text: INKED Magazine: Keith Underwood Courtesy of Inked Magazine: Story by Charlie Connell. Photography by Sarah Lim For centuries people have said that idle hands are the devil's workshop, meaning that when people are left with nothing to do they turn to vice. When the phrase was coined in medieval England, no one imagined that tattooing could be the virtue in such a situation, but that is the case in the life of Keith Underwood. After the passing of his friend and mentor Mike "Rollo Banks" Malone, Underwood fell into a deep addiction and has come out of it realizing that he needs to stay busy to escape those demons. "The worst thing to happen to me was to have my friend die, get a bunch of money I didn't earn, and develop a drug problem with no job and nothing to do," Underwood explains. "The best thing is for me to stay busy." Luckily, staying busy is rarely a problem for him. Whether he's running two tattoo shops 1,200 miles apart (in Chicago and Austin), designing tattoo machines, navigating legal loopholes, running a record label, or hitting the road to tattoo for the Vans Warped Tour, Underwood has kept himself damn busy over the years. INKED: What made you become a tattoo artist? Keith Underwood: Dropping out of high school would be the main thing. I started getting tattooed really young, probably too young, 15. I didn't have a whole lot else to do so I started hanging out at shops and one thing led to another. Eventually I was told, "If you're going to be here you may as well clean up." So you worked your way up from there? This was around 1994 and body piercing had just started coming around to tattoo shops; people were calling the shop asking about piercings all day long. I'm not really sure why they connected tattoos and body piercing, but they did. They asked me if I wanted to give that a try, so I did. I didn't have any training but I started piercing people when I was still a teenager. That led to a tattoo apprenticeship. The piercing allowed me to be in the shop and to make money, so it was a good thing. Did you see yourself becoming an artist before tattooing? I liked art but I wasn't much of a student in any way, shape, or form. I didn't take a bunch of art classes or anything. Most of what I know about art is directly from tattooing. The only mediums I really work in are tattoos and watercolor painting for flash. I've never done any oil painting in my life. It's always been tattoo-oriented. Was it the tattooing that got you interested as opposed to using tattooing as a medium for something you were already into? I have always had a good relationship with the older generation of tattooers. From what they've told me, the reason they like me is that I remind them more of the traditional way of getting into tattooing. I was just a criminal kid, a hustler. As opposed to coming from the background of being a fine artist with a degree—that's not where I come from. There's no real prima donna about me and my artistic skill. It's like what Cliff Raven once said: "I'm a craftsman trying to be an artist." I believe that tattooing is for the masses. It's for the guy that wants to get his sweetheart's name on him, pick it out off the wall, and get out the door. I'm not really big on building big ego monuments to myself and how cool I am. I don't push my ego onto my customers. When starting, was it difficult to wrap your head around the idea that you were working in a medium that was permanent on someone's body? I think that I was young enough I didn't think about it. I was tattooing professionally by the time I was 19. I got the weight of what I was doing but I was trained really well. My initial apprenticeship was with Denise Wolf in Libertyville, IL, right outside the naval base. She gave me a very traditional apprenticeship. I didn't tattoo for a year and a half. I watched every tattoo and made all my mistakes on paper before a stencil was ever made. I'm not saying I haven't messed things up. Of course I've screwed up, misspelled things, and done all kinds of crazy shit—I'm human. I really think that being a cocksure teenager made it so the idea of failing never got in my head. I knew that this was for me. It seems that becoming a tattoo artist was a natural fit, then. People always ask, "What would you be if you weren't a tattooer?" Well, what I did before tattooing was stealing cars and selling drugs. It's always been about the hustle, that's why I like the street shop thing. Later in my career I made a tattoo machine. I have a U.S. patent in tattooing. I own part of a coloring company. I wanted to do it all and know it all. When I went to work for Mike "Rollo Banks" Malone—which I consider my second apprenticeship—he made me look at the tattoo world as more than just doing tattoos. Making flash, selling flash, making machines, mixing ink, and selling it all really related to what I learned as a kid. Taking a product at one price, changing it, and reselling it at 400 times the price—it worked well for me. Were you able to recognize what your strengths and weaknesses were for the whole business of tattooing, not just the art? I think where I have excelled is that I know exactly how good I am not at tattooing. Where I have excelled is in machine making and the other aspects of tattooing. And I found a niche style of tattooing that worked really well for me, really traditional American tattooing. Emulating what I consider to be the masters of tattooing, those artists from the early 1930s and 1940s. You mentioned that you have a patent on a tattoo machine. How exactly did that come about? The patent is in improvements to tattoo technology; it's a pretty broad term. It mostly deals with wireless technology. I built a prototype with a power source and power regulator all within the machine. I worked with a radio control for the foot switch so that there were absolutely no wires. I had never seen anything like that before. I went to Radio Shack and bought a bunch of components and just started fucking around. Was it difficult to obtain the patent? There's a reason that people don't get patented. It took three years of my life and a huge amount of lawyer fees and I really haven't made anything off of it yet. I worked with Lucky Supply and we tried to develop a working model. We didn't want to put out something too early and have it be flawed. We worked for a while and were really limited by battery technology; it wound up being too big and too bulky. You can get a patent for anything whether it is practical or not at the time, so that's what I did. The whole time it was so scary because you spend all this money on the application process with no guarantee that you will even get the patent. Then the patent examiner's whole fucking job is to figure out why your patent is not patentable, so it's a very stressful ordeal. I was thrilled to physically have a patent in tattooing because there aren't many. Some of my heroes in tattooing, Percy Waters and Samuel O'Reilly, are patent holders from way back, the first in 1891. I love to be a part of that lineage. Plus, owning a patent is a cool thing to brag about. [Laughs.] The ego boost! In fact, my parents, who have never been that proud of my tattooing, will tell people that I'm an inventor before they'll tell them I'm a tattoo artist. It makes things easier on them. And hopefully when the technology is there you'll be able to do something with that patent—you're just a little ahead of the game right now. A big part of the luck and circumstance of my career comes from being just a little bit ahead of the curve. I got in with Mike Malone, who is the guy who bought Sailor Jerry's shop when he died, so I have this patriarchal lineage of Sailor Jerry, Mike Malone, and then myself. There's an honor just being involved in that. I try to honor the shit that came before me. Honor the people, the style, and the way of doing things. All those guys were street shop guys doing 10, 12 tattoos a day. Working hard and busting their asses doing little tattoos for the masses. It's that work ethic that was part of what led my friend and business partner Oliver Peck and I to go on Warped Tour. What was it was like to be touring around the country with Warped Tour as opposed to working in a regular shop? Oliver had the hookup with Vans from designing shoes for them. At the time we were both pretty heartbroken; he had divorced from Kat [Von D] that year and Mike Malone had committed suicide around the same time. I was ready for anything. I was heartbroken. I had found Mike a few days after he had shot himself and I was really fucked up over it and it led to a pretty serious pill addiction. Oliver had the idea to go on the road and tattoo—it sounded perfect to me. We got in an RV and hit the road. It was absolutely the best thing for me. It was as close as you can come nowadays to being a carnival tattooer, like it was in the 1920s. We would tattoo all day, go to sleep, and wake up in another parking lot and do it all over again. It was going back to the roots of tattooing in America for me. I absolutely loved it. You mentioned that the death of Mike Malone led to some addiction problems. I suffered from a broken heart and drug addiction for a couple of years, and it really fucked up things good. I was a sober guy for 13 years, from about 17 to 30. Then when Rollo died I just lost my mind. The last year or so I've been clean again and getting back into what I do well. It was a really hard thing to go through. Not to say that addiction is ever a good thing, but there are certainly situations where you don't begrudge someone for developing a problem. Absolutely. I lost a lot of friends during that time because of some poor business decisions, and it was never an intentional sleight of someone. I didn't get things sent out on time or at all. When you are in that condition you don't even remember what is going on. The last year I have spent a lot of time making up for the three years prior. Getting machines out that I have owed somebody forever and paying back debts and doing all the things it takes to get back square with people. Lucky for me, the tattoo world is perfect for forgiveness of drug addiction. If the tattoo world can't forgive a drug addict, I don't know which world can. When you opened your shop in Chicago, Taylor Street Tattoo, you went through a lot of hassles with the city, right? Surprisingly, it wasn't the city giving me problems; it was St. Ignatius [Church] and the University Village Association. Originally I tried to open a shop on the other side of the street and I failed miserably. I just didn't understand Chicago politics. I rented a storefront for a few months and completely failed when trying to get the zoning. Yet you weren't deterred by the failure. I had enough money to buy a building this time. I went in and bought the only place I could afford and decided I'm going to go through it and not take any chances. I donated money to St. Ignatius and joined the [University Village Association] before I even applied for the license. Even though tattooing is a legal business they started working against me, saying no one in the neighborhood wants it. I made campaign contributions to the alderman, congressman, and anyone I could think of. The headmaster of St. Ignatius showed up to say that people like me didn't care about the community. The greatest thing was that I already had two years' worth of thank you letters from my contributions, essentially saying thanks to business owners like me who care about the welfare of our children. In court they looked foolish and we won. Once I was able to open up I could show that their ideas about the business were wrong. Their entire case against you was built on assumptions of what the tattoo industry was. Exactly. The fears they had were insane. They thought I would be open until two in the morning with 20 motorcycles parked out front. I have kids, I'm gonna be closed at 10—get a grip. When we went to court again I won, and they finally gave up. How did you end up having a shop down in Austin as well as in Chicago? My wife is from Austin and she conned me into buying a house here in 2006. [Laughs.] So I had a house down here already and after Rollo killed himself I just wanted to get out of Chicago. I realized I wasn't traveling to Chicago enough and I was getting bored. I tried to work in a couple of shops for friends here, but once you've been the boss it's really hard to not be the boss, so that didn't work out. I bought a struggling shop here, renamed it, and it's been about three years now and I do both. It's craziness but it works. The worst thing to happen to me was to have my friend die, get a bunch of money I didn't earn, and develop a drug problem with no job and nothing to do. The best thing for me is to stay busy. I assume that it was the desire to stay busy that led to you start a record label as well, right? Right. After Warped Tour I had made all these connections with musicians, so that's how End Sounds got going. I got a lot of offers from musicians who wanted to do side projects or solo things and I thought about how cool it would be to be in the music industry. I thought about starting my own label, but instead I met Jonathan Gill, who was pretty established, and I bought half of the label. He knew all the business and distribution while I knew a lot of talent. Some of the things on the label include Mike Herrera's Tumbledown, Andy from Hot Rod Circuit has a project, and Bill Stevenson from the Descendents has a project called The Mag Seven that we put out. It's that sort of a label—established artists who have side projects that they want to get out there. We don't make much money, but it's fun and we survive. What are some of the differences between your two shops, Austin Tattoo Company and Taylor Street Tattoo? Austin Tattoo Company is a totally different kind of project. Taylor Street was started from scratch, and ATC was already a shop that I bought and had to deal with the bad reputation and different things. It had previously been a custom shop and I'm a street shop guy, so I had to knock down walls so you could see everything and put flash up and turn it into a shop that I knew how to run. I hired some young kids who were hungry, and we're hitting it. I hope that I'm passing on my knowledge that way. You seem to be very aware of paying homage to your roots and where you have come from. There have just been so many people who have had great influence on my career like, Mike Malone, Nick Colella, Josh Arment, and, of course, Oliver [Peck]. There have been a lot of great people who I have had relationships with, some I've lost relationships with. It's really important to me that people know I'm aware of that. It's a weird thing to be cocky and humble at the same time. I think I have the right confidence about it. I think you need to be really confident to be a tattooer. I'm also aware of the mistakes I have made and do my best to amend them. Visit INKED Magazine to see the original article: http://www.inkedmag.com/features/icons/keith-underwood/ Keith Underwood can be found at: Austin Tattoo Company 5241 North Lamar Blvd. Austin, TX 512-380-0730 Taylor Street Tattoo 1150 W. Taylor St. Chicago, IL 312-455-8288 twitter.com/underwoodtattoo Keith is featured in Tattoo Artist Magazine #6:


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Oh I think Cristina is next too, also I think Raro wins the reward this week based on the pip's at phoenix " brawn over brain "http://resources.survivorphoenix.com/graphics/gallery/S13E05PIPpromo
My fault Rudy ..pip's = picture in picture's . Like when CBS runs a small video in the corner of the screen during football games .
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Lots of "Firsts"
For the 115th game of the season, there sure were a lot of "firsts" last night in Miami:
**Cole turned in his second consecutive shutout, a career first.
**Win was his first against them this season. Half of his six losses came at the hands of the Marlins.
**Win was first in Marlins Park and first against the Marlins since June 1. Win ended a five-game losing streak against them.
**Finally, it was the Phillies first win on the first game of a road trip since June 8 at Baltimore.
Getting back to Cole, he and Johan Santana are the only pitchers this year to toss back-to-back shutouts, according to Elias Sports Bureau. He's only the third pitcher in the last 20 years with consecutive shutouts Cory Lidle, two in 2004 and Cliff Lee, three in 2011.
Down On The Farm
Lehigh Valley defeated Rochester, 6-4, behind RHS Tyler Cloyd (12-1), his eighth straight win, 3 runs, 6 hits, 6 innings. 1 hitless, shutout inning each from LH Jake Diekman, RH Justin DeFratus, RH Phillippe Aumont (14th save). Pete Orr, 4-4, including 2nd home run.
Reading doubled Trenton, 8-4, as 1B Darin Ruf hit his league-leading 26th-27th homers. RHS Ethan Martin (3-0), 2 runs, 5 innings. Ruf homered in his third straight game and has hit 7 in last 10 games.
Clearwater was not scheduled.
Lakewood lost, 7-4, in Augusta, the start of 7-game road trip.
Williamsport on a 2-day All-Star Game break.
Gulf Coast League Phillies dropped their 5th in a row, 3-0, to the Blue Jays.
August 14, 1981–3B Mike Schmidt homers in 3rd inning off New York's Mike Scott at Shea Stadium for his 300th home run. Phillies win, 84.
August 14, 1984–2B Juan Samuel steals 56th base, breaking Sherry Magee's club record set in 1906. Phillies lose, 32, in San Diego
August 14, 2006–SS Jimmy Rollins' 18th home run sets a club record for homers by a shortstop, breaking Granny Hamner's mark (17) in 1952. Phillies romp over Mets, 13-0, at Citizens Bank Park.
For more Phlashback moments, visit www.phillies.com/alumni.


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I have added my Etsy Forget me not daily discoveries team friends (FMNDD ) to my treasury, it is full of great ideas for gifts have a look and walk along in their shops too and if you want more information I can be contacted on list below. Good luck with your shops
3 days ago
I have added your items to my treasury and now my blog and website let's hope we get our promotion out there. I also fav,tweet,pin, Good luck from nanny cheryl


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LETTER- Hooray for Ted Rall
Congratulations for publishing "Dour Prez: Why Obama is Scarier Than W," Ted Rall's Essay in the [January 29] issue of the Hook. Rall is outspoken, truthful, and courageous, seeing through the slick deception of Obama's rhetoric.
Obama is a conservative dressed in liberals' clothes. He has filled his Cabinet and advisory positions with hawks and spineless, greedy conservative ilk, little different from those we've had for the past eight years.
Obama's economic advisors, who are supposed to help solve our problems, are the same slimy bunch that has contributed to the problem. It's no wonder Obama and his cronies have accepted enormous amounts of Wall Street and corporate money– and now its payback time. Its politics as usual.
Obama thinks spying on American citizens is fine and has vowed to continue our immoral wars. Change we can believe? I don't think so. There'll be some minor changes but not the essential change needed to put the US on the right track.
The gullible majority American citizenry has been hoodwinked again. The only way to make your dreams come true is to wake up. We are in for a very difficult time ahead, one that calls for exceptional leadership and the dedication of each one of us. Right now we have neither.
Thank you Ted Rall– I'm with ya.
J.C. Rotunda


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Note: The pun titles will usually be irrelevant to the post
I was really upset at myself for the rest of the day because of this. It's not that I was mad that I didn't know the national anthem- it'd be good to know, but I don't measure my patriotism by my knowledge of a song. I felt bad because I'm unsure of how these people view my country, and I just wanted to leave them with a good impression. I try to read the Indian newspapers every day here, and the stories always reflect the imposing presence that America has in international affairs. Many of our policies make me uncomfortable when I'm at home, but now that I'm on the other side of the world I feel like it's my job to pick up the PR pieces. Judging by my performance of the national anthem, though, I'd say Obama would be better off on his own.
It has been a really busy past few weeks, as always. Since my last post the biggest headline would probably be that Municipal elections were held in Maharastra on Thursday. I've seen heavy campaigning since I got here so it was really fun to see the voting take place, especially in "the world's largest democracy". The most fascinating part of the Indian political system is the amount of political parties they have here. I can probably name six off the top of my head, but those are only the prominent ones and I haven't really studied this too intensely. But if a politician has a problem with his party for whatever reason, he can just break off and form his own party! That's what happened with Uddhav Thackeray, who left the Shiv Sena party after a series of disagreements with them. Now he heads up the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena party (MNS). There are a lot of state-specific parties too, which is also new for me. That'd be like if Michigan had their own unique batch of parties in Congress. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like more parties equals more variety. The Indian people I spoke with in Pune are very cynical about their political leaders, no matter what party they belong to. They say that everyone is out for money and favors, and that no one really cares about the people. One person said that each politician is either 90% corrupt, 89% corrupt, or 88% corrupt, and it's your job to vote for the man who is 88% corrupt. There must be someone supporting these politicians, though, because Pune has been bustling with political activism for the past month.
|"The Watchtower" on top of a hill behind Fergusson College. It's as sturdy as it looks.
Being an American abroad has had its ups and downs, but I definitely feel a certain responsibility to make my country look good while I'm over here. Unfortunately, there have been one or two hiccups since my arrival. Nothing major, but there's one story that will definitely stick with me:
There are a lot of international students studying at Fergusson College, so once a semester the college puts together an international talent show to give everyone a chance to represent their culture. A girl from my program did an acoustic set with one original song and a cover of "Party in the U.S.A.", and I'm happy to say that she made our country look awesome. It was unbelievable to see the other students present talents from their cultures, though. I saw songs and dances from Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and so many other places. It was really incredible to see the separate pieces put together by Iran and Afghanistan, though, because I definitely haven't gotten a good sense of their culture in the U.S. Although a group of students from Iran are studying here, the performance was done by one Iranian student who played a type of guitar that I've never seen before. It was amazing! As cliché as it sounds, art really can unify people like nothing else. I feel so lucky to have been exposed to so many different cultures here, no matter how brief. It helps me put a human face to world news, especially in terms of American foreign policy.
|Trash day at Fergusson! I've learned to love the smell of burning garbage.
After everyone did a presentation students from each country were asked to come on stage and sing their national anthem. The countries were called in alphabetical order, so it was somewhere around Thailand that I started to wonder who would be representing the ol' stars and stripes. And that's when my program leader asked me and 6 other students to step on stage and sing "The Star Spangled Banner". I was petrified.
|A dramatic representation of what it's like to walk the city streets here
As a liberal arts student, I can't say I've been well educated in the way of nationalism. The fact that I watch a sports game about once a year also works against me when it comes to knowing the National Anthem. So when I heard the opening bars of our song, I couldn't help but hope to find my lines somewhere on a teleprompter in the distance. Unfortunately I had no such luck. So there I was standing in line with 6 other Americans, our hands rested on our hearts, eager to prove just how much we loved our country in front of an audience of 100-200 students. I started by singing the opening lines of "America the Beautiful", but that didn't sound right so I flapped my lips a little until I could catch up with the next verse. I started singing on the second line, but after the fourth line I was toast. In high school I used to have nightmares that it was the opening night of a play and I had never bothered to learned any of my lines. This was just like that, except I was representing an entire country, and my country was not on good terms with a good portion of the audience. I knew a few lines here and there (and belted every one of them), but for the moments in between I looked off into the distance and muttered what I could. I don't know why they didn't just play the Whitney Houston version; it would have been a great tribute to her and a weight off my shoulders.
|Taken at a beautiful Navayana Buddhist temple in a Dalit community
|From a tribal village trip. The man with the instrument followed a line of people around the fire like he was chasing a snake. Everyone danced in the direction he moved.
|On the way to "The Watchtower"
|A waterfall outside the lodge we stayed at in the tribal village
|The view from the top of the waterfall


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|Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang's Regular Press Conference on November 30, 2018
Q: A recent report titled "Chinese Influence and American Interests: Promoting Constructive Vigilance"released by Stanford University's Hoover Institution said that China is trying to infiltrate into and influence US think tanks, universities, media and governments at various levels and undermine democratic values. It also expressed concerns about things like the Chinese government's influence and Chinese language media in the US. Has the Chinese government seen a copy of this report? Which part of it do you disagree with?
A: As a regular to the press conference, you may have known that as a principle, we do not directly and specifically respond to the viewpoints, remarks, articles and reports of media, think tanks, experts and scholars. So, I would just give you some general response.
Forty years ago, in pursuit of reform and opening-up, China opened its door to the enterprises, media, think tanks and students from all other countries, including the United States. During the past four decades, they have borne witness to and also taken part in the process of China's reform and opening-up, contributing to the achievements China has scored in its development so far.
Today, forty years later, we hope that the United States, as the No.1 superpower in the world, can also remain open to the enterprises, media, think tanks and students from all other countries, including China, and make positive contributions to enhancing the mutual understanding and promoting the mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries. We hope and believe that the US side can have such confidence in themselves.
We Chinese people always say that we have confidence in four aspects, namely our path, theories, system and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics. We hope that the US can also have confidence in these four aspects of their own.
We now live in an era of globalization and all countries are citizens of one and same global village. People of all countries have now built a community with a shared future with our exchanges getting closer and our interests highly integrated. Any attempt to obstruct and disturb the normal exchanges and cooperation between the people around the world with a zero-sum game mindset just runs against the trend of history as well as the will of the people and is doomed to fail.
Q: After the state visit of President Xi Jinping to Spain this week, what is your comment on the current relations between China and Spain, both politically and diplomatically?
A: President Xi Jinping has just wrapped up his successful state visit to Spain. During this visit, President Xi Jinping met with King Felipe VI and held talks with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón. He also met with the entrepreneurs from the two sides and participated in a series of productive events.
This visit has elevated the China-Spain comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level. After the visit, the two sides issued a joint statement. According to the statement, the two sides will continue to cement and deepen practical cooperation across the board in jointly advancing the Belt and Road Initiative, promote China-Europe cooperation and enhance coordination and collaboration in international and regional affairs. I believe that this has sent out a very positive and strong signal to the outside world.
We are willing to work with Spain to follow through on the joint statement and scale our bilateral ties to a new height in the new era.
Q: According to a French media report, Russian, US, Chinese, and French cyber-security officials had a close-door meeting in Paris to discuss rules of conduct in cyberspace. Can you comment on this and give some details?
A: I'm not aware of this meeting you mentioned, and I can check on that for you later.
As a principle, cyberspace is a common space shared by mankind. The future of cyberspace should be in the hands of all nations. Countries should step up communication, broaden consensus and deepen cooperation to jointly build a community with a shared future in cyberspace.
China has always been building, upholding and contributing to cyberspace. We stand ready to join hands with the international community to deepen dialogue and cooperation and make contributions to building a peaceful, secure, open, cooperative and orderly cyberspace.
Q: The Trump administration is considering new background checks and other restrictions on Chinese students in the US over growing espionage concerns. How do you comment on that and will China do retaliatory steps in this sphere?
A: In fact, I think my reply to a previous question is also applicable here.
We are now living in an era of globalization. Any attempt to artificially sever people-to-people exchanges and create obstacles for the normal exchanges and cooperation between people of different countries will be unpopular and is doomed to fail.
When it comes to China and the US in particular, I shall say that the people-to-people exchanges and cooperation between China and the US are in the common interests of the two sides and in line with the shared aspirations of the two peoples. People-to-people exchanges also serve as the foundation to promote exchanges and cooperation in various fields between China and the US. We hope that the US will put this in perspective and vigorously promote the people-to-people exchanges and cooperation with China, so as to create better conditions for such exchanges and cooperation between the two sides rather than doing the opposite.
Q: US President Trump has suggested that he may be close to do some kind of deal on trade with China when he meets with President Xi. How does China view this prospect?
A: I have been taking similar questions at my press conferences these past few days. The Chinese side has been stressing that the economic and trade cooperation between China and the US is mutually beneficial and win-win in nature. Now the economic teams of the two sides are maintaining close contact to follow through on the consensus reached by the two heads of state at their telephone conversation on November 1. We hope the US side will show sincerity and meet China halfway so as to reach a mutually acceptable solution. Meanwhile, we also hope that with the concerted efforts of both sides, the upcoming meeting between the two heads of state in Argentina will achieve positive outcomes and chart a course for the development of China-US relations going forward.
Q: The Spokesperson of the US Pacific Fleet said that a US Navy ship conducted another freedom of navigation operation in the South China Sea on November 26. What's your comment?
A: On November 26, a US Navy ship trespassed into China's territorial waters off the Xisha Islands without approval. China immediately sent military vessels and aircraft to identify and verify the US warship in accordance with the law, and warned it off. The Chinese side has lodged solemn representations with the US side.
I shall point out that the relevant move of the US warship has violated the Chinese laws and relevant international laws, severely undermined China's sovereignty and put in jeopardy the peace, security and sound order in relevant waters. China firmly opposes the relevant action of the US side and urges it to immediately stop such provocation that infringes upon China's sovereignty and threatens China's security. China will continue to take necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and security.


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Lilacs at the Arnold Arboretum
How To Plant And Care For Lilacs
Lilacs grow best in full sun and well-drained soil. Lilacs grown in partial sun or shade will not flower well. The shrubs may take three to four years to establish themselves in a new site, but once established they can live for centuries. Soil pH (alkalinity or acidity of the soil) may affect the plant's growth. Lilacs do well in a slightly acid to alkaline soil. New England soils are often very acidic and may require some modification for best lilac growth.
To ensure abundant flowering, cut off all spent blossoms each year and prune the flowering stem back to a set of leaves, thus preventing seed formation. If this is not done, good flowering years may be followed by bad years. Since flower buds are formed the summer before they bloom, winter pruning will remove them.
Remove dead, damaged, or diseased branches. Tall, leggy, poorly flowering plants require renewal pruning; remove about one-third of the oldest stems at ground level each year for three years. This encourages growth of vigorous new stems from the base. By the end of three years the plant should be fully rejuvenated with blossoms once more at nose level.
Tough as lilacs are, they do need ample water. Aim for an inch of water a week, provided either by you or by nature.
In our area the most serious lilac problems are powdery mildew fungus (Microsphaera alni), lilac borer (Podosesia syringae) and scale (oyster-shell scale, Lepidosaphes ulmi and prunicola scale, Pseudaulacaspis prunicola). Powdery mildew looks like whitish patches dusting the leaves. It is unattractive but in our climate is rarely serious. Borers leave 1/8-inch holes in stems and larger branches, often one to two feet above ground level. A minor infestation might be ignored, but more than a few borers should be diagnosed and treated by a professional. Oyster-shell scale is aptly named, as the pests look like 1/8-inch oyster shells on the stems, while prunicola scale covers bark with a dusty white mass. Control adult scale by pruning heavily infested branches; control tiny young "crawlers" with a hard spray of water from a garden hose (use a hand lens to see scale). Dormant oil and summer oil are also effective.
Contact the Plant Information Hotline (617.384.5235) for specific advice on pest identification, control methods, altering your soil's pH, and more advice on growing lilacs.
Adapted from a brochure prepared by John H. Alexander III and Nan Blake Sinton, "Lilacs and the Arnold Arboretum," 1990.


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Where can you go in the United States to find delicious crab
cakes, an impressive harbor, and orioles—both kinds, with wings and with
baseball gloves?
If you know the answer to that, you probably knew the answer
to Friday's Name That Council test. Read on to find out if you got it right.
It's the Baltimore Area Council, based in
central Maryland. The council serves about 30,000 young people, making it among
the 20 largest in the country.
A bunch of you got it right, but the first correct respondent
was Mike Kinney, a cubmaster from
Arlington, Tex.
Check back with us Friday for the next Name That Council


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Our support pages help our customers get the most out of our products. Whether you wish to know more about Flash video, or need to check your system compatibility with our webcasts, you will find the answers here.
To use this support database, please choose a section to view from the links on the left.
We try to keep this resource stocked with useful information, however, if you cannot find the answer to your question please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.
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This page was last updated on 23/4/12


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The anthology series ROOM 104 will return for its 12-episode second season, debuting two episodes back-to-back, FRIDAY, NOV. 9 (11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, followed by two more new episodes subsequent Fridays at the same time. Same room. New season. From Executive Producers Mark and Jay Duplass, Room 104 season 2 premieres … [Read more...]
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Anthology series 'Room 104' returns Nov. 9 on HBO
October 1, 2018 by Lena Lamoray
Filed Under: News, Slider, TV, Videos Tagged With: Abby Ryder Fortson, Anita Kalathara, Brian Tyree Henry, Charlyne Yi, Dolly Wells, Frank Birney, Ginger Gonzaga, HBO, James Earl, Jay Duplass, Jennifer Lafleur, Joel Allen, Josephine Decker, Jud Williford, Judy Greer, Katie Aselton, Katya Zamolodchikov, Kent Osborne, Leonora Pitts, Mahershala Ali, mark Duplass, Mark Proksch, Marlene Forte, Mary Wiseman, Michael Shannon, Natalie Morales, Onur Tukel, Phil Matarese, Pia Shah, Rainn Wilson, Room 104, Sheaun McKinney, Stephanie Allynne, Tom Lenk, Zane Pais


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Some forums have titles for participants with different post counts and I thought that this could map reasonably well to the reputation system whereby different levels give you a different title. For example, you could have (these are Western themed for no reason whatsoever except to give an example):
0 = Out of towner
100 = New in town
1000 = Gunslinger
10000 = Regulator
100000 = Skeeter
I envisage that this would be shown either alongside your reputation in posts or instead of your reputation (maybe dependent on user preference).
Thoughts? Please discuss - I don't know if this is a good idea or not.


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Tuesday, January 08, 2008
That last sugar pumpkin... and some bright poppy seed muffins!
Today happened to be one of those days as Jeff asked for muffins this week, but didn't have any preference on what went in them. So I'll talk about these Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins today and we will get to the other "tropical" (hint hint!) ones tomorrow. This recipe produces a kind of cake-like muffin that is tender, yet fairly light and fluffy. It is a little more work as it uses the same method as making a cake where you cream together the butter and sugar, unlike other recipes that don't need a mixer and just use melted butter or oil.
I did depart from the recipe in couple ways - first, I decided to use half whole wheat pastry flour instead of completely all-purpose. I really like this combination as the muffins gain some nutrition without compromising the texture. The next was in regards to the lemon zest - we used the method we learned from Dorie Greenspan's newest book to rub the sugar and lemon zest together. This releases the bright fragrant oils from the zest into the sugar and intensifies the lemon flavor in the final product. You also have a couple options to top the muffins - you could keep the glaze on the thicker side and drizzle it on top of the cooled muffins to get more of a frosting effect or thin out the mixture a little and brush it on the warm well-crowned muffins. We opted for the latter, so the muffins could absorb some of the glaze and give an extra sweet burst of tangy lemon on the inside while leaving a light sugar-y crust on top. We didn't use all of the glaze during the first coat, so when they cooled, we brushed another layer on top for a more iced effect.
So we've had this 3 pound sugar pumpkin we originally bought for decoration around Thanksgiving looking at me daily screaming to be used for something. Since we already had enough mashed pumpkin in the freezer, I needed something different - while I was menu planning this weekend, I came across this Maple Roasted Pumpkin Salad recipe that I intended to make last fall and never got to.
After I hacked away at the pumpkin to get it cubed and cleaned up, we tossed the pieces with olive oil, crushed red pepper and some whole garlic cloves. This mixture goes into a fairly hot oven to roast until the pumpkin can be easily pierced with a fork. At this point, the garlic is plenty soft and needs to be removed - the pumpkin left behind is then sweetened up by a drizzle of pure maple syrup. As the cubes finish off, the sweet mellow garlic is mashed and made into a dressing consisting of fresh lime juice, Dijon mustard, a touch of maple syrup and the leftover olive oil. When the cubed pumpkin was ready, the glaze formed by the syrup made them quite sweet, but combined with the savory dressing and greens, we both thought the sweetness was needed to stand up to the other bold flavors. For the greens, the recipe called for using arugula - while we both like that peppery bite, it can be a little strong for Jeff, so we used half arugula and half baby spinach to tone it down. For a bit of crunch and salty contrast, this main-dish salad is finished off with a sprinkling of toasted pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds) and crumbled feta cheese.
5 comments:
The muffins is the same recipe as mine. I posted on it Oct. 29. I love that recipe. My two teenage boys rave about it. I have to keep a batch in the freezer for a quick breakfast in the morning.ReplyDelete
Gorgeous muffins! It's motivating me to go get some lemons and whip up a batch. Thanks for posting!ReplyDelete
love lemon-y foods.... even the word "lemon" just makes my mouth water right away.....ReplyDelete
tx for this one and I found some "nog"... gotta try the cheesecake slices now... hehe..
Joe, those muffins look fantastic - especially with the glaze! I'm bookmarking these - thanks. :)ReplyDelete
Helene - I might have to make another batch just to put in the freezer!ReplyDelete
Cookie baker - They are worth the effort.
Bumblevee - Woo! Lucky to find some nog this late in the season!
Elisabeth - Hope you get a chance to try them!


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How to shows the tier usage of devices in storage group?
symfast -sid 1234 list -association -demand -sg MySg
Shows the Tier usage of devices in MySG.
Related Questions
- symcfg -sid 1234 list -rdfg allList details about all the rdf groups in array.
- symcfg -sid 1234 list -rdfg 3List details about rdf group 3 .
- symcfg -sid 1234 list -rdfg all -dynamicList details about all the dynamic rdf groups in array .
- symcfg -sid 1234 list -rdfg all -staticList details about all the static rdf groups in array .
- symcfg -sid 198 list -rdfg 10 -rdfaShows the specific SRDF/A information about the rdf group 10.
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National Cholesterol Education Month a reminder to make healthy choices
SPRINGFIELD – How many times have you heard the phrase "know your numbers" when it comes to your health?
National Cholesterol Education Month in September serves as an important reminder for all adults to have their cholesterol measured through a simple fasting blood test, to know their cholesterol numbers and their risk for cardiovascular disease – such as age, gender and family history, none of which is in our power to change – and to follow a heart-healthy lifestyle to lower their risk and keep it down.
"We know from research that high cholesterol is one of the major risk factors for heart disease and that lowering your cholesterol can decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease," Dr. Timothy Egan, a non-invasive cardiologist in the Heart and Vascular Program at Baystate Medical Center, said.
Many risk factors contribute to having high or low cholesterol, including heredity, diet, lack of exercise, excess weight, age and sex, alcohol and stress levels. Also, racial and ethnic minorities, including African Americans and Hispanics, are at greater risk for developing high cholesterol.
Cholesterol is a waxy substance used in making the walls that surround cells and in making a number of hormones used in human metabolism. Some cholesterol comes from the liver and other cells in your body, other cholesterol comes from food. For some, high cholesterol is inherited, but many times it is the result of eating too many trans fats, saturated fats, and dietary cholesterol from animal products.
Cholesterol travels through our bloodstream with the aid of a lipoprotein, which is a combination of proteins and cholesterol. There are two types of cholesterol – LDL and HDL – determined by which one the lipoprotein carries. LDL stands for low-density lipoproteins, otherwise referred to as "bad cholesterol," which deposits cholesterol in the blood vessels, forming plaque and increasing one's risk of heart attack and stroke. HDL cholesterol stands for high-density lipoproteins, considered to be the "good" cholesterol, which remove cholesterol from plaque and out of the bloodstream through the liver.
According to Egan, when it comes to your cholesterol numbers, the National Cholesterol Education Program, launched by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) in 1985, recommends LDL goals of less than 160, or if you have two risk factors for cardiac disease then less than 130. For those with cardiac disease or diabetes, the optimal level is less than 100. HDL levels should be more than 40 or 50, and are mostly determined by genetics and lifestyle. HDL less than 40 is a risk factor for blood vessel disease, while HDL over 60 may reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Desirable total cholesterol numbers should be less than 200, with 240 considered high.
"Our goal is to first introduce lifestyle modifications as a way to lower cholesterol, unless a person has already had a heart attack and has high cholesterol. But, when diet and exercise fail, we turn to cholesterol medications," Egan said.
Egan noted the most common class of medications used to treat cholesterol are statins. These include Rosuvastatin (Crestor), atorvastatin (Lipitor), simvastatin, pravastatin, lovastatin, fluvastatin, and pitavastatin.
"Our decision to prescribe one statin over another is based on the potency, side effects, and cost to the patient," said Egan, who noted generic statins have been shown to be just as successful in lowering LDL.
According to the Baystate cardiologist, while some clinicians vary on when to begin screening for cholesterol, the National Cholesterol Education Program recommends beginning at age 20, while the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends at the age of 35 for men and 45 for women, all depending on the patient's general health and risk factors.
"While some may worry about possible side effects from statins, such as muscle and liver damage, they are uncommon and for most patients the benefits of medication far outweigh the risks," Egan said.
For more information on the Heart and Vascular Program, visit


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I rarely shoot high-key compositions but I am esthetically attracted to them so I decided to give it a try.
Christmas goes very well with white naturally, think of flaky snow, powdery sugar or shining icing; white is as much Christmas as it is red. Still, I wanted to keep the color palette pretty basic and so I tried to concentrate my effort on choosing something golden to shoot as hero. Sweets were unfortunately out of the question but the necessity to have almost exclusively white props pushed me to choose tea as my main subject.
This isn't so far fetched, few things can better fill the long dark winter afternoons than a warm steaming cup of tea enjoyed while watching people freezing outside in the streets. One specific variety of tea comes to my mind when I need to pamper myself and that is the milk oolong tea.
Its scent is rich, thick and buttery, the taste lives up to expectations with sweet overtones of vanilla but still maintaining the aromatic notes typical of oolong teas. All together seems to be sipping a cup of feathers while wrapped in a warm cozy embrace.
The idea for the photography composition came to me while sipping some coffee actually: tea, teacup, steam, snow and feathers where the only props I needed but to push the golden theme I decided to use a golden spoon and few Christmasy decorations.
Styling the shoot was quite simple; I used some gum-paste feathers I have in my prop stash that I dangled in midair using kitchen twine passed through a rattan tray. The background was simply created using wax-paper placed in front of a white cardboard and some fake snow completed the set.
The most delicate part was to get the feathers in a good position from the start since they are quite fragile, the use of my preparatory sketch was quite handy in doing this.
As tea I actually use some loose milk-oolong tea that I have in my pantry but I let it stand for a while and oxidize till it turned golden in color. To enhance the theme I suspended some golden flakes in the tea itself, they also add few more points of interest to the central area.
As concerning the lights, I placed my big home-made white-balanced light on the left between 8 and 9 hours. A big silver bouncer was placed on the right completed by a little fill_light placed around 5 o'clock aimed low to lighten the dark side of the teacup and saucer. To ensure I didn't loose any light I placed a silver bouncer on the rattan tray so to bounce light back down into the composition.
To control the specular highlight in the spoon, I placed a sugar cube on it (thanks again to Jenn for suggesting this to me since I don't normally use sugar in my tea).
The most difficult part of the whole project was to stick some sparkling golden stars in the background where they would look right without damaging the feathers (or dropping them into the teacup).
As concerning the camera setting I went for a mid-depth f-stop of 6.3 on a 50mm lens, so to have the stars out of focus, and an ISO of 200.
The post processing consisted mostly on balancing the exposure in light and white balance, push up the clarity to get nice contrast in the details and blend in a larger f-stop exposure to bring back some sparkles into the stars.
While I was at it I couldn't help myself but shoot a composition using the steeped whole tea leaves and an array of white props: teapot, sugar cubes and a little dish.


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by Sarahabijo
Weeping Angel Girl Costume Photo 5 of 10
Rate this costume:
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|Costume type:
|Costumes for Girls
This homemade costume for girls entered our 2014 Halloween Costume Contest.
A word from Deirdre, the 'Weeping Angel' costume creator:
How Lauren became a Weeping Angel (with a LITTLE bit of work!) One fine day at the end of September, my 10 year old daughter Lauren finally decided what she'd like to dress up as, this... Read more »
Similar costumes:


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WHEATON – When she was in elementary school, Kasia Szremski went with her family to see an exhibit of Pre-Columbian works at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Her grandmother studied archaeology in college, and while the rest of her family wandered off, bored, Kasia became enraptured with the ancient cultures and the information about them her grandmother shared.
From that day on, the future archaeologist was hooked.
"Essentially, I am paid to go to exotic locations and play in the dirt," she said. "Beyond that, I love the challenge of it – trying to figure out a giant puzzle, trying to reconstruct a society by what they left behind."
The former Wheaton North High School and Illinois Math and Science Academy student is a doctoral candidate at Vanderbilt University. She is completing fieldwork in Sayan and Lima, Peru, trying to understand how local populations coexisted peacefully while sharing resources between 1000 and 1470 A.D. and sharing her findings with the local population.
"Unlike other civilizations in the area, in the Huanangue Valley where I am, things were pretty peaceful between the groups, and I'm trying to figure out why," she said. "They were working together to use their resources, whereas other places had much more violence and struggle for control."
Exploring how people from different backgrounds were forced together and still able to cooperate can teach lessons today, she said. For Szremski, the work is a study in power and diplomacy.
During her time in the impoverished Sayan area, Kasia has faced everything from life-threatening altitude sickness to tarantulas, pumas and vipers to quicksand and mudslides.
She once was forced to build a bridge out of a pair of large logs and some string over a raging river to get herself and a group of students to safety. While she was testing it, part of the wood broke out from under her, and she nearly fell in.
In another incident, she had to be led to safety by a woman on a goat path as mudslide water ran around her.
"That was pretty much the most 'Indiana Jones' I've ever felt," she said.
Her mother, Kristin Szremski, is proud of all her daughter has accomplished.
"Some of the things that kid has done is amazing, but I'm glad I didn't know about some of them at the time," she said.
Now, Kasia Szremski faces another challenge: funding.
She expects to finish her doctoral dissertation by May 2014, but needs to conduct a soil analysis of the area to see where and when different crops were grown to add further insight about how resources were shared.
With a July 30 deadline looming, she needs less than $7,000 to for the extensive research. To raise the money, she is crowdsourcing the funds at scientific research fundraising site Microryza.
"The past has a lot to teach us," she said. "I know that a lot of people perhaps disagree, but the majority of the problems we are facing today are not new problems. I think it's important to look to the past. What we can learn can be helpful for understanding the problems we're facing."


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KV: How long have you been agenting, and how did you get into it?
JE: I started at Liza Dawson Associates two years ago, but I first heard about literary agenting as a sophomore in college when I was looking for editorial internships. Until then, I had no idea such an awesome job even existed. Once I found out, I was hooked and I interned throughout college, holding positions at Random House and various literary agencies. As soon as I graduated, I joined LDA full-time.
KV: How would you summarize your personal agenting philosophy? What do you expect from an agent-author relationship?
JE: I'd like to reference Avatar, if I may. When an author and agent decide to work together, I like to think of it as forming a bond of tsaheylu. I sign only those authors whose projects I absolutely adore, and inevitably, we hit it off right away. We discover we're on the same wavelength; we share the same vision for the project; we "get" it. We're a team now and both parties are going to do whatever it takes to get the work published and help him or her grow as an author. So yeah, tsaheylu. I'm the six-legged horse to your blue giant.
KV: What genres do you represent? What genres do you definitely NOT represent?
JE: I'm looking for literary fiction, thrillers, urban fantasy, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, and the whole gamut of YA, from sci-fi to contemporary. I'm also interested in middle grades with heart and perhaps just a touch of magic, like WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead.
Right now, I'm not actively seeking nonfiction projects, though that could change...
KV: What query pet peeves and/or pitfalls should writers avoid when querying you?
JE: The only pet peeve that comes to mind is when a query starts off with a question like, "Have you ever wondered what would happen if ___?" The plot could be brilliant, but for some reason, phrasing it in a rhetorical question makes it sound oversimplified and silly.
KV: You only want to see the query letter in a writer's initial contact, but several respected industry sites have advised writers to include a few sample pages at the bottom of every query, whether the agent asked for them or not. So if a writer goes ahead and adds those pages, do you find that more assertive or obnoxious?
JE: Neither. I just assume it means the author didn't check our website guidelines. It doesn't really bother me, though. I'll give it a quick look-see if you insist!
KV: What are you looking for in a manuscript right now? What are you tired of seeing at the moment?
JE: If I had a genie, I'd probably use up a wish to get a snappy, witty manuscript with a bullet-fast plot, something like Josh Bazell's BEAT THE REAPER. In literary fiction, the plot doesn't have to move at breakneck speeds, but there should definitely still be a plot and a fresh voice, like
I'd also love a middle grade that isn't afraid to delve into the issues of death, divorce, abandonment, sickness, or racism. I know that sounds awfully morbid, but there's a way to address these topics without being too depressing. I already mentioned WHEN YOU REACH ME by Rebecca Stead, but other titles that tackle those issues poignantly are DEAR GEORGE CLOONEY, PLEASE MARRY MY MOM by Susin Nielsen-Fernlund, the classic WALK TWO MOONS by Sharon Creech, and my childhood favorite MAMA LET'S DANCE by Patricia Hermes. They're humorous and have a whole lot of heart.
As for what type of story I'm shying away from, I don't think purely fantasy or adventure middle grades are my cup of tea.
KV: What's the best way to query you?
JE: Shoot me an e-mail at email@example.com. Looking forward to hearing from you!
And we're looking forward to hearing from you, too, blog readers! If you have a question for Ms. Engracia, feel free to leave it in the comments below. She'll drop in later this evening or sometime tomorrow to answer any questions she finds down there, leaving her answers in the comments, too.
You have until midnight tonight to leave your questions, so until then, ask away!
P.S. Don't forget to wish Ms. Engracia a happy birthday. And Ms. Engracia, extra special thanks to you for spending your big day with us:)


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There's an interesting controversy brewing in the Carolinas.
Advocates in North and South Carolina are fighting to have a region made up of 58 counties recognized as a national heritage area, specifically focusing on the contributions made by the Carolinas during the American Revolution.
The national heritage designation is a way to celebrate, protect and preserve what makes a region unique and can be used as a tool for tourism.
Examples of places with a national heritage designation include the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area and Iowa's Silo and Smokestacks National Heritage Area.
Sounds like a good idea to me. So what's the problem?
A recent National Park Service study was completed, and the counties were told they did not meet the necessary criteria for the designation.
In the published results, one of the reasons cited was that there is a lack of distinctive cultural traditions in North and South Carolina from the 18th century that have carried over into today's everyday life. These distinctive characteristics must be readily apparent to an outside observer.
What, I wonder, would constitute a readily apparent and distinctive cultural tradition from the eighteenth century? Knee breeches? Smallpox inoculation?


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This class is designed for those who only have an hour in the morning to fit in their yoga practice. It is a fully balanced heated class which includes asana warm-up, setting of intention, surya namaskar, standing poses, backbends, forward bends, twists, inversions, meditation and relaxation. In this class I focus more on keeping the pace moving more than offering spiritual discourse or dharma.
- This event has passed.
8am PowerFlow 60 minute HOT practice
December 4, 2019 @ 8:00 am - 9:00 am
|Recurring Event (See all)
Every week until December 18, 2019


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- Reviews
- Add Review
Customer Reviews
Displaying reviews 1-10 (of 943)
***Note: Some of these reviews may be from our recently upgraded Cloak Tuck 3.0 IWB holster.
- comfy, good build quality, holding up well so far Review by Matt
Quality Price Value
Have recommended AG to other friends and coworkers. (Posted on 6/28/2020)
- Great Holster Review by archer63bj
Quality Price Value
- Tuck 3.0 Review by Javan
Quality Price Value
The only draw back I have found is that the trim stitched around the edging of the holster. Both ends of the material meet directly in line with the muzzle, and that location is a rub point. This causes irritation on my upper thigh/lower butt cheek. (This is a recent development...)
All in all, as I mentioned. It has become my go to as long as I find a fix for the rubbing. (Posted on 6/8/2020)
- Great product Review by HAS
Quality Price Value
- Plastic "step defects" Caught Trigger Guard Review by Bob
Quality Price Value
- Great Review by Shifu Cleroy
Quality Price Value
- Fantastic Holster Review by Bill
Quality Price Value
- A little disappointed... Review by Michael
Quality Price Value
This particular holster was for a Springfield Armory XD-S with a CT Laser. The holster backing seems top top notch. Given, I've only wore it twice, but it's comfortable. My gripe is with the shell. The holster comes with different spacers and screws which i know can come in handy if you change shells, but it didn't even come assembled with the spacers i needed for the gun i purchased it for.. The gun was about 1/4 of an inch too wide for how it shipped. No problem, I can swap them out. Then i find that the gun doesn't quite fit as well as one would hope. Well, the kydex on the muzzle end seemed to interfere with the guide rod and muzzle just enough to not 'snap' into place. Looking on the inside of the shell, it looked like there were grooves for where the material should have been removed. I got out a file and made as many passes as it took to relieve enough material to let the gun seat properly. This was not hard, but just not something i should have to do. It cleared was not run through any quality control since you couldn't even put a gun in the holster how it shipped.
Last gripe i with the belt clips. Yes, they strongly hold the gun in place, but you need to take 5 minutes to put it on and take it off because they are so still. I'll have to see if they have any metal clips that might be a little more friendly. Not sure if I'd buy this holster again. (Posted on 3/28/2020)
- The best quality and customer service Review by Dave
Quality Price Value
Alien Gear really stands behind their product.
So much so that, I ordered a 2nd holster for my 1911
Im one very impressed customer. I will be a customer for life.
Side note: The operator that fixed my problem......GREAT ATTITUDE VERY FRIENDLY.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK (Posted on 3/24/2020)
- Great holster! Great customer service! Review by Carter
Quality Price Value
I find that it is extremely comfortable to wear all day and in all weather conditions. The range of customization allows the holster to have a tailored fit for your body type for maximum comfort and versatility. It holds the gun as tight or as loose as you want it The neoprene backing helps keep the holster cool and comfortable.
The company. Long story short I had an issue with the screws backing out and losing a few washer and spacers. (This was due to me not following the included instructions.) I was able to call Aliengear and talk to a real person about my issue. Not only was I able to get the extra pieces I needed, but they also sent them to me for no charge and did so with no hassle. In a time where a good American made product with good customer service is a hard thing to find, Aliengear shines like a diamond in the rough. I would highly recommend this company to anyone looking for any type of holster (Posted on 3/23/2020)
Displaying reviews 1-10 (of 943) | Back to top


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Journal Editor Resources
Cite-checking can indeed be trying. Where do I start? What do I check? Begin with this guide for journal editors to organize the task ahead of you.
Your liaison for cite-checking is Merle Slyhoff, Collection Development/Document Delivery Services Librarian. She will help you resolve your problem, or direct you to the appropriate person. She can be contacted in person in T-212, by email at email@example.com, or via phone at 215-898-9013. If not available, or busy helping other editors, feel free to stop by the reference desk for assistance.


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This week is the annual recognition of some of the oceans' cutest residents, sea otters!
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Sea Otter Awareness Week, here are ten fun facts about these incredible animals:
- Sea otters sleep, eat, hunt, mate and give birth in the water! They'll oftentimes use kelp or giant seaweed to anchor themselves nicely in groups.
- Their dense, water-repellent fur keep sea otters dry and warm!
- Sea otters hunt for their food on the seafloor, but always return to the surface when it's time to eat.
- Floating on their backs, otters will oftentimes use their chests as tables. If the meal of the day is a mollusk or crab, the ever-resourceful otter will also use a rock to crack open its prey!
- Sea otter coats have "pockets!" They've been observed using the flaps of skin found under each front leg to stash prey during their dives.
- Sea otters can reach up to 4 feet in length!
- The average life span of a sea otter is 23 years.
- Sea otters are meticulously clean animals. They spend hours grooming their fur everyday!
- Considered a keystone species, sea otters are critically important to the health of coastline marine ecosystems! They prey upon sea urchins and other invertebrates that destructively graze on giant kelp. Kelp forests are home to a wide diversity of animals, help protect coastlines from storm surge and absorb vast amounts of carbon dioxide!
- Because they were regularly hunted for their fur, sea otters were in serious danger of extinction in the early 20th century – only approximately 2,000 were left in the wild. Their numbers have jumped up since being granted protection as an endangered species.
Help us celebrate Sea Otter Awareness Week by sharing your favorite otter fact in the comments section!


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How We're Helping Our Heroes Get Hired
The Department of Labor Veterans' Employment and Training Service works daily to make sure that those who serve have the employment support they need when they transition back into civilian life. Here are three ways we're getting veterans back to work:
1. Transition Training
As a component of the Transition Assistance Program, or TAP, the Labor Department provides a mandatory three-day employment workshop, as well as an optional two-day Career Technical Training Track curriculum focused on licensing, credentialing and apprenticeship programs that lead to well-paying civilian jobs and meaningful careers. During the 2016 fiscal year, the department hosted over 6,300 employment workshops worldwide for over 184,000 participants.
To keep this content current, VETS has conducted a comprehensive review of both courses using input from employers, veteran service organizations and other stakeholders who have unique perspectives and expertise with veterans employment. The revised curriculum will be taught beginning in 2018.
2. Support for Regional Hiring Events
Since June 2015, more than 860,000 veterans have used our American Job Centers to find employment resources – and we also bring assistance to them by participating in numerous hiring events around the country every year.
For example, VETS recently coordinated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation and all six New England state employment workforce agencies for a veterans hiring event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. More than 120 local, regional and national businesses with vacancies gathered to conduct on-site job interviews with job-seeking veterans. State workforce agencies and volunteer career coaches were also available to help job seekers develop an elevator pitch, sharpen interview skills and create a more effective resume.
Veterans chat with employers during a hiring event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on July 19, 2017. More than 120 local, regional and national businesses gathered to collect resumes and conduct interviews.
"There were a lot of very professional companies at this job fair that obviously appreciate the soft skills and values veterans have to offer, such as duty and loyalty," said one participant, an Army veteran. "I thought that the organizers and state employment workforce agencies did an excellent job connecting veterans with employers who had great jobs to fill."
Events like these help keep the veteran unemployment rate low. In June 2017, the veteran unemployment rate was 3.7 percent, down from 4.2 percent last June, making it the lowest June rate since 2007.
3. Getting Veterans Licensed to Work
The Department of Labor last year released a toolkit for states detailing ways to streamline professional licensing and credentialing for veterans and transitioning service members. The toolkit identifies common barriers, describes strategies for overcoming them, and provides a blueprint that can help states accelerate veterans' licensing and certification.
The toolkit's resources can help states navigate common challenges in implementing policies to overcome the complexity of state licensure and third-party certification systems for veterans.
This week and always, we honor our heroes by giving them the tools they need to get back on track towards a successful civilian career. Learn more at www.veterans.gov.
Joe Versen is a press officer in the Office of Public Affairs.


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Audit sought in $11M out-of-state donation for Calif. initiatives
Contribution received last week
California's Fair Political Practices Commission filed a lawsuit on Thursday, demanding campaign donor information from an Arizona-based nonprofit organization that's contributed $11 million to influence California's elections.
"It is undermining democracy," Ann Ravel told KCRA 3.
Ravel, the chair of the FPPC, said, "The contribution is extremely large and obviously intended to influence the electorate in California."
"My view is the electorate, the people of this state, have a right to know before an election who is contributing," Ravel told KCRA 3.
The FPPC is seeking a preliminary injunction against Americans for Responsible Leadership, the Arizona group that donated the money to the Small Business Action Committee, a California-based political action committee.
The SBAC is funneling the money to two different California campaigns.
Some of the money is directed to the "No on 30" campaign, which is opposed to Gov. Jerry Brown's $6 million tax-hike proposal.
The rest of the $11 million will be spent on the "Yes on 32" campaign, which would prohibit labor unions from deducting money from members' paychecks for political causes they don't support.
Beth Miller, a spokeswoman for the Small Business Action Committee, told KCRA 3, "We are simply a recipient of the money."
"Our attorneys sort of vetted them, found that they were a bona-fide organization," Miller told KCRA 3.
"And we accepted their donations. In turn, we advised them of their filing responsibilities with the Fair Political Practices Commission, " Miller said.
The Small Business Action Committee is not a party to the lawsuit filed by the Fair Political Practices Commission.
In court on Thursday, the FPPC's Gary Winuk said, "Each day brings more public harm and less public knowledge of this contribution before the election."
Americans for Responsible Leadership claimed the FPPC had no authority to audit its books.
"This group has First Amendment rights," said Bradley Benbrook, a California attorney representing ARL in court.
Judge Barry Loncke ordered ARL to submit legal motions by Monday and to be in court next Tuesday, Oct. 30. The court is expected to rule then on whether California can compel the group to hand over its records and reveal its donors.
KCRA 3 asked ARL's attorney to identify who the group's donors really are.
"We're going to let out papers speak for themselves, thank you," Benbrook said.
The FPPC's action was initiated by a complaint from California Common Cause, a group that monitors campaign finance.
"We don't want any mysterious group coming from out of state and dropping huge sums of money without letting Californians know who is behind that," said Phillip Ung of Common Cause.
"And so it does look like an attempt to either launder or hide the money from an out-of-state nonprofit," Ung told KCRA 3.


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The average amount of time people sleep each night varies from race to race, according to a study of 500 Chicago-area adults by Northwestern Medicine in Chicago.
Whites sleep the most, followed by Asians and Hispanics. Blacks sleep the least.
The study also said that blacks have the worst quality of sleep, while Asians have the highest amount of daytime sleepiness.
The study is more accurate than its predecessors, said Mercedes Carnethon, associate professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, because it used randomly selected participants whose sleep was tracked by wrist monitors instead of self-reporting.
Race is a factor, said the study, despite gender, age, education level and whether or not the participants had cardiovascular disease risk or depressive symptoms (depression or anxiety).
The average length of nighttime sleep was 7.4 hours for whites, 6.9 for Asians and Hispanics and 6.8 for blacks.
The study excluded people with sleep disorders.
The monitors recorded movement associated with sleeping. Participants wore them for seven days.
Carnethon's to-do list includes following the participants from this study long-term and conducting additional studies that weigh other demographic variables such as type of housing, neighborhood density, household size, marital status, job stress and income.
"This has public health implications," said Carnethon. "Depending on where people of different races live, they are affected by things like ambulance sirens, public transit schedules and outdoor lighting."
Americans get less sleep than they did 10 years ago, said Carnethon, although there is scant credible data before that.
"Dual careers, more stress, longer working hours, irregular bed times — these all affect our sleep," she said.
Sleep deprivation can cause delayed reaction time, which can cause car accidents. It affects metabolism and eating patterns, which can lead to obesity and other health problems.
Adults should get seven to nine hours of sleep each night, said Carnethon, "but it tends to lessen as we age."
Adolescents should get eight to nine hours, while pregnant women should get nine to 10.
"If a healthy adult sleeps more than nine hours a night, it may indicate a health problem," she said.
People can increase their sleep time, said Carnethon, by going to bed at the same time each night and avoiding "screen time" with computers and televisions right before they go to bed.
"Yes, you can catch up on sleep on weekends and rebound if you get too little sleep during the week," she said. "But do we really want a truck driver operating on three hours a night?"


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Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Blendover Episode One Hundred and Three:
Blendover is looking for a new permanent co-host – let us know if you're interested!
Ryan Miller joins in on bitching about Game Of Thrones spoilers across the web. Affluenza Kid is back in the news, & Google Glass is available for one day only. Later, we return to Nirvana news, and try to work out WTF is going on with Tim Lambesis and As I Lay Dying.
Topics Discussed:
- Shout-Outs
- Game Of Thrones Spoiler Trolls – April 2014
- The Affluenza Meme: The Case of Ethan Couch
- Google Glass
- A New Day
- Nirvana
- As I Lay Dying
BlendoveR is a fun, hard-hitting podcast where rules are regularly thrown out the window in favor of honest, open commentating opinions. Presented by Greg Davies (cGt2099 from The-TrukstoP.com), and Terr Ciavarra (Media Nox from medianox.bandcamp.com), we stray on to any topic that presents itself or wanders off onto its own tangent.
Game Of Thrones Spoiler Trolls – April 2014
Google's Game of Thrones spoilers are what's trending
I Didn't Watch Game Of Thrones & Today I'm Paying The Price
What is it with people and Game of Thrones spoilers today?
The Affluenza Meme: The Case of Ethan Couch
Affluenza teen's family won't pay full rehab fee
Affluenza teen's parents to pay only 5% of treatment costs at state hospital: judge
Crash survivor family to seek civil trial for Ethan Couch family
Editorial: In tale of two teens, we'll go with Lucas McConnell over Ethan Couch
Parents of Texas 'affluenza' teen to pay part of state treatment
Taxpayers to foot the bill for affluenza teen's treatment
Google Glass
Become a Glass Explorer on Tues April 15
Google Glass available to anyone for one day only
Google Glass Available to Anyone in U.S. — for One Day Only
Will You Buy Google Glass Tomorrow?
A New Day
Kurt Cobain and Nirvana
Inside Nirvana's Secret Post-Rock Hall Show
Listening to In Utero on the 20th Anniversary of Kurt Cobain's Death
Nirvana & Friends Fill It Up at Brooklyn's Saint Vitus Bar
Nirvana & guests played Saint Vitus after Barclays Center! (video, pics, setlist)
Nirvana inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
As I Lay Dying
AS I LAY DYING 'Is Sleeping Rather Than Dead'
AS I LAY DYING Members Are Working On New Music Without Tim Lambesis
AS I LAY DYING Members Imply Earlier Statement Was Written Solely By TIM LAMBESIS
Music Featured:
- "Boyfriend" by A New Day available online at the official A NEW DAY BandCamp page


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A funeral is more than a single day in a lifetime…it is a lifetime in a single day
~ Hugs from the Heart ~
For those unable to attend a service due to the pandemic restrictions, Heckart Funeral Home is offering "Hugs from the Heart." Extended family and friends can submit a message of sympathy to firstname.lastname@example.com (please include your loved one's name). We will hand-write your note and attach it to a balloon which will be displayed at the service. The family will be able to see the love and support that surrounds them in their time of loss and know that you are with them in spirit.
Heckart Funeral Home and Cremation Services has served Sedalia, MO area families with dedication and professionalism as well as kindness and compassion since 1918. The goal of every member of our funeral home staff is to provide a warm, comfortable environment where families may say good-bye to their loved one, with the respect that they deserve.
We offer personalized, affordable funeral services, pre-arrangement options, traditional funeral services, and cremation services, enabling families to memorialize their loved one.
Our handicapped accessible facilities offer spacious and comfortable family rooms, children's rooms, and an up-to-date funeral merchandising room.
Within moments of entering the funeral home, families know they have made the right decision. Whether pre-planning, making funeral arrangements, considering a granite monument, or simply taking a tour, we are here to graciously respect your wishes and make you feel "at home." We are very proud of our tradition, and we pledge to continue our commitment to families far into the future.


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A number of banks have been recognized as the best small business lenders in the country by BankingGrades, a website that provides grades for banks on their commitment to small business lending. The site is operated by MultiFunding, a small business advisory firm. "One of the biggest challenges that small businesses face is access to capital," says Ami Kassar, CEO of MultiFunding. "Our grading system and website helps small business owners find local banks that are friends of small business – Banking Grades (www.bankinggrades.com)."
BankingGrades is a proprietary online tool that grades every bank on its commitment to small business lending. Using public data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Banking Grades compares the amount of a bank's deposits to the number of loans that bank has made to small businesses. These loans are $1,000,000 or less. "This is a very objective grade. It's all about the data. Based on their lending record, the banks have shown that they are committed to helping small business. They are making loans to small businesses," explains Kassar.
The best small business banks in Austin are:


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FWIW, the ninjustu folks have yet another way to step - presumably so as not to make noise. Again... come by some time. I have a student who can show you.
Well, that is great news, Bill. Either it is Jason or Crystal. If Crystal is back in class, welcome back, Crystal. She is the only one I know of in our class who has had a fair amount of time in Ninjutsu training. Did Jason train in this also?
Could you have her/him show the class that quiet stepping one day? I would love to learn that if it is more stealth than what we do.
...if you are back, Crystal, hope your training is going well with Bill. That is a win/win situation for both of you, I'm sure. You can finally get back to training and he can get you to start the children's class.


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McDonald's announced Tuesday its highly anticipated decision to serve breakfast all day at all U.S. locations starting this fall.
According to CNBC, McDonald's franchisees voted to approve all-day breakfast at the fast food chain's 14,300 U.S. restaurants on Tuesday. Starting Oct. 6, patrons can order Egg McMuffins and other breakfast items at any time of the day.
The Oak Brook, Illinois-based company tweeted about the decision Tuesday afternoon using the hashtag #AllDayBreakfast and responding to customers' queries about extending the chain's breakfast hours. McDonald's even responded to a tweet from 2007 that said, "Mcdonalds should serve breakfast 24/7."
U.S. & World
McDonald's began testing all-day breakfast in March in the San Diego market. The test was expected to expand to Nashville this summer.
"Serving all-day breakfast is likely the number one request we hear from McDonald's customers," the company told NBC Chicago in a statement in July.
McDonald's breakfast currently ends at 10:30 a.m. in most markets.
The chain has long been the fast-food leader in the mornings, with its popular Sausage Biscuits, Hotcakes and other items pulling in roughly 20 percent of the company's U.S. sales. But McDonald's has faced stiffer competition in recent years, with competitors such as Starbucks and Subway rolling out breakfast sandwiches as well.


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