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June 6, 2020, 7:13 pmAl-Farouq AminuPF, Orlando Magic
Al-Farouq Aminu (right torn meniscus), "most likely will not be healthy enough to return," when the season resumes according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Aminu had season-ending surgery in early January and shed his brace in March. There some some speculation he could return due to the extra time off but in an interview this week, Magic president Jeff Weltman didn't give any indication Aminu was close to a return saying, "Not a whole lot of news there. As always, we're going to wait and see how they respond to rehab." With Jonathan Isaac in the same boat as Aminu, expect Khem Birch and James Ennis to continue splitting the frontcourt minutes opposite Aaron Gordon.
Source: Orlando Sentinel
Fantasy News
July 2, 2020, 9:02 pmKawhi LeonardSF, Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers closed their practice facility in a precautionary move after a member of their Orlando traveling party tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.
This seems like something that will continue to happen as we prepare to move teams into the Orlando bubble. We'll keep an eye on whether any specific player is infected and how that will impact the restart plans for this team.
Source: Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter
July 2, 2020, 4:49 pmStephen CurryPG, Golden State Warriors
According to Adrian Wojnarowski and Jackie MacMullan of ESPN, the NBA is close to signing off on a secondary bubble location in Chicago for the eight teams left out of the league resumption with a target date of September.
They went on to say that this bubble would allow those eight teams who were not invited to Orlando to have an opportunity to have mini-training camps as well as games. It has been reported throughout the last few months that the teams that were not invited should have an opportunity to prepare for next season. Many of the teams who were not included would benefit greatly from additional practice time and game reps as most of these teams have young players who need to continue to develop their skills. There will still be a lot of logistics that need to be ironed out so this a situation to monitor as we learn more.
Source: Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter
July 2, 2020, 4:01 pmMarvin Bagley IIIPF, Sacramento Kings
Marvin Bagley confirmed that he is "ready to go" for the NBA restart in Orlando after rehabbing from a left foot sprain.
It was previously reported in early July that the Kings' training staff believed that Bagley would be available for game action soon and this report confirms that Bagley will in fact be available for the league resumption. Bagley has yet to live up to the hype of the second overall pick in 2018 as he has only been able to play in 75 out of a possible 146 games (51.3 percent). It is unclear what role Bagley will have in Orlando but it appears that his injury woes are behind him and we will learn more about his ability during the league resumption. Bagley's return would likely cut into the playing time of Nemanja Bjelica, Harry Giles, Jabari Parker and Harrison Barnes.
Source: Sean Cunningham on Twitter
July 2, 2020, 2:57 pmJusuf NurkicC, Portland Trail Blazers
In a conference call with Portland media, Terry Stotts revealed that Jusuf Nurkic and Zach Collins are likely to return to their starting jobs and won't be under minutes restrictions when the NBA resumes.
It should be a huge defensive lift for a Blazers squad that gave up points like crazy, though this will throw a wrench into plans for DFS players. Stotts mentioned that he's considered starting Nurkic next to current starter Hassan Whiteside, though that fit would likely only be tenable in certain matchups. This, plus news of Trevor Ariza's absence during the restart, also has big effects on the wing rotation, where it sounds like Carmelo Anthony and Gary Trent Jr. are competing to start with Nassir Little and Mario Hezonja also in the mix off the bench. This is a big blow to Hassan Whiteside's fantasy appeal — a top-15 player in 31.3 mpg this year– as his minutes should sink into the mid twenties. Anyone participating in a short league that covers the restart may want to view Whiteside as more of a middle-round, blocks specialist type, though this all obviously hinges on how Nurkic and Collins look when games begin.
Source: The Athletic
July 2, 2020, 12:59 pmDevin BookerSG, Phoenix Suns
Monty Williams said that he wants to play Devin Booker and Ricky Rubio less than their typical minute allotment when the NBA resumes in Orlando.
The Suns have extremely slim playoff hopes and Williams doesn't want to risk one of the team's starting guards sustaining an injury in what amounts to a meaningless game. Expect similar moves from plenty of teams who realistically have no shot at the playoffs, even if they don't declare as much publicly. Anyone playing fantasy games for the eight-game restart should familiarize themselves with the depth charts on such teams and maybe downgrade some of the bigger names in case their minutes are limited.
Source: Valley Tales
July 2, 2020, 12:43 pmLeBron JamesSF, Los Angeles Lakers
Out of 344 players tested between June 24-29, nine have tested positive for COVID-19.
That brings the NBA up to 25 positive cases among players since June 23 testing began, a positive rate of 7.1%. 10 out of 884 staff members have also tested positive. How the NBA handles any potential spread of the virus inside the Orlando bubble will make or break their entire plan.
Source: Shams Charania on Twitter
July 2, 2020, 12:39 pmJontay PorterC, Memphis Grizzlies
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said that rookie Jontay Porter may be available for games in the Orlando bubble.
Porter missed the entire 2018-19 college season after suffering a knee injury and hasn't suited up as a pro, so if he accompanies the Grizzlies to Orlando it'll be more for the experience than actual playing time. His college numbers were intriguing but Porter is only of consequence in deep dynasty formats for now.
Source: Daily Memphian
July 2, 2020, 12:34 pmGrayson AllenSG, Memphis Grizzlies
Grayson Allen (left hip) may be able to play when the NBA season resumes in Orlando.
Allen has been sidelined with left hip soreness since leaving a game in late January, and his ailment would've ended his season had things finished as scheduled. While he hasn't received the all-clear yet, the Grizzlies will evaluate him after he gets through some practices in the Orlando bubble. He's unlikely to play much even if he can, as the Grizzlies currently boast a fully healthy roster.
Source: Daily Memphian
July 1, 2020, 8:28 pmDwight HowardC, Los Angeles Lakers
Dave McMenamin of ESPN reported that Dwight Howard remains in his Atlanta-area home and the Lakers hope he will eventually join them in Orlando.
The Lakers do not plan to replace Howard on the roster. They are being patient with Howard, but if he decides to not play in Orlando the Lakers will likely look to sign another center.
Source: Dave McMenamin on Twitter
July 1, 2020, 7:40 pmLuc Mbah a MouteSF, Houston Rockets
Shams Charania reported that the Houston Rockets plan to sign Luc Mbah a Moute for the Orlando restart.
Thabo Sefolosha announced on Wednesday that he will not participate in the Orlando restart, leaving the Rockets with a need for an additional three-and-D wing. Mbah a Moute played 61 games for the Rockets in 2017-18 and averaged 25.6 minutes per game, so he is familiar with their system. Mbah a Moute will be a low-usage player that the Rockets can plug in at the end of their rotation and will provide them more depth, which could be imperative for teams given the COVID-19 concerns surrounding this Orlando restart.
Source: Shams Charania on Twitter


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Pleasing to the eye.
The intensa® line fascinates at first glance with its striking design. The multitude of practical functions turn cooking into a special experience.
Makes cooking easier.
When you are cooking you do not want to constantly look for somewhere to rest the lid. That is why the lid has its own place, right in the integrated lid holder. So the kitchen always stays clean.
One lid for two positions.
Depending on the position of the lid, you can close the pot tightly for vitamin-saving cooking or leave it open for browning or to allow steam to escape.
Pouring without removing the lid.
The awkward use of dish towels is a thing of the past. Pouring off liquids with the lid still on makes cooking easier.
Space-saving made easy.
With their slightly conical shape, all of the pots – even those with the same diameter – can be stacked, saving space in your kitchen cabinets.

subset: commoncrawl


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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Pete Hatemi, associate professor of political science, microbiology and biochemistry, will present "Party Animals: How Genes Help Shape Our Political Views" at the second Research Unplugged event of the spring semester Thursday, March 27, at 12:30 p.m. in Schlow Centre Region Library, downtown State College.
Author of the book Man is by Nature a Political Animal, Hatemi believes that our political inclinations are deeply rooted -- all the way down to the cellular level. His research has been featured in many news outlets including NPR, the BBC, and the Washington Post.
Hatemi investigates the genetic, physiological and endocrinological sources of individual differences in political attitudes, fear dispositions, mate selection, addiction, political violence and religion. He was trained in political science at the University of Nebraska and in genetic epidemiology at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, and conducted post-doctoral studies in human genetics, psychology and psychiatry at the Medical College of Virginia.
Research Unplugged is in its 10th year of bringing together a broad range of Penn State researchers and the State College community for informal conversation.
All events will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. each Thursday through April 24 and are free and open to the public, with complimentary light refreshments. Limited free parking is available at Schlow Library beginning at 11:45 a.m. The series is made possible with the support of Penn State and Schlow Library.


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2 killed in Dearborn County crash
Man, teen killed in crash
Authorities are investigating a car crash in Dearborn County that left two people dead on Saturday.
Dearborn County sheriff's deputies said the crash occurred at 3:34 p.m. at the intersection of State Route 46 and Lawrenceville Road.
James D. Johnson, 27, of North Bend and Jacob Amberger, 17, from Sunman, were killed in the crash.
Detectives said the driver of one car was traveling east on S.R. 46 when it hit a westbound vehicle that was about to turn from S.R. 46 onto Lawrenceville Road.
A third vehicle that was waiting on Lawrenceville Road and about to enter S.R. 46 was also hit, but the driver was unharmed, deputies said.
A cross was set up for Johnson at the crash scene on Monday, as was a soccer ball covered with names for Amberger, who played on the East Central High School soccer team.
WSCH-FM reported that Amberger was on his way to join his team on a bus to a sectional championship game when the crash happened.


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Hey, C-C BrickCon Attendees!
How do ya'll feel about meeting up at TS McKews up the street for dinner Friday night? It's close, it's not the centerhouse, and it's a chance for us all to hang out early on and get to know the newbies.
If you're interested, please reply to this thread. We'll need to make reservations.


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Walmart apologized after the n-word was used on its website in the product description for a third-party seller's item, NBC News reported.
"We are very sorry and appalled that this third party seller listed their item with this description on our online marketplace," Walmart spokeswoman Danit Marquardt said on Monday.
Walmart removed the racial slur in the description of the item -- a wig cap for hair extensions -- and posted a disclaimer online saying it does not verify product information for third-party items. Later, it removed the wig cap from its site entirely.
U.S. & World
Chizo Onuh, the owner of a brand called Jagazi Natural, said that a third party used her company's name without her permission and posted it on Walmart's site.


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You know it's a great, great time for boybands when two of the biggest acts of that genre get together and spontaneously decide to go on tour together. Yes, the internet has been buzzing with news of an upcoming tour that will bring together the first group to follow the "boyband" format, New Kids on the Block, and the highest selling group, Backstreet Boys. Some naysayers think its because both groups no longer have a steady source of income, but that's far from the truth. Sure, they've gotten older, their dance moves are a bit rusty, the songs evoke good memories of simpler times but nothing more, but when this tour was announced, echoes of screaming girls (well women actually) could be heard all over the world. Just goes to show that they've still got it, one way or another.
I am a sucker for the Backstreet Boys and completely bummed out that I will not be able to attend any of their concerts.
Here's what we basicallyknow about NKOTBSB: (more…)


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More than 12 billion years of cosmic history are shown in this unprecedented, panoramic, full-color view of thousands of galaxies in various stages of assembly. This image, taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, was made from mosaics taken in September and October 2009 with the newly installed Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and in 2004 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The view covers a portion of the southern field of a large galaxy census called the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS), a deep-sky study by several observatories to trace the evolution of galaxies.
The final image combines a broad range of colors, from the ultraviolet, through visible light, and into the near-infrared. Such a detailed multi-color view of the universe has never before been assembled in such a combination of color, clarity, accuracy, and depth. -- Press Release
Detailed Images:
Credit: Credit: NASA, ESA, R. Windhorst, S. Cohen, M. Mechtley, and M. Rutkowski (Arizona State University, Tempe), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), P. McCarthy (Carnegie Observatories), N. Hathi (University of California, Riverside), R. Ryan (University of California, Davis), H. Yan (Ohio State University), and A. Koekemoer (Space Telescope Science Institute)
It's not okay to open universities without universal coronavirus testing
1 day ago in Genomics, Medicine, and Pseudoscience


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The Guggenheim Museum commissioned me to write an essay for the Transhistoria: Stillspotting exhibit. Actors read my essay for visitors over the course of a month last spring. This notice remains among my greatest honors as a writer.
The Guggenheim wanted me to focus on Jackson Heights,and the challenge of finding stillness and peace in such a loud, busy, diverse immigrant hub. I began by researching the neurology of music, trance states, and how through these pathways music and peace might be linked. Instead I came upon a beautiful facet of humanity, and remain grateful to the Vecchia family for inviting me in.
I hope you enjoy this essay.
by Erik Baard
1. The Roar of Peace.
When we listen for sound waves to ride to inner peace, our ears aren't attuned to the city. We don't expect peace to have a New York accent. Peace is idyllic escapism. It's questingly anti-urban.
I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core.
William Butler Yeats, though a vigorous young man when he wrote "The Lake Isle of Inisfree" more than a century ago, longed to step off the "pavements grey" of New York's "sister city," London. Peace is a hope and a soft memory for Yeats, and he shares it through a lulling rhythm.
Back then, much of Queens would have manifested the poet's soothing fancy. Not today.
I grew up under the whine of jet airplanes approaching LaGuardia Airport, and the rumble of others more distantly ascending. My vision was terrible and my glasses were always streaked. Blurry silver glints swung groundward in methodical, wide arcs. Wings vanished in foreshortening as planes banked. That illusion of bare fuselages looked like the Atlas and Titan rockets I saw on television and which were a highlight of kindergarten trips to the nearby New York Hall of Science. Just as NASA's lunar program was wrapping up, I was blissfully misunderstanding my sky to be filled with countless space missions, launching and landing one neighborhood over.
I was innocent of missiles. I knew nothing of the Cold War undertones of the Space Race. The thunderous, shuddering metal rockets were humanity's vow to strike a path into cosmic wonderment. I dreamed to one day blaze it deeper.
Peace was loud. It was the exhilaration of throwing energy at adventure and exploration. Children so young can't rightly be said to hold delusions. Instead, their walls of knowledge have many gaps through which imagination floods. But one fact of childhood remains with me: peace needn't mean the stilling of energies.
2. Heart of Noise.
January 22, 2012. An early afternoon thaw is starting to loose the noises of Jackson Heights from the muffling blanket of snow that fell the day before. Outside the Apna Cash and Carry on 37th Avenue, the usual cacophony burgeons. Car horns blare the long, sustained, atonal, and frustrated wails of small, tense men. The roll doors of trucks crash closed. Arguments in Bangla flash. Along Roosevelt Avenue, the elevated 7 train obliterates conversations in clattering swells.
Noise and heat are often the castings of purposeful effort. An incandescent bulb glows with utility but burns with wasted energy. The archipelago we call home was once filled with wetlands, meadows, and forests that covetously held sunlight — indeed, treetops climbed higher in competition for that energy. New York City today is a "heat island" that absorbs light into barren hardscapes of concrete, stone, and asphalt, only to re-radiate it unused in longer, warming infrared wavelengths. With industrialization, the energy of labor has been radically condensed. Muscle action and tropism that slowly and quietly shaped ancient landscapes were overwhelmed by combustion engines. Our machines do the work of generations in a year or a season, but with this energy they are also groaningly and concussively profligate.
Imagine a topographical map of North America showing noise level readings as mountains, valleys, and plains. The Boston-Washington corridor would be a towering mountain range, scaling to an apex in New York City. Noise is measured in logarithmic decibels, with distance as important as source. A subway train ringing in at 95 dB is 10 times louder than an 85 dB jackhammer, and 100 times louder than a car idling at your corner with its sound system whump-whumping at 75 dB. Traffic typically registers between 60 and 87 dB. In a city's tight quarters, many sounds, like car horns and garbage trucks, assault us at over 100 decibels. Anything above 85dB has the potential to cause permanent hearing loss. The atmospheric soundscape of the deep forest is as quiet as a lover's whisper — both have been recorded at 20 dB.
Jackson Heights is blessed with canopied streets, courtyards and garden areas, but could benefit from trees nearer to its major thoroughfares. According to the US Forest Service, "a belt of trees 98 feet wide and 49 feet tall can reduce highway noise by 6 to 10 decibels." We need that shielding. Random and continuous noise breeds stress. The World Health Organization estimates that 210,000 people die each year from noise stress induced heart disease. More suffer from the effects of frequent deep sleep disruption. The Environmental Protection Agency calculates that nearly half of the U.S. population is exposed to dangerous noise levels.
King Mithridates VI of Pontus sought to protect himself from assassins' poisons by ingesting toxins bit by bit. His efforts are said to have been so successful that he foiled his own suicide attempt. Are we now subconsciously trying to practice auditory Mithridatism by dropping this poisonous cacophony into our ears day by day? I often wonder what a Homo Urbanis would look like, a hominid evolved for city living. I imagine a sculpture of Homo Urbanis standing in Grand Central Station to remind commuters of the gulf between human design and urban planning. Such a being would be built for a sedentary life, with a vascular system that runs no risk of thrombosis and an endocrine system that doesn't crave fats and sugars. Its nostrils would be densely bristled to catch diesel particulates, its eyes would filter damaging screen glare. And of course, it would have ear flaps.
But let's return to that topography. Where humanity clusters, there will be music. Few can ascend the peaks of New York City's music scene. Jackson Heights is defined by immigrants from Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Tibet, Nepal, Ireland, China, and Thailand. Diving into our streets, we swim through Bollywood dance music, bhangra, Indo-techno, samba, tango, corrido, vallenato, salsa, alvasos, sanjuanitos, pasacalles, tonadas, yaravies. Elevating carnatic sangeet from India, bitter bachatas from Latin America. Romantic pleadings from everywhere humanity has trodden, and trodden over hearts.
Hispanic thrash metal bands have regular gigs at D'Antigua Lounge on Northern Boulevard at 84th Street. Do their head banging fans know that well over half a century ago inventor Les Paul did pioneering work on the electric guitar and multi-track recording a few blocks away? That he nearly died from electrocution, guitar in hand, in the basement studio of his apartment building? After some research I was delighted to locate his apartment complex, just off Roosevelt Avenue: Electra Court, naturally.
3. Another Humanity.
Homo Urbanis is wholly imagined, but walking among us are those who might teach us to usher in Homo Pacificus, a peaceful humanity. It seems that the same brain circuits that produce and appreciate music might sketch the outlines of a better mode of being. I'm counting on a nine year-old girl named Samantha to guide me.
Samantha's standing at the corner of 37th Avenue and 74th Street with her father, Dr. Anthony Vecchia, who practices emergency medicine and resides in Queens. They've kindly agreed to share a walk through Jackson Heights so that we might experience this neighborhood through Samantha's ears and gentle nature. One of 7,500 of us, like Samantha, is born with Williams Syndrome. Like the better known Down's Syndrome, this condition arises from a chromosomal transcription error. "Williams people" are often happier among themselves because they are wired to be hyper-social (they approach strangers as we would dear old friends), empathetic, musicophillic, and guileless to degrees we would find incomprehensible. Without exception, they are kind and open. It took an accident to reveal the better angels of our genes.
But a Williams person's I.Q. is lower, typically about 65. Despite this, they retain a wonderfully vivid ability to tell stories and make music, sometimes even at a high professional level. Too often they are victimized and financially exploited because they are utterly trusting and poor at math.
Musicality gyres in toward people like Les Paul, starting from a cosmic outer rim of sterile mathematics. Nature is full of cycles and orderly patterns. But there is no "Music of the Spheres." Newtown's Laws rigidly dictate the movement of planets, stars, and comets. That lockstep progression is a metronome at best. Life makes music. NASA astrobiologist, and my buddy, David Grinspoon, says, "Life isn't something that happens on a planet, it's something that happens to a planet." David also happens to be a rhythm guitarist with House Band of the Universe and has a website called "Funky Science."
Life responds to the metronome, aligning with the rhythms of rotations and revolutions and tides. With heartbeats, breaths, and bioluminescent pulses, life begins to generate its own rhythms. Life is an eddy within entropy, and perhaps an emergent order that will become all encompassing. The raw universe wants to scatter and fray, but here we are assembling life from seeds, literally molecule by molecule. My murdered friend, "fringe science" advocate Eugene Mallove, wrote movingly of the "quickening universe."
But we still haven't arrived at music. An article of faith of mine is that living worlds become musical as they become intelligent. We adore patterns within patterns, and playful, unexpected riffs on those patterns — the punchline, the beat drop, the giraffe's neck. Patterns and play — order with room for innovation and contradiction — for me, that's as good a definition of peace as any.
In our time, we've seen music as an instrument of peace. John Lennon and Yoko Ono famously devoted their talents and fame to humanizing the perceived enemy, and Live Aid eased starvation in Africa, where rock and roll's taproot draws most deeply. Music brings us together, sometimes intimately: Charles Darwin theorized that music began in courtship displays. More recent neuroscience research ties music to language, which jibes with Williams peoples' love of storytelling. But with language comes shibboleths. As much as music and language connect us, they distinguish us. Teens famously cluster and clique around music genres and favorite bands. Pity the dweeb who Tweets the wrong song. Jingoistic tunes accompany wars, just and unjust, to build cohesion against an enemy. Catchy rhythms bypass our reasoning centers and deliver our loyalties. I think we're better able to modulate our responses to other arts. Our bodies wholly surrender to music.
"We listen to music with our muscles," Nietzche wrote. A more mercenary take comes from Napolean: "Give me control over he who shapes the music of a nation, and I care not who makes the laws."
Do you want to see people in Jackson Heights who can roll between cultures, bypassing these prejudices of affiliation? Check the prams: as Oliver Sachs recounts in his book, "Musicophilia," auditory cognition researchers Erin Hannon and Sandra Trehub found that "infants at six months can readily detect all rhythmic variations, but by twelve months their range has narrowed, albeit sharpened. They can now more easily detect the types of rhythms to which they have been previously exposed; they have internalized a set of rhythms for their culture. Adults find it harder to perceive 'foreign' rhythmic distinction." I recalled their discovery when I read that a 2010 study led by Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, director of the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany, indicated that Williams children might be the first category of humanity to not display racial bias.
4. Crossings and Castles.
Samantha is pulling her father's hand, leading him around the corner to 73rd Street. South Asian music is shaking the air over widening snow puddles in a 22 note diatonic scale with polyrhtyms and syncopation. We grab a drink at Haat Bazar Restaurant. Samantha's striking up conversations across the counter and in each booth she passes. Bangladeshi patrons and workers warmly receive this petite girl who has a broad smile and angular blue eyes that constitute the "elfin" features of a Williams person.
I listen to Samantha talk with her dad, Tony.
"What happened when we played music last night?," he asks.
"We had to dance. We had to dance together, right?," she replies.
That's key: "we had to dance together." Oliver Sachs describes the workings of a brain's fear, novelty, and rhythm centers when rewired by Williams Syndrome. "This very extensive brain activation…seemed to go with their almost helpless attraction to music and their sometimes overwhelming emotional reaction to it."
I ask Samantha what makes her happy. "Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga," she says, while Tony reminds her of Adele. "What makes you happy besides music?," I ask. With some more coaxing, she replies, "Smile, fishes," but then seems to lose herself in another thought, or maybe the idea of happiness. "Wow, so lovely," she says, and lingers in an internal gaze for a moment.
The winter has been a sad struggle for me, but I think I'm covering it up well.
"Are you okay?," Samantha asks. She peppers me with that question a few more times during the afternoon. Does she uniquely cut past my facade to notice, or uniquely care enough to ask? Empathy is the outward gift of Williams Syndrome.
As we ready ourselves to leave for our walk, I regret that we're a few months early for a quirky detour; on 35th Road near 71st Street, there's a mockingbird that I imagine Samantha would love to meet. I've never seen him, but we play a game of call and response when I hear him in trees near that corner. Mockingbirds in New York City are often forced into nocturnal lifestyles because daytime noise drowns out their songs, which are used to attract mates. But the truncated one-block pass of 35th Road is ignored by drivers during morning rush hour. It indulges this many-songed vestige of nature.
Over on 37th Avenue, Bangla dance music pulses and pops from loudspeakers rigged over sidewalks. A street hawker of CDs is repeating, with commercial compulsion, 'Three dollar, four for ten dollars." Samantha takes a palm reading calling card from a quieter street vendor and points it at the CD man as if it was a remote control. She says clearly, but with no hostility, "Turn it off." Baffled, he pauses to assess this little girl. "Thank you," she replies, and we're walking again.
We duck down into Punjabi and Bollywood basement music stores on 74th Street. Videos enthrall. I expect Samantha to bounce to the joyous tunes that swallow entire movie set villages in an India of garish colors and suspended disbelief. But Samantha stands nearly still and looks clearly vexed. The young man behind the counter, perhaps sensing something's amiss, lowers the speaker system's volume. The whispery audio of the shop's ceiling-mounted flat screen TV monitor can now be heard. Samantha dances and is happy again. It suddenly hits me that she was disturbed to see a cast of hundreds dancing out of sync with the music — with the removal of overlaying music, Samantha's universe is realligned. A few minutes later, further down 37th Avenue, she bounds down into New Singapore Emporium, where the proprietor is clearly brightened by this cheery dancer. I buy her the CD, "52 Nonstop Remix."
A block or two east on 37th Avenue, Tony and I pop quarters into a storefront mechanical ride. Again, a rhythm into which Samantha invests her heart. Afterward, she starts talking enthusiastically of a "castle with horses." I look up the avenue and slowly connect the dots. The mechanical ride is Samantha's horse and the great brick edifice of PS 69 is her castle. She's weaving narratives on the fly.
There's a weekend event underway at the school and Samantha leads us inside. Pine trees line the short walkway — that small vault of green is the stillest, quietest place we'll encounter on our walk. My memory slips back to a haiku I wrote decades ago, about the commonality of seemingly disparate experiences:
Far inland, a wind
Spins fine snow off ancient pines.
Shimmers like sea spray!
But Samantha is quickly bored by this vision of peace. "This is not a castle," she clarifies.
A few minutes later, Samantha's bopping to a cumbia out of Yambao, a second-floor Latin music store under the 7 train, around the corner from Electra Court. This is our last stop. I'm startled at how much motor control and sense of possibility her dancing displays. She's happier than me, the oaken observer. She is fully herself and in harmony with her surroundings.
I start to more fully comprehend a connection between music, peace and, indeed, stillness. By moving so freely with things as passing as music and neighborhood ethnic identities, Samantha is in fact still. She is peaceful. Her gracefulness in matching motion to motion is the heart of Relativity. Surrendering to motion is the way to stillness.


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Event box
Toddler Storytime at NE!
Toddlers 18 months to 3 years old are invited to 20 minutes of books, music, and pre-literacy activities in our Oak room! This fun and educational pre-literacy storytime is designed for toddlers and supported by ECRR (Every Child Ready to Read) research based planning. No registration or fees required.
NE Youth Services Department
- Date:
- Thursday, Feb 21st 2019 Show more dates
- Time:
- 10:00am - 10:20am
- Location:
- Oak Room
- Campus:
- Northeast Library
- Categories:
- Children's Programs Early Literacy Programs


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Ezequiel "Papa Zequiel" Baran Barangan
(20-Oct-1916 – 14-Aug-1987)
"Go forth on your path, as it exists only through your walking." – St. Augustine
Son of Santiago Quijoy Barangan and Luisa Alega Baran.
Religious community founder;
Great-great-grandfather (see Barangan in Keeping the records straight 2 ) and great-grandfather were cabezas; from youth, very active in Carcar church organizations; started a lay Missionary Catechistas sect whose members scoured the mountainside purging belief in diwatas and teaching catechism; when they went around town were easily recognizable by their all-white clothing, so much so that anyone wearing white would be teased as "sakop ni Zequiel" (Zequiel follower); even though people went to him for healing, still his community was looked upon as a cult and the sect underwent a long trial period of dismissive ridicule by thoughtless townspeople, some of it elitist (but uninformed) looking down on his as bumpkin cathecism; 2-Feb-1974 founded the Siervas de Nuestra Señora de la Paz with the help of Mons. Felino Caballa and Archishop Manuel Salvador and Carcar priest Fr. Pastor Ybañez; arrival of Monsignor Camomot in 1976 and his solidarity with Barangan soon erased all doubts and turned the town's attitude around to what was the man's basic holiness–a quality to a heroic degree only Camomot and he are unanimously acknowledged to have possessed–wonder, that the two were born–and also died–only a year or two apart; Papa Zequiel, as he was called by his members then and is still referred to today, was a man of deep faith strengthened by equally deep daily prayers; in 30-Nov-1987 the SNSP was approved by Rome as a diocesan congregation; like Archbishop Camomot, a cause towards canonization has also been advanced for him whom everybody now proudly calls a Carcaranon.
Carcar Apostleship of Prayer
(Ezequiel Barangan in white in middle row behind small altar)
(photo mid-1950s by Emigdio Sedon for Fe Studio)


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Tuesday, December 08, 2009
Almond and Clementine Cake, Claudia Roden style
Christmas and clementines go together. At this time of the year, the shops are flooded with tiny clementines from Morocco and slightly larger specimens from Spain, and I keep buying wooden trays of the orange fruit. Mostly we simply eat them au naturel, but I've been experimenting with few dessert and cake recipes as well.
There's a lovely recipe for flourless almond and orange cake in Claudia Roden's excellent book on Jewish food that I had been wanting to make for ages. The idea of boiling whole oranges and using the whole lot - zest, pith, fruit - in a cake sounded intriguing. Nigella Lawson has adapted the recipe and uses clementines, but I followed Claudia's original instructions here. However, I used clementines instead of oranges, and an excellent Swedish clementine-flavoured glögg Blossa instead of orange flower water. We loved the resulting cake a lot - slightly bitter (from the zest and pith), very moist and just rather unusual. We'd definitely make this again - and perhaps try the original version with oranges as well. (Mmmm - perhaps even those gorgeous red 'blood oranges' when they appear in the shops in a few months?).
You want clementines with thin skin here and as little white pith as possible. That's why I chose the thin-skinned Maroc-clementines here. Oh, and it'll be a much easier job if the clementines have no or just a few seeds.
Almond and Clementine Cake
Serves 10
400 g clementines (about 8-9 small fruit, preferably organic and unwaxed)
6 large eggs
250 g sugar
250 g blanched ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp orange flower oil or citrus liqueur
Wash the clementines carefully in hot water. Place in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring into a boil and simmer on a low heat for about 60-90 minutes, until the clementines are soft.
Drain the clementines and cool a little. Cut into halves, remove any seeds. Place the clementines into a food processor and blend into a coarse purée.
Whisk the eggs and sugar into a thick and pale foam.
Blend ground almonds with baking powder, then fold into the egg foam.
Stir the orange flower water or Blossa glögg into the clementine mixture, then gently fold into the rest of the ingredients.
Pour the batter into a buttered and lined 26 cm springform tin.
Bake in a preheated 180 C oven for about 45 minutes, until the cake is golden brown on top. Test for doneness with a wooden toothpick - it should be clean after inserting into the middle of the cake.
Cool before transfering the cake onto a serving tray.
9 comments:
I love the Roden book! Actually, I love most of her books! The cake looks stunning, you've tempted me to give it a go!
- 11:54 am, December 08, 2009
I love Claudia Roden! This sounds delish Pille.
- 3:06 pm, December 08, 2009
That looks and sounds amazing!
- 3:14 pm, December 08, 2009
- Sophicita said...
Just wanted to say I have only recently discovered the blog and am really enjoying the photos and the recipes!
- 12:37 am, December 10, 2009
Hei Pille, what a great looking cake! I made the Nigella clementine cake just a few weeks ago and it was delicious.
Anita from Edinburg
- 3:06 pm, December 10, 2009
- Kasey said...
I love clementines, but have never thought to bake with them--thanks for a wonderful idea!
- 9:49 pm, December 12, 2009
I love Claudia Roden! This sounds delish Pille.
- 5:12 pm, December 18, 2009
- Unknown said...
I made two clementine cakes by Nigella this week, always successful and very easy. I will try Claudia Roden's next time, I have always meant to. Thank you for nami nami, it's always a pleasure to read you. Tervitusi Rhode Islandist.
- 4:08 am, December 28, 2009
- smart cell phone said...
That looks and sounds amazing!
- 11:11 am, March 24, 2010


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(Editor's note: Vancouver-based speaker coach Janice Tomich of Calculated Presentations worked with speakers at TEDxChange in that city earlier this year. I asked her to share this speaker's story as a Famous Speech Friday. UPDATE: We've adjusted the text below to clarify that only one of the assaults described was a rape.)
On two occasions Devon Brooks was assaulted; in one assault, she was raped. The assaults happened when she was 18 and 21—the first time in Montreal, Canada and the second time in London, UK.
Jump ahead to April 2012 where a group of grade 10 - 12 students sat in complete silence as they listened to Brooks tell her story at the TEDxChange event held in Vancouver, BC, Canada. A pin could have dropped.
Brooks spoke with bare honesty. She spoke from a vulnerable place with the intent of creating awareness and hoping to change conversations about sexual violation. She said, "It's painful to talk about someone who you know and love getting hurt. So we just don't —but we cannot live in fear of conversation."
While having the pleasure to work with Brooks on her presentation, we had lengthy discussions about how our culture's inability to speak about the atrocity of rape or violence lets perpetrators hide and continue violating. Lots of consideration was given to what she wanted her audience to take away and how to ignite them to take their part in changing conversations about rape and assault.
Brooks' call to action was simple and clear. She asked that we be open to having difficult conversations. She said, "While we can't legislate humanity each of us plays a role in changing the dialogue and perception of trauma, in order to see less victims and assailants. There is no in between—it's time for you to figure out whether you are a bystander, or a difference maker."
Here's what can you learn from Brooks' presentation:
- Speaking from the heart: Brooks' presentation is one of the most difficult to for a speaker to do—her story is so raw and vulnerable. The repercussions both good and bad need to be considered before committing to such an open and vulnerable platform.
- Using "visual only" support: The choice of visuals that Brooks chose was perfectly aligned to her presentation. Each image drew you in, and then allowed you to redirect yourself to her spoken word. The use of the Munch's "The Scream" in tandem with Brooks speaking about the circumstance of the rape still holds vividly in my mind months later.
- Knowing her audience: The audience was challenged with difficult and uncomfortable content. But Brooks did not take them so far that they would or could not listen. Post presentation, a few attendees approached her and said that they had been silent about being victimized themselves but now their perspective was changed.


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Why Do You Want to Tax 'Cadillac' Health Care Plans?
The battle is intensifying between Democratic leaders and their labor supporters over a proposal to tax higher premium employer‐provided health care plans. The proposal, which is contained in the Senate Democrats' health care bill and supported by President Obama, would add a 40% excise tax to any amount above $8,500 paid for an individual worker's coverage, or above $23,000 for a worker's family. Labor leaders claim that a quarter of unionized workers would be subject to the tax, and government analysts estimate that 22 percent of all workers would be subject to it in 10 years.
A reasonable policy argument can be made for taxing employer‐provided health coverage (more on this anon). That argument is not the one that the media (uncritically) reports is the chief motivation for President Obama and Senate Democrats. According to the press, the president and Senate Democrats want the tax so as to disincentivize employers from buying more comprehensive and elaborate coverage for their workers, which would mean that insurers would pay less for workers' care and thus "lower the cost curve." That thinking does not make for good public policy.
To be sure, the public worries about the rising cost of health care. But that doesn't mean that we should embrace any policy that lowers that cost; otherwise, we would simply outlaw surgery and cancer treatments. Instead, what people want is to pay no more than they have to for the health care they want. Put more carefully, people want greater efficiency in health care (that is, more bang for their buck), not a cap or threshold tax on the care they receive.
Higher‐premium health coverage does not violate this demand for efficiency. A so‐called "Cadillac" plan can be broadly comprehensive and elaborate, and still be efficient, while a "Yugo" plan can be horribly inefficient. Just as important, the purchaser of that coverage (the employer, acting in place of the worker) has plenty of motivation and opportunity to consider different levels of coverage at different prices from different providers that compete on efficiency (and other dimensions). If the employer selects an expensive plan as part of its workers' compensation, what's the policy issue?
Sharp readers will point out that there is a policy issue in that employer‐provided health care is an untaxed benefit, whereas most other forms of compensation — especially wages — are taxed. This brings us to the "anon" from above: The different tax treatments distort worker compensation, resulting in workers receiving more health care benefits and less wages than they would if all forms of compensation were treated equally. But notice that this distortion occurs when any amount of employer‐provided health care is untaxed, not just the amount over $8,500 per worker or $23,000 per family.
The distortion problem is seldom mentioned in press coverage of the "Cadillac" tax proposal, and when it is discussed, it's portrayed as a minor justification for the tax, behind the chief justification of "bending the cost curve." And it is the latter, bogus justification that President Obama, Senate Democrats, and the press seem to be focused on.


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- Industries
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Medical diagnostics capabilities are evolving rapidly, driven partly by the growing need for minaturisation as diagnostics equipment moves closer to the patient. Medical labs are therefore getting smaller and more mobile, giving greater speed and flexibility to clinicians.
However, keeping up with the latest diagnostics techniques is a huge challenge for clinical and life science laboratories. Specialty gases and specialty equipment can play a key role in helping labs stay ahead of the curve.
At the same time, the increasingly litigious nature of the medical business presents its own set of challenges. Clinical laboratories are under huge pressure to get it right - first time, every time. In other words, lab technicians must ensure they are using the right analysis devices, the right techniques and the right gases or gas mixtures.
Also thinking ahead, lab operators are increasingly relying on samples stored cryogenically to fend off potential liability suits.
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In addition, we have a full line-up of cryopreservation gases and equipment to protect labs against the possibility of litigation. And to make sure you are maximising the productivity-enabling potential of our gases, we complement them with state-of-the-art supply systems and expert services.


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Keep a Journal, Reach Your Goals
We all have dreams, hopes and desires to live a good, healthy life. There is a proven way to not only reach your goals, but to be more deeply enriched by the process, and that is to write down your goals and then keep a log or journal about your experience.
Want to run a marathon? Complete a 10K? Losing weight is a very common need and desire. Perhaps you want to exercise regularly, but something always seems to stop you.
The solution is to write down what you want. Now. Find a piece of paper and write down one thing you want. The act of writing is a very powerful agent for fulfilling your desire. The act of writing makes real what is otherwise just a thought or feeling inside you. When that thought or feeling is put into print, it begins to take form.
Those few words you have written down will become richer and more real the more you write. The process of rereading what you have written is also very powerful in manifesting what would otherwise be a fleeting thought without form. When you read your own words you create a deeper connection to that goal or desire. In reading old journals I am amazed how realizations that I wrote down years ago flood through me again as I read a few words that reflect that new understanding. "Yes," I think with gratitude. "I remember that day when I felt so tired and down and I was transformed by that walk at sunset." I decided to walk in the afternoons again.
That memory would be gone, another fleeting experience, but since I wrote it down, I got to relive it many years later and benefit from it again.
Here is a letter from one of our clients regarding her consistent use of the ChiWalking Workbook:
"I am proud to say that … I have been consistent. I have never stayed with an exercise program this long and I have kept increasing my ability each week (Gradual Progress, of course!) What helped the most? Using the Workbook everyday. That was the best tool I have ever had. I filled in every page, continued with the blank pages and now I have started my own walking journal." – Geri L.
Have you noticed that it's October? Where did the year go? Feels like yesterday that I was celebrating the New Year, and it is already October. But as I look through my journal I remember and see how much life I have lived — running, walking, meditating, teaching, working towards being a better parent, partner, friend. Wow, life has been full, and good and I have accomplished a lot.
I wouldn't realize all that if I had not taken the time to write down my experience. Danny and I have started bringing a little voice recorder with us when we go out to exercise, because it is when we learn the most about ourselves and our practices of ChiWalking and ChiRunning. When we come back we listen and jot down any important notes that will help sustain that understanding and nurture that new idea.
I have a friend who has lost 90 lbs. That is quite an amazing accomplishment. She writes down what she eats, and she graphs her weight loss. Some days when she is frustrated by how far she still has to go, she looks at that graph, and it keeps her going. She reads what she has eaten and remembers that a good diet feels better than eating too much or eating junkie food.
Danny keeps track of his splits when he does interval training. He comes home and writes down what is on his watch and next week he'll note the difference. He's especially good about this when training for an event. That information feeds his desire and educates him and helps him next year when training for the same event. It is worth the few minutes he takes to write it down.
It is easy to get started. Try starting a fitness journal and take a quick stab at filling our your vision and goals. Don't belabor it or feel it has to be perfect. You can go back to it and fill it in over time. Write down a few notes for your physical and emotional assessments. If you have lots of time, be thorough, but if you don't, just get a few words down. Then use your journal as often as possible to keep track of your workouts. Track your weekly times or mileage. Graph your weight loss. Write down those realizations that happen when you try a new focus, and lo and behold, it works!! Get systematic about practicing Form Focuses.
Then, let us know how your logging is helping you. We'd love to hear from you, and we'll read your letter and share it with others. It will remind us all of what we can all accomplish when we work together.
Posted in Lifestyle


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Watch the Oct. 16, 2019 full episode of "Chicago Tonight."
On Wednesday, a former aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is to speak to the House impeachment panels behind closed doors. Michael McKinley is expected to discuss concerns held by career State Department officials about the treatment of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.
A study out Wednesday finds that an approach similar to the plan from former Vice President Joe Biden can deliver about the same level of coverage as the government-run "Medicare for All" plan from presidential rival Bernie Sanders.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson said they believe the Chicago Teachers Union's House of Delegates will vote to go on strike Wednesday evening.
Maddon agreed to become the Los Angeles Angels' manager on Wednesday, reuniting the World Series-winning former manager of the Chicago Cubs with the organization where he spent the first three decades of his baseball career.
An evening parade, baked goods, architectural gems and a paranormal conference usher in the weekend. Here are 10 things to do in and around Chicago.
A musical-opera hybrid, "Sunset Boulevard" captures the dual face of Hollywood as a dream factory and a dream destroyer. And it spins the haunting tale of Norma Desmond, an aging, once fabled star.
Former Exelon CEO Anne Pramaggiore is in line for $7.7 million in benefits after her abrupt resignation Tuesday amid a federal investigation of the company's Springfield lobbying practices.
More than 350 buildings open their doors to the public this weekend. Geoffrey Baer takes us behind the scenes of several unique buildings featured as part of Open House Chicago.
"Chicago Tonight" speaks with four parents of CPS students who have different opinions about the negotiations between the city and its teachers union.
Colleen and Keith Begg founded an organization that helps maintain the wildlife in the Niassa National Reserve in Mozambique, one of the last remaining strongholds for lions in Africa.
Late Chicago artist Sabina Ott created the nonprofit Terrain Biennial, a public art event that invites participants to display site-specific exhibits in their front yard.
With winter right around the corner, home gardeners should harvest whatever fruit and vegetables that remain in their garden as soon as possible. Organic gardener Jeanne Nolan shares tips to get your garden ready for the cold season.
It's official: Chicago Public Schools teachers are going on strike after CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union failed to reach a contract agreement. Teachers and support staff planned to hit the picket lines at 6:30 a.m. Thursday.


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|Biosequences .. Software .. Molbio soft .. Network News .. FTP
We have received the following proposal for a new newsgroup: PARASITOLOGY/bionet.parasitology Discussion will now be open through 8 November on BIOFORUM/bionet.general (*not* on BIONEWS/bionet.announce). Please do not post one-line messages saying things like "I am in favor of such a newsgroup". We will collect votes later. The discussion period is an opportunity for anyone to bring up reservations about the proposed charter and to propose modifications prior to the vote. The discussion leader may submit a revised proposal in light of the discussion, and the new charter would be included in the call for votes which will go out on 9 November (Newsgroup Discussion leaders - please note this deadline - if no revisions are received before the deadline the original charter will be voted on.). Please be aware that only one vote is counted per e-mail address, so it is necessary to have your own account in order to vote. Multiple votes from the same address are not accepted. If you are interested in the following newsgroup, but do not have an e-mail address of your own, please obtain one from your computer center before the call for votes is issued. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Proposal to establish PARASITOLOGY/bionet.parasitology e-mail addresses: parasite at net.bio.net parasite at daresbury.ac.uk Discussion leaders: Daniel R. Brooks, Sherwin S. Desser and Henry Hong Department of Zoology University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1 parasite at zoo.toronto.edu PARASITOLOGY/bionet.parasitology charter: We would like to propose the formation of an unmoderated BIOSCI newsgroup upon recognizing the need for a network discussion group that could serve the community of parasitologists. The name of this proposed group, "parasitology", was chosen to reflect the broad ranging and multi-disciplinary nature of the field that involves the study or application of parasites and parasitism. The purpose of this newsgroup is to: 1) encourage and facilitate interaction, communication and exchange of on-going information, ideas and experiences among the community of parasitologists which includes researchers, educators and any other interested parties working with, or interested in, any aspect of parasites and parasitism; 2) stimulate the growth and interest in the field of parasitology, and promote a better understanding of this discipline; 3) promote discussions about parasitology in the educational system and academic programs; 4) provide a forum for friendy discussion and debate on topical issues; 5) provide news, analysis, insight and information on articles related to parasitology; 6) announce both Masters theses and Ph.D. dissertations in parasitology and job opportunities/academic positions that are available in this field; 7) announce upcoming meetings/conferences and to encourage interaction between various parasitological societies; 8) announce university, government and industry awards related to the field; 9) announce press releases related to parasitology. Subscribers would be welcomed from universities, colleges, high schools, and any other academic institutions, government agencies, hospitals and industry. Individuals are encouraged to participate by posting articles that adhere to the aforementioned outline. This newsgroup should not be used as a forum for the promulgation of highly eccentric or personal theories, and it should not be used as a battleground for personal attacks or "flame" wars. ----------------------------------------------------------------------


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Yesterday was my first real foray into Inferno mode on my Barbarian. I started out with a group, and that did not work out incredibly well. There were many deaths along the way, and we got stuck trying to kill and elite mob that we were unable to kite due to him being inside one of the little side instances.
I started over solo and did decently. I died several times to rare packs and elite mobs. They are not easy. Kiting baddies around and not dying as a melee attacker can be quite difficult. I am currently on the phase where I am searching for the Chancellor's Tomb to get Leoric's crown.
Inside the dungeons, it is much more difficult to beat up these mobs due to space contstraints. I had much more success in the world above. I have a nice little tip for those situations in act one.
If you get a difficult elite or pack of rares, kite them all the way back to the middle of Tristram. While there, you will get assistance killing the mobs from guards at the gate, Leah, and the Captain in town. These can provide nice little distractions and a little bit more damage while you kite them around the town square.
I did this for two or three different sets of mobs last night and it worked like a charm. The key is to keep moving depending on their abilities.
Inferno is rough. It causes you to be incredibly patient and will be a pretty rough end game to get through, especially if you are not grouping with good and organized players.
I also finished act one on my Monk last night. Going from Inferno back to normal makes me laugh a little bit as Normal mode is pretty much a faceroll.
Going forward, I hope that things get a little easier for melee. In the meantime, I will be on the lookout for nice pieces of gear on the cheap.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
3 comments:
- Arioch said...
I'm also slogging through on my barbarian... just in Nightmare at the moment. I've heard that barbs and monks are having a hell of a time in Inferno, with barbs resorting to a shield build while solo.
I've soloed all the major content so far, my cousin drops in from time to time and we'll clear some trash, and pretty proud of myself for it.
- May 30, 2012 at 3:46 PM
- Darraxus said...
Yeah, I have a shield in my stash, and need to pick up a decent one handed weapon to go with it. It just doesnt feel very Barbarian like to be honest.
- May 30, 2012 at 4:06 PM
- Arioch said...
I've been dual wield all the way so it won't be too much of a change for me. I much prefer the visual of a single big-ass weapon, but the DPS just doesn't seem to compare.
- May 30, 2012 at 5:35 PM
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WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. government will spend $23.3 billion on military construction and family housing in fiscal year (FY) 2010, and some $11.8 billion of that amount will be used to build fitness centers, barracks, child care centers and chapels.
President Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010 on Dec. 16, which included funding for military construction and veterans affairs, as well as other related agencies.
The Air Force's share of these FY2010 military construction funds includes $1.45 billion for the active-duty force, $371 million for the Air National Guard and $112 million for the Air Force Reserve.
Congress earmarked $17.6 million to expand the Cadet Fitness Center at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, and $23.5 million will be allocated for a fitness center at Spangdahlem Air Base in Spangdahlem, Germany. In addition, $930,000 was allocated for design of a physical fitness center at Andrews Air Force Base, MD.
The Army will receive $3.7 billion for construction projects, as well as $582 million for the Army National Guard and $432 million for the Army Reserve.
Upcoming Army construction projects include a $900,000 physical fitness complex at Fort Campbell, KY, and physical fitness areas for nine Army Reserve units at a new $20 million training facility at the Army Reserve Center in Newton Square, PA.
The Navy and Marine Corps are slated to receive $3.8 billion in construction funds for FY2010, as well as $126 million for the Navy Reserve. A new $12 million fitness center is planned at Fallon Naval Air Station, Fallon, NV.


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This, my dear friends, is the papery husk of a tomatillo. A tomatillo is a fruit much like a tomato and they are a staple of Latin American cuisine. I think they are just beautiful. I used the tomatillos today to make this: The tomatillo husk itself is much nicer to look at, but don't […]
Tag Archives: put'em up
Put'em Up Book Review & Giveaway + a Recipe for Salsa Verde
August 19, 2011 – 8:12 pm
By Kristine Leuze | Posted in Book Reviews, Food | Also tagged August giveaway, book giveaway, book review, canning recipe book, cooking, culinary, preserving food, put'em up, salsa verde recipe, sherri brooks vinton, Storey Publishing, tomatillos | Comments (10)


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Shooting a Blind Man With Eyes Closed, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.
This is the finest picture I feel, he is blind but he tolerated me and enjoyed being photographed , shooting a blind man with eyes closed is an experience too.I went through myriad of emotion , breaching the darkness of my soul..though holding the Nikon 80- 200 AF lens added to the crux of my pain.. of unearning photography.
Randall j Der Pro User says:
he teaches me.
ok now tell me who is this human?
shooting a blind man
with eyes closed
as he stood silently and posed
within the darkness of my soul
the pain and passion of firoze
a tumultuous fervor
an unrelenting path
I chose
to be or not to be
a thought arose
searching for peace
at another mans doors
my destiny a dead fish
kissing the waters of
distant shores
a world of hijras
transgender whores
dark secrets buried
under the floor


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Penguin, Random House Ink Deal
Pearson PLC and Bertelsmann A.G., two of the world's biggest media groups, agreed Monday on a plan to combine their book-publishing operations, Random House and Penguin.
German media giant Bertelsmann said Monday that it plans to create a joint venture between Random House and Pearson's Penguin, with Bertelsmann taking a 53 percent stake in the new company and Pearson taking 47 percent. Bertelsmann and Pearson didn't disclose the value of the joint venture, but a person familiar with the matter indicated that the equity valuation would be somewhere between $2 billion and $3 billion.


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While the password generator is key for diversifying and strengthening your account passwords, it's also a great tool for providing answers to common "security questions" for your accounts.
Security answers are often included as a second form of login verification or as part of an account recovery process, most frequently with online financial institutions and email accounts. Although many sites have made an effort in recent years to increase the obscurity of the security questions (at least, we hope they're generally better than this), the fact remains that the answers to common security questions are more accessible than ever before. Even if you're not a high-profile target, by generating answers with the LastPass password generator you'll help reduce the risk that someone may use security questions to compromise your accounts.
When registering for new sites that require an answer to a security question, it's simple to quickly generate an "answer" and add it to the new site entry stored in LastPass.
Let's say you're signing up for a new Gmail account. After going through the set-up process, we go into the account settings to create a security question & answer for account recovery purposes.
After selecting a question from the drop-down options, we go to the LastPass Icon, choose the Tools menu, and open the "Generate Secure Password" feature:
When the dialog opens, you can check "Show Advanced Options" to customize your generated password:
Click "generate" to create a new password with your customized options, then "copy" to copy the password to your clipboard. Go back to the security answer field, and paste the generated password. After confirming that your new answer is accepted by the site, you can go to your LastPass Icon, click on the site name listed at the bottom of the menu, and open the "edit" dialog. Paste the generated password in the Notes, also noting which security question you chose.
If you know you're using personal information for security answers, set aside some time to login to those accounts, generate a new "answer" with LastPass, and store the update in your site entry. Accounts for online banking, email, social media, and credit cards are all good places to start.
Generating answers with LastPass doesn't directly affect your Security Check score, but it will improve your overall online security.
The LastPass Team


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Lots of things make America great: apple pie, baseball, a flawless criminal justice system that never ever makes mistakes, and, according to this TV ad, the Mazda Miata.
This ad for the first generation Miata is so wholesome it feels like the car is running for office. It's full of phrases like "hope, faith and future" juxtaposed with idyllic images of suburbia.
Clearly, Mazda is going for nostalgia appeal here, trying to get potential buyers to remember "a simpler time" when people drove roadsters (presumably of the British variety) and played sports outside instead of video games.
It's a little cheesy, but it does a good job of showing off the Miata's timeless qualities. Plus, I don't know about you, but I'd vote for the Miata over a lot of politicians if I could.


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The Sunday morning of General Conference is the best! I'm in the Eastern time zone, so General Conference starts at noon. We got up late, had a nice breakfast, and then relaxed for the rest of the morning. Nice!
The family is gathered together now, and we'll watch the session together. The other sessions we ask the kids to watch the first half hour, but they watch the entire Sunday morning session with us.
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang Come, Ye Children of the Lord (I love this hymn)
President Henry B Eyring conducted
The choir sang Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (my wife loves this hymn… she attended a meeting where she first felt that the Church was true and this song was sung at the meeting, so it has a special place in her heart)
Elder Brent H Nielson offered the invocation
The choir sang Teach Me to Walk in the Light (a beautiful arrangement)
President Dieter F Uchtdorf
- everyone has been affected by resentment
- we feel hurt, angry or envious and judge other people
- Christ's atonement is infinite and eternal
- The Lord will forgive whom he will forgive, but we are required to forgive all (that includes ourselves)
- If you are gossiping, criticizing, judging, just STOP IT
- He saw a bumper sticker that said "Don't judge me because I sin differently than you"
- We need to forgive others, as we want to be forgiven
- the pure love of Christ can remove the scales of resentment from our eyes
- the merciful will receive mercy
- let us be know as a people who have love one to another
- there is enough heartache and sorrow in the world than to have us add to it
Elder Russell M Nelson
- are we like fish, and are oblivious to the source of our food (the bread of life)?
- our degree of gratitude is a measure of our love for him
- we are not required to have a perfect body in order to achieve our divine potential
- could an explosion in a printing shop create a dictionary? It is remote, but it couldn't heal itself if the pages were torn (Note: What a great analogy!!)
- just as the body needs food, our spirit needs nourishment
Elder Ronald A Rasband
- he spoke of his grandson who is missing a chromosome
- some people are born with physical ailments
- with infinite love and ever last compassion God loves your afflicted one and he loves you
- this life is training for eternal exaltation
- trusting in God's will is central to our mortality
- the worth of souls is great in the sight of God
- do we offer to help a drowning person, or do we jump in to save them?
- The offer of "let me know if I can help" is really no help at all
The choir and congregation sang Rejoice, the Lord Is King!
Sister Julie B Beck
- the Relief Society increases faith
- the Relief Society strengthen families and homes
- the Relief Society seeks those in need
- faith, family, and relief have come to express the vision of prophets for the sisters of the Church
- Relief Society is not a program, it is part of the Church
- there is no other organization to match the Relief Society
Elder D Todd Christofferson
- we've seen a growing interest in the Church as of late
- there is still some confusion with our doctrine and how it is established
- establishing the doctrine of Christ is not done through scholarship
- the Lord communicates with his servants by personal visits, but messengers, by voice, and by feeling
- the prophet is a prophet only when acting as such
- the fundamental principles of our religion are the testimonies of the prophets and apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ
The choir sang Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words
President Thomas S Monson
- he will speak of eternal truths
- we are so busy, and often are worried about the trivial things of life
- we get caught up in the race of life
- we need to reach heavenward for assistance
- the prize belongs to him who belongs to the end
- we enter mortality not to float with the current of life, but with the power to think and reason and to achieve
The choir sang Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Elder Per G Malm offered the benediction
Read the recaps and other notes from the 182nd Annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:
- 182nd Annual General Conference – Pre-conference notes
- 182nd Annual General Conference – Saturday Morning General Session
- 182nd Annual General Conference – Saturday Afternoon General Session
- 182nd Annual General Conference – Priesthood Session
- 182nd Annual General Conference – Sunday Morning General Session
- 182nd Annual General Conference – Sunday Afternoon General Session
- 182nd Annual General Conference – Post-conference notes


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Bringing Fashion, photography, and fun together!!
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Here at Glam It Up we strive to show fabulous boutiques, wonderful models, and talented photographers. We will be sharing lots of tips on how to get the photos you want with the items you are showing off while helping to get you noticed in the fashion & modeling industry.
Glam It Up wouldnt live up to it's name if we didn't spotlight our fantastic pageant girls too! Learn about natural, semi glitz, and glitz pageants with tips from directors, pageant girls, and much more.


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text: Don't worry, I'm not extremely hippie…yet. The reason for this post was to explore what I will do with future Halloweens and to see what you do with your family. Growing up, we always did the dress up bit and go around the neighborhood getting some yummy loot, but I decided to change that this year. … Continue reading


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Most of us have at least a couple of alt projects that we're working on. Once you've leveled to seventy you get a feeling for which quests are a breeze and which ones are painful. Arross of Thorium brotherhood started a thread entitled Really bad quests where players listed their least favorite quests. Some honorable mentions include:
- Arross of Thorium. "I have to say so far the worst quest I have ever had was Super Sticky in Un'goro Crater. The drop rate isn't bad, it's horrible."
- Shrosarias of Burning Blade, "Any quests having to do with murloc. Murlocs = evil."
- Ashcroft of Smolderthorn, "Zeth'Gor Must Burn! had me tearing my hair out by the roots. It was so very demoralizing to go from BG-topper to single-quest-dyer in one fell swoop."
- Arteree of Rivendare, "Almost every quest in Westfall."
- Etamalgren, "imo, any escort quests are the worst quests overall, except for the skettis daily and the nagrand escort."


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If drooling space-alien mutants hell-bent on creating a pleasure planet of intergalactic zombie love muffins ever come to Earth to steal our women, know that an entire generation of 18-to-24-year-old male gamers stands ready to defend us.
So rest assured.
We know this because we just spent most of a day at the opening of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3 as it's known to those who stand ready with the chainsaws, bazookas and various industrial-strength bug zappers that will be needed should the inevitable happen. E3 is an annual Woodstock for gamers, a gigantic coming-out party for computer and video games that will soon be playing on screens around the world.
Video games are a $10 billion-a-year industry, bigger than movies and bigger than music. When Call of Duty Black Ops came out, it made $650 million in its first five days, according to www.aggregame.com. In 2010, there were 500 million games sold worldwide. Xbox Live had 30 million subscribers. This is big stuff.
To a nongamer--that is, to those who just don't understand--most of what passes for electronic entertainment looks like the twisted products of tortured minds that would be a lot happier if they would just get a girlfriend. But to the gamers, their approach is just a more technologically advanced extrapolation of the Walter Mitty fantasies we all have. While most of us drift off into our own personal dreamland on a regular basis, gamers have simply quantified and codified theirs, making it much easier and more satisfying to step into, and thus a little closer to reality.
Since, for us, a lot of those fantasies involve driving, racing and crashing cars spectacularly, we figured we should go check it out. After playing a good number of car- and racing-related games, we could see the appeal. Here is a smattering of the ones we tried and the news surrounding each of them. There surely are some we missed, including Twisted Metal ("Traffic jams are no longer a problem with a machine gun strapped to your hood . . . ") but we got a lot of them.
Forza Motorsport 4: We wrote extensively about Forza Motorsport 3 when it debuted in 2009. Now FM4 is coming out with more cars, more tracks, an even better graphics engine, an entirely new set of tire data from Pirelli and the option of online clubs that can combine talents and take on rivals. The game debuts on Oct. 11 and will sell for $59.95.
You can also use Microsoft's body-position-sensing Kinect to drive the cars in Forza Motorsport 4. The system senses body position as you hold an imaginary steering wheel in front of you to control the action. Kinect also features in a new program we saw called Auto Vista, which allows you to virtually inspect, climb inside and even drive the cars in the program's stable. There's even commentary from Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson.
Need For Speed The Run: The latest installment in the NFS franchise has a desperado named Jack who must get from San Francisco to New York and will steal, race or crash any number of cars to do it. For the first time in the franchise, you can get out of one car and into another to do what has to be done.
Jimmie Johnson's Anything With An Engine: Johnson is a big gamer and has been involved in this game's development from the beginning. You race everything from a recliner to a bathtub, all powered by rear-mounted V8s, through a booby-trap-laden stadium course and, if you're driving the Barcalounger, you can hurl pizzas at your rivals, in addition to planting land mines for them and firing missiles. It comes out in late summer for XBox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. No price yet.
Sega Rally: A great arcade-style rally-racing game, Sega Rally launched the week before E3. One to six players can battle it out online with a choice of 13 different cars. You can buy the game online for $10.
Driver San Francisco: Undercover cop John Tanner is still trying to take down his archnemisis Jericho from earlier games, but this time he's doing it inside his head while in a coma. (That's what we were told.) This allows him (and you) to switch cars instantaneously. You get a bird's-eye view of the city, zoom in on a car and pow, you're driving it. The game plays better than it sounds. It's available on Aug. 28.
TrackMania2 Canyon: Imagine building your own Hot Wheels track, including the vertical loop, through Zion National Park and then racing on it. That is TrackMania2 Canyon. The 9 million registered drivers worldwide who played the first TrackMania built a half-million track configurations, most of which they shared online. So it has to be fun. The demo we tried out sure was. This PC game comes out in September, priced somewhere between $15 and $30.
Dirt3: We got a quick look at this at the AMD booth, where it set up an impressive viewing screen based on its software, combining three projectors into one. Looked like fun, but we didn't get the full scoop on the game. We'll try to track it down later.
Cars 2 The Video: Set just after the end of the movie Cars 2, this game features Mater, Lightning and the gang getting into various racing predicaments and powering their way out. You will be trained to be a spy, since Cars 2 is a spy movie. There are more than 4,000 lines of dialogue, too, much of it read by the actors who did the voice-overs for the movie. Yes, that includes Larry the Cable Guy. The game will play on Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 when it comes out on June 21, three days before the movie debuts. Price may be $49.95.
Jeremy McGrath's Off Road: You race McGrath's trophy truck across Baja, or any of the 15 courses in any of the 12 truck configurations. There are lots of jumps and berms.
All of those were just the car-related games and only the ones we found. There might be more. For now, get ready to fire up the chainsaws because the zombies are coming!


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My parents grew up in the same small town in North Dakota. My Mom grew up on a ranch and the above picture is actually my Mom with her sisters and cousins. How precious are their little boots?! I love them! I am taking my 9 month old with me on this trip to visit family. I am so anxious for him to see the miniature pony that my Aunt has, it's only 3 feet tall. Perfect for a darling photo op!
Since I will be gone for 10 days, I had to make sure to pack my essentials. Here are some things that I would never leave home without!
I adore Love Quotes scarves. I have about 4 of them and I use them constantly! I have the cotton ones, and they are wonderful for travel because you can either tie them around your neck, or use it as a wrap for when it is freezing (as airplanes usually are)! I had a hard timefinding the cotton online, but I found a ton of the Linen. Shopbop.com had the best color selection for $88
I swear, I never used to be a big J.Crew fan, but in the recent years I have come to love them! I believe they havea new designer, because their looks are completely different and aren't so "cookiecutter". Their "Jackie"cardigan is a must! It comes in an
array of colors and it's super soft cotton with a touch of lycra, so that it won'tstretch out. They wash up beautifully and have a perfect fitted silhouette. I throw them on over everything...from casual to dressy. If you want them, order quick, as they are on sale for 39.99!
My husband surprised me with these Tom Ford "Whitney" sunglasses for Christmas this year. I have a bit of a collection of shades and these have turned out to be my favorite out of all of them. What I love about them is that they are so light, you barely feel that they are on. They don't have any "bling", which I am not a huge fan of. They are the perfect shade of dark brown-so dark they almost look black. They also cover tired puffy eyes when your baby doesn't sleep all night!
My summer wardrobe is basically either dresses or white bottoms paired with tops. I LOVE my White Joe's Honey jeans. For those of you who may have a smaller waist and curvier hips and a booty, this jean is the best. In fact...they call it the Booty fit! No more gaping at the waist and it's comfy throug
h the hip and thighs. I wear them so much, I should really have 2 pairs.
I can't really show up without cowboy boots, right? On the left are my pair of Cowboy boots that I got at this amazing store, Nathalie, in Santa Fe. You better believe that little J also has a pair-courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa.


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Fuze Rampasi Bar Set
Furniture Design Focus: Fuze Rampasi Bar Set
A Good Furniture design example, the Fuze Rampasi is a creative Bar Set design. Fuze Rampasi was designed in 2010, and here is a how it is described by its designer: Fuze Rampasi set brings a Fuze Bar Table and three Fuze Uzay Bar Stools in a single space setting, no matter how you approach it it is a unique set that will teleport you to a new world. Inspired by space age and designed organically, it is the perfect bar set for the most modern interiors.
Fuze Rampasi Bar Set Images:
End of the article, click here to go back to previous page, or alternatively go back to Meet Design Magazine homepage.


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Hawaii (island, United States)
Hawaii, island (1990 pop. 120,217), 4,037 sq mi (10,456 sq km), largest and southernmost island of the state of Hawaii and coextensive with Hawaii co.; known as the Big Island. Geologically the youngest of the Hawaiian group, Hawaii is made up of three volcanic mountain masses rising from the floor of the Pacific Ocean—Mauna Kea (13,796 ft/4,205 m above sea level, the highest point in the state); Mauna Loa (with the huge Kilauea crater); and Hualalai. Lava flows, some of which reach the sea, and volcanic ash cover parts of the island. The north and northeast coasts are rugged with high cliffs; the west and south coasts are generally low, with some good bathing beaches. An unusual black-sand beach lies on the southeast coast. Short rivers radiate from the major summits; Wailuku River, the longest, flows into Hilo Bay. Many waterfalls are on the island. Hawaii has a tropical-rainy climate, with the north and east slopes receiving the most rain. The west and south slopes are much drier; the Kau Desert is in S Hawaii. Temperatures decrease with elevation; Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea are usually snow-covered in winter. Vegetation varies from tropical rain forest to grasslands to barren volcanic areas. The island's principal agricultural industries are forestry and macadamia nut production. The Kona district of W Hawaii is the coffee belt of the United States and is also known for its health resorts and offshore deep-sea fishing. Hilo, on the east coast, is the island's largest city and chief port and is the county seat. A highway, linking the coastal towns, encircles the island. At Kealakekua Bay there is a monument to Capt. James Cook, the first English explorer to visit (1778) the Hawaiian islands. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park are on Hawaii (see National Parks and Monuments, table). All over the island heiaus (ancient temples) are found.


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Originally posted by bigcheeseuk
SOE should have done this with SWG
i dont think they LucasArts wouldve allowed them to keep SWG open under any circumstance w/ SWtORs coming.
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Was looking forward to this. I should have known they'd use their tried and true HORRIBLE F2P matrix that makes the game practically unplayable.
Actually if it is like EQ2 this should be fun. You will have to put some money into the game, but if it's like EQ2 then at triple station cash adding a class would be a whopping $3 real money, and you aren't going to play all the classes anyway. They will probably make it so for small amounts of money you can have epic type gear which you can wait until your full lev to pay for without subbing. Unless you are a compulsive spender it will be a lot cheaper than subbing. There seems to be this myth that not subbing means spending more money which at least in my case has not been true. Not even close. Yes, I realize that certain restrictions might really bother some, but it has not diminished the fun I have had in DCUO or EQ2.
Ok, i was excited for this but no, not gonna play. Companies really need to learn from L2 and Aion model. I mean they could even get a hint from DCUO since it's SOE too but no, they had to come up with this horrible model. No thanks.
Agree, Nuttob!
Just for people wondering. SOE does this kind of system because they're incapable of creativity and actually releasing content patches people would pay 5-10$ for. The best F2P model is 100% free with optional content patches every other month that cost 5-10$. In theory 50% of the players would buy the patch on the 1st day and up to 90% would buy it within 30 days so it wouldn't even be free but would seem free and you would still be getting a monthly fee people would just think its optional.
ONE MORE THING people.
Subscriptions can be paid for with station cash. This is key because SOE has DOUBLE and triple station cash weekends you can get this game for as little as 4.50a month and pay for it yearly. DO the math VG with 5-6 times as many players is worth 5$ a month. I rarely play EQ anymore, but when SOE had triple weekend I reupped all 5 of my accounts for 4.50 a month for a year and I put enough station cash on each account to pay for 2 more years on each.
Originally posted by William12
Subscriptions can be paid for with station cash.
SOE removed that option for EQ2 a few weeks ago
I doubt Vanguard will have it
How does Smedley still have a job?
Customer service - knowledge database
Good grief!
Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
George Washington
Originally posted by NadiaOriginally posted by William12
Subscriptions can be paid for with station cash.
SOE removed that option for EQ2 a few weeks ago
I doubt Vanguard will have it
Its in every game they have , but EQ2. I would assume it will be in Vanguard also.
For some reason or another I do not see a TON of new people trying this game out now. Besides unlimited time, the free version is more limiting than their trial they have offered forever. Eh I guess EQ2 is doing ok with the "you can't really play this without paying a sub" model.
I also personally don't see them making a lot of extra revenue with a payment model such as that, which could have provided more resources to actually improving the game, something which they haven't done since the game was released. It's my understanding that many people didn't want to sub to the game because they weren't doing anything to improve the game, add content, etc. Why would they want to sub now? "We assembled our team with only the most passionate Vanguard developers...." What all three of them?
chunking still an issue after all of this time?
Originally posted by chagarin
and to think i was looking forward to this. Shame.
this. Soe.. pathetic as always.
I was very looking forward to this . Now .... not at all . good job soe . you think they would have learned from EQ2 . anyways soe , catch up with the times or quit .
Originally posted by remyburke
Common gear = bad idea.
So close to being acceptable otherwise. Shame.
Gamebreaker right there. Another SOE clusterf%^&.
/shakes head at SOE and walks away sadly
f2p my ass.. in eq2 f2p chars are so gimp they arent even allowed by guilds to come on raids as the allowable gear sucks. only reason to play vanguard is maybe for the housing and boats etc, which is also locked. sorry, I'll give this one a miss.
have a look at AION's f2p and learn from that to implement in everquest "next" - which i read is a low budget farmville on steroids game.. wtf soe...?
Originally posted by Xstatic912
Another quality F2P game.. talk about choices
yet another bad F2P conversion from SOE..... Free players get too many obvious limitations to be forced to pay for a gold sub?.... that sux.... Same happened with EQ2.... Why not follow the DCUO example instead which was awesomely successful
I was looking forward to the Everquest 2 FTP until I logged in and found I couldn't use bags that I'd got when I was a subscriber. Instantly uninstalled.
I was looking forward to the Vanguard FTP until I saw you can only equip commons. Won't bother playing now.
I am loking forward to Guild Wars 2 and may even spend some money in the shop as that is what a true FTP game should be.
I'm not too surprised, the EQ2 F2P was severely limiting, why wouldn't this be.
no psi? WTH
Originally posted by nukems
you think they would have learned from EQ2
They did.
The model works, regardless of how much posters on MMORPG.com complain about it.
The game right now, in the US, has 8 medium pop (400+) servers and 2 high pop (I think 1000+)
To compare, Rift in the US, shortly after its big 1.9 conquest patch, has 5 medium pop servers (also 400+) and 1 high pop server. This is around 10 pm eastern. Rift still has more players overall (it has 10 low pop servers and probably a few of those medium servers like Faeblight would be EQ high pop servers), but still the active player bases are comparable.
In addition, EQ2's community is still solid.
The difference between a game like EQ2 and VG vs a game like L2 or Aion, is the game is good enough to warrant a sub. The f2p model is designed to get people to play the game without worrying about when their trial limits will cut off their gameplay, and eventually many of these people sub.
"common" gear and no fishing?
Why should that much even matter? I understand no housing and such, but christ!
Don't think I'm even gonna bother now...
Writer / Musician / Game Designer
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