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Trek Lift+ - 2018
Lift+ is a lightweight, electric-assist recreation bike that pairs an ultra-comfortable ride with the smooth, controlled, unbelievably fun power boost of Trek's mid-drive motor.
Where would you like to go? Whatever route you choose, Lift+ will take you there with ease. Long rides? Hills? Headwinds? With Lift+ electric assist, nothing will slow you down.
Key Features
- Pedal assist: Power only when pedaling
- Shimano STEPS mid-drive system for smooth, balanced power
- Lightweight, confident ride—the perfect blend of performance and comfort
- Disc brakes for reliable all-weather stopping power
|Alpha Gold Aluminum, custom designed for SHIMANO STEPS system, rack & fender mounts, internal cable routing
|Lift+, alloy
|Shimano STEPS E6000
|Electric-Assist Type
|Shimano STEPS E6000
|Drive System
|Battery Type/Weight
|Shimano STEPS down tube
|Bontrager AT-850 32-hole double-walled alloy
|Front: Formula DC20 alloy; Rear: Formula DC22 alloy
|Bontrager H2 Hard-Case Ultimate, 26 x 2.0
|Shimano STEPS
|Rear Derailleur
|Shimano Deore, Shadow Plus
|Rear Cogs
|Shimano Tiagra, 10-speed: 11-32
|Shimano Deore
|Shimano M315 hydraulic disc
|Bontrager Satellite, semi-swept-back, 25.4mm, 50mm rise
|Alloy, adjustable rise, quill
|Bontrager padded
|Bontrager SSR, 31.6mm, 12mm offset
* Subject to change without notice.
Lift+: Smooth, Comfortable, Empowering
Part Numbers
|Waterloo Blue / Small
|Waterloo Blue / Medium
|Waterloo Blue / Large
|Dnister Black / Small
|Dnister Black / Medium
Read 3 ReviewsWrite a Review
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®by PowerReviews
- Comfortable
- Powerful
- Sturdy
- Versatile
- Smooth Stability
- No lights or rack included
- Heavy
- No Shocks
- No Integrated Lights
Best Uses
- City bike
- Commuter
- Cruiser
- Recreation
- Speed
- Freeriding
- Park
Reviewed by 3 customers
Sort by
- powerful
- versatile
- comfortable
- sturdy
- no lights or rack included
Best Uses
- commuter
- cruiser
- city bike
- recreation
I bought the Lift+ about 10 months ago, and have been using it as a commuter, errand runner, and around town bike. I live in a very hilly area and I have a bit of arthritis in my knee, so the e-assist was a must for me. It is fairly lightweight (for an e-bike) and the Shimano STEPS mid-drive really works well on the hills. I also like the adjustable stem and comfortable handlebars, which allow you to have a nice, upright riding position, which I prefer. I'm a heavier rider (225+) and I often carry panniers loaded with groceries up the step hills to my house. The mid drive helps me up the hill with no problem. I upgraded mine by adding fenders, lights, and a rear rack, and I've ridden in all conditions (including pouring rain) no problem. I also replaced the seat post collar with a Salsa lip-lock, to prevent seat post slippage. With the 3 levels of assist (or you can ride it like a regular bike with the assist off), you can dial in the assist you need. It lacks suspension, but the wide tires smooth out most of the road bumps and keep overall weight down. The hydraulic disc brakes work very well in wet or dry conditions and give you plenty of stopping power. Overall, this is a very versatile bike that can be kept stripped down or built up with accessories to make it into an excellent city commuter.
- Lots Of Pop
- Fast
- Well Balanced
- Tough
- Smooth Stability
- No Integrated Lights
- Heavy
- No Shocks
Best Uses
- Freeriding
- Park
- Speed
Took the Lift+ for an 18 mile test ride, through bike trails, roads, hills, flats, traffic and no traffic. Trying to decide between Lift+ and XM700. The Lift+ handles very well, the disc brakes stop the bike quickly and smoothly. Acceleration from a dead stop on a hill is easy in "normal" mode, I found that other than very steep hills I was able to stay in "eco" mode and only used "high" mode to accelerate in traffic from intersections. Pedaling is still required, and you still can get a good workout. This bike would be great for around town, general exercise, commuting and for those that are afraid of too much sweat. After riding for an hour, mostly in "eco" mode and starting with a slightly less than full battery, the range showed I still had enough juice for another 32 miles (I rode 18). Overall, the bike is very nice, well put together, and stable. I wish head and taillights were integrated into the system and that it had shocks, but I highly recommend this bike. Personally, I plan to go for the XM700 as I want the longer distances and higher torque that it will allow. If you want to try an e-bike, stop by your trek store and take a demo ride. You'll be wanting your own within a few minutes.
This is the best electric bike available! Most can't even tell that it has the electric assist, but you can as soon as you get on and pedal.


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If you're deciding between a top load or front load washing machine, consider capacity and the value of your own time.
What used to take me four loads in my 15 (or so) year old top load washer now only takes me about two loads in my front load Electrolux washer.
The capacity — and lack of agitator — in a front load washing machine really makes that much of a difference.
Plus, a standard clothes washer can't handle a king- or queen-sized comforter like my front loading washer can.
Just a thought I had today when I realized how little I think of having to do the laundry these days since I replaced my top load washing machine. Because I have to do the laundry much less.
Now, what to do with all this free time? 🙂

subset: commoncrawl


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On a portion of the east Mississippi prairie land that was the site during World War II of a sprawling munitions production complex where 6,000 to 10,000 women packed shells for the U.S. military effort, a giant peanut buying/grading/shipping facility is racing to complete a $3 million expansion of its $10 million plant that expects to handle 24,000 to 30,000 tons of the state's largest peanut crop since 1943.
The USDA is estimating a 233 percent increase in Mississippi peanut plantings this year, for a total of about 50,000 acres.
This on the heels of the severe drought last year in the major Texas production areas that sent prices skyrocketing to as much as $1,000 per ton at harvest and created widespread producer interest in locations suited to growing the crop.
Mississippi led the nation in peanut yields in 2011, with an average 4,200 pounds per acre. Production is centered mostly in the Delta counties to the west and in the eastern counties along the Tombigbee River.
"Sandy soils and water, an ideal combination for peanuts, make these areas attractive for us," says Brian Atkins, manager of the Prairie, Miss., buying point for Birdsong Peanuts, a world leader the peanut industry.
The family-owned company, with corporate headquarters at Suffolk, Va., started in the peanut business in 1914 and now has about 35 percent of the U.S. market, with buying points from Virginia to Texas.
Birdsong has 80 buying points and seven shelling plants in the U.S. One of its major customers is Smucker's, which uses 1 million pounds of peanuts a day and makes Jif, the most popular brand of peanut butter. The peanut butter in Butterfinger candy bars is 100 percent from Birdsong peanuts, Atkins says.
The company is also nearing completion of a new state of the art mega-buying point at Walnut Ridge, Ark., that will be the same size as the Prairie facility. About 25 growers have planted about 9,000 acres for Birdsong in that area, and about 45 Mississippi growers have planted 15,000 to 22,000 acres for the company.
"We've got growers from Tylertown to Tunica on the west side of the state and from Tishomingo County to Forrest County on the east side," says Atkins. "Our territory for this buying point also includes parts of Louisiana, and north Alabama."
The company is currently evaluating locations for a buying point in the Mississippi Delta, he says, possibly in the Coahoma/Tunica County area.
"A lot of growers have booked peanuts this year in the $750 per ton range," Atkins says. "At present, no contracts are being offered as growers and buyers wait to see how the season will go.
"Some peanuts were planted as early as April 5 in the Tunica area, and the crops are looking good everywhere. If we can get some timely rains and no weather setbacks at harvest, it should be another good year.
A weather/demand market
"From now on, it will be a weather/demand market," he says. "A really large crop could bring prices down, but an average to below-average crop could keep them high. Not a lot of growers had uncommitted peanuts last year to take advantage of the $1,000 price, but many had contracted at $550 and up."
With the bumper 2011 crop, "Our two 90,000 square foot warehouses were both full," Atkins says." We took in 843 18-wheeler loads, or about 18,000 tons. Average yield was about 4,000 pounds for dryland peanuts and 5,000 pounds for irrigated. Most of the peanuts here on the east side of the state are dryland, but peanuts don't need as much water as other crops and with timely rains can produce well.
"It takes a pretty good investment to make a peanut crop, and a high level of management. But efficient, well-organized farmers can make good money with the crop.
"There was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for peanuts this year. At a meeting for prospective growers at Clarksdale, Miss., we had more than 130 people attend. We could have signed a lot more growers, but we had to quit because we didn't want to exceed the level where we knew we could handle everything efficiently and give our growers the best service possible.
"If this is a successful year, I think we'll see even more acreage in coming seasons. Once growers learn about our operation and the investments we've made in the future of the industry here, they understand that we're going to be with them for the long haul. We'll be growing our infrastructure in keeping with acreage increases.
"With our buying point locations at Prairie and Walnut Ridge, we can now ship peanuts east or west."
With the early planting this year, he says, peanuts are expected to start coming in somewhere around Labor Day, about a month earlier than normal.
"We'll get the bulk of our peanuts during September and October, and hope to be finished by Thanksgiving, but sometimes we'll go into early December.
"We pay the freight to haul our growers' peanuts here, and we provide the 18-wheel trailers to insure that there is no contamination from other crops or products. The Prairie facility has three dryer sheds and can dry 78 trailer loads per night. The peanuts come in green, at 18 percent moisture or below. Some have to be cleaned first; then they're dried down and graded. If they're above 12 percent, they are dried down to 10.5 percent before going into the USDA-inspected warehouses.
"We hold them there until they're shipped to our shelling plant. Some have to be cleaned first; then they're dried down and graded, after which they're placed in the warehouse until we send them to the shelling plant. We can hold them in the warehouse for up to nine months, but they're a perishable item and we handle them as quickly as possible. This year, we'll be sending them to the Brownfield, Texas, shelling plant because capacity is available there as a result of last year's short crop.
"My ultimate goal is to get a shelling plant here in Mississippi, which will take about 100,000 tons of production to justify the $25 million investment."
All of Birdsong's Mid-South growers plant the Georgia 06 variety, which performs well in this region, Atkins says. "It's the main market variety for peanut butter and candy. Peanut butter is the driving force in the peanut market.
$10 million paid to growers
"Last year, we paid out $10 million from this shipping point to our peanut growers. That's money that goes into local communities and circulates several times over. "Additionally, we use mostly local contractors and local labor for all our construction work, plus local truck drivers for hauling. We have five full-time workers here at the plant and 30 seasonal workers."
One advantage of growing peanuts in new areas, such as in the Mid-South, is a reduced disease incidence, Atkins says. "Growers here have to spray fungicides for disease control only three or four times per season, compared to seven or eight in Georgia. That's a substantial cost savings.
"White mold is our main disease threat. But our agronomist/consultants, Alan Blaine and Mitt Wardlaw, work with growers on production issues and problems such as diseases. They're very good about advising growers to spray only when necessary. Every application you don't have to make is just that much more toward the bottom line.
"Also, we stress to our growers the importance of rotation in order to help keep down diseases. We recommend a three-to-one rotation with corn or cotton.
"Our soils here are high in calcium, and we don't have to apply gypsum the way they do in Georgia or other traditional production areas, which is another cost savings."
Until recent years, the Mid-South has been only a minor player in peanut production. Under the government quota program that was in effect for decades, the bulk of U.S. peanut acreage was in Georgia and the Carolinas.
"There wasn't enough acreage here to justify the expense of a support infrastructure," Atkins says. "When quotas were eliminated in the 2002 farm bill, anyone could grow peanuts.
"Birdsong was the first company to come in and work with Mississippi farmers who were interested in growing the crop. They invested $8 million in this facility in 2005 and have expanded the operation as acreage has increased.
"It was something of a gamble, with peanuts at only $400 a ton at the time, and growers who were completely new to the crop. But the long term outlook here was good, particularly in view of declining water supplies in the Texas panhandle and disease problems and urban sprawl in the Carolinas and Virginia.
"Mississippi has more peanut acres this year than Virginia, a long-time major production area, which has been hurt by diseases and urban sprawl."
Atkins himself says peanuts played a role in a career change for him and a cropping change on their family's farming operation.
"I was raised on our farm, where we grew mostly cotton. When the bottom fell out of the cotton market, we knew we couldn't survive on loan rate cotton and looked for an alternative. We started growing peanuts and have done well with them — they've helped keep the farm in business."
After earning his degree in agricultural engineering technology and business at Mississippi State University, Atkins was Extension agent in Lowndes County, Miss., for 12 years before joining the Birdsong operation.
He and his wife, Misti, also have a store, MS Peanut Supply Co., at nearby Aberdeen, which sells diggers, combines, chemicals, and anything related to production.
"We buy in bulk and pass the savings on to our growers," he says, "plus they don't have to do long distances to get what they need."
This year will be important to the future of peanuts in the Mid-South, Atkins says. "If growers have a good year and feel good about their peanut experience, they'll increase acres in the years ahead."


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|San Diego, CA
|High School:
|Francis Parker
|Previous College:
|Claremont McKenna
|Science & Management
On Court: Joins Stags Tennis after a decorated junior and high school career...ranked as high as #20 in Southern California Boys 18s, and #112 nationally on tennisrecruiting.net...played #1 singles for four years and was team captain for three at Francis Parker HS, where he led his team to one CIF title and three semifinals...also league individual CIF champion 2008-2010 and All San Diego Section 1st Team selection...as a freshman started strong at the USTA / ITA West Regionals, defeating 7th seed and national ITA Player To Watch Deven Nerenberg (Santa Cruz) and 15th seed Sabel (Pomona-Pitzer), before losing in three sets to defending champion Nick Ballou of Cal Lutheran in the quarters...partnered fellow San Diegan freshman Cameron Bernhardt in the doubles, where the unseeded duo defeated teams from Chapman, Pomona-Pitzer, and Redlands to advance to the semis...finshed the fall with singles rankings of #45 nationally and #12 in the west, and a doubles ranking of #8 in the west...began the spring at #4 and #5 singles and #3 doubles (with Wei), winning his first three singles duals and two of three doubles duals...sat out nearly five weeks from Feb 25 to March 30 with Mono, then returned against #7 Middlebury...was the Stags' most consistent singles player, going 19-3 overall and 14-1 in duals...his three losses came at the hands of NCAA singles finalist Nick Ballou (twice) and Lunghino of Middlebury...partnered Wood at #1 and #2 doubles after starting the spring with Wei, going 9-7 in duals and 14-9 overall...Marino's 19-3 singles mark is good for the 5th best singles season winning percentage in Stags Tennis history...Marino also earned SCIAC Athlete of the Week honors the week of May 7-13, for his role in both of CMS' NCAA opening round victories...also named to 2nd Team All-SCIAC for his exceptional play at the #4 singles and #1 and #2 doubles positions during the regular season.
Tools: Babolat Pure Drive strung with Solinco Outlast at 55 lbs
Personal: One of three freshmen Stags from San Diego...multi-sport athlete who started tennis at age 5, but also played baseball, basketball and ran track...quit track in middle school after high jumping over protective mat and breaking collar bone, scapula, and two ribs...played soccer for eight years, including his freshman and sophomore years at Francis Parker...enjoys all genres of movies and hosts weekly movie night in his dorm room.
Favorite Stag: Tom Isaak (CMC '91 - golf)...first golfer in the CMS Hall of Fame, now a tennis coach at St. Augustine HS
What You Didn't Know: allergic to and afraid of bees


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David Riley's smartphone ratted him out.
San Diego police used photos and videos found on Riley's Samsung Instinct device to connect him to a gang-related shooting. Convicted on attempted murder and other charges, the 22-year-old is doing time at California's Kern Valley State Prison.
Now, he's calling the Supreme Court.
In a case that's unique to the iPhone era, justices are being asked to consider whether police need a warrant to search the capacious and sometimes incriminating digital files many people now carry in their pockets. So far, the question has divided judges.
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"No one is saying that police should not be able to seize a smartphone," Jules Epstein, a professor at Widener University School of Law, said in an interview Tuesday. "The question is, can they open it? Can they open the folder called 'photos'? Can they go through my last 10 Google searches?"
On Monday, Sept. 30, Riley's petition was one of dozens put on the docket for potential consideration by Supreme Court justices meeting in a private conference. At least four justices must agree for a petition to be granted and the case set for full argument, and most petitions fail. No decision was issued for the Riley case on Tuesday.
But his case has some definite buzz. His lead appellate lawyer is Jeffrey L. Fisher of the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, who argued four cases before the high court last term. Only three attorneys appeared more often during the 2012 term.
The omnipresence of smartphones and the split opinions from different courts could also help Riley get a hearing. An estimated 91 percent of U.S. adults now own a cellphone, and 61 percent of these are info-packed smartphones such as Apple's iPhone, Google's Android and Samsung's Instinct.
"In light of the frequency with which people are arrested with cell phones and the judiciary's confusion over whether the police may search the devices' digital contents, this court's intervention is critical," Fisher and his colleagues wrote in a brief.
The Supreme Court has previously ruled that police may conduct certain warrantless searches "incident to arrest" without violating the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. In 1973, for instance, the court approved a search in which Washington, D.C., police patting down a man in custody found heroin inside a crumpled cigarette pack.
Smartphones are really different, Riley's lawyers say.
"Modern cell phones provide ready access to a vast array of personal data, and are distinct from the types of possessions, such as cigarette packages and footlockers, this court has previously considered," Fisher said in the brief. "For one thing, while physical containers face obvious space-related constraints, cell phones are capable of storing a virtually limitless amount of information in a single, compact device."
Three appellate circuits have, nonetheless, upheld warrantless searches of cellphones. One federal appellate circuit has struck down such searches, as have some state supreme courts. In May, in a case arising from a Jacksonville, Fla., robbery, the Florida Supreme Court struck down a warrantless search of a cellphone taken from a suspect before he was placed in a police car.
The cellphone included incriminating photos. One showed the suspect's fiance holding a bundle of money a day after the robbery.
"Electronic devices that operate as cell phones of today are materially distinguishable from the static, limited capacity cigarette packet in (the 1973 D.C. case) not only in the ability to hold, import, and export private information, but by the very personal and vast nature of the information that may be stored on them or accessed through the electronic devices," Justice R. Fred Lewis wrote for the Florida Supreme Court.
In a separate case, justices are being asked to rule on a warrantless search of conventional telephone information found on a non-smart cellphone. Potentially, the court could take up both cases.
"Particularly given the ubiquity of cell phone use by drug traffickers and other serious offenders, and the important law enforcement consequences of unsettling search-incident-to-arrest doctrine, the question presented now requires an authoritative answer from the Supreme Court," Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. wrote in a petition.
Riley's case began in August 2009, when he was driving near his San Diego home. Police pulled him over for an expired tag and discovered he had a suspended license. When they searched his car, they found two firearms hidden under the hood.
Conducting two warrantless searches of Riley's smartphone, detectives found photos and videos that intrigued them. One photo showed Riley posing in front of a red Oldsmobile that the police suspected had been involved in a prior gang-related shooting. A video showed street boxing, in which Riley could be heard shouting gang-related comments.
Riley's attorneys tried, without success, to block prosecutors' use of the photos and videos on the grounds that the police search violated the Fourth Amendment. Convicted as a gang member, Riley was sentenced to 15 years to life.
The California Legislature passed a law in 2011 requiring police to obtain a search warrant before searching the contents of any "portable electronic devices," but it was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown. The issue, Brown said, needs resolution by the courts.


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Plumbtile takes pride in offering the best value on bath, shower, kitchen, tile and other home improvement products at the most competitive prices. Whilst we do our best to ensure that we are offering the best pricing once in a while our competitors may offer the same product at a lower price.
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Rope Tensioner/Insulator
Innovative way to terminate and tension conductors.
Hooks easily to a P Spring. Conductor is inserted into a center spindle that's then tightened to the desired point (a P Spring half compressed).
Common Uses
- Will work for twine, narrow tape, rope, MaxiShock and braid.
- Does not work for high-tensile wire.
- Hook ring end into a P Spring.
- Insert rope through other end and through hole on center bolt.
- Hold tail of rope to secure it and twist black knob on the side.
- Once the tail of rope is secured, let go and continue twisting knob until desired tension is reached. P Spring should be half compressed.
- To loosen or remove conductor from the tensioner: unscrew the knob on the side to release.
Listed below are recommended optional components or related items. Your particular situation may require alternative recommendations. Please call and talk to our consultants if there are any questions at 800-282-6631.
Conductors - Tape-Rope-Twine-Wire
IntelliRope® PE 4.5, 660 ft rollItem #245100 -
Excellent for both permanent and portable situations because PE filaments resist wear and abrasion. Excellent built-in elasticity. This 4.5mm version is less weight, lower cost and better for short-term fences.$37.50
Conductors - Tape-Rope-Twine-Wire
MaxiShock™ Wire, 1320 ft. rollItem #251000 -
Twisted cable conductor for electric fences. Thick layer of galvanized coating for years of outdoor use.$116.00
Conductors - Tape-Rope-Twine-Wire
IntelliTwine™ 2.25, 660 ft. rollItem #253500 -
Electric fence conductor for temporary fences. Lightweight and easy to move throughout the field.$20.50
Fence Connectors and Accessories
P SpringItem #255010 -
Used to maintain desired tension on electrified low-tension conductors.$3.15
Conductors - Tape-Rope-Twine-Wire
EnduraSoft® 6.0, 660 ft rollItem #256500 -
For permanent electrified fences. Made of polyester so it's soft to the touch. Very good conductivity (50Ω/1000 ft) so it's suited for any length of fence line and nearly all energizers.$93.50
Conductors - Tape-Rope-Twine-Wire
IntelliBraid®, 660 ft. rollItem #256710 -
6.0mm conductor for electric fences. Black/white color combination is easy for humans and livestock to see.$106.00
Conductors - Tape-Rope-Twine-Wire
IntelliRope® PE 6.0, 660 ft. rollItem #256900 -
Rope fence for both permanent and portable situations because polyethylene filaments resist wear and abrasion. Use for horses, cattle, sheep and goats.$57.00
TuffRing II Insulator, whiteItem #380705 -
Secure wood post insulator suited for starting and ending a fence line.$0.65
Write a Review
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Robin A from North Carolina
I've had these on my fence for about 2 years. I didn't do the initial install so don't know if any broke out of the bag. Now, however, it seems almost every day I am repairing fence where the nut has busted off the side. It is possible one of the horses is adding pressure on the fence reaching to the other side ... voltage on the fence registers about 4 which should be enough to keep her off but don't know. Our temps here are fairly mild ... just in the last few weeks evening temps have dropped to 35-40 degrees F. So don't know if temp has anything to do with it. Or a horse leaning over top of it. Maybe just age. I am buying replacements as it has certainly worked well up to know. But it seems clear that the nut is the weak point.
Mary K from Oregon
These work well, but if used at a corner where you want to continue the hot fence , you will need to connect a hot wire or jumper clamps. When re tensioning the line, you may need to move the jumper. Make sure you have a square key wrench if you need to take everything apart . This product is very strong.
Stephen K from Illinois
Like Allen T, the spring on the end of the ratchet broke on the first 2 of these that I used. The first one broke one the first time that I used it. The second 1 the second time I tightened the fence. This was in 90F temps. In cold weather I suspect these will break more easily. The plastic is too brittle. When they break the whole thing comes apart making the fence useless. I would pay more for one that actually works. Premier needs to retest and correct this.
Allan T from California
Not so good. On the other side of the ratchet twister is a very weak "nut" that holds the ratcheting mechanism together. When it breaks the whole assembly fails. Not something you want on a ranch with miles of fencing. Maybe ok on a smaller place where you pass by it every day. If the nut gets improved this could be a good item as it is a clean installation and a time saver.
Patricia B from Pennsylvania
These are awesome! They are stiff to tighten, but, the electric rope isn't slipping a tiny bit! I've been thru 3 different tightened...nothing held! But these hold great! My only complaint is that there is a part that screw on the side. A number of them were really loose coming out of the bag. You have to manually tighten them before putting them up. Otherwise they fall off...and get lost. Then they are useless. But that is my only complaint. I won't buy any other tensioner in the future...these are "it" for me.


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Bang Bang Boogie (Feat. Cuban Link) - "Bang Out" [Fat Joe Diss]
New video from Bang Bang Boogie Gang. Dissing Fat Joe&IP=126.96.36.199
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Richard Fontenot, a farmer from Ville Platte, La., was named the 2008 Louisiana Farmer of the Year at the 11th annual awards program and banquet held March 7 at White Oak Plantation in Baton Rouge, La.
The fifth generation farmer produces rice, crawfish and soybean crops on 2,300 acres in Evangeline Parish.
He currently serves as Farm Bureau Parish president and is a member of the USA Rice Federation and of the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association.
Fontenot was also a 2007 Louisiana Farmer of the Year nominee.
As winner, Fontenot receives a $1,000 cash award.
Also nominated were Thomas LaBorde, a soybean, cattle and corn producer from Hamburg, La., and Eric Morrow, a strawberry farmer from Pontchatoula, La.
The winner was chosen by an independent panel of judges from Mississippi State University and the University of Arkansas.
The Farmer of the Year program is sponsored by the Louisiana Network in conjunction with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, LSU Ag Center, the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, the Louisiana Dodge Dealers and First South Farm Credit.


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Boston George Ft. Meek Mill & Kirko Bangz - Molly Remix [Label Submitted]
The Official Molly Remix Video
Follow on Twitter @BostonGerogeAMG
For all business contact @LavishWays/337-230-5500
Produced by Lil Lody
Directed by Michael Artis
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News Network In this week's News Network, we'll catch up with Gus Thomson of the Auburn Journal about the recent earthquake and other things. We'll also talk with Jim Smith from the Daily Democrat about a poisoned well in Woodland.
Search Dogs A group of Californian-trained rescue workers are on-scene in Oklahoma City sifting through massive piles of brick and wood left in the wake of one of the nation's worst tornadoes. The workers go by names like Salsa, Moxie and Spotter, and have been trained to find people with nothing but their noses (and maybe their ears). Search dogs are an invaluable asset in rescue efforts like the one in Oklahoma, and almost all of the canine rescuers involved in any disaster response across the nation are trained right here in California by former FEMA-Certified Canine Search Specialist Wilma Melville, founder of Search Dog Foundation. She joins us to explain how our four-legged friends find survivors buried beneath layers of concrete and steel.
"Grow, Cook, Savor" How well do you know the Sacramento food scene? Did you take the Food History Quiz in the Sunday Sacramento Bee? It included 40 questions like this: What national grocery store chain opened inside Weinstock's in 1921? Maryellen Burns, the director of the "We Are Where We Eat" Project, joined with Capital Public Radio's Food Reporter Elaine Corn to create the quiz and they've organized a food legacy event this Saturday called "Grow, Cook, Savor." We'll talk with them about Sacramento's food history.
"Miracle Shine" Bob Stanley's newest book of poems, Miracle Shine, is coming out at the end of May. Stanley is doing a local book tour and stopping by the studio to share a few of his new poems here on Insight. In addition to being Sacramento's Poet Laureate, Stanley is also a musician and he's bringing accompanist Pete Gealey along for the interview.


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NWSB Insider and Washington Huskies football writer Kris Shellenberger tells us what it is that goes into being able to answer the question. Why am I a die hard fan of the Huskies football team?! The Huskies are a true passion when the Seahawks or Mariners lose it hurts but not like when the Huskies lose. Thanks to a national championship, Don James, and Napoleon Kaufman UW is where Kris' heart is.
I'm a die-hard fan of Washington Huskies Football because…
April 7, 2012 By KShell
Filed Under: UW Football Blog Tagged With: 1991 Huskies, Dawgs, Don James, Fandom, Hugh McElhenny, Huskies, Huskies all time record, Huskies Blog, Huskies Blogs, Huskies conference titles, Huskies fans, Huskies Football, huskies football blog, Jim Owens, Keith Price, Lake Washington, Napoleon Kaufman, National Champions, Pac 12, Pac 12 Football, Rashaan Shehee, Rose Bowl, Sony Sixkiller, UW, UW Blog, UW Football blog, UW Huskies Football, Washington Football Blog, Washington Huskies, Washington Huskies blog, Washington Huskies News


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A while back, after being frustrated he couldn't unlock his off-contract AT&T iPhone to use outside the US, a gentlemen wrote Apple CEO Tim Cook to express his frustration, and Cook's officer arranged for AT&T to provide him with an unlock. It seems that wasn't a one of, as 9to5Mac reports it's since happened several more times.
We have received upwards of six emails from readers confirming an email sent to [Apple CEO Tim Cook]'s office resulted in a response from AT&T Partnership Operations informing them the carrier would make an exception to unlock their devices. Like the original reader, our tipsters have not received responses directly from Cook, but they did receive an email with instructions to tether their iPhone to iTunes to complete the unlock.
Official unlocks work via IMEI number -- the carrier enters the iPhone's EMEI number into Apple's database and the next time iTunes detects to the device, it connects to Apple, verifies the eligibility, and carries out the unlock. International carriers have been doing this, for free or for a fee, for years. AT&T hasn't.
So the question becomes, if these stories are accurate, and if AT&T is capable of doing unlocks when Tim Cook's office requests it, why can't they simply have an official policy? Why can't they just do it because, when you're off contract, it's the right thing to do?
An unlocked AT&T iPhone can't be used on Verizon or Sprint, and can only be used on T-Mobile 2G EDGE is most places, so any paranoia about losing customers could be more than offset by the goodwill it would engender from those very customers. And if a customer really is leaving for another country, wouldn't they be better off leaving with a great impression of AT&T, than bad feelings and a paperweight for a phone?
Source: 9to5Mac


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Comfort Inn Coupons & Promo Codes
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Latest offer: Save on Golf Packages.
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How to Use Comfort Inn Coupons
Occasionally, Comfort Inn would have special promotions and special offers for free perks such as free breakfast, free nights and more. For the latest offer, enter Comfort Inn in the search field of Coupons.com. Click on the offer and it will direct you to the Comfort Inn site. During checkout, the discount will be apply automatically.
How to Save at Comfort Inn
Comfort Inn offers a Best Internet Rate Guarantee, so if you find a lower price elsewhere, you will get a free night. Plan ahead and book early to save 20% off your Comfort Inn stay. Check out the Hotel Deals for great deals and hotel packages. Join the Choice Privileges Rewards Program to earn free nights, gift cards, airline rewards and more.
About Comfort Inn
Comfort Inn is a part of Choice Hotels International. Choice Hotels is one of the largest and most successful lodging companies in the world. Choice Hotels franchises more than 6,200 hotels in more than 30 countries and territories.


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Atelir necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 104 diseños de 16 diseñadores freelance.
Blueprint Retail
A new retail business model
Blueprint Retail is a membership-based e-commerce site. We partner with mass brands (e.g. Banana Republic, Land's End, etc). These brands submit designs to our site and allow a select group of their top customers the ability to choose (by purchasing) the designs they like best. When enough of our site's customers have chosen a specific design – thus, proving sufficient popularity of the product – the brand moves that design into production (similar to Groupon "tipping point").
There will be multiple brands hosted on the site and each brand will have its own 'home page' within our site, our main home page should communicate all the unique brands on our site and encourage customers to engage with and explore all the brands.
We are looking for 4 pages Please submit a design for the HOME or MAIN page first and we will provide you feedback.
Landing Page – This is the first page customers will see as we will be a membership based company, we will require a login
Home page – this is the main page for Blueprint Retail
Main Brand Page – This is the page that will display all the products a particular brand has up for our membership to choose from
Product Detail Page – this is the page that will display the specific product details and allow customers to order
See attached word document for inspirations for these pages. Additionally refer to the PDF of the wireframes we have put together for the site. These are a baseline, we are not committed to these exact layouts but your design should incorporate the themes we have described and mocked up. Please layer on your design thoughts and we will be very responsive in providing feedback
For your submissions, please use product images from Banana Republic.
We are looking for look that is clean, exclusive-looking and sharp.


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A Special Report on the Fertility Industry:
What Price Pregnancy?
Since the birth of the first "test tube baby," assisted reproductive technologies have been hailed as medical miracles. Ms. goes behind the hype. >by Ann Pappert
- Both Sides Now:
She married at 18 and instead of finding bliss, she became a shrinking woman. Now, at 54, marriage is on her mind again.
- Marriage Vegas Style
In this desert empire 295 couples marry every day.
-Who Wants to Marry a Feminist?
But the real question is why do feminists want marriage?
-Otherwise Engaged
The issue of same-sex marriage has sparked an impassioned debate. Asked if she would marry if she could, this author takes a long hard look at the institution and herself.
-What, Me Marry?
-What Price Pregnancy?
Ms. goes behind the hype of assisted reproductive technologies.
When it comes to fertility treatments, gender makes all the difference.
- What?
- Women to Watch
- Word: Fuck
- Just the Facts
-The Struggle to Preserve Reproductive Rights
- Laws of Entrapment
- Taxing Menstruation
- High Anxiety
- Austria Ditches Women's Ministry
- Opinion: Partial-Truth Abortion
- $5 and a Dream
- Czech Mate
- Newsmaker: Lisa Oberg
- Women Organizing Worldwide: Reports from Philippines, Mexico, Zimbabwe, and the Internet
Why would Hillary Rodham Clinton want to run for the Senate--from New York, Illinois, or anywhere? Imagine the scenario if she loses: all the right-wingers who sported "Impeach Hillary's husband" bumper stickers will claim victory, as will those behind thecurrent TV ads that burlesque Hillary as the Statue of Liberty. If she wins, what happens? She gets to live in the free-floating hostility of Washington again, this time without the protection of the White House, working every day under such senior senators as Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond.
Is this a lose-lose situation or what?
As one of the most famous and admired women on the world stage, she had plenty of alternatives. For example, she could have raised a huge pot of foundation money and become an international force on the women's and children's issues that have always been close to her heart. Instead, she is now doing daily combat with New York's Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, one of the most vindictive and racially divisive politicians of our time, and also discovering a fact of life for any female candidate: there is no "right" way for a woman to seek power.
So why did she choose this path of maximum resistance?
After months of listening to her as she campaigns around New York State, I think the answer is simple: she wanted to use the lessons she learned as the partner of a politician, and to do so in Washington, where she also witnessed the power that even one U.S. senator can have over the issues she cares about. Though her goals have been created by experience and interests that are different from her husband's--her work as a lawyer for the Watergate Committee, a top corporate lawyer, a children's rights advocate, a policy wonk on health care, and an international activist on women's issues--she wants to advance them by using her derived experience in campaigning, building coalitions, dealing with the press, cultivating a thick skin, making Washington work, and other time-honored secrets of getting and using elected power.
This bridging of worlds is a new possibility. Eleanor Roosevelt was an intimate lobbyist with her husband, but not a practitioner of elected power. As for such beneficiaries of derived power as Senator Margaret Chase Smith and Representative Lindy Boggs, they waited for husbands to die before taking over their Congressional seats, thus obeying the rule that in a patriarchy, it's only widows who are honored in authority.
Perhaps these differences are part of the reason that Hillary Clinton is accused of exploiting her wifely position--even by some feminists. They ask, "Why doesn't she stick to her own professional experience? Isn't she setting feminism back by exploiting the power she gained as a wife?"
But those questions betray a double standard. They also ignore the wisdom gained in traditionally female roles. The fact is, the Bush boys would be nowhere without the derived power of their father's presidency; John Glenn used the male-only privilege of being an astronaut to become a U.S. senator; and John McCain went from prisoner of war to the Senate and almost to the White House. Those experiences were far less relevant to the political job at hand than Hillary's eight years in Washington, yet they were highly valued. Meanwhile, such largely female experiences as parenting, teaching, community organizing, and living on welfare have been undervalued as political training grounds. This double standard wouldn't last if it hadn't been internalized by women ourselves. That's one of the reasons for a disheartening fact: female registered voters in New York State are almost equally divided between Hillary Clinton and Rudolph Giuliani. Of course, women are not immune to the law-and-order, wealth-protecting Republican platform, especially because Republican leadership in New York is slightly less bad on gender-gap issues. (For example, the governor and New York City's mayor both oppose the criminalization of abortion.)
Still another reason for some women voter's hesitancy is the anger they feel toward Hillary for remaining married to an unfaithful husband, especially women who themselves have been hurt by faithless men. And then there are the women who have been exposed only to the right-wing image of Hillary.
For all those who don't support her, the bottom-line question is: would you support a male candidate with the same issue positions? If the answer is yes, it's worth rooting out the double standard. Because Hillary Clinton's success as the first crossover candidate would be a landmark for a larger issue: making partnered and other female experience a source of talent, honor, and credit.
Gloria Steinem is a founding editor of "Ms."
Illustration by John Kascht


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Welcome to the CRG Discussion Forum!Forum registration problems: Make sure you enter your email correctly and you check your spam box first. *Then* email KurtS2@gmail for help.Classified ads are not allowed on the forum.
Hello all. Help me out here. My friend just got the small block back from the engine builder last week. Today we started going over everything we need to pull together before installing. The upper dipstick tube and stick are off the car as is the lower tube. I've never had a block (other than a Pontiac) where the lower tube had been removed. Is the correct proceedure to insert the lower tube through the block (outside to inside, taping it down into the hole until it seats) or is there a better way? The tube fits nicely until the flare reaches the machined surface of the block, and then it appears to be a very tight fit. Any insight appreciated.Joe


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Abdelaziz Bouteflika, (born March 2, 1937, Oujda, Morocco), Moroccan-born Algerian politician who became president of Algeria in 1999.
Bouteflika's family was from Tlemcen, Algeria, and he spent much of his early life in Algeria. In 1957, three years into the Algerian war for independence (1954–62), Bouteflika joined the National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale; FLN) in its fight against French rule. He became an officer in the National Liberation Army (Armée de Libération Nationale; ALN) in 1960. After Algerian independence in 1962, Bouteflika was appointed minister for youth, sports, and tourism, and a year later he was made foreign minister.
Bouteflika participated in the 1965 coup, led by Houari Boumedienne, that removed Algerian Pres. Ahmed Ben Bella (1963–65) from power and installed Boumedienne. Bouteflika continued to serve as foreign minister in the new government, and, by the time of Boumedienne's death in 1979, Bouteflika seemed well positioned to replace him in the presidency. However, the army instead appointed defense minister Chadli Bendjedid, and soon afterward Bouteflika lost his position as foreign minister. In 1981 corruption charges drove Bouteflika into self-imposed exile.
On his return to Algeria in 1987, he again became a member of the FLN. In 1999 he won the presidency, though the election was marred by claims of rigging and the subsequent withdrawal of the other candidates. As president, Bouteflika focused on rebuilding the country and strengthening Algeria's international reputation. He also granted wide-ranging amnesty to militant Islamist groups within Algeria in an effort to resolve a long-standing civil conflict.
Bouteflika won reelection in 2004. Though his previous efforts to reduce the country's rebel activity and its attendant violence were somewhat successful, during his second term insurgents re-formed as an arm of al-Qaeda and were responsible for a number of suicide bombings. In 2005 Bouteflika experienced health problems, leading to continued speculation about his physical well-being. Nevertheless, he was elected to a third term in 2009, made possible by a change to Algeria's constitution, which had previously limited the president to two terms. The election, in which Bouteflika was said to have received more than 90 percent of the vote, was harshly criticized by opposition groups, who claimed the poll was marred by widespread fraud and voter intimidation.
Already limited by fragile health, Bouteflika suffered a serious stroke in April 2013 and was rarely seen in public afterward. Even so, in the election of April 2014 he sought a fourth term as president, although all his campaigning was done by allies and associates. As expected, Bouteflika won. He received more than 81 percent of the vote, but his opponents decried the results as fraudulent.


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Parafly9 needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 136 designs submitted by 20 freelance designers.
We are a mobile application involving payments and the restaurant / bar industry
We are targeting the younger, more technology aware crowd, users of smartphones, think hip, bar hopping, but also balancing that with clean and modern. Needs to be visible in small places and quick to pick out as an app logo as well.
We also want to carefully balance out the app as having a fun, playful side but also not lose sight of security and trust.
We would consider using two "T"'s in the logo (TotalTab) that would end up being used for the app logo / favicon / etc.
Our slogan is "Power to the Patron" but we aren't definite on needing it to be a part of this design.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Kilowatt Crackdown
The Kilowatt Crackdown is a fun, free competition among Portland-area buildings to see who can save the most energy and reduce operating expenses. The initiative provides building owners and tenants assistance in benchmarking energy use, analyzing opportunities for savings, and identifying action items to improve building performance.
We're looking for office buildings larger than 25,000 square feet to participate. To be eligible, at least half of your building's square footage should be office space.
Kilowatt Crackdown participants receive:
- Free training, technical support and data review to track performance with ENERGY STAR, an online tool that allows comparison to other office buildings nation-wide.
- Recommendations and best practices to reduce energy use and operating costs.
- Free Energy Star Certification and "Energy Coach" to help develop energy saving initiatives for qualifying buildings.
- Metro-wide recognition for participation.
Multiple prizes will be awarded, and there is no cost to participate.
The contest takes place from January 2013 until May 2014. Registration closed on January 31, 2013.
Please visit http://www.kilowatt-crackdown.com/portland to learn more.
**The Building Performance Partnership is a partnership between BOMA Oregon, NEEA's BetterBricks, City of Portland, Portland Development Commission, Energy Trust of Oregon and Clark Public Utilities.


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Legal Showdown on Cybersecurity
Can a federal agency use its consumer-protection powers to police cybersecurity practices at American companies? Brent Kendall joins digits. Photo: Getty Images.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... I ... who is responsible when your company gets taxed is it your company or is it that access while commit Digits I'm Simon Constable Brent Campbell joins us now from Washington DC with that story ran thank you Brian much for being map ... thanks ... so this is an important question one that is being discussed right now to tells about it that was in question ... well so the question here is the Federal Trade Commission which has a broad mandate to protect consumers ... whether they can use that mandated ... as a vehicle for bringing legal actions against companies ... on allegations that their data security practices ... were less than ideal and expand its consider day that she is fast and I knew I for one example from Wyndham Worldwide right ... rights as though Wyndham was pass three times in less than two years ... at several hundred thousand ... credit card debit card numbers were access many of these were sent to an unmet demand in Russia ... resulted in millions of dollars in fraudulent charges the FTC says ... and ... they have filed suit asking a federal judge to ... basically force went into to enact better security controls and to do what is necessary to address the injuries from ... the hacking and you know the FTC has brought actions like this several of these but until now ... the other cases the interview the parties settled in London instead of settling ... it is basically sounding the FTC said thirty here and you know after the FTC went to court may have filed a motion asking ... the judge to throw out the entire case and the FTC ... disengagement are grabbing that Congress never meant to give them the authority to do so ... now the brand what one angle that everyone can see here is that when that didn't necessarily do anything wrong and it was the hacked its right ... aam we we ... were their main point is that the note ... that the hackers had been ... apprehended they say authorities have never seriously pursued them ... and they say no here we are a this is really in a different answer to your corner store to get robbed and its files raided and ... this is the internet version of that and what the federal government is doing here is ... him ... going after us and said the people who perpetrated the act ... I'm asking this this and decided right now I can so aam this will be a Ekati groundbreaking case right ... because it will set precedent for all other types of companies to ... that's already know that there is that this isn't setting up is the first big legal test here and there's something of a vacuum in federal law ... Congress has ... been debating comprehensive cybersecurity legislation that day ... has not agreed upon anything there narrower circumstances there there's certain ... certain industries the financial industry health care providers ... they have requirements imposed on them on on what they must do to protect it but there is no general ... overarching ... time mandate for any federal agency ... I'd to basically be this cybersecurity copper for American ... companies and says you know what when and says here is that ... this is what the FTC is trying to did ... not have the Caesars' ... apprentice rate doesn't jump and that ... aam on this one in the marketplace take care of this effect Wyndham's known for now rated cybersecurity ... aam ABP Bolthouse muslin do business with them and if they wanna test was bad enough to be fed up ... well that's true in the know The the private sector says you know that they certainly have ... dinner there and they're also invested meditations and ... and having their customers and feel secure in doing business with them and and you know ... I've that is certainly one of the things that that one and one and points to hear ... it's a story about I was ... gone ... I will sail on the other hand ATO the FTC says that Congress is given broad powers to do a variety of things to ... check consumers may say that this fits well with any authority ... that they've had for a hundred years ... content will we still see it sounds like both sides against the yen digging in on now Brent Kendall we appreciate time ... thank you ... Brian Campbell the will Street don't read mall man on the vs day don't come ...


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2012 Audi RS4 Avant review
* Hot Audi A4 Avant driven on UK roads * 0-62mph in just 4.7 seconds * On sale now, priced from 54,925...
The new Audi RS4 is an A4 with attitude. Serious attitude. Yes, its available only in sensible A4 Avant estate guise, but it marries everyday practicality with supercar punch.
Beneath the muscular bodykit lies a thunderous 444bhp 4.2-litre V8 engine, which blasts the RS4 from 0-62mph in just 4.7 seconds and, with the right option box ticked, on to a limited top speed of 174mph.
Both the engine and the standard seven-speed dual-clutch S tronic gearbox are much the same as the ones in the RS5 coupe and forthcoming RS5 Cabriolet, but Audi has tweaked the steering and suspension to make the RS4 more enjoyable and engaging to drive.
Its designed to have a broad range of abilities, too. There are four drive settings Comfort, Auto, Dynamic and the customisable Individual which alter elements such as the gearchange speed, weight of the steering and the sound of the exhaust. These settings also control the optional Dynamic Steering system and adjustable suspension. The aim is to make the new RS4 Avant as capable on a twisty road as it is on the motorway.
What's the 2012 Audi RS4 Avant like to drive?
Go for a drive around town and you might wonder what all the fuss is about.
Don't be fooled by RS4's unassuming estate-car looks
At low speeds the engine is smooth and relatively quiet, while gearchanges are unobtrusive if you leave the car in Comfort mode. The ride, while firm, is bearable in this setting, too despite the fact the RS4 is lowered by 20mm compared with the standard A4 Avant.
Switch to Dynamic mode and crank up the revs, though, and the RS4 comes alive. The engine pulls with terrific strength especially above 4000rpm while the exhaust bellows at every lightning-quick upshift.
Like all hot Audis, the RS4 is fitted with quattro four-wheel drive, but its system can send up to 70% of drive to the front wheels and as much as 85% to the rears in an effort to boost traction and make the car more engaging to drive.
0-62mph in 4.7 seconds, top speed of 174mph and 1430 litres of luggage space
Theres no doubt that the RS4 feels very secure in corners, with immense grip and tightly controlled body movements. However, it still doesnt feel all that agile. You can feel the cars considerable weight shifting around under hard cornering, and the weight is even more noticeable when you get hard on the brakes; the nose feels like it wants to keep ploughing on rather than turn in.
The steering isnt ideal, either. Its pretty quick, but the slow initial responses mean you often find yourself apply the wrong amount of lock for your desired line, which then needs a correction. It has a rubbery feel, too, while switching to Dynamic mode adds weight, but no more feel or accuracy.
Still, this is a car designed to do lots of miles very quickly, and its reasonably effective at doing that. Its pretty quiet at speed, although coarse surfaces do kick up some road noise. The ride isnt great on the motorway, either. Its just about acceptable in Comfort mode, but you still feel more of bumps and expansion joints than desirable. Select the sportier modes, and youll be downright uncomfortable.
What's the 2012 Audi RS4 Avant like inside?
The cabin is the least exciting part of the RS4. Aside from sports seats in the front, there are just a few badges and splashes of carbon trim to indicate you're in a 55,000 performance car.
Still, the fact that the RS4 is so similar to a regular A4 Avant inside does mean there's decent space for four adults, and a well-shaped boot that's capable of swallowing up to 1430 litres of luggage.
The quality of the materials is good if not outstanding, as is the amount of equipment you get for your money.
The 2012 Audi RS4 Avant interior is not as special as the car's performance
Should I buy one?
If you want a car that can carry four adults, plenty of luggage and still be entertainingly quick on a twisty B-road, then the 3.0-litre V6 diesel versions of the A4 Avant make more sense. They'll do much more than the RS4's average economy of 26.4mpg and won't need refuelling every 280 miles, or so.
RS4 buyers probably won't be looking for the sensible option, though; instead, they'll choose it because they want a relatively comfortable cruiser and a high-revving sports car.
The big disappointment is that it doesn't play either role well enough. The Mercedes C63 AMG Estate feels more special more of the time.
Read the full Audi A4 Avant review >>
Mercedes C63 AMG Estate
What Car? says


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My Fake Facebook Birthdays
What happened when I celebrated my Facebook birthday on July 11. And July 25. And July 28.
Good manners, of course, are just artifice—formalized rituals, designed for social lubrication, that mean nothing. From the cotillion curtsey to the subway-train "excuse me," they create automatic mechanisms for encountering strangers and papering over conflict. They are false, but they are necessary.
Yet there is one manifestation of good manners that appears to have exactly the opposite purpose, a form of social lubrication that makes a mockery of everyone connected to it. I refer to the Facebook birthday greeting. The Facebook birthday greeting has become a symbol of all that is irritating about the social network. Every April 11 or June 7 or Sept. 28, your Facebook account suddenly chatters with exclamation-point-polluted birthday wishes. If you are a typical Facebook user, these greetings come mainly from your nonfriend friends—that group of Facebook "friends" who don't intersect with your actual friends. The wishes have all the true sentiment of a Christmas card from your bank. The barrage of messages isn't unpleasant, exactly, but it's all too obvious that the greetings are programmed, canned, and impersonal, prompted by a Facebook alert. If, as Facebook haters claim, the social network alienates us from genuine friendship, the Facebook birthday greeting is the ultimate example of its fakery.
So I decided that if Facebook was going to bombard me with fake birthday wishes, I was going to bombard Facebook with fake birthdays. The Queen of England has two birthdays every year: Why shouldn't I have three birthdays in a single month? I was born on Jan. 31, but I've always wanted a summer birthday. I set my Facebook birthday for Monday, July 11. Then, after July 11, I reset it for Monday, July 25. Then I reset it again for Thursday, July 28. Facebook doesn't verify your birthday, and doesn't block you from commemorating it over and over again. If you were a true egomaniac, you could celebrate your Facebook birthday every day. (You say it's your birthday? It's my birthday too!)
At the end of June, I edited my profile to mark my first fake birthday on July 11. Early birthday greetings began popping up on my wall on July 8, from a couple of "friends" who were going away and didn't want to miss the big day. Why "friends" in quotes? I have a Facebook account primarily for work reasons: I use it to alert acquaintances to Slate stories and to post photos from Slate events. I do very little actual social networking on the social network. Of my 1,557 Facebook friends, I've probably met only 200, and I'd count only 100 as actual friends. (For example, I am not sure if I am friends with my wife.)
By the morning of July 11, my wall was crammed with birthday greetings, and by the end of the day, 119 people had wished me happy birthday—or rather "Happy Birthday!!" (which appears to be standard Facebook birthday punctuation). Only four old and close friends were skeptical that I was celebrating my birthday in July, though most of them attributed the confusion to their own faulty memories. One, the brilliant John M., sensed something profoundly wrong, posting: "Is this some Slate experiment about the Pavlovian response of people to Facebook birthday notifications?"
My second fake birthday, two weeks later, was when things started to get strange. I received 105 birthday wishes on July 25, nearly as many as two weeks earlier. This time, nine people suspected something was awry. James P., for example, jibed: "It must be pretty nice having multiple birthdays each year, let alone in the same month!" But the skeptics were far outnumbered by profligate birthday wishers. Of the 105 birthday wishes, 45 of them—nearly half—came from people who had wished me a Facebook happy birthday two weeks earlier. The highlight of my second fake birthday? Playbook, Politico'sfamous Washington tip sheet, included me in its daily birthday greetings, prompting a whole raft of non-Facebook birthday wishes from D.C. insider friends.
Three days later I celebrated my third and final fake Facebook birthday. My social network was clearly sick of me. I received only 71 birthday wishes on July 28, down from more than 100 on my first two fake birthdays. And even more skeptics caught on to the experiment: 16 doubters, compared with 9 from three days earlier. Several of them observed that I appeared to be aging quickly, while Jen M. threatened, "I'm about to write an investigative piece looking into how it's your birthday every day on FB ..." The next day, July 29, Brian S. wrote: "I'm shocked that it doesn't seem to be your Facebook Birthday for the first time in recent memory. ;)"
Even so, the repeat birthday greeters still trumped the doubters. Almost 30 people wished me a happy birthday on July 28 having already wished me a happy birthday on one of my previous non-birthdays. Sixteen people sent me Facebook birthday wishes on all three Facebook birthdays, not noting or perhaps not caring about the repetition. One friend even wished me four happy birthdays, congratulating me twice on one of my fake days. The messages from one of these three-time greeters, a friend I've never met named Barry P., were almost poignant.
On July 11, he wrote: "Wishing you a very happy birthday David & a wonderful year!"
On July 25, he upped it: "Wishing you a very happy birthday David & your best year ever!"
On July 28, the superlative was gone: "Wishing you a very happy birthday David & a terrific year!"
Some of the repeat-greeters, perhaps hoping to differentiate their contributions, had developed their own birthday formulas. Ben S. on July 11: "HBD DP! Hope this is your best new year evuh." On July 25: "HBD DP! Hope this is your best new year evuh." And on July 28, ""HBD DP! Everybody down South is hopin' this is your best new year evuh."
Don't mistake my observation for derision. Mass electronic communication is destroying our memories, since we rely on devices to protect us from embarrassing ourselves. I routinely send an email to a friend on a Tuesday, and then send her exactly same email on Thursday. Even so, the Facebook fake birthday experiment did end up confirming my worst fears about the network. All too many birthday wishes are autonomic, sent without thought or personal feeling. It's one thing to remember your friend's birthday because you took him out a decade ago for his drunken 21st birthday debauch. It's much lamer to "remember" your friend's birthday because Facebook told you to. A significant number of Facebookers clearly use the service without sentiment, attempting to build social capital—undeserved social capital—with birthday greetings that they haven't thought about based on birthday memories of you that they don't actually have.
And yet my three-birthday July was not completely demoralizing. An encouraging number of my friends—many of them my actual friends—were so socially alert that they cottoned on to my manipulation of the Facebook birthday system. And these friends who saw through my experiment didn't let it darken their mood or cause them to spread ill will: Almost everyone who recognized that my birthday was bogus wished me a Happy Birthday anyway, like Eileen H.: "Did I not just wish u this? Well, hbd s'more!" They sought to increase good feeling in the world—and toward me, even though they knew I didn't deserve it.


text: Looking for bikers to meet up and go on rides on the weekends doesn't matter what bike you have or age. Looking to go rides to oban and Glencoe and see how it goes and then go from there. If you are interested or know a biker who might be just send me a message or share it thanks.


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Submitted by braswell on October 1, 2010 - 10:35am
A Hattiesburg woman died Thursday after collapsing at the Forrest County Center of Pearl River Community College.Jessica V. House, 28, collapsed while walking to the Allied Health Center.PRCC personnel trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation attempted to revive her until medics from AAA Amublance Service arrived. She was transported to Forrest General Hospital where she was pronounced dead.Forrest County Coroner Butch Benedict said her death was the result of natural causes.House was a general academic student at PRCC."The thoughts and prayers of the Pearl River Community College family are with Jessica''s friends and family in this difficult time," said PRCC President William Lewis.


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History of the Village of Krasna (Krassna), Bessarabia
Chronik der Gemeinde Krasna
Entnommen einer alten Aufzeichnung, durchgearbeitet von Josef
Riehl (z.Z. Cappel - Wesermünde)
Taken from an old document in the German language, no year of publication
Edited by Josef Riehl
Translation from German to English by Brigitte Wachter von Budde, German Translator, Germans from Russia Heritage Collection
This summary text was published by Josef Riehl (1 August 1895 - 9 April 1960) in 1948. It was reprinted on behalf of his wife, Hilaria nee Dressler, and his daughter, Katharina Skarneck.
For the village of Krasna, the year 1939 is a historical point of reflection, from which to view all previous historical events which have occurred during a period of 125 years. During 1914, our community should have reminisced for its 100th anniversary [since the colony's founding].
The community anticipated to celebrate with ceremony this historical fact. Unfortunately, with the outbreak of the world war, such plans were impossible. Therefore, this year of 1939, we want opportunity to remember our history as much as we can trace our past, with as much as older people can share their memories with us. Present circumstances prevent us to write a detailed history of Krasna. In compliance with requests from many members of the community, at least a brief history of our community is to be published. Not a trace of an archive remains in the village office or elsewhere: because, after the war, these records were confiscated by evil people. Therefore, for historical documentation, we must rely on old texts.
I would like to start with our ancestors who have founded the village in 1814. The majority of them have changed their homeland twice. Some sleepless nights must have preceded this change of decision for seeking a new homeland. What drove our ancestors from a comfortable homeland into moving to a strange land? It was hardship caused by disastrous military campaigns of French Revolutionary troops who devastated southern Germany from 1800-1803. This hardship made them [our ancestors] receptive to any propaganda to emigrate. Most of them had lost everything they owned and roamed about their country region.
As, as it is known, Catholics and Protestants have their own holidays and customs, a harmonious living together was often disturbed, which greatly affected development of community life. Therefore, in 1825, the community agreed to ask higher governmental authorities for permission to allow Evangelical families to move to the newly founded colony of Katzbach which is located 8 km west of Krasna; permission was given. They settled soon afterwards at the lower end of Katzbach. In Poland, eight Polish families joined the German families from Krasna on their emigration. Today, they are completely germanized.
Our ancestors received in advance building materials and eight Rubles in cash for the construction of houses. Every family also received some farm equipment such as plough, wagon, etc., as well as draft cattle. Every family received four tschetwert of wheat and two tschetwert of potatoes for sowing. The supply center was in the, back then, newly established colony of Tarutino. Poor colonists were frequently shamefully cheated by the suppliers. The cattle were thin and unsuitable for work, equipment was bad, flour had often spoiled, and money was often not paid on time. Certainly, model farms were unthinkable under such conditions. Many farmed together; others put their seeds in with a hoe. Everything was overcome by hard work and continuous perseverance, and the people recovered gradually and gained affluence and wealth.
At the beginning, the village was called Elisabeth, later Konstantinschutz. After a few years, the colony received its name 'Krasna' on the order of highest authority in memory of the battle by Krasna, Russia, during the war with Napoleon I.
Today, Krasna exists already of six rows of houses; thus, since the settlement, we have two new village streets. The distance from the county seat, Cetatea-Alba, Akkerman, is 90 km and 120 km from the capital of the province, Kischinev.
At the beginning, upon settlement, the houses were rammed down (earth) or built with clay bricks, and covered with reed. The last house from the settlement era was leveled in 1911, and belonged to Josef Johannes Kuß. The presently oldest house is the house of the widow Emerentiana Fähnrich. Wells, which were dug at the beginning and had a depth of four to six meters, provided the drinking water. In time, the water in these wells turned bad and people were forced to search elsewhere for good drinking water.
In 1911, many neighborhoods set out to dig artesian wells in the middle of the streets. Although they had good, yet murky water, all but one [well] turned bad after a few years. Until 1936, this one well supplied almost the entire community with good drinking water. In this year, the village office had a new well dug in front of the governmental office. Later, in 1937/38, two new wells were dug in other places so that the community is now provided with good drinking water.
The acreage of the village of Krasna is 7,512.11 ha or 6,810.2 dessiatines of unsuitable land and is divided into 114 farms. Thirty families without land are in Krasna.
At present, the land is distributed as follows: farm land 5,670.69 ha, grazing area 1,363.44 ha, narrow streets and farmsteads 357.98 ha. In addition, some farmers own approximately 2,500 ha of land, purchased from another village. In general, Krasna owns more land of lesser quality than good land. Much sand and clay is on ridges, saltpeter in low lying areas.
Today, Krasna numbers 512 farms with 2,873 residents of both sexes. They are all Catholic except for five Orthodox families.
In the course of 125 years, very many families emigrated from Krasna into all directions. Thus, in 1874, a large group moved to Dobruja and founded the community of Karamurat (Ferdinand I). Today, this community is a very attractive village with its own church and school. In 1884, another group moved to Patrakaß in the Kantemir Valley onto leased land, and from there on to Emmental, district of Tighina. Today, the [village of] Emmental founded by people from Krasna is a parish with a very beautiful, impressive church. In 1907, people from Krasna moved in smaller groups to Siberia, and in 1908, to the Caucasus. Before the war, 94 families and 29 singles, a total of 567 people, emigrated to America where they established two separate villages with the names 'Krasna' and 'Straßburg.' After the war, in 1925, a group numbering 25 families moved to Brazil. Then, in 1929, a second group followed. In the same year, many families emigrated also to Canada.
At the beginning, farming proceeded only slowly. Two things were lacking: draft animals and ploughs. Agricultural equipment was totally insufficient. The wagons still had wooden axles. Grain was mowed with sickles and scythes, and cleansed with the winnowing shovel. Grain had very little sales. At the beginning, retail stores were in Odessa, [and] later in Akkerman (Cetatea-Alba) and Kilia. Prices were very low, and therefore [generated] small earnings. Our ancestors had to build their lives accordingly. It was very simple. They made their own clothes from flax, hemp, and wool. They produced relatively many products but received too little money. A man with 200 - 300 Rubles was considered a wealthy man. The price of land was ridiculously low. So, you could buy half a farm for half a quart of schnapps. In the 1860s and 1870s, price for land rose to 300 Rubles. Many things, such as illnesses, wars, held the economy back. Cholera, which raged in Krasna in 1831, claimed many lives. Typhus occurred very frequently. The Russo-Turkish wars of 1827 and 1877 brought much billeting and loss of material to the colonists. Our people were met also with other blows. They suffered from the poor harvests of 1830, 1832, 1833, 1834, and 1839. Due to a lack of feed, a number of cattle was almost completely destroyed. The great enemy of the farmers in the Budjak region, the suslik, did great damage in 1822, 1823, 1824, and in 1848, and grasshoppers in 1825, 1826, 1827, 1836, and in 1847. Farmers were not even spared from hail. In 1843, it destroyed the harvest. Rinderpest occurred heavily in 1827, 1834, 1839, 1844, and in 1859. However, our Lord also gave good fortune and blessings through fruitful years so that our farmers forgot all problems and gained considerable prosperity.
Agriculture experienced a special boom in the 1880s, when better agricultural equipment came on the market as for example mowers, cleansing mills, iron harrows, etc. Yields increased significantly by rotating crops and through a different arrangement of fields especially by deep furrowing after the war. In the 1880s, the red winter wheat and 20 years later the white winter wheat was introduced. Summer wheat disappeared almost completely. As of 1906, a renewal in agriculture began in Krasna. In that year we had a good harvest of winter wheat. From this time on, the price of land started to increase dramatically. Since then, until 1914, 200 - 300 Rubles were paid for one dessiatine. In 1910, the record harvest of winter wheat contributed to a further increase in prices. In this year, farmers of Krasna thought themselves to be well enough off so that four farmers bought a steam threshing machine. Afterward, the world war devoured a large part of the wealth through various billeting, requisitions and mobilizing the best work force, and through the general devaluation of the money.
After the world war, the economy experienced again a rise until 1927. Then came a setback. 1928 was a bad year. As the farmers had to buy seed and feed at a high price (120 Lei per pud of barley), many went into debt. As a result, the community depended on taking out a joint loan. This loan in the amount of 2,400,000 Lei was taken out at the General Savings Bank of Hermannstadt in Transylvania. Eighteen men from the community gave the guarantee. They hoped to be able to soon pay off the debt especially as the year of 1929 produced an excellent harvest of barley. However, the general world crisis thwarted the plans. Prices fell fivefold. The repayment of the loan dragged on so that the last debtor had to make use of the conversion (or: debt rescheduling) law. Fortunately, today this debt is paid. The crisis began to subside and hopefully, agriculture will see a again a rise.
Cattle raising in Krasna was always a lucrative branch of agriculture. The people of Krasna took first to beef cattle; this was the white and red cattle of the steppe. After the world war, the red cow of Molochna was preferred. The Angler breed is accepted only very slowly.
Growing fruit was successful before the war but was ruined because of the severe winter of 1928/1929.
Viniculture had its beginning in 1840. In that year, 58 farmers east of the village, in the Nede Valley, put in a vineyard on a hill which produced quite well. Later, vineyards with up to 1,500 vines each were planted on the opposite side. After 1906, in 1909, phylloxera appeared and destroyed every vineyard. Krasna was left without wine until the world war. During and after the war, all the farmers put in self/individual bearers (Selbstträger) which produced wine of very low quality.
Trade has developed only slowly in Krasna. Presently, the following craftsmen are in Krasna: 8 carpenters, 2 shoemakers, 6 cartwrights, 14 smiths, 6 seamstresses/tailors, furthermore 2 cement brickyards, 1 steam mill, 1 windmill, 2 oil mills, and 3 butcher shops.
The cattle and wagon trades, which were initially heavily used, are, today, almost brought to a halt. Grain is usually sold to Jewish middlemen. The necessary household goods were initially purchased from peddlers. Only in the years of the world war did the present Volksbank, which was then a small credit bureau, open up an branch which, to this day, has in hand the largest commodity trade. In 1925, the Volksbank Konkordia founded a dairy business which folded up after a few years. Six German businesses and one Jewish one supply the community with goods. Three private dairies, which apparently do good business, were established after the folded up dairy of the Volksbank.
To this day, since its founding, the church was considered a meeting place for an intellectual and spiritual life.
The settlers held the first church services in a private home. Only in 1818, a small church of stone was built in Krasna at the location where Markus Ternes lives today. The present attractive church in the center of the village was completed in 1866, and was consecrated on October 6, 1874, by Bishop Vincenz Lipski. Since its founding in 1814, Krasna forms its own parish and belonged, until the founding of the diocese of Tiraspol, to the diocese of Kamenetz in Podolia. In 1818, the first vicarage was built next to the first church. The present vicarage was built in 1881. In order to make the church life and the spiritual life more spirited, Pastor Prof. Wilhelm Schumacher managed to build, in the parish garden, an impressive building which has the name 'Our Home,' and which is the property of the church. Presentations of all kinds are to be given there. From 1919 - 1920, the church, which used to own 145 ha (133 dessiatines) of land, was dispossessed except for 18 ha. Until now, 28 members of the clergy have been working in Krasna. Since founding the colony, a parochial school existed next to the church. Today, Krasna has two schools. One is the former parochial school and serves today as a school for girls with five teachers. The other was built by the district office (semstvo) and cost 20,000 Rubles; 8,000 Rubles of which were paid by the community of Krasna, which supplied all the labor. This school serves as a boys' school and has six teachers with four class rooms. Overall, Krasna has twelve teachers including the kindergarten teacher; of these, two were Germans and the others non-Germans. The students, including the kindergarten, number 631 children. The future of our children worries us because soon they will no longer be able to read or write in their mother tongue.
Since the birth of the community, it [Krasna] formed its own volost office and as such had a district bureau. Until 1871, correspondence was in the German language. Then the administration had to be in Russian. After the world war, at the annexation of Bessarabia to Romania, the office was called 'Primarie' with a chief notary public. In 1930, our 'Primarie' building was remodeled and, today, is quite an impressive building.
Thus, more than 125 years have passed since that time when our ancestors immigrated here. However, we still did not come to rest, still had no actual homeland. In 1940, in Europe, WWII had broken out; we had to leave Krasna during the process of the German-Russian exchange for people. Our assets were appraised by a joint commission, and from September, 9, until October 9, 1940, the resettlement to the Reich took place. First we came into a camp where all of us shared one shelter and had meals together. Then, after approximately one year, we were settled in West Prussia on former Polish estates according to currently appraised assets. The people of Krasna were housed in nine districts so that we needed days when we wanted to visit a brother or a sister or any other relative or acquaintance. We would have adjusted to this inconvenience, but it was to get worse. We were less than four years in this new location when we had to leave again. However, this time not as a result of some friendly agreement and with all our possessions, but only with horses and buggies, and minimal possessions which we could pack - we did not know what to take along and what to leave behind - that's how we left our quarters: in a big hurry. Meanwhile, the war had spread all over Europe and had turned the former partners to a treaty, Germany and Russia, into enemies. And that's how the destructive war machine approached our peaceful farmland. So, we had to flee into uncertainty. For eight long weeks, we were on the road with all we had, in cold and in snow, hungry and sick. That's how we finally arrived in the district of Wesermünde, by the coast of the North Sea, and were housed in the village of Cappel-Strich. We are still sitting here today.
So, I want to finish my report on the village of Krasna, hoping for a good life in the near future.


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Saturday, August 7, 2010
That's Grampa, But That's Not Gramma
I'm guessing this photo was taken in about 1912. Grampa was born in 1892 and looks about 20 in this photo. He married my grandmother, Emma Bickerstaff, in 1914.
This is a section of a larger photo of Grampa with the unknown young lady and another couple. I found it in my grandmother's photo album. I wonder if she would have put the photo of a "rival" in her album, even if it was a great photo of her husband.
As with all of the photos in Gramma's album, this one had been attached to a page in a different album, removed, and then placed in this newer album. When it was removed from the previous album, a hole was torn into it, but not all the way through it, where the other couple are standing. My grandfather and the unknown lady were left intact.
How much do you think you can tell about someone's personality from a photograph? Have you ever seen a photo of someone and guessed at their personality, then later learned that you were accurate (or very far from close)? What do you imagine about the relationship between Grampa and the lady and the lady's personality?
You might enjoy some other sepia photographs. You can find links to them at Sepia Saturday. Enjoy!
13 comments:
Your photo and story are so interesting; your unknown lady looks as though she is thoroughly enjoying herself and has a great dress sense. She is very confident in her relationship with your grandfather - she could be a cousin, neighbour or girlfriend, it's too hard to say. Like you say in your piece about yourself, I would love to be able to go back in time as an observer as I have many unanswered questions about some of my ancestors too. Thank you for this great post.ReplyDelete
Oh a mystery, and don't I love a mystery. You are so right in what you say about "reading" photographs : making deductions from looks, poses and all the other clues that are there. Wonderful picture at the heart of a wonderful post.ReplyDelete
Hi Nancy, a very interesting photo. They are all very nicely dressed. There are two couples, this is not a coincidence. They had an outing together.ReplyDelete
Perhaps the two girls chaperoned each other. I think they were friends perhaps there is a budding relationship. Your grandpas friend looks very self confident. Perhaps their relationship has not worked out or he fell in love with an other girl.
She does look like she knows what she wants - self assured and very pretty. I do often have ideas about a person's personality based on facial expressions and body language, but I have often been very wrong.ReplyDelete
I love the mystery in this photo. The women's hats and clothes are so lovely.ReplyDelete
I love the woman in the hat. It's Anne of Green Gables grown up.ReplyDelete
She looks like a firecracker of a woman. My bet is that she ran away and joined a Wild West Show. Your grandfather was relieved because if she'd stayed around much longer, she'd have married him. And he was saving himself for your grandmother.ReplyDelete
She looks a little too cozy to be a relative. I think she's got designs on him (whatever that means). He, on the other hand, doesn't seem too interested. I don't know what makes me think that.ReplyDelete
I love his sleeve garters,though!
She looks like a Kate Hepburn to me! Always enjoy your blog posts becausse your ending questions get me to thinking about things. And I suppose I will not toss all the unknown folks in photos from my Mom but merely speculate who/where/ and what.ReplyDelete
i say they're cousins. a little too comfortable...a date might show more reserve as there would have been more at stakes.ReplyDelete
Well she certainly is adorable. I absolutely love the hats! I wish I could find photos of my grandparents during this time period!ReplyDelete
I love your post. Love those hats! I think maybe they are cousins. I was recently given an old photo of myself and a male cousin at the local winter show. I remember we talked to a man trying to sell us insurance and we thought it very funny he assumed we were a couple and enjoyed letting him think so. What a treasure to have and what a mystery.ReplyDelete
Several of you commented about these hats and I wanted to add a thought. I was looking at the hats again.... If you went to an estate sale and found one of these hats, would you imagine that the person who used to wear it had a Very Large Head? The diameter of the hats had to fit not just the head but also all that hair. I agree, they are wonderful, just very large!ReplyDelete
I appreciate your comments and look forward to reading what you have to say. Thanks for stopping by.


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About Me
- Name: Mr Reed
- Location: Indiana, United States
I'm a middle school science teacher, wrestling coach, poker player, scuba diver, aikido black belt, amateur writer, and student of life. In the past I have tried to give back a little by volunteering at a children's home in Belmopan, Belize, Central America. I also love Frosted Flakes. I have taken a year sabbatical from my teaching position in order to sail the Caribbean. Does that sound crazy to you?