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by Jim Harris
The 83rd annual Academy Awards are now history, and what an interesting night it was. How about the wild dress that what's-her-name wore. It certainly left little to the imagination; eh? And was it just me, or did that guy who gave the rambling acceptance speech seem drunk?
Okay, I confess. I didn't see the show. I started my Oscar party a little too early (Saturday), and by the time the actual ceremonies began, I had enjoyed one too many wine spritzers and fallen asleep. When I woke up (late Monday), I just barely had time to write this article, so I'm pretty much shooting from the hip. But fear not, fans, even though I didn't see any of the films nominated for best picture, I know people who know people who got text messages from people who may have seen them, so I can give you comprehensive synopses of them all (Warning: if you don't want to know the endings of the movies, look away while reading this).
•127 Hours: The title refers to how long this movie would seem to last if you were actually forced to watch it. Briefly, an obsessive outdoor enthusiast gets pinned under a boulder and is forced to chop off his own arm to escape. Aside from being highly entertaining, this film conveys an important message about boulder safety.
•Winter's Bone: A young girl must confront meth-crazed hillbillies (like, hillbillies aren't scary enough WITHOUT the meth!) to retrieve her bail-jumping father. In the end, she has to cut off the hands of her dad's corpse to prove to the court that he is indeed dead. Delightful! Bring the kids.
•True Grit: Another film about a young girl collecting her father's body. This time it's in the old west. Directed by the Coen brothers, whose previous films include "Blood," "Lots of Blood," and "Even More Blood." The best scene in the movie has a bleeding man going into a bank to cash a check. He says to the teller, "Give me all large bills, please," and the teller says, "I'm sorry, sir, but all of our bills are the same size."
•The Fighter: A tale of drug-crazed prizefighters in Boston. Just as relentlessly creepy as "Winter's Bone," except that all the characters have annoying Boston accents instead of annoying Southern drawls.
•Inception: Two corporate spies conduct illegal espionage by entering the subconscious minds of their targets, using a two-level "dream within a dream" technique. The plot is impossible to follow, but there are some groovy slow-motion explosions. The hero starts out as anonymous as cattle, but he winds up leading the herd.
•The Kids Are All Right: A tale of two homosexual women who have each given birth to a child using the same anonymous sperm donor. This film also has a complicated plot, which involves a three-level "relationship within a relationship within a relationship" technique. (Attention guys, this film has no explosions or redeeming masculine values whatsoever.)
•The King's Speech: It's 1939, and Hitler, who does not stutter, is about to invade England, which is ruled by King George VI, who does stutter. The fate of the free world lies in the balance. Enter the therapist!
•The Social Network: Just when you thought there couldn't be a more boring film topic than a man undergoing speech therapy, this film involves preppy college technology nerds, blogs, depositions and proprietary lawsuits. No explosions, severed limbs, sperm donors, or relationships of any kind. The
penultimate scene has the top college computer geek calling an Incontinence Hotline, and he is told, "I'm sorry, sir. You'll have to wait." This film is rated N1, which means "suitable for no one."
•The Black Swan: An obsessive young ballerina gets in touch with her dark side. Like "Inception," it's not always clear what is a dream and what is real. And like so many of the other nominated films, there's plenty of blood. Bring a barf bag; this is ballet with attitude.
•Toy Story 3: A bunch of toys, who have not been played with in years, feel abandoned. Through a series of mishaps, they wind up in a day care center where children happily play with them once again, and they all live happily ever after. Woody, the main character, discovers after much soul-searching that the shortest distance between two jokes is a straight line.
Once upon a time, people went to the cinema to see how much better life could be. Nowadays, it seems, we go to remind ourselves that things could always be worse. See you at the movies!


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Oh yes, I'm years behind in this cowl thing. And so I'm making up for lost time and knitting a few, which has quickly turned into many. It's hard to stop myself from starting a new one every few days.
Luckily the holiday season provides a perfect outlet for this knitting obsession (although those endeavours are currently secret). My favourite free pattern for quick cowls is definitely the Slouchy Cowl. Big needles and bulky yarn make for a fast and warm garment. The purple one above is knit with Malabrigo Chunky which is so soft and squishy (I wear it way more than the red Puffin one I made last winter). Sadie's double moss stitch cowl is a simple, improvised tube, knit with a lovely grey shade of Sublime's Extra Fine Merino DK. Both wearable, both just the tip of the cowl iceberg.
As for reading, I'm running out of Elizabeth Hay options! I finished up Garbo Laughs which again was full of deep, rich characters. The storyline was linear and therefore much easier to follow than Student of Weather. The setting was Ottawa during the ice storm of 1998 and I loved understanding the references without it being from my own backyard. The shared love of old films across 3 generations of characters was pretty magical and I learned a lot about some classics. But in the end it's Hay's characters that stay with me and penetrate my thoughts. Harriet was fascinating and her family and friends no less so. What a set of neighbours to be blessed with! If you're an Elizabeth Hay fan this is another great read.
For an inspiring dose of reading and knitting, check out today's Yarnalong.

subset: commoncrawl


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Automatic barriers - road barriers
Range of professional 230 Vac electromechanical barriers with speed variator and three-phase induction motor for high frequency of use.
Designed and developed to operate in a wide variety of conditions such as large car parks, motorway tollgates with frequent reversing, industrial installations.
Possibility of setting the useful passage from electronic control unit.
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Equipped with U-Link protocol, they allow integration in Parking Management or Building Management systems.
Range of barriers for very intensive use, for clear openings of up to 8 metres.
The wide range of accessories, incorporated flashing light and the arrangement for photocells make them ideal in any context.
Range of barriers for intensive and very intensive use, able to manage useful passages up to 6 m. Integrated control unit with U-Link connectivity.
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Range of barriers for very intensive use, for clear openings up to 6 m.
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Automatic barriers are continually evolving within Bft due to their versatility. The automatic barriers vary in length dependent on the application and can cover access points between 2-6 metres in residential locations and traffic/car park management, and up to 8 metres for industrial installations. The U-Link protocol allows installers to easily maintain the barrier as well as diagnose problems or modify settings remotely.


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This 7" x 13" black framed plaque is carved from beautiful Jerusalem Stone quarried in the Holy Land then handcrafted in the USA. All of our Jerusalem Stone products come in a gift box with a certificate of authenticity/giftcard.
History of the Stone:
Jerusalem Stone is a limestone material found in the areas between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and between Galilee and Haifa. This stone was excavated by the Israelites as early as 1000 to 2000 B.C, and used to construct such historical, religious sites as the "City of Jerusalem" and "King Solomon's Temple". Today this treasured stone is used in all modern construction within the city of Jerusalem.


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Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in education programs and activities receiving or benefiting from federal financial assistance. Anyone, student or employee, of Alexandria Technical & Community College who feels that he/she has been discriminated against in violation of this college's policy shall avail themselves of the following grievance procedure.
A student or employee, who believes himself or herself to be a victim of sex discrimination in violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, may file a grievance in person or in writing with the college's Human Rights Officer if not grievous by means of another grievance procedure. The grievance should be filed as soon as possible after the alleged discriminatory act/conduct occurs.
The Human Rights Officer shall make a prompt investigation of each charge filed. If after investigation it is the Human Rights Officer's opinion the charge lacks foundation, the officer shall so inform the complainant within 15 calendar days of the date of the filing charge. However, should the Human Rights Officer's investigation disclose the possibility that the charge is valid or has some foundation, the officer shall meet informally with the complainant and the college officials/employees involved and endeavor to arrive at an equitable solution to the problem.
If the complainant is dissatisfied with either the results of the informal conference or the Human Rights Officer's finding that no violation of Title IX has occurred, he/she may appeal that decision to the Minnesota State System using Minnesota State Policy 1B.1.1, http://www.minnstate.edu/board/procedure/1b01p1.html. Such an appeal must be taken within 10 days from the date the complainant was informed of the Human Rights Officer's decision. The appeal must be in writing and state the reason for the complaint with particularity the reasons the complainant disagrees with the Human Rights Officer's disposition of his/her case.
If the grievance is not informally resolved, both the complainant and the alleged discriminator shall have an opportunity to be heard on their own behalf. The hearing will be held before a committee of three administrators of the college appointed by the president. The written decision issued as a result of a hearing held pursuant to this section shall be final.
If the complainant is not satisfied with the decision, appeal may be made to one or more of the following offices: Director of the Office for Civil Rights, 300 South Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60606; or Commissioner of Human Rights, 200 Capitol Square Building, St. Paul, Minnesota 55105; or Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Regional Office, 342 North Walker Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202. For a complete copy of Minnesota State Policy 1B.1.1 Report/Complaint of Discrimination/Harassment Investigation and Resolution, contact the Human Rights Officer.
Student Rights Compliance Officers
Approved by: ATCC Leadership Council
Effective Date: 9/14/04
Last Date Revised: 3/16/06


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to be able to sit all day, sew, embroider and create, what a life that would be. karen nicol a mixed media textile designer from london, england, leads that kind of life. she works w/ embroidery, fabric and lace making extraordinary creations. she has designed pieces for some of the biggest names in the fashion industry. chloe, channel, marc jacobs, clements riberio to name just a few. her pieces are stunning and dynamic. they range from colorful parrots to 3d floral sculptures to intricate lace to adorable little origami tiaras.
karen's work doesn't only exist on the catwalk. she has shown her lace and fabric in galleries as well. her design pieces are just as exquisite. karen uses background materials such as old journal and ledger paper, mail bags, and flags. i love how she mixes old school craft w/ completely foreign objects. her pieces on her website are truly beautiful, and i can only imagine how they are in the tactile world.
* in places, empty spaces by the most serene republic.
** all images used w/ karen's permission.


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Get to Know Us: Marisa McClellan, In a Pickle Columnist
Editor's Note: You already know Marisa from her pickling column here and her popular Food in Jars site. While we know she loves her jams, pickles, and other jarred treats, today's your chance to learn more about her. Like how she microwaves a bowl of queso once a year. Take it away, Marisa!
Name: Marisa McClellan
Location: Center City Philadelphia
Occupation: Food Writer and Canning Teacher
Website/Twitter: foodinjars.com / @foodinjars
Guilty pleasures? I lead a life, both online and off, that involves a lot of healthy, homemade foods. I don't use much in the way of processed foods or pre-made stuff. However, about once a year, I break down and microwave up a bowl of queso. The kind you make with Velveeta and a can of Rotel. There's nothing redeeming about it, but it is SO good.
Describe your perfect meal. My perfect restaurant meal is a plate of the fish sauce wings with sticky rice and a mound of green papaya salad at Pok Pok in Portland, Oregon. Preferably eaten with my husband, parents, sister and her family.
What food won't you eat? I don't do shrimp, but that's only because I stop breathing normally when I eat it. Everything else is welcome on my plate.
Favorite food person? Laurie Colwin. She loved food deeply and had that unique ability to write about home and kitchen in a way that made it both universal and so personal.
When did you first realize you were a serious eater? My very first sentence, when I was just learning to talk, was "More mayonnaise, please." I think that says it all.
What do your family and friends think of your food obsessions? They all benefit from my obsessive behavior, so they're on board. It does sometimes frustrate my husband that our fridge is constantly bursting with food, but truly, having too much to eat isn't actually a problem.
Favorite food sites or blogs (besides SE)? I adore Molly Watson's site The Dinner Files and Kaela Porter's Local Kitchen.
Everyone has a go-to person they call for restaurant recommendations. Who's yours? I'm really lucky in that I have friends who have worked as restaurant critics. Though they're both currently out of the game, either David Snyder or Joy Manning.
What is your favorite meal of the day and where do you get it? I like breakfast best. My current favorite is a slice of homemade whole wheat sourdough with peanut butter and a smear of my damson plum jam.
Do you ever cook? What's the best dish you make? I cook all the time. I write about food for a number of sites and publications, and do some recipe consultation for restaurants, so I'm constantly in the kitchen. Soup is one of my specialties. My current favorite is a tomato-based vegetable soup with some local pork sausage crumbled on top.
If you woke up tomorrow as a food, what would it be. I think I'd like to be an apple. Fresh, crisp and sweet.
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Defending champion Andy Murray bumped up two spots for No. 3 seeding at Wimbledon
LONDON — Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were seeded No. 1 for Wimbledon on Wednesday, while defending men's champion Andy Murray was bumped up two spots above his world ranking to No. 3.
Djokovic, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, is ranked No. 2 but was given the top seeding by the All England Club ahead of top-ranked Rafael Nadal.
Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon champion who is coming off his ninth French Open title, is seeded No. 2 for the grass-court Grand Slam, which starts on Monday.
Murray last year became the first British player to win the Wimbledon men's title since 1936.
Seven-time champion Roger Federer is No. 4, while Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka is down two spots from his world ranking at No. 5.
Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont.,, John Isner and Kei Nishikori round out the top 10.
Among the 32 seeded players, Jerzy Janowicz received the biggest boost, going up nine spots from his No. 24 ranking to No. 15. The big-serving Polish player reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year, losing to Murray in four sets.
Wimbledon takes a player's grass-court record into account in assigning the men's seedings.
The women's seedings, however, stick to the WTA rankings.
That means five-time champion Williams is No. 1, followed by Li Na, French Open runner-up Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska and Maria Sharapova.
Sharapova, who won her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon 10 years ago, is coming off her second French Open championship. She is considered Williams' top challenger at Wimbledon, despite the No. 5 seeding. They could end up on the same side of the draw.
Petra Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon winner, is No. 6, followed by Jelena Jankovic, Victoria Azarenka, Angelique Kerber and Dominika Cibulkova.
Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., a semifinalist at the French Open, is seeded 13th, while Venus Williams, a five-time Wimbledon champion who has gradually slipped in the rankings, is seeded only No. 30.


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Bryan Singer just posted a tiny portion of the first page of the treatment for X-Men: Apocalypse on Instagram, and goddammit, I kind of hate myself for it, but it's actually made me a little excited despite showing nothing but 16% or so of a solitary piece of paper.
But what a 16%! We have some apocalyptic imagery and the appearance of Apocalypse's Four Horsemen, so it appears the movie will start with a figurative and literal bang. Does this make you guys kind of stoked for the new X-movie as well, or am I just high on post-dental-visit pain medication? Or both? It might be both.
[Via THR]


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Take no chances when dealing with radon
Homebuyers beware: Fairfield County levels above national average
A home for sale might have everything that a potential buyer wants, but if the home contains traces of radon gas and has no system in place to handle it, the deal can become more challenging, and in some cases, fall apart.
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas formed by the natural decay of uranium, found in rock, soil and water. While radon in outdoor air poses a relatively low threat to human health, radon can enter homes from the surrounding soil and become a hazard inside buildings, according to the state Department of Public Health.
"Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer in non-smokers," said Allison Sullivan, an environmental analyst with the state Department of Public Health. "It's something we encourage all homeowners to test for."
Fairfield County, like most of Connecticut, is in a "high-potential zone" because of its geology, Sullivan said, adding her agency encourages builders of new homes to equip them with radon-mitigation systems that can be connected with a blower fan should radon be found in the newly completed house.
"You want to test in the occupied portion of the house. We encourage that radon testing be done in winter when your house is closed up," Sullivan said, adding the American Lung Association at 800-LUNGUSA, offers test kits for $12. The National Radon Program Services sells radon kits through http://sosradon.org/test-kits.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends homes with radon levels at 4.0 picocuries per liter or higher should be fixed. Smokers exposed to radon have a much higher risk for developing lung cancer, according to the health department.
A picocurie is a unit of measure for radiation. A curie (named after French physicist Marie Curie) is a way of measuring radioactive decay or disintegration.
John Swanson, an agent at Coldwell Banker in Trumbull, recently represented the buyer of a house in Monroe house that registered a picocurie level only slightly higher than the minimum standard, but the lending institution required a mitigation system be installed prior to approving the loan.
`Easily fixable'
"It's easily fixable with a mitigation system. Virtually every seller will do a mitigation system. I've never had it be an issue," said Swanson, a real estate agent since 1987. "The seller is going to have to remedy the situation to sell a house. There are areas where it's more prevalent -- if you have ledge" rock around the home, for example.
Radon testing started to become popular in the 1990s, he said.
Most systems can be installed in one day and cost between $1,000 and $1,400, according to Matt Bednarz, vice president of Connecticut Basement Systems Radon in Stratford, whose business covers Fairfield County and bordering areas.
"Radon seems to be pretty prevalent in our soil in southwestern Connecticut. Probably one in four homes have an elevated level," Bednarz said, adding a typical mitigation system involves running a pipe from a small chamber under the basement floor to the outside where the radon is vented with the help of a fan. "You can't see it, taste it or smell it. A home inspection brings it to the forefront."
`Silent killer'
Those who opt not to have their homes tested for radon could be jeopardizing their family members' health, warned Dr. Jewel Mullen, state health commissioner.
"Because you can't see or smell radon, people are often unaware that this silent killer could be in their home," she said in prepared comments. "That's why testing for radon and reducing elevated levels is so important, and could save your life or the lives of your loved ones."
Paying for the mitigation process is a matter of negotiation between buyer and seller, said Jo Mineo, a real estate agent for 15 years, currently with Neumann Real Estate in Ridgefield.
But Mineo has seen first-hand how radon detected in a house can prevent a deal from being signed.
She recalled an incident about two years ago where the level of radon in a Ridgefield house made a potential buyer so insecure that he backed out of the deal. The cost of installing a mitigation system was estimated at more than $5,000, but Mineo said the potential buyer still was not convinced it would accomplish the task.
The house eventually was sold to another buyer.
Nothing to fear?
The cost of a mitigation system should not be a deal breaker for a buyer who wants a property, Mineo said.
"If you'd love to live there, just put in a system, but always get two estimates. Once you have a system, there shouldn't be anything to fear," she said.
Sometimes real estate agents have to rely on their wits and patience in assuring a potential buyer a mitigation system will solve a radon problem.
"Radon might scare people who don't know about it. Radon is something that can be corrected. You explain the options for remedying the situation," said Mona Beerman, a real estate agent with Halstead Property's office on Mason Street in Greenwich. "If you're writing an offer, write it into the contingency."
Indoor-air-quality publications can be obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Service Center for Environmental Publications. The website address is www.epa.gov/nscep, and the telephone number is 800-490-9198, weekdays from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. You can download a copy of the "EPA's Home Buyer's and Seller's Guide to Radon."
email@example.com; 203-964-2236.


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A Very Wily Believer
Leo and His Circle: The Life of Leo Castelli
You could almost picture Leo Castelli smiling from beyond the grave a few weeks ago, that small, canny smile of his. First an Andy Warhol, Men in Her Life, from 1962, sold for $63.3 million at a Phillips auction in New York. Then at Christie's a work by Roy Lichtenstein, from 1964, Ohhh…Alright…, of an anxious young redhead clutching a telephone, sold for $42.6 million.
Two pictures, exceeding $100 million, by two artists closely associated with Castelli—but money was never the ultimate measure of success to him. He came from the Old World. Cost still implied something different from value, and even as a businessman Castelli worried, despite his own influence in driving prices sky high, about market excesses already beginning to erode the barrier between fine art and a wilder, unregulated universe of pop culture. He worried, a little anyway, albeit not too much.
From his perch in a townhouse gallery on the Upper East Side, then in a converted industrial loft at 420 West Broadway, as the virtual maitre d' of newly fashionable SoHo, Castelli promoted various isms that followed from Abstract Expressionism and helped turn what had been the still relatively small village of the contemporary art world into a global empire. He ushered in an era of the contemporary dealer as headliner. After the war it had been art critics like Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg who manned the barricades in America against what remained a skeptical and often hostile establishment and who slowly won grudging acceptance for American artists. Castelli, opening his first gallery in New York in 1957, capitalized on this shifting environment, cultivating associations with places like the Museum of Modern Art and the Jewish Museum, where Alan Solomon, as director during the early 1960s, organized groundbreaking contemporary exhibitions indebted to Castelli's stable. In the process of burnishing the reputations of Castelli's artists, these institutional alliances also flattered his clients and, not incidentally, inflated prices.
His imprimatur, more than any critic's, came to be what mattered by the 1970s, and in the process, his gallery became a kind of clubhouse for the leading artists and critics, as integral in its way to the New York scene as the Whitney or the Guggenheim or MoMA. Today one finds heirs to Castelli in gallerists like the excellent Marian Goodman or the globe-striding Larry Gagosian, but there is no one whose gallery plays the same role or who has shaped the conversation as he did, not because he was inimitable or a polemicist or intellectually original, but because the world he occupied has largely evaporated.
Beneath the tailored suits, ingratiating manner, and womanizing reputation, he always seemed something of a mystery, as if withholding some deeper, darker past. Annie Cohen-Solal takes pains to uncover it, locating his business acumen…
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Faces of Food Safety: CSI Michael Piotrowski
Many people take the USDA mark of inspection for granted, not fully understanding what it takes to ensure that our food is safe. The mark of inspection actually signifies that the product was produced within a comprehensive inspection system, fully enforced by the combined efforts of our talented and motivated FSIS team, and that the FSIS team was able to find that the product is not adulterated. The USDA mark of inspection is what consumers see when they go to the supermarket. FSIS consumer safety inspectors (CSIs) are some of the members of our FSIS team who supervise the application of the mark of inspection to regulated products. CSIs are in charge of most non-slaughter activities, such as reviewing records, observing plant operations, conducting hands-on verification and enforcement activities and ensuring that food safety and humane handling regulatory requirements are followed.
Mike Piotrowski, a CSI out of the Philadelphia district office, is one such team member. Piotrowski makes sure that plants are in compliance with FSIS regulations and ensures that the integrity of the mark of inspection is maintained. The work done by Piotrowski and his co-workers should give consumers confidence in the mark of inspection. When consumers see the mark, they can be assured that the meat, poultry and processed egg products were produced under FSIS inspection. "Without that mark, consumers are not adequately protected," says Piotrowski.
"My work motivates me every day because I see that we can make a difference," he said. Piotrowski had his first encounter with FSIS while he was in college when his mother worked at a butcher shop. It was her influence that made him want to work as a CSI – she was a believer in sharing her knowledge of meat with her customers. Throughout his career, Piotrowski has placed great value on the exchange of information, especially as it relates to shared interests and goals. He shares his knowledge of the food safety system and important regulations with new inspectors and provides them with opportunities to learn more about the importance of food safety. "We have people here from every background," said Piotrowski. "In my role, I work to make sure that all the members of our team – especially those who are just starting out – have all the tools that they need to do their job, including an understanding of their own roles and the regulations that protect public health."
"My work motivates me every day because I see that we can make a difference."
Mike Piotrowski
Piotrowski does not stop at just doing a good job as a CSI and mentor – he finds time to serve as the chairman for the Philadelphia Circuit Safety Committee. In this position, he is responsible for a variety of safety tasks. He makes sure safety notices are posted so that inspectors have the necessary information to protect their own safety, while maintaining the safety of our food supply. He also runs a program organizing working groups to encourage inspectors to participate in regular hearing tests. The noise levels within plants can be high and have the potential to create a risk for inspectors' hearing. The agency takes safety seriously too. Tests are provided to all FSIS employees, and the agency will reimburse travel expenses where necessary. (Arrangements are made through your supervisor.)
Another safety program Piotrowski emphasizes is the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OHSA) Lockout/Tagout program. Under this program, whenever a company brings in new equipment, procedures and protocols must be implemented to make sure the new equipment is safe. And when it is scheduled for service, it must be completely separated from power sources during the time FSIS is inspecting the equipment. This is important, as many of the machines – grinders for instance – pose a serious safety threat to inspectors if they are accidentally turned on during inspection. Under the Lockout/Tagout program, Piotrowski ensures that companies follow proper procedures.
Between working on the safety committee, monitoring the OSHA program and mentoring younger CSIs, Piotrowski works every day for the sake of public health. When asked what message was most important for him to share about his experience, he put it simply: "The public doesn't know there are people out there every day protecting them and their food. Without food inspectors in the field, there would be no mark of inspection. Food inspectors put great care and dignity into their work and are truly the unsung heroes."


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Bevel Bond Paver Brick 50MM - Terra Cotta (Per 1000 Bricks)
We do refunds on all unaccepted deliveries within 24 Hours.
All products wrongly delivered will be taken back to nearest depot by our drivers at no additional cost to you. Correct product will be delivered within 24 hours or alternatively a full refund is processed immediately.
All our advertised prices include delivery cost to your location. With a partner network of depots, trucking companies , quarries, workshops and manufacturing plants nationwide, we are able to offer competitive delivered prices for all our products.
Select your delivery location next to your product and place your order for next day delivery.
Delivery lead times:
1 day lead time delivery applies to locations within Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban.
3 Day lead time delivery applies to the rest of South Africa.
Offloading is done right next to where truck can park, get into. Maximum 3m from Truck. Bulk quantities are delivered using most cost effective commercial truck sizes. It is customer's responsibility to inform us of any access restrictions which will require separate transportation Quote with smaller trucks. Truck sizes we use are 15 ton and 30 ton . Advertised prices include delivery with closest sized truck to your total ordered tonnage. For deliveries within Estates, or properties with restrictions it is client's responsibility to communicate in writing any site specific restrictions at quoting stage. Returns due to access restriction problems accrue a 100% delivery penalty (Refunds will be for material only).
Our advertised prices are for supply and delivery ONLY.
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Who doesn't love an invention? Think of the light bulb, which had never shined in all of history until Thomas Edison switched it on on Dec. 31, 1879. Think of lasers, helicopters, microchips, elegant equations like E = mc², and even modest wonders like batteries, Velcro, and air conditioning. We honor inventors, enrich them, ask them about the meaning of life.
Reinvention isn't in that league. The tip-off is the "re," meaning it's been done before. If invention is the dazzling hit, reinvention usually begins as a miss. But a miss that is taken back into the workshop, rethought, reworked, and brought out for a second, third, or fourth try can change the world. The light bulb, for instance, only stayed lit after it hadn't at least 6,000 times. Each time, Edison and his co-workers took stock of what went wrong, made improvements, and tried again. His invention was a serial reinvention.
For many workers in the wake of the 2007-09 recession, reinvention has not been by choice. Nor has it been easy. But here's what re-invention always is: necessary.
For one thing, economic survival depends on reinvention. Job security has all but vanished in most industries. Owning a home or shoveling money into a 401(k) is not the path to financial security it once was believed to be. That's bad news. The good news is that so many people have experienced financial setbacks, layoffs, or job shifts in recent years that it is clear that failure is not about character flaws.
Failure can be an opportunity. Saying that, of course, is easier than living through it, especially if you're out of work, in debt, or clinging to a job you don't like because you need the money. But reinvented careers can be the ones in which people learn more about who they really are and make a go of something they really love. (You can see evidence of that in this special report in The Christian Science Monitor Weekly news magazine.)
The key seems to be to stop mourning the past, honestly assess your skills, envision where you want to be, gain new skills, and then go for it. You may not end up where you think you should, but you will be learning with every step.
As Abraham Maslow, who developed the famed "hierarchy of needs" – a pyramid that everyone climbs from basic requirements like food and water to an apex of creativity and achievement – put it: "One's only failure is failing to live up to one's own possibilities."
Besides, people who have seemed touched by greatness still have lives to live. Like athletes and musicians, most inventors are highly productive in their youth. At 25, Albert Einstein experienced a "year of wonders." Working as a patent clerk, he achieved conceptual breakthroughs that revolutionized modern physics. Einstein led a long and useful life, and some of his most profound discoveries happened long after he was 25. But the sum of his brilliance during that one year was never repeated.
I once asked an octogenarian physicist about his year of wonders. Among other things Martin Deutsch, who taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, had discovered positronium, an elemental form of matter. "In 1951 and '52, I had a great creative outburst that I've never had again," he told me. "It was a virtuoso performance."
His colleagues thought he would win the Nobel Prize. He was not bitter that he did not. Instead he reinvented himself as a teacher and was satisfied that "there are people who have become what they have become because of what I have taught them."
At the end of our conversation, he pointed out a spruce tree in the corner of his garden. He had rescued it when his neighbor threw out a bunch of potted plants. Day after day it had sat there, refusing to turn brown. "It wanted to live," he said.
Martin Deutsch died in 2002. His students are pushing physics forward in the 21st century. And that spruce, which didn't make it as a potted plant, flourished.
John Yemma is the editor of The Christian Science Monitor. To comment on this column or anything else in the Monitor, please e-mail firstname.lastname@example.com.


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|Ivory, Silver Gilt and Jeweled Cup
Belonged to King George IV
Crown Copyright
The Royal Collection
Image Courtesy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
Here's one of the stars of The Royal Collection. This jeweled ivory cup is known by the curators of the collection as "The Brain," since…well, it looks a bit like a brain. This was one of the many treasure collected by the oddly opulent King George IV whose taste for just about everything drained the Royal coffers.
Made in South Germany (or, some say, Austria), when the ceremonial cup was first purchased by George IV, it was a work of carved ivory mounted in gilt silver. As grand as it was, it wasn't special enough for Georgie who had the emeralds, rubies and turquoises added just to make it a little shinier.
The carved, lobed ivory cup and cover is surmounted by a finial carved with a figure of Diana Goddess of the Hunt. She's holding a spear and has her trusty hunting hound beside her. Sleeping hunters and animals (hares, hounds and boars) surround her and the reeded silver band.
The applied ivy leaves were mounted with the rubies, emeralds and turquoises which reflect the carved, high relief scenes around the sides of the cup. The bowl is supported on a stem carved as Hercules on a domed rocky base—surrounded by a silver-gilt border and similar rim of jeweled ivy leaves.
When the cup first arrived in England—long before being purchased by George IV (it changed hands several times before George got a hold of it), its appearance was so astounding that it was mentioned in the "Morning Post and Daily Advertiser" which noted:
RECENTLY brought from Vienna, and added to the Museum, an inconceivably beautiful effort of art.... consisting of a cup or vessel carved in ivory; the figure of Hercules dressed in the skin of the Nemean lion forms the handle or stem.


text: Egyptian Dreams - Ancient Egyptian Discussion Board :: View topic - The Best Museums with Ancient Egyptian Artefacts in the UK - Ancient Egypt - Egyptology Forum Click on the logo to visit the shop Egyptian DreamsAncient Egypt Discussion Board FAQ Search Memberlist Usergroups Register Profile Log in to check your private messages Log in The Best Museums with Ancient Egyptian Artefacts in the UK Egyptian Dreams Forum Index -> Miscellaneous View previous topic :: View next topic Author Message LutzPharaohJoined: 02 Sep 2007Posts: 4164Location: Berlin, Germany Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 10:38 pm Post subject: The Best Museums with Ancient Egyptian Artefacts in the UK " Britains best places to see : Ancient Egyptian artefacts " (Museum Crush - Kate McNab, 24-08-17) Quote: The Ancient Egyptians are well known for their innovative everyday lives and their famously extravagant death rituals. Millions of Ancient Egyptian artefacts have made their way to the UK thanks to the efforts of early archaeologists, travellers and enthusiasts. Here is our pick of some of the best places to see these amazing objects ... Greetings, Lutz._________________Ägyptologie Forum (German) Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Egyptian Dreams Forum Index -> Miscellaneous All times are GMT Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Forum Information----------------AnnouncementsForum Help New Members----------------Say Hello Ancient Egypt----------------Mythology and ReligionPharaohs and QueensArt and LiteratureSphinxPyramids, Tombs, & MonumentsMummificationEvidence from AmarnaPre-dynastic EgyptNubiaBooksTravelHomework HelpMiscellaneous Off Topic----------------General Discussion You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group


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Beginning February 3, 2012, the Städel Museum in Frankfurt showcased the work of
Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), in a monographic exhibition, the first in Germany
since 1983."Claude Lorrain: The Enchanted Landscape" presented about one
hundred and thirty works from all phases of the French Baroque artist's production.
Loans were made available by the British Museum and the National Gallery in
London, the Petit Palais in Paris, and the Museum of Prints and Drawings in Berlin,
among others. Developed together with the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the
presentation highlights Lorrain as a highly reflected artist producing outstanding and
original works in each of the three media.
Claude Gellée, known as Le Lorrain ("The Lotharingian"), Claude Lorrain, or
traditionally just Claude in English, was born in Chamagne, a village near Nancy, in
Lorraine in 1600. Still in his youth, he went to Rome where he remained until the end
of his life excepting a short return to his homeland in 1625. From his beginnings,
Claude primarily devoted himself to landscape painting: his pictures were such a
success that he soon received commissions from the pope, powerful cardinals, and
European princes. From the mid-1630s till the end of his days, the artist, who had no
big workshop and virtually no pupils, had to work hard to satisfy the demand for his
paintings. His oeuvre encompasses approximately 250 paintings, 1,200 drawings,
and 44 prints.
Claude based his paintings on the studies he made during numerous excursions
through the rural environs of Rome, relying on precisely developed compositions to
create timeless classic landscapes. Already during his life-time he was particularly
held in high regard in Italy and France, while his art excited the utmost admiration in
England and Germany in the eighteenth century. Travelers from England who, in
keeping with their station, visited Italy on their Grand Tour acquired many of the
artist's paintings, and the greater part of his drawings and several of his etchings are
also to be found in English collections today.
Claude's works not only exercised a formative influence on England's fine arts of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries like on the painter William Turner, but especially
on English ornamental gardening, which mirrors the idealized landscape so typical of
Lorrain – a landscape that strikes us as good as natural thanks to its most precise
layout. Germany's most famous "Grand Tourist," Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
aimed at this peculiar characteristic when he described Claude's pictures as works
that possess "the highest truth, but no trace of reality" and said that "in Claude
Lorrain, nature declares itself eternal." Goethe's high regard for the artist reflects that
Claude profoundly influenced not only English, but also eighteenth-century German
artists, particularly the landscape painters working in Rome, such as Johann Heinrich
Wilhelm Tischbein. As Claude's works were mainly purchased by well-off English
travelers, though, they are to be found only sporadically in German collections.
Besides five drawings and about forty etchings, the Städel possesses a significant
late painting by the master: "Christ Appears before Mary Magdalene (Noli me
The exhibition on display on the upper floor of the exhibition building offered a
chronological view of Claude's production. The first hall was reserved for the
presentation of the artist's early work, which mainly shows Arcadian pastoral scenes
and views of harbors. The large-format early pair of paintings
"Coast View" and
"The Judgment of Paris" from 1633
was rounded off with nature studies from earlysketchbooks and etchings from the 1630s.
Another early painting is a work for Pope Urban VIII:
"Landscape with Rustic Dance."
This work was accompanied by pertinent drawings conveying a first impression of the relationship between Claude's painting, drawing, and graphic art.
The tour continued with drawings and prints dating from Claude's middle phase of
production like the painting
"A Seaport" from 1644
and the large
"Landscape with the Adoration of the Golden Calf" from 1653,
which constituted another focus of the exhibition.
Outstanding works on paper reveal a largely unknown aspect of the artist.
Claude not only made drawings in preparation of his paintings, but also for the sake
of drawing itself, showing a versatility that was entirely unusual for a seventeenthcentury
artist. Nature and composition studies are to be found next to drawings
documenting completed paintings; studies which have actually fulfilled their function
have been touched up and modified just for the artist's pleasure. From the mid-1630s
on, Claude made drawings after his own paintings in special paper books; initially
aimed at preventing that works by other artists were sold as his, these drawings in
what he called his "Liber Veritatis" (Book of Truth) increasingly turned into a medium
of reflection.
Though Claude was interested in the technique of etching especially in his early
years, he experimented with this medium as he did with drawing and, throughout his
career as an artist, created works that rank among the most important of their kind in
the seventeenth century. The exhibition will present Claude's etchings, far less
numerous than his drawings, almost in their entirety. The complete spectacular
"Fireworks" series (1637):
which captures festivities in the Piazza di Spagna lasting for several days, was displayed for the first time.
Biblical and mythological motifs prevail in Claude's later work, their subjects
reverberating in the landscapes in which they are embedded. Claude was an
unequalled master in rendering light and the subtlest atmospheric nuances; however,
the harmonic balance of his compositions, the calm, serene coexistence of man and
nature, is always endowed with an inner dynamics charged with tension which we
grasp step by step. The Frankfurt painting
"Christ Appears before Mary Magdalene(Noli me tangere)" and
the Oxford work "Landscape with Ascanius Shooting the Stag of Sylvia" (1682)
illustrated this in a particularly striking way.
Claude's working method did not comply with what the academies taught at that time.
Based on a thorough knowledge of nature, he composed his works by using
elements that repeat themselves in ever new variations and were taken from his
carefully guarded store of drawings. The approach he pursued was an almost
abstract one of "theme and variations" – a method that entailed an increasing
intensification. A specific feature of his production was working with pendants: in the
1630s, Claude developed an individual artistic concept of pairs of (painted or
engraved) pictures revealing certain compositional parallels or opposites. He often
combined an Arcadian scenery with a view of the sea or a morning and an evening
scene. How this concept of pendants, which Claude expounded in the course of his
career, enhances the extraordinary quality of his compositions through a mutual and
manifold poetic reflection will be demonstrated impressively in the presentation of
numerous examples such as "Coast View" (1633) and "The Judgment of Paris"(1633),
"Christ Appears before Mary Magdalene" (1681) (all 3 above) and
"Landscape with the Baptism of the Eunuch" (1678),
as well as "Landscape with Ascanius" (1682) (above) and
"View of Carthage with Dido and Aeneas" (1675/76).
From an interesting review of an earlier version of the exnibition:
Still less do Claude's objects have body. Strange geometrical flanges sometimes hug the canvas edge, nominally representing antique architecture: you only read them right when you realise they have no function except to obstruct or recede. His anatomy-free figure painting has always been a standing joke – he knew it, we're told, but refused to subcontract the task. What you get instead of volume and inner structure is gorgeously variegated optical texture, an unsurpassed attention to the play of light on the fractal surfaces of foliage, rocks and water. Yet the underlying clearheadedness of the operation ensures that the canvas is never cluttered or fussy. Claude is at once greatly generous and greatly detached: all he is really thinking about is behind and before, recession and obstruction.Similar works not in the show:
Claude Lorrain, Landscape with Country Dance, a drawing
Italy, 1640-41
"The Judgment of Paris" from 1646-6
Coast View with Apollo and the Cumaean Sibyl 1647
A Seaport at Sunrise 1674


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text:
SANTA CRUZ — When Eva Lopez was told the bumps in her breast might mean cancer, she was shaken.
"You feel like you"re going to die," she said, recalling when her father was diagnosed with cancer, she and her siblings told doctors not to tell him what he was treated for, worried he would give up on life.
Lopez, 54, married with two children, had always been healthy.
Neither she nor her husband Jorge had health insurance.
It wasn"t offered at her husband"s workplace and it wasn"t something she thought she needed running a home day care.
For more than 10 years, she had built a successful business, and was caring for children from 14 families.
The Santa Cruz County resident wondered if she would be able to get treatment without insurance.
She was here legally, she had savings and enough money to pay her bills, but not enough to pay for cancer treatment.
Would she have to close her business and go to Mexico in search of a doctor?
What would her families do without her?
For a week, she couldn"t sleep.
But it turned out she was not alone.
She had a friend who had survived cancer.
She also had the good fortune to live where the largest group of doctors saw the need to educate Latinas about breast cancer and where United Way staff recognized a program created under the Affordable Care Act for people without health insurance would make a difference in their lives.
And she prayed to God.
Asking a friend
She called her friend Martha Adams.
"Do you know someone who will see me?" she asked.
Adams saw the value of health insurance after having her uterus removed to prevent cancer from spreading. She knew someone at Dominican Hospital to ask. She reported back to her friend, "You can do it here."
Lopez met the doctor. She explained that she had "balls" in her breast for five years and when she slept on her side, it hurt. The X-rays didn"t find anything but an ultrasound exposed the cancer looking like little pieces of rice.
She got the news on her birthday, Aug. 22.
Her daughter Yolanda, 27, accompanied her "so she would have someone to lean on."
When her daughter broke into tears, Eva knew it was cancer.
The translator told her not to worry, that it was early stage, doctors could operate and chances of survival were good.
Next came more tests.
When she spoke with the surgeon, he warned it would be expensive, "mucho dinero."
She said she couldn"t afford to pay the bill all at once, and offered to pay half up front and the rest over time.
Since the cancer was slow moving, the surgery could wait until she got insurance, the doctor said.
But where would she get insurance?
Adams, who runs a home day care, had a suggestion.
Several months back, she had gotten a call from Carla Gomez, outreach worker for the Healthy Breast Campaign, a program started by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation to provide free screenings and other services to women with cancer.
Gomez asked her to take care of a boy whose mother was a field worker from Davenport in treatment for cancer. The Palo Alto Medical Foundation would pay, she said.
"A free program," said Adams. "I was amazed to hear that."
She suggested her friend call Gomez.
The Healthy Breast Campaign came out of a conversation between Dr. Larry DeGhetaldi of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and Dr. Jose Chibras, then at Salud Para La Gente, the nonprofit network of community health clinics.
Chibras said he could tap state funds to cover the cost of mammograms but there was nothing to help Latino women going without insurance to deal with abnormal test results and follow-up care if needed.
That meant cancer was often diagnosed later than earlier, resulting in worse outcomes.
DeGhetaldi got a $150,000 grant from Avon to hire a Spanish-speaking outreach worker to talk to women and calm their fears about screening and treatment.
The grant was enough to cover the cost of screenings, diagnostics afterward, treatment, transportation and child care for one year.
Gomez, 49, a graduate of Watsonville High School and Vassar College, a sister school to the Ivy League universities, discovered the job posting online.
At the time she was a social worker at Watsonville Community Hospital but needed more hours to make ends meet. Working on a per-day basis, she didn"t qualify for health coverage.
"I totally understand people who don"t have insurance," she said.
This job was temporary with no benefits, but she applied because "it seemed like a perfect fit."
The interview went so well "they ended up offering me benefits," she said.
DeGhetaldi describes her as an angel.
"She"s the kindest person," he said. "She"s been a navigator for people in the safety net. She"s there to hold their hand."
When the grant funds ran out a year ago, deGhetaldi realized Gomez was too valuable to let go.
"We"re going to keep her," he said.
Lopez had attended a presentation at La Manzana Center in Watsonville for day care providers where Gomez talked about breast cancer.
She called Gomez and asked for advice.
She learned her income as a day care operator meant she did not qualify for MediCal, the state health care program free to people living in poverty.
However, Gomez thought she might be eligible for California"s new Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program.
"It"s part of "Obamacare,"" Gomez said, sending her to speak with Alicia Fernandez, health outreach supervisor at United Way of Santa Cruz County.
The insurance program started in 2011, giving Californians with a medical condition a place to buy insurance if they are citizens or legally in the U.S.
"The premiums are reasonable for somebody in the middle," Gomez said.
In Santa Cruz County, it costs $406 a month for someone age 50-54 to get insurance.
For Eva Lopez, this was a lifesaver.
Since the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Program was created, it has enrolled 15,300 Californians, 8 percent being Latinos and just 200 in Santa Cruz County.
The most common diagnosis is cancer, according to LifeHealthPro, a website for health insurance advisers.
When United Way staff heard a presentation about the program earlier this year, it realized it could meet the needs of families with income who were going without insurance.
Fernandez, who works at United Way in Capitola, got training and was certified by the insurance program in July. It"s her job to make sure when someone takes time to fill out forms and provide information about income, she can advise them which program is the right fit.
"We screen to see what they qualify for, so they get the right program the first time," said Fernandez.
Lopez made an appointment for Sept. 4.
The answer was yes, she did qualify, allowing her to enroll as of Oct. 1, just in time for her surgery on Oct. 3 with Dr. Matthew Hansman.
The insurance covered 85 percent of the cost, and Lopez paid the rest.
A week and half before her surgery, Lopez had a dream.
She was talking with her older sister Carla, who lives in Watsonville, when a light appeared in the sky and shone down. It was the Virgin of Guadalupe, an apparition associated with miracles since 1531.
"Tell her you have cancer," her sister said.
So Lopez told the Virgin of her cancer, adding, "I don"t want to die."
The Virgin told her not to worry, that she would have the surgery and be fine, When Lopez heard that, she hugged the Virgin, feeling her warmth.
"Exactly the way she said, it happened," said Lopez.
Her friend Martha said the dream "gave her peace … Peace and strength to fight it."
Next Lopez prayed for God to help her doctors.
When she shared that with the physicians, they told her to keep on praying.
Her mastectomy was successful and she"s undergoing radiation.
Initially it seemed her insurance might force her to drive to Salinas, but she"s been able to undergo the daily five-minute treatment at Santa Cruz Radiation Oncology.
"She"s blessed," her daughter said.
When Eva Lopez voted in November, she cast her ballot for Obama, explaining that if not for him, she would have had to close her business.
Morning and night, she prays.
Follow Sentinel reporter Jondi Gumz on Twitter at Twitter.com/jondigumz
Source: Carla Gomez, Palo Alto Medical Foundation
By the numbers
If you have a pre-existing medical condition and you are a U.S. citizen or lawful resident and you"ve been without insurance for at least six month, you may qualify for a new health insurance program offered through the state of California. The PreExisting Condition Insurance Plan covers doctor visits, preventive services, prescription drugs, mental health services, labs and X-rays, hospital services and pregnancy care.
The monthly premiums:
Age amount
0-18 $118
19-29 $162
30-34 $234
35-39 $261
40-44 $289
45-49 $329
50-54 $406
55-59 $487
60 and older $530
For information, Call Alicia Fernandez at 465-2209 or go to www.pcip.ca.gov
SOURCE: Mark Colwell, GoHealth.com
At a glance
OTHER Coverage OPTIONS
If you don"t qualify for the PreExisting Condition Insurance Plan, what can you do? Here are suggestions from Michael Mahoney of GoHealth.com.
Federally funded high-risk pools: Many states including California have created high-risk pools as an option for those who have been denied health insurance coverage because of a pre-existing condition. Using funds granted under the ACA in 2010, states subsidize premiums for these plans. In California, it"s Major Risk Medical Insurance Program at www.mrmip.ca.gov.
COBRA: This is short for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. If you recently lost or left a job where you had group health insurance coverage, COBRA is a viable option for those with pre-existing conditions. While you will be paying much more for the same exact coverage you had while you were working, COBRA lasts a maximum of 18 months.
Short-term health insurance: This is coverage for one month to a year. Since the life of the plan is so short, some short term plans are more lenient when it comes to pre-existing conditions.
Individual coverage: Just assume that because you are turned down by one health insurance provider does not mean you will be rejected by every provider. Different companies may have different rules regarding what is considered an uninsurable condition. Examples of conditions that may fall into that "gray area" are mild depression, controlled high blood pressure and allergies. Talk to a licensed health insurance agent to make sure you have exhausted every option.
SOURCE: Mark Colwell, GoHealth.com
Editor"s note: Mark Colwell was misidentified in an earlier version of this article. This version has the correct information.


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Just when it looked as if Citizens Property Insurance's shaky credibility might get a boost, the state-run insurer has demonstrated why its operations deserve continued public scrutiny.
Citizens' recent decision to shut down its internal Office of Corporate Integrity -- in the middle of an investigation of its executives' travel spending -- is at best ill timed and at least suspicious.
Gov. Rick Scott should take the advice of public watchdog groups and others calling for an investigation of the closing of the office, whose duties include investigating misuse of funds and internal corruption.
This controversy comes on the heels of a rare positive development at Citizens: its decision to seek outside audits of a much-criticized loan proposal.
Good news has been the exception rather than the rule for Citizens, which -- with almost 1.5 million policies, including 90,000 in Sarasota and Manatee counties -- is Florida's largest property insurer.
Scott and legislative leaders have engaged in a concentrated push to shrink the state-run carrier, citing the financial risk to the state in the event of a major hurricane.
As a result, Citizens' board of directors has increased rates and reduced coverage in an effort to drive customers to the private insurance market.
But major insurers, which began to pull out of Florida or reduce their exposure after Hurricane Andrew struck in 1992, show no inclination to expand coverage. The lack of available, reliable coverage led the Legislature to create Citizens in the first place.
Private insurers at risk
In place of the major companies, numerous small, undercapitalized insurers now operate in Florida, but they are in perilous financial condition.
A report last April by the state's Office of the Insurance Consumer Advocate found that these insurers would be "as much or more of a financial risk" than Citizens if a hurricane strikes.
As the Herald-Tribune's 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning series showed, Florida's insurance regulators not only permit private insurers to carry dangerously low reserves but encourage them to take on more policies than they can safely cover.
The state's latest effort to increase the private market's share is a plan to have Citizens lend $350 million to smaller insurers to encourage them to take homeowners' policies from the state-run program.
Under the plan, private insurers would receive 20-year loans of up to $50 million when they assume policies from Citizens, the Herald-Tribune's Zac Anderson has reported. The insurers would have to keep the Citizens policies for at least 10 years and could not raise rates by more than 10 percent for the first three years.
But critics point out that the loan program would drain Citizens' large surplus -- built up during Florida's last seven hurricane-free seasons and through the rate increases and reduced coverage -- and limit its ability to withstand a major hurricane, with no guarantee that the loans would be repaid.
Praise and criticism
To its credit, the Citizens board voted last Friday to hire two outside auditors to review the proposed loan program. Citizens President Barry Gilway said the reviews will "ensure that this program is a prudent investment and in the best interest of Citizens, its policyholders and all Florida taxpayers."
The move drew praise from critics of the program, but the plaudits were short-lived.
On Monday, Sean Shaw, a former state insurance consumer advocate, and Dan Krassner, executive director of the watchdog group Integrity Florida, sent a letter to Gov. Scott requesting an investigation of the decision to disband Citizens' Corporate Integrity office.
Scott had previously ordered an investigation by the state inspector general of reports that Citizens executives spent lavishly on expensive hotel stays and flights abroad.
Last week, Scott wrote Gilway a letter saying he was "concerned" about the firing of the four Corporate Integrity staffers while the investigation proceeds.
The governor told reporters Tuesday that he would wait for the conclusion of that investigation before deciding whether to seek an inquiry over the firings.
Scott's concern about Citizens operations is encouraging. We hope that concern leads him to reconsider the wisdom of forcing homeowners out of Citizens and into the hands of private insurers that are weaker and less reliable. A change in that strategy could give Citizens' credibility, and Scott's, a permanent boost.
Editorial: Loss of integrity at Citizens
Just when it looked as if Citizens Property Insurance's shaky credibility might get a boost, the state-run insurer has demonstrated why its operations deserve continued public scrutiny.


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We posed a simple question for this week's, 'A Quick Nine,' feature: What fictional movie character (golfer) would you most want to tee it up with?
Not surprisingly, we received tremendous feedback -- in the hundreds, so thank you for that, PGA.com Facebook friends!
Also not surprising, there was a lot of overlap in the answers. Sure, there are some great golf movies out there and, no doubt, the characters portrayed absolutely make those films gold -- Ty Webb, Roy McAvoy, Bagger Vance and Happy Gilmore, to name a few.
As always, we appreciate your feedback. Let's take a look now at the top 9 answers we received.
1. Carl Spackler. Bushwood's Assistant Greenskeeper, played by Bill Murray, in the legendary movie, Caddyshack. Arguably the funniest golf-movie character of all time. And by, "arguably," I mean to say there would be an "argument," if you think otherwise.
Facebook fan quote:
"Carl Spackler... mostly for his Cinderella commentary." -- Hunter Anderson
2. Dr. Molly Griswold. Played by the lovely Rene Russo, Dr. Griswold is a clinical psychologist, who takes golf lesson from Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy.
Facebook fan quote:
"Dr. Molly Griswold (Rene Russo's character from "Tin Cup")." -- Gary Griffin
3. Al Czervik. The loud, obnoxious and hilarious real-estate tycoon in Caddyshack played by Rodney Dangerfield.
Facebook fan quote:
"Rodney Dangerfield's character in Caddyshack! That would be hilarious." -- Karen Strickland
4. Ty Webb. The definition of cool -- that's a good way to describe Chevy Chase's Caddyshack character. He's a true playboy with loads of trick shots and plenty of game.
Facebook fan quote:
"Ty Webb -- his character is a great golfer, rich and gets the girl in the movie!" -- Shawn Whisenhant
5. Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy. Played by Kevin Costner, this was a popular selection amongst the female contingent on our Facebook page.
Facebook fan quotes:
"Without a doubt... Roy McAvoy. Who can say NO to the handsome Kevin Costner?!? Certainly not me!" -- Tracy Hubbard-Blama
"Roy McAvoy from Tin Cup... hello sexy." -- Megan Pierson
6. Dorf. I actually chuckled when I came across the "Dorf" reference, thinking back to my youth and laughing uncontrollably as I watched the brilliant comedian Tim Conway give golf lessons that wouldn't help anyone.
Facebook fan quote:
"Tim Conway from 'Dorf on Golf'... would be hilarious." -- Steve Jacks
7. Bagger Vance. Will Smith plays this amazing, calming and knowledgable caddie, who helps Matt Damon's character, Rannulph Junuh, overcome some personal demons.
Facebook fan quotes:
"Bagger Vance 'Yep... Inside each and every one of us is one true, authentic swing... Somethin' we was born with... Somethin' that's ours and ours alone... Somethin' that can't be taught to ya or learned... Somethin' that got to be remembered... Over time the world can rob us of that swing... It get buried inside us under all our wouldas and couldas and shouldas... Some folk even forget what their swing was like...' Maybe he could help me find my swing." -- Dave MacNeil
"With the Legend of Bagger Vance -- any caddie with that type of game I want to be around." -- Chris Ford
8. Happy Gilmore. The funny, lovable, long-hitting and sometimes violent hockey player/golfer played by Adam Sandler in the movie of the same name. It seems I can't get through a round of golf without hearing a friend throw out either a Caddyshack or Happy Gilmore quote.
Facebook fan quotes:
"With a name like, 'Happy,' who doesn't want to tee it up with Gilmore." -- Mario Chajon
"Happy Gilmore... He wasn't into golf at first like most of the guys like me who pick the game later in life." -- Antonio Escobedo V.
"Happy Gilmore, of course. Roy McAvoy was a beast, but come on, humor and a long ball. Doesn't get much better than that." -- Justin Jones
9. James Bond. In the 1964 film, 'Goldfinger,' Sean Connery's James Bond character plays a round of golf with Goldfinger with a recovered Nazi gold bar at stake.
Facebook fan quotes:
Experts on the business and game of golf. The best coaching tips and latest golf news delivered straight to you. Sign Up to get the latest.


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How to find out if your child is allergic
Seasonal allergies, aka hay fever, may strike your child for the first time this spring if he's between the ages of 2 and 5 (unlike food allergies, seasonal allergies typically don't develop in infants). So how do you know it's not just another bug he picked up at preschool? Watch for these seven signs. If your child has several, he may need to be evaluated by an allergist, says Princess Ogbogu, M.D., assistant professor of medicine and pediatrics who specializes in allergy and immunology at the Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus.
1. Family history. Either you, your child, or his father has also suffered from allergies, asthma, or eczema.
2. Lingering congestion. He's got a runny nose that doesn't clear up after a week or so.
3. Watery, itchy eyes accompany his congestion.
4. No fever. He's not running a temperature or complaining about body aches.
5. Rash. It can appear anywhere on his body.
6. Ear infection. Allergies can lead to inflammation in the ear.
7. He gets worse on days when the pollen count is high.
Copyright © 2011 The Parenting Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


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Tips for saving on pump prices this Thanksgiving
NEW YORK -- Gasoline prices are the highest ever for a Thanksgiving weekend. Assuming you're not taking a sleigh over the river and through the woods to Grandma's, you'll want to save as much as you can on fuel.
There are two ways you can cut your gas tab, at least a little: Use less of it, and pay less for what you use.
Leave behind what you don't need. An extra 100 pounds reduces fuel economy by up to 2 percent, according to the Energy Department. Don't leave your car idling -- it can use up to a half gallon of fuel per hour. And slow down. Fuel economy gets worse quickly at speeds over 50 miles per hour. Each 5 mph over 50 is like paying an extra 24 cents per gallon, the Energy Department says.
Your computer or smartphone can help you find cheaper gas while you drive, thanks to services such as GasBuddy.com. The service, which can be accessed on a smartphone application or on the Internet, reports gasoline prices at nearby stations. GasBuddy.com, which has 8.4 million users, gets its price information from users who enter fuel prices into the app after seeing them while driving by or filling up.
Users post prices to help other drivers, according to GasBuddy.com's Patrick DeHaan, and those who contribute can become eligible to win a $250 gas card. DeHaan says that 70,000 users supply data daily. Be aware that sometimes, especially in rural areas, the price given might be a few days old. But for stations in more populated regions, the price information is often up to the minute.
But don't get too obsessed about saving a penny or two a gallon -- you might burn up your savings by driving an extra distance to find the cheaper gas.
Here's an example. A driver of a car that gets the national average of 23 miles per gallon notices that a station five miles from the one he's near is 10 cents a gallon cheaper. Sounds good, right? But the driver would save only $1 if he bought 10 gallons there, and he would burn 74 cents worth of fuel. Total savings: 26 cents.
DeHaan's rule of thumb: a driver must be saving at least five cents per gallon for every mile they drive out of their way to make it worthwhile.
Still, using GasBuddy.com or a similar service to plan your gas purchases can save you money. And you can realize significant savings on longer trips because prices vary over greater distances and you'll be buying more fuel.
Other gas price services include Gas Guru, which uses data from credit card swipes obtained through the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.
The Gas Prices Map App at the search engine Bing.com provides gas prices within a 5-mile radius of where a person is searching, also using data provided by OPIS.
The navigation app Waze uses real-time traffic updates from other users to help you steer clear of traffic snarls. It also helps you find cheap gas stations.
The Cheap Gas! app uses GasBuddy.com data, but also provides directions to the gas station you choose.


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Independence Day star Vivica A. Fox is declaring her solidarity with boyfriend Omar "Slim" White as they two were engaged during the holiday season, reports the New York Post.
Fox,46, and White, a 27-year-old Atlanta club promoter, spent New Year's Eve at the Ritz Carlton in South Beach with Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade and his girlfriend Gabrielle Union, and other friends. Fox was reportedly seen sporting an 8-karat ring.
The couple has been dating just over a year. This will be Fox's second marriage and her rep confirmed the engagement.


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By Karen
Anthony Bourdain kicked his personal appearances back into high gear last week. Here's what I've found on his near-upcoming schedule…
|Charlotte, NC*
|Dallas, TX
|San Diego, CA
|Charlottesville, VA*
|NYC for Halloween?
|Philadelphia, PA*
|Portland, ME*
|Cleveland, OH
|Asheville, NC
|Washington, DC
Food Fight
* "Good vs. Evil" with Eric Ripert
Bourdain told the San Jose Mercury News that his appearances have a new format, with lots of fresh material and video clips from his TV shoots. If you've seen him in person before, it sounds like he's worth checking out again. I'm eager to start seeing bloggers weighing in on these appearances.
I didn't know he was going to be in Charlottesville with Ripert until just the other day when Ripert tweeted something. When I checked into it, it was sold out.
In other news…
Rachael Ray told Joy Behar that she has invited Bourdain on her show in November, and said nice things about him. I haven't seen whether he has accepted.
At the NYC Wine & Food Festival earlier this month, Bourdain's Mini-Me, Andrew Zimmern, jumped into the fray and covered Tony's back in his tussle with Paula Deen over what's wrong with her cooking.
Speaking of the Festival, Cats Working's own MorganLF was there, and hung out in the audience with Ottavia while Tony was on stage doing his thing.
Bourdain gave an interview about his literary side to the Los Angeles Times.
In case you missed it, here's a 5-minute video of Ottavia talking about MMA. She says practicing the sport allows her to eat 3,000-4,000 calories a day, mostly meat and veggies.
And here's a pretty funny video of Eric Ripert visiting Costco with Alan Richman.
On The Chew, Michael Symon responded to Bourdain's snarky comments about the show.
The Vancouver Sun touched base with Tony on all the things he's been doing lately. Mildly interesting.
Sandra Lee talked to Harper's Bazaar (or in her case, Bizarre) and said about Bourdain's snipes at her, "I think he makes it up, cause nobody can be that nasty." The article was accompanied by several photos of Lee as a culinary sex goddess.
In case you missed Ottavia's Twitter link, Tony's interviewing really hit the big leagues now with one featured in Playboy.
For Bourdain's appearance in Dallas on October 27, a blogger with D Magazine got screwed out of a pre-interview because it wouldn't appear in print, and somehow Tony found out and contacted her to rectify the matter.
Tony also shared a list of his favorite cooking shows with Grub Street.
And on a final note…
I've been suffering through the non-stop padding and commercials on Dancing with the Stars (which ABC won't let you bypass even On Demand) just to see Chaz Bono and JR Martinez dance, and can't help thinking of what "might have been" if Bourdain had agreed to do the show. If they'd blessed him with a tall partner, women would have swooned over his waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, tango, and paso doble. But I can't see him getting into the jive or Latin dances.
Anyway, Eater.com Photoshopped Bourdain into a series of DWTS "what if" pics. If you missed them, they are PRICELESS.


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Riding a bike was part of my growing up, but not exactly my favorite part. The only times I was very, if briefly, excited about biking was when I was given a banana seat bike, and again after I got a snazzy 10 speed racer. For the most part though I only biked when I was too late to walk someplace. My biking career ended abruptly and not surprisingly on the day I got my driver's license.
To my amazement though, biking has made a strong comeback in my personal life as well as becoming an important part of my photography. I thought it might make for a nice intermittent series of blog posts to write about the bike shoots I have done.
It all started with me still being a committed pedestrian, when my good friend Silvia (a journalist) and I teamed up as a writer-photographer combo. We were mulling over possible projects to propose to German publications, when we came across " The Ride of my Life" the autobiography of Mat Hoffmann, the daredevil BMX champion and later Jackass semi-regular. The book was highly entertaining as it described the growing-up and daily brushes with death of a child/man with no fear. Anybody reading the book would seriously question his/ her desire to become a parent, since one would suffer at least 47 heart attacks if fate would bless one with a little Mat Hoffman. To read about it though, was great.
Silvia and I wrote up a proposal to portray Hofman and send it to a high-brow weekly newspaper in Germany, that has a section somewhat comparable to the NY Times Magazine. They liked the idea and hired us, but then our arrangement kind of backfired on me.
On a previous job I did for the paper the expenses ran (not terribly) high. Not completely because of my fault either, but my invoice was definitely higher than usual. Then the editor for the paper called me up to suggest that I pay for part of the unexpected expenses by lowering my fee. After a bit of arguing back and forth I agreed to do it, if and only if he payed the same amount as I towards the bill. I thought it would be only fair if we both help the paper financially since we were both involved in the production. For some weird reason though, spending his own money was less attractive to the editor than spending my own money, and he agreed to pay my invoice in full. Of course little victories like that often come back to bite me in the ass.
And now was ass-biting time. When Silvia and I got the assignments to produce the Hofman story, the editor presented me with a budget that was so tiny that I had to work for free instead of very cheap, which was normal. I would have never done that, but here he clearly had me by my huevos. If I just turned down my assignment, they would have sent (and paid) another photographer to shoot my story. If we had turned it down as a team, I would have cost Silvia her job as well, and they might have sent another team to do our story. Silvia graciously offered to share her fee with me, which I didn't take because of course it was more the principle then the dough. In the end we did the story and I was glad we did, but I never worked for that paper again. To paraphrase Paul Simon: There must be 50 ways ways to lose a client.
The shoot was taking place at the Universal Studios Theme Park in Orlando, FL. We flew down and up in one day, and sans assistant of course. To transport my equipment ( 1 Pro Acute 1200 with 2 heads) in the park, Universal gave me a hard plastic double toddler stroller. It's always important to travel in style when on a job.
Mat Hoffman and a bunch of fellow BMX'ers were doing a regular show there that summer in a bike park in an amphitheatre. I looked for a quiet location that didn't scream theme park and provided us with some privacy and a clean graphic background. I found it behind the theatre. After an hour of corporate interference we were finally allowed to shoot there.
In the first portrait I tried to come up with a classical pose in which he can be clearly seen and can make eye contact with the camera, yet in which he also shows his athleticism. We talked about this, and Mat came up with different suggestions. Finally he busted out the one seen on top. I love how he looks like he's just loitering on his bike with a half-bored sarcastic ta-daa pose. I used a little slower shutter speed to get a little bit of movement in. This way you realize that he's not just leaning against the wall, but rolling down the lane.
For the second picture I asked him to take off his shirt. I've been around athletes a lot and have seen some banged up people, but no one ever came close to Mat Hoffman. We talked about his knee, which was his injury-du-jour and he showed me how he could move his kneecap around in ways that made you question every assumption you ever had. His torso doesn't look so terrible until you start zooming in on all the scars and bruises hidden in plain sight.
His amazing pain tolerance and complete lack of fear still astounds me. A while after the shoot Mat was in a vicious car accident in which he nearly lost his right arm. For years after that he couldn't ride a bike, but thanks to a special brace and some major physical rehabilitation he now is back on the bike again.
There is a recent ESPN movie out about Mat, that was produced by Spike Jonze and Johnny Knoxville. Looks like it could be a lot of fun.


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Most American breakfasts are classic and can be found at great breakfast restaurants from sea to shining sea. Bacon and eggs, breakfast sandwiches, pancakes and waffles… You know them and you love them, no matter where in the great U S of A you reside. And while we're all familiar with oatmeal, some breakfast foods have only regional popularity — though they really should be nationally known. Most people associate things like chicken and waffles with the Deep South. And the avocado toast trend came right out of California. But there are some other regional offerings you may not have heard of.
Beignets are French pastries made from deep-fried dough and covered in powdered sugar. This French version of a doughnut became a Creole breakfast staple in New Orleans, where it's often served for breakfast with bananas, plantains and a heavy dose of powdered sugar.
If you like bagels, you're going to love a bialy. While this breakfast isn't even available in most of America, in New York it can be found at most bodegas. Though it's shaped like a bagel, it's actually quite different. Bialys are filled with cooked onions and sometimes poppy seeds — and unlike bagels, they're not boiled. They're baked. They are still doughy and delicious. You can eat them pretty much any way you'd eat a bagel — with butter, with cream cheese, topped with smoked salmon… Go crazy.
The "gravy" in biscuits and gravy is much different than the gravy you'd pour on your Thanksgiving turkey. Every Southerner knows that. In the South, it's par for the course to eat a breakfast of buttery, flaky biscuits doused in thick white gravy. Southerners are picky about their sausage gravy; anywhere you order it in the South, you can bet it'll be good.
A BEC is a bacon, egg and cheese. In New York City, it's common practice to order this sandwich on a bagel or roll for breakfast. There's nothing quite like the ritual of stepping into a grimy bodega and paying for this with cash. Once you do, you end up with the foil-wrapped glory of a hearty egg sandwich that could cure any hangover.
Though its name may lead you to think otherwise, the Dutch baby pancake is not Dutch. It's also not a baby — it's massive. The Dutch baby pancake actually originated in the Pacific Northwest by way of German immigrants. Germans brought a gigantic German pancake called "Apfelpfannkuchen." From there, it is believed that Pacific Northwesterners were inspired to create the Dutch baby pancake. It does stay true to the pancake aspect of its name. Essentially, this dish is a giant souffle-like pancake cooked in a skillet, sometimes topped with fruit and almost always sprinkled with powdered sugar.
Dango M. / Yelp
You've probably heard of eating enchiladas for dinner, but you may not have seen how people eat them for breakfast. In New Mexico, the Southwestern dinner dish is transformed into a hearty, huge breakfast. It consists of the usual mountain of tortilla, beans, cheese, peppers and chili sauce, but is topped with an egg. This dish is proof that you really can top anything with an egg and call it breakfast.
Fried green tomatoes are a staple of Southern breakfasts. They're made from unripe tomatoes coated in cornmeal and deep fried. What better way to get your serving of vegetables with breakfast? Fried green tomatoes are typically served as a side dish, though they can be incorporated into dishes such as eggs Benedict or breakfast sandwiches, as well.
This may not sound all that appetizing, but any good Midwesterner knows it's worth putting on your breakfast table. Fried mush is made from cornmeal mush (which is just cornmeal that's been boiled in water or milk) that's then fried — an appealing appetizer with an unfortunately unappealing name. In the Midwest, it's typically served with sweet maple syrup. Here's how to make some for yourself.
Sara D./YELP
Goetta is a breakfast meat from Cincinnati, Ohio, made from ground pork and/or beef meat, oats and seasonings. It was introduced to Ohioans by their North German heritage and was invented as a way to stretch less meat into more meals. Goetta is so widely beloved locally that there's even an annual festival held to celebrate it: GoettaFest in Newport, Kentucky. This year's celebration claims to be "bigger than Las Vegas New Year's Eve."
Dan B./YELP
Life is short. Eat cake for breakfast. These Missourian cakes are gooey and, yes, loaded with butter. Some people call it an "ooey gooey butter cake." It's sweet and rich, served just like you would serve coffee cake. The consistency is similar to a brownie, and the slices are usually coated with powdered sugar. Here's how you can make one for yourself at home.
This Midwestern breakfast food is a great way to use up whatever's left in your fridge. Hoppel poppel, sometimes also spelled hopple popple, is similar to a hash — all the breakfast foods you could ever want all cooked in a skillet and eaten from one bowl. Potatoes, eggs, sausage, peppers, herbs, onions, cheese, you name it. It can all get thrown in the hoppel poppel.
One story about the johnnycake's origin holds that because the settlers on the famous Mayflower had nearly run out of wheat by the end of their first winter the New World, the Pilgrims had to adapt and learn to cook with corn instead, and thus the johnnycake became a staple of New England cuisine. The recipe behind a johnnycake is simple — just cornmeal, boiling water and a sprinkle of salt — and they're best served with butter. Southerners have since adopted them as "hoecakes," though their origin remains in New England.
A kolache is a pastry that can be either sweet or savory. Most versions are filled with fruit — but another version that's especially popular in Texas is filled with meat. These fillings are surrounded by a shiny, puffy dough. The kolache emigrated from Europe to the Midwest via Czech immigrants. They have since become so beloved by the Midwest that Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin all have festivals in honor of this breakfast food.
The kringle originated in Scandinavia as a spinoff of the pretzel, though it's not shaped like that. A kringle is oval-shaped and actually sweet instead of savory, and it's served among other types of breakfast pastries. In the Midwest, these oval pastries are baked, filled with sweet fillings such as fruit or marzipan, and iced.
Kuchen is the German word for cake, but in the Midwest it's been adopted to describe a sweet breakfast option. A kuchen is a rich custard dessert that usually involves fruit and glaze.
In Spanish and Portuguese cuisine, "migas" refers to an entirely different dish made with leftover stale bread. But in Texas, "migas" is for breakfast. It's a mixture of scrambled eggs, cheese, peppers and fried tortilla strips. Migas are often spicy and can be served with a side of beans or potatoes.
Pasties aren't pastries, since they're savory and usually filled with meat, potato and/or cheese. It looks like a small calzone and is a popular breakfast option in Michigan, where it's often eaten on the go. It was popularized for this purpose among workers in copper mines, though it has since become a state-wide favorite. There's even an annual Pasty Fest in Calumet, Michigan.
What is scrapple, you ask? It might have a name that sounds like it belongs in the trash, but it's quite the popular breakfast meat in the rural Mid-Atlantic. Scrapple was invented as a method of avoiding food waste and is, (appropriately) made from scraps. Pork trimmings left over from butchering are mixed with cornmeal, flour and spices and morphed into loaves. These loaves are typically sliced and fried before they're served as a side with breakfast. Scrapple can be eaten on toast and/or with a variety of condiment options including ketchup, grape jelly, applesauce, honey, mustard or maple syrup.
Southerners have been known to eat grits for breakfast in many forms, and one of the most delicious combinations includes seafood. Shrimp and grits, which originated as a breakfast for Lowcountry fishermen, is precisely what it sounds like: a savory dish made with shrimp and grits. Many like to spice it up by adding other toppings, including hot peppers, spices and cooked vegetables. This version is topped with bacon and white cheddar (and if you're bold, a generous pour of Tabasco).
Sourdough pancakes are exactly what they sound like — pancakes made with sourdough instead of regular flour. They're fluffy, dense and delicious, and often eaten savory instead of sweet like you would normal pancakes. Sourdough pancakes are popular in Wyoming and often served with sausage or bacon.
Do people eat Spam for breakfast? In Hawaii, they sure do. Many people think Spam sounds gross, but it might be time to give it a shot. Hawaiians have found a way to turn a notorious blue can of mystery meat into a popular dish. Spam musabi consists of a grilled slice of Spam sandwiched between slabs of white rice, all wrapped in seaweed — kind of like larger pieces of Spam sushi. The dish has yet to gain popularity outside of the island state.
Sweet rice is similar to rice pudding, except that in Arkansas it's acceptable to eat before noon. This creamy, rice-based dish is often topped with cinnamon and a bit of butter, and is a pretty sweet way to start the day.
Taylor ham, also known as a pork roll, is a classic New Jersey breakfast that is said to have been invented in 1856 by John Taylor of Trenton, New Jersey. Pork is sliced, fried and arranged on a bun or bagel with a fried egg, American cheese and occasionally lettuce and tomato. While it may not be the best sandwich New Jersey has to offer, the breakfast sandwich is so beloved by residents that there was a bill introduced in 2016 to make it the official state sandwich.
Utah scones are, not surprisingly, popular in Utah. Also called fry bread, they're essentially made from deep-fried bread and are often served with jam or another spread. They're hard to find outside of Utah, though. Some foods are worth traveling for! Life is too short not to try the best food and drink in every state.
More from The Daily Meal:
50 Southern Recipes Every Northerner Needs to Try
21 Recipes That Will Have You Cooking Like a True Midwesterner
You Know You're From the Midwest If You Do These 23 Things
The Weirdest Regional Slang Across America