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THE RECIPES: Mrs. O'Callaghan's Soda Bread; Broiled Oysters with Garlic Breadcrumbs; Traditional Wholemeal Bread; and Fallon & Byrne Soda Bread
Chasing a memory is usually a losing battle. But i couldn't help it. I wasn't planning this cross-country odyssey for the perfect slice of brown soda bread; it just turned out that way. So here I am, in the west of Ireland, at a breakfast table in the small, family-run hotel I first came to more than 20 years ago. I'm looking out the window to the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands beyond, but my mind is on more immediate concerns. I'm waiting for the waitress to return carrying that silver tray loaded with Mrs. O'Callaghan's brown soda bread.
Looking back, how I got here now seems inevitable.
I spend more than a little time in Dublin—my partner is Irish and we have kids, so we go back often. We have a house there. I love it, yet I hardly ever relax; rarely does it feel completely like home. And when it does, it's usually around the table. I've been told that I never look more at ease than when I'm slathering some Kerrygold butter onto a piece of Irish brown soda bread. Maybe it's the whole comfort food thing—or maybe it's something a bit deeper.
Whatever it is, one thing is certain: Finding authentic brown soda bread in Ireland is becoming increasingly difficult to do. More and more, nuts and seeds and God-knows-what-else are finding their way into the mix and changing the traditional recipes. But I'm having none of it. I like my soda bread the old-fashioned way—firm, a little crumbly, and with that slightly sweet aftertaste that lets you know there's baking soda in there.
Many of my Dublin friends claim that Fallon & Byrne, the gourmet food purveyor on Exchequer Street, has the best traditional soda bread in the city. And it's easy to see why. It has a golden color and spongy firmness to it. Pastry chef Oliver Gardner confirms that the formula has stayed the same for years. "We mess around with the other recipes, but this one—never. It has a meaty taste people like."
And it does, but it's still not quite what I'm looking for. It's missing something, a delicacy, maybe, that rests just below the surface of the bread I remember. I head over a few blocks to Avoca, on Suffolk Street. Avoca started as a weavers' retail shop that years ago began serving tea and coffee to its customers as a way of keeping them around. Since then, their cafés have grown into big business.
Green-eyed Dublin native Janette Dowdall wears her blonde hair tucked up under her white cap. She's been a chef for more than a quarter century and a professional baker at Avoca for the past five years. "Bread is really soothing to make; it's therapeutic. It sounds silly, but I like to think of the people who are going to eat it while I prepare it."
There's an artisanal rusticity to this bread—it is robust, dense, and delicious. "I like it hot out of the oven with loads of butter," Janette confesses. "A bowl of leek and potato soup and you're laughin'." I mention the countrified quality of the bread, and Janette nods. "Sure, everything's organic to a place. The bread has a real local feel. It's nice in the west for that reason."
Janette's last comment lingers in my mind. The west of Ireland was where I fell in love, with both the country and a woman. And it still retains that authentic quality so many of us picture when we think of Ireland—the endless shades of green, the stone fences, the narrow winding lanes.
And suddenly I'm on the road, chasing the sun toward Kilcolgan, in County Galway. I'm thinking of a place I found once—the way you find so many of the best places in Ireland—by accident. I'm about to give up and then I make a hard left turn down a hedge-bound lane and the road opens, a weir asserts itself on my left, and there's the thatch-roofed house I'm looking for—Moran's Oyster Cottage.
Vincent Graham, who comes from "just out the road," where his father was a farmer, has been at Moran's for 31 years, and together with his wife, Eileen, has been running the place for the past six. After a dozen broiled oysters with garlic and a few slices of Eileen's mother's fluffy, moist recipe out on the picnic tables overlooking the weir, it's easy to see why they go through more than a hundred loaves in a day. Theirs, too, is a recipe not to be messed with. "Sometimes people try and do too much with it," Vincent tells me. "They tweak it in some way and then you taste it and think, 'What the hell's wrong with the brown bread?' It's best kept simple." And then Vincent puts his finger on it: "Let's face it—everyone likes the brown bread they grew up on, the one their mother made."
And in that instant I know where I need to go. Down through Kinvarra and Ballyvaughn, and along the coast road that skirts the Burren. My circuitous route to Ballinalacken Castle Country House & Restaurant reminds me of the old Irish saying, "The longest way round is often the shortest way home." It's taken me across the country and 20 years, but I've come back to where I first tasted Irish brown soda bread, fresh from Mrs. O'Callaghan's oven.
A tiny, still-elegant woman with red hair, Mary O'Callaghan has been baking her mother's recipe for brown soda bread through 45 years of marriage and 12 grandchildren. "It takes me five minutes now to make. I like it with just some butter and a bit of the marmalade we get right in Doolin. Or it's lovely with a slice of salmon for lunch." Mary made all five of her children's wedding cakes and did all the baking for the hotel, but now, it's just the brown bread. She leans close. Her hazel eyes are dancing. "Denis likes it," she whispers. And it's easy to see what wowed her husband 45 years earlier, when Mary's mother was Denis's teacher at school.
And now the waitress returns and places the silver tray with four slices of Mrs. O'Callaghan's soda bread down on the table. It's paler than others I've tasted lately, and the crust crumbles slightly under the pressure of my butter knife. When I lift it to taste, I realize just how unfair of me it's been to have tried to find a replacement for this bread. Others may prefer the spongy texture at Fallon & Byrne (get the recipe), or the sophisticated peasantry of Avoca's well-crafted loaf, or the moist fluffiness at Moran's (get the recipe). But this is the taste—it's the one I know in my bones, the one I've been looking for without knowing I was looking. There's a firmness to its texture, but there's an elasticity as well. It's coarse, but there's a surprising softness—a gentleness to its taste. And it has that telltale sweetness that lingers.
THE RECIPES: Mrs. O'Callaghan's Soda Bread; Broiled Oysters with Garlic Breadcrumbs; Traditional Wholemeal Bread; and Fallon & Byrne Soda Bread


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I promise that our whole little world doesn't revolve around cows. It just seems like it. In the past week, we dressed up like cows, watched a Curious George with a cow, and sung the "cow song" many times (see below for lyrics).
And now, Noelle also has a new cow shirt.
It's made from more of that iron-on t-shirt vinyl. That stuff is pretty awesome.
Cow Song
I had a cow down on the farm.
Moo moo moo moo!
She gave milk without alarm.
Moo moo moo moo!
One time, she drank from a frozen stream.
Moo moo moo moo!
And ever since then, she's been giving ice cream.
Moo moo moo moo!!!

subset: commoncrawl


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MOH confirms third botched circumcision case, might suspend doctors and clinics involvedShared by:
Malaysia's MOH has confirmed of the third case of botched circumcision involving a 10-year-old boy who was circumcised in a mass circumcision ceremony in November. It also said that it might suspend the medical licences of the doctors and clinics related to the previous two cases.
10 Jan 2017 - General


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|from bluepueblo.tumblr.com
I can't believe it's already May. Yes, I came back from Shanghai and disappeared - to San Francisco. Life since January has been a complete whirlwind and I've barely had time to stop and take a breath. I pretty much got off that airplane running - had an interview the morning after I arrived home, went up to San Francisco that weekend, got a job, and moved up here.
Anyway. Now I'm living in San Francisco, sitting at a Starbucks in Pac Heights actually logged into my blog for the first time in 5 months because I lost my keys and am waiting for my landlord to get home. (By the way, yes it's foggy, windy, and cold outside.) I've been too busy writing blog posts for work to really pay any attention to my own. Horrible, I know, and sorry guys! I know I should update much more (I feel a little guilty every time I glance at Blogger in my bookmarks bar), especially since life in SF really is so much different than LA, Paris, or Shanghai. By the time I get home every night and finish writing for all my deadlines, I'm completely pooped. Well, I'm going to start this up again and tell you guys about my grown-up working life in The City. More adventures to come, promise!


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Ahead of the football fiesta kicking off in France tonight, PUMA has released its King Top in four special edition colourways. The longest serving boot in football gets a special Gallic makeover, inspired by the colours and culture of four of the cities hosting matches over the next month.
A Parisian version has a traditional navy blue colourway with white formstrip in homage to the flamboyant French capital. The Bordeaux city King Top is an elegant 'Bordeaux', inspired by the colours of this famous wine region. Lyon, a city famous for its ancient history and heritage is represented through the cream and light blue colours that define it; and the Marseille King Top stands out in the blue and silver colours that adorn the coat of arms of this Mediterranean French city.
The King top is a professional football boot used on firm natural surfaces. The thin, lightweight premium leather offer the player a glove light fit to maximise comfort and ball control, and prolong the life of the boot. Stability and reactivity are enabled from a conical stud configuration aided by a PU injected bi-density outsole. The fold over tongue avoids pressure from the ball on the lace knot.
All of these four special edition colourways are available to buy instore and on puma.com/football from today.
"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed."
"Envy comes from wanting something that isn't yours. But grief comes from losing something you've already had."


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Re: do i need a electric hopper?
Eyes are sensors that prevent the marker from firing unless a ball is loaded and positioned properly to be fired, thats about as simple as it gets. It can be more complex than that but lets try K.I.S.S. and go from there. Everybody has their own favorite when it comes to setups, the key is that if you want to "maximize" your marker the first set is making sure that everytime you pull the trigger a ball is present, there's only oneway to do that, electronic hopper, gravity hoppers can be used, however they will never feed fast enough to keep with your marker when operating at its potential. What electronic hopper to use? That all comes down to how much you want to spend. View Loaders Evolution II (a.k.a. Egg) is pretty much your entry level semi-force feed electronic hopper, you can find them for around $50. From there it all comes down to preferrence, some prefer the Halo over the Empire and vice versa, who much you want to spend is the key. For the under $100 areana look at the Kingman Fasta, Vlocity Jr., the Halo B and Empire B can be found for under $100 if you look around.
Keep one thing in mind, money you spend now on a hopper will save you money in the long run. If you get an Egg III (+/- $79), Kingman Fasta ($50-$80 depending on type), Halo B (+/- $100), Empire B (+/- $100), Vlocity ($139) or even Pulse ($150), you'll most likely never have to worry about upgrading to a better hopper as you get a higher level marker. Hoppers are universal and will work with just about any marker. One thing you can do is go to www.pbreview.com and read some of the reviews made by people. You need to weed through the reviews that are helpful and the ones that are not. The more educated you are the happier you will be with your purchase. Good luck, whatever you decide on will be better than a gravity feed hopper.
Never go Bear hunting without a sandwich...sandwich: someone you can out run or don't mind shooting
Angel 1 Non-SOM Apr 07
Ripper 3 Non-SOM Apr 08
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The Attorney-Client Privilege: Erosion, Ethics, Problems and Solutions will be the topic of an all-day seminar on Thursday, March 10, presented by the Atlantic Legal Foundation at the Mandarin Oriental, 1330 Maryland Ave., SW, Washington, DC.
The seminar will be preceded by an opening reception, dinner and address by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) on Wednesday evening, March 9, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.
On Thursday morning, Professor Geoffrey C. Hazard, Jr., University of Pennsylvania Law School, will give an overview of the history of the Attorney-Client Privilege.
The Hon. Theodore B. Olson, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, and former Solicitor General of the United States, will give the luncheon address.
For program fees and CLE credits, see the Bulletin Board on The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel website at www.metrocorpcounsel.com.
To register, contact Jennifer Whitley by telephone: (212) 867-3322, fax: 212-867-1022, or email Jennifer.Whitley@ atlanticlegal.org.


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We just had a temp open weekend and allowed people in to give us some initial feedback about the island, content, functionality and navigation.
Many thanks for the comments received ... one very apt one was why have escalators, stairs etc when you can fly in S.L. ... our initial concept was to design the island to have an element of familiarity for new S.L. residents to help them feel more comfortable. Yes ... it can be seen as R.L baggage but there's lots of time and capability to evolve into something more adventurous that uses S.L. opportunities to the full.
Interestingly we don't think any visitors found our underground environment.
Also some visitors will be please to know that the elephants no longer seem to be moving around on pogo sticks ..... we've change their diet.
Official opening 5th Feb.08


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Wednesday-Warmup for KEENFest at the W HotelHonorary Chairwoman Lindsay Czarniak of NBC News4 Sports and Chairwoman Amanda Polk invite you to join them as they walk the red carpet at Warm-up for KEENFest at DC's newest hot spot, W Washington D.C.
On Wednesday night July 29th from 7 to 9pm, Warm-up Party for KEENFest will be at DC's newest hot spot, the W Hotel. There will be exciting raffle items including $500 at the Darlington House, a 2 Night stay at the W-DC- includes breakfast,a signed basketball by Michael Jordan and more. You won't want to miss this event with DC's who's- who crowd..
Proceeds from this event support KEEN's exercise and recreation programs for young people with significant disabilities.
KEEN is a national, nonprofit volunteer-led organization that provides one-to-one exercise and recreational opportunities for children & young adults with developmental and physical disabilities.
What is unique about KEEN?
1. We accept every child regardless of his/her ability or disability
2. All KEEN programs are run and managed by committed volunteers
3. Our programs are completely free of charge to the athletes and their families
This is a VIP event and tickets are limited.
Tickets are $125 and can be purchased here:


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The summit brings together fellow users, partners, Oracle and industry luminaries to learn how to empower the modern value chain to gain a competitive edge.
Portsmouth, NH (PRWEB) January 31, 2014
Loftware, Inc., the global leader in enterprise labeling and an Oracle Gold Partner, has announced its sponsorship of the Warehouse Management Track at the second Annual Oracle Value Chain Summit February 3 – 5th, in San Jose, California. Visit Loftware at booth #508 and meet top Loftware Executives.
The summit brings together fellow users, partners, Oracle and industry luminaries to learn how to empower the modern value chain to gain a competitive edge. Attendees will learn strategies to grow profit margins, improve operational efficiencies, increase customer satisfaction and more.
"Loftware is excited to be a sponsor of the Oracle Warehouse Management track again this year. The Value Chain Summit is a great event and a terrific opportunity for us to meet with Loftware customers that run their global supply chains using Oracle applications," said Josh Roffman, Loftware's VP of Marketing and Product Management. "Our sponsorship underscores Loftware's commitment to its long standing partnership with Oracle and to our joint customers."
Loftware recently announced the general availability of Loftware Spectrum, a revolutionary all-in-one Enterprise Labeling Solution designed to address the complex labeling requirements of large organizations via a browser-based interface. Visit booth #508 to speak with Loftware team members and learn more about Loftware Spectrum, which achieved Oracle Validated Integration with Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2.
Oracle Value Chain Summit will feature hands-on workshops, solutions demonstrations and more than 200 sessions discussing six complementary solution areas: Value Chain Execution, Value Chain Planning, Maintenance, Manufacturing, Procurement, and Product Lifecycle Management.
About Loftware
Loftware, Inc. is the global market leader in Enterprise Labeling Solutions with more than 5,000 customers in over 100 countries. Offering the industry's most comprehensive labeling solution, Loftware's enterprise software integrates SAP®, Oracle® and other enterprise applications to produce mission-critical barcode labels, documents, and RFID Smart tags across the supply chain. Loftware's design, native print, and built-in business rules functionality drives topline revenue, increases customer satisfaction, and maximizes supply chain efficiency for customers. With over 25 years of industry leadership, Loftware's enterprise labeling solutions and best practices enable leading companies to meet their customer-specific and regulatory requirements with unprecedented speed and agility. To learn more about Loftware, visit loftware.com.


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Winter brings with it, its own challenges; ask those people who had to bear the countless troubles when moving houses during this season. In fact, if not prepared well, relocating in the colder days, particularly when it is New York, could be a disastrous affair. And perhaps for that, top NYC local movers always recommend to move in summer and spring. However, the 'when' part of this whole process is often out of our hands; maybe it's some kind of emergency or your job requires you to relocate immediately.
So if you're really moving in winter, expect problems in heaps. But luckily, there are few simple and smart ways that can help you settle down your house moving woes, easily.
What are they?
Hire a good moving company Brooklyn NY based in advance
Even if it's just a local move, right in the next neighborhood, booking a good moving company Brooklyn NY based in advance is imperative. First, it would take off a great deal of your stress knowing someone's there to help you throughout. Second, hiring good movers on short notice isn't always possible and it might cost you much higher than normal.
Purchase good quality packing boxes
While many NYC local movers do offer packing boxes and packaging services, if you're planning to do all by yourself, make sure to invest in high quality boxes. The regular ones from your local market might not be durable and strong enough, and might give in damp and wet weather. And that's the last thing you would want when carrying your expensive things.
Get your car to auto repair shop before the 'big day'
You don't want to take chances of getting stranded on the road on the moving day with a flat tyre or damaged engine. So before the big day, take your car to a good auto repair shop even when you think things are perfect. Get those windows and windshield chips fixed, keep the engine smooth and repair the heating system.
Keep the weather in view and be flexible with your schedule
Sure it's going to be cold, but be also considerate of rain, snow and storm. Don't be fixed on a tight schedule, but be flexible. Don't move out when the weather is unsuitable even when you're in a hurry. Take advice from your mover and ask them about the right time to move. Let professionals take decisions.
Have friends by your side for additional help
Having someone by yourself all the time to help you through minor and major problems is a big stress-reliever. So dial your friends and family, ask them to be with you on the moving day even when you're sure you can handle all alone.
Pay special attention to your kids and pets
It's common to overlook the needs and mood of kids and pets in the mix of moving—after all there's a lot to take care of. Don't make this mistake. Pay special attention to them. See if they are okay throughout the transition. Look after their needs and undertake them when making important decisions.
Make arrangements to keep your family warm on the move
Don't underestimate the cold weather. Keep yourself prepared to deal even with the chilliest of hours. Layer yourself and the family up. Keep extra warm clothes close; make arrangements for blankets, especially if you're going to be on the road during the night time.
These are 7 simple but smart ways to simmer down the house moving woes in the winter time. So relax, worry less, be smart, have good movers by your side and complete a successful house moving like a complete pro.


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Response to Marcia Langton, 'Well, I heard it on the radio and I saw it on the television...' An Essay for the Australian Film Commission on the politics and aesthetics of filmmaking by and about Aboriginal people and things. Sydney, AFC, 1993, pb 93pp. $14.95
This essay will be something in the spirit of Jean-Luc Godard's response to Pauline Kael's critical reaction to one of his films: 'Don't tell me what's wrong with my movie, give me ideas for my next one'. So my commentary on Marcia Langton's book will be 'iterative', as she says her approach is; it will add materials as much as possible in the spirit of her work.
Speaking from my own position, I want to analyse some of the ways non-Aboriginal people respond to Aboriginal films and filmmaking practices, how they feel they can get involved, and what sorts of stories they tell about that. On the way I will attempt to say in what way the theory of representation might no longer have quite the critical cutting edge it once had. Langton's book makes a few departures in this direction which I want to bring into focus and amplify.
It was with some excitement that I greeted the arrival of this work, announcing itself as a critical anti-colonial response to the imperial apparatus which has apparently produced 6,000-odd films about Aboriginal people. I knew Marcia and of her reputation as an Aboriginal activist, researcher and Chair of the Council of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Torres Strait and Islander Studies. The work started with the Australian Film Commission (AFC) commissioning her to write a report with a view to 'establishing policies and guidelines for the funding of future Aboriginal film projects'. It is clear that the establishment of such guidelines is no simple matter; with the dust barely settling over the controversy about the Koori-directed (but not produced or crewed) film Jindalee Lady. Some had pitched aesthetic values (ie: is this film any good?) against so-called "positive values" which the film sought to promote (i.e., no drunks, but such things as mobile phones and satin sheets as representations of achieved Aboriginality).
Langton's response is to call for careful and considered research into problems of representation and Aboriginality. She builds on the work of Eric Michaels, Julia Kristeva, Mudrooroo, Michele Wallace and others, not so much 'beginning ...an extended debate' (7) but continuing it. Her strong and innovative speaking position is from the interstices of policy and theory, and her own Aboriginality cannot be discounted at all in this algebra. Her flexibility actually opens up a liberal space for discussion among filmmakers, bureaucrats and academics. At last, with this text, I began to see the collapse of a long-felt antagonistic opposition between Aboriginal essentialism and non-Aboriginal Theory.
Langton's book is most valuable for its clear-sighted response to the necessity for the analysis of intercultural exchange, and the shifting subjectivities and definitions of Aboriginality that are involved in the colonisation process. The "representations" of Aboriginality that emerge from cultural artefacts are necessarily engaged with problems of interpretation. As Said says:
...we can read ourselves against another people's pattern, but since it is not ours...we emerge as its effects, its errata, its counternarratives. Whenever we try to narrate ourselves, we appear as dislocations in their discourse. (Said 140; cited in Ferguson 11)
Non-Aboriginal Australians narrate themselves in relation to the Aboriginal Other in a number of ways. Aboriginal otherness is becoming increasingly central to debates about cultural identity in a country redefining its nationality with the Mabo/republicanism agenda. In fact, this centralisation may imply a merging of that familiar opposition self/other, for how can one be sure just what part of oneself is indubitably "self" and what part is definitely from another cultural place? For many Australians, Aboriginality is not another place, it is more or less home, through connections with the mythologies or realities of landscape, through popular cultural icons of Aboriginality, through an extended sense of Aboriginal history (before 1788), through celebrations of Aboriginal achievements, and through picking at a slowly healing moral wound.
Nevertheless, we have a whole series of narratives (as verbal mechanisms) we use to engage with or intervene in relations conceived of as self-other. The other is often the object of a narrative desire (how we want to become, how we want to be seen). The coupling of 'narrative' and 'intervention' in the title of this paper suggests penetration of one body into another. Intervention means 'to occur, fall or come between points in time or between events' and also (and this is its more political activist sense) 'to come between in order to stop, settle of modify'. In this paper I want to stress the inbetweenness of narrative interventions, and even suggest that interventions speed things up more than slow them down.
To digress: In Luke's Party (Tim Burns and Ros Sultan, 1991) for instance, the camera is initially seen as an enabling intervention in the narrative the main character is trying to tell about her own history, about family and everyday problems. But, as different interventions or interruptions from other discourses and institutions multiply - other stories intersect in the proscenium of the fixed camera (visitors to Luke's party, a man wanting to cut the electricity, a man serving a court summons for the custody of her children); the narrative hastens to its end, a narrative which turns out to be about the impossibility of finding the time and the means to tell the story. The film "deconstructs" as someone decamps from the party with the camera, still running as the thief is running, leaving the soundtrack behind recording the anguish of the filmmaker.
To continue: if you change the narrative you change the form of the desire, you redirect libidinal impulse. While I'm not trying to suggest that narratives are about pure affect - I want to borrow here from Deleuze and Guattari, in particular their Thousand Plateaus book, to suggest that desires are programmed through machinic assemblages, bodies which are not just carnal, but bodies which can also be conceptual.
Of course, it goes without saying, I read these philosophers in order to depart from them, to fly off at a tangent. It isn't a question of applying their philosophies to a given situation, that is the last thing they would want: as if they were a (European) foundation which we (in "postcolonial" Australia) might want to build on. And yet they provide some openings. They talk of becomings rather than identities. There is no race, they say, to be considered independently of a system of dominations (and inbetweenness): 'bastard and half-cast are the true names of race', they say, somewhat provocatively. "Identity", that term which is used so much in cultural politics, is not, according to them, given in advance by birth, descent, or something which is embedded in the indivisible self. The self is already a multiplicity of identities which are in the process of becoming. And becomings are quite real: becoming animal, becoming imperceptible, becoming Aboriginal even.
...becoming animal does not consist in playing animal or imitating an animal, it is clear that the human being does not "really" become an animal any more than the animal "really" becomes something else. Becoming produces nothing other than itself. We fall into a false alternative if we say that you either imitate or you are. What is real is the becoming itself, the block of becoming, not the supposedly fixed term through which that becoming passes. (Deleuze and Guattari 238)
The impossibility then, of representation, of "picturing oneself", or picturing an abstraction like Aboriginality, even if this representation lies in between characters being transformed by a narrative. There are always only multiplicities and they are always "in between". And it may be true that it is along the vectors of narrative that identities are carried, histories of individuals or mobs which come up against the blocks of histories of the culture, of society and the State. Aboriginality is a concept which is, as often as not, produced as a pretext or launching pad for peculiarly whitefella obsessions - romantic love of difference, the exotic, the mobilisation of knowledge, liberationist politics, guilt trips - these are the narratives or figures of speech I am talking about here. In defining Aboriginality, Langton already makes an advance on the "available discourses" model which I once devised drawing on the work of Stuart Hall and Michel Foucault. I said that discourses on Aboriginal people tended to fall into roughly three categories, the Anthropological, the Romantic and the Racist (Muecke ch. 1). This could be seen as too static a model. She proposes a theory of Aboriginality as intersubjectivity; identities that are constantly renegotiated according to a triple schema: One: Aboriginal people negotiating with each other in the context of Aboriginal cultures; Two: the stereotyping and mythologising of Aboriginal people by unknowledgable whites; Three: A dialogue situation in which both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people participate in a mutual construction of identities.
I was teaching video to the students at College, and you know, I showed them how to use the cameras in a non-interventionist way, and then just sent them off, and they shot material that was like, Wow! Fantastic. I mean they weren't influenced by any dominant Whitefella ways of making video?
I call this a narrative of inverted patronage because it withdraws patronage according to a policy of self-determination. The expressive identities of the students then exceed any possible institutional boundary, these identities are formed only outside the school, their Aboriginal knowledge and experience is valued above any European knowledges, even if this knowledge might be simply instrumental - how to use a camera. Aboriginal students coming across such teachers are forced onto their own essential selves, and are not given the opportunity to think through the relations between their own ideas for video-making and the generally available (non-Aboriginal) techniques. This narrative is romantic and in some ways the narrative of those who are terrified to attempt engagement, who will only too readily offer praise for any form of Aboriginal self-expression. Langton, in her book, quotes from Eric Michaels "Bad Aboriginal Art" about the absence of aesthetic evaluation or intervention. More often, though, since we know that Aboriginal painters, like all artists, listen to the comments of their agents and clients about colour, form, etc, there is influence and exchange, so what we have here is an account which only says that one is not intervening. But even this is an intervention. As Langton says: 'Representational and aesthetic statements of Aboriginal people by non-Aboriginal people transform the Aboriginal reality' (40, my emphasis). It's not much use for Whitefellas to pretend they are not there: they should analyse their comings and goings around Aboriginal communities.
There is a new trope of representation, an "interventionist" one, that one could perhaps call positive, and it has three or four elements in its make-up. In Crocodile Dundee Whites and Aborigines are framed in the same scene. This in itself is rare enough in Australian cinema, where the tendency has been more often to place the Aborigines as object of the camera, as, say, ethnographically real. Having put them on the same cinematic plane, we can enjoy a scene where the David Gulpilil character, dressed for ceremony, tells the Linda Kozlowski character that she can't take a photo of him.
'Why not?' she says, assuming that the camera will steal the other's soul.
The laconic answer comes back: 'You've got the lens cap on.'
This trope has the features of: (A) Blacks and Whites in the same scene, (B) Display of romantic primitivist assumptions on the part of the White who is then made a fool of because (C) The Aborigine shows mastery of the bicultural situation and "normal" technological mastery.
The same trope was picked up by MoJo advertising agency for a television ad for Telecom, but the debunking of the primitivist myth ('I will send a message across the land') results in a perhaps questionable endorsement by the Aboriginal figure (Tommy Lewis) for the technological trappings of modernity - the mobile phone. This raises the spectre of assimilation, spectre because, while this is a dead policy idea, one is no longer quite sure if it is alive as critique. With the notion of the modern primitive (or the meeting of the ex-primitive and the postmodern [MacCannell]), the notion of the camera stealing the soul comes back with a chilling seriousness. In relation to the tourist industry, some Aboriginal groups will have to decide just how much they are prepared to put on performances of themselves as primitives. In these scenarios authenticity becomes sacrificed, simulated or irrelevant. Samuel Weber has reworked Walter Benjamin's famous thesis on the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction in relation to the cinema:
What is peculiar to the eye of the camera is that it is always ready, always prepared, to take in, to take up everything without even looking or giving anything back. The recording apparatus, whether visual or auditory, takes up everything but never returns the glance. Instead what it does is arrest and reproduce again and again a prolific series of images which go here and there in a mass of movements...
Helen Garner's review of the film Deadly uses what one might call the 'mutual liberation ploy' (35). The intervention of whites is to embrace historical guilt, they will always be fugitives from Ultimate Justice until the Right Thing is finally done. I'm not sure the world works like that; her attitude begs the question - what are we supposed to do while waiting for the summons to arrive?
Ninety-nine minutes of cursing and shooting and zooming around in four-wheel-drives, and what have we learnt about the bleeding sore of black deaths in custody? Only that this particular case was a revenge killing. A white cop was psychotically jealous of his mixed-race (sic) wife's affair with an Aboriginal (sic). It's OK everyone. As you were. It was only a personal thing. The rest of us are off the hook again. No need to look more deeply at the shadow in our own hearts.
Corrections: the Caz Lederman character was not supposed to be Aboriginal. And there is no such thing as "mixed race" in contemporary Aboriginal self-definition. Garner gets deeper into offense-land by describing Lydia Miller and John Moore as actors with 'potential', and in her fulsome praise of Black Harvest (the other movie under review) she asks for 'the power of Greek tragedy....Like all truly great works, Black Harvest makes us laugh as well as weep'. The catharsis of Greek tragedy is a way of temporarily getting "off the hook" of the guilt trip, but this staging of Oedipal dramas still ignores the question of how to represent black deaths in custody. Oedipal dramas make it a family problem - whose child is whose across a racial divide, and the scandal of miscegenation. The forced removal of children intensifies the Oedipal drama - Big Daddy has done his best to remove the threat to his life by sending the young men off to gaol. But in Deadly they all come back and crowd around at the end for the ritual slaughter, which will enable families to reform in slightly (radically?) different ways (Caz Lederman with her estranged Aboriginal daughter, the white cop-hero with the Aboriginal leading lady [Lydia Miller]). Dean MacCannell (24) might well comment here:
We embrace oedipal guilt in a kind of 'plea bargain' to a lesser offence, because it involves symbolic murder [the killing of the police sergeant in the case of Deadly], not an actual genocide. But it is actual genocide which is operative in the formation of guilt.
So how is one supposed to represent the unrepresentable, the Holocaust? According to Henry Reynolds, interviewed in Black Man's Houses (Steve Thomas 1991), it is not a question of guilt, simply one of honouring the verbal treaties of the past.
In After the Last Sky, Edward Said stresses that a culture or state struggling to survive is put in the position of having representatives who have to constantly repeat, in the face of ignorance, the basic historical narratives of cultural identity and survival. This is what we tend to see in the Nganampa Anwerhekenhe television series from CAAMA. But another feature of this filmmaking is the tendency for both the presenter and the narrator to want to complete the media circuit by placing themselves in the position of the viewer. I have emphasised those parts of this narrative excerpt from the episode Wedgetail Eagle Dreaming:
'Harold also talks about how travellers who come to Alice had to enter through Honeymoon Gap and only when escorted by our elders ... Each person travelling through here had to follow the footprints exactly, each footprint on top of another ... You can see the way our living conditions have changed. European ways have killed our respect for each others law. We would like you to contact us at CAAMA or ring us by telephoning 525 727 and let us know what you think about Nganampa Anwerhekenhe and what you would like to see on our show ... we should be proud to show our culture to other Aboriginal people and overseas people. After seeing our show people can say "Great they've still got strong language and culture." That's the purpose of Nganampa Anwerhekenhe.'
'many visitors used to go to that place
and the old men used to sit in the shade
telling traditional stories
Here we're doing exactly the same, myself with other members of the Undoolya tribe (cut to two other old men)
We've come to tell and pass stories on to others.
Here I am at the entrance to Anthurrekele.
Anthurrekele is the original name of this gap,
The Europeans now call it Emily Gap.
So here I am at the top of this creek telling stories
This creek that runs into Arrepele Ikelhe downstream.
I'm sitting here telling Dreamtime Stories of the country for everyone to know and learn, so they'll say "Oh! here's wheelchair telling stories downstream at Anthurrekele" (Emily gap)'.
This is just one Aboriginal filmmaking technique which one could speculate about. The speaker puts him or herself in the place of the viewer as if to say: the grandiose idea of mass media, or diffusion into the potentiality of an infinite number of receivers with the usual alienation effects, is a crazy myth. Media always operate in connection to a community; Aboriginal media-making practices make television and other media actually work in relation to specific audiences.
It seems, after reading Marcia Langton's book and looking at some movies, that representations matter less than protocols (how to "politely" intervene). There are narratives, of course, fixing characters in relations of becoming which produce identities. These are not seen as fixed representations (positive or negative), but rather intersubjective and mobile ones - between one body and another (a black body, a white body; a body of thought and a body of actions). Bodies are what they are capable of doing, not what they are essentially. The films that are to be made in the future are not, therefore, to be made by human "beings", but by human bodies which are becoming different through the various prosthetic devices which are attached to them (camera to the eye, playing to the camera, bodies moving in a landscape or scene). Narratives, in this context, are still crucial vectors for carrying the transformations of desire, and as interventions they are crucial in that they necessarily articulate theory and practice, and can speed things up or slow them down. So in the making of movies we have to consider not just the narrative in the production, the story-line, but the narratives about production (what "we" think we are doing).
As Deleuze and Guattari, "philosophical directors", might say in their ironic imperative mood: Don't make films about Aborigines. Make Aboriginal films which are not films in the usual sense. Make films which are not Aboriginal in the usual sense.
Deleuze, Gilles and Felix Guattari. Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. Minneapolis: U Minnesota P, 1987.
Ferguson, Russell. "Introduction: Invisible Center". Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures. Eds. Russell Ferguson, Martha Gever, Trinh T. Minh-ha and Cornel West. New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art and Cambridge, Mass: the MIT Press, 1990. 9-14.
Garner, Helen. "Dead Loss". The Independent Monthly. Sept. 1992: 35.
Jindalee Lady. Dir. Brian Syron, prod. Brian Kearney. Donobri International Communications 1990. Not released theatrically.
MacCannell, Dean. Empty Meeting Grounds. London and New York: Routledge, 1992.
Muecke, Stephen. Textual Spaces: Aboriginality and Cultural Studies. Kensington, Sydney: U NSW P, 1992.
Said, Edward. After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives. New York: Pantheon, 1986.
Weber, Samuel. Mari Kultna Memorial Lecture. U of Sydney, May 1992.
Wedgetail Eagle Dreaming. CAAMA 1991 Arrente/English. Presented by Rosalie Riley. Narrated by Harold (Ross) Ellis.
New: 4 March, 1996 | Now: 26 March, 2015


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The Competitiveness Council agreed on Horizon 2020 on 31 May. Deputy Director General, Lars Goldsmith states:
"Private sector involvement in EU research programs has been steadily decreasing. Horizon 2020 has the opportunity to turn this development around. But we need to make the programs more relevant for companies and reduce administrative costs. It is by the involvement of private companies, that the investments can create growth." Furthermore, Horizon 2020 should deliver concrete results to the so-called "grand societal challenges".
Already on 24 May, the Research Council Working Group under the Danish presidency agreed overall but some delegations raised questions that are reflected in the progress report: Regarding the award procedure and in particular, the single company funding in the SME instrument; the 20% overhead flat rate; or the joint ownership provisions for dissemination of results.


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Sponsors and Partners
Sponsors help fuel the growth of our mission. They share in our common interests or participate in achieving a common goal. They can have multi-year, long-term strategic agreements and commitments or support an event, project, item, or activity through funding or by provisioning of products.
Abbott Point of Care
Abbott Point of Care develops, manufactures and markets critical medical diagnostic and data management products for rapid blood analysis. The company's premier product, the i-STAT System, is a market-leading handheld device capable of performing a broad menu of tests, including cardiac markers; blood gases; coagulation; lactate; chemistries/electrolytes; and hematology, using two or three drops of blood at the patient's side.
Apex Innovations
Apex Innovations is an international leader in online programs, built with Intelligent Interactivity®, to help you easily accomplish required provider education. imPULSE® 2.0 - ECG and Chest Pain Competency Series, Hemispheres® — Stroke Competency Series, Responder® — STEMI Recognition, Transitions®. Educate more efficiently and economically with online programs giving you comprehensive and current education. Meet professional requirements for certification and competency, includes accountability measures and clinical practice guidelines. Includes testing, CE credit, reporting, benchmarking and 24/7 tech support.
We welcome sponsorships, but at no time can they influence, or attempt to influence, the science of our efforts, presentations, and findings, etc. Sponsor agreements are in no way an endorsement by the College of their products, services, policies, science, innovations, or initiatives. We do not endorse sponsor products, services, policies, science, innovations or initiatives.


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24th December 1944 Website
View Single Post
1st January 2015, 12:28
Junior Member
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 13
24th December 1944 Website
Hello All,
First of all a Happy New Year to you all!
For a couple of years now I have spent time & money to investigate how a 8th AF mission was planned & executed.
My particular interest went to the largest mission ever undertaken.
I have decided to create a new website dedicated to the mission flown on Dec 24th 1944.
Although this site is still under construction I already would like to share the url:
I am very much new on making a website so I am still in a learning process.
Currently I am working with wordpress.
My Goal with this site is to tell the story about this mission:
How was it planned? How was it executed? What were the results?
To do this I have for almost every BG the mission report.
This mission is off course known for the loss of Gen Castle.
Also I have tried to recreate the mission in Google Earth based on planned data.
Unfortunately I have been unable to upload the *.kmz file due to security issues on my site.
I am still looking for a google earth plugin.
If interested in the Google Earth *.kmz file please send me a PM and I will give it a try to share it via E-mail.
Last couple of days I have done the following:
I have uploaded formation plans for several units, the page with links can be found here:
I have also uploaded the first pages of each MACR report linked with the Dec 24th Mission.
This page with links can be found here:
Also updated are my personal info & sources.
I still have a long way to go though but any feedback at this point is highly appreciated.
Many Thanks,
Kind Regards
Joost de Raaf
View Public Profile
Send a private message to joost900
Find all posts by joost900


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All I want for the holidays....
I will be spending my Christmas break in my hometown of Wichita, Kansas. My break will be very laid back and I will spend a lot of time with family and friends.
On Christmas Eve, my parents and I traditionally go to mass in the evening then head home for a nice meal. After eating, we drive through an older neighborhood in Wichita, College Hill, where the homeowners go crazy with Christmas lights. Some streets string lights from houses and trees down two or three blocks!
This is especially fun for us because we lived there until I was 4 years old and it brings back memories of our first Christmases as a family.
Once we return home, Christmas presents begin to appear under the tree and we open them on Christmas morning. My dad and I will play our annual round of golf on Christmas, weather permitting, and we will have dinner as a family again.
On the 26th, our family is meeting at my aunt and uncle's house in Topeka, Kan. to celebrate Christmas with our extended family. We will spend a day there and everyone will bring something for a big lunch followed by opening presents. My mom and I always bake and frost sugar cookies from an old family recipe for our contribution. My grandma will make a couple of pies, someone will cook a turkey and/or ham, and the remainder of the buffet will be filled with mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, rolls, and plenty of other country favorites. In all, we will have around twenty people representing three generations, ages seven to 87.
Outside of Christmas festivities, I will spend time catching up with friends on the golf course, in front of NCAA bowl games (WOO PIG!) and Kansas basketball games, and over plates at our favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants in the Wichita area. Aside from friends and family, I will enjoy time at the golf course, playing and practicing or sledding if it snows, and working out to stay in shape and burn off all the cookies that I will eat!
I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday season! Go Hogs!!


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Designed by Minneapolis based graphic designer Kate Gabriel for her own wedding, this vintage inspired letterpress wedding invitation is just lovely. My favorite part might be the simple brown paper envelopes, how special would that be showing up in your mailbox?
Vintage Inspired Invitation
CategoriesGraphic Design, Letterpress, Weddings
AuthorMaia McDonald
2 comments:
Very stylish! I love the embossing typography.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 10, 2011 at 3:42 AM
Check out redstamp.com for the most exciting iphone and ipad apps for totally personal electronic thankyous, invites, etc.ReplyDelete
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Food Costs Rising
Shoppers and Trends
April 27, 2008
Food Costs Rising
The cost of food is rising, and quickly, according to recent figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Their figures show that during the 2007 calendar year, U.S. food prices increased by a whopping 4.9% – .8% higher than 2007 inflation rates and 2.8% higher than food prices increased in 2006. In the seven year period prior to this most recent study, food prices increased by a modest average of 2.5% per year.
In the past, agricultural commodity prices tended to be volatile, with an overall decline trend, because they were supply-driven. Technology and productivity improvements in farming increased agricultural yields to meet supply, keeping prices down. Today, higher fuel prices are increasing the cost of transporting commodities, while various weather conditions and trade issues are currently contributing to lower supply. The result is higher prices across the board.
In the U.S., staples like milk, cheese and bread experienced especially marked hikes, with poultry, fruits and vegetables, cereal and meats following close behind. Internationally, increases in the prices of dairy and grains pushed the food price index used by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations up by almost 40% over the last year. By comparison, in the previous year period, the food price index was up only nine percent.
Overall, consumers paid an implicit food tax of $5 billion in 2006, reports the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to the Cato Center, some of this extra spending is a direct result of government policies. They say that the farm bill, which subsidizes farmers to take land out of production (for the Conservation Reserve Program), constrains supply, and that it places higher taxes on rice, sugar and dairy products. Meanwhile, they point out that the ethanol industry affects the price of corn by adding to demand.
"Globally, trade policies that isolate markets keep prices artificially higher and create barriers to cheaper imports. Domestically, the U.S. Energy Bill is really driving food prices by increasing the demand for corn, and as a result, decreasing the supply of items like wheat and soybeans. As supply of these items goes down, prices go up. Supply issues related to drought and flooding are also contributing to higher prices," says Sallie James, Policy Analyst for Cato's Center for Trade Policy Studies.
With global commodity stocks at historic lows, a growing demand for food, feed and fuel, tight supply, and no plan for increased agricultural productivity, this higher price phenomenon is likely to continue. The International Food Policy Research Institute estimates that global cereal prices will rise 10 to 20% by the year 2015.
Unfortunately, the poor are hurt most by higher food prices, as those with lower incomes tend to spend a higher proportion (up to 50%) of their disposable income on food. Also, as biofuels policies inflate food prices, low-income countries are paying a premium for imports. And changing world eating habits, combined with government actions, are hindering an allocation of resources that would normally lead to lower prices.
Some countries are taking active measures to improve the situation. Egypt, India, Kenya, Morocco, the Philippines and Vietnam have reduced tariffs on imports. China has introduced price controls on grains, dairy products, milk and eggs to help combat inflation. To replenish grain stocks, the European Union recently suspended their land set-aside requirements.
"Unfortunately, though, some of the steps these countries are taking may be making things worse," says James. "Export restrictions are keeping global supply down, while price controls could potentially contribute to weakening supply if farmers choose to plant less. These actions may alleviate problems in the short term but the global long term consequences are not as positive."
Since many of the domestic agriculture markets are protected from import competition, Americans have paid (and can continue to expect to pay) higher prices for certain products as compared to rest of the world. Americans have traditionally paid up to double the world price for dairy products and close to triple the world price for sugar. Even if global commodity prices fall, these price discrepancies will likely remain unchanged.
But retailers should take heart in knowing, says James, that consumers seem to understand that the price increases are driven by government policies – and not retailer actions. And that price hikes can be cyclic.
"Ultimately, prices work wonders when left alone. Higher prices can encourage farmers to plant more, which improves supply," says James.


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How Chicago Is Growing Its Open Data Economy
The City of Chicago's open data team has made a lot of smart choices regarding its open data program. In particular, it has supported the development of one of the largest, most committed civic hacker communities in the world. How has it created this community and what is the result? For Chicago, investing in developers has led to new collaborations and the development of businesses that create useful products and contribute to the economy using open data.
Success Starts at the Top
Chicago's long-time mayor, Rahm Emanuel, made open data a central focus of his administration from day one. After the City's portal (data.cityofchicago.org) launched in 2010, he signed an Executive Order in late 2012 mandating that every city agency contribute data to it. Each agency must have an open data coordinator who serves on the City's Open Data Advisory Group. Few cities require this level of staff participation and resources for open data.
Emanuel sought broader participation in open data, not just to improve transparency but to offer local developers more machine-readable, public data for building new products and services. "An open and transparent administration makes it easier for residents to hold their government accountable, but it also serves as a platform for innovative tools that improve the lives of all residents," said Mayor Emanuel when he announced his 2012 Executive Order.
A Focus on High-Value Data
According to its "2013 Open Data Annual Report," the City of Chicago offers nearly 600 datasets on its portal, more than double what it had in 2011 and far more than what many cities offer. Which datasets take priority? The most "valuable" ones come first.
"When we talk about 'valuable' datasets those are often large datasets that frequently update. But, valuable datasets may not be big, just useful for a large audience," says City of Chicago Director of Analytics and Performance Management Tom Schenk
Overall, Chicago has increased the size of the datasets on its portal. For example, it offers a traffic dataset that is updated every 10 minutes using the GPS on its city buses. Its crime dataset spans 10 years. And, it plans to expand its 311 dataset by including more types of requests beyond the 12 most common, such as aircraft noise or improper apartment building heating or cooling.
Chicago's open datasets have received more than 15.6 million pageviews since 2010. And, perhaps the most impressive statistic for Chicago is data usage. Between November 2012 and November 2013, data downloads from the Chicago open data portal grew from 2 terabytes to 6.4 terabytes, an increase of more than 200 percent. Usage means participation and innovation -- exactly what Chicago wants.
"By giving developers longer histories of data and more frequent updates, the ability to see patterns and offer useful services is increased," says Schenk. "We want to give them plenty of material to work with."
Developers Make It Happen
How does Chicago generate interest in its open data? It focuses time and attention on its civic hackers, the developers, analysts, and business people who mine public data for solutions to persistent problems and new services they can offer. A group called Open Chicago offers weekly hacknights downtown at Chicago startup hub 1871, plus hackathons throughout the year where developers and other participants are challenged to find solutions to civic problems using data. The hack nights include presentations by local innovators and have become so popular that they are often standing-room only.
The City of Chicago team knows these hackers, attends the hackathons, and talks to them often about the portal, the data, and how it could serve them better. The Office of the Mayor honors their work by featuring dozens of local apps and blogs about their development on its Digital Hub website.
"Through open data, Chicago has been able to serve residents in the 21st century," says Brenna Berman, Commissioner and Chief Information Officer at Department of Innovation & Technology for the City of Chicago." The growth of the open data portal has been exciting for those in government and the entire city."
Art from Cartografika based on building footprints data from the City of Chicago open data portal.
New Businesses for a Stronger Chicago
Thanks to its investment in open data and the people who use it, Chicago is now seeing businesses develop that make use of public data hosted on the portal. These startups offer services that improve life in Chicago and other cities, and employ dozens of local analysts, designers, and developers. The following are just a few examples.
- Purple Binder aggregates social services information so that social workers and healthcare professionals have an up-to-date, single source of data about services available to their clients.
- DataMade creates apps for the City of Chicago and other clients, such as their apps Councilmatic and crimearound.us. Founded by longtime civic hacker Derek Eder, DataMade was one of the first Chicago businesses focused exclusively on open data.
- Smart Chicago Collaborative hired Datamade when it was just getting started and also employs Purple Binder, Rob Paral & Associates, and other new companies to create technology products that improve life in Chicago.
- Cartografika uses the building footprints dataset available on Chicago and other cities' open data portals to create beautiful maps and drawings for wall hangings or other decorations.
- Rob Paral & Associates has been in the business of social services policy consulting for more than 25 years, but in recent years Paral's team has enjoyed greater efficiencies and expanded capacity thanks to easy data discovery and use through open data.
Mayor Emanuel and the team at the City of Chicago hope that this trend of business growth continues. It plans on making even more investments in open data. As Initiative 14 of its Chicago Tech Plan states: "The city will continue to increase and improve the quality of City data available internally and externally, and facilitate methods for analyzing that data to help create a smarter and more efficient city."
"Chicago is becoming a technology destination, a place where both large international companies and startups and digital entrepreneurs can thrive," said Mayor Emanuel at the third annual TechWeek Summit. Certainly, when it comes to encouraging entrepreneurship with open data, Chicago has created a model for success.


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Billet Specialties Legends - Polished Dagger Series
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Every 13.7 minutes someone in the United States dies by suicide.
Nearly 1,000,000 people make a suicide attempt every year.
Recent data puts yearly medical costs for suicide at nearly $100 million (2005).
Suicide rates are highest for people between the ages of 40 and 59.
White individuals are most likely to die by suicide, followed by Native American peoples.
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
If you want to help a great cause and be eligible for some great giveaways, please check out Out of the Darkness Giveaway on Justine Dell's web page. There are so many lives touched by suicide every day, anything that we can do to help may help lower those numbers…
And it's time to Bounce...
If you are an author, click on "Get the Code Here" to get the link. Copy and paste that link in your blog post. Then hop right on and add your blog url to get added to the list.
If you are a reader, you get to bounce from blog to blog and meet some great new authors and maybe find some new books to read.


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FORT WORTH - Chisholm Trail Ranch, a 261-acre residential community also to include commercial retail properties, is the first new development to begin construction along the $1.4 billion Chisholm Trail Parkway, which opened in May 2014.
The Walton Group community will feature approximately 1,100 single-family residential homes, with Phase I to include 169 home sites.
The project is located at the intersection of the new Chisholm Trail Parkway and McPherson Blvd., less than a 12-minute drive to downtown Fort Worth.
Adjacent to the new 75-acre Chisholm Trail Park, anchored by the newly opened Chisholm Trail Community Center, it is located along McPherson Blvd.
The community will be part of an expansive hike-and-bike trail system linking existing parks and school sites throughout the area.
A new elementary school will be part of the first phase of the community, within the Crowley independent school district.
Residents will have access to the Chisholm Trail Ranch Recreational Center to be completed within Phase I of the community, featuring a 7,500-sf clubhouse with a junior Olympic-sized swimming pool and kiddie pool/splash-pad.
Our twice-weekly e-newsletter provides a quick overview of Texas real estate markets. Because your time is valuable.


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Become a Sponsor/Donor
Dear Sir/Madam
This year will be our 20th Family Fishing Classic and being such a huge milestone for our association, we are hoping to make this years classic our most successful yet. This year the competition will be held on 20 & 21 October 2018 at the Lake Monduran Recreation Area.
Your support is being sought in regards to sponsorship, donations or prizes. The event is family oriented with both cash and prizes given out for category winners as well as hundreds of lucky draws for both juniors and seniors. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. All sponsors/donors are important to us and are acknowledged during the event. The classic receives statewide coverage in fishing magazines and newspapers leading up to and after the competition. The growth in Lake Monduran's popularity and fresh water fishing in general will ensure great exposure for your business and products. If you have previously sponsored or donated to our event we are very grateful for your assistance. The prizes and giveaways are always very well received by our competitors and their families and make a huge contribution to the popularity of our competition.
Since 1997 Monduran Anglers and Stocking Association (MASA) has released over 2 Million Barramundi and Australian Bass fingerlings. Barramundi over 1 metre and Trophy sized Australian Bass are caught along with the ever-present Catfish. Monduran is also home of the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) World Record Barramundi which was caught on 12 December 2010 being 44.64kg (98 lb 6 oz), 134cm long with a girth of 107cm. This makes Lake Monduran one of the most popular fresh water fishing lakes in Queensland.
At less than an hour from Bundaberg, 4 hours from Brisbane and the Darling Downs and 2-3 hours from the Sunshine Coast and South Burnett, Lake Monduran draws anglers and their families from all over Queensland and Northern New South Wales to fish the only major combined Barramundi and Australian Bass fishery in Australia. The Monduran Family Fishing Classic is one of the biggest fresh water fishing competitions held in Australia and MASA relies heavily on funds raised to support our fish stocking program.
Should you be able to assist, please complete the Sponsorship_Form17 and return it to the secretary by email or post.
We thank you for your kind support and hope to see you at the Classic to witness what will be another outstanding event in the state and region's fishing and recreational calendar.
Yours Truly
John Finlay (President)


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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Cooking a turkey can be tricky, even for experienced home chefs. Four Seasons Banquet Chef Joe Drago says the perfect turkey starts with the seasoning.
"You should butter the turkey under the skin and on the outside of the turkey," he suggests. "Put a flavor stuffing inside the turkey. Now that's not something you are going to eat but something to flavor the turkey, which would be carrots, onions, celery, fresh herbs and a little garlic."
How long should you roast your turkey? Drago says there is one item you can't be without in the kitchen.
"You can't tell somebody 20 minutes a pound. Just go buy a thermometer. You put the thermometer in from the beginning when you put your turkey in, and it hangs outside the oven when it comes to temperature. It makes it so simple."
Drago says when the turkey hits 145 degrees, take the cover off in the oven, roast it for another 40 minutes. When the turkey temperature rises to 155, remove it from the oven, cover and let it rest for 35 minutes and the bird temperature will rise 165 degrees and it's safe to eat!
Reported by Michelle Durham, KYW Newsradio 1060
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This article is part of the upcoming Top Places to Work issue. The names of the companies that made this year's list will be released online Thursday night.
Walk into a RE/Max Leading Edge office in Greater Boston and you might be greeted by Ivy the Chihuahua, Ransom the golden doodle, or Piper, an Australian cattle dog.
The dogs "roam around like people" at the company's 11 local offices, says Christine George, executive vice president of marketing.
"We're a very social culture," she says. "The dogs just put a smile on everybody's face."
RE/Max is among a number of local companies that open their doors to workers' — and customers' — four-legged friends. Nearly 80 percent of dog owners would bring their pooches to work if their bosses let them, according to a recent survey conducted by the dog-sitter website Rover.com. Studies have shown that dogs can lower stress levels, improve people's moods, and increase trust and collaboration, qualities that any employer would welcome — provided they aren't accompanied by gnawed furniture or stained carpets.
Among the better known dog-friendly workplaces in the country, according to Rover.com: Ben & Jerry's, Google, Zynga, and Etsy.
Oftentimes, it's the boss who sets the tone for a pro-pup workplace.
At Mercedes-Benz of Burlington, managing partner Sean King brings in his 28-pound French bulldog, Winston, who serves as the office mascot. Winston has been known to escape from King's office, but King says his colleagues are understanding. Besides, allowing pets makes the high-end dealership seem less stuffy, he says, with free treats and a bowl of water for visiting dogs.
"The reason why it works for us is that it's in doses," King says. "There's that fine balance where it's just enough so everyone enjoys it, including the dogs, but not too much where it starts disrupting."
But he does keep a carpet-cleaning machine on hand, just in case.
Many companies don't have strict pet policies, but it's a good idea to set guidelines, especially considering how precious they are to their owners, says Tracy Burns, chief executive of the Northeast Human Resources Association.
"Dogs are like people's babies," she says.
Companies willing to let dogs visit should ask employees to file a request first, Burns says, and provide details about the size of the dog, breed, and personality. It might even make sense to have employees sign a liability form to protect the company if something goes wrong.
Employers should also consider whether dogs will actually benefit the work flow or if the company is simply jumping on a trend, Burns says. "Do people really take advantage of it? Is it really impactful or more for show?"
Fido might not be a good fit in every office (say, at a buttoned-down financial services firm), but he might become part of the company culture at a laid-back startup, especially if workers tend to clock long hours.
Dogs are allowed in the corporate office of Big Night Entertainment Group, which runs nightclubs and restaurants in Boston, but human resources manager Craig Marguette admits they can be a distraction.
"It's like in an elementary school if someone brings a brand new toy to the class," says Marguette. He has Labs that visits from time to time, as does owner Ed Kane. "Everyone wants to play with them."firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow her on Twitter @tarynluna.


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| challenge over at Community Thrive
Linking up to Art Journal Journey ~Birds, Beasts and Humans
Jackie ")
| challenge over at Community Thrive
Linking up to Art Journal Journey ~Birds, Beasts and Humans
Beautiful work again Jackie! Would love for you to link again to Art Journal Journey! Hugs, Valerie
Looks like you are having wonderful challenging times, Jackie!
Great journal page and painting!
Have a lovely weekend!
Claudia xxx
Love your two pages ... amazing textures in the first one,,and a lovely birdie on the second one..
would fix Art Jpurnal Journey as well! Judy's artcard is fabulous!
Happy weekend dear Jackie!
Your art journal work is fantastic! I love your style. Also, thank you for your kind words today on my blog. Hugs!
Thank you for linking up!
Your art journaling is gorgeous. Love it.
I love your beautiful art Jackie!
Life is great and art is fascinating :-)
Wonderful art journal!! I love especially the first one, it is very interesting and magnificent, but I love birds, too :-)
It can't be true that I found myself to making a book for art journal or art, I don't know yet what's coming.
Have a nice weekend :-)
Fabulous journal pages ! Thanks for joining us at ATP Exchange. Sue C x
All is wonderful my dear and the Art Journal page just sing. have a warm and snug weekend. We have gotten so far a total of 5inches of snow, but by Tuesday I think in the 50-60 temp. off to stitch or something xoxoxo
Well, Jackie your blog always makes me feel that life is good! I love your journal pages - such rich use of colour and what fabulous mail art from your friend. xxx
Oh lovely colourful pages to brighten us up thanks for sharing and enjoy your weekend....
ooo your page for your friend is marvelous and your birdie such fun too!
Happy mail like Judy's card sure can make your day.
Happy Weekend to you and yours dear Jackie...
All three projects are amazing, love to see your journal play, your whimsical bird is beautiful :-) x
Gorgeous spreads - particularly love the lushness of the first one. And how fabulous to get such beautiful happy mail! xoxo
Oh wow Jacjie, these must be some of my favourite pieces of yours, amazing journal pages, specially LOVE that top one, stunning the way you have blended all the elements together!!
Your mail art piece is gorgeous too!
Amazing spreads Jackie, fantastic way to spend your time ;-)
Oh yeah, life is good, every day is lovely. Always is something nice to do. I like your journal page too.
Beautiful colors and softness on your bird piece :-)
Lovely artwork, Jackie! A real feast for the eyes with all those dimensional textures. The journal page looks fantasic too with those soft colours. Beautiful mail art as well! It must have been so exciting getting it in the post!
Wow, that journalpage looks awesome! Lucky friend! And your colourful bird is just adorable :-)
Oooooooooo! Love your journal pages, gorgeous rich colours and wonderful textures! Thankyou for joining us at the ATP Exchange . Toni x
Wonderful Art Journal pages Jackie! I love the iconic image surrounded by the contemporary layers - stunning! Thanks so much for joining us at ATP Exchange. Juliax
Stunning pages Jakie, you make lovely layers and texture.
Another amazing post full of inspiring ideas and colours. I love the fingertip page - fabulous celebration of an amazing image!
Alison xx
I have come to visit you, dear Jackie, now that I have time and peace to get my computer going. And I find your art as well as your inspirative other images very stimulating! I love how you have a look at the world around you and let us have a share of it.
Greets from Manu
Beautiful bird! I love those colours! Thanks for visiting my blog on weekend ♥ Have a nice week!


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Straightforward Local Search Engine Optimization Services
Local search engine is useful to check quickly for the business product or any type locally and displays the in search engine. This is very useful for people who want to find the local business quickly. The local search engine optimization is also similar search engine optimization in the World Wide Web. better ranking results in the search engines.
The web services for local search engine are the one way to put the website on the local map. Actually the search engine optimization is contingent on the content, links and keywords similarly the local search engine will look for the business with the local area.
Those who want to expand their business in the local area then they uses the local search engine which makes easy searching procedure. In order to maintain the site in the local search engine optimization, then there is the need to establish and maintain the listing of the directories by the search engines. By some purpose the businesses missed the web site in the directories then there'll be the drop of web site in the search engine optimization, there will be great competition among the business people in the search engines, in order to resolve these problems in the local search engine optimization the web development companies provides the web services for the local search engine packages.
Local Search Engine Optimization Services: Expanding The Circle
The web services are useful to improve the traffic for the business people web site or other web site on the search engine and makes easy for the people to look for the web site. The web service provides services to make communication between two devices over the network.
Reputed online marketing and web development companies are specialized in offering a variety of services to ensure your corporate website starts getting an increased traffic and conversion within a short span of time. An optimized site leads to increased visibility on the search engines. Millions of people looking for the goods or services similar to yours can easily find you over the internet thus in turn increasing chances of conversion and sale.
Let's now figure out the key search engine optimization services offered by the digital marketing companies.
The local search engine mainly concentrates on the location of the website and next is the web presence. So the web services are available to create the web sites with the neat and clear design with the efficient keywords.
These are the main requirements in order to place the website on the top position of the local search engine optimization.
The web development companies provides the web services such as SEO SERVICES, similarly the local services are also produced by the professional people to make easy for the people and also easy to understand the keywords by the search engines.
The web development companies searches for the right keywords for the internet site, because it plays a key role to make your web site top search engine lists. The keywords should be appear frequently on the website, which we're selected but there should be no too frequently appeared on the world wide web pages, by this there may be the chance to drop the website on the list of the search engines. The placement of the keywords is also essential because, the keywords are may used in the title, images, headings as well as in the paragraphs etc.
There are many requirements to follow by the designer so as to develop the website on the search engines. The local search engine optimization mainly focuses on the place and also the layout of the web site. They are mainly depends on the keywords selection, placement on the world wide web pages and also the amount of times repeated. There is the great competition between the competitors so the web designing companies in navi Mumbai provide the services so as to develop their business.
Today we can see there are a number of web designing companies in Hyderabad are providing the services to make your website on the top position in the catalogue of the local search engine optimization.


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How Our Crime Scene Cleanup Works
A crime scene in cedar park, Texas might be a room in a house, a street, inside of a cab or anywhere. The cleanup service needs to restore the place to its normal phase. Especially this case needs to be handled by a team of professionals who can deal with biohazard and chemical cleanup.
Firstly, the cleaners inspect the scene and make a written proposal of what is to be done next. Even after the forensic investigators have taken their samples, some Biohazardous waste, including blood, bodily excretions, etc. will be present and that needs to be cleaned skilfully. The technicians dressed in thick protective jumpsuits will collect this waste, package it up and dispose these wastes to a licensed waste company. The site is then sanitized, disinfected and deodorized to bring it to the original state.
Expect to provide a designated party to relate with the crime scene cleanup company. This person usually has the least emotional involvement with the crime victim. They make contact with the various cleaning companies.
This person does not interfere with work unless something obviously wrong occurs. Their place in the cleanup involves asking questions for the family and friends, ensuring that personal property undamaged remains unmolested at the crime scene; ensuring that the company does what it said it would do, and ensuring that payment follows the cleaning.
You will expect all the blood and other offensive materials removed a timely manner without undue noise. You will also want any odors related to the crime scene reduced or removed. The cleanup will include a quiet, orderly, professional demeanor from the crime scene cleaners.
They will behave discreetly and their vehicles will not display advertising related to crime scene cleanup. If the cleaners wear uniforms, the uniforms will not reflect anything about crime scene cleanup.
You will also want to pay a fair and reasonable price. A standard rate of about $250 to $350 per hour. They may add extra costs like biohazard waste removal, fees for ozone gas decontamination, fees for sealing part or all of the contaminated area, and even a fee for taking on the job.
If you find a company with years of experience a telephone quote should clear up any doubts about what costs to expect. If a company haggles about prices over the telephone then move along to another company.
Experienced companies know pretty well what extent of damage and limits to the damage occurred on the crime scene. After all, in most cases, work rarely takes longer than a day. It does not matter if it's a big company or a small company. One day will do unless an automatic weapon, a shotgun, or a high powered rifle was used close up to the head.
So one day will usually do for a thorough cleanup in most cases. So if the responsible party's telephone description lacks accuracy, the cleaning company will still complete their task within a day. Whenever a day will not do, an experienced cleaner will know once within the crime scene. Finding a cleaner with hundreds of death scene cleanups should help your cause.
So long as a cleaning company qualifies their telephone quotes with statements that make sense no problems should arise over price. For example, "So long as damage remains more-or-less as described, the price for this cleanup should fall between X and Y dollars.
If a company charges for each biohazard box removed, they need to explain what goes in these boxes and why. They should also have a limited number of boxes for a cleanup. Generally, for a single homicide, one to three boxes should do the job.
If more boxes begin to appear, it follows that the cleaners started saving time by dumping solid waste and biowaste into boxes, none of which qualify as biohazardous material. Watch closely for this type of "cleaning."
Do not expect companies to remove materials from rooms that were not affected by the crime. For example, if cleaners begin removing clothing, furnishings, curtains, and other property from adjoining rooms, tell them to stop. If they do not stop dial 911 and file a theft complaint immediately.
So unless agreed on beforehand, no crime scene cleanup company should remove any property unaffected by a crime scene, including property containing the death scene odor.
As implausible as it may seem, some companies in this business steal belongings from homes. They do not call it "stealing," they explain it away as removing the "odor" or removing the "biohazard waste," none which is true.
Overall most crime scene cleanup companies work in good faith and do their best to return crime scenes to their pre-loss condition. Making a number of telephone calls by a response should include asking questions like these:
Can you quote over the telephone? What do you remove and when? How much time will you need? Do you return if asked? Do you remove the odor? Do you remove biowaste and solid waste connected to the contamination? What hours do you work? How many cleaners will clean? Are you insured?
Your cleaner may ask if water and electricity work on the crime scene. Your cleaner will ask about means of payment and when. Your cleaner may even ask about which hours they may work.
By the time your help leaves, expect all the biohazard waste, bio-waste, and solid waste connected to the crime scene to have been removed. Expect the door to have been reduced or eliminated. You cannot expect complete odor removal in one day, especially if the deceased was "down" for two or more days.


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A delicate steel screen spans 23.25m in a gentle curve between the staircase towers of two four-storey buildings - the Genetics Institute and the Bioscience Centre. Its purpose is to visually complete the enclosure of the central square and provide continuity to the roofline.
The screen is designed as an open grid without using cross-bracing; it is formed from a series of 'ladderframes' - vertical hangers of paired 150 x 18mm steel plates set 1.8m apart and welded to horizontal 114.3mm diameter CHSs.
At the top of the screen an open braced canopy and a lattice box girder span between the two stair towers.
The ladder-frames are suspended from one side of the girder; to avoid rotation caused by the eccentric loading it is braced diagonally with 60.3mm SHSs.
The ladder-frames are connected to three horizontal bow girders which prevent out-of-plane distortion and carry wind forces back to the stair towers. The 114.3mm diameter tubes act as the inner string of each girder; the outer 139.7mm diameter CHS string is welded to a cruciform outrigger which spans across to the hangers and is bolted between the spacer blocks. The bow girders have no diagonal bracing and act as vierendeels.
The four plates of each outrigger taper horizontally and vertically in opposing directions to reflect the forces - the vertical plates are deepest at the face of the screen to provide maximum cantilever moment resistance.
The interaction of moments, axial forces and their effect on stability were examined using a fully elastic second order analysis, a 3D model and structural analysis software.
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