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High-End Dining
The chefs at Roberta's wanted a weed edible more sophisticated and more delicious than the boring, old pot brownie. So they designed a three-course, two-cocktail menu that uses marijuana not just as a psychoactive ingredient but a distinctive herb. Here's how to cook their stoner feast at home
By Chef Ryan Rice
Special equipment:
The Smoking Gun (a handheld food smoker)
To prepare the weed oil:
1.5 grams high-potency weed—either ground, chopped, or broken up
2 cups grapeseed oil
Simmer weed in oil for 2 hours on low heat (below 150 degrees).
Allow to cool for 30 minutes.
Strain through fine-mesh sieve.
To prepare the fish:
5 Long Island bluefish fillets
3 Tbsp. kosher salt
1 Tbsp. crushed fennel seed
2 Tbsp. Sour Diesel kief
2 Tbsp. Meyer lemon zest
2 Tbsp. weed oil
1/2 gram nugget Sour Diesel
2 tsp. small hickory chips
Remove any remaining scales and bones from the fillets, but keep skin on. On the flesh side, season the fish with salt, crushed fennel, Sour Diesel kief, Meyer lemon zest, and weed oil.
Allow fish to absorb the THC and flavors—preferably while covered and refrigerated overnight. When ready, remove fish from cold and let it come to room temperature.
Place the fish fillets on a cooling rack inside of a deep pan and then wrap the pan completely in plastic wrap. Poke one hole on each side. The first hole allows the vapor and the smoke to enter, and the second allows the normal air to be pushed out.
Fill a vaporizer bag with Sour Diesel vapor and then pump it into the chamber via the entrance hole. Once it's full, quickly seal both holes with small pieces of plastic wrap and allow the vapor to sink in for 30 minutes. Repeat process with a second 30-minute batch of vaporized weed.
After the vaporizing sessions, blend in the hickory smoke, using the Smoking Gun. Allow to set in for 30 minutes.
To prepare the weed-yogurt sauce:
3 kumquats, diced
1 shallot, diced
Juice of 1 Meyer lemon
2 cups yogurt
1/2 cup crème fraîche
3 Tbsp. weed oil
Combine first 3 ingredients and allow to macerate for 15 minutes.
Stir in the next three and salt to taste. Keep chilled.
To prepare the greens:
Five awesome varieties of greens from the garden at Roberta's or from home garden. (Preferably one of the leaves is a marijuana leaf. I used arugula, red mustard, spotted basil, baby kale, and chrysanthemum.)
5 blood oranges, peeled and sliced into rounds
1 lemon
More weed oil
- Mix the leaves in a bowl with a squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of weed oil, and a pinch of salt.
To prepare the weed butter:
12 oz. butter
1.5 grams Chocolope weed—chopped, broken, or ground
Pour 1 inch of water into a pot, add the butter, and allow to melt. (The butter fat will rise to top, the water from the butter will sink, and the excess water will act as a diffuser and keep the butter from browning.)
Add the weed and allow to simmer, never boil, for 2 to 5 hours.
Completely cool in the fridge. The butter will solidify on top. The water will separate completely on the bottom. Remove the weed-butter cap and either rewarm and strain out the weed solids, then refrigerate again—or, if desired, use with the ground weed inside.
And beware! The THC in the butter can seep into your skin. Don't come into too much bodily contact with the product unless you're ready to get fucked-up.
To prepare the croutons:
1 1/2 Tbsp. Sour Diesel kief
1 1/2 Tbsp. salt
1 loaf Roberta's-made pumpernickel bread cut into 50 half-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups weed butter
Combine the kief and salt. Mix well.
Toast the cubed bread at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, then set aside.
Melt the weed butter slowly in a wide pot until it begins to smell nutty.
Add the cubes. Toss them until they absorb the all the butter.
Transfer them to a separate bowl. Toss with kief-salt mixture.
To assemble the dish:
Vegetable or grapeseed oil for searing
Remove the fish from its smoky chamber.
Place 2 cast-iron pans over medium-high heat. Add a bit of the vegetable or grapeseed oil.
Place the fish in the pans, skin side down. Allow the skin to crisp before flipping.
Arrange the plates and distribute the yogurt sauce among them, smoothing it out like a nice landing pad for the salad and fish.
Layer the salad over the yogurt and tuck in the blood-orange slices and the croutons.
Place the fish over the salad and serve immediately.
Serves five
California Painkiller and Planet Caravan Cocktails
_By Bar Manager Mike Stankovich _
California Painkiller
To prepare the concentrated weed cream:
3 grams Northern Lights weed
5 oz. heavy cream
Combine weed and heavy cream in a non-reactive saucepan.
Cook for 1 hour at a barely visible simmer. Do not let it boil.
Let cool for 1 hour before straining out the weed. You should be left with about 3 oz. of liquid.
To prepare the housemade Painkiller mix:
2 fresh pineapples
3 oz. concentrated weed cream
5 oz. coconut milk
6 oz. sweetened condensed milk
12 oz. fresh-squeezed orange juice
Peel and core two pineapples. Rough chop the flesh and puree in a blender.
Combine weed cream, coconut milk, and condensed milk in a large container or pitcher with leak-proof lid.
Add the orange juice and 14 oz. of the pineapple puree. Cover and shake vigorously.
Makes enough mix for about 20 Painkillers
To prepare the Painkiller:
2 oz. housemade Painkiller mix
2 oz. Appleton Estate Jamaica rum
Crushed ice
Optional garnishes: mint leaves, edible flowers, cherries, and/or paper parasols
Combine the Painkiller mix and the rum in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well and strain over the crushed ice.
Garnish. Make it look pretty.
Serves one
**Planet Caravan **
To prepare the infused gin:
4 oz. Hash Plant weed
5 oz. Earl Grey tea leaves
1-liter bottle Beefeater gin
Combine the weed and the tea in the gin.
Allow to infuse for 2 to 3 days, then strain out the tea and weed.
To prepare the Planet Caravan:
1 egg white
1 oz. infused gin
1 oz. plain Beefeater Gin
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz. simple syrup
Dashes of grapefruit bitters
In a cocktail shaker without ice, dry-shake the egg white vigorously. (For best results, detach the spring from a cocktail strainer and drop it into the egg white before shaking. This creates a frothy foam.)
Add the infused gin, the plain gin, the lemon juice, the simple syrup, and the grapefruit bitters.
Add ice, shake well, and strain into a chilled coupe glass.
Serves one
Pot Pizzas
_By Chef Anthony Falco _
The dough recipe makes enough for two twelve-inch pizzas: the Marijuananara Margherita and Pot Pesto Lupo
To prepare the dough:
300 grams Antimo Caputo 00 Pizzeria flour
8 grams fine sea salt
4 grams baker's yeast or 2 grams active dry yeast
10 grams weed oil (see recipe above)
200 grams water
Thoroughly mix the flour and salt in a bowl.
Thoroughly mix the yeast, weed oil, and lukewarm water in a separate, large mixing bowl.
Add the flour-salt mixture to the yeast-oil-water mixture and knead until very thoroughly combined (about 3 minutes).
Let that rest for 15 minutes, then knead mixture 3 more minutes.
Cut mixture into 240-gram pieces and form into 2 balls.
Let the dough balls rise on a plate for 3 to 4 hours at 70 degrees or for 8 to 24 hours in the refrigerator. For the 70-degree method, cover the dough with a dampened cloth so that it doesn't form a skin; for the refrigerator method, cover the dough with plastic wrap. If you use the refrigerator method, remove the dough balls 30 to 45 minutes before baking.
Remove dough from the plate and sprinkle generously with flour; dimple the center of the ball. Pass back and forth between your hands to let gravity stretch out the dough. Once it reaches about 12 inches, you are ready to add the toppings.
To prepare the marijuananara sauce:
1 28-oz. can San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes
4 oz. weed oil (see recipe above)
Sea salt
Blend tomatoes and oil thoroughly with immersion blender or food mill.
Salt to taste.
To prepare the Marijuananara Margherita pizza:
2 pinches "oregano" (equal-parts mixture of Hash Plant kief and oregano)
Small block of Grana Padano
20 grams buffalo mozzarella or fresh whole-milk mozzarella
1 1/2 oz. marijuananara sauce
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. toasted hemp seeds
Preheat a pizza stone in a 500-degree oven for 1 hour.
Spread the marijuananara sauce on the pizza dough.
Grate the Grana Padano over the sauce.
Top with the mozzarella.
Sprinkle the "oregano" over the cheese.
Using a pastry brush, spread the olive oil around the crust.
Scatter the hemp seeds over the oiled crust.
Using a pizza peel, slide the pizza directly onto the stone and bake until the crust is blistered and brown and the cheese is bubbly (4 to 9 minutes).
To prepare the pot pesto:
2 grams Purple Kush weed
3 cups basil
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup toasted hemp seeds
1/4 cup weed olive oil
Mix the ingredients in a food processor or high-powered blender.
To prepare the Pot Pesto Lupo pizza:
3 oz. pot pesto
2 oz. prosciutto cotto
2 oz. ricotta
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. toasted hemp seeds
Preheat a pizza stone in a 500-degree oven for 1 hour.
Spread the pesto on pizza dough.
Layer the prosciutto cotto and ricotta on top.
Using a brush, spread the olive oil around the crust.
Scatter the hemp seeds over the oiled crust.
Using a pizza peel, slide the pizza directly onto the stone and bake until the crust is blistered and brown and the cheese is bubbly (4 to 9 minutes).
Salt to taste.
Weed Dessert
_By Pastry Chef Katy Peetz _
High-powered blender (such as a Vitamix)
Hand blender or immersion blender
Heavy-bottomed pots
Silicone baking sheets
Rubber spatulas
Offset spatulas
Ice cream machine
Baking sheets with 1/2-inch-tall sides
Kitchen scale
Dessert components:
Parsley cake
Green-strawberry-and-rhubarb gelato
Green juice granita
On cooking with weed&
I don't smoke or cook with weed on a regular basis. However, through research and talking to some very qualified cooks who have made weed treats, I learned quite a lot. I loved cooking with such a different herb. I approached this project with a culinary mind as opposed to a stoner mind. Marijuana has such a deep, sweet, earthy flavor. And since a lot of my desserts use savory, earthy flavors anyway, this was right up my alley—only with THC!
THC is fat-soluble, so I infused it into butter, cream, and oil and then used these weed-infused ingredients in my recipes. You can make these dishes as weak or as strong as you like. Taking into account that these desserts were being served at the end of a long weed dinner, I went light on the weed.
Parsley Cake
240 grams all-purpose flour
30 grams hemp flour
15 grams cornstarch
6 grams salt
8 grams baking powder
250 grams parsley leaves with a little stem attached
85 grams weed oil
85 grams good olive oil (I use Pianogrillo)
330 grams sugar
250 grams eggs at room temperature (4 large or 5 small)
Mix flours, cornstarch, salt, and baking powder together in a bowl. Set aside.
Make the parsley-oil mixture: Put a third of the parsley in a strong blender, such as a Vitamix. Start on low speed and use the Vitamix tamper stick to help crush the parsley while the blade is spinning. Increase the speed to high during this process. Keep adding handfuls of parsley until it is all in the blender.
In a slow, steady stream, add the weed oil. Mix on low-medium until combined. Slowly add the olive oil. Don't blend too high or too long or the parsley will turn to mush and an ugly green color will appear. Transfer into a bowl; scrape the sides of the blender very well to get all of it out! Set the mixture in the refrigerator until ready to use.
In a mir, whip the eggs with a paddle attachment for 30 seconds. Add the sugar and whip on high for about 5 minutes or until the mixture is super thick, creamy, and very pale yellow.
Turn mir speed down to low and add the parsley-oil mixture.
Add the dry flour mix with the machine still running and let it mix until just combined. Don't overmix.
Pour the batter into a container and refrigerate, covered, for 6 to 24 hours. The chlorophyll releases during this time, and your cake will turn out greener than if you'd baked it right away.
Oil an 18-by-13-inch metal baking pan with 1/2-inch sides. Line with oiled parchment paper. Pour in the batter and even out the top with a spatula.
Bake at 345 degrees for 6 to 10 minutes, rotating the cake midway through the baking time.
Yields 25 portions of cake
Green-Strawberry-and-Rhubarb Gelato
Green strawberries are unripe strawberries. Their acidity and tartness, along with the rhubarb, balance out the fat and sweetness of the creamy base.
To prepare the weed cream:
400 grams heavy cream
5 grams marijuana, broken up
Combine the heavy cream with the marijuana in a large ziplock bag.
Cook in a water bath for 5 to 7 hours at a temperature below simmering.
Pour the infused cream into a mixing bowl and mix with a hand blender, but stop when soft peaks start to form. Use right away or chill until ready to use.
To prepare the fruit purees:
400 grams fresh strawberries
800 grams fresh rhubarb
200 grams sugar
2 grams salt
Juice from one lemon
Toss the fruit, sugar, salt and lemon juice together in a large bowl.
Cover and let sit for 24 hours; strain the fruit and reserve the liquid.
Transfer the sweet macerated liquid into a pot and reduce over low heat until it is a syrup, about 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, cook the macerated fruit on medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated, which will take anywhere from 20 to 60 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent burning. Allow the fruit to cool.
In a blender, puree the thickend fruit, thinning it out with the syrup. Puree very well until creamy and no fruit chunks remain.
To prepare the gelato:
405 grams weed cream
830 grams milk
100 grams sugar
60 grams honey
100 grams glucose powder
75 grams dry milk powder
6 grams xanthan gum
300 grams room temperature eggs (5 eggs)
200 grams green strawberry puree
400 grams rhubarb puree
In a saucepan, heat the weed cream and milk to a simmer. Turn off the heat. Add the rest of the ingredients except for the fruit purees and eggs.
In a separate bowl,** **whisk the eggs and temper with a small amount of the hot cream mixture; then add it back to the saucepan. Turn the heat back on low and slowly bring the mixture up to 170 degrees, stirring the bottom of the pot often with a rubber spatula. Remove from heat.
Immersion-blend the mixture for 2 minutes, then strain through a fine sieve into a container over an ice bath.
Mix in the fruit purees. Mix with a hand blender again.
Chill to 33 degrees before pouring into the ice cream machine. ** **
Spin the base according to your ice cream machine.
Yields 3 quarts of gelato base, which yields a little over 1 gallon of gelato
To prepare the weed butter:
2 to 3 cups water
1 lb. butter
1/2 to 1 oz. weed
In a pan, bring the water to a boil. Add the butter and weed.
Lower the heat to below a simmer and cook for a few hours. Make sure the weed isn't sticking to the bottom of the pan. It should be floating at least 1 inch from the bottom. Stir occasionally.
You will know it is done when all the water has evaporated and the top starts to look thick. Cool to room temperature. Mix with a hand blender while the butter is still soft; this action will grind up the weed.
Refrigerate the weed butter. Check it after an hour; the leaves will sink to the bottom and separate. If there are watery parts, put the butter back on the stove to cook them out. (Note: Some people like to strain the butter before it solidifies. But I didn't.)
Bring the butter to room temperature and mix it a bit before incorporating it into these recipes.
**To prepare the weed tuile: **
120 grams egg whites at room temperature (about 4 egg whites)
85 grams powdered sugar
85 grams white sugar
180 grams all-purpose flour
1.5 grams salt
60 grams melted weed butter
Using a mir with a paddle attachment, mix the egg whites and sugars on low speed until well combined. Gradually mix in the flour and salt. Add the melted weed butter last in a slow stream and increase the speed to medium. Mix until well combined with no lumps remaining. Pour the batter into a small container and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least one hour. (Yields 532 grams or 2 cups of batter.)
Remove the batter from the fridge and spread a thin layer onto a silicone baking sheet using a small offset spatula. Spread to whatever dimensions you want; I didn't measure but instead spread random swipes of about 1.5 by 2 inches in swooping rectangles. (If you don't want to go through the trouble of shaping them, you can spread an even layer of batter over the entire silicone baking sheet and break apart the pieces into cracker-sized bites after baking.) Do 4 or 5 rectangles per sheet.
Place the silicone sheets on metal sheet pans and bake in a 325-degree oven for 8 to 12 minutes or until the cookie pieces are golden brown.
When done, the pieces will be flimsy and pliable for about 20 seconds. Immediately remove the pieces and hang them over the handle of a long wooden spatula to shape. Wait 1 minute and then slide them off. (Note: These are very fragile. Covered, they stay crispy for 2 to 3 days.)
Green Juice Granita
1 lemon
5 green apples
2 bunches parsley
2 bunches watercress
1 bunch kale
250 grams cream
100-200 grams honey, depending on bitterness of watercress and sweetness of apples
Feed the fruits and vegetables through a juicer; keep the liquid over an ice bath during the process or it will turn brown. 2.
Add a pinch of salt and sweeten with cream and honey.
Mix with a hand blender, strain through a fine sieve, and freeze in a shallow metal baking dish.
Scrape the mixture in the freezer with a fork every thirty minutes until frozen.
To assemble the weed dessert:
Arrange all the elements on plate as in the photograph. (Recipes do not include weed brittle sheet and hemp-seed crumble.) To garnish, add green and red sliced strawberries and strawberry flowers.


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Sheehan: Get troops out of 'occupied New Orleans'
Mother of slain soldier decries 'military and governmental fascism'
Cindy Sheehan
Fresh from a visit to hurricane-ravaged Louisiana, anti-Bush activist Cindy Sheehan is demanding the U.S. military be removed from "occupied New Orleans."
In a dispatch on leftist filmmaker Michael Moore's website, Sheehan said she was troubled by the "level of the military presence" in the Gulf Coast state.
"George Bush needs to stop talking, admit the mistakes of his all around failed administration, pull our troops out of occupied New Orleans and Iraq, and excuse his self from power," she said. "The only way America will become more secure is if we have a new administration that cares about Americans even if they don't fall into the top two percent of the wealthiest.
The Vacaville, Calif., woman, whose son was killed fighting insurgents in Iraq, launched an anti-war movement last month when she camped outside Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch and demanded to meet with the president, drawing national media attention.
In her Internet posting today, Sheehan said she had "imagined before that if the military had to be used in [continental U.S.] operations that they would be there to help the citizens: Clothe them, feed them, shelter them, and protect them. But what I saw was a city that is occupied."
Describing the scene, she wrote, "I saw soldiers walking around in patrols of 7 with their weapons slung on their backs. I wanted to ask one of them what it would take for one of them to shoot me. Sand bags were removed from private property to make machine gun nests."
The activist insisted there was no reason for the security presence, because "the vast majority of people who were looting in New Orleans were doing so to feed their families or to get resources to get their families out of there. If I had a store with an inventory of insured belongings, and a tragedy happened, I would fling my doors open and tell everyone to take what they need: it is only stuff."
She commented: "When our fellow citizens are told to 'shoot to kill' other fellow citizens because they want to stay alive, that is military and governmental fascism gone out of control."
Sheehan came under fire last month after WorldNetDaily broke the story that she had called enemy terrorists "freedom fighters."
"But now that we have decimated the country," she said, "the borders are open, freedom fighters from other countries are going in, and they [American troops] have created more terrorism by going to an Islamic country, devastating the country and killing innocent people in that country."
Previous stories:
Sheehan: Other moms of slain 'brainwashed'
Hawks, doves descend on Texas town
White supremacists claim Cindy's cause
Casey in heaven 'calls Bush idiot'
Pat Boone shreds Cindy 'peaceniks'
Cindy: Terrorists 'freedom fighters'
'Best of left' in Congress writes Bush on Sheehan
Cindy's face 'magically appears on baseball'
IRS: Mum's the word on Peace Mom's taxes
Hold your appaws: Dogs for Cindy
Backlash! War moms attack Cindy Sheehan
Bush shown kissing Cindy in family pix
Cindy's husband seeking divorce
Man defends firing shots near Bush protesters
Cindy Sheehan: I won't pay tax
Related offer:

subset: commoncrawl


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Vista's Beta Users Praise System's SecurityBy Baselinemag | Posted 2006-11-10 Print
Implementation questions linger as Microsoft releases its new operating system to manufacturing.With Microsoft getting ready to ship its new Vista operating system, experts who have been evaluating it for use within corporations are praising its security enhancements while fretting about the finer points of implementation.
Five years in development, Vista is supposed to ship to enterprise customers by the end of this month, two months ahead of its general release to consumers. Microsoft declared the Vista code complete this week, releasing it to manufacturing along with Office 2007.
"It's certainly the most secure operating system they've released to date," said Erik Schmidt, a technical manager at the University of Florida, which has been evaluating Vista on more than 50 personal computers as one of the formal beta testers in Microsoft's Technology Adoption Program.
That perspective was echoed by another TAP participant, Keith Dickey, a project manager in Fulton County, Georgia. Dickey said that a new feature within Vista called user account controlwhich administrators can turn on to prevent the installation of unauthorized applicationswill allow the county to cut back on the 24,000 hours it spends each year cleaning up infected machines. That will translate into about $750,000 that the county's chief information officer, Robert Taylor, can devote to something else.
Some of the new Microsoft security enhancements may be complicated to use.
One is BitLocker, a feature that encrypts the entire contents of a hard drive so that a stolen laptop can't become a source of pilfered intellectual property. BitLocker's policy of looking for changes in a PC's BIOS may occasionally activate the shutdown mechanism when it isn't needed. BitLocker "is a very very good idea," said the University of Florida's Schmidt. "But it can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."
Besides the security features, perhaps the most notable change in Vista compared with Windows XP is a slick user interface that is reminiscent of the UI in Apple's OS X.
The good news about Vista's UI, Aero, is that it makes it much easier to switch between applications. The bad news is that Aero requires "a significantly more powerful graphics card than you would typically find in almost all corporations," said Ben Downe, a London-based senior associate at Diamond Management and Technology Consultants. Downe has been evaluating Vista for his Global 1000 clients over the past few weeks.
In any event, it's the rare enterprise that will rush out to install Vista when it becomes available later this month. Big-company CIOs are naturally wary about the stability of any new OS, and want to test compatibility with third-party applications.
"XP is a good operating system," Gartner analyst Michael Silver said. "There's really no rush to get off of it."
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Mayor Coleen J. Seng and the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Foundation today announced that a $100,000 challenge grant has been received from Harley Bair of Lincoln for the Sunken Gardens capital campaign. The campaign called "Polishing the Gem: Preserving Our National Treasure" will fund the first major renovation of the Gardens in its 73-year history. Bair is the nephew of E.M. Bair, the Lincoln Park Superintendent who created the Gardens at 27th Street and Capitol Parkway.
"Mr. Bair is a longtime supporter of our community, and his contribution to renovate the Sunken Gardens is greatly appreciated," said Mayor Seng. "With this generous challenge grant, he is showing the same kind of visionary community spirit his uncle did when he created these nationally recognized Gardens."
As Park Superintendent in 1930, E.M. Bair hired 200 "family men" to build the Sunken Gardens on an abandoned neighborhood dump site. The project was part of a City program to help unemployed men earn money to buy groceries for their families and survive hard times. Crew members worked two eight-hour shifts a week for 40 cents per hour, earning $6.40 per week.
"I want to give my uncle proper recognition for what he did for Lincoln and the Sunken Gardens," Bair said. "He was a visionary. He took an old dump and made it into a beautiful place for us all to enjoy. I want the Sunken Gardens to continue to be that and more in the future."
The renovation of the Gardens will include a new handicapped-accessible entrance, a restored cascading water feature, restrooms, maintenance storage, renovated lily pools, an automated irrigation system, lighting, an entry pavilion and new sculptural elements.
Lincoln Parks and Recreation Foundation President Clancy Woolman said the gift brings the campaign total to $1.3 million, 76 percent of the goal of $1.7 million. "The timing of this gift is tremendous, as it we hope that it provides a weighty incentive for other generous supporters in the community to come forth and help us finish this campaign by the end of the year," Woolman said.
Co-Chairing the campaign for the Foundation are Mike Seacrest and Roger and JeNeane Dodson.
They hope to complete the campaign this year, begin construction in 2004 and unveil the renovated Gardens in the spring of 2005. The Co-Chairs plan to match the challenge grant with gifts from businesses, organizations and individuals and through two new programs that will be announced in mid-October.
About $880,000 has been collected from individuals, businesses and foundations. Major corporate and foundation donors to the campaign at this point are the J.C. Seacrest Trust; Rotary International (Downtown and East); the Winnett Trust; the Ameritas Charitable Foundation; Campbell Nurseries; the Rogers Foundation; Union Bank; the Abel Foundation; the TierOne Bank Foundation; US Bank; the Pegler Foundation; and the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railway. The City has committed $100,000 in funds from the Capital Improvement Program each year for two years.
"The Lincoln Parks and Recreation Foundation wants to thank all of the generous donors who have stepped up to the plate and graciously helped us reach the $1.3 million mark," said Woolman. "While we still need to raise $400,000 to reach our goal, we are confident that this generous gift and the gifts of many others throughout this entire community will help us attract the needed funding to restore the beauty to this 73-year-old gem."
More information is available on the campaign web site, www.lincolnsunkengardens.com, which can also be reached from the City web site, www.lincoln.ne.gov. Tax-deductible contributions can be sent to the Sunken Gardens, Lincoln Parks and Recreation Foundation, 2740 "A" Street, Lincoln, NE 68502.
Media Release


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text: Pledging to Make a Difference Initiated by the RUSGA Social Justice and Sustainability committees in 2012, the pledge challenges Regis students to be good stewards of our environmental resources. New and returning students have the opportunity to sign the pledge during our annual Welcome Week. I pledge that during my years at Regis University I will explore and be mindful of the social, economic and environmental consequences of my behavior and that of my institution. I will incorporate into my daily life social justice, economic integrity and environmental stewardship with the intention of promoting a sustainable and just society both in my community and the wider world.


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Israel News - Stay Informed, Pray Informed
An award-winning international journalist has written a must-read piece over at The Times of Israel regarding the mainstream media's culpability in the high Gaza death toll.
Simcha Jacobovici explains that the media likes nothing more than props that can quickly and dramatically tell a story for them, and the Palestinians (in particular Hamas) have become masters at playing to this desire.
A highlight of the article is this line:
"…the Western media has taught Hamas that it doesn't matter how downright evil you are. It doesn't matter if you launch two thousand missiles at civilian targets, including the airport. It doesn't matter if you use your own children as human shields. You'll get the coverage you want if CNN, BBC et al. have props to point their cameras at. Our form of news-gathering has taught Hamas to turn their children into those props, and to sacrifice them on the altar of Jihad. By misreporting, our media has encouraged the bad guys to kill their own children, and has dragged Israel into a war it did not want."
Sounds like the kind of child sacrifice that once dominated this region, and which Israel was commanded to wipe out.
They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. (Psalm 106:37–38)
…for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. (Deuteronomy 12:31)
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Chalet Claire Reviews
No reviews yet
5 m
300 m
Ski Bus Stop:
50 m
Town Center
1000 m
Beautifully appointed chalet set in a piste side location in the Le Legattaz area of Val D'Isere, within the Praz de La Legettaz building. This Chalet is in our Diamond Class. Has 6 en-suite bedrooms sleeping 12 guests. This chalet is furnished in a traditional style. There is a comfortable sitting area and a very large dinning table that can easily accommodate all of the guests in the chalet. Chalet Claire is the ideal environment to experience the warm and homely atmosphere that is the very definition of a chalet holiday. Chalet Claire is split over two levels, with the bedrooms on the higher floors and the living room, dinning room and kitchen on the lower floor.
The chalet is very well located with the bus stop immediately outside the door with frequent Navettes (buses) to the centre of town. Alternatively the busy town centre of Val D'Isere is only a short walk away. The piste on which the chalet is situated leads you straight down to the Solaise cable car and chair lift for access to the whole Espace Killy domain.
The chalet comes with Ski Lockers (by the side of the piste) and Boot Lockers, within the building for better warmth. Both sets of lockers have coded locks for better security.
The chalet is set within the same building as the 3 other chalets, and so if you are a larger group, why not think about booking more than one of these chalets.
Second floor duplex apartment
Lower level
Living area with balcony
Open plan kitchen & dining area with balcony
Rooms 1 & 6 - twins with ensuite bath & wc
Upper floor
Room 3 & 5 - twins with ensuite shower & wc
Room 2 & 4 - twins with ensuite bath & wc
TV(local channels) and DVD player
Music system and Ipod docking station.
Hairdryer available.
Wifi available.
Allocated ski lockers & heated boot warmers
Chalet staff live in.
NB: though this chalet is available to individual bookings, we reserve the right to move you to one of the other chalet apartments within the residence should we have a group booking.
Our Chalet staff have a well earned day off during your stay. On this day, breakfast and afternoon tea will be laid out for you to help yourself and you are free to sample one of the local restaurants in the evening - our staff will be pleased to help with recommendations and bookings.
Breakfast : Start your day with a hearty breakfast to fuel your day on the slopes, choose from a selection of cereals (not forgetting a bowl of porridge!), fresh fruit and yoghurts, freshly baked local bread and choice of preserves accompanied by fruit juices, tea and coffee. In addition, apart from chalet staff day off and change over day, enjoy a cooked "dish of the day" such as eggs and bacon (not a full English!).
Afternoon tea : On your return from the slopes, pop the kettle on and help yourself to a teatime treat with a slice (or two!) of delicious home-made cake or biscuits.
Dinner: Just imagine a casual dinner party with friends, now imagine that minus the stress of shopping, cooking, clearing up, ordering taxis, organising babysitters...... well now you can! Relax, your evening starts around 7.30pm swapping some ski tales and banter over canapes and aperitif followed by a delicious freshly cooked dinner with unlimited house wine until coffee to finish.
Our Chalet staff always aim to please and if given notice will as much as possible adapt their menus to your specific tastes and dietary requests however we cannot provide vegan, kosher, gluten and dairy free meals and cannot guarantee a nut free environment. We provide a vegetarian alternative for guests that don't eat meat or that evening choice of meat or fish. Please ensure that we know about any dietary requests well in advance of your holiday and that you are happy to compromise with our chalet menu and accept that we cannot offer a completely alternative menu for you.
Children's Supper : We provide a child friendly supper at around 6pm for all children under 12years, if you have sole use of a chalet and you would prefer your children to eat a normal dinner with you at 8pm there is a upgrade ( at a supplement). For those in a shared chalet it is generally expected that under 12s would have the early supper.
DVD Player
All Rooms En Suite
Ski in/Ski out
Wi-Fi (Free)
Ski lockers
|Total Runs
|Resort Altitude
|Highest Lift
|Total Piste
|Longest Run
|Direction of Slopes
|Uphill Capacity
|Total Lifts
|Gondolas/Cable cars
|Drag Lifts
|Snow Parks
Iglu acts as a travel agent for disclosed principles/tour operators, further details of which will be made available at the time of booking. Your holiday contract will be bound by the tour operators terms and conditions.
The price shown includes 7 nights accommodation, with flights from Gatwick.
Prices shown are per person, per duration indicated, based on maximum occupancy. Descriptions and quality ratings are provided by the Tour Operator (or one of the Tour Operators where similar holidays are offered by more than one supplier). We reserve the right to make minor adjustments to the description or rating based on staff and customer feedback. Note: On 13 January 2018, new European legislation is being adopted in the UK which as result will mean that we may change our required method of payment at our discretion, irrespective of how any deposit or prior payment was made.
Please note: the above prices are not inclusive of tourist tax which may be payable in resort (approximately £3 - £10 per person per week in local currency).


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Travel Guide of Dublin, County Dublin for: The DeanDublin, Ireland
Dublin Summary
- A world-class city with a small-town mentality
- Charming architecture (including many Georgian-style buildings)
- Vibrant nightlife, from divey pubs to swanky clubs
- Compact city center is easily navigated by foot
- Burgeoning culinary scene
- Rich literary history and numerous literary-themed attractions, from the Book of Kells to the Literary Pub Crawl
- Museum exhibits and good drinking at the Guinness Storehouse and The Old Jameson Distillery
- Excellent museums, including the National Museum
- Christ Church Cathedral dating to 1030
- Mild climate year-round with less annual rainfall than London
- Airport serviced by many low-fare airlines
- Meals and hotels are pricey
- Public tram system (the Luas) has limited coverage and closes early
- Tight, winding one-way streets and bad traffic make for a miserable driving experience
- Gloomy, cool summers
- Some reports of young locals being hateful or violent towards minorities
- Temple Bar is often noisy until the wee hours
What It's Like
Dublin is a big city with a small-town mentality. It's a city where famous writers and drinkers cavorted (and brawled) in many of the same bars and where it's not unusual for a local to strike up a conversation with a stranger in a pub. Today, many of the most popular attractions revolve around the city's rich literary and drinking history. In the literary category, there's the Book of Kells, the Old Library at Trinity College, The Oscar Wilde House, and the Dublin Writer's Museum; in the drinking category, there is the Guiness Storehouse, the Old Jameson Distillery, and numerous historic pubs. The Literary Pub Crawl relates to both, with spirited literary-themed performances and visits to some of the favorite bars of Dublin literati such as James Joyce and Brendan Behan.
Dublin's nightlife scene has been hopping for decades -- or centuries, rather -- and it's still thriving today. University students flock to the rowdy Temple Bar area, while the bars near St. Stephen's Green tend to draw a classier set. The city center is very dense, so traveling by foot is easier here than in many other cities in Europe. Though the Luas train system is not well-used, there is a fairly reliable bus system and a pay-as-you-go bicycle scheme has added to the ease of getting around.
Where to Stay
One of Dublin's strongest assets is its compact city center. This means that regardless of where you stay, reaching another neighborhood downtown will require minimal effort, so it simply becomes a matter of preference. Temple Bar is the city's nightlife mecca, and is home to everything from quaint B&Bs to completely divey hostel-style inns. Be warned: This is a convenient area for people looking to barhop, shop, or dine out, but it's known to be noisy into the wee hours.
St. Stephen's Green draws a more upscale crowd, and visitors will find charming historic pubs and excellent shopping along Grafton Street. Some hotel rooms here have park views.
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City of Lincoln
Mayor's Office
2009 Media Releases
Mayor Chris Beutler announced today that the City has been awarded $261,985 in federal funding to hire 24 AmeriCorps members to work on environmental projects in the community. The Recovery Go Green initiative is led by the Lincoln Parks and Recreation Department and funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, with program support provided by ServeNebraska, Nebraska Volunteer Service Commission.
"This is the first stimulus grant awarded to our City on a competitive basis," said Mayor Chris Beutler. "These funds will allow us to provide a variety of programs focusing on energy and the environment - programs that will have a positive long-term impact in our neighborhoods. I want to thank and congratulate Lincoln Parks and Recreation and its partners agencies for developing a successful proposal to put these funds to work in our community."
City agencies involved in the project are the "F" Street Recreation Center, the City Forestry Division, the Stronger Safer Neighborhoods Initiative, the Recycling Office, the Lincoln Area Agency on Aging and the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department. The City's new "Cleaner Greener Initiative also will be involved. Other partners include the Downtown Lincoln Association, Community Learning Centers, the UNL Extension Office, the Red Cross, Special Olympics and Community Crops. Nebraska agencies include State Forestry and the Game and Parks Commission, and ServeNebraska will provide State administration of the federal funds.
The federal funding will be matched with $123,070 in funding and in-kind services from the City and its partners. The funds will be used to hire 16 full-time and eight part-time AmeriCorps members to work at City and partner sites. Projects may include public education on energy and the environment; work on the City's tree canopy and parks; rehabilitation and clean up in Lincoln's core neighborhoods; community gardening; youth programming; and recycling.
For more information on the initiative, contact Deb Buckman, AmeriCorps Grant Coordinator for the Parks and Recreation Department, at 441-4907. More information also will be available on the City Web site at lincoln.ne.gov.


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Care, General Care Projects in Bolivia by Heather Darling
Why Bolivia?
With no real grasp of the Spanish language, or lengthy experience of working with children, it's true to say I was a little apprehensive before arriving in Bolivia. I had no idea what to imagine really but the country, and everything about it, more than surpassed my expectations. When I decided to go abroad to volunteer I had been graduated from university for 2 and a half years already which worried me slightly. The majority of other volunteers are either out of school or just finished university but I quickly realised that age doesn't matter, those who choose to volunteer all have the same mind-set and desire to see the world while helping out where they can, so you're bound to get on well together.
In actual fact I met two other volunteers in their 60's too! It's a real mixed bag which is all part of the enjoyment and experience. Why I chose Bolivia I can't really explain, it just seemed to jump out at me. I'd always wanted to go to South America and the fact that Bolivia is one of the poorest countries in the continent; I felt that my help would be most beneficial there. It's also a little less often travelled than some other countries which definitely made my time there feel more 'real'. Cochabamba has very few tourists so I had a great insight into Bolivian life and was able to meet some really interesting local people; this was one of the most valuable things about my experience.
My Care Placement
My volunteer placement was at an orphanage called Cuidadella. There are around 90 children living there from age 3 to 18 and they live in 7 different 'casitas' (little houses), with 10-15 in each. Each casita has its own 'Tia' in charge but they don't have the time to give the children some much needed one-on-one attention, or just to have fun with them, so this was my job. Working there was so rewarding, and this was all down to the children.
For my first few weeks I did find it quite hard to settle into my work there. When I began to learn of the children's difficult backgrounds, and other details of their lives, it was hard for me to imagine what difference I could actually make. But I realised that just by being there, by giving them some quality attention, organising a game, or simply giving huge hugs and hi-fives when you arrive, is what they need.
On a usual day I would help out from 8.30am to 1pm, after which most of the children went to school, and I went home to my host family for a big Bolivian lunch – the main meal of the day. In the mornings I often found myself in the Guardaria helping with homework. Mathematics was a good one to start with as, when I didn't know many Spanish words, I did know the numbers and how to say add, minus, multiply and divide. Other moments were filled with painting nails, making bracelets and dancing - nail varnish definitely became my best purchase. I painted at least 5 girls' nails a day, literally, and sometimes the boys too!
A few weeks in I began to sleep over at Cuidadella around once a week. As homework and cleaning tasks are usually over by the evening it was the best time to just have some fun. We would make cakes, do craft activities, chat about the differences between our countries or just simply dance! One night, the children realised I knew the words in English to the Grease mega mix and I was made to sing along, very loudly, and dance with them all so they could learn it too! Normally singing in front of anyone like this is my worst nightmare but here it was just so funny. The way the children manage to stay happy almost all of the time, helps you to feel the same way too - it's inspiring.
Extra Activities
I was also given lots of independence in my work at the orphanage. For example, on a couple of occasions another volunteer and I would organise lessons for the younger children in the kindergarten. It was a little chaotic but really great fun. The more initiative you have to try new ideas the better for the staff and children and also for you to enjoy the experience. It is really rewarding when your idea works out, but can also be funny when it doesn't!
Often the children do not leave the orphanage much, other than to go to school so I also organised to take two groups of children to the cinema on weekends. Although a little stressful, they clearly appreciated it. When one child told me she had never been to the cinema before it all seemed well worthwhile. It also helped me to feel much more like a local in Cochabamba. I was very proud when my new grasp of Spanish allowed me to ask for, and receive, a discount buying the many tickets. In fact being with children is also the best possible way to pick up a language fast, learning the important words anyway like ´tareas´ (homework). Although the language barrier could be difficult at times, it was also an ice breaker. As long as you don't mind being made fun of, or laughed at a little, confused attempts to make conversation actually help the children to like you, and I'm very grateful for their help.
One of the best pieces of advice I could give to anyone thinking of working with children is just to get stuck in. At first I was a little shy with the children but as soon as I started acting a bit crazy, or letting them make a fool of me, we were on track!
It was a fantastic experience and I was incredibly sad to leave. However, I am still in touch with many people at Cuidadella and hope that I can continue to be of help to them, and maybe even return, sometime in the future.
My Bolivian Host Family
Another reason I enjoyed my time in Cochabamba so much was my host family. Their house and hospitability really did become a home away from home. All the families who take volunteers are so accepting of us and are very quick to help with everything, from finding your way in the most obscure parts of the city, to finding medicine for a bug you might have picked up!
While I was living there Bolivia celebrated Dia de la Madre, and Dia del Maestro (Mothers' and Teachers' day), these are both big days for the country, and I was involved in anything my family had planned. Even when my host sister celebrated her 10th birthday after my first month, the question of whether I could come to the party was met with 'of course, we want you there, you're part of the family'. Being immersed in their lives was a lovely experience and one very different from my life in the UK; it was fantastic.
Travelling after my placement
Despite the fact that the other volunteers and I had managed to fit in lots of travelling on our weekends, after my 3 months there was still so much I wanted to do in Bolivia. My original plan had been to travel for another month and head up to Peru. However, after falling completely in love with Bolivia, the three of us decided we would spend another 2 and a half weeks exploring the country.
It was so much more enjoyable with the understanding and empathy we had developed for Bolivia, and with our new found grasps of the Spanish language! I didn't know any of the other volunteers before I arrived but by then we were firm friends and travelling together just seemed really natural; don't let the worry of going alone bother you, there are so many different volunteers out there, so you can always find someone to talk to.
I did make it to Peru, but just for 2 weeks in the end! And, although I loved it there too, as a friend in Cochabamba said on my last day, it's Bolivia that will always have a special place in my heart.
Heather Darling
Ce témoignage de volontaire peut faire référence à des actions impliquant des orphelinats. Retrouvez plus d'informations sur la vision actuelle de Projects Abroad au sujet du volontariat dans les orphelinats et la réorientation de nos actions vers des projets d'aide à l'enfance à dimension communautaire.
Ce témoignage est basé sur l'expérience unique d'un volontaire à un certain moment donné. Nos projets s'adaptent constamment aux besoins locaux, ils évoluent au fur et à mesure que des volontaires s'impliquent et s'adaptent aux saisons, ainsi votre expérience sur place pourra être différente de celle décrite ici. Pour en savoir plus sur cette mission, vous pouvez consulter la page de ce projet ou bien contacter l'un de nos conseillers de volontaires.


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for the grits:
4 cups shrimp stock
1 cup stone-ground grits* (not instant)
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
for the shrimp:
1 lb medium sized shrimp, peeled
3 slices raw bacon, chopped
2/3 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large bunch green onions, diced
juice of 1/2 lemon
In a medium pot, bring the broth to a boil. Add the grits and stir continually** for about 10 minutes or until all the broth is absorbed. Remove from the heat and stir in both cheeses. Keep covered until ready to serve.
Meanwhile, fry the bacon in a large skillet until crisp, then drain on a paper towel, set aside. Leave about 2 tablespoons of drippings in the skillet. Add the shrimp and saute for 1 minutes, then add the garlic, lemon juice and celery. Cook until almost totally pink and cooked through, then add the spinach and green onions. Cook 2 additional minutes or until the shrimp is totally cooked and the whole mixture is hot.
To serve: arrange some grits on a plate, top with the shrimp mixture. Sprinkle with the leftover bacon bits (optional) and serve hot.
*If you can't find grits, try substituting some stone ground polenta. Polenta is made with golden corn and grits with white corn (or hominy or a combination of the two) but they are very similar. Purists might tell you different, but if it is a matter of not making the recipe due to a lack of grits and you have polenta-use the polenta.
**Well, fairly continually anyway, you don't want lumps. The trick is to have all of you ingredients ready to go, so while you are making the grits, you can make the shrimp part at the same time with minimal interruption to your stirring. Or better yet, draft someone to stir while you do the rest.


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A number of different substances can be found in the enteroglial cells of the myenteric plexus that appear to play important roles in the activity of the nerve center. For instance, the heavily studied neuropeptide known as substance P is present in the myenteric plexus in significant levels and may help facilitate the production of saliva, smooth muscle contractions, and other tissue responses. Both endorphins and enkephalins, which are peptide hormones with opiate qualities, are also found in the myenteric plexus. There is some uncertainty regarding the exact roles of these substances, but it is often suggested that the enkephalins are involved in the regulation of smooth muscle activity, while the endorphins may help regulate the secretion of other peptides by the digestive system's endocrine cells. Other substances have also been identified in this part of the enteric nervous system, but further studies are necessary to more clearly delineate their respective functions.
The culture of rat enteroglial cells presented in the digital image above was labeled with Oregon Green 488 conjugated to the lectin wheat germ agglutinin. Fluorescent wheat germ agglutinin conjugates are often used as probes for the Golgi network in mammalian cultures. The cells were also stained with Alexa Fluor 568 conjugated to phalloidin and DAPI, which target F-actin and DNA, respectively. Images were recorded in grayscale with a QImaging Retiga Fast-EXi camera system coupled to an Olympus BX-51 microscope equipped with bandpass emission fluorescence filter optical blocks provided by Omega Optical. During the processing stage, individual image channels were pseudocolored with RGB values corresponding to each of the fluorophore emission spectral profiles.
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Trump: 'Hamilton' overrated; SNL not funny
WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) - Two out of President-elect Donald Trump's Sunday morning tweets took shots at a Broadway show and "Saturday Night Live," respectively.
Trump tweeted to the cast of the "overrated," super-hit Broadway play "Hamilton," demanding they apologize to Vice President-elect Mike Pence for calling him out while he was in the audience on Friday night.
"The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior," Trump said on Twitter.
In another tweet, this time directed at the popular television show "Saturday Night Live," Trump asked for "equal time." He called the showed one-sided and biased.
"I watched parts of @nbcsnl Saturday Night Live last night. It is a totally one-sided, biased show - nothing funny at all. Equal time for us?"
Alec Baldwin's portrayal of the president-elect has drawn praise from fans of the show and has also drawn criticism from Trump and his supporters.


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Antwerp Readies for World Outgames
In Flemish myth the name is said to mean "throw the hand," a reference to when the hero Brabo killed the giant Druon Antigoon at a river crossing. In an act of victory, Brabo cut off Druon Antigoon's hand and threw it into the Scheldt River, giving the modern-day city of Antwerpen ("Antwerp," in English) one of the more dramatic etymologies.
And yet, true to the legend, Belgium's northern city is poised to throw its hands up yet again, only this time to cheer on the athletes of the third World Outgames July 31 - August 11. An estimated 250,000 are poised to descend on the city that bills itself the "LGBT Headquarters of Europe."
Beyond the Competition
Coinciding with the raucous Antwerp Pride Week, the Games are symbolic of a city enthusiastically embracing the LGBTQ population. As if to prove how tight that embrace is, the city is also hosting international LGBT events such as NaviGAYtion, the EuroGames, and the IGLTA Convention. The Outgames consists of three pillars: a human rights conference, a cultural festival, and the sports competition itself.
In a statement to athletes and tourists alike, Games Chairman Bart Abeel said, "On behalf of the Organizing Committee, it is my pleasure and honor to welcome you to the World Outgames, and in particular the LGBT Human Rights Conference, 'From Safe Harbors to Equality.' The conference will be a first-class meeting for a distinguished international faculty of experts in all related disciplines to address and discuss the most recent problems and issues regarding the specific LGBT-community."
Get Sporty
The Outgames counts 36 sports, some any fan of the Olympics would expect - soccer, fencing, swimming - and a few they wouldn't - yoga, petanque, and Country-Western dancing. The last iteration of the Outgames, held in Copenhagen in 2009, saw competitors from 98 countries compete for the gold. Teams are still registering, but officials expect at least 5,000 athletes from 80 countries to attend.
Aware that Antwerp often plays second fiddle to capital Brussels in terms of tourist dollars, officials are quick to highlight their city's pluses. From its prominence as an opulent port-of-call during the Age of Exploration 400 years ago to the very modern role of being the planet's largest diamond marketplace, with a yearly turnover of $54 billion, guests will not be lacking in diversions.
To put Antwerp's best face forward, the Opening Ceremonies will take place on the biggest plaza in city, the Gedempte Zuiderdokken. Once a series of open-air docks on the Scheldt, the square can hold up to 40,000 and is the site of the city's Fancy Fair and Cirque de Soleil expositions. No less than eight official parties will take place over the course of the Games.
Civic and Fiscal Responsibility
For all the attractions, Antwerp has more than just a large-scale sports event to pull off, it also has full scorecard's worth of officials at the Gay and Lesbian International Sports Association, who sponsor the games, to impress.
The Copenhagen Games began just as the Great Recession struck, and that, combined with the painful financial difficulties Montreal experienced during the first Games, led to open talk that the Outgames would not survive beyond Denmark, whose tight fiscal control was nevertheless widely praised.
Mindful of potential monetary minefields, Antwerp, coincidently the European Capital of Sport for 2013, is relying on existing infrastructure (the city hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics), partnerships with corporate entities such as Brussels Airlines and the Radisson Hotel Antwerp, local and national Belgian governmental bodies, and an army of volunteers to keep costs down.
Goodbye Antwerp, Hello Miami
After Antwerp, the games head to Miami Beach, and Mayor Matti Herrera Bower will be present to close the 2013 festivities. Tamara Hernandez, co-chair of the Human LGBT Rights Conference, said, "Antwerp will be very proud to hand over to Miami Beach and the legacy of the Conference on LGBT Human Rights."
"Miami Beach is already well established as a LGBTQI destination hot spot," Mayor Bower previously told EDGE.
"With our annual events such as Aqua Girl, White Party, Winter Party, Sizzle, Miami Beach Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and Miami Beach Gay Pride (of which this year I am honored to be the Grand Marshall), we are in the perfect position to expand on a very global arena and to reach possible attendees that may have a more difficult time getting to other areas."
Thinking about heading to Antwerp for the World Outgames? Visit www.woga2013.org for details and keep an eye out for EDGE's event coverage later this summer.


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Saving enough for a secure retirement is a tough proposition for anyone, regardless of age or income. But if you happen to be born with a pair of X chromosomes, it's that much harder still.
Indeed, women face aunique set of challenges when it comes to meeting their financial goals, including longer life expectancy, fewer years in the workforce and persistently smaller paychecks than men. Marital status and occupation aside, they are simply at greater risk of outliving their assets.


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Science Friday® is produced by the Science Friday Initiative, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Science Friday® and SciFri® are registered service marks of Science Friday, Inc. Site design by Pentagram; engineering by Mediapolis.
From a GPS that outsmarts traffic jams to flooring that generates electricity from footsteps, student inventors are dreaming up a more convenient, energy efficient future. Ira Flatow talks with winners of Microsoft's Imagine Cup and Siemens' We Can Change The World Challenge about their innovations.


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Washington (CNN) – As competition expands among airlines to offer passengers the latest in-flight entertainment options, intercontinental routes have been slow to add Internet service.
Because in-flight Internet relies on transmitting signals to the ground, intercontinental flights have yet to find a reliably cost-effective means of providing passengers with Wi-Fi service while over water. The main drawbacks are cost and the added weight of the equipment needed for satellite transmission.
Several airlines have plans to roll out transcontinental Internet service this year.
This month, Qantas is partnering with a company called OnAir to test satellite-based Internet service aboard flights from Australia to Los Angeles.
Japan's JAL intends to roll out Internet service to passengers flying from Japan to Europe and North America this summer. United Airlines is reportedly exploring Internet service on international flights. Emirates Airlines says it plans to test satellite based internet service on its A380 double-deck, wide-body jets.
Meanwhile, nearly all U.S. airlines have announced plans to install Internet service and added amenities on domestic aircraft in recent years.
In-flight Internet service provider GoGo announced Wednesday that it has reached a deal to expand service aboard US Airways fleet of Airbus A319, A320 and Embraer 190 aircrafts.
Delta Airlines recently announced it was partnering with Amazon to provide passengers with free access to shop the online retail giant's website onboard all of Delta and Delta Connection flights with in-flight Wi-Fi service.


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Last night we had a standing room only house here at our San Francisco headquarters for our Thought Leadership Panel on Big Open Data. Our panelists included B. Bonin Bough, Global Director of Digital and Social Media, PepsiCo; Roger Magoulas, Director of Market Research, O'Reilly Media; W. Bryan Smith, Senior Scientist, Machine Learning, Quid; Robert Munro, CTO, EpidemicIQ; and own Jodee Rich, CEO, PeopleBrowsr.
All the panelists agreed that there were incredible gains to be had from opening up 'Big Data' for research, particularly in the health care field. There are amazing data sets sitting out there that for a variety of reasons – practical, legal and legislative – we are unable to use for research. The bottom line for the panelists is that "The data is more powerful when it can be openly shared and analyzed for the common good."
One audience member wondered which companies were best positioned to take advantage of the Big Data revolution. Our panelists agreed that wide access to computing power (via Rackspace, AWS and others) means that a small company is as likely as a large one to make breakthroughs. Nevertheless, as @wingdude said, "We are at the Mendel stage of social data." Bryan Smith showed a way forward with his belief that "To capitalize on market, leverage machine-learning, we need to train computers to analyze data as well as people can."
There was much more mind-blowing stuff, like Bonin Bough's vision of PepsiCo as one of the world's largest technology companies and Rob Munro's statement that "Epidemics are the biggest killer of humans in the world, yet nobody tracks the data." A really great discussion followed by a reception featuring bites from our faves Easy Creole. Don't miss the next one!
Here are Jodee's presentation, Bonin presenting earlier this year on PepsiCo's Digital Fitness initiative and some shots from our event:
[nggallery id=2]
[slideshare id=9880014&doc=bigdatapaneloct2011v2-111025171225-phpapp02]


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Swag - I'm Up [Unsigned Hype]
S reports "Paper Route Records presents the new music video by $wag for the hustler's anthem, "I'm Up", off his latest album "The Blueprint of a Hustler". In stores and available on iTunes now! Check out Swag's MySpace page www.myspace.com/swagmusic642. Download "The Blueprint of a Hustler" www.itunes.com/$.W.A.G.
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What would life be like if we were as immersed in nature as we are in electronics? In Richard Louv's world, we'd be happier and healthier. We'd experience fewer cases of depression, anxiety and attention deficit disorder. And we'd build smarter, more sustainable communities.
Ultimately, Louv argues in his new book "The Nature Principle," the future will belong to those who are "nature-smart": People who reconnect with the outdoors and embrace the transformative power of the natural world. "Humans need to learn about the power of living in nature, not with it," said Louv.
Still, establishing a mind-body-nature connection is no easy feat. Getting both children and adults out into nature is one thing, but having them enjoy it is quite another. My own kids complained of boredom while hiking a gorgeous mountain trail in Colorado. Though they were five and three years old at the time; we ended up carrying them after they melted down and refused to walk.
Meanwhile, not everyone is sold on nature therapy or what Louv calls "vitamin N." In her Brain, Child essay, "Guilt Trip into the Woods" Martha Nichols questioned whether nature is the only solution -- certainly people can thrive in urban environments -- and cast Louv as a "nature evangelist" and alarmist who shuns all technology. It's not a crime to enjoy a trip to New York City's asphalt jungle rather than the forest primeval, she argued.
"I just don't believe that wonder can be reduced to one essential experience any more than motherhood can," wrote Nichols.
But Louv is not calling for us to abandon technology. In his latest book, a follow-up to "Last Child in the Woods" he argues for a new balance. "The ultimate multitasking is to live simultaneously in both the digital and physical world," he said. "The more high-tech our lives become, the more nature we need."
Citing growing research, Louv says the medical community is increasingly supporting the idea that nature has restorative and healing properties. Across the country, physicians are starting to write park "prescriptions" for their patients, said Louv, who was recently the keynote speaker at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference. In an effort to fight the high rate of diabetes, the city of Sante Fe, N.M. launched its Prescription Trails program, which is partially funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And last year, a pilot program in Portland, Ore. began pairing physicians with park professionals who record whether outdoor" prescriptions are fulfilled, Louv said. "If we're going to transform the health care system in the U.S., it will require more than institutional change," Louv said. "It will demand philosophical evolution that goes beyond what we usually call preventive care."
Louv, my next healthchat guest, will be appearing at 7 p.m. on Thursday May 19 at the Skokie School Auditorium, 520 Glendale Ave. in Winnetka.
The event is sponsored by the Family Awareness Network (FAN), Chicago Botanic Garden, The Book Stall, and the Winnetka Public Schools.
Six ways to get your kid outdoors


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How to Cook Up a 'Fabulous' Synthetic CDO
The SEC's civil fraud case against Goldman Sachs mortgage trader Fabrice 'Fabulous Fab' Tourre centers on the use of a complex derivative investment known as "synthetic CDO." What in the world is that? WSJ's Liz Rappaport explains.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
I ... but since two thousandseven and real estate is booming ... you're a hedge fund manager you have an inkling that the good times won't last ... if you're right in the market from its one of the money somehow ... someway you well he could go to a firm like Goldman Sachs the change is a type of security ... the synthetic collateralized debt obligations ... which uses real life mortgages as reference points for to read the that ... that helps to bet against the housing market ... what is the synthetic CDO you ask how are they created and more importantly how do I make money off of it in a collapsing real estate ... just follow these steps step one about eighteen months prior to the total implosion of the housing bubble pull together ... hundreds of mortgage ... make sure that homeowners have poor credit histories ... the more subprime loans that are steps you take these ticking time bombs ... and drop them a call to ... rename the concoction of residential mortgage bond ... was set free foreign investors who believe owning these efforts is a good idea ... and sell it to investors in pieces ... to some taken riskier parts of higher yields and others take the lower yielding to less risky sections ... these distinctions are based on who takes the first losses when in and then she keep borrowers ... stopped making mortgage payments to staff or ... find investors to rely selling these mortgage bonds is a risky idea ... and one about a month going into default ... step five ... hundred miles of mortgage bonds with a short seller or cheeses selection agent how you create a portfolio ... toss out the undesirable bonds depending upon the whims of the investor ... cherry picker portfolio the ideal selection of fonts that are likely to give South ... like you can make money ... step sexy created derivative his value rises and falls ... depending on how the bonds and loans tied to the securities are performing ... he ... assured investors taking once I ... step seven start to seek out investors around the world to take the other side ... they're buying derivatives betting the mortgages remained silent ... staff in its lineup of bond insurer to guarantee the payments on the evidence making them more enticing for pastors ... in step nine decided one actually wanted sell ... down to sit back and wait for the real time to start ...


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Wedgmedia needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 46 designs submitted by 14 freelance designers.
hands held up in prayer, aaron had to have his arms held up because he could not hold them up any longer because of how long he had prayed. prayer ministry, praying, lifting each other up
Wedgwood Baptist Church
"Aaron's Arms Prayer Ministry", hands held up high in prayer, the main focus is hands and seeing them in prayer. They could be folded, grasped together, apart, something to denote that someone is praying and the by reading the title you know exactly what this ministry is all about.
- Item 1... hands praying
- words/ title
- simplicity
- Item 1...no clip art
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Jesus commanded his disciples to purchase a sword and encouraged his disciples to have swords. See Luke 22:36-38:
Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: 'And He was numbered with the transgressors.' For the things concerning Me have an end." So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords." And He said to them, "It is enough."
Help Me Reach 12 on the Manly Scale of Absolute Gender
If you like the patriotic work we're doing, please consider donating a few dollars. We could use it. (if asked for my email, use "firstname.lastname@example.com.")Thanks!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Jesus Commands Us to Pack Heat
Posted by Gen. JC Christian, Patriot
Christian lawyer Matthew B. Toze--a man who apparently wonders "what the hell a 'met-are-for,' anyway; are it used in baseball?"--did himself a whole passle full of researchin' and found that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, commands us to bear arms:
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WTF: 3yr Old Dancing Gets The Crowd To Make It Rain On Her!
Original video was on youtube. Crazy part is when they throw money at the child.
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
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After weeks of unspeakable tragedy, funerals and muted holiday celebrations, Thursday was about normalcy for Sandy Hook Elementary School students -- at least as much as was possible.
About 500 students and their teachers were back in class for the first time since a gunman slaughtered 20 children and six adults at their Newtown, Conn., school three weeks ago.
They returned to a school that bore the Sandy Hook name but is located about seven miles away from the building where their classmates died. News reports said a large number of police greeted the students and teachers, while several officers guarded the school's entrance, checking IDs of parents who came to drop off their children.
PHOTOS: Sandy Hook students return to class
The building -- until recently nearby Monroe's shuttered Chalk Hill School -- has been refurbished to help make the transition as smooth as possible. Many students were greeted by their old desks and classroom furniture.


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Next Episode of Mystery! is
not planed. TV Show was canceled.
Mystery! is a weekly anthology series that focuses on bringing to life some of the most well known psychological thriller/mystery novels of our time. From adaptations of Agatha Christie's Poirot series to Arthur Conan Doyle's most beloved sleuth - Sherlock Holmes, Mystery! is one of the best series that PBS has ever offered.
Initially, Mystery! aired on Tuesday evenings, then switched to Thursdays in January of 1983 - midway through Season 3. Mystery! would remain a Thursday night staple in America for 19 years until PBS revamped the program as a summer replacement series for Masterpiece Theatre in 2002. That season, Season 22, would be the only Monday night experience, as the following year PBS moved Mystery! to Sunday nights, where it would remain for the final 5 seasons of it's historic run.
Beginning in June of 2008, Mystery! was merged with Masterpiece Theatre into one show and called simply Masterpiece. From that point on, episodes of Mystery! are given the new designation of Masterpiece Mystery!, and are part of the Masterpiece listing.
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Top 10 immune boosting tips
With the temperature dropping, the cold and flu season has well and truly set in. I have had many poor patients turning up in the last few weeks already suffering with the dreaded common cold. And while a cold or two a year is very normal, please remember that a healthy immune system means you should not be suffering for more than a few days. Symptoms lingering for weeks on end are not normal! However, this doesn't have to be part of your winter. It is important to support your body and immune system to fight anything that may come your way. And the best place to start is in the kitchen! There are many simple food ideas that you can incorporate into your daily diet to aid your immune health.
1. Garlic
Garlic is a natural anti-biotic with many immune boosting and anti-microbial properties. It also helps to alleviate mucous congestion, with a particular affinity for the lungs.
2. Ginger
Ginger is a warming, circulatory stimulant and great anti-inflammatory. It can help to remove the inflammation in the respiratory tract that is responsible for generating mucous
3. Tumeric
Another herb that is very warming and possesses anti-inflammatory properties that can help with the aches and pains associated with the flu.
4. Vitamin C Foods
Vitamin C stimulates the immune system making you more resilient to infection. Increase foods such as citrus fruits, berries, papaya, kiwi fruit and capsicum.
5. Manuka Honey
Manuka honey has been well researched for its anti-microbial and immune enhancing effects. It is also incredibly soothing and anti-inflammatory if you happen to have a sore throat.
6. Water (and other clear liquids)
Ensuring you keep well hydrated will help to keep your lymphatic system moving as well as thinning any mucous that may build up. If you don't feel like drinking water in the cooler months, opt for clear herbal teas, miso soup or broth.
7. Avoid Sugar
The consumption of sugar suppresses our immune activity and also feeds bacterial and therefore encourages their growth. Limit yourself to natural sugars from fruits, vegetables and grains etc. and avoid the processed and added stuff.
8. Avoid Dairy
This can be increase mucous production in many people. Even if you tolerate dairy normally, aim to avoid it while you are sick.
9. Fermented Foods
Including fermented foods such as sauerkraut, miso, kombucha or kefir will increase your probiotic and healthy gut flora consumption, which in turn supports your gut based immunity.
10. Oily Fish
Such as sardines, salmon and trout are high in omega 3s which support the integrity of mucous membranes, including those of the respiratory system. Furthermore, sardines are rich in vitamin D which also helps to enhance immune function.
Pictured, clockwise from left: chrome teapot from Matchbox, manuka honey from Pharmacy 4 Less, vitamin C and rosehip tablets from Chemist Warehouse, manuka tablets from Pharmacy 4 Less.
The other thing that is important if you do start to feel a little run down is to rest and take time out. In this busy world that we live in, we can often feel pressured to power on and keep going. However, rest and time out will greatly support immune function, allowing you to recover faster and be more resilient to further infections.
Agree that food is the best medicine? Why not sip on this super immune-tea all winter long?
Completely natural
1 lemon – juice and half the rind
2-3cm fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp manuka honey
½ tsp dried cinnamon powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
Place all ingredients except honey in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to the boil and reduce to simmer for 5-10 minutes. Strain into a mug, add honey and enjoy!
You could increase the quantities to make a larger batch to sip on throughout the day.
See more great articles from Naturopath Hayley Stockbridge.


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RLY needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 49 designs submitted by 16 freelance designers.
My firm is an independent Registered Investment Adviser that integrates active portfolio management with advanced planning strategies to create security for its clients. We are re-branding to Imperial Wealth Management and need a new logo.
My firm Qilin Wealth Management (http://www.qwmco.com/) is being re-branded to Imperial Wealth Management. All imagery is being re-done, but we're starting with the logo. Text of the website will remain similar. Target audience: affluent investors 45+.
- Perhaps something Roman-inspired (imperial)
- Should convey trust, integrity, and results.
- Initials only
- Tagline
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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In Germany the trains aren't running on time
In Germany, the trains aren't running on time.
Officials of German Rail said Monday the problem began in Mainz where half of the 15 dispatchers are either sick or on vacation. As a result, regional trains are now running hourly in Mainz and the Rhine River area rather than every half hour, delaying thousands of commuters and travelers in a major population center.
Because the network is so interconnected, the shortage in Mainz threatens delays nationwide. Officials are considering asking staff to cut short holidays but work rules don't allow for mandatory recalls.
The Rail and Transport Union says the only solution is to hire more workers.
"Now we need a clear signal to hire more people," the union chairman, Alexander Kirchner, said on ARD Television.


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WASHINGTON (AP) — The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate's tax writing committee said Thursday they're starting with a "blank slate" approach to tax reform that envisions stripping the code of every single tax break as a setup to a debate over which ones to add back in.
Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, say any tax breaks should be restored only if they "grow the economy, make the tax code fairer" or promote some other important policy objective.
Breaks like tax-free retirement accounts and the home mortgage interest deduction would probably be favored to survive but special interest favors for individual industries face longer odds.
The idea is that ridding the tax code of many tax breaks would allow lawmakers to lower tax rates across the board for individuals and businesses.
Since the tax code was last reformed in 1986, lawmakers in both parties have cluttered the law with tax breaks and credits that people on all sides say has produced a code that is way too complex and inefficient and acts as a drag on the economy. Various tax breaks known in Washington-speak as tax expenditures cost the U.S. Treasury more than $1 trillion a year.
"Since then, the economy has changed dramatically and Congress has made more than 15,000 changes to the tax code. The result is a tax base riddled with exclusions, deductions and credits," Baucus and Hatch said in a letter to their colleagues. "Each year, it costs individuals and businesses more than $160 billion to comply with the tax code. The complexity, inefficiency and unfairness of the tax code are acting as a brake on our economy."
But tax reform is easier said than done. It has bedeviled Congress for years and promises to entangle lawmakers in myriad fights among and between special interests.
Furthermore, there is the question of whether to increase the amount of tax revenue brought in to address the budget deficit -- as Democrats insist -- or match the amount of revenue that the current code brings in, as most Republicans want. A broader budget deal has proven elusive, however, as Democrats have resisted cutting expensive benefit programs that Republicans say need to be addressed if they are to even consider higher revenues.