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Our government continues to cheerlead for "recovery." No, not twelve-step recovery, which would be wonderful, but the kind of recovery an alcoholic has when he is over his last binge and is cruising for the right opportunity to start the next one.
The administration, and its "loyal opposition" agree that Americans need to start spending money on consumer goods again, need to start buying houses again. Uh…what is wrong with this picture?
Well, to begin with, all the so-called "economic growth" of the last thirty years has been fueled by debt. "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go," runs the old joke, but now there's a problem–there's no work to go to, for an increasing number of people, and, with the housing market in the toilet, people can no longer borrow against their home equity for spending money. Besides, more and more people are coming to the realization that they already have more useless junk than they know what to do with. It's not for nothing that the you-store-it biz has mushroomed right along with consumer debt, which peaked at about 2.5 trillion dollars as the economy maxed out in 2008, but is still well above the two trillion mark. If you've got more stuff than you can fit in your home, what do you need more stuff for?
The other big hope for being able to renew our societal binge, er, "recovery," is "increased housing starts." I have news for you. "Increased housing starts" is the moral equivalent of "another line of cocaine" or "another fifth of whiskey" or "another pack of cigarettes." It may help our country feel better in the short-term, but in the long-term, it's a renewed commitment to stumbling down the road to ruin. Building more houses would likely mean urbanizing more rural land, which would require our financially shaky cities to somehow raise more money to build more infrastructure, and would definitely mean cutting down more trees to make more lumber, using more oil to make more asphalt shingles and more vinyl siding, burning more oil to build more roads and more power lines and more fossil-fuel powered electric generating capacity–all the things we don't need to be doing more of if we intend to reduce our species' carbon footprint and keep the only life-supporting planet we know of habitable.
And, of course, there's the little practical consideration that there are already 18.4 million houses sitting empty in America– three-quarters of them for rent, for sale, foreclosed, or simply abandoned. The other quarter are "second homes" where the wealthy go for their vacations. it's still a lot of inventory–over five vacant dwellings for every homeless man, woman and child in the country–but, I digress.. The housing market is swamped, credit is still tight, and home prices are still in free fall, so building subdivisions on spec like we did in the good ol' days is a financially indefensible move. Sometimes our state religion of radical fundamentalist materialist economics does make sense. Sometimes, but not often, and certainly not in a timely fashion. We should have figured this out sixty or seventy years ago. We wouldn't be in nearly the mess we're in now if we had…but, again, I digress.
Back to our topic–OK, next, let's not talk about military spending—hey, neither the Democrats nor Republicans will, in any meaningful way–they know who's got 'em by the short hairs. Believe you me, our political duopoly will pull the plug on every social and environmental program they can slash before they cut military spending, even though that's what's really driving this country into bankruptcy.
"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain," boys and girls!
So, as I said, when our government talks about "recovery," what they really mean is "another binge." What would a genuine, 12-step style recovery be, on a national level?
Let's look at the "twelve step program" and see what we can figure out.
- Step 1 – We admitted we were powerless over our addiction – that our lives had become unmanageable
- Step 2 – Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
- Step 3 – Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God
- Step 4 – Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
Hmm….don't see much of this happening. Most of the people who are even willing to talk about God or "a power greater than ourselves" seem to believe He (most emphatically He, in their cases) is somehow on our side and wants us to binge.
The "Transition" movement is the best place to find a collection of people who have at least begun to realize that "Western Civilization" as we have known it all our lives is an unsustainable 200-year fossil-fuel fueled binge that is about to be over, whether we like it or not, whether we are ready to quit or not, and that our future options range from gracefully continuing the best elements of human culture in much more materially sparse conditions, at best, to being grumpy, sociopathic, fascistic, impoverished "dry drunks" somewhere in the middle, to complete extinction of all higher life forms on the planet due to unbridled human hubris, at worst.
It is interesting to note that those champions of "God wants us to keep on binging," the Tea Partiers, have lately turned their sights on the Transition movement. It's hard to predict what will come of that collision. The Transition movement genuinely embodies the Tea Party's ostensible ideals of local control, self-empowerment, neighborhood interdependence, and participatory democracy, while the corporate-controlled Tea Party uses these ideals as a cover for a movement that seeks to rationalize complete personal and corporate self-indulgence and a shocking neglect of the effect such behavior will have on future generations–these people talk about "right to life" and "protecting the unborn"? They have some nerve! Once again, I digress…
Meanwhile, it seems to me that a lot of people in the Transition movement–and "a lot" is a very relative term, since in my opinion there are far too few people in it overall–anyway, a lot of Transitioners haven't grasped the importance of the spiritual dimension of Transition. They see it as a technological, social, political problem, not as an addiction that we in the movement are, as individual egos, fairly powerless to combat in ourselves, let alone others, until we align with a deeper, more pervasive and universal energy and intelligence (which IS how I understand the word "God,"at least in this context), and create, in ourselves, a "turning about in the deepest seat of consciousness" that alters "who" we are, and how we express our identities, values, and goals. Intellect alone simply cannot do this.
So, a lot less Bible-banging and a lot more internal inquiry are what is called for. Next?
"Step 4– A searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves"
Whew….I could write a book!
Let's start with A fairly well-known statistic: that the US, which is 5% of the world's population, consumes 25% of its resources. Now, follow me while I do a little math with you. The richest 20% of Americans actually consume 85% of that 25%, meaning that 1% of the world's population, the richest Americans, are consuming about 21% of the world's resources, while those of us in the bottom 80% of the US wealth profile, who constitute 4% of the world's population, are consuming…about 4% of the world's resources.
In other words, those who are taking five times their fair share of the world's resources are leading the charge to cut social services, environmental protections, and limits on the ability of the wealthy to unscrupulously become even wealthier, all the while chanting the mantra of "job creation"–I guess that means so they'll hire more servants if we're willing to work for a pittance? In addition to opposing any kind of income redistribution, many wealthy, conservative Americans are also fighting tooth and nail to prevent action on climate change. They are determined to hang on to their unfair share, and believe they have the resources to pull through whatever the future may bring, and to hell with the rest of us. "Class warfare"? You bet!
The pity of it is, that even though most of us are technically not consuming more than our fair share of the economic pie, there is more pie being served now than will be available in the future, as we run up against one resource depletion after another. Peak oil is just the tip of the iceberg. Think peak coal, peak uranium, peak phosphorus, peak water, not to mention peak money, which means that all those cool high-tech solutions to the world's environmental problems will be increasingly difficult to finance. World wealth, at least in material terms, has nowhere to go but down. Going with that flow would be much easier than fighting it, but American President after American President has proclaimed more or less what Barack Obama reiterated in his inaugural address:
"We will not apologize for our way of life nor will we waver in its defense."
Sorry, folks, this is not "a change I can believe in." It's not a change, and it's certainly not "a searching and fearless moral inventory" of our American self.
And then there's the way we have secured that unfair share for the American elite. The US government maintains somewhere between 700 and a thousand military bases overseas, depending on how you count them. The US accounts for over 40% of world military spending all by itself, and has intervened militarily in the affairs of other countries over a hundred and thirty times in the last century or so, to keep oil and other things flowing "our" way.
We recently had the bizarre spectacle of outgoing U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates calling for other countries to increase their military spending. To continue with our 12-step analogy, this is like a mean drunk saying he's being mean because nobody else has the nerve and somebody has to do it, and that everybody he knows would be better off if they were meaner and drank more, yadda yadda. Military spending is the problem, not the solution. If we weren't so hellbent on military protection, we could fix the planet up nice enough so that nobody would have anything to fight over, and it would be cheaper than maintaining standing armies.
So much for "a fearless moral inventory."
Wow, eight steps to go–let's take a musical break.
Greg Brown: "Poor Backslider"
OK, next in the 12 steps:
- Step 5 – Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs
- Step 6 – Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
- Step 7 – Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings
Gee….I'm not sure if the distance between this and our country/most of its inhabitants is best measured in miles, astronomical units, or light years. Still, it happened to Paul on the road to Damascus (although, from my point of view as an amateur Bible scholar, his was a less than complete transformation that has warped the Christian Church ever since–but again, I digress).
Now, once upon a time, one of America's leading psychologists started doing research into how to produce "aha" moments in people–those critical junctures in our growth when we have the openness and insight to go through "admitting the exact nature of our wrongs," feel "ready to have those defects removed by a power greater than ourselves," and "ask to have those defects removed." The researcher found a system that seemed to work pretty reliably, and one of his associates shared it with "Bill Wilson," the founder of the 12-step program, who tried it out and emphatically agreed with him.
Our government's response to this research was to demonize and jail the principal researchers and do everything it could to suppress the research and make sure it was never applied to large numbers of people, an effort that has been strongly resisted by those aware of the society-changing potential of this research, but that has, at least at this point in time, ended in a victory for the government and the unstable, unsustainable status quo. Can you say "United States of Denial," boys and girls?
The researcher, in case you're unfamiliar with this bit of American history, was Timothy Leary, his associate was Aldous Huxley, and the technique, of course, was conscious reprogramming through the use of psychedelics, which the government has spared no effort to suppress. It's not for nothing that the DEA's in-house publication is called "The Microgram." There's plenty of coke, speed, and narcotics around, but good luck finding psychedelics–that's been their only real victory in the "war on some drugs."
So, somehow, without the kind of chemical assistance that was available from the 60's through the 90's, , a whole lot of Americans, enough to be an effective political force, are going to have to realize–as in, "have it become part of their reality"–that this country, its society and its economy, are on the wrong track, and, as the next 4 steps declare,
- Step 8 – Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all
- Step 9 – Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others
- Step 10 – Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it
- Step 11 – Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out
- Step 12 – Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs
OK,"Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all"
Wow, that's quite a list–from the inhabitants of the Maldives, whose home is being overwhelmed by the ocean because of our carbon emissions, to the working people of Mexico and the U.S., whose livelihoods have been destroyed by so-called "Free Trade" treaties like NAFTA, to the people of China, who live in virtual slavery to produce cheap consumer goods for us, to the whole web of life in the Amazonian and African rain forests, which are being torn asunder to put beef on the fancy tropical wood tables of white people, to our depopulated and acidified oceans–and on, and on, including ourselves, who have been spiritually impoverished by our predilection for short-term material wealth and comfort at the expense of the long-term health of the planet and all its inhabitants, from the simplest microbe to the wisest and most complex first people, who lived for eons in harmony with the planet we are now on the brink of destroying.
"Making amends"–just what would that entail?
Where to begin? I'm going to have to free-associate, so what you are about to hear/read is in no particular order.
We need to stop mining and burning coal. Tomorrow. Yesterday, even, if that were possible.
We need to quit all the operations that turn tar into oil. I love you, Hugo Chavez, but you are doing good things with bad money. Stephen Harper, I think you're a creep, you deserve a trial and a chance to prove you are not a corrupt, selfish sonovagun who should be stripped of your wealth, and whose supporters should be stripped of their wealth, and driven from the halls of power with bull whips. Well, maybe cream pies. Shaving cream pies.
We need to cut our oil production way back–say, assume that known reserves that can be accessed without undue ecological stress need to last about five hundred to a thousand years, cut production to that level, and prioritize oil use accordingly.
We need to quit "fracking" for natural gas. If it escapes from the ground without much assistance, that's wonderful, but, as with oil, we need to cut back on production to make sure it lasts. Besides, clean water will get you through times of no natural gas much better than natural gas will get you through times of no clean water. Fracking is a way to create hell on earth–have fun drinking your flammable water!
This obviously means massive changes in the way we in the First World live our lives. That's OK, there's nothing on TV anyway, it's more fun to entertain yourself and your friends than it is to stand in awe of the latest pop star or unreality show., and doing the genuine physical labor involved in basic human activities is better for you than trying to make time to go to the gym or jog.
We need to do a combination of disbanding and redirecting our military personnel and expenditures so that the troops are doing positive things, like assisting in environmental remediation efforts around the world. Such money as we can genuinely afford to spend without borrowing from the Saudis and Chinese should likewise be invested in environmental remediation. Believe me, the investment will pay off like no other.
We need to plant a lot of trees, and otherwise reorient ourselves towards basic, local agriculture and commerce. I'm going to talk about this a more in the next segment of the show, a review of Albert Bates' new book, "The Biochar Solution," so I will skip over it lightly for now. Let's get back to the attitude stuff. It's more basic than the technique, because without a change in attitude, the technique is useless.
We need to "Continue… to take personal inventory and when we (are) wrong promptly admit.. it" because old habits die hard…they like to find new ways to express themselves. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama has observed, change is rarely a sudden, sharp turn–it's more like a curve on a railroad track, where you barely seem to be changing direction at any given time, but after a while you realize you are going North instead of South. That is a good thing. We don't need to "go South" any further than we have already gone.
That's not an excuse for foot-dragging, though. It's vitally important that we start walking the walk and talking the talk as soon as we possibly can, never mind if OUR mind is thinking the thought. The mind is a drunken monkey–you just have to not believe everything you think.
"What's with all this woo-woo about prayer and meditation and conscious contact with 'God' and "praying to know God's will" and 'spiritual awakening'? I thought this show was about politics, and here you are getting all New-Agey on me. Whassup?"
The Green Party is, at its very best, a party of those who have had a "spiritual awakening" and felt called to translate it into politics. We went up on the mountain and experienced something almost unspeakably profound, and part of that exsperience was a directive to come down off the mountain and into the world, without forgetting what we had seen, and live our vision in the world.
As I have detailed before, our party's lineage springs from environmental and social movements, such as bioregionalism, the anti-nuclear movement, and the movement for participatory democracy, all of which, ultimately, had their genesis in the spiritual awakening that Messrs. Huxley and Leary attempted to bring about, and that has been so thoroughly distorted and stifled by our government and its supportive corporatocracy ever since They need ants, not self-realized, autonomous individuals who look within for direction rather than submit unquestioningly to authority. We are not talking about going to the mega-church and having a wealthy, oily voiced pastor tell us what the Koch brothers want us to think and live and how they want us to vote. We are more along Quaker lines in this movement, calling for everyone to contact the highest wisdom they can find in their own hearts, and then join with others who do the same, and conduct a truly free, unprejudiced inquiry into what the highest truth and wisest course of action might be There is no workable solution that can be imposed on the unwilling by a slim majority. Daunting as this challenge may seem, I believe it's possible. The alternatives are unthinkable.
music: Roseanne Cash, "I Want a Cure


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Welcome to MyPlastiki
You might have read that constructing a boat with 12,500 plastic bottles wasn't an easy task. But you don't have to build a plastic catamaran to make a difference. We're looking for dreamers, curious types, storytellers, rebels and most important you! Just let your inner change maker break through, click your mouse, and pledge to better our oceans and planet.

subset: commoncrawl


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Almost nine years after al-Qaeda hijackers infiltrated the U.S. to orchestrate the Sept. 11 attacks, the spectre of terrorism continues to haunt North Americans.
But as highlighted by this week's unmasking of an alleged bomb plot in Ottawa, the threat increasingly comes not from strangers with rough English and dubious passports. Instead, it resides much closer to home: in urban townhouses, darkened basements — anywhere with an Internet connection.
Homegrown terrorism is the latest incarnation of the al-Qaeda threat.
"It (homegrown terrorism) is a relatively new phenomenon that we must be very vigilant about," Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told reporters this week.
The terrorist threat in Canada has repeatedly morphed since February 1998, when a then 40-year-old Saudi exile named Osama bin Laden published a fatwa in a London-based Arabic newspaper. The fatwa claimed that since the United States had declared war on Islam, it was "the individual duty for every Muslim" to kill Americans, wherever they lived.
At first, bin Laden's terrorist network, al-Qaeda, menaced Americans and their allies overseas. U.S. Embassy bombings in August 1998 killed more than 200 people in Kenya and Tanzania; then, in October 2000, al-Qaeda operatives used a small boat laden with explosives to blast a hole in the side of a U.S. navy destroyer, USS Cole, that killed 17 crew members.
Sept. 11, 2001, brought the al-Qaeda menace home. Audacious attacks on New York and Washington left nearly 3,000 dead: it was the single largest loss of life from an enemy attack on U.S. soil.
Twenty-four Canadians died in the attacks, which generated a massive response from national security agencies on both sides of the border. The initial fear was that al-
Qaeda operatives already on the ground would unleash a second wave.
In Canada, hastily assembled investigative teams made grievous errors as they sought to defuse what they believed to be the next attack. Two federal inquiries would later castigate the RCMP and CSIS for their handling of investigations into Maher Arar, Abdullah Almalki, Ahmad El-Maati and Muayyed Nureddin. (Both Arar and Almalki lived in Ottawa.) The men were asked about alleged plots in Canada under torture in Syria.
When concern about a ticking time bomb subsided, another threat emerged in Canada: the al-Qaeda sleeper agent.
In the aftermath of 9/11, Ottawa's Mohamed Harkat, Montreal's Adil Charkaoui and Toronto's Hassan Almrei were arrested on federal security certificates as "sleeper agents:" al-Qaeda agents who had embedded themselves in Canadian society while awaiting an assignment.
The government, however, has had a hard time proving the men dangerous. The cases against Almrei and Charkaoui have been dismissed. A decision in the Harkat case is expected this fall.
Meanwhile, the terrorist threat in Canada has continued to evolve.
Richard Fadden, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said recently that "the real change over the course of the last couple of years has been the growth of domestic radicalization."
Earlier this year, Fadden told a Commons committee that the agency has more than 200 individuals in Canada under investigation for terrorism-related activities.
Of particular concern, he said, were second- and third-generation Canadians who have become disenchanted with their own country and blame it for strife overseas. "That's the most worrisome part, I think, of our work today," Fadden said. "It's the people who have been in this country for quite a while who are rejecting the very essence of what we are in Canada."
Homegrown terrorism is the cancerous result of al-Qaeda's successful marketing of Islamic extremism.
That Internet-based campaign, which paints military action in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the West's war with Islam, has been effectively aimed at impressionable young web surfers.
Ottawa's Momin Khawaja was in his early 20s when he connected with the global jihad through the computer in the basement of his parents' home.
Khawaja's trial also heard that he used his government e-mail account — he was a contract employee at the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2004 — to plot the murder of hundreds of Britons in the name of radical Islam.
Then, in 2006, police arrested the so-called Toronto 18, a group of mostly young, homegrown terrorists who had turned their sights on Canadian targets, including the Parliament Buildings. Eleven members of the group have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty of terrorism-related charges.
This week's terrorism arrests present security officials with a troubling new profile of homegrown extremists. The accused include a doctor and an X-ray technician. All three men have young families.
The case of Dr. Khurram Sher is the most perplexing. The 28-year-old pathologist, a McGill University graduate, is a father of three and a ball-hockey enthusiast, who performed a comic turn on Canadian Idol in 2008.
How is that he allegedly enlisted in a conspiracy to deliver arms to Afghan insurgents and to plant bombs in Ottawa?
National security agents have a few threads to follow: Sher travelled to Pakistan in 2006 to assist in earthquake relief; in 2007, he added his name to a letter that demanded the Canadian government offer better medical care to three men held in jail on security certificates. (The men were then on hunger strikes.) Could these events have been among those to shape his worldview?
Raymond Boisvert, CSIS' assistant director, said investigators want to understand each suspect's path to radicalization: "The core issue of whether this is a self-radicalized individual who has spent time on the Internet in the basement of their home, or somebody who has been subjected to or offered opportunities for training — if they've had some support or tasking from abroad — is always a critical question in these types of investigations."
Carleton University professor emeritus Martin Rudner, a terrorism and security expert, said the newest threat involves homegrown terrorists galvanized by the Internet, then trained by "a mother al-Qaeda" (al-Qaeda al Oum) in lawless parts of Pakistan or Afghanistan.
"Like a mother, it gives guidance, inspiration and instruction to homegrown terrorists, who are the children," he said.
Former CSIS director Reid Morden said he's concerned by fundamentalist views being espoused in newly-established Canadian mosques.
"Given the very substantial number of mosques, representing a growing and numerous community, one shouldn't be surprised that every once in a while someone really steps over the line between words and actually doing something about it," he said in an interview.
Security services are left with the difficult task, he said, of balancing the safety of the state with individual freedoms in combatting the homegrown threat: "Where do you draw the line? That's the conundrum that the government and its security agents have to face."
with files from Douglas Quan, Postmedia News


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EMBARK's Leadership Team consists of the Director/Administrator, the Assistant Director and the executive managers of the agency's divisions.
The team works together for the delivery of safe and reliable transportation and parking services. Executive managers are accountable for the performance of their employees, their budgets and, ultimately, their division's role in the overall performance of the agency.
|Jason Ferbrache, Director/Administrator
|Contact Jason
Jason Ferbrache (pronounced Fair-brush) was appointed Administrator of the Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority (COTPA) and Director of the City of Oklahoma City's Public Transportation and Parking Department in February, 2014.
Ferbrache earned a bachelor's degree and Master's in Business Administration from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford. He is a member of National Center for Civic Innovation's Government Trailblazer program and tutors reading to Oklahoma City Public School children.
|Executive Management Team
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The Impact of Bin Laden's Death
Obama's political stock will rise, but for how long?
The death of Osama bin Laden won't cripple al Qaeda and probably won't make the United States or the world any safer from terrorists.
But it will give a lift, for at least a bit, to President Obama's bid for a second term.
Think back nearly a decade. Then-President George W. Bush was sagging in the polls and having trouble making headway on his agenda with a partisan Congress. Some voters were insisting he shouldn't be in office. And the economy was sluggish.
Then came Sept. 11, and al Qaeda's multipronged attacks on U.S. soil. A different America arose from the ashes of that tragedy. Bush's approval ratings soared. Congress and the country came together, united by the attack. Bush went on to win a second term.
After the attacks, Bush promised to catch bin Laden, "dead or alive." It happened, just not as quickly as he wanted. The Bush I came to know as a White House reporter no doubt left office frustrated by his inability to deliver on that promise, but relieved that on his watch no further terrorist attacks had taken place here.
Obama will see a spike in his approval ratings, too, though nowhere near the 90 percent mark that Bush reached in the aftermath of the attacks. And the grace period won't last nearly as long as it did for Bush.
Washington will come together, too. The bitter partisanship of the past year will give way to a period of comity. Alas, it will be all too brief. In a matter of weeks, Congress will be back to more of the same, bitterly debating the 2012 budget and the need to raise the federal debt ceiling. Work on other important legislation will grind to a halt, underscoring the fine line between government in action and government inaction.
But at this stage, any politician given the choice of role would rather play Obama than one of his potential Republican challengers. While they last, those soaring ratings will translate to bigger leads in pre-election polls. Such polls are largely meaningless this far in advance of a presidential election, except for one thing: Momentum translates into money. Without a front-runner for the GOP nomination, Obama already is raking in money. Now, with GOP contenders overshadowed by the bin Laden news, he'll have the race largely to himself for a bit longer, perhaps into the summer, so the money will come in even faster.
The longer the nation's feel-good moment lasts, the more difficult it will be for the eventual Republican nominee to catch Obama.
Much depends on the economy, and how it reacts between now and November 2012.
This recovery is fragile, and slow. Another attack -- an unpleasant thought, for sure -- would likely panic the markets. But, given the volatility in oil-producing regions of the world, even additional uncertainly might be enough to knock the economy off its moorings -- and put a Republican back in the quest for the White House.There are, at this writing, no "specific or credible threats" against the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security. But the State Department has warned travelers of the potential for anti-American violence abroad, and radical websites are promising to avenge the death of a martyr. "We won't cry today, but we will revenge," one bin Laden follower wrote. "Men and women in America will cry."
The bottom line: Osama bin Laden is dead. But little else has changed in the post-Sept. 11 world.


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Shop Announcement:
Hello and welcome to Max Pring Jewellery. I am always happy to make adjustments such as alter chain length or switch earring fittings to suit, maybe you can only wear Titanium, if so just let me know and I will swap for you. If you have a question please do contact me, I am happy to help in any way I can.
Free Postage UK. All items are sent giftboxed in recyclable and plastic free packaging
Pink Opal Necklace, Sterling Silver Gemstone Pendant.
Pink Opal Necklace. Hand forged Sterling Silver Bezel Pendant with Pale Pink Opal gemstone.
6mm Opal has been set in a silver bezel which sits on a small tag hammered for texture. This is nestled inside an open circle forged by hand from silver wire. Fitted to 18 inch .925 Sterling Silver Chain.
Pendant measures1.2 Inches.
Each piece of jewellery is handcrafted by me to my own designs using quality materials purchased in the UK.
Your jewellery will be sent wrapped in layers of tissue inside an organza gift bag and presented in my own design handmade giftbox. Posted Royal Mail 1st Class Post, please allow up to 3 days for delivery UK. Items valued over £20 are sent recorded delivery and over £50 are sent by Special Delivery. Allow 5-7 Days for tracked post to USA,
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My work is inspired by the lush Welsh Countryside, The rolling hills of the valleys, clear star filled skies, morning birdsong, my garden flowers and typical Welsh weather sunshine and showers, lots of showers!
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Unless faulty, the following types of items are non-refundable: items that are personalised, bespoke or made-to-order to your specific requirements; items which deteriorate quickly (e.g. food), personal items sold with a hygiene seal (cosmetics, underwear) in instances where the seal is broken.


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Letting your guard down amid the bustle of the holiday season, whether in pursuit of that perfect gift for a special someone or chatting excitedly about plans to visit a new ski resort, can be a recipe for disaster, according to the Consumer Federation of America.
Identity thieves resort to everything from picking pockets to deciphering location codes in digital photos to see where the house is with that brand-new home theater system or the diamond bracelet adorning the wrist of the lady of the house.
CFA offers a dozen ideas that you, and your clients, can use to stay safe this holiday season, both physically and in cyberspace.
12) Let's Get Physical
Hold tight to purses and put wallets in a front pocket while shopping and browsing. If you must set either one down, be sure you keep an eye on it while it is out of your hands. Otherwise, Light-fingered Louie may be enjoying all those lovely holiday gifts you planned to buy—on his all-expenses-paid (by you) vacation in Aruba.
11) Take Your Security Blanket
Shopping online for Cyber Monday deals and using apps to seek out the best store deals may be exciting, but be sure that your transactions and even basic communications are conducted over an encrypted connection. Otherwise, when you go to your bank account to transfer funds for that giant-screen TV, Stealthy Steve may be watching to abscond with your account number and password.
10) Loose Lips Sink Holidays
Don't let everyone in on your plans for the holidays, especially the trip you're planning to Aunt Martha's or the cool new electronics you know will be under the tree. Don't publish photos on social networking sites, either, lest they contain geocodes that give thieves your address—something else never to post—so they can relieve you of your holiday plunder. Ditto for birthdays, Social Security numbers, and other personal info—all clues to lighten your wallet and ruin your credit.
9) Rip, Tear, Burn
Simply tossing old papers is not safe. Trashy Tom will be only too happy to sift through your garbage to find old bank and credit card statements and other documents that may be outdated but still contain valuable personal information. If you can't burn 'em, shred 'em!
8) Suspicion
If you don't know an online merchant, check it out first before shopping there—everything from complaints to privacy and return policies. Make sure their site is encrypted before passing over your credit card number—and use credit, rather than debit, cards or checking accounts; they offer more protection if the purchase turns out to be a Nightmare Before (or After) Christmas.
7) If It's Not Santa's List, Get Off
Take your name off pre-approved credit lists, lest those offers disappear from your mailbox and end up in Devious Dave's hands. Don't know where to opt out? Go to www.optoutprescreen.com.
6) Please, Mr. Postman
Watch your mail (and your porch) for packages, checks from relatives or businesses and important deliveries, or have a neighbor accept parcels for you. Failing that, make sure deliveries require a signature. Otherwise, they could vanish into Peter's Pouch, along with personal information like account numbers, and never be seen (by you) again.
5) Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Don't open e-mails unless you know they are from someone you trust. 'Tis the season, even more than usual, for phishing and other scams, and if you click on links in an e-mail and/or provide personal information in response to a request, even from what appears to be your bank, it will likely end up in Nigeria instead, along with your bank balance. Always type in Web addresses from known sources, and remember that legitimate businesses won't ask for your information via email.
4) Credit Where Credit Is Due
Ask for the free credit reports you're legally entitled to each year, and make sure there's nothing on them that is inaccurate or indicates fraud. Go to www.annualcreditreport.com and check today.
3) No Contest
Beware of online contests, even if the prizes sound terrific. Lots of them are contaminated with viruses and even if they aren't, they will suck in your personal information and expose you to yet more spam and marketing. You don't really want that, do you?
2) Knight in Shining Armor
That's what your security software should be, all shiny and up to date with the latest protection against viruses, Trojans, malware and hacking. Make sure you have good, strong protection against identity thieves.
1) Watch by the Chimney (and Front Door) With Care
Remember to set burglar alarms and leave lights on when going out to visit, and ask local police to keep an eye on your home, lest you return to find that your visitor was not St. Nick. Also be wary when opening the door if not expecting visitors, and ask for identification from anyone claiming to be a technician or repairman seeking to enter your home. Impostors and home invaders are also a fact of modern life, and personal security is just as important as online security.
If you do all this, you will be far more likely to be able to relax when you finally settle down for that long winter's nap.
Top 10 lists from AdvisorOne:


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Desktop Manager for Mac has just been updated to v2.3.1! With this update comes support to be able to synchronize your media files, backup and restore your data, and update software on BlackBerry PlayBook tablets running OS 2.0.1. Next time you fire up your DM for Mac, be sure to check for updates and get updated to this latest version. For more details on this release, see: BlackBerry Desktop Software - Manuals and Guides
Let us know any findings/fixes you may discover in the comments below!


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»it's all about knowing where to stop« – going too far can be as bad as not going far enough. a quote that dramatically affected not only the design philosophy of johnny talbot and adrian runhof, but their life creed in general.
one of the "first questions" a designer is asked is "tell me about your customer" – well, you can learn a lot about the customer by just looking closely at the collection: cool, subtle, elegant, discrete ... every piece has a detail, a detail that might not be obvious at first glance, but once you find it, it's what makes you fall in love. johnny talbot and adrian runhof have found over the years that their customers are precisely the same.
johnny talbot
born 1964 in nashville tennessee, started his career as an electrical engineer, going from the pentagon to radio free europe in munich where his encounter with adrian runhof inspired him to throw in the engineering towel and pursue a career in fashion. johnny is the mastermind behind the intricate construction and mathematical precision of each and every talbot runhof piece.
adrian runhof
born 1963 in mainz, germany, went to business school. the family business brought him in close and intense contact with fashion at a very early age. after completing his studies, he launched his first brand and worked as marketing and sales consultant for international fashion brands. exquisite fabrics are his absolute passion; adrian is the stylist overseeing all image and marketing aspects of the talbot runhof brand.


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UCM's Spring Break was this past week, and my boyfriend, Andrew, and I had big plans for a busy break. The first stop on our trip was in Des Moines to see my sister, brother-in-law and new nephew. Kristin wanted new pictures of Cade, and I hadn't taken any since he was born. Cade's 1-month "birthday" is today (3/27/12). I have never photographed newborns in a home environment before, so this proved challenging. Cade was not a happy camper. He does not like to be undressed, placed on his tummy, or be left somewhere where he's not being held. Since Cade was so fussy, I tried to not use any flash and only utilize natural light. This made the process more difficult, because my style of photography normally utilizes flash (either direct or bounced off something). I find that without using flash for a fill you get a lot of contrast and dark shadows, which isn't the best for newborns.
Kristin had a lot of ideas of what she wanted, but Cade had other plans. We did a few outfit changes and shot quickly. If Cade doesn't like his Aunt Holly now, what's it going to be like when he's actually old enough to know that every time I come over I make him take pictures?
View the whole set here: HERE
All Image © Holly Hildreth 2012 | hhildrethphoto.wordpress.com


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DRHOOK- Just stick it: Flu vaccine better than sickness, death
The Wii used to be so hot you couldn't get one anywhere. People tackled each other just to get the video game sensation in time for Santa Claus. I still don't own a Wii because it's Wii too expensive for me to be beaten by my young nieces and nephews!
Are flu vaccines hot like the Wii?
Cold weather is still a couple of months away, and already flu vaccines ads are practically saying, "C'mon down! You're the next contestant in The Vaccine is Right!"
If you believe in conspiracies, you might believe flu vaccine makers intentionally cause a vaccine shortage every year. We seem to run out each winter like Cabbage Patch Kids in the 1980s. As a result, are people jumping the gun to get their flu shots now?
The shot is recommended in September because the flu season generally runs November to March. Since it takes about two weeks to develop immunity, even Halloween is a bit late to get vaccinated, though it is really never too late to be protected.
Historically, February is the worst month for influenza outbreaks. So if you get your vaccine too early, your immunity might drop and you won't be quite as protected. Happy Valentine's, everybody!
Along with the traditional flu-shot, the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine is recommended at the same time. And here's the interesting thing: the flu shot used to be recommended only for people over the age of 65 or for the younger folks with conditions like diabetes, HIV, kidney failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and asthma. But now the CDC recommends in general that everyone over the age of six months be vaccinated.
Will we have enough flu shots? In the past few years, my medical practice always got flu shots one to two months after all the pharmacies got theirs, and still we never got our full order. The vaccine companies would say, "Oh, we will get you more in a week or two– or three– or whenever." Grrr.
The flu shot is still made in egg proteins, so folks with egg allergies can't take it. There's a nasal-spray vaccine, but that's also made with eggs. I don't think the nasal-spray flu vaccine has ever really caught on, probably because it's more expensive. It can only be given to folks between the ages of two and 49, and it can't be given to people who are pregnant, HIV-positive, or those who have diabetes, kidney insufficiency, COPD, asthma, or anyone taking immunosuppressants.
The flu vaccine doesn't prevent the flu. It does help reduce the symptoms, and– quite importantly– the chance of dying from it.
The effectiveness of the vaccine really depends on whether the vaccine matches the flu virus strain that year. That's because the flu virus is never quite the same each year, so scientists have to predict what little alterations the upcoming flu virus will have. As a result, the flu vaccine is generally about 50-88 percent effective.
Many people miss work or school because of the flu. I've had the flu about four times, and it is soooooo awful: fever, body aches, headache, no appetite, sore throat, cough, and a feeling a nuclear bomb just went off in your body.
And then ther's death. Between 1972-1992, about 426,000 Americans died from it.
So while the flu shot isn't perfect, it's something quite a few of us should want for some protection. Since the CDC now recommends it to everyone over six months old who isn't allergic to it, I wonder if people will be wresting vaccines out of each others' hands.
Perhaps Wii can make a new video game: Victorious Vaccinator!
Dr. Hook cracks a joke or two, but he's a renowned physician with an interesting website, drjohnhong.com. Email him with your questions.
2 comments
This year's vaccine is supposed to include H1N1, so you shouldn't need to get a separate H1N1 vaccine.
What do you think of the epidemiological evidence that flu shots do NOT actually reduce likelihood of death from flu? Read this article from last year's Atlantic Monthly http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/11/does-the-vaccine-mat...
I actually get my flu shots regularly and was fascinated by this article and the complete rejection by the establishment of the ideas within.


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Governance & Risk Management , Information Sharing , Professional Certifications & Continuous Training
NIELIT, Maharashtra Police Team up to Build StaffDepartment Needs Cyber Investigation and Forensic Skills
The National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology, the HRD arm of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, has been directed to partner with the Maharashtra Police Department to build capacity of cybersecurity professionals.
See Also: Live Webinar | Navigating the Security Maze of the Remote Worker with Splunk
NIELT will train nearly 60,000 police personnel in cybersecurity and forensics, says Dr. Ashwini Sharma, managing director of NIELIT.
According to Sharma, NIELIT, spread across 32 locations in the country with 600 team members focusing on capacity building activities in the northeastern region, will now expand to other regions.
Experts say the decision to select the Maharashtra Police Department as a pilot follows the State Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's initiative to grant additional resources to the state police to tackle cybercrime. While setting up a regional CERT office in Mumbai and special courts to handle the state's cybercrime cases is a priority, enhancing the capacity of the cyber police station and cyber cell in Mumbai is a need.
However, law enforcement experts say that although there are good cyber laws to support investigations, there is a need for training and effective tools to handle forensics and some of the specifics of cyber investigations.
Lucknow-based Dr. Triveni Singh, additional superintendent of Police-Cybercrime Cell says, "As the number of cybercrime cases sees a ten-fold increase, police personnel lack hands on-experience in dealing with cybercrime due to lack of skills."
Action Plan
According to Sharma, NIELT will leverage its trained resources to take up skills-building. "We have five master trainers (trained by U.S. CERT) who have imparted training to over 1000 professionals across these locations," he says. "These trained professionals represent teams from police departments, security practitioners from various government organizations and other professionals working across various sectors."
Some areas identified for training the Maharashtra police include information security, cybersecurity, simple hacking methods and cybercrime investigation process using forensic tools, Sharma says.
"The training will be across three levels based on the background of the official and includes personnel from CBI, anti-corruption bureau, special crime branch and others," Sharma says.
Asked about the training modules and the structure of the training program, Sharma reiterates, "I have just got instruction from the IT secretary to roll out the program, and I will work out a mechanism to put a structure in place on the modus operandi of the training program."
NIELIT doesn't rule out leveraging the private public partnership model to impart critical training methods.
Dr. Singh says, "There are more generalists in the police department who lack knowledge about information security, as they are not from a computers background. Currently, NIELIT must focus on cyber forensic training capabilities, as police personnel struggle to carry out investigation process after the cybercrime is registered."
Thiruvananthapuram-based N Vinayakumaran Nair, Assistant Commandant of Police, Hi-Tech Crime Enquiry Cell, police headquarters says, "There is good support for cybercrime teams on cyber law, but cyber investigation skills must be strengthened, as [police] are not tech savvy."
What is Needed?
Singh says there must be three levels of training - at the sub inspector level, superintendent of Police cadre and at the IPS level, if the department is to develop the capabilities to tackle cybercrime and attacks.
"They training modules should include legal aspects including the IT Act, IP Act, and more important, establish a process of information sharing in real-time," maintains Singh.
Experts say each module should be designed to include two months' training to get a grip on the real skills needed.
Nair says police must be trained to understand the nuances of technology and its operations in tackling cyber threats.
Cyber experts stress that the police should be trained to understand that cybersecurity cannot be viewed in the same manner as other law enforcement activities, and this big push must be carefully planned.
"While it is too early to detail the exact plan of action, we will work out an effective public private partnership model to rope in trainers from the private sector and partner with bodies like NSDC and others to build skills," Sharma says.
"We will focus on three aspects of capacity building - designing the module, developing the necessary framework with effective tools and coming out with an implementation plan," Sharma says.


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Up to [mozdev] / annozilla / www
Request diff between arbitrary revisions - Display revisions graphically
Keyword substitution: kv
Default branch: MAIN
Point to the new installation page.
Move 0.5 installation instructions up to top
Add id for linking
- changed version for service
- switched to downloads server
- added temporary annotations service download links until downloads.mozdev.org syncs to add new content
- switched download paths for annotations service to downloads.mozdev.org
- removed confusing epilog of version info
- updated display format for annotations service
- revised annotations service text
- updated instructions
- added disclaimer about versions of mozilla it works with
- added annotations service alpha download
Recommend always to restart the browser
0.3.5 available
Clearer instructions on setting Server preference
Point to 0.3.4 release on downloads.mozdev.org. Update mention of version number. Mention that sidebar should be visible when adding Annozilla panel.
Fix incorrect version number
Add message about clearing disk cache
Update for 0.3.3
Tweak installation instructions
Update installation information for 0.3.1
Make title an H2 (H1 is in project navigation section)
Update description of preferences.
Increase version number.
Update instructions. Remove reference to fixed bug. Add instructions on editing prefs manually.
More documentation on user options.
Version 0.2 available.
Give example page for annotations
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adding files


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A New Jersey woman who trashed her ex-boyfriend on a fake Facebook account using his name can now be prosecuted for identity theft, a judge said.
The woman, Dana Thornton, 41, of Bellville, N.J. was ordered to appear in court next month on identity theft charges for allegedly creating a fake Facebook account in Michael Lasalandra's name and peppering it with unpleasantries, the Los Angeles Times reported. Her lawyer argued that New Jersey's law didn't address electronic communications or social media as a means for identity theft and therefore the charges leveled at his client last year were invalid. The judge disagreed and upheld the prior judge's ruling.
Thornton allegedly wrote on the fake Facebook account that "I'm a sick piece of scum with a gun," and "I'm an undercover narcotics detective that gets high every day." The page, which no longer exists, portrayed Lasalandra as a drug-using, prostitute-chasing cope with at least one sexually-transmitted disease. Lasalandra and Thornton dated for only three months in 2007.
U.S. & World
If convicted, Thornton faces 18 months in prison.
As other sites have pointed out, New Jersey's interpretation of its identity theft law could have broader implications than just Thornton, including spreading to other states. It could effectively make impersonating anyone online a crime. How's that for first-amendment rights?
The Associated Press reported that the New Jersey law essentially makes it illegal to impersonate someone "for the purpose of obtaining a benefit for himself or another or to injure or defraud another."
Unfortunately, that's a law that can have a broad interpretation, especially if the law doesn't see injuries simply in financial terms.


text: The trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) plant used to grow in sandy or rocky clearings all over Staten Island. However, the species has been locally extinct since the 1940s. The plant, which is known for its clusters of tiny white or pink flowers, trailing woody stems, and leathery green oval leaves, would bloom in this area during April and May. But local residents enthusiastically harvested the plant as a salad vegetable, and it can no longer be found anywhere on the island. Botanists continue to search parklands such as this one, hoping that the leaves of larger plants hide the small trailing arbutus.


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What makes the University of Maryland's move to the Big Ten look like such a winner is the school's participation in the Big Ten Network, one of collegiate sports' most successful and savvy TV operations, with its audience of 80 million homes.
At least, that's what economists and TV executives were saying Monday as the school announced its 2014 departure from the Atlantic Coast Conference, which it had helped charter in 1953.
"TV didn't matter in 1953," said media economist Douglas Gomery, a professor emeritus of journalism at College Park. "In 2013, it's everything."
"Maryland's move isn't only about making more media money," he added. "It's also joining a group of better and more prestigious schools overall -- the Big Ten is a much better set of universities. But the media money is a big part of it, and at the heart of that is the Big Ten having its own TV network."
Here are the numbers various media outlets are citing: The Big Ten Network is guaranteeing each of its member schools a payout of $24 million a year based on its TV and other media contracts, while the ACC, which does not have its own TV network, is paying out about $17 million to each school based on its TV contracts.
"From a purely business standpoint, I don't see any downside for the University of Maryland at all," said John Ourand, media reporter for Sports Business Daily, a national trade publication. "They're going to bring in more money under the Big Ten than they would with the ACC. And the Big Ten has even more upside because their national TV rights deals are going to come up for renewal about a decade before the ACC. So, they're already making more money with the Big Ten, and that's only going to increase."
Ourand, a Maryland graduate, warns that his positive assessment of the deal makes him an "utter pariah" among some of his fellow grads who he believes are looking at it through an "emotional" prism.
"But if you're looking at it from a dollars and cents point of view, there is only one decision to make," he insists.
One way the payout for Big Ten schools will get bigger is from the additions of Maryland and Rutgers, which will enlarge the Big Ten TV footprint in key TV markets.
"It's easy to see the appeal of Rutgers and Maryland to the Big Ten Network -- market number one and market number eight, New York City and Washington, D.C.," says Gomery, scholar in residence at the Library of American Broadcasting in College Park.
"And don't forget Baltimore," Ourand adds of the nation's 26th largest TV market, which seems a lot more important when coupled regionally with Washington.
"I mean, the problem with the ACC is the TV markets the schools are in," Gomery adds. "Tallahassee, what can I say? Miami, OK, pretty good, but not that great. All those North Carolina markets are terrible, tiny. Virginia, UVA, that's not going to do much for you. The ACC was formed in a different world in 1953."
The Big Ten land-grant schools, on the other hand, are generally thought of by successive generations as statewide institutions.
"When people say, 'Oh, the University of Wisconsin only has the market of Madison, Wisconsin, which is a tiny city, that's a total misunderstanding," Gomery says. "They have the market called Wisconsin -- just like the Green Bay Packers."
Beyond that, the Big Ten TV network itself is seen as a model of how to make money in the new millennium for prestige schools.
Founded in 2007, the network was launched as a partnership owned 51 percent by The Big Ten conference and 49 percent by Fox Entertainment.
Today, it reaches an estimated 80 million households through what its website describes as "agreements with more than 300 cable, satellite and telco affiliates in all 50 states and Canada."
Deals are now in place with the largest providers: Comcast, DirecTV, DISH network, Time Warner cable, Cox Communications, Verizon FIOS and others.
The Big Ten Network is already available in Maryland. Baltimore Comcast subscribers can find it on Channels 714 and 715. For DirecTV subscribers, it's Channel 610 and 611. DISH is 439.
But the Big Ten Network has managed to secure deals that allow cable subscribers in Big Ten states to receive the network on either an expanded basic or digital basic level of service. That will be the goal throughout this Maryland-D.C. region region as well.
"In D.C. and Baltimore, the Big Ten Network is now on sports tiers that cost a lot more to get," Ourand says. "And what this will presumably do is take it from that level of service to digital basic. And that means the Big Ten is not only going to get more money in those markets, because they're going to get more subscribers and higher license fees by moving it down, the Big Ten is also going to get a huge piece of recruiting in this area by having a well-run, branded network featured in Baltimore and D.C."
While it is no guarantee, the presence of Rutgers and Maryland is expected to drive revenue on several other fronts as well.
First, with the two large markets represented, the conference should be able to charge more for packages of games it sells to other channels and networks like ESPN, even as it attracts more advertising dollars to its channel. And the Big Ten network channel should ultimately be able to charge carriers more per household to carry its network.
"It's hard to see how this is not a win-win for Maryland and the Big Ten Network," Gomery says.
The network, which is on air 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, televises more than 350 Big Ten events. Each year's schedule includes about 40 football games, 105 regular basketball games, the Big Ten men's basketball tournament, 55 women's basketball games, Big Ten women's basketball tournament and hundreds of other Big Ten sports events.
The network also streams more the 400 events a year online.
Big Ten's TV savvy makes Maryland's move look like a winner, analysts say
What makes the University of Maryland's move to the Big Ten look like such a winner is the school's participation in the Big Ten Network, one of collegiate sports' most successful and savvy TV operations, with its audience of 80 million homes.


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OBETZ, OH — The Columbus Crew opened play in the MLS Reserve League with a 2-1 win over the Chicago Fire at the club's Obetz Training Facility on Tuesday morning. Crew midfielder Bernardo Anor came off the bench to give the home side the victory with an 86th-minute tally. Chicago's Colin Rolfe's goal leveled the game at 1-1 in the 62nd minute after the Crew's Konrad Warzycha opened the scoring in the 45th minute to give the Black & Gold a halftime lead.
Warzycha's tally came moments before the squads broke for halftime following a first 45 minutes in which both teams had chances to score in the first 20 minutes of action. The Fire's Quincy Amarikwa nearly gave the visitors a perfect start to the match but his first-minute shot sailed over the bar. Fire 'keeper Paolo Tornaghi pushed a Justin Meram shot right in the 16th minute to keep the Crew off the board. Nearly a half hour later, Warzycha tapped in a well-placed cross from Tony Tchani, giving the Crew a 1-0 lead at the break.
Chicago equalized in the 62nd minute as Colin Rolfe punched in a rebound following an initial save by Crew netminder Matt Lampson on Chicago's Yazid Atouba. The Crew nearly scored in the 84th minute as Ethan Finlay's shot just inside the box curled left of the post. Finlay would eventually find himself on the scoreline as his 86th-minute cross to the far post found Anor, whose one-time shot tipped off of Tornaghi and into the goal. Anor's appearance was his first action of 2013 following a preseason start in the Kirk Urso Memorial Match, as Anor worked to recover from an ACL injury in 2012.
The Crew Reserves are now 1-0-0 (3 points) in MLS Reserve League action and will travel to face the New York Red Bulls Reserves this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. ET. The Fire Reserves (0-1-0) next host the Red Bulls Reserves on Sunday, April 7 at Toyota Park.
TEAM INSIDER REACTION: http://ow.ly/jrcHc
MLS Reserve League: Chicago Fire 1, Columbus Crew 2
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 – Obetz Training Facility, Obetz, OH
Scoring Summary:
CLB: Konrad Warzcyha (Tony Tchani), 45'
CHI: Colin Rolfe (unassisted) 62'
CLB: Bernardo Anor (Ethan Finlay) 86'
CHI: Michael Jiminez (caution) 25'
CHI: Corben Bone (caution) 52'
CHI: Leo Silva Lelis (caution) 84'
CHI: Leo Silva Lelis (caution) 94+'
CHI: Leo Silva Lelis (ejection, second yellow) 94+'
Chicago Fire: Paolo Tornaghi; Joel Leon^, Michael Jiminez^, Hunter Jumper, Leo Silva Lelis*; Oscar Gonzalez^, Brendan King, Yazid Atouba, Corben Bone; Colin Rolfe*, Quincy Amarkiwa ©
Substitutes not used: Alec Kann, Maicon Santos
^Chicago Fire Academy Players
* Trialists
Columbus Crew: Matt Lampson; Drew Beckie (Kyle Hyland 46'), Eric Gehrig ©, Kevan George, Chad Barson; Matias Sanchez, Tony Tchani (Shawn Sloan, 93+'), Konrad Warzycha (Wil Trapp, 61'); Ethan Finlay, Ryan Finley (Aaron Schoenfeld, 46'), Justin Meram (Bernardo Anor, 66')
Substitutes not used: Dan Withrow


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Photo Slideshow: Brunch at Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc Restaurant
Two Sunday Brunches at Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc
Eyeing the Chicken and Waffles
Long before Ad Hoc at Home became a holiday pick and bestselling cookbook, Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc restaurant was a go-to Napa Valley spot for family-style comfort food. When the culinary deity first opened Ad Hoc in 2006, he intended for it to be a temporary café until he could nail down what his ultimate dining concept would be. But the restaurant, which served a set, four-course American meal every night, experienced such wild success that it became a permanent fixture. Although Ad Hoc is known for its dinners, I've recently discovered that its Sunday brunch is a better value and more consistent in execution. It's truly worth the 80-minute drive from San Francisco. To see two of my favorite brunches, keep reading.


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Searched the forums and found one "access violation" post, but it does not seem to be the same issue.
I use PocomailPE on the email voyager usb stick. Whenever I try to reply to an email, I get the error access violation at address 0040531F.
I tried renaming and creating a new poco.ini file and the only thing that changed was the second part of the error message. It went from (Read of address 02120004) to (01c7c000.)
Creating a new message works just fine, but there is no way to reply to any using the reply buttons.
Thank you for your help.


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September is National Yoga Awareness Month! Last year around this time, we posed a question to our friends on Facebook, "There are many physical and psychological benefits realized from yoga. Because it's National Yoga Awareness Month, we're asking for your feedback. If you participate in yoga let us know what studios you recommend for others who are interested!"
With about 12 million Americans participating in yoga and that number steadily on the rise, this time around, we're outlining some of the benefits of participating in yoga, how you can join them and try yoga as a new student for free.
Health Benefits of Yoga
There are many styles and types of yoga, but despite their differences, there are similar health benefits provided by each. The poses and meditative nature of yoga provides opportunities for participants to build core strength, improve flexibility and balance, reduce stress, lose weight, manage and reduce symptoms of existing and chronic health conditions such as stress, anxiety, and osteoporosis, to name a few, and improve mental focus.
Atlanta Yoga Studios & One Free Week
If you've practiced yoga at a studio in Atlanta, and would like to shout them out or provide feedback, please feel free to use the comments area below! If you're looking for a yoga studio in Atlanta, check out Yelp's yoga listings.
To celebrate Yoga Month, the folks at the Yoga Health Foundation are offering one week of free yoga for beginners. You can search for yoga studios by city here.
We hope the above resources will inspire and prepare you to give yoga a try. Please consult with your physician before participating in yoga if you have an existing health condition that may be exacerbated by the practice of yoga. Again, we welcome your comments about all things yoga below. Namaste!


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Brand: Jewelry Paradise
- Color: Gold
- Length: Adjustable from 7.5 inches (19 cm)
- for Adults
Details: Gold Filled Bracelet HEART Love Sparkling Gems & Rhinestones. Chain. It is an excellent way to show your beliefs with style.
FAST AND FREE USA SHIPPING! Delivery within 3-7 business days USA Jewelry
Orders are processed and fulfilled daily with the exception of weekends and public holidays.
Orders are usually shipped within 1-2 working days. Once your order has been shipped, you'll receive your tracking information right away!
Deliveries take on average 8-18 business days, in some rare occasions 21+ business days due to seasonal high demand so get your jewelry as soon as possible.
USPS First Class Mail: 3-10 Working Days to USA territories
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Find out more about delivery to a specific country by contacting us via live chat or by email at email@example.com or via contact us form.
Please note that orders might get delayed for the following reasons:
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For the last 18 years, Ohio's gifted* high school students and their teachers have been given the educational opportunity of a lifetime.
Computing and technology are integral parts of our every day lives. Dramatic changes in technology have inpacted our work, play, education, and commerce. Those who remain on the pulse of technological change today will be the leaders in academia, business, and government tomorrow.
To prepare these future technology leaders, the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), offers a two-week residential program that provides academically outstanding* Ohio high school freshmen, sophomores, and teachers hands-on experience with some of the nation's best supercomputers.
OSC employs a faculty of experts in high performance computing (HPC), networking, engineering and the sciences to teach students computing fundamentals such as programming language, parallel processing techniques, and visualization toolkits.
Students and teachers worked together on team projects to apply what they learned in lectures. With the guidance of an SI staff member, they worked in small groups to solve real-world, research level science and engineering problems in fields such as chemistry, structural engineering, and atomic physics. On the final day of SI, students formally presented their findings to an audience comprised of family members, SI staff, and OSC guests.
Activities are not limited to the projects. Experts from computer science, engineering and the sciences spoke about their latest research and give rare insight into careers in science, engineering and computing. Outside of the walls of OSC, students participated in a team-building day, as well as science-related field trips in the Central Ohio area.
- Get hands-on experience on supercomputers and cutting-edge technologies
- Work collaboratively with a team to complete a research level project
- Experience working in a real-world research environment
- Actively learn programming language, parallel processing techniques, and visualization toolkits
- Follow the scientific method used by researchers all over the world
- Learn about careers in computing, networking, science and engineering
- Learn and socialize with students with common interests
* Gifted according to OAC 3301-51-15
Matthew Baron
Peter Beaucage
Sapan Bhuta
Saptarshi Chaudhuri
Gregory Condit
Richard Georgeoff
Jeff Graetz
Keith Hawkins
Kevin Hawkins
Charlie Hughes
Daniel Jacobs
Ryan Johnson
Ben Lee
Maya Madhavan
Matt Mayberry
Sheena Patel
Joey Starnes
Bryce Theobald
Shawn Wang
Xiaojing Wu
The students worked together in small teams on diverse and challenging research-level projects. Teams were comprised of a project leader (staff member who conceived and designed the project), students in the project group, a high school teacher and a student leader (in charge of dividing project tasks).
The team projects offered vary from year to year. This year's projects included: Network Forensics, Molecular Dynamics of the Bird Flu Virus, Kinetic and Statistical Descriptions of Matter, Game Programming and Motion Capture and the Comet Project.
Students did a vast amount of work in a short period of time to finish their projects. It was a crash course in time management. First, they learned UNIX, the operating system of the computers they used. Then they learned a programming language, such as C, C++ or Python, to write the code to solve their problem. Students were required to do their own work from code implementation to final presentations. The ability to develop algorithms and an understanding of the project's science/engineering basis were needed to facilitate code writing. Finally, the students made a video animation displaying their simulation data -- which was the ultimate goal of each project. Groups presented their findings and animations to family members, OSC staff, and guests attending the SI Closing Ceremonies.
Click here to download a detailed schedule.


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Symposium showcases research talent
Opportunity for the public to meet Princeton researchers
Research on topics ranging from imaging the solar interior to understanding the morality of deception will be presented at this year's Princeton Research Symposium from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5, at the Friend Center.
Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from many disciplines will share their work with the public through talks and poster presentations specifically tailored to an educated but nonspecialized audience.
"The symposium brings into focus the exciting and topical research going on in various disciplines and departments in the University," said Victor Oyeyemi, graduate student chair of the event's organizing committee and a chemical engineer. "It is a unique forum for members of the Princeton University community to learn about the work of our colleagues in other disciplines while also providing the rare opportunity to showcase this work to the general public."
Nearly 40 researchers from 20 departments will present their work this year. Shravan Hanasoge, a visiting postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Geosciences, will share research on new methodology that enables imaging the interior of the sun, while Arudra Burra, a graduate student in philosophy, will discuss the structure of moral principles that govern deception. Ning Lin, a graduate student in civil and environmental engineering, will take on the assessment of hurricane surge risks to New York City, and Martin Schonger, a graduate student in economics, will address "Equal Pay for Unequal Quality" in health care.
The symposium also will feature an opening talk by Sam Wang, an associate professor of molecular biology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute and the author of the best-selling book, "Welcome to Your Brain." Emily Carter, the Arthur W. Marks '19 Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Applied and Computational Mathematics, will deliver the closing keynote research talk describing novel material designs for energy technology.
The event is sponsored by Princeton's Graduate School, the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni, the McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning, the Graduate Student Government Events Board, the Alumni Council's Committee on Graduate Alumni Relations and the Princeton Institute for the Science and Technology of Materials.
While attendance is free, online registration is requested. More information and a detailed schedule of events also are available online.


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Don't play with Extras-devel if you haven't backed up your data or aren't prepared to re-flash your device.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't play with it unless you really know what you are doing. Be ready to file proper bug reports instead of posting complaints. Expected problems: crashes, battery drain, poor system performance, full disk space & more - SERIOUSLY!
Developers upload the newest version of their software to extras-devel. From there the packages go Extras-testing and finally Extras through an automatic and human Quality Assurance process. This is a repository for developers and regular contributors of specific software projects. If you want to play with extras-devel software you need to be prepared to feel some pain sooner or later.
For developers
Uploading to Extras-devel
Main article: Uploading to Extras-devel
Anyone with a Garage account can upload packages to Extras-devel in order to share new updates and start the community QA process. It is important to note that the uploader needs a Garage account: the package itself does not need to be hosted in the Garage.
Promoting packages to extras-testing
Developers can tinker as much as they want in the extras-devel repository. Once they think their application is ready to go public they need to promote it to extras-testing by following these steps:
1. Go to the armel version of your application in the maemo.org packages interface.
- This will be at maemo.org > packages > Fremantle Extras-devel free armel > packagename > version
2. Check if you are listed as maintainer for the package.
- This should correspond to your login name - you must be logged in
3. Check if there is a 'Promote package' link, if there is: click it
- This is normally in the lower-right corner of the package description
If there are no errors shown your application will be promoted to extras-testing. This can take some time.
In case there are warning or errors on the details page of your package, please try to resolve these issues first. If the interface doesn't detect any problem, it will unlock the 'Promote package' link automatically.
You don't have to promote the i386 versions of your packages, they will be promoted automatically.
A promotion can fail because your application depends on an other 'user/*' category application. In this case you need to promote the other application first and wait until that package shows up in Extras-testing.
Promotion checks
The package interface will try to prevent promotion for packages with known issues. The following tests are in place:
- Application is using one of the official 'user/*' sections.
- Promoting person is maintainer for the package.
- All specified dependencies can be found in the origin repository or neighbour repositories.
- All specified version dependencies are met.
- Application doesn't depend on another 'user/*' application which hasn't been promoted yet.
- Check if all dependencies which are in origin and not in target can be promoted.
- Check dependencies of dependencies. (Check complete tree)
- Check if the application hasn't been promoted already
Maemian/Minimae checks after builds
Jeremiah implemented the following checks in minimae for the October Sprint:
- Control information is UTF-8
- Control file contains an image (Not having an image is not an error, it's just that minimae should notice if there is an image or not, its size and type. This check is only done for user/ apps since libs have no icon.)
- XB- (or XS-) Fields in control file
- Version is consistent with what is in changelog
- Use of trademarked names in package (not in version string.) i.e. A package cannot be called MaemoCamera or MaemoMusic since that is use of a registered trademark.
- Make sure the name of the binary package that gets built is the same as the package name. i.e. a package called foo should build a binary called foo, not bar.
- Each package has to have a copyright file
- Copyright file cannot be compressed, i.e. zipped
- Remove helper files from copyright, check for properly assigned copyright
- Make sure the Architecture field is correct according to debian specifications. I.e. all, any, or a specific arch - multiple arches not allowed.
Main article: Task:Consolidation of Extras
The Extras policies are still in the process of being defined and refined. See Extras repository process definition and Diablo Extras repository proposal for details and discussion.
See also the Extras/3rd Party Package Policy being tested in Fremantle.
Downloads OBSOLETE FIXME
Main article: Providing changes since last version of a package
You can create an entry for your application in the maemo.org downloads section. If the unixname of your entry is the same as your debian package in Extras, the version information will be automatically updated when you upload a new package.
There is a discussion going on about how to provide changes since last version of a package. At the moment there isn't a conclusion to this discussion yet.
How to activate Extras-devel
In the Application Manager:
- Navigate to the application menu (tap the title bar)
- Select 'Application catalogs'
- Select 'New'
- Enter a catalog name of 'Maemo extras-devel'
- Enter a web address pf 'http://repository.maemo.org/extras-devel'
- Enter a distribution of 'fremantle'
- Enter components of 'free non-free'
- Select 'Save'
Note 'fremantle' only has one 'e'.


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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'The Second Chance' tag.
Recently I saw The Imposter, which is a Christian film featuring Kevin Max, formerly of DC Talk. It tells the story of a singer of a Christian band who is not a Christian and is addicted to drugs. He has a wife who wants nothing to do with him and a brother-in-law who hates him, who is ironically a worship leader.
The movie did have a made-for-TV type feel to it. The acting and production were about the same as a lot of the other Christian movies with a little bit of cheesy musical interlude during dramatic scenes. I think where it went wrong was the script. Kevin Max's character is so absolutely unlikeable I couldn't find it in myself to cheer for the guy. I also feel like this movie and Steve Taylor's "The Second Chance" are really like the Nashville people trying to tell a certain story to have some sort of commentary about their industry. Personally, I also don't like movies where the actors lip sync to music or the actors are musicians.
With Christian movies there is always that urge to resolve the problems by the film's end when in reality some problems never wrap up that neatly and progress comes very slowly. While the Imposter resists that temptation for Kevin Max's wife to take him back in the end, it doesn't leave the audience with a good sense of closure.
I think the goal of Christian movies is pretty noble, but if the script is not rock solid it's going to be really hard to get that message across properly. In my opinion, in some cases the Christian music on the soundtrack seems to be more important than the actual story. While I do feel like a properly placed song can really benefit a movie, I think there is a danger if the music is overshadowing the film.
In the end it all gets back to writing because a typical Christian movie is not going to emphasize sex, drugs, gore, violence or in many cases special effects. Christians are often portrayed as a stereotype in movie such as Saved! As much praise as Hollywood gets for making movies it has rarely ever portrayed Christians as real people with real problems. I think Christian movies will be better received when they portray faith in a way that mirrors reality.


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Town of Superior ColoradoHome Menu
Town Calendar
Welcome to the Town of Superior's Calendar!
The meetings and events listed on this Calendar are Town of Superior sponsored events and is not a comprehensive list of all activities happening around the community. Dates and times of these events are subject to change without notice.
Other Community Events: To view other events being held around Superior, please visit the Events Page.
Subscribe: To get events emailed to you directly, sign up for the Calendar eNotifications and then select the Calendar categories.
PROSTAC Meeting
- Date: 04/17/2019 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
- Location: Superior Town Hall
124 E. Coal Creek Drive
Superior, Colorado 80027
The Parks, Recreation, Open Space and Trails Advisory Committee meets the third Wednesday of every month from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Town Hall unless otherwise noted.Return to full list >>
View PROSTAC Agendas & Meeting Notes
CLICK HERE for PROSTAC information.
View PROSTAC Agendas & Meeting Notes
CLICK HERE for PROSTAC information.


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Its almost as if I willed it to snow last night by making tons of teeny tiny snowflakes out of gumpaste. Is that possible? I wonder what else I could use this power for....
It FINALLY snowed last night. I have been having a little trouble getting into the Christmas spirit with the warm and/or dreary weather this month. The minnesota girl in me craves snow as soon as mid-november hits, and this year has been a huge disappointment so far. Maybe thats why I made a blue cake last night, I think I need to start making big white fluffy cakes with mounds of snow piled on top. It will be like my own personal voo-doo cake, used for good, not evil. Unless you hate snow I guess. Sorry in advance.
I made this cake in my second to last (yay!!) cake decorating class last night, and this morning, instead of bearing down and finishing my final costing project (booooring) I decided to make some matching cupcakes! Lucky for you, I actually took some step by step pictures so you can see how I made the toppers. No, I did not freehand pipe those snowflakes, you think I am THAT crazy? Here is an easy way to get your template transferred onto your fondant to pipe over so you can get a clean, consistent design.
First, roll out your fondant to your desired thickness, I usually go to about 1/16 inch, pretty thin for these.
Cut out your circle, and make sure to dust a good amount of powdered sugar underneath it so it doesn't stick to your work surface. Peel the excess fondant away.
Take your paper template (that you already had cutout, because you are more prepared than I am) and gently press it into the fondant circle.
Use the pads of your fingers to gently rub all of the edges so you get a nice clean imprint. Don't press too hard or you will distort your circle and you run the risk of the paper sticking to the fondant.
Carefully peel away the paper and you are ready to pipe your design.
I used a 00 tip to pipe, I wouldn't go much bigger than a 0 or 1 if you are doing something this small and intricate. Also, I used buttercream to pipe because it's what I had on hand, but you could also use royal icing, you would probably get better line quality that way.
Don't worry if you mess up a little, just let the frosting dry for a few seconds then gently scrape it off with a gumpaste tool or exacto knife.
You can skip this next step if you want, but I think adding a few small sprinkles, strategically placed, makes for a nice finished clean look. Plus the sprinkles hide the ugly corners. Not that you'd have ugly corners, but if you did, this would help.
If your hands are naturally always sweaty like mine, you should just be able to press your finger into each sprinkle and gently press them into the buttercream. You can also use a tweezers if you are a rockstar like that.
Let these dry for a few hours, then gently press them onto your piped frosting.
Voila! Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial, I think this is my first go at one of these. I can say it is trickier than it looks to take pictures with one hand while piping with the other.
Let it snow, let it snow, and here's hoping yours isn't a blue christmas.


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Some people ask me if they can donate for my software. My answer invariably is they can't, because I don't want money. Instead I would like them to make a small donation to a good cause!
Why? Well, I'm a very lucky guy, living in the richest region of one of the richest countries of the world and having a full-time job that allows me and my family to live a comfortable life. Software is "just a hobby" which I hope is a small contribution to make the web (and by extension the world) a slightly better place.
So given that context and given the fact that there are many ways in which the world could be made a better place, I would like to ask you to donate any amount of money you think my little projects are worth to a good cause. Just pick one, click and donate!
- Donate via GiveDirectly which helps people living in extreme poverty by making unconditional cash transfers to them via mobile phone.
- Lend via Kiva, or send me a Kiva-voucher and I will lend with that. Kiva allows people to lend money via the Internet to low-income / underserved entrepreneurs and students in 70 countries.
- Support La Quadrature du Net, which is one of Europe's leading organizations promoting net neutrality, a positive reform of copyright and the protection of privacy (these guys were instrumental in defeating ACTA).
- Mary's Meals provides life-changing meals to some of the world's poorest children every school day.
And there are many, many more great causes both locally and internationally that can use our help!


text:
PHOTONAGE, established since 2001, is 100% Australian owned and operated. All stocks are kept in Australia and dispatched from Australia.
We supply a wide range of quality electronic products, equipments, tools, components, gifts, gadgets and others. We are committed to providing our customers with quality, range, and excellent price.
Starting from 2004, we expanding our business coverage by starting our on-line superstore. From time to time, we are increasing and updating our product range.
Our mission is providing wide range of quality products at an attractive discounted price.
Phone number : (02) 8007 6897
Mailing adderss:
PO Box 128,
Kellyville, NSW 2155
Our Bank details
Bank name: Commonwealth Bank Australia
Bank BSB: 062-347
Account number: 10227535
Account name: PHOTONAGE


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Will Pakistan and India's Back-to-Back Missile Tests Spoil the Mood?
Posted by Ram Kumar Shrestha on April 26, 2012
Another nation decided to flex its ballistic muscle this week in what is shaping up to be a missile-happy month in Asia. On Wednesday, Pakistan announced it had successfully launched what it called an intermediate-range ballistic missile into the Indian Ocean, just days after India conducted a similar test launch of its long-range missile, the Agni-V. Like that weapon, Pakistan's Hatf IV Shaheen IA is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and is part of Islamabad's ongoing strategy of deterrence in the region.
Islamabad gave New Delhi due warning that it would be testing the new missile this week, as did New Delhi before its test of the Agni-V, in accordance with a 2005 agreement that the neighbors would notify each other before missile tests. Like India, Pakistan has been developing an indigenous missile program since the 1980s, but analysts have questioned the the veracity of some of Islamabad's claims about its military's homegrown technological achievements in the past.
The back-to-back launches look awkward — particularly as both governments have been openly hopeful about their warming ties. On April 8, Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari made his first outing to India since the 2008 attacks on Mumbai. Both sides played down the visit – Zardari's lunch with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was billed as secondary to his private visit to a shrine – but the leaders' meeting generated plenty of speculative ink and official chatter about a new era of cooperation, particularly in trade. "It was clear from the conversation that both countries consider the dialogue process and the improvement of bilateral relations as being in the mutual interest of the people of India and Pakistan," S. M. Krishna, India's Minister of External Affairs, said in a speech today.
Pakistan's government did not immediately disclose or confirm the exact range of the Shaheen 1A, but it said it was an upgrade over its predecessor, the Shaheen 1, and can reportedly hit targets up to 750 km (465 miles) away. India's Agni V has a range of 5,000 km, putting several major Chinese cities well within range for the first time. Indian newspapers crowed over last week's successful test, which puts it in the small club of nations with intercontinental ballistic missiles. China openly dismissed the event. "Even if [India] has missiles that could reach most parts of China, that does not mean it will gain anything from being arrogant," stated an article published in the state mouthpiece the Global Times. "India should be clear that China's nuclear power is stronger and more reliable."
Observers say the two tests won't derail the recent progress that Pakistan and India have made since Zardari's visit. "These two launches are very different," says C. Raja Mohan, a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank. "For India, this is about acquiring some kind of parity with China to develop credible minimum deterrence." Pakistan, for its part, has had missiles that could hit India, and therefore meet the deterrence requirement, for decades. Testing a slightly longer range missile doesn't make much difference. "It doesn't matter how many weapons Pakistan has," says Mohan. "The problem [for India] is that Pakistan supports terrorism."
The last few weeks have been full of optimism that increasing trade ties will be a tool to start chipping away at that and other sources of tension between the neighboring states. The countries are hoping to quadruple their $2.8 billion trade, according to the AP. Pakistan has promised to open its border to Indian trade by the end of the year and grant India "Most Favored Nation" status, while India has promised to lift a ban on Pakistani investments and is looking at exporting electricity over the border, among other things. "The foundation will always be shaky," says Mohan. "But we are beginning to do new things."
And while China may not have welcomed India's recent military achievement, it did welcome that diplomatic one. Beijing lauded the meeting of the two leaders earlier this month in keeping with its relatively new policy of encouraging more stability in South Asia. It's a move brought on largely by the U.S. slow withdrawal from Afghanistan and its pending pivot to Asia. It's a development Delhi is watching warily, but as Mohan wrote last week in the Indian Express, "As Delhi carefully scruntinzes Beijing's new logic, it has every reason to welcome it."


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As anyone who's ever permanently "borrowed" a pair of ankle boots from her sister can attest, there's no better partner-in-wardrobe-crime and closet collaborator than a sister–and this year, Vogue's best dressed list honors the stylish duos who share DNA with a list that consists strictly of sister acts.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen top the list, a choice that makes me giddy but I'm sure will cause a few raised eyebrows. The rest of the chic siblings?
– Claire, Virginie, Jenna and Prisca Courtin-Clarins (you probably haven't heard of them yet, but you soon will–they are all over the Paris fashion scene and dressed to kill!)
– Ruby and Lily Aldridge
– Poppy and Cara Delevigne
– Bianca and Coco Brandolini
– Beyoncé and Solange Knowles
– Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon
– Kate and Rooney Mara
Surprise, surprise, there's not a Kardashian in sight! I also thought Sienna and Savannah Miller would make the list, but otherwise I think their choices are pretty spot-on. What do you ladies think? Check out all of the photos at Vogue.com, then tell us…could you and your sister land on a list like this? Are you guys known for being super-stylish siblings? Discuss! Read More Vogue…..