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Sunday, November 28, 2010
1500 visitors giveaway!
Here's what you can win:
A gift for you, your children, or another special friend this Christmas?
It's my own softie pattern which I named, Huggle. I designed them with the youngest of children in mind, nothing sharp and nothing small that with come off! They are made to be hugged hard and dragged around. You'll be able to chose for a girl or boy or opt for my choice if your unsure, and I will make it especially for you. I'll also include a 5" charm pack made from my stash, plus some other little gifts I'll choose to tie in with the Huggle I'm sending. This giveaway is open to anyone, anywhere.
Okay, to win, easy peasy! Leave me a comment about who you'd give the Huggle to...... yep that's it! If you'd like an extra entry, become a follower! The giveaway will close next Sunday midnight Australian eastern time.
Thank you for visiting!
Cheerio for now,
x Mandy
26 comments:
- Maree: said...
I Love the Fabric for this little Huggle it is Gorgeous...I would have to have a Pink one for my New Grandie Ella who is 8months today..she has started to grab things & this Huggle would be just lovely for her to take to bed I think...
- November 28, 2010 at 5:48 PM
- Lynne said...
That's a whole lot of visitors! And 57 countries. I'd like the huggle for me. Is that weird? Trouble is, having two boys and two girls, I can't just allocate it to one kid - I mean the girls would love it but I can't say - one twin can have it and not the other! But I would share with the kids. How are you? Hope you're well. It's been snowing here - and very cold - winter is really here now!
- November 28, 2010 at 6:09 PM
- Rachaeldaisy said...
Your Huggle is so cute!! I'm not sure who I'd give it to so I'd say it was for me then one day when the right person came along I'd know it was for them. Congratulations on 1500 visitors!! Lucky we have blogs otherwise that would be a lot of cups of tea.
- November 28, 2010 at 7:30 PM
- Melissa said...
Oh I love the Huggle! I saw him a few weeks ago and have been thinking about him ever since!
Easy peasy... he would go to my baby boy!
Thanks for the giveaway!
- November 28, 2010 at 9:27 PM
- Melissa said...
And I'm already a follower :)
- November 28, 2010 at 9:28 PM
- Patchwork and Play said...
Oh How cute! I'd want to keep the Huggle for myself! Congrats to all your visitors! I have a lot of catching up to do! Bubbles@135 (flickr)
- November 28, 2010 at 9:30 PM
- Jo said...
Mmmmm think I might give the little Huggle away to my grandson, he just loves cuddly toys, and at 10 years old I wonder how much longer this will last, but he is a cuddly boy. Mind you I might just keep him for myself, but would share when the grandkids come to visit.
- November 28, 2010 at 10:21 PM
What a cute Huggle! The colors are so cheerful! I would give the huggle to a lttle girl that I know, who is four. Her mother is expecting a second child and is a single mom. Her baby is due in January and I think the little girl would love the Huggle very much.
- November 28, 2010 at 11:08 PM
- Amy said...
Since Penny already owns that adorable Huggle, I am not entering, just here to vouch for its cuteness and squeezability!
- November 29, 2010 at 12:17 AM
- DeeRoo said...
Wow...57 countries...that's so freaking exciting! Congrats and thanks so much for the opportunity to win a Huggle!! Hmmmm....I would totally KEEP it for myself and would love if it was a combo girl/boy fabric!!:)
Gonna have to get that feedjit gadget too..that is so much fun!
- November 29, 2010 at 2:37 AM
- DeeRoo said...
I am now a follower...don't know why I wasn't before...your blog is very nice eye candy...I love the simple black background!
Looking forward to keeping up!!
- November 29, 2010 at 2:40 AM
- LethargicLass said...
I would give it to my friends daughter who is turning 3 shortly :)
- November 29, 2010 at 11:57 AM
- Dana - Old Red Barn Co. said...
I would give it to my 9 year old daughter. She would love it to bits!
- November 29, 2010 at 1:26 PM
- karen said...
Wow what a lot of visitors. I love your Huggle and would put it in my grandchild hope chest
- November 29, 2010 at 1:43 PM
- Ann said...
So sweet. I am making a quilt for a coworker who has struggled and is finally having a baby so I would add it to that gift.
- November 29, 2010 at 3:20 PM
- Lynne S of Oz said...
I would give a huggle to my great-niece. She loves softies and I am a remiss great aunt in not supplying them.
(heh, my word verification is redami - red friend)
- November 29, 2010 at 9:10 PM
- ladmquilter said...
I would give him to my grandson Huggle is so adorable. Thanks for the chance to win and congratulations to 1500 visitors.
- November 30, 2010 at 10:00 AM
- Leah said...
Wow Congrats on 1500! He is really cute!
- November 30, 2010 at 6:23 PM
- Leah said...
Now following your blog
- November 30, 2010 at 6:23 PM
- Sameday said...
I would give this to my son - it is adorable. Followed you from Flickr. Thanks
- December 1, 2010 at 4:34 AM
- Sameday said...
I am a follower now - good job.
- December 1, 2010 at 4:35 AM
- nickyH said...
Oh no, I'm too late.......I hope the winner is really pleased!! Maybe I will get a little something when Mum returns.....xx
- December 1, 2010 at 7:11 AM
- sallgood said...
Peter, PEA POD, Pedro..that's my grandson who is 19 months old. I know he's love this little Huggle!
- December 2, 2010 at 4:23 AM
- Lael said...
- December 2, 2010 at 6:31 AM
- Amy said...
The Huggle is adorable. My little one is beyond the 'chewing on her playthings' stage, but she is firmly in the 'oh that is so cute mommy,can you make me one?' stage. So, she'd definitely appreciate a Huggle.
- December 2, 2010 at 11:03 AM
- Shayla Sharp said...
That is so cool about the visitors! The huggle is cute as can be, I'd probably give it to my favorite little cousin who has the favorite color of pink!
- December 6, 2010 at 6:08 AM


text:
Publication Details
Title:Structural control in five quicksilver deposits in southwestern Alaska
Authors:Sainsbury, C.L., and MacKevett, E.M., Jr.
Publication Date:1960
Publisher:U.S. Geological Survey
Ordering Info:USGS Publications Warehouse
Quadrangle(s):Circle; Goodnews Bay; Livengood; Sleetmute
Bibliographic Reference
Sainsbury, C.L., and MacKevett, E.M., Jr., 1960, Structural control in five quicksilver deposits in southwestern Alaska, in U.S. Geological Survey, Geological survey research 1960, Short papers in the geological sciences: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 400-B, p. B35-B38.
Publication Products
- This publication is part of a larger work. Please see P 400-B for more information.

subset: commoncrawl


text: It is that time of year again. The creepy decorations are in place, the costumes have been retrieved from the attic and the factory floor is anxiously awaiting All Hallows Eve. We would like to kick off the season with a small scary set of icons that will add a bit of the "spirit" to your desktop. Corey has cloned and then genetically modified each icon so there are versions that can live comfortably on a ghostly light or midnight dark background. Grab them quickly before they escape and terrorize the village!


text:
Introducing a new machined sphere of nickel 🙂 and heating it red hot and placing it on a television remote sent in by A + D. It had already been mangled by mans best friend. Thanks guys 🙂
WARNING *For your safety do not attempt to recreate anything you see here at home!
SUBSCRIBE: http://full.sc/1bnslc9
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-Want to send an object / material / substance to be RHNB'd or HHO'd? SEND HERE for an on screen credit of your donation! PO Box 21 96 Seymour St. Tonawanda NY 14150


text:
Please recommend this
site on Google+1
Photos of County Kildare in the Republic of Ireland.
Co Kildare, Newbridge Barracks
There are several towns of note in the County of Kildare, notably
Naas, Newbridge, Celbridge and Athy, but the oldest of all the
towns is that of Kildare.
on a place name on the left or right of the page.
There is a totally new addition to this website with thousands of contemporary
and old photos of Churches - church photos
England>>>>>> >Ireland> >>>>>>Scotland
Wales>>>>> Isle of Man>>>>>>Channel Islands
>Film and Movie Stars >>>> Home>>>>>> >About
>Privacy Policy>>>>>
Copyright Statement


text:
"Expanded authorities" or "Waiver of Authorities" refers to a limited number of actions that normally require prior approval by the awarding agency but for which the agency has waived its authority and given this authority to the grantee.
As expanded authorities or waiver of authorities is a Federal Agency specific term it does not apply to all Grants and never applies to contracts.
Certain changes, however, always require prior approval of the awarding agency. These changes impact the project scope or objective and are evidenced by:
- Change of Principal Investigator (PI) or other key personnel;
- Absence of the PI for more than three months, or a 25 percent reduction in effort spent on the project by the PI or other key personnel;
- Transfer of the performance of substantial programmatic work to a third party
- Significant re-budgeting, whether or not the particular expenditures require prior approval;
- Need for additional funds;
- Other changes specifically cited in the award or in agency-specific guidelines.
Contact your Research Foundation Post Award contact to determine whether the award falls under Expanded Authorities.
If prior approval is required then written approval must be obtained from the Sponsoring official. It may also be helpful or even a required preliminary step, to obtain official approval for certain actions. Written approval may be made by e-mail or document. Approval cannot be obtained over the telephone or during an in-person conversation.


text:
My answer to What is the best activity to learn English in an English-speaking country as lonely tourist?
Answer by Peggy Tharpe:
How about looking through the town/city's local paper or magazine for a conversation partner or language exchange? I did that in Rome. I read through a local magazine directed at visitors or expats, and found a local person looking for an English speaking conversation partner. He helped me with Italian; I helped him with English. It was really nice!
Or place an ad in the paper yourself, if you're going to be in one place for a while. Many towns have a free magazine—you can often find them in boxes along sidewalks in busy areas of town.
Another idea is to look for a meet up on the website meetup. here's a link: We are what we do | Meetup These can be people meeting up to do art, or practice languages or learn yoga, or go for walks. Find the meetups in your area, sign up for one that sounds interesting, and give it a try.
Universities and colleges usually have people studying different languages—maybe there's a language club. And people living in university areas are often more open to people who speak other languages and come from other countries.
Many communities offer ESL classes for people who want to improve their English. If you're going to be around for a while, and have the money, this can be a good way to meet people. ESL teachers are usually very friendly and supportive. And community English classes are cheaper than university courses.
Good luck. Don't forget to relax and smile!
What is the best activity to learn English in an English-speaking country as lonely tourist?


text:
As a result of the conventional fixation on the crunch/sit-up-style abdominal exercise, a culture of postural distortion is readily observable, even if we only look at any gym, and most actors, models, personal trainers, martial artists, physical therapists, and celebrity coaches.
We see chronic forward spinal flexion of forward transposed neck; sunken chest (and of course compensatory overdeveloped pecs); distended, overdeveloped abdominal wall; and posteriortilted pelvis (accompanied by a "fanny pack" oflower-back tension).
The overemphasis of outer unit abdominal work pulls the chest downward and the neck forward and pulls the hip flexors tight, creating the collapsed posture so prominent in today's fitness industry. These imbalances create inherent postural weaknesses, especially in the lower back and the shoulders, and have significantly contributed to the high prevalence oflower back and shoulder injuries in patients appearing in physical therapy clinics.
But even farther along on the Wheel ofDis Ease are the chronic implications of postural distortions. Postural distortions progress into cumulative deep tissue and organ trauma, nervous interference and pain, biochemical and bioenergetic imbalances, illness, fatigue, and disease.


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text: Sammy's Great Escape Available to buy Sammy's Great Escape U (2013) Share it Facebook Twitter Google+ I want to see it Seen it Step inside Ways to Watch Available to buy Blu-ray, Digital Download or DVD Buy Now Blu-ray Digital Download DVD Summary Photos and Videos Summary Sammy and Ray, Leatherback turtles and friends forever, are enjoying the atoll's water and sand, shepherding new hatchlings Ricky and Ella out to sea. Suddenly, a poacher swoops in ad ships them off to be part of a spectacular aquarium show for tourists in Dubai. The kingpin of the place, Big D, the seahorse, enlists them in his plans for a great escape. But with their new friends, Jimbo the bug-eyed blob fish, Lulu the snippy lobster, Annabel the sweet octopus, and a whole family of penguins, Sammy and Ray hatch breakout plans of their own. That is when little Ricky and Ella arrive, determined to break in to rescue them. After a series of thrilling adventures and narrow escapes, our heroes head south to meet up with Shelly, Sammy's first and only love. Photos and Videos Photos Showing 8 of 10 Visit the official Facebook page Explore the Warner Bros. YouTube channel What people are saying about Sammy's Great Escape WB Insider Don't miss out, join in Be the first to know about the hottest news, competitions and behind the scenes excitement. Step Inside Warner Bros. UK Follow @Warner Bros. UK


text:
Recent Posts
Analysis of sales
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5 Handy Gadgets For DJI Ronin-M Gimbal Stabilizer
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We have been working with DJI Ronin-M gimbal for more than a year now and there were a lot of compromises and upgrades that were made in this time. This is such a great tool to work with when configured
Video production equipment we are working with
August 17, 2017 1 Comment
In our lifetime of stock video production, we have changed and worked with many different pieces of equipment. Our most favorite was and will always be video shooting with Canon 5D Mark III in a combination of Magic Lantern cDNG RAW.


text:
Quite a few of the Chinese companies buying up land and agricultural assets in Australia are Chinese govt companies.Daddy O wrote:Sherri - Does your government own the Dairy Farm, and is it being sold to the Government of China? Or, does a private business own the dairy farm and is selling it to a private investor from China? From your posts, it seems as though you are saying the government owns it and has sold it to China.
Funny how your version or should I say the western version of capitalism & private enterprise advocates that govt should have no
hand in running businesses or utilities ..... because private enterprise does it better.
Yet the Chinese govt. is behind many of the companies that are investing in overseas markets of property and businesses .... both commercial & agricultural.
Why? .......especially the expansive buy up of Australian grazing & intensive agricultural land .... is to secure their own food & resource supplies.
Something our govt is either unaware of, the need for us to do the same ... or they're too busy selling us out for their own & their mates greed in chasing
the quick buck.
Investment? ..... YES ......... freehold ownership of land? ..........NO! definitely not.


text:
Friday, 11 December 2009
Hands Full
Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans. John Lennon
You must forgive me once more for not posting my Xmas Favourite Selection planned for Fridays on this blog, but this humble friend of yours is working harder than ever.
In between the classes I'm teaching and the ones I'm attending, I'm actually selling a lot more then I was prepared for :)
Happily exhausted, my hands are full of work. My head full of new ideas.
My heart is full of hope and expectations.
Publicada por Aurea Praga em 23:03
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text:
Empty smear job
I am a supporter of the Independent who looks forward to the annual article on the year's top censored stories ("See no evil," cover story, Sept. 14). This year, the list included a story, "World Bank funds Israel-Palestine wall," that was nothing but an empty smear job. I was going to let it go by, until I read a letter praising this very story. Now I feel I must speak out.
According to this story, the World Bank will establish a free trade area "on Palestinian land around the wall." The story then leaps to the conclusion that "the plan seems to translate into Palestinians paying for the modernization of checkpoints around a wall ... that will help lock in and exploit their labor." The key word here is "seems," which is a clumsy attempt to disguise the story's bias. To me, it seems that the Palestinians are getting a huge financial break to offset losses generated by the wall.
Furthermore, I fail to see how a wall intended to keep Palestinians out of Israel will result in locking in cheap Palestinian labor. This is like saying that Americans who want a wall on our border with Mexico, want "to lock in and exploit" Mexican labor. The hacks who authored this hatchet job apparently will say anything that comes to mind, no matter how absurd, as long as it bashes Israel.
Had they bothered to do any real research, they might have learned that Israel has taken to importing cheap Filipino labor "to replace the Palestinian workers no longer welcome beyond the green line" (source: "Border Crossing and Cross-dressing," Saul Austerlitz, Jewish Daily Forward, Sept. 1, 2006).
Harry Katz
Woodland Park
Killing fields
What a wonderful story about Sid ("Only fighting ignorance," Personal space, Sept. 28). There are many like him who have never been given a chance to prove what good dogs they can be. They are killed "just because of the way they look" in nearby Denver, as your article states. What nonsense, and what a tragedy.
Kory Nelson, assistant district attorney in Denver, and Doug Kelley, head of Animal Control of Denver, have created a "killing field" in Denver. Nelson has spread his venom through the United States with his "offer" to help any city or town propose similar legislation to "eliminate" pit bulls. I wonder if he does it in his spare time, or on the city dollar.
Nelson was quoted in the June 24 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle as saying, "Anyone who shoots a pit bull running loose is justified." What kind of statement is that from a city official and a district attorney, who is supposed to uphold the law, not encourage others to break it?
Sid would not be with us today to do his good works if he lived in Denver. If Nelson and Kelley had their way, he would be just one more notch in their belt.
I find it most interesting that Sid came from a "fighting" background. Many dogs are killed every day because of their supposed inherited temperament.
If this were really true, why would Sid and he is not alone be the kind, loving dog he is today?
Puppies are killed because of their parents. What if we killed or jailed the children of parents who are criminals?
Breed bans are wrong. They do nothing to "protect" the public, and they allow for the killing of innocent animals for no reason other than "the way they look."
Jan Dykema
Director, Responsible Dog Owners of the Western States
Hiding in closets
Colorado College political science professor Bob Loevy is half right when he says there is no reason for an incumbent to debate his challenger. To keep your political advantage, it's true. But to keep your leadership and moral advantage, it's 100 percent false.
Incumbent Republicans say they've been doing a good job that means they should be able to go to the public and list their many accomplishments. Incumbent Republicans will say theirs is the party of ideas then they should be willing to sell those ideas on their merits during each and every election. Incumbent Republicans will also say they are the party of "personal responsibility." What could be more responsible than discussing their ideas and accomplishments in front of a concerned group of our citizens?
But they aren't doing these things. The slogans these incumbent Republicans use serve one, and only one, purpose: to help get them elected. And when the rubber meets the road, those high ideals and principled views will be long forgotten by those incumbent Republicans you just re-elected.
Bud Gordon
Colorado Springs
A dog's life
I wanted to take the time to thank Matthew Schniper and your paper for his fabulous article, "Only fighting ignorance" (Personal space, Sept. 28).
It is appreciated by those of us who struggle and work so hard to change the public perception of the vilified and misunderstood pit bull breed.
Leisa Boysen
Director, Iowa Alliance of
Responsible Dog Owners
Exposing Trailhead
Re: "I am Trailhead, LLC" (Public Eye, Sept. 28):
Thank you for publishing the truth behind the scandalous GOP attempt to smear all Democrats in the state of Colorado. I am certain that this is the Republican M.O. all around the country.
"The Good Ol' Boy Network" (GOP) has finally been exposed for what it's really about: Winning at any cost, including a cover-up of child molestation to keep seats; denying our troops proper protective materials; pork-barrel spending; jamming the House and Congress with stupid horse-meat export legislation; Abramoff cronies getting off easy; special interests groups trumping legislation for the good of the common man; Tom DeLay's redrawing district lines for Republican gain; the illegal immigrant stalemate; allowing James Dobson to dictate politics to his followers, with a direct line to Karl Rove.
Whatever happened to separation of church and state? The scandals keep popping up, then are quickly buried in denial and double-speak. And now, discrediting State of Denial, a book by longtime administration ally Bob Woodward, for his simple reporting of the facts on the war in Iraq. It's a nightmare for freedom of speech and American core values.
Many kudos to Cara DeGette for exposing who and what is behind the "The Trailhead Group." It's truly disgusting to read how low these fat cats will stoop to keep power. What ever happened to "May the Best Man Win" policy? Now it's all about fundraising. I believe the writers of the Constitution would roll over in their graves if they could see what is going on in this country now.
Our soldiers are dying while the fat cats are dining. It's a crying shame. Literally!
Sad, but true, an ex-Republican,
Paul Laamann
Peyton Pines
One thing right
It's easy to criticize officials when they do the wrong thing. It's rarer to give thanks when they do right, but thanks are in order to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper for taking steps to confront discrimination against women and people of color in the city's business contracting programs.
The right-wing political attacks on affirmative action in recent years, with flames fanned by anti-civil rights politicians like Gov. Bill Owens and state Sen. Ed Jones, have led to the denial of broad scale educational and economic opportunities for women and people of color in Colorado.
The city of Denver's study of its contracting program revealed that despite the city's growing diversity, opportunities for businesses owned by women and people of color were shrinking dramatically. To his credit, Hickenlooper's administration has taken a bold step in introducing a new initiative to aggressively confront this.
We thank the mayor for his work to confront discrimination, and encourage the City Council to approve this plan. After all, women are a majority of the city's population as are people of color. Both pay their fair share of taxes. Shouldn't they and their businesses share in the city's prosperity?
Bill Vandenberg
Co-Executive Director, Colorado
Progressive Coalition
Siding with criminals
Colorado Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar voted for the Bush torture bill? I voted for him, and I now feel utterly duped and betrayed. He has sided with the war criminals of the Bush administration, enabling yet another successful attack on the most fundamental principles our country was founded on. Habeas corpus is but a memory now.
Thanks, Ken!
Mr. Salazar, you are "one of them" now, truly another Joe Lieberman. Maybe you'll be the lucky boy that gets "the kiss" from George at the next State of the Union. May you regret this vote the rest of your life. I will not forget it for the rest of mine.
It's not such a long trip, is it Ken, from the stage at Colorado College (where you campaigned in 2004 with Vietnam Vet and triple amputee Max Cleland), to the Dark Side in the halls of Congress?
Dave Duff
Colorado Springs
Ghost town
Mayor Rivera was interviewed on TV recently. He touted his conservative values. Are these the same values that brought chaos to School District 11?
That created a diversity board made up mostly of white men?
That stopped his support for Operation Just One's mental health services to soldiers and veterans?
Rivera's big campaign promise was to bring Southwest Airlines to the Springs. Southwest decided on Denver instead of here. I visited our local airport last Monday night it looked like a ghost town!
These are the types of issues that are causing more and more people to denounce "conservative" values. And I believe it will cause people to vote for moderates and Democrats in November.
Natalie Schlabaugh
Colorado Springs
Lack of awareness
Tuesday, I picked up the Gazette and saw the headlines about innocent Amish children murdered by a gunman in Lancaster County, Pa.
Last week, it was a principal in Wisconsin and a girl in Bailey, Colo., basically just down the road. So what does the Life section of the Gazette run today? "Shooting in style." Please! There was no timeliness to this article. There was no reason whatever to run something with that kind of headline, even in view of the incidents of last week, more than those of yesterday.
I have a daughter, who is a freshman at Doherty High School. I worry about things like these shootings. Whether or not I agree with the National Rifle Association or its supporters is not an issue. I worry about her safety. And when I see things like this headline on the front page of a section apparently glorifying shooting ...
I would encourage all readers to protest to the Gazette about their insensitivity. When the first shooting happened last week, they should have known to pull that article then.
Douglas Rule
Colorado Springs
Placing the blame
The National Rifle Association will doubtless grieve the recent shooting deaths at schools in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Bailey, Colo., for raising yet more inarguable proof that gun control must be pursued (in addition to existing laws) and enforced.
The NRA need fear nothing, though. Over and over again, the sacrifice of innocent people to the rights of an increasingly immoral, selfish and apathetic society will be for nothing, as gun makers, gun owners and the politicians in their pockets place the blame on factors that cannot soon, if ever, be addressed.
C.S. Odlin
Manitou Springs
A news story last week ("The debate debate") indicated that state Rep. Mark Cloer has refused to debate or attend public forums. In fact, Cloer maintains he will take on anyone, anytime and anywhere. The three-term incumbent has long been willing to appear at candidate' forums, and attended a recent event at the Hillside Center, sponsored by the Black/Latino Leadership Coalition.
Last week's "Dish" insert included an incorrect phone number for The Craftwood Inn; the number should have read 685-9000.
The Independent regrets the errors.


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Saturday, May 31, 2014
New To My Shelf / Cover Love
Yes, I admit, I am a cover whore. And yes, I bought these two books based strictly on the fact that I love the covers.
"But Kriston, that's pretty shallow."
*ponders statement* Whatever.
I have always loved the Splintered cover, and then when I saw the Unhinged cover I knew I wanted these books on my shelf. I love the artwork, the colors, the facial expressions, all of it. Plus, I am a sucker for a good Alice In Wonderland retelling. I hope they're good.
Maybe I will showcase the books I am glad I did not judge by their cover. I have a list of books that I love with covers that do not appeal to me at all. So see. I'm not all bad.
Labels: Cover Love
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text: Head coach Mike Brown went ballistic during the Lakers' loss in Utah on Saturday night, and his wallet is a tad lighter today, as the NBA hit him with a fine and one-game suspension. Brown won't be on the sidelines as the Philadelphia Sixers host L.A. tonight: "Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown has been suspended one game without pay and fined $25,000 for making contact with a game official and failure to leave the court in a timely manner following his ejection, it was announced today by Stu Jackson, NBA Executive Vice President Basketball Operations. The incident occurred with 8:41 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Lakers' 96-87 loss to the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City on Feb. 4."


text:
It's poetry month again so I've got a big roster of some great castle and love theme poems lined up for this month starting with this wonderful Henry Wadsworth Longfellow piece. I know I've kept you waiting far too long for more castle lore so this will tide you over and I hope to cover Oxfordshire very well this month and more of the southern portion of England as we progress into the year. Please accept my apologies for the long delay and pray that the world will start treating me a little nicer. It would be a refreshing change. – Evelyn Wallace bka The Castle Lady
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Born February 27, 1807, died March 24, 1882
Between the dark and the daylight,
When the light is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the day's occupations
That is known as the Children's Hour.
I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound of a door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet.
From my study I see in the lamplight,
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice and laughing Allegra,
And Edith with golden hair.
A whisper, and then a silence;
Yet I know by their merry eyes,
They are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise.
A sudden rush from the stairway,
A sudden raid from the hall!
By three doors left unguarded
They enter my castle wall!
They climb up into my turret,
O'er the arms and back of my chair;
If I try to escape they surround me;
They seem to be everywhere.
They almost devour me with kisses,
Their arms about me entwine,
Till I think of the Bishop of Bingen
In his Mouse-Tower on the Rhine.
Do you think, O blue-eyed banditti,
Because you have scaled the wall,
Such an old mustache as I am
Is not a match for you all?
I have you fast in my fortress,
And will not let you depart,
But put you down into the dungeon
In the round-tower of my heart.
And there I will keep you forever,
Yes, forever and a day,
Till the wall shall crumble to ruin,
And moulder in dust away.
With castle fervor and longing,


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For as long as Samsung's been making tablets, their strategy has been rather simple: Take an uninspiring design, then crank out device after device, separated only by minute screen size differences and the barest of spec changes.
It's carpet-bombing, really, with as many as 11 tablets launched internationally since January 2014. Nothing clicked until Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab S series, the 8.4 and the 10.5, which grab you by the eyeballs and don't let go… Because holy crap, will you look at those screens!
Sure, Samsung's not going to be winning any design awards for this plastic S5 remodel, but the metal-colored edge makes it classier. The 8.4 inch tab is stunningly thin and light – at 8.38 by 4.24 by 0.26 inches and under 300 grams, it's outdoes the 7.9-inch iPad mini.
It checks off the other design boxes – super thin bezels to accommodate bigger displays, an 8MP camera around the rear (with a 2.1MP front facer), stereo speakers on the top and bottom edges that suggest landscape viewing of content, an infrared emitter on the right for TV control… and Samsung's managed to fit in a microSD card slot for storage expansion as well. The latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Blueooth 4.0 make an entry too, as does the fingerprint scanner from the Galaxy S5, though in our experience, the scanner worked 60-70% of the time and was very sensitive to the angle of scan, meaning you're often left turning the tablet to portrait mode to get it to work.
Screen and Multimedia
The screen, though, is the real reason you're here, isn't it? Samsung took its own sweet time fitting a SuperAMOLED display on a tablet, but the wait was worth it. Brightness, vivid colors, sharpness and clarity – they all fit. Combine this with the insanely high 2,560 x 1,600 pixel resolution, and you have the best screen we've seen on a tablet so far.
Colors may look over-saturated, but Samsung's added a software layer that analyses what's on the screen and what your ambient lighting is, adjusting the picture accordingly, albeit for a handful of native apps.
Audio performance is a bit of a drag, with the speakers pumping out enough volume for TV serials, but falling short for movies or anything action-packed. It definitely doesn't live up to the promise of the screen, but headphones should sort you out. The camera is competent but unspectacular.
Software and Performance
The Tab S runs Android 4.4 with Samsung's colourful TouchWiz UI on top, along with the usual tablet features – multi-window (run apps side by side) and the Magazine UI (tiles-based widgets to give you all your information at a glance). An incredibly neat feature called SideSync 3.0 lets you control your phone on your tablet (like a virtual desktop), take phone calls from your tablet when your phone is in the other room charging, even copy and paste data from between the two.
The Tab S is powered by Samsung's eight-core Exynos 5 Octa processor, though it uses only four at any time – either the four A15 cores to do the heavy lifting, or the lower power A7 cores to do lighter everyday tasks, with the aim to extend battery life. In every day use, performance is smooth and handles anything you throw at it.
As with most devices, the Tab S has more processing power than it really needs. Battery life on the 4,900mAh lasted over 12-13 hours of mixed use – video, push email, browsing and some gaming. And that's without engaging the Ultra Power Saving mode, which dramatically slashes the features you can use to extend the life of the device… Good as a last resort, but arguably more useful on a phone than a tablet.
Arguably, the Tab S' biggest issue is something Samsung can't control – the app selection for Android tablets. Most are either blown-up phone apps, or confused apps that seem to have been designed for larger screens. This aside, the Tab S is the best Android tablet to buy, besting Apple's devices on many fronts. That display alone is enough to sway us… and if the app gap doesn't bother you, this is the tablet to pick up.
What we liked: Thin, light and portable, good battery life, multi-window, performance
What we didn't: Fingerprint scanner is temperamental, pricey, audio quality, uninspired design
Killer Feature: That stunning display
Price: Rs. 37,800 (8.4 inch, Wifi + 3G model)


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The Department of Health is setting aside a cash pot of £15 million for GPs so that practices won't feel any pinch from a sharp rise in Care Quality Commission fees planned within the next two years.
In consultation papers out this week, the CQC is proposing a massive hike in fees to cover for the full cost of its inspections, that could see some larger GP practices having to pay more than £9,000 in 2016/17 and £17,000 in 2017/18 compared to this year's £2,681 bill.
But a spokesperson for the Department of Health told PharmaTimes Digital that, based on the expected rises, it will sink a further £15 million into the GP contract to ensure that practices - many of which are already financially stretched - won't need to fork out any extra cash. However, details on exact plans for GP support remain thin, as the consultation is underway.
"The last thing that GPs and our practice staff need is further charges whilst we are under intense resource pressure," said Royal College of General Practitioners chair Maureen Baker. "We are pleased that the Department of Health has stepped in to address this situation, so that practices will not suffer financially as a result of these changes - but practices need assurances that these will cover all costs," she added.
"While we understand and recognise that the government has indicated resourcing GP practices for this expense, this provides no assurance that the costs will be fully met, nor that it will be recurrently available," said Chaand Nagpaul, the chair of the British Medical Association's GP committee.
"This significant financial burden could be the final straw for many GPs and practices with many already having to cope with swingeing cuts to their core budgets and escalating costs of keeping a practice open," he warned, adding that the "wholly unjustified and damaging proposals" could have "a damaging effect on patient care by further shrinking practice resources for frontline services".
And end to the regime
Both the BMA and RCGP have also hit out at the watchdog's inspection procedure. "What we really need is for the GP inspection regime to be halted and a less resource-heavy and bureaucratic process be put in place, so that GPs are not taken away from frontline patient care whilst inspections are underway," said Dr Baker. The BMA has also "already called for end to the disproportionate, bureaucratic nature of CQC inspections, which currently has a focus on pointless box ticking that takes GPs and staff away from caring for patients," noted Dr Nagpaul.
The rise in CQC fees will apply to all the health and social care providers it inspects, and thus far GPs are the only group singled out for government assistance in absorbing the hit, as the impact would be greatest. But Rob Webster, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the 40%-plus increase will also be a "considerable burden" on NHS trusts.
"It comes as providers forecast a deficit of around £2 billion this year and face £1 billion of increased pension payments from 2016/17," he noted, and warned that "the goodwill of providers towards CQC and its new approach to inspections could be jeopardised by this fee increase".


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Divido Mount Hawthorn
Divido Mount Hawthorn Back to Balkan is a series of food nights put on by the highly awarded Divido restaurant in Mount Hawthorn. Essentially it is to showcase the Greek, Macedonian and Croatian influences that occupy their kitchen and they are passionate about. Owners/operators Elena Serra and Jason Jujnovich recently returned from a trip to Croatia and have been inspired for some time by the refreshing and delectable range of food on offer in the Balkans.
The Balkans is is a geographical and cultural region of South East Europe. Their passion for Balkan food transpires through their "Back to Balkan" Nights. "Back to Balkan 3" is scheduled for August 21 and 22 at Divido Restaurant. The Foodie Hub attended the previous Back to Balkan night in June 2013 and the food from the night is documented below. In the event you are not one of the lucky ones that secure a booking in August (the value of the night is compelling) they also have "Back to the Balkan 4" scheduled in for October so like Jason's Facebook page or keep tabs on their website to remain updated.


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It seems customers are quite satisfied with Chick-fil-A. The Georgia-based company is the highest-ranked fast food chain in the country, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
At a time when many restaurants are experimenting to draw in more customers, Chick-fil-A has stuck to its limited, chicken only menu.
The restaurant chain operates in 43 states and Washington, D.C. and had more than $6 billion in sales in 2015.
Papa John's came in second in the index, and Little Caesar's Pizza and Panera Bread tied for third place.
Related Topics:
foodchick-fil-afast food restaurantu.s. & world
foodchick-fil-afast food restaurantu.s. & world


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I love your chicken! I keep wanting a coop with a few laying hens but my husband isn't quite as sure. But your type of chicken would definitely win him over : )ReplyDelete
My husband and I have an ongoing 'battle' about my desire for chickens... someday, maybe... I like yours! and I have to agree, I still like the look of painted furniture but now when I see it I often think to myself that in a few years there will be stripping and refinishing all over pinterest.ReplyDelete
I have two of that same chicken... nice and chippy just like yours! My real chickens are named Thelma & Louise (Araucanas), Lucy & Ethel (Rhode Island Reds) and Daisy, Duke that is (White Leghorn). I thought they were all good chicken names :) Have fun naming this one!
we have chickens and love them. as to your quandry at the show, I felt the same way at a similar show. I think there is part of me that loves finding the junk in its pure form. I am finding more at garage sales, really dusty old flea markets where no one has heard of Pinterest, charity thrift stores... That is more fun. I guess I just don't want my junk already made-over, I want to make-it-over myself! Is that weird?ReplyDelete
Your backyard patio is beautiful, like a secret garden!! Your chicken is pretty fun too!
I was just thinking yesterday
that you hardly ever hear the
name SHIRLEY anymore. Or
how about GLADYS?
I feel exactly as you do about
the vintage shows these days.
I don't feel motivated to buy
any of it. Kind of the same old
{yawn} same old. I skipped JB
this year for that reason. I am
more into junk and antique shops
rather than the sales.....
Happy Friday. Hope you have
some great things on your weekend
xo Suzanne
Remember you started my chicken collection so many years ago by convincing me I needed one. Still have that chicken. Your chicken is fabulous. I vote for Hattie. Aunt George <3ReplyDelete
she is perfect!! we tried them twice with terrible results both times. broke my heart. but they are just so darned cute!!ReplyDelete
Hi. Just wanted to stop by and let you know of a giveaway for a gift certificate to the opening of my new Etsy Shop: Daisy Pink Wish.........if you have time, please visit.........we would love to see you enter!
Thanks for sharing with us...:-)
We are the best Letting agencies in Birmingham City Centre. Please contact us for letting agencies and letting agents B42,B5.Contact us on North Birmingham:0121 356 4242,Central Birmingham:0121 622 7890.


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Cimarosa Harmony, Florence
- Free WiFi
- Collect nights
Cimarosa Harmony, Florence
More Info: 866-539-8117
- Double Room
- Triple Room
- Quadruple Room
- Family Room, 1 Bedroom
- Double Room (small)
More great choices
What's around Cimarosa Harmony, Florence
- In Santa Maria Novella
- Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower - 27 min walk
- Piazza del Duomo - 28 min walk
- Piazza della Signoria - 29 min walk
- Ponte Vecchio - 29 min walk
- Palazzo Vecchio - 29 min walk
- Uffizi Gallery - 30 min walk
- Pitti Palace - 33 min walk
Getting around
- Florence (FLR-Peretola) - 14 min drive
- Porta al Prato Station - 8 min walk
- Florence Santa Maria Novella Station - 17 min walk
- Florence Statuto Station - 20 min walk
- Florence-Cascine Station - 21 min walk
- Self parking (surcharge)
- Valet parking (surcharge)
At a glance
Key facts
- 5 rooms
- Arranged over 1 floor
- Check-in time noon-7 PM
- Check-out time is 10:30 AM
Required at check-in
- Credit card or cash deposit required
- Government-issued photo ID required
Travelling with others
- No cribs (infant beds)
- Pets not allowed
- Free WiFi in public areas
- Free WiFi in rooms
- Valet parking *
At the property
- Continental breakfast daily (surcharge)
- Bicycle rentals on site
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Luggage storage
- Multilingual staff
- Number of buildings/towers - 1
- Year Built 2004
- Accessible bathroom
- English
- Italian
In the room
- Air conditioning
- Minibar
- Private bathroom
- Shower only
- Bidet
- Hair dryer
- Free WiFi
Also popular with travelers from the USA
Cimarosa Harmony, Florence's small print
Also known as
- Cimarosa Harmony
- Cimarosa Harmony B&B
- Cimarosa Harmony B&B Florence
- Cimarosa Harmony Florence
All guests, including children, must be present at check-in and show their government-issued photo ID card or passport.
Cash transactions at this property cannot exceed EUR 2999.99, due to national regulations. For further details, please contact the property using information in the booking confirmation.
Mandatory fees
You'll be asked to pay the following charges at check in or check out:
- A tax is imposed by the city: EUR 3.00 per person, per night, up to 7 nights. This tax does not apply to children under 12 years of age.
Optional extras
Late check-in after 7 PM can be arranged for an extra charge
Self parking costs EUR 20 per day
Valet parking costs EUR 22 per day
Rollaway beds are available for EUR 25.0 per night
We have included all charges provided to us by this property. However, charges can vary, for example, based on length of stay or the unit you book.
Recent reviews
Fabulous 8.8 From 34 reviews
The neighborhood was somewhat away from the city center and therefore not so busy but you had to take a easy bus ride into downtown.
We had a wonderful time. The staff was friendly and informative!
This was an older mother daughter 2 week adventure through Europe. We stayed three days at the CimaRosa. It was way more than we expected for the reasonable price. The room was spacious. It had a refrigerator and a little table 4 meals it was extremely clean and very comfortable with all the amenities one needs while away from home. The decor was beautiful and Charming. The neighborhood was very safe and centrally located to everything while not being in the middle of downtown. Transportation to and from was extremely easy. It had a Charming patio to relax in and have coffee xcetera. The proprietor was extremely friendly and very helpful. She mapped out every site in Florence and how to get there so we did not need to pay a guide. With her instruction we were able to see everything at our leisure. I would definitely stay there again especially on an extended visit because of all the comforts and ambiance. It was like a home away from home in the middle of the vacation. Loved this hotel.
The room is clean and the location is close to bus #22 and #23 in Firenze. When we visited the area, the temperature is still chilly (for us). They did not provide heating for guests, which I mentioned to the managers. But they simply replied the heater was not working at all. I felt that they just took excuses, which is the main reason for their poor rating.
Short but enjoyable
Is the description of this hotel not correct? Tell us


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NFPA 1999 (2013 Edition)
The National Fire Protection Association established the NFPA 1999 standards for protective clothing and ensembles for Emergency Medical Operation. NFPA 1999-2013 specifies the minimum design, performance, testing, documentation, and certification for emergency protective clothing and ensembles for protection from airborne and liquid-borne pathogens. The standard sets a minimum level of whole body protection for emergency services personnel and first responders from these pathogens. NFPA 1999 addresses emergency medical garments, multiple forms of emergency medical equipment, emergency medical footwear and footwear covers, medical care facility footwear, and single-use and multiple-use emergency protective ensembles.
NFPA 1999 certified products are considered Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) by the federal government and are fully reimbursable by many grants available to public safety agencies.
Blauer manufactures a broad range of NFPA 1999 certified outerwear and rainwear. Look for the CROSSTECH® logo to quickly identify which of our products are NFPA 1999 certified and eligible for grant funding.
Visit the Grant Information section of our website to learn more about grant opportunities in your area.


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Product Code: G40.121.AY
Brand: Fumagalli
RRP: £ 181.97 ex VAT£95.53 (ex VAT) or £114.64 inc VAT
Fumagalli G40.121.AY Globe 400 960mm Black Pendant
The Globe 400 E27 960mm Pendant (G40.120.AY) offers an attractive lighting solution for porches, gazebos, covered patios, and more. Its traditional design, spherical opal diffuser, and hardwearing black finish complement both domestic and commercial settings.
Like the rest of Click's high-quality Fumagalli outdoor lighting collection, the Globe 400 boasts a unique resin formulation with a lifetime guarantee against corrosion. This IP55 pendant fitting is virtually maintenance-free and will never discolour or fade, even in the brightest sunlight!
For full delivery details, please click here.
We offer a 30-day money back guarantee on all items*, provided they are returned in accordance with our terms in the link below.
* excluding made to order items
For full returns & refund information, please click here.
Free Delivery on all orders over £50
|Call us now at 0208 783 9995
|Open 8.00am-5.00pm Monday-Friday
UK Electrical Supplies
5a Windmill Road, Hampton Hill, Middlesex, United Kingdom, TW12 1RF


text:
Transfer Credit Search
HINT: Click in the "UW Colleges Subject" box and enter the subject code (e.g. "PSY" for Psychology). Entering just the first letter of the subject will show valid choices just below the box. If the "UW Colleges Course Number" box is left blank, all courses for the subject will be returned. Click "Search" to get your results.
Click the Search button to display results.


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:/ good bt boring :P
not really nice not like i expected bt its OK!
:/ good bt boring :P
not really nice not like i expected bt its OK!
Not Really Different From Other Platformers
The 'having to die to progress' mechanic is pretty cool and unique, but the problem is that the rest of the game plays like a bland switch and block pushing platformer in both realms of the living and dead. I think you should have added some unique mechanics for each realm.
Probably... IF ITWORKED!
Honestly, i can't say much, because its already been said that and it doesn't bloody work for me, i get passed the first screen then nothing, just blackness!
If I have to say something, the graphics quality fits well with the genre, the character stands out well and doesn't fade into the background like most types of this kind of game, the music fits well (with what i have seen) with the overall game, its a good game, just a little buggy.
I give it a six from what i saw!
unique platformer
I like that this platformer actually has a story to it. The music is very relaxing. What's really to like about this game is that when your character dies he goes to the spirit world and is able to solve puzzles by traveling to the spirit world and the world of the living. It kinda reminded me of super mario in that you jump on the enemies in order to kill them. I've never seen this kind of platformer before, but it's very enjoyable. My only complaint is that when your character dies and travels to the spirit world, the environment is turned upside down, making it nearly impossible to get to what you need in order to complete the puzzles. Other than that this game is pretty good over all. And now, the verdict is 10 lost souls out of 10! Great work!
The graphics are simple, but this game is interesting. It's another kind of platform game, not like those we can find everywhere. And the music is beautiful
I wonder what's the story of this little soul.


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Here in New Zealand, we have reached the end of a road that 'goes ever on' you might say, with the opening of The Hobbit 'Battle of the Five Armies'. There is a tinge of sadness at the end of such a momentous journey, especially as it has brought so much to New Zealand – creativity, excitement and pride in this beautiful country. (Thorin's Map)
Peter Jackson, with gifted colleagues like Tanya Rodger and Richard Taylor of Weta made us the Middle of Middle-Earth. We are very proud of them.
Harvey Button
Middle Earth Correspondent


text:
Tahitian Noni Leaf Serum 6 x 30ml Tubes
Availability: In Stock
Ex Tax: $159.09
Because skin is your body's first line of defense, it often takes the brunt of the irritants in your environment. Keeping your skin healthy and hydrated protects that first line of defense. This product has unlocked the noni leaf bioactives to create a skin treatment that soothes, protects and moisturises distressed skin very quickly. Tahitian NoniTM Leaf Serum soothes and restores skin affected by harsh sun, wind. It is extremely useful for rashes and in moist skin environments such as under baby's lip with teething.
It is ideal for blemishes on the body. Folklore of the ancient inhabitants of French Polynesia recounts the healthful properties of the noni leaf. Noni leaves were often used externally to soothe and revitalise the skin. The raw application of the noni leaf is available to the modern world in our practical Noni Leaf Serum.
- Noni Leaf Serum has a strong fragrance to mask the powerful smell of the noni leaf, indicating just how much noni leaf juice comes in every tube.
- Scrupulous research and great care went in to creating just the right formulation to help support and enhance the delivery of this valuable noni leaf essence
- Noni Leaf Serum contains a vital combination of noni leaf juice and noni leaf extract to increase the effectiveness of this amazing product.
Research has shown that the noni leaf helps skin look and feel healthier
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text:
I may be old but blah, blah...
I may be 'old' (what, over 20?) as in close to being a baby boomer but missed out by ten years thus not only missing 'the best bands' but also full employment & the opportunity to walk into a job in the arts despite being a prole & getting the chance to prove my worth rather than not even getting an interview because I didn't have the right kind of education - like you could in the 60s - so they say...............
Saw a t-shirt like the one above (same sentiment) advertised in The Guardian the the week-end.....
...and despite, admittedly, being able to relate because, as I said, I'm close to the bb gen, it's a sad thing to wear, isn't it? Yes? No?
As if to try & make up for being so damned 'old' by at least staking a claim to having been in on The Best of music.....................were they?
& what's battling what to decide?
Let's see....
Rock'n'Roll, Soul, Rock & Psychedelia
Funk, Punk, Hip Hop & Techno
Seconds out - Round One!
Of course, in theory, a baby boomer could have still caught Funk & Punk, still only being in her/his late-20s when they happened, possibly. I know one who remembers the impact of Rock'n'Roll but still enjoyed Punk.
What the t-shirt says (one of the things anyway) is that the 'live' experience is crucial to lending credibility to 'proper' music - they could really play! I geddit. That's how Rock 'grew up', didn't it? Going from a joyful Pop 45 to 'proper' bands (as opposed to manufactured) who could play because they'd been doing so in pubs years before they became stars.
We know the story..........................Rock got serious, long-haired, technical, pompous, indulgent, conceptual etc.......
what was I going to say?
Are the 'classic' genres really better than the newer ones?
Hold on
I've got to throw Punk in with the classics now, haven't I? Hasn't it been forced to grow up along with it's fans & get all Rock'n'Roll hall of fame stadium (The Clash, yes, them) 'proper music' all these years on? Don't old farts crow about Metal Box being seminal...Joy Division...The Sex Pistols, The Jam...all elevated to Serious land long after being branded at birth as Punk rubbish - they can't play! - well did you ever see Stiff Little Fingers back in the day? Did you? Or The Jam?
what happened to the notion that not being able to play as well as Jimmy Page was a bonus, a reason to celebrate, a call to arms in order to demolish serious Rock culture?
How soon we forget.
Now. I look around...squinting without my glasses, at the current musical landscape...I think I see a lot of bands fallen on the skinny arse between both stools, being neither rebel amateurs & proud nor technical wizards of dazzling virtuosity..........................................
(admittedly, this vision is based on watching about ten minutes of Later...With Jools Holland & not even every week)
what the fuck.
Trouble is, see, being my age it's almost impossible not to value Bowie, Roxy Music, Parliament, The Pistols or The Clash (I'm trying to stick to bands I've seen 'live' but wavered there although two out of five random names isn't bad - ha!) above what came afterwards..............
I know...
..............every generation treasures the music it held sacred in it's teen years...I know...................................
I've never seen rappers perform 'live'. In footage, they always sound shit....&...it stopped being a genre I liked around the time of the second Public Enemy album, probably, although, as you know if your ancient like me remembering any of this stuff gets harder...& unlike some baby boomers I can't even blame drugs for having erased half my brain cells........................
Techno? 'Live'? I saw Underground Resistance at a club, playing their own music, of course, but the only interesting 'live' element were their dancers...& they didn't dance so much as strike militaristic poses............anyway, I hate seeing Techno acts at Glastonbury, they way they ramp up the showbiz lighting, crowd-pleasing bollocks for the audio sheeple - bah!
Trouble is it's hard to get over the Big Bang theory...but only if you're a certain age. To The Kids the 60s boom is quaint nostalgia at best - "Look, Mum! He's smashing his guitar!"
Or "Dad, why are they spitting?"
Must be hell having kids grilling you about your rebellion-turned-into-money......because History always reminds us that it All began (EVERYTHING) in the 50s & 60s & OK, the mid-70s too - all of it - the purest (& best) Pop, raw power, holy Soul, trippy vibes, snotty noise........
....& everything ever since just rewrote it..........apart from Techno which, in my adult serious music pomposity, I'm placing above House because...well...it just hasn't lasted as well as the best Techno & unlike that exerts no influence on electronic music today & anyway at least, in the deeper examples, can be said to have cocked an ear towards even more complex electronic music rather than simply being Dance music................................................................................................................................damn! I forgot Disco in all this! but we know what that turned into, don't we? how it gradually diluted itself to become totally piss weak compared to, say, James Brown, Cymande, Gil Scott-Heron (now there's a black artist who got taken seriously by the Rock crowd - so what? who needs their blessing?)
To sum up: everything turns to shit. I was thinking about Hip Hop. But everything goes global in one form or another - gets itself accepted by Mr & Mrs People. We all get older...even disillusioned enough to dismiss a mature genre just because we no longer listen to it & therefore probably miss anything that's actually good (Hip-Hop, I'm looking at you...sorry).
As you know if you're a regular reader, I do still enjoy a lot of contemporary electronic music - see? I ain't past it! ha-ha. Which is not say...thinking about it....about having seen The Jam...Gil Scott-Heron...Parliament/Funkadelic...Art Blakey (what's he got to do with all this? nothing, it's a Jazz thing therefore outside all this)...I don't sometimes weaken & understand the meaning the that bloody stupid t-shirt.....


text:
Hi everyone! It's Sandie here. Today I am sharing with you a box I altered to make a Valentine Candy Box for my sweet daughter.
To create this box you will need:
Charming Henry mini stamp
1x Papier Mache box
White Acrylic Paint
A selection of Patterned papers
Embellishments of choice
Paper trimmer
#1 - Seperate all the components of the box and, using a baby wipe, distress paint all the edges with the white paint. Leave to dry for a few minutes. While it is drying you can go ahead and trim your papers to size
#2 - When the paint has dried adhere your papers to the box using a strong adhesive.
#3 - Trim out the centre of the lid by cutting an X and folding back each side. Adhere to the underside and then adhere the centre piece, which you have covered in contrasting paper.
#4 - While your adhesive is drying you can go ahead and stamp, colour and trim out Charming Henry, or the stamp of your choice.
#5 - Embellish the lid of the box adding the ribbon, which you will tuck and adhered to the underside of the lid. Make a bow to go on top of your ribbon.
#6 - Mount Henry on 3D foam dots and secure him on top of the embellishments once you are happy with how it looks
Fill the box with chocolates or love hearts candy.
And that completes your Valentine Candy Box. I do hope you like it and we would love to see your creations. Please do share in our Gallery over on Splitcoast Stampers or on our Facebook page.


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You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data. You can also exercise the right at any time by contacting us at email@example.com or you may use our Contact Page .
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I am not a nutritionist or dietician, but I do try to consider the healthfulness of dishes and ingredients before I dig into cooking or baking. I have struggled with bulimia for much of my life, and thanks to a recent major upheaval in my diet (namely, eliminating refined sugar entirely as well as trusting God rather than food to fill my emotional needs), I am doing well! In addition to avoiding sugar, I am a picky eater, but in reverse: I love the most darkly colored and/or feared healthy veggies (kale! yum!), but keep away from perennial favorites like baked potatoes and bacon.
Like most nutritional philosophies, mine has always centered around moderation. I think it's best to eat tons of nutrient-dense foods, and also that a sweet indulgence here and there is a lovely accent to a healthy plate! I don't advocate giving up everything you love, despite my own recent shift in diet, but I do hope you will become aware of what foods really help your body thrive.
I do not include nutritional data for my recipes on this site, partly because online tools for calculating that information can't produce completely accurate data (i.e., they rely on databases of ingredients that don't tend to distinguish between raw foods and cooked foods, although nutrients are affected by different types of cooking). That being said, if you would like to calculate nutritional data for any of my recipes, or any other recipe, here is a site I like a lot.
If you are interested in learning more about nutrition, here are a few articles that I have found very informative!
on Eating Clean
What Is Clean Eating (Health)
Should You Be Eating Clean (Science Based Medicine)
Why "Clean Eating" Is Total BS (Good Housekeeping)
10 Tips for Clean Eating (Eating Well)
on Sugar
Added Sugar in the Diet (Harvard School of Public Health)
Is Sugar Toxic? (New York Times Magazine)
Everything You Need to Know about Sugar (Nerd Fitness)
The Truth about Agave (WebMD)
and for a compelling book on the history of the sugar industry and nutritional science, The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes
on Fats
Research Review: Should You Balance Your Fats for Better Health? (Helen Kollias, Precision Nutrition)
Fats and Cholesterol: Out with the Bad, In with the Good (Harvard School of Public Health)
What If It's All Been a Big Fat Lie? (New York Times Magazine)
Healthy Cooking Oils: The Ultimate Guide (Authority Nutrition)
Does Dietary Saturated Fat Increase Blood Cholesterol? (Whole Health Source Blog)
Dr. Andrew Weil on Fat or Carbs: Which is Worse? (Huffington Post Healthy Living)
on Carbs and Whole Grains
Health Gains from Whole Grains (Harvard School of Public Health)
Carbohydrates (Harvard School of Public Health)
The Safe Carbs: Whole Grains (Precision Nutrition)
Whole Grain Foods Are Not Always Healthful (Scientific American)
Healthy Carbs for Weight Loss (Shape Magazine)
on Eating Colorfully
Eating Colorful Foods Has Health Benefits (Diabetes Forecast)
Eat Colorful Foods for Better Health (Core Performance)
Eat Healthy America: 52 Superfoods (Woman's Day)
on Eating Seasonally
Eat Fresh Year Round (Everyday Health)
Five Reasons to Go Seasonal (Whole 9 Life)
to find what's seasonal near you… Seasonal Food Guides (Eat Well Guide)
and for a great book… Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Barbara Kingsolver)
on Going Meatless
The Ultimate Guide to Vegan Protein Sources (Thrive Cuisine)
Meatless Meals: The Benefits of Going Meatless (Mayo Clinic via CNN)
Becoming a Vegetarian (Harvard Health Publications)
Five Risky Diet Mistakes Vegetarians Make, and How You Can Avoid Them (Huffington Post Healthy Living)
What's Wrong with What We Eat (Mark Bittman on TED)
if you do eat meat… The Truth about Grass-Fed Beef (NPR) and Why Grass-Fed Trumps Grain-Fed (Chris Kesser)
on Fish
The Fish You Can Eat, the Fish You Definitely Should Avoid (BodyEcology)
Fish: Friend or Foe? (Harvard School of Public Health)
on Processed Foods
Surprise! This Is Processed, Too (Eat Right)
The Myth of Healthy Processed Food (US News & World Report)
Food Processing—Background Reading (Johns Hopkins)
on Organic Foods
More Helpful Fatty Acids Found in Organic Milk (New York Times)
Organic Foods: Are They Safer? More Nutritious? (Mayo Clinic)
Organic Food No More Nutritious than Conventionally Grown Food (Harvard Health Blog) and Organic Food Isn't More Nutritious, But That Isn't the Point (The Atlantic)
and on Other Topics…
Glycemic Index (University of Sydney)
Dietary Fiber: Essential for a Healthy Diet (Mayo Clinic)


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Student and Teacher Resources and Services
Your Ballot
Election Myth—Jury Duty. I'll be called to jury duty if I register to vote.
The jury pool is made up of a combination of databases from the Department of Transportation and Voter Registrations. If you have a driver's license or have registered a vehicle, you are already in the jury pool.
When I get to the polls, how do I mark my votes?
It depends on the county you live in.
Ballot type by county and instructions for each ballot type.
What if I'm going to be out of town on Election Day?
You can fill out an
absentee ballot request form
[PDF]. After the County Clerk's office receives your request and checks your registration, an absentee ballot will be mailed to you. You can return by mail or drop off at
your County Clerk's office
Idaho Secretary of State Main Page
State of Idaho Home Page


text: Home Software capsule review Google Earth Email a friend To Use commas to separate multiple email addresses From Privacy Policy Thank you Your message has been sent. Sorry There was an error emailing this page. By Tom Spring PCWorld | Jul 3, 2007 12:00 AM PT More like this In pictures: The strangest sights in Google Earth Google Earth: Power Tips and Tricks In Pictures: Most Spectacular Sights in Google Sky Video MSI's App Player is the Cheater Mode you need to make mobile gamers feel bad At a Glance Google Earth --Tom Springthe update to add Google Sky. To comment on this article and other PCWorld content, visit our Facebook page or our Twitter feed. At a Glance Google Earth Related: Software Games Shop Tech Products at Amazon


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Festive floral gifts to go on sale
A range of festive gifts produced by employees at a unique plant nursery in Wolverhampton will go on sale next week.
People with a learning disability who work at Old Tree Nursery have been busy preparing hundreds of their ever popular Christmas wreaths, bowls and planted arrangements which will be sold in the Civic Centre foyer from Monday to Friday (16 to 20 December, 2013) between 10am and 4pm.
The Wolverhampton City Council run nursery employs adults with a learning disability, giving them experience of the world of work.
Manager Andrew Skidmore said: "We will be selling a wide range of fantastic decorations which are sure to bring that festive touch to people's homes this Christmas."
Old Tree Nursery is on Pendeford Hall Lane, opposite Pendeford Mill Nature Reserve, and is open all year round. For details, please call 01902 786042.
- released: Wednesday 11 December, 2013


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Thursday, June 25, 2009
Are you Ready for Marketing's 2010 Annual Planning Process?
Regardless, a significant part of this annual process is assessment of your current "operational" metrics and development of next year's projected investment strategy. I define "operational" metrics as those metrics that track your marketing investment strategy, including:
1. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – such as Marketing Budget Ratio (marketing spend as a % of revenue), Program to People KPI, Revenue per Staff, Staff Throughput (program spend per marketing staff), Centralization KPI (% of marketing investment that is centralized vs. decentralized), Awareness-Demand KPI, etc.
2. Staff Mix (fixed spend) – such as advertising, product marketing, marketing operations, etc.
3. Program Mix (discretionary spend) – such as advertising (print, broadcast, corporate sponsorship), digital marketing, event marketing, etc.
IDC has published a complete taxonomy of these KPIs and staff and program mix areas to help marketing operations and marketing finance executives best manage their investment. (for CMO Advisory Service clients, refer to IDC's Worldwide Sales and Marketing Taxonomy, 2008: A Blueprint for Cost Control, IDC Doc. #211900)
Tracking and evaluating these KPIs, program and staff mix levels across the organization, over time and versus other companies will best prepare you for your upcoming planning sessions; for management of your resources as well as for increasing marketing's credibility with other parts of the organization.
IDC's CMO Advisory Practice is in its 7th year of its Tech Marketing Benchmarks study. If you would like to participate in this research, including receiving a copy of the above Taxonomy, an overview of the results of the study and an invite to our annual marketing benchmarks telebriefing in August, please contact Seth Fishbein at firstname.lastname@example.com. You will be joining the 100+ global companies that work with us year after year as part of this industry study.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Sales Enablement and The Year of the Sales Rep
I've spoken about sales enablement quite a bit in this blog, and I'll continue to do so as marketers improve their ability to better enable the sales process from an internal as well as an external perspective. With this in mind, Clare Gillan, IDC's SVP of Executive and Go To Market Programs, will share some of her insights in the sales enablement area. . .
Thanks Michael. At IDC's recent annual Directions event, I gave a presentation titled "The Year of the Sales Rep." In response to The Year of the Sales Rep notion, an SVP of sales asked me, "Why does this year have to be my year?" "Precisely," I responded. Let me explain. . . . never have we more needed our sales reps to be successful and never have they needed us more — those of us in sales, marketing, and executive management.
The crisis in sales is driven not by the economy alone but by an evolution in how buyers buy. Sales organizations, in general, have not kept up. The economy heightens a need for change in how the IT industry "sells" — better mapping to how buyers buy.
For nearly 10 years, sales organizations have emphasized the desire to become "trusted partners" with their B2B customers. Nearly every sales organization has been through "solution selling" programs of one form or another. However, only one in five buyers will tell you that he/she is generally approached by sales reps prepared to discuss solutions. Too often, the sales engagement continues to be product led. Further, buyers will tell you that the pre-purchase experience is becoming a more important indicator of post purchase value. Buyers increasingly consider "relationship ROI" as well as product ROI. And, buyers will tell you that, in this economy, they no longer have tolerance for uninformed vendor representatives who come through their doors. The sales rep must come to a meeting prepared to discuss the buyer's specific business — yet 31% of sales reps are not prepared with even a basic level of Web available information before taking a buyer's valuable time. Only 16% are extremely prepared — these are the reps positioned to take share for the companies they represent.
The technology purchase decision is rapidly moving from a product decision to a relationship decision. Buyers can generally find a number of products that can do the job and within the same price range. They will select the vendor that will make them successful over time even if the vendor does not offer the very best up-front price. The shift from product-led selling to relationship-led selling calls for a significant transformation of sales — enabled by a transformation of marketing.
This transformation requires marketing to gather intelligence and create assets that better map to what buyers value and then make the intelligence and assets "accessible" at key points along the go-to-market chain for use by sales and partners. This requires researching buyers (and I stress--from the buyer's point of view), auditing program investments against what buyers value and other related investments your company is making, creating strong content assets (and then making these consumable in a variety of formats), and, finally contributing to a sales enablement process developed in partnership with your sales "partner".
Thanks Clare! Contact me at email@example.com for a free copy of a recently published report by Clare entitled "Sales Enablement 3.0: A Transformation of Sales Enabled by a Transformation of Marketing".
More to come from IDC's CMO Advisory Practice on the emerging practices in this area of Sales Enablement.
Monday, June 8, 2009
BtoB Marketing's Response to Social Media: Have we Lost all Control and Impact?
For decades marketing has been desperately trying to connect with their customers in a controlled, one-way fashion. We had control of the brand, all marketing content as well as the traditional channels that were used to communicate with the market. And even on occasion, we cautiously exposed our executives and engineers to our customers while all the time holding our breath that they didn't say the "wrong thing" that would hurt our image, costing us millions of dollars in marketing investment and countless hours including nights and weekends executing our marketing strategy.
It reminds me of a time when I was a product marketer in the semiconductor industry. I would visit customers quite frequently with our lead engineer. In one meeting this engineer exposed our greatest product flaw to one of our key customers. As I cringed in my seat, I expected the ROI from millions of dollars of investment into the brand value of this product to be instantly destroyed not to mention the lifetime value of this customer as they quickly switched to our competitors' products. To my surprise, the candor expressed by this sincere engineer did not doom our company's success at all. In fact, it was a key factor in gaining credibility with our customer, including serving as the basis for a joint discussion and future research to solve these problems in a collaborative fashion. This new problem-solving process served as a key differentiator for our products in a very commoditized market.
What's the connection? Imagine 100s or even 1,000s of your engineers, developers and/or product managers interacting directly with your customers through their own blogs, contribution to other blogs, interaction through Twitter or countless other social media applications. Sound familiar to anyone?. . . How do we stop this PR nightmare?. . . How do we control them?. . . How do we ensure that they stay on-message with our brand?. . . How can we review every bit of content that they put on the Internet? The simple answer is that we "don't" try to control them.
Not to say that we should hang up our marketing hat and make wine in Napa Valley. In this new social media model we need to devise new ways of helping our organization to best represent the company while keeping the needs of the customer at the forefront of our communications; and even better leveraging this new found connection to the customer. Some ideas include:
- Increase your resources dedicated to internal communication. We've always said that everyone needs to be a salesperson. With the new social media model, we all have to be marketers as well, more than ever before. [CMO Advisory Service clients should refer to a recent publication entitled Intel Launches a Comprehensive Digital Marketing Training Program for its Global Marketing and Sales Staff, IDC doc. #218416]
- Ensure that specific marketing staff are accountable for your company's social media strategy.
- Don't "control" the social media strategy, "guide" it (e.g., evangelize, train, share best practices)
- Provide the infrastructure for your social media "ambassadors" to communicate and interact with your markets (e.g., social media applications/platforms, basic guidelines for communications)
- Integrate social media across the organization's existing efforts
- Develop private communities for customers to provide a self-serving environment for peer-to-peer interaction, as well as providing a great source of voice of the customer for product improvement and new product development
- Establish public communities on your web site to share insight into new solutions for customers' challenges; and contribute to other communities (no one will go to your party if you don't go to theirs)
- Integrate on-line and in-person social networking strategies (e.g., facilitate collaboration for an in-person event amongst prospects and clients before (on-line), during (in-person) and after (on-line) the event
- Include social media as part of the overall marketing mix [CMO Advisory Service clients should refer to a recent marketing mix study entitled 2009 CMO Tech Marketing Barometer, IDC Doc. #217640]
- Ensure that your social media strategy aligns with your customers' needs. For example, relevant content from independent sources continues to be the greatest magnet for attracting our customers' attention. Ensure that your communities remain on target to your customers' needs.
- Don't forget performance measurement. Sample metrics for measuring the impact of social media include: customer satisfaction and retention, marketing reach and engagement (e.g., click-thrus, time spent on-site, more qualitative insight such as types of conversations)
Taking a more strategic perspective to leverage the power of new social media channels without stifling their potential will enable marketing to significantly increase its impact on the organization.


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The first winner of SBSH GoNews Touch is ...
It's time for some more giveaways party here at the mobile spoon and as promised we will be giving away free copies of GoNews Touch version 1.1!
And the first copy goes to a reader which was one of the firsts to follow us on Twitter and constantly commenting to the posts with clear and interesting thoughts about mobility in general and mostly Windows Mobile.
Parrotlover77 - you just won a free copy of SBHS GoNews Touch. Now you can easily read your favorite sites and blogs from your WinMo phone and enjoy a finger friendly user interface, images and thumbnails, integration with Google reader and many other useful features.
So there goes the first copy, 2 more left to go, and we have a great challenge for you - so stay tuned because more details are just about to come.
If you like this post, subscribe to our RSS Feed.


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Happy Halloween!
This year we had so much creativity flowing that we decided to wear three different costumes. I love brainstorming costume ideas with my husband every year (we always dress as a couple – see our past costumes here) and the best part about this year was that we spent around $40 total.
I'm seriously becoming so frugal.
Drum roll please…
Costume # 1 – Johnny Cash & June Carter
Worn to the Boo & Brew Bash on 10/20.
We spent $16 on Cory's wig from Kay's This & That and $8 on a pair of black Wrangler jeans from Walmart. Cory already owned the black shirt, shoes & guitar. I wore all of my own clothes (yes, I did have that pony dress in my closet already & have since decided to donate it to the D.A.V.) & borrowed a microphone from our niece, Madalynn.
Costume # 2 – The Duggars
This one was our personal favorite, worn to our friend Lindsay's 30th Birthday & Costume Party on 10/27.
We purchased the sweaters & FLOOR LENGTH JEAN SKIRT from the D.A.V. for less than $8 and the rest of the clothes were ours (Cory's jeans & our white oxford shirts). The name tags were $1.59 from Target, the basketball was my little step brother's and the outdated hairstyles were free.
Not pictured: Our 19 Kids & Counting (yes, we did bring along 19 baby dolls – once again borrowed from Madalynn – without her knowing even), a stroller that we borrowed from my sister and white tights & black flats, which were my own.
I must admit that I did have to indulge in a couple of drinks beforehand, but going to a bar in this costume proved to be HILARIOUS. I had so much fun. From dropping it like it was hot on the dance floor to having an accidental water break, I couldn't stop laughing all night.
Costume # 3 – Pretty Kitty
Worn at my office on 10/31.
Simple, comfortable & cute, all I had to do was "Meow" all day. I had the leggings, black ballet flats (not pictured) & shirt already, my co-worker Stacie brought me black face paint & the ears were $8 from Target.
Now I'm off to trick or treat around our office w/my nephews before attending their church's Trunk or Treat event. Another good Halloween in the books.
Enjoy your night!