a copperhead about to chomp down on Madeline's copper-lined snake boots! He'll lose a tooth or two over that, I'll bet!
What a hoot!!!!
-- Posted by goat lady on Sun, Aug 3, 2008, at 7:17 PM
Wow MD! I found another picture of this same gorgeous woman happily trolling through the woods impervious to a vicious Copperhead attack! http://forejustice.org/md/blackberry_hun... These special boots are obviously just the ticket for you to go berry huntin'.
-- Posted by FJGuy on Sat, Aug 2, 2008, at 2:15 PM
MD.....those are lyrics from a song.....Summer of Drugs by Soul Asylum. I never sucked snake poison! Good job chopping the creatures up....you violent thing. Probably didn't crawl off but instead were carried off and eaten by something.......
-- Posted by shannonhoon on Fri, Aug 1, 2008, at 10:59 PM
Madeline Dejournett's response:Oops, hoon, sorry I thought you'd sucked snake venom. I guess the only poison you might have a taste for is the band!
FJGuy! Another classic piece of imaginative wizardry! You crack me up! And, I'm envious - I wish I could do that magic with graphic imagery!
I had a couple of border collies who would double team a snake and make short work of it. Of course, I never saw them do it with rattlesnakes - just black snakes that came up around the house.
-- Posted by goat lady on Tue, Jul 29, 2008, at 9:53 PM
Hopefully you cut those things into as many pieces as possible. So, you have Rattlesnakes?
Sister got bit by a copperhead snake in the woods behind the house.
I was a good big bro though.....sucked the poison out.
-- Posted by shannonhoon on Mon, Jul 28, 2008, at 11:32 PM
Madeline Dejournett's response:When we first moved onto the farm back in the seventies, I made the mistake of whacking the snakes in what I THOUGHT was a death whack - only to find that they'd crawled off later. From then on, I made sure I had TOTAL SEPARATION of head from body! On the largest rattlesnake I ever killed, I chopped with the shovel until its head was completely GONE! Then I shook for an hour!
I've never sucked the poison out of a snake bite, but if I had to, I'm sure I could do it. Did you still have to take her to the hospital? A neighbor out here got bitten by a rattlesnake, when he reached into his firewood shack. It put him in the hospital in serious condition for several days.
MD! I was trolling the Internet when I found this gorgeous woman modeling the latest style of blackberry huntin' metal boots. They are guaranteed Copperhead proof and they are gold colored to reflect the summer heat. Looks like just what you need MD! See them at, http://forejustice.org/md/blackberry_hun...
-- Posted by FJGuy on Mon, Jul 28, 2008, at 10:41 PM
Madeline Dejournett's response:Hahaha! Now, those boots would definitely fend off the copperheads! The woman looks remarkably familiar, too!
Where are we picking Blackberries and seeing all of these snakes at? I had my Rattlesnake shake run in over near the River in VanBuren. Dam the River I say, and the snakes too.
-- Posted by shannonhoon on Mon, Jul 28, 2008, at 8:37 PM
Madeline Dejournett's response:My snakes and my blackberries are right here on my hill in the Tillman Outback.
MD, surely your Kudzu tracking outfit will protect you from the dangers lurking in the shadows while you are blackberry huntin!?
-- Posted by FJGuy on Sat, Jul 26, 2008, at 4:45 PM
Madeline Dejournett's response:Yes, it would - if I didn't die of heat exhaustion first! My outdoors consultant tells me that the big boots would protect me from rattlesnakes just fine, but a copperhead would be able to bite right through them! Not a comforting thought.
Black Flag...aahhh.
I was so wasted...
I was a hippie I was a burnout I was a dropout I was out of my head
I was a surfer I had a skateboard I was so heavy man, I lived on the strand
I was so wasted
-- Posted by Jim Morrison on Sat, Jul 26, 2008, at 12:24 AM
Sometimes you can find them at road-side stands or farmer's markets in towns. I have been known to pay as much as $15 a gallon, but only out of desperation - and love of blackberry cobbler.
Andy's is Andy's Frozen Custard. The only one I know of in SE Mo is in Cape on King's Highway. Oh the joys of Andy's. So many menu items to choose from, so little time. I don't let myself go very often because it's not exactly low-fat or low-calorie.
-- Posted by Ducky on Fri, Jul 25, 2008, at 12:30 PM
Where and what is Andy's? This country girl doesn't get to town that much. Back when I was raising a family, we picked blackberries; and I made a lot of blackberry jelly. I can't keep from associating blackberries with chiggers to this day. Back then, you could buy a gallon of wild blackberries for $5.00, always in a glass jar. Does anybody pick them for resale anymore?
-- Posted by gardengirl on Fri, Jul 25, 2008, at 10:02 AM
How can I believe you GOAT when you don't believe the HOON? I think you are just trying to one-up JimmyM.
Black Flag is awesome.....one of the greatest punk bands of ALL time. I heard too much Black Flag makes you mean.
-- Posted by shannonhoon on Fri, Jul 25, 2008, at 9:22 AM
If you've never had chiggers, that story might seem like overkill, but if you've scratched for weeks with an infestation, the Black Flag and Off cocktail would be worth it!
Okay, I have a rattlesnake story, too. Chopped off the head of a rattlesnake with nine rattles and a button. Big! Came up behind him while he was watching my dog. True story.
-- Posted by goat lady on Fri, Jul 25, 2008, at 6:57 AM
Back in the day my mom had a special method of preparing us for a trip to the blackberry patch. The night before she would spray the clothes we were going to wear with Black Flag bug killer. She would spray the item, roll it up tight, and tie them up in a plastic bag to marinate all night. The next morning we were sprayed head to toe with OFF! insect repellant and then dressed in our Black Flag laced clothes and off to the woods we'd go. My sister and I have laughed about this over the years and teased mom about how it was a wonder that we didn't develop all sorts of weird health problems or have kids with 12 toes or something. Mom's comment was "go ahead and laugh, at least you never got chiggers!"
-- Posted by no tea for me on Fri, Jul 25, 2008, at 5:45 AM
The Blueberry Concrete at Andy's is the next best!
Hoon, I stepped on a rattlesnake on the train tracks at Trail of Tears. Dave Williams broke a beer bottle at cut the rattle off. True story...still have the rattle.
-- Posted by Jim Morrison on Thu, Jul 24, 2008, at 11:25 PM
GOAT.....true story. And Staley....made my body ache and it was all I could take, yeah!!!!!!
-- Posted by shannonhoon on Thu, Jul 24, 2008, at 9:55 PM
Hoon did the "Rattlesnake Shake...shake shake shake!"
-- Posted by layne staley on Thu, Jul 24, 2008, at 8:44 PM
Though I don't know if I believe the part about the rattlesnake...
-- Posted by goat lady on Thu, Jul 24, 2008, at 5:56 PM
How sweet. See, you can be civilized, too. It doesn't make you a bad person, you know.
Greer, I had a case of poison ivy like that when I was in my early teens. Ohmygosh, quarter inch blisters that calamine lotion didn't phase. Had to lie on my back in bed with my arms up, couldn't move. No air-conditioning. A nightmare!
But I do love blackberry cobbler!
-- Posted by goat lady on Thu, Jul 24, 2008, at 5:54 PM
One time, I was picking black berries and a rattlesnake was sitting there, right by the ones I wanted. I went in anyway, picked the berries and narrowly escaped death. I love those things.
I found my thrill, on blackberry hill.
-- Posted by shannonhoon on Thu, Jul 24, 2008, at 5:43 PM
Greer, you are so lucky. After my encounters with poison ivy all I have to do is LOOK at it and I pop out in blisters. Man, I hate that stuff.
I search for a more civilized blackberry. The kind grown in U-Pick farms where between the rows is all nicely mowed and the bushes are occassionally pruned to contain their grabbing, snagging branches. Same wonderful fruit, same thorns, but not nearly so hazardous to one's epidermis. Of course, the civilized blackberry is not free for the picking, but (as dear Madeline's husband pointed out) they're less expensive than the free range variety once you factor in the doctor's visit.
Haven't tried the blackberry concrete at Andy's, but I just finished a peachy concrete. Oh, baby!
There's another blog for you Madeline dear - fresh, ripe, juicy peaches. I have dreams about them during the winter.
-- Posted by Ducky on Thu, Jul 24, 2008, at 12:33 PM
The risk by far outweighs the return when picking blackberries!
My mom made the best cobbler in the world so I was always ready to volunteer my services at ten years old..... until that one fateful day when I got into the poison ivy. I spent a week in the middle of summer standing naked, holding my arms straight out and legs spread apart covered from head to toe in Calamine lotion! We didn't have the luxury of air conditioning which made it all the more worse. OMG, it was horrible!
After having poison ivy so bad that one time, I have never had it again. I can roll in it and be immune..... However I will never return to the blackberry patch!
-- Posted by greer958 on Thu, Jul 24, 2008, at 10:30 AM
Have you had the Blackberry Concrete at Andy's. Best Ever!
-- Posted by Jim Morrison on Wed, Jul 23, 2008, at 10:56 PM
Madeline Dejournett's response:Every trip to Cape requires a Choco-Rocko concrete for me! I'll try the blackberry concrete next time! Good thing I don't go there more often. I also like the Mocha Mulatti from Dairy Queen and the Java Cooler from Sonic. In Advance we have two only choices for ice cream, and I like the Oreo McFlurry at McDonald's (560 calories, so not a good option) and Sam's Peanut Butter Parfeit (unknown calories, so, of course, it's calorie-free!! -- I wish...)
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Madeline (Giles) DeJournett is the Advance writer for the North Stoddard Countian. A retired high school English/history teacher, she spent 32 years teaching in 5 schools in Missouri and Alaska. These days, she lives quietly with a menagerie of wild and domestic animals on 52 secluded acres in the remote Tillman hills south of Advance. She graduated from Dexter High School in 1960 and Southeast Missouri State in 1964. She can be contacted at email@example.com.
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Hey Goosen1 can I refigerate the extra? Or how about freeze? I am a newbie. Thanks.Frank
I used all purpose flour though Goosen, Now what's the different in taste when I pick up some bread flour?
Yes, It will be a different taste and it will look different.
Then even the one I've posted?
It should without a doubt. Also, It should be harder to roll out because bread flour will create more gluten.
Made it again after all this time...I was using other recipes but stumbled back upon this one..Mmmmmmmmmm
Hoist Frank! Bob
It Must Be Done!Hoist!
Dough is rising and smells perfect......


text: Just a question out of curiosity; All of the western teapots that I have encountered come without any type of filter. I assume that this is because the producers design them to use with tea-bags. How was tea brewed in western countries before the invention of the teabag? Did western teapots have some sort of filter in the pot, like in Asian teapots?


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The most important nations chose not to go the route of truth-telling.350.org — the organization of which I am a founder — held what CNN called the "most widespread day of political action in the planet's history," with 5,200 demonstrations in 181 countries all focused on an obscure scientific data point: 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2, which NASA scientists have described as the maximum amount of carbon we can have in the atmosphere if we want a planet "similar to the one on which civilization developed, and to which life on Earth is adapted."
The most vulnerable nations didn't knuckle under quite as easily as usual.thinks that even 450 ppm will raise sea level enough to drown small island nations. There wasn't much solace in the money on offer: $10 billion in "fast start" money for poor nations (about $2.50 a head — I'd like to buy the world a Coke) and an eventual $100 billion in annual financial aid that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised when she arrived on Thursday morning. Even if that money ever materialized (Clinton couldn't say where it would come from, except "special alternative financial means") it wouldn't do much good for countries that weren't actually going to exist once sea levels rose. They were backed to the wall.
More from Yale e360Looking for a Silver Lining


text:
Topic: HATBM question...
I'm trying to help a friend with a HABTM question. I've only used HMT so I'm not too upto speed on some of the proper plumbing of HATBM and I would appreciate any advice you can offer.
The current situation, he has a "Question" model class and a "Keyword" model class and we are working on with a keywords_questions join table. Both model classes have the habtm relationship defined.
He's trying to setup the new question creation view and we're trying to figure out the correct stuff to put into the select to properly plumb the system.
He's been trying variations on
collection_select "question", "keyword_ids", @keywords
but there's no "keyword_ids" function defined on the question class. I know in the HMT join models I'm used to you can't streamline the process and you have to loop over the list of things to add (as HMT assumes you have extra attributes on the join, this makes sense). However I would have thought that HABTM would have had some magic to help in this common case. Am I missing something?
I supposed I can help my friend code up keyword_ids= and keyword_ids methods...


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Stephens, Sarah H.; Franks, Alexis; Berger, Ralph; Palionyte, Milda; Fingerlin, Tasha E.; Wagner, Brandie; Logel, Judith; Olincy, Ann; Ross, Randal G.; Freedman, Robert; Leonard, Sherry Less
Psychiatric Genetics. 22(1):1-14, February 2012.


text:
The next 2 weekends there are fights that are pay per views which shouldn't be and it's a damn shame.
Shannon Briggs vs Sultan Ibragimov
Decent fight. I like Briggs but not enought to pay for it.
Next weekend:
Zab Judah vs Miguel Cotto.
I really like watching Cotto but same thing again, not worth the money.


text:
Kitchen Cathedral
Client's Vision:
An empty nest couple wanted a kitchen that was central to the open floor plan of their new architect designed home on the waterfront. He is the cook and she is the clean-up crew. The kitchen needed to be open to their friends and family for their busy entertaining lifestyle.
My translation:
Under the soaring ceiling I separated the cooking zone from the scullery side providing plenty of room for each partner. The double wide center island avails both sides plenty of room for prepping, staging and clean up. Deep drawer bases offer generous storage space on both sides of the island.
Luxurious lacquer, stainless steel and natural stone blend to complement the warm cherry panels of the interior walls. Elements of Indian slate used throughout the house come into the kitchen on the peninsula and tie the space together with the dining and living rooms.
The result is a functional kitchen that makes for a happy marriage.


text:
November 2012
Enjoy, Democrats – while you can
I'm sure today we'll see a certain amount of crowing from the left. Such is life. You ram an unpopular bill through by trickery, lies, bribes and BS and I'm sure for some it's a reason for celebration. Principles, ethics and decorum never were big on that side of the spectrum. However, "by any means necessary" is. Unfortunately, like most major legislation, those who put us in this hole will likely not be around to shovel in the dirt when the fiscal lies bury us.
Today the right -and independents who don't support this travesty- learn that elections do indeed have consequences. In November, one hopes, the Democrats learn bad legislation that opposes the will of the majority of Americans has consequences as well.
There's more too it than that, though. I think Megan McArdle best sums up my thoughts on what has transpired in the last months and weeks, culminating in last night's vote:
One cannot help but admire Nancy Pelosi's skill as a legislator. But it's also pretty worrying. Are we now in a world where there is absolutely no recourse to the tyranny of the majority? Republicans and other opponents of the bill did their job on this; they persuaded the country that they didn't want this bill. And that mattered basically not at all. If you don't find that terrifying, let me suggest that you are a Democrat who has not yet contemplated what Republicans might do under similar circumstances. Farewell, social security! Au revoir, Medicare! The reason entitlements are hard to repeal is that the Republicans care about getting re-elected. If they didn't–if they were willing to undertake this sort of suicide mission–then the legislative lock-in you're counting on wouldn't exist.
Oh, wait–suddenly it doesn't seem quite fair that Republicans could just ignore the will of their constituents that way, does it? Yet I guarantee you that there are a lot of GOP members out there tonight who think that they should get at least one free "Screw You" vote to balance out what the Democrats just did.
If the GOP takes the legislative innovations of the Democrats and decides to use them, please don't complain that it's not fair. Someone could get seriously hurt, laughing that hard.
But I hope they don't. What I hope is that the Democrats take a beating at the ballot box and rethink their contempt for those mouth-breathing illiterates in the electorate. I hope Obama gets his wish to be a one-term president who passed health care. Not because I think I will like his opponent–I very much doubt that I will support much of anything Obama's opponent says. But because politicians shouldn't feel that the best route to electoral success is to lie to the voters, and then ignore them.
Please do everyone a favor, Democrats, and avoid talking about "polarization" and the "poisonous political atmosphere". You created them (and if you didn't you've taken them to a new and higher level) and any attempt on your part to shift the blame on others will be seen for exactly what it is – projection. Remember, it wasn't the right calling those who earnestly turned out to oppose this monstrosity "fascists", "brownshirts" and "astroturf".
And please avoid whining about "bi-partisanship" and "transparency" as well. There was no attempt or desire to make this bi-partisan. The opposition was excluded from the beginning and then you acted surprised when they wouldn't support this awful legislation. The process was about as opaque as one could make it. Backroom deals, political theater, bribes and legislation no one could read until it was up for a vote.
Yes, Democrats have set an new low for a standard in Congress – and that's a pretty tough thing to do. Like McArdle, I hope they pay for it this November and November of '12 and I intend to work toward that. My job? Keep reminding the electorate of what happened here. Keep the fire stoked and burning. Keep the anger bubbling. Keep reminding them that they were lied to and ignored. Keep pointing out that this bill wasn't about how much the Democrats thought of the American people but instead how much they hold them in contempt. This was strictly about power, party and politics.
So celebrate on the left. Please. Do. I'd like to say you "earned" it, but I find unprincipled and deceitful grabs for power to be something less than that. It's a gut feeling but I think you'll pay heavily in November (I say you lose the House and retain a slim majority in the Senate sans Reid). At that point, you are barred from whining about minority rights, House or Senate rules, reconciliation and transparency. You've decided on a new set of rules and we'll see how well you can live with them, won't we?
And, since few will consider keeping their kids on their insurance until they're 27 much of a benefit (and that's about all that kicks in on this bill besides the taxes), my guess the fight for repeal will be popular, will most likely consume the next 2 years and will cost Obama his presidency in '12.
Couldn't happen to a nicer one term president. I'm sure his concession speech, barring a breakdown of TOTUS, will be a doozy.
In the meantime, let the law suits begin.


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North Country war zone
ONCHIOTA – David Fitz-Enz, a retired Army colonel and active military historian, doesn't see the same things most of us do when he drives to Plattsburgh, or Ogdensburg, or Sacketts Harbor.
We tend to see the northern New York landscape only in its present state, maybe overlaid with memories of how it was earlier in our lifetimes. Fitz-Enz, who lives in Onchiota with his wife of 50-plus years, Carol, sees it as it was two centuries ago – as a battleground.
His latest book goes by a conspicuous title: "Hacks, Sycophants, Adventurers, & Heroes: Madison's Commanders in the War of 1812." Published at the end of 2012 by Taylor Trade, it's his fourth book about that war, joining "The Final Invasion" (2001, about the Battle of Plattsburgh), "Old Ironsides: Eagle of the Sea" (2004, about the U.S.S. Constitution) and "Redcoats' Revenge" (2008, an alternate history positing what might have happened if the invading British had won at Plattsburgh). He also wrote and co-produced a PBS documentary of "The Final Invasion," the hard-bound version of which won him the Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Book Prize and the Knights Templar's Military Order of St. Louis.
Before all that, he had written about his own 30 years of military experience: in Vietnam as a combat photographer, paratrooper and aviator, and then as a career officer serving top staffs in Europe, Asia and the U.S. Among many other duties, he helped run the Moscow hotline for presidents Carter, Reagan and Bush. He called that first book "Why a Soldier" (2000, Random House).
He learned and taught a great deal of military history during that career, and now that it's become his full-time occupation, he dabbles in fictional versions of it, too. The book he's working on now is a spy thriller.
At each year's anniversary of the Battle of Plattsburgh, including next year's bicentennial, you can find Fitz-Enz in Beekmantown, near the current school, showing visitors where marches and skirmishes took place.
What was the Battle of Plattsburgh? In 1814, after Napoleon abdicated and several U.S. attempts to invade Canada failed, the British decided to focus on hitting the Americans hard on their own turf. They invaded at Washington, Plattsburgh and New Orleans, winning only the first. Here in the north, they sent 15,000 troops on land and on Lake Champlain from Quebec south toward New York City, and the only force standing in their way was a remnant of 1,500 men the U.S. had left at Plattsburgh. Yet that ragged band, led by Alexander Macomb on land and Thomas Macdonough on the lake, made good use of what they had – including knowledge of the terrain and waterfront – and somehow managed to send the redcoats back to Canada.
The Enterprise interviewed Fitz-Enz for an hour on April 30 in his living room, surrounded by neatly arranged medals, books and other collectibles. Classical music played gently in the background as he answered questions and also veered off into many vivid side stories: the Germans who dangled below the zeppelins that bombed England in World War I, American mistakes that led to the Korean War, storytelling formulas, how movies and television get war wrong, working under a particularly demanding boss (the supreme allied commander of Europe), how high-altitude flying kills woodworms in old furniture, and the importance of terrain in combat – illustrated with tales of the battles of Waterloo and Plattsburgh and a firefight he faced in a banana grove in Vietnam. As a writer, he said his biggest challenge is maintaining focus amid so many fascinating diversions in the course of his research.
The following interview has been edited for length.
ADE: When you drive to Plattsburgh – most people don't think about these things – do you think about things like, "This is a battleground"?
DF: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.
ADE: Tell me what you think about when you're driving up there.
DF: You think of the little town of Jay, alright? Jay has got a common, a little square in the middle of town. Well, you drive through Jay, once upon a time, someone stood in that square who was the captain of the militia. And the reason he was captain of the militia was because he was a politician or he knew a politician, and he was of that party.
So he went to a jeweler somewhere and got himself a sword. That's where the swords came from; the jewelers made 'em, and their uniform and insignia and all that, too. … And so this guy stands in the square, he gets himself a drummer and outfits himself in kind of a uniform, and he forms the Jay Militia.
And the militia is a good deal because before the war, it meant that you could appear to be a great citizen, the government gave you a rifle … you got some kind of a uniform or other … and you got to parade on Sunday after church. You got to be there all day Saturday to train as well, and then Saturday night, you drank. There was a drinking party. So you got to be away from your wife for the weekend. You spent the whole weekend once a month with these buddies of yours, shooting government rifles, shooting government ammunition, marching around, being admired by the ladies, and if you were married you didn't have to go home to the wife and kids. It's not all a bad deal, you know?
Now, we found in Jay a few years ago that the people there in an old house on the corner, they found the roster. This was about 10 years ago. And the roster showed the names of all the people that were in the militia. Many people's families still live there who were on that roster. And next to it, (someone) wrote, "deserted," "deserted," "deserted," "wounded," and so forth.
ADE: In the Battle of Plattsburgh, from what I remember from your book, the militia didn't represent themselves all that well.
DF: No, they ran. Seven hundred of 'em ran. Actually, there were 2,500; only 700 showed up. These were the patriots who showed up. The others stayed in their houses and traded with the British and got paid in gold.
ADE: What do you see as the likelihood that there could be war on American soil again, when you think about these things in historical context?
DF: Oh, I think about it very much so, and in fact, in my training, at Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, we did a two-week exercise on someone invading the United States, and we fought a huge battle in Kansas. This is not beyond possibility. There are plans to defend this country that are updated often, and the reason there are plans – you know, people don't really think that it's possible, but you need people to write plans. Because we've been in a war for so long now in Iraq and Afghanistan, the present problem in the Army today is we don't have the planners; we have the fighters, because that's what, the last 10 years, we've been doing. … So the challenge of the Army today is to go back to the drawing boards and teach people how to plan for things like if America was ever invaded again, or any scenario you want to come up with.
ADE: It seems really appropriate with the War of 1812, especially after reading your book, to focus on the commanders since they were mostly on their own in leading the war effort. There wasn't much central strategizing out of Washington on this one. Especially to the reader who didn't know much else about the war, including myself, it would seem you were very thorough about it. But in the preface to the book, you wrote about how much you had to condense and cherry-pick the research you did to boil down each historic person to their essentials, hoping that readers would go off on their own and explore these situations and people more. In rereading the preface after reading the book, it occurred to me that maybe you could have written a book on each one of these commanders, or perhaps a book on the soldiers themselves in this war, or perhaps a book on (President) Madison and the Washington aspect of this.
DF: I could've written a book on the finance. There's a huge story on finance.
ADE: But in the preface, you were kind of worried that people wouldn't read them. So tell me about how you put the pieces together.
DF: I started out with the fact that all the histories I have read are linear, and they're really boring. I think of my poor wife. "Oh let's go look at this trench," where she wants to go to Herrod's and go shopping. "Let's go look at these weapons over here in this guards museum." So she's my reader; she's also my editor. So I try to think of them all the time, and what they need is, they've got to turn the page.
("Hacks, Sycophants, Adventurers, & Heroes" begins with Isaac Hull who, as captain of the U.S.S. Constitution, unexpectedly defeated the British frigate Guerriere in 1812. From there it jumps to Isaac's uncle William Hull, the politically connected governor of the Michigan territory whose pathetic invasion of Canada from Detroit was easily beaten back.)
DF: So I thought I could lead with a hero, 'cause everybody likes heroes. And it's a terrific hero story, especially with these guys rowing the ship across in front of Massachusetts, trying just to stay ahead of the British fleet because their sails were becalmed for two-and-a-half days. Can you imagine? And then they have this great victory afterward, and it just destroys England because the people couldn't believe that these Yankees could take on a British frigate and win.
And then I had the opposite. I knew in my own mind I had the opposite, and I really built Isaac up and got the reader on a high – "I want to read more of this" – and then I dump William Hull on 'em. And they're waiting for William Hull to succeed, you know? I want 'em to (think), "Hey, go get 'em William!" William is a disaster, and why is he a disaster? Because the president of the United States said a regular army is a mischief, and he didn't have one. And yet he goes and declares war on the greatest war machine in the world. And so all of a sudden in the reader's mind, I'm hoping to get them to say, "What the hell did we do getting ourselves into this? Why are we here?"
It's a shame that the reader knows ahead of time that America won the War of 1812, or at least existed through the war. It would be much better if they didn't know that before they started the book because I could have 'em up and down and up and down.
ADE: From the title of the book forward, you're not very afraid to pass judgment on these commanders as being good or bad or competent or incompetent. And you still fill them out with enough information for readers to make their own nuanced opinions about them. At what point in your process of planning this book and narrowing your focus did you decide to kind of go all in on saying, "OK, here are the heroes, and here are the idiots, and I'm just going to call them that way"?
DF: They all did it themselves. I was just an observer. But I thought that it was important that I tell their story from birth because you don't know why a guy does something when he's 40 unless you understand where he comes from. People act in their own behalf, and they're made that way by their experience.
ADE: What's your take when you think about current or more recent military involvement with the U.S.?
DF: My forte is geopolitical. I don't really care about Republicans, Democrats; the regular Army doesn't. We have no connection with any political party. … And so I understand that a nation always acts in its own interests.
I look at Syria, and I said from the very beginning that we would never get involved with Syria, and the reason we don't get involved with Syria and the reason the president is trying to stay out of it now, and so is most of Congress – just a few hotheads, you know – the reason is we have no national interest in Syria. They don't have anything we want.
ADE: What about Afghanistan?
DF: Afghanistan is a direct result of the attack on 9/11. The men we consider the people who did that were from Afghanistan, that Taliban government that had taken over the country a few years earlier, after the Russians left.
ADE: I remember, for years ahead of that, you'd hear appeals: "The Taliban is treating people terribly. The world community and the West needs to do something about this." Nothing, nothing, nothing – no national interest. They're persecuting their people – no national interest. All of a sudden, 9/11, they're sheltering guys who attacked the U.S., then there's a national interest.
DF: And too, there was a history there. You can never forget history. The history was that the British tried to corral Afghanistan twice: 1848, 1885 or '89. Two different British military expeditions went into Afghanistan. What a mess. The second one, they didn't do too badly in that the British did what they usually do: They fought it to a standstill, they saw there was no future in it, they declared victory and left.
So national interests – make sure they're clearly defined and that everybody else knows them, is the rule.


text:
USAID to Use Permaculture to Assist Orphaned and Vulnerable Children
By Stephanie Buglione
Nearly one quarter of children in the developing world are underweight, and one third are experiencing stunted growth, according to a UNICEF report. In addition, many of these children have a family member, or are themselves, afflicted with HIV/AIDS.
According to the Joint U.N Programme on HIV/AIDS, worldwide, 16.6 million children aged 0 to 17 have lost parents due to HIV. Families afflicted with HIV have less help harvesting and planting crops or selling them at the market. Additionally, when a parent dies prematurely, their children are denied their generational agricultural knowledge and skills. But this missing information, and other lessons on ethics, patience, and responsibility, can be taught in schools through the use of permaculture.
A new USAID project, Permaculture Design for Orphans and Vulnerable Children, is focused on providing long-term food security solutions to orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) that are coping with the challenges of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Permaculture is their means to achieving this food security.
Kristof Nordin is one of the co-authors of this initiative. He and his wife, Stacia, a registered dietician and previous School Health and Nutrition Advisor for the Malawi Ministry of Education, live in a home outside of Lilongwe, Malawi. On their land, they have been demonstrating permaculture practices for several years to help educate the community about indigenous vegetables and to reduce the cultural fixation on monocropping.


text:
This week, I will be in Las Vegas for the 30th annual [Data Center Conference]. For those on Twitter, follow the conference on hashtag #GartnerDC, and follow me at [@az990tony]. IBM is a Global Partner and Platinum Sponsor for this event. Here is a recap of some of the Monday morning keynote sessions:
- Welcome and Introduction
Monday morning kicked off with a welcome introduction from the conference coordinators. This is the highest attendance for this conference in its 30 year history, with 60 percent of the attending for their first time, and 18 percent only once before. This is the fourth time I am attending. Half of the attendees represent corporations with 20,000 employees or more, the other half from smaller companies and government agencies. The top five industries represented are financial services, public sector, healthcare, manufacturing, and energy.
This conference uses a clever "interactive polling" where hand-held devices can be used to select choices, and results of over 800 voters are presented immediately on the big screen. For IT budgets, 42 percent plan to increase next year, 32 percent flat, and 26 percent lower, which are similar to the numbers last year. Of nine different IT challenges, the top three were managing storage growth, power/cooling issues, and adopting a Cloud strategy.
- Top 10 Trends and how they will impact Data Center IT
The analyst presented top 10 business, technology and societal trends that will impact IT. He added a last-minute eleventh issue that he felt will impact everyone in 2012:
- Consumerization and the Tablet. Back in 1997, a GB of flash memory cost $7,992 US dollars, and today that same GB costs only 25 cents. Employees are bringing their own devices to the workplace, and expecting IT support.
- Infinite Data Center. You may never have to expand your floorspace again. Improvements in server and storage density can allow you to continually upgrade in place.
- Energy Management. Data centers consume 100x more energy than the offices they support. The cost of energy is on part with IT equipment. Energy management is becoming an enterprise-wide discipline. A key performance indicator (KPI) can be "compute per kW" or "compute per Square foot".
- Context Awareness. There are hundreds of thousands of apps for Android-based smart phones and iPhones. Context awareness allows an app to help business travelers in airports know what restaurants are nearby, their flight status, and alternate flights available, based entirely on their location.
- Hybrid Clouds. By 2013, over 60 percent of cloud adoption will be to redeploy existing apps like email. Some 80 percent of cloud initiatives will be private or hybrid configurations. Customers want "good enough" technology, and thus Cloud will be mostly an augmentation strategy.
- Fabric Computing. The opposite of fully-integrated stacks is the notion of having compute, memory and storage joined together via an interconnect fabric with software to manage the entire environment.
- IT Complexity. Robert Glass's Law states that for every 25 percent increase in functionality, there is a 100 percent increase in complexity. See Roger Session's whitepaper [The IT Complexity Crisis: Danger and Opportunity] for more on this.
- Patterns and Analytics. Big data and business analytics is a key platform. This is expected to grow 60 percent CAGR.
- Impact of Virtualization. Virtualizing your environment should be considered a continuous process, not a one-time project. Many companies are running x86 servers at less than 55 percent, which the speaker considers under-utilized. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is a trade-off, may cost more but have other business benefits to consider. The problem is that many IT shops are organized vertially (a server team, storage team, network team) but problems surface horizontally, and there is no "ownership" for the resolution. Some use "tiger teams" to address this. Companies should reward lateral thinking.
- Social Media. Of the ommunications on cell phones by college students, 98.4 percent are text messages, and only 1.6 percent voice phone calls. People search Google for "what was", but they search Twitter for "what is". Most of the growth on Twitter are in the 39-52 year-old demographic. The analyst felt that if your company is blocking or restricting access to facebook, twitter, youtube or other social networking sites, then shame on you. I agree!
- Flooding in Thailand. Over two million square feet of HDD production space were flooded, and this will impact HDD prices for 2012. Already, a 2TB drive that was selling for $79 at local store is now selling for $190.
- How To Get Your CFO's Support For Strategy and Funding
In the first of a series of "mastermind interviews", the analyst interviewed their own CFO Chris Lafond. Ultimately, it is about business results. They have grown annual 15-20 percent, from 250 million in 2003 to 1.3 billion US dollars in 2011 for annual revenue, 4600 employees, doing business in 85 countries. The company is focused on three business areas: Research, Consulting, and Events like this one. Chris does not approve 3-5 year projects, and instead requests projects be broken up into year-long phases. ROI can be very misleading, and he asks instead for benefits and contributions to initiatives.
It is important to keep the horse in front of the cart. Accounting departments should not drive business decisions. For example, companies should not move to the public cloud just so that the accounting department can shift from CAPex to OPex. Try to depreciate as soon as possible. Likewise, green technologies and social responsibility are factors, but not drivers of business decisions. Acquisitions are a natural evolution of the market, so risk mitigation strategies should be in place in case your vendor of choice is acquired by someone you don't like.
For BC/DR planning, the analyst has a single Data Center approach, but Chris indicated that IT is looking to expand this. Their single datacenter for one part of their business was in Florida, and the other in Massachusetts, and both impacted by Hurricanes or Earthquakes recently.
The "lightning round" asked Chris his thoughts, either thumbs up, thumbs down, or neutral, on single ideas or concepts. I liked this part of the interview!
- Chargeback? Thumbs down. He doesn't feel you should have internal fighting over charge rates. He prefers showback instead.
- BYO Device with stipend? Thumbs down, but inevitable. Giving people a chunk of money to buy their own laptop, smart phone or tablet of choice may wreak havoc on the IT department for support and service.
- Telepresence? Thumbs down. Cool, but very expensive. I don't think people are prepared to exploit the benefits of this.
- Corporate apps on public "app stores"? Thumbs down. Concerns over security and integration is main issue.
- Access to Social Networks? Thumbs up. This is how employees communicate and collaborate. Don't stifle them doing the right things just because you are afraid they might waste 20 minutes on Facebook per day.
- Your IT budget? It's up slightly 1-5 percent for 2012.
- Cloud? Promising, some challenges related to integration and security.
Chris finished up with a story about an application team that indicated that they would need to make 100 customizations to an off-the-shelf general ledger financial application. Chris and the other executives asked to be presented each and every customization, and he was able to eliminate most of them.
Positive comments I heard from the audience was that these keynotes had real "meat" to them, and not just full of cliches and platitudes that is common for keynote sessions. I would have to agree.
technorati tags: IBM, #GartnerDC, Tablet, Consumerization, Hybrid+Cloud, KPI, Thailand, HDD, Chargeback, Showback, CFO


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Max Payne is a man with nothing to lose in the violent, cold urban night. A fugitive undercover cop framed for murder, and now hunted by cops and the mob. Max is a man with his back against the wall, fighting a battle he cannot hope to win. Prepare for a new breed of deep action game. Prepare for pain...
- The city locations are believable - from dirty garbage strewn industrial lots to opulent condos for society�s rich (and corrupt) � all rendered in amazingly lifelike detail.
- Remedy�s 3D engine (MAX-FX) pushes accelerated gaming even further � level of detail, particle effects and a skeletal animation system result in smooth vividly recreated environments, natural character movement (even clothes move) and facial expressions.
- Though action orientated � Max Payne is story-driven - investigation and clue finding will be important aspects of gameplay, as is dialogue with other characters.
- The slow motion sequences are a unique feature to Max Payne � not only do they enhance the overall movie-feel with set-pieces, but are also used as visual treats for players as they satisfyingly watch their bullet tear through from point A to B.
- Another novel feature is using graphic novel-style panels during �level loading� screens � keeping players involved in the on-going story, and readying them for the next scene.
- The Combat and action sequences � are straight out of a Hong-Kong movie � Max can combine dives and rolls as bullets zing around him whilst loosing both barrels � and of course there�s those low motion sequences for a particularly well-aimed shot.
- Weapons are real - with a realistic feel, behavior (muzzle flash, ricochets), and effects � a leg-shot will have Max limping along dripping blood, whilst a bullet to the chest will mean game-over, but not before you get to see a nice slow-mo exit wound!
- The game will be also be shipped with an impressive package of drag n� drop editing tools.


text:
Avoid the Dreaded Black Toenail
Ask the Coach
As my runs extend beyond 10 miles, I find that I have started to get ...
Illustration by Jeremy Collins
I began running about a year ago and my first trail half marathon is a few months away. As my runs extend beyond 10 miles, I find that I have started to get black toenails. Any advice on how to treat (and avoid) them?
—Calli Stromner, Sturgeon County, Alberta, CAN
Ben Franklin's advice, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," applies to avoiding black toenails (and black plagues). Says John Vonhof, author of Fixing Your Feet: Prevention and Treatments for Athletes, "Toenails should be trimmed straight across the nail and never rounded at the corners. Leave an extra bit of nail on the outside corner of the big toe to avoid an ingrown toenail."
Run your finger across your toenails to make sure there are no rough edges that could wear a hole in your sock, rub on the inside of your shoe or cause a blister to an adjacent toe.
As for treating a black toenail, if it doesn't hurt, leave it be. However if pressure builds to the extent at which the toenail is causing pain, then you've got some surgery to perform. Rolling a small sterile needle between your fingers, burrow a hole through your toenail into the blister so the blood is released. This can get messy, so have a towel on hand for cleanup. If the blood blister has extended to the end of the toenail, puncture it through the skin from the end of the toenail, alleviating the need to go through the toenail.
With either method Vonhof warns: "Care must be taken to prevent a secondary bacterial infection through the hole in the nail or at the end of the nail by using an antibiotic ointment."


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Friday, November 21, 2008
Yellow and Brown Eyes
Yay it's finally Friday! This week was slow for me for some reason. It's going to be a busy weekend for me though, yikes! Saturday morning I have to do wedding makeup at 8am...i'm so not a morning person, lol. That evening I'm doing a makeup bar. For those of you who aren't familar, they mentioned this in the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Basically, a group of women come together, have cocktails, get their makeup done and a photographer takes some pics. It's a really great idea to do something fun with the girls. I'm doing that from 5-9pm. Then I have a shoot on Sunday morning. I'm going to be tuckered out! But better busy than not. The shoot on Sunday is going to be a collaboration where I'm going to do something really creative makeup wise...I'm still thinking of outrageous ideas. Any ideas?
Anywho, I went out with some of my sorors last Friday night and decided to try a new color combination. I really liked the way it came out. It has an earthy feel to it. Chrome yellow eyeshadow from MAC and I have never been good friends until I found a good base from Ben Nye. Without it, it refuses to show up! We went to go see Superkrew from America's Best Dance Crew perform at my alma mater, but the line was insane so we went home instead, lol. What a waste of makeup! Oh well, at least I took pics!
Here's What I Used:
-soft ochre paint pot
-Ben Nye yellow cream colour
-gesso e/s
-chrome yellow e/s
-brown down e/s
-fascinating kohl pencil (can't see it in the picture but I lined my waterline with this...by the time I took the picture it was hours later and faded)
-Revlon liquid liner
-ardell lashes
-rimmel professional brow pencil and cork e/s on brows
-Rimmel foundation primer
-select coverup concealer NW35
-studio tech foundation NC43 (haven't used this in a while...I forgot how much I like it!)
-CRC translucent powder
-gold deposit msf
-shy beauty beauty powder blush
-petticoat msf
-cork lip pencil
-NARS orgasm lipgloss
Have a great weekend! If you have any suggestions of outrageous makeup, please leave a comment and let me know!
Till next time, Ciao Bellas!
Atlanta Makeup Artist
16 comments:
- .cupcake love. said...
Great combination girl :]
It looks like your Tiger Eyes minus orange !
I've never heard of a Makeup Bar, it sounds fuuun !
For outrageous ideas, maybe cut the crease, MOD, or a little drag :P
Just ideas !
Have fun this weekend !
- November 21, 2008 at 9:49 AM
- Amina said...
you look amazing!
I love the second picture..so pretty!!
yesterday i was playing with my camera, trying to imitate your bad ass look...
ahem..i look like a fool!! lol
- November 21, 2008 at 10:30 AM
- Gemma said...
Hey ren! Looking gorgeous as always! GUESS WHAT?!?! My boyfriend is looking at grad schools in Atlanta! eeeeeeek-I may take a trip there soon =)
- November 21, 2008 at 11:04 AM
- Askmewhats said...
I love this, you really make great combinations!
- November 21, 2008 at 11:13 AM
- Couture Carrie said...
Really cool look, RR! Could I do it with my blue-green eyes?
- November 21, 2008 at 11:14 AM
- Product Junkie Diva said...
Ren this look is sooooo awesome. I really love it!!!
- November 21, 2008 at 11:45 AM
- yummy411 said...
i love the use of yellow in fotds.. fab look!
a beauty bar-- cute! i hoped one day to open up a business with the same basic concept minus alcohol LOL. the traveling version sounds better for the money, i'll have to admit. have fun!
outrageous makeup? hmmm... i've been wanting to try black face.. like canvasing the face with black face paint and go all glam on themakeup. bright orange lips.. extravangant eyes and lashes.. angles..??? can't wait to see what you come up with.
- November 21, 2008 at 1:05 PM
- Monique said...
What ben nye base do you use for the yellows? i havent found not ONE that shows up on me. Thanks!
- November 21, 2008 at 3:25 PM
- Monique said...
Ok Im retarded. You already answered my question. Nevermind. Lol.
- November 21, 2008 at 3:31 PM
- PBW said...
Honestly, when I read the title I didn't expect much. Yellow and brown????
But WOW! Very cute! You go, girl!
- November 21, 2008 at 6:44 PM
- jeSmakeup said...
i also like yellow n brown shadows on u.... and ur looking gorgeous! ALWAYS =D
hey.. im a sucker for packaging tooo.. n bsides its MAC so we all kno its goin to be good hahah
- November 21, 2008 at 7:01 PM
- Seymone said...
Love the look..
- November 22, 2008 at 12:09 AM
- Sharon Rose said...
Hi there-you look fantastic Ren! Have a great weekend, it sounds like its going to be a lot of fun!
- November 22, 2008 at 3:32 AM
- vianca_sayys said...
this reminds me of the tiger tutorial u did ! lovee the colors REN !
- November 22, 2008 at 12:12 PM
- butterfliesandstars said...
oooh ... hope you can put photos of the make-up bar up here ...
- November 22, 2008 at 5:07 PM
- mayaari said...
awesome eyes ren! yellow is one of those shades i stay away from, just out of habit...but this makes me want to play with the 2 yellow/gold shadows i have :)
- November 23, 2008 at 3:36 AM


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Results tagged "Harvard" from critical difference
It's such a hoary cliché that you'd think people would be embarrassed to let it pass their lips, but there it was, coming from the mouth of Alistair Spalding, the artistic director of London contemporary-dance temple Sadler's Wells.
The question put to him was why no female choreographers are among the "raft of commissions" he's just announced for the coming season. His response, according to Charlotte Higgins' piece in The Guardian: "'It is something to do with women not being as assertive in that field,' said Spalding. 'It's not that I don't want to commission them.'"
His disavowal reminded me instantly of the time, back in the mid-'90s, that The New Yorker came out with a women's issue, in which almost none of the cartoons were drawn by women. There were a couple -- three at most -- which was par for the course any other week but striking, and strange, for that issue. So when Lee Lorenz, then the magazine's cartoon editor, popped up on a public-radio show, my then-boyfriend called in and asked why that was. Simple, Lorenz explained: Female cartoonists just aren't interested in the single-panel format.
Sort of like how women aren't wired for science. Or were emotional females just overreacting a few years ago when Larry Summers suggested to a conference on workforce diversification that "issues of intrinsic aptitude" were to blame for the low numbers of women in science and engineering?
Summers' speech is breathtaking for many reasons, but one of them is the sheer accumulated mass of familiar, multipurpose sexist statements cloaked in pseudo-intellectualism. Then the president of Harvard University, he addressed the issue of fairness in hiring by noting that "there's a real question as to how plausible it is to believe that there is anything like half as many people who are qualified to be scientists at top ten schools and who are now not at top ten schools."
That may be true, but it takes an almost willful myopia not to see that myriad, sometimes elusive factors -- such as encouragement, mentoring, and hostility real or perceived -- have a substantial and direct bearing on both an individual's decision to pursue a field and his or her success in it. If a given group faces more obstacles to professional development, it follows that fewer of its members will emerge in the top ranks.
Spalding sounds similarly willing to believe that the level of female representation in choreography is out of his hands.
Continue reading Why the 'Best' Are So Often Male.
May 12, 2009 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)


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Hi!! to the co-sleeping Mammas out there, who have children now sleeping, please -please reinforce that message for me. A year on, and the longest sleep my daughter has had is 4 hrs 40 mins... and although she has been consistently csleeping 3 - 31/2 hrs at the beginning of thie night for a while - improved from 1-2hrs - I am needing some reassurance. SHe used to peacefully go back to sleep after nursing, but for about 2 weeks now, she gets very restless and moves all over the bed - usually starting around 2am-4.30 am 'ish' thinking it mainly has to do with her starting to do some steps on her own now. She has been a little less restles the past few nights, but I miss her peaceful falling back to sleep, even if it was v frequent....advie anyone?? thank you xxxx
No announcement yet.
neeeding some support/+ feedback please
new posts
New Forum Member
- Mar 2008
- 1326
So is she newly walking? That alone could be the reason for the increased night wakefullness. Maybe she is thinking of it and wakes up to practice?
Hi Naomi! Yes, walking sometimes now, for short bursts. Think that is what the restlessness is all about. But, please reassure me that she will eventually sleep for longer periods, for her sake, as much as mine. I dream of 5 hrs sleep.... anyway, just needing that encouragement right now. Thank you for your attendance.
New Forum Member
- Mar 2008
- 1326
YES!!!! it will only be a few more days or maybe a week (unless she learns something else new) YOU will get better sleep!
I just gave this link on another thread but it really has some great ideas for sleeping (even if you are not actually night weaning) such as eliminating discomfort...
I also thought a baby massage might help relax her body, maybe a nice warm bath before bed? (my boys get energized by baths but a lot of people really say they relax their kids) She is too old for a swaddle but maybe a cold room and a heavy blanket might be soothing for her.
New Forum Member
- Mar 2008
- 1326
Hey, I am getting small amounts of sleep this week too! I understand!
HI! We co-slept (and still do if he wakes during the night). Up until DS was about 14 months we didnt have anything longer than a four hour stretch and he woke at four in the morning... and then one night he slept from seven to seven and we havent looked back! If he is teething or sick he will wake to come into bed with us, but goes straight back to sleep. Otherwise he is now in his own room (his choice) and sleeps right through - he will be two in Oct. Believe me I understand the foggy "JUST SLEEP!!!!" feeling. It will pass, your LO will sleep through... I promise! They all just do it when they are ready to. For now you are giving your LO a great gift by being available at all hours. One day soon she will no longer need that and you will miss the cuddles at night.


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Sophyto Daily Renewal Kit
About this itemCleanse and nourish all skin types with three essential anti-aging products gentle enough for everyday use.
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By working with your skin to naturally optimize pH levels and moisture content. Sophyto helps all skin types to look and feel healthier and more radiant. Every eco-friendly product has been developed by green chemists to contain optimal levels of certified organic botanical ingredients. And the entire Sophyto line is guaranteed to be free artificial fragrance, colors and fillers, included parabens and processed nutrients
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Component Country
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Standard - 2 to 6 business days
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This product is covered by the Sam's Club Member Satisfaction Guarantee.


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- Home
- Holidays & Parties
- Memorial Day
All-American Desserts
Warm-weather sweets will be the stars of your celebration.
How to Make Fried Chicken
Follow Ree's tips to make crispy, juicy fried chicken for the holiday weekend.
Spend Your Long Weekend With FN ChefsMore Picnic Favorites Videos
Refreshing Antipasto Salad(05:22)
Ree's Fried Chicken Recipe(02:39)
Arnold Palmer Sangria(00:59)
Red-White-and-Blue Fruit Cups(00:26)
String Bean and Potato Salad(03:15)
Giada's Picnic Sandwiches(08:27)
Neely Chocolate Brownies(04:41)
Touchdown Lemon Shandy(01:29)
Celebrate Memorial Day In Style
Mini Pork Cheeseburgers
These mini burgers with pepper Jack cheese are great for groups.
Mexican Burgers
Slather these beef burgers with a lime-and-avocado spread.
Spiced Burgers
Cool down these spicy burgers by topping them with Greek yogurt.
Grilled Steak Fajitas
Make grilled fajitas with the help of Aarón Sánchez and Food Network Magazine.


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Harper Gallery Frames Mats
- Overview
A double border around a special photo or artwork sets it off beautifully and adds to its presence. Choose a child's favorite color, or one to complement the decor in a bedroom or play area.
- Mats fit 4x6 or 8x10 pictures.
- Made from wood-free paper that is acid-free.
- Frames are not included.
- Dimensions & Care
4x6 Mat
- Overall: 10" wide x 7.75" high
- Fits pictures 4" wide x 6" high
- Fits 9 x 11" frame
8x10 Mat
- Overall: 15.75" wide x 12.75" high
- Fits pictures 8" wide x 10" high
- Fits 14 x 17" frame
- Dust with a soft, dry cloth.
- Shipping & Return Info
This is a general shipping item.
View Our Shipping Information
Return Policy
At Pottery Barn Kids, we take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of our products. Attention to design, materials, safety and construction is our priority. We carefully inspect your order prior to shipment; upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage. We will arrange for a prompt replacement. If, within 7 days for Quick Ship upholstery and 30 days for all other products, you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may return your purchase for a refund of the merchandise value.
If your return for Merchandise Credit Cards is greater than $10,000, we will issue $10,000 in Merchandise Credit Cards to you that day, and then mail additional Merchandise Credit Card(s) for the amount in excess of $10,000 to you.
We cannot accept returns on monogrammed, personalized, special-order items, or on items damaged through normal wear and tear. We also cannot accept returns of final-sale items, which are identified by a price that ends in $0.99.
For returns of items purchased from your Pottery Barn Kids registry, we will gladly provide a refund or exchange for the merchandise within 90 days of your event or within 90 days of purchase, whichever date is later.
For assistance, please contact Customer Service at 800.993.4923
International Returns: Online returns are available only for items that were shipped to the United States. If you would like to return items that were shipped outside the US, please see International Returns and Exceptions.
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Howdy and hello,
I bought the M1a because i saw so many of the players and songwriters that i love using them... tweedy petty justine townes earle etc...
i put the pickup into my 1930 Kalamazoo kg-11 a small bodied flat top (whos neck has been reset refretted and braces scalloped. its a magical guitar with a throaty present tone.
i also own the para DI
after testing and messing with the pickup system for awhile... i am really confused as to what everyone sees in the system.
so help a brother out...
how does jeff tweedy make this pickup (which on my guitar, through nice mid sized PAs, sounds spiky and NOTHING like an acoustic guitar)... how do tweedy and tom petty get such full acoustic tone?
i am ready to take the M1a out and send it to the bottom of the drawer with other gear i hoped i would LOVE.
here is the question...
what outboard gear are the big boys using?
is their tone a result of 1000.00 worth of outboard TUBE preamp?
banging my head against the wall...
please help.
what i am looking for is an acoustic sound on stage that actually sounds like an acoustic guitar.


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Hello everyone! New little feature here on the blog! I am going to be throwing up a quote every week that I think is internet worthy (like that is difficult)…………
ANYWAY!!! I truly believe that this first post should go out to a wonderful new addition to the Cogswell family: Cynthia, our new receptionist. Cynthia is in the front lobby every morning when I get into work welcoming me with a big, bright smile as she does with everyone who walks through our doors. There are very few things you can say to a person in the morning that will start their day off right and Cynthia always nails it.
"Hello and Good Morning (insert name)."
It is nice to see a smile in the morning and it is very contagious. Thank you Cynthia for warming up our lobby, we all appreciate it.
Tags: cogswell, cynthia, quote, receptionist


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USA Table Tennis is very pleased to announce that the National Team Coach (NTC) roster has been filled. The NTC Selection Committee has tendered its recommendations to and they have been accepted by CEO Mike Cavanaugh.
As per a previous announcement, three National Coach positions which had not been recently reviewed were opened for applications. In two of these slots, our current coaches applied to remain.
We are happy to announce Emilia Gheorghe, Cadet Girls Coach, and Keith Evans, Cadet Boys Coach, were reaffirmed by the selection committee. Congratulations go out to Daniel Rutenberg who was selected to be the Paralympic Team coach. We are also delighted to announce the appointment of Yang, Shigang, of Atlanta, as Junior Boys National Team Coach.
Appointments are pending results of background screenings.
The selection committee consisted of Pam Fontaine, Bob Fox, Jun Gao, Ashu Jain, Richard McAfee, Whitney Ping, Han Xiao, and Ross Brown.
Emilia, Keith, and Yang join Stefan Feth (Men's), Lily Yip (Junior Girls), and Doru Gheorghe (Women's) to complete our NTC roster.
Please join us in wishing our National Team Coaches every success.


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Weddings brochure information
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Weddings Brochures, the essential checklist
We have the beauty of a historical villa, the delicious dishes of a gastronomic restaurant, the exclusivity of a private setting. What really makes the difference is the love and dedication that we put into each marriage.
Having organized weddings in Lucca for several years, every couple we meet is different, every wedding organized is a new burst of energy. At San Pietro not only do we provide an exclusive venue for your wedding day, we can also offer a personalized service you in the delicate phase that leads up to your marriage. The attention to details and commitment to quality are very important! We will be happy to assist you in organizing your charming dream wedding in Tuscany.
Every aspect of your big day, from the legal requirements, to the choice of menu, flowers, photographer, transport and accommodation. The experienced staff have great devotion towards their job, and every event is a new whirlpool of emotions, which we just cannot wait to experience together!
Tenuta also has a license for on sight civil weddings! So you can say your vows in this breathtaking setting.


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By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger on Twitter
For five years now, men in southern Illinois have had a chance to get a better handle on their health at the Southern Illinois Men's Health Conference. Each year, men from age 18 up into their 90's have made the conference a part of their schedule. For $45, men get breakfast, lunch, and a battery of potentially life saving medical screenings. There are blood draw for things like diabetes, cholesterol, and heart disease risk assessment. Men can also have their hearing, vision, and skin checked by a handful of professionals.
Blood pressure screening
That's all in the first part of the morning. The day also includes three breakout sessions. Each one of those sessions has four to five classes to chose from. This year men can learn more about handgun safety, healthy grilling, and being a better father. There are also traditional sessions on prostate health, lung cancer, and heart disease.
It's Never Too LateDr. Edwin Wolfgram
Things wrap up with a lunch and keynote address from former Ironman champion Dr. Edwin Wolfgram. He's competed in several Ironman competitions while in his 70's. Now in his early 80's, Wolfgram still takes part in triathlons. He'll remind men on Saturday, March 23 that It's Never Too Late.
The conference is a labor of love for me. Months of planning are spent getting speakers in place, sponsors on board, and the media to cover us. I've been the cochair since the inception of the event, and I'm proud to be a part of it. It's a great way to reach out to hundreds of men in our region who might not normally see a doctor. I know for a fact that we've helped some of our participants catch a medical condition that they were able to get a followup with their physician.
Free massages too!
This is where I give my confession. I've been using the conference for the last five years as a replacement for seeing a regular physician. Luckily, each year my cholesterol numbers have come back normal and I've not had any other conditions to worry about. But now that I'm Facing 40 (6 days and counting) I am in the hunt for a regular doctor too. It's something we encourage with the conference, so I need to practice what I preach.
Ladies, if you're still reading, encourage the men in your life to sign up. Men of all ages are invited to attend. There will be prizes given away and we'll also honor my colleague with the conference Tom Corpora as the fifth recipient of the Champions Award. If you have any questions, head here for more details or just ask me. You can also call (618) 985-9210.


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Chautauqua County unemployment rate hits double digits
The unemployment rate in Chautauqua County is above 10 percent.
According to the state Labor Department, the county's January unemployment rate is 10.1 percent, which is 1.2 percent higher than what it was in December 2012. The rate is .7 percent higher than what it was a year ago when it was 9.4 percent.
The job sector with the largest decrease in employment occurred within natural resources, mining and construction, which dropped 10 percent. Financial activities decreased by 7.1 percent, government lowered by 6.3 percent, leisure and hospitality dropped by 5.8 percent and manufacturing lost 5 percent of its jobs. The only job sector in January that gained employees was professional and business services, which increased by 6.9 percent.
The number of employed decreased by 800 jobs, falling from 56,600 in December 2012 to 55,800 in January. The number of unemployed increased by 800, going from 5,500 in December 2012 to 6,300 in January.
New York state's overall economy added 29,600 jobs in January, breaking a record with 17 consecutive months of private sector jobs added.
Between December 2012 and January, the state's unemployment rate rose from 8.2 percent to 8.4 percent. The private sector job count is based on a payroll survey of 18,000 New York employers conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"New York state's strong economy continues to grow in 2013 and is setting records for consecutive job growth. In January, the state's private sector job count increased by 29,600, accounting for nearly one in five jobs created in the nation," said Bohdan M. Wynnyk, state Division of Research and Statistics deputy director.
The New York state job sector with the largest increase in employment since January 2012 was in professional and business services, which rose by 32,900. Educational and health services went up by 32,400 jobs.
The job sector which decreased employment the most was government, which dropped by 11,800 jobs. The manufacturing sector also decreased, losing 9,500 employees since last year.


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New York Power Authority And City Of Niagara Falls Complete Energy Efficiency Initiative At Hyde Park Ice Pavilion
Paul DeMichele
(914) 390-8186
January 26, 2011
NIAGARA FALLS—Standing in front of a new electric Zamboni, New York Power Authority (NYPA) President and Chief Executive Officer Richard M. Kessel and Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster today celebrated the completion of a comprehensive energy efficiency project at the Hyde Park Ice Pavilion. The nearly $1.4 million initiative will save energy, provide significant financial savings for taxpayers, and help protect the environment.
"It's a great pleasure to complete these energy efficiency upgrades, which will allow the city of Niagara Falls to provide a great facility to its residents and save money in the process ," Kessel said. "The improvements at the ice pavilion are just one of the many energy saving initiatives the Power Authority is working on in Western New York and throughout the state in support of New York's '45 by 15' plan, which calls for 45 percent of electricity needs in New York State to be met through improved energy efficiency and renewable sources by the year 2015."
"This is a success story on a number of levels that was made possible though the New York Power Authority in cooperation with the City of Niagara Falls," said Niagara Falls Mayor Paul A. Dyster. "Our ice pavilion was given green upgrades and this means greater energy efficiency with cutting edge technology. Ice skating, hockey and tournament hockey have just received a tremendous boost in the Niagara Falls community."
The energy efficiency work included upgrades to the facilities lighting, hot water system, heating system, building infiltration, and ventilation. In addition, NYPA delivered an electric Zamboni, which will be used to clean and smooth the surface of the ice rink at 50 percent the operational cost of using a fully gas powered machine.
The improvements will lower utility costs by more than $86,000 a year and remove 475 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually. The electric Zamboni is the first ice resurfacing machine NYPA has financed. The emission-free, four wheel drive vehicle can complete approximately 15 ice resurfaces on a single battery charge.
NYPA has completed 40 projects at 146 facilities in Niagara and Erie County, saving taxpayers more than $3 million a year and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 24,000 tons annually.
NYPA typically recovers its costs by sharing in the savings in energy bills that result from its initiatives, after which program participants retain all the savings.
In late-2009, the NYPA Board of Trustees approved the expansion of the Power Authority's energy efficiency programs and other services, helping it to further promote clean energy and advance environmental sustainability across the state. NYPA expects to invest more than $1 billion in such programs over the next several years.
For the New York Power Authority, this project was handled by John Darlak, associate conservation engineer of the Energy Services and Technology business unit.
NYPA is the nation's largest state-owned electric utility and uses no taxpayer dollars or state debt in its operations. The Power Authority owns and operates 17 generating facilities across New York. NYPA also owns and operates over 1,400 circuit miles of transmission lines in various parts of the state. NYPA is a national leader in advancing energy efficiency, clean energy technologies, and electric vehicles.
About NYPA:
■ The New York Power Authority uses no tax money or state credit. It finances its operations through the sale of bonds and revenues earned in large part through sales of electricity. ■ NYPA is a leader in promoting energy efficiency, new energy technologies and electric transportation initiatives. ■ It is the nation's largest state public power organization, with 17 generating facilities in various parts of New York State and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. ■ Approximately 80 percent of the electricity it produces is clean renewable hydropower. Its lower-cost power production and electricity purchases support hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout the state. ■For more information, www.nypa.gov.