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There was a time in the not-too-distant past when web design was a highly daunting task for anyone other than professional web designers fluent in the use of HTML. While there is definitely still a need for such professionals, and while this article certainly does not wish to ignore or devalue their worth, there's no denying that the landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years, with more and more DIY options popping up for business owners.
And while there are numerous such companies out there that offer Content Management Systems (CMS) – Joomla and Drupal are the first two that spring to my mind – the one that most people favour is WordPress, and in this article I will provide the ten main reasons why I think WordPress is the way to go for your business.
Please note that in this article I am generally referring to self-hosted WordPress sites (WordPress.org), as opposed to those that are hosted on WordPress's server space (WordPress.com). A detailed explanation of the difference between the two can be found here, but in simple terms this article is aimed at business owners who need a website that is fully customisable, and WordPress-hosted sites are not.
Ten reasons why WordPress is the best web design solution:
1. WordPress is a one-stop-shop solution for web design
WordPress started life in 2003 as a CMS for bloggers. When I first used it myself back in 2006, it was just for the purpose of running a blog which I then attached to my HTML website. In recent years, however, it has grown in scope to the point where you can easily use it to build a fully fledged website. In fact, many major brands such as TechCrunch and eBay use WordPress for their site or blog.
2. WordPress will save you money
The cost of building a website in WordPress is minimal. WordPress don't charge anything for you to install their software, and if you go down the simplest route of using a free WordPress theme, the only cost to you will be the domain name (as little as £5 every two years if you go for a co.uk name) and web hosting (as little as £15 per year). If you were to use a web designer to build a site from scratch in HTML, you'd be looking at least £250 to £400 for a basic one, and then you'd still have the domain name and hosting fees on top of that.
Free WordPress themes will meet the needs of some business owners, but often it's necessary to buy a premium theme. You may be worried about your site looking too generic, or you may need a very specific WordPress theme for your business; for instance, if you want to set up a web directory, you would need to purchase a purpose-built directory theme such as Vantage by AppThemes.
Whatever your reason for wanting a premium WP theme, the good news is that most premium themes do not come at premium rates. ThemeForest have themes from around £3 upwards, and Elegant Themes will give you access to all of their 87 super-stylish themes for around £41 per year (at the time of writing).
3. WordPress is highly customisable
As I mentioned earlier, WordPress sites are highly customisable as long as you have a self-hosted WordPress website. Install WordPress on your server space and you will be able to download plugins (free or paid) to your heart's content (although bear in mind that plugins do take up space and running too many will slow your site down).
From the WordPress dashboard it's easy to search for a plugin that meets your needs, and with over 30,000 plugins available, you'll probably find one. You can tell which plugins are the most popular, too, by checking the number of downloads and the aggregate rating next to each one.
Plugins aren't the only way to customise your site. Premium themes often come with their own control panels which you can access via the WordPress dashboard, so you can do things like change the size of your logo and alter the navigation bar, text size or colour scheme without any coding knowledge whatsoever. If you need to get under the bonnet and make more substantial changes, you can do this yourself (if you know what you're doing) or you could pay a web designer to do it for you. Files can be accessed via the WordPress dashboard or via FTP (like with any other website). Whatever you do, make sure you back up your site before any changes are made.
4. WordPress is user-friendly
One of WordPress's great strengths is its user-friendliness. It is far easier to use straight out of the box than its nearest rivals Drupal and Joomla, and as this article is aimed at business owners rather than web designers, user-friendliness is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing which path to take.
You can log into your dashboard simply by going to yourdomain.com/wp-admin and putting in your username and password. From there you can very quickly post blogs, edit your web pages and access the code of your site directly if necessary. Gone are the days when you needed to log into an FTP site, download your latest PHP files, edit them in Dreamweaver and upload them again.
As well as having an intuitive, attractive and easily navigable dashboard, the huge array of plugins available on WordPress can help to automate aspects of your site so that you can get on with running your business. For instance, why worry about backing up your WordPress site every day or week when you can download a plugin such as UpdraftPlus to automatically back it up for you as frequently as you want?
5. WordPress is responsive
Every day, more and more people are accessing the internet via their mobile phones or tablets. This is great for business owners as it means people will be able to access their website when they're away from their desktop or laptop; however, it does present the need for a responsive website.
The word 'responsive' in this context refers to the ability of a website to adapt to the screen on any given device. If you look at a non-responsive website on your smartphone, you will probably have to 'pinch and zoom' to be able to read the text. A responsive site, on the other hand, will detect that you are viewing if from a non-computer screen and will automatically optimise itself so that you can read the text clearly. It may remove certain images to do this, or it may reduce a navigation bar to a single drop-down button, but it will keep the important content so that the visitor will find what they are looking.
The great thing about WordPress is that many of the themes you can apply to your site are fully responsive – all you need to do is install WordPress, install a responsive theme and that's it! This is a huge benefit to using WordPress and explains why so many people are future-proofing their old HTML sites by moving to WordPress.
6. WordPress is secure
Blogging software is often criticised for being susceptible to hacking, but WordPress is actually very secure if you take certain measures. You can make your WordPress website 'hacker proof' by using plugins such as Wordfence, an essential WordPress add-on that provides a complete anti-virus and firewall package for your site.
It is also worth mentioning that in addition to the many useful security plugins available, WordPress itself is constantly receiving updates, many of which are designed to tighten up its security against the latest threats.
7. WordPress makes SEO easy
WordPress sites tend to be indexed quickly by Google, so by simply having a WordPress website you will be giving yourself a fighting chance of seeing your blog posts rank highly in search results, but to really maximise your SEO you would be well advised to install the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin.
SEO is such a complex and ever-changing beast that to master (or even understand) it would be too big a job for the average business owner. Luckily, Yoast's founder Joost de Valk is an SEO expert, and his plugin does a lot of the complex stuff for you. From automatically creating sitemaps through to analysing (in great detail) the SEO value of each page or post on your site, WordPress SEO by Yoast covers all bases, giving you more time to focus on other aspects of your business.
8. WordPress is accessible anywhere
As I mentioned earlier, it is very quick and easy for WordPress website owners (and anyone else they've given administrational rights to) to log into their site and make changes. No need to use an FTP client to access your files – everything is accessible from the WordPress dashboard, so all you need is access to a web browser.
This is great if you need to access your site's back end when you're out and about or if you want to quickly upload a blog from your mobile device (using the official WordPress app for Apple/Android).
9. WordPress makes social media easier
There's no denying the importance of social media for businesses these days. The amount of focus you decide to place on social media will depend on your personal aims for your company and also the type of business you run, but whatever you decide, it's reassuring to know that WordPress is well equipped to assist you with various aspects of social networking.
For instance, many WordPress themes allow you to place social media buttons on each page of your site and on each blog post – and if your theme doesn't provide this function, there are plenty of free plugins, such as ShareThis, that do.
As well as providing buttons and widgets on your website, WordPress plugins also allow you to automatically post updates on the social networks whenever you post a blog, which makes it that little bit easier to keep up your social activity. Facebook, Twitter and the other main social networks have also developed their own widgets which you can install on your site to encourage more people to follow you.
10. WordPress is the most popular and fastest-growing CMS
Whilst popularity isn't always a good measure of quality (for instance, I for one would contest the quality of Westlife's music despite the fact that millions of people like it), I do feel that WordPress's popularity is an important factor for business owners to bear in mind. WordPress is by far the most popular CMS on the market, and rival CMS developers such as Joomla and Drupal are losing market share to WordPress all the time.
If this pattern continues over the next few years, who's to say that WordPress's dominance of its market won't reach Google-like proportions? If you want to reduce the likelihood of having to switch from one CMS to another in a few years' time, I would advise you to go with the most popular solution from the offset.


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Sunday, November 10, 2013
Android Rover Client Improvements
I've made a number of improvements to the rover's Android client over the last couple weeks. These were based on feedback from a friend who drove it.
We first set up my home router to pass connections from the internet on the rover's control ports to the rover on my home network. That enabled my friend to connect from him home and drive it around my house. Seeing him remotely control it from 40 miles away was great fun. He reported that the video worked well and the rover drove well, but the client had some issues with reliability and usability on his phone, which was a different screen resolution. He also recommended I switch to a horizontal orientation to maximize screen use, and let me tinker with his ARDrone, which has a pretty nice Android client.
I first corrected a reliability problem - since the control device sends a command, and then waits for a sensor value from the rover (currently signal strength on the rover), it's important to tell quickly when the rover is no longer responding. As on the server, I set a short timeout value on the client socket, which causes an exception to be thrown if the rover doesn't respond within 2 seconds. Upon that exception, the client goes into a loop trying to connect every 2 seconds. The rover is set to time out after a second, so it should recover and start to listen again on the control port within the 2 second window the client waits for.
With that in place, even on a fairly flaky network connection, the client will do it's best to reconnect to the rover. I also added an LED indicator and signal strength indicator so you could tell when the rover was approaching the edge of the range of the WIFI.
These indicators are ImageViews which switch between different images. All the artwork is modified from images on Open Clipart, which is a very cool resource for those of us with no artistic talent.
My buddy also recommended that the app confirm a press of the exit button, and to save the last IP that was used so that the user does not have to enter it each time. I did some reading and found the Android SharedPreferences feature, which is a dead easy way to save user preferences without messing with direct file IO.
At this point, it's pretty reliable. It's been driven over the Internet several times, including over a cellular 3G connection. Over high speed Internet connections at both ends, it's surprisingly smooth and responsive. Unsurprisingly, it noticeably lags over the cell network. A more efficient video encoding scheme, like H264, would undoubtedly improve that.
I'm pleased with the result. It's been a great way to learn some Android, and how to control something over a network.
In case it's helpful to someone, here's the code.
2 comments:
Hi iam not able to see this code at the end will you please upload it again in some different format??ReplyDelete
Thanks for this wonderful post and hoping to post more of this!ReplyDelete
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text: Contact Us Head Office: Business and Health Service Management. P.O Box 1419 Mt Hagen, WHP Phone: 5420948 Mobile: 72098331 We would love to hear from you! Please fill out this form and we will get in touch with you shortly. Name* Email* PhoneNature of your enquiry*Select one...General EnquiryHealth Service EnquiryClinical Education CentreThis WebsiteEnquiry*CommentsThis field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. This iframe contains the logic required to handle Ajax powered Gravity Forms.


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ACCD Education for Life Bursary
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Are you looking to attend post-secondary education? Could you use some extra money to help pay for tuition and books?
(Well, who really couldn't use more money at college or university?)
The Alberta Committee of Citizens with Disabilities, or ACCD, is giving away several bursaries to Albertans with disabilities who are looking to upgrade their education. This is an excellent chance to make going to school a little easier and all full and part time post-secondary students are eligible.
The deadline is June 30th and we wanted to encourage all those people in Alberta who are living with a disability and wanting to go to school to apply.
You can find all the details on how to apply at the ACCD Education for Life website.


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she is a shy little bird with a love for violets
(it seems she is much like her creator!)
Happy Wednesday
And very pretty she is too! :)
Happy Wednesday Jooles,
Vivienne x
Jooles these are gorgeous!
Love the birdies - I still have mine hanging in my office. Like the puppies, they are not just for Christmas!
Pomona x
She's adorable! Ada :)ReplyDelete
I do so love your sweet little birdies Jooles!
Victoria xx
I adore your birdies Jooles, I'm sure one will be flying my way soon! xxReplyDelete
Very pleased to meet you Miss Violet Skylet. You are very pretty indeed!ReplyDelete
She's as adorable as all her relatives :DReplyDelete
She is just the sweetest!
You are the cleverest of gals!
Happy week to you.
you took the right decision, my dear!!!
xxxx Alessandra
Lovely your work!ReplyDelete
Miss Violet is soooooooooooooo gorgeous.fantasic idea xxxxReplyDelete
Oh I'm not surprised that you couldn't get her out of your head - she's absolutely beautiful!
What a clever lady you are, I wish I had even a tiny bit of your creative talent - wonderful! off to have a happy browse on etsy!
Paula xxx
So lovely- and what a great name:)ReplyDelete
Aw, Violet owl is ever soooo pretty, we have an owl that lives in the old cemetery opposite us and he flies around at night looking for plump little mices to eat, Lucey xReplyDelete
Such a very pretty little bird Jooles and sure to be very popular!
Hope you have a lovely weekend,
Susan x
Violet Skylet is adorable! I love the pretty violet floral fabric and the sweet button....no wonder you just had to create these little birdies!
Wishing you a happy week, Jooles!
Helen x
Little Violet Skylet is beautiful Jooles :)
Can't wait to see your Christmas birdies!
Caroline xx
Thank you so very much for stopping by..... I love it that you do!
Your kind comments make my day & I love to know what you think.
If you ask me a question please tick the 'Notify Me' box so you'll know when I have responded.
Love Jooles x x x


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Hello Everybody,
Yesterday I decided, rather impulsively, that I was going to create a terrarium. I have been eyeing up Rachael's lovely terrariums over at her Squiggly Rainbow blog for a while now. She sells her fab terrariums in Australia, a little bit far for postage to sunny Staffordshire. So, I decided to have a go at my own. I love all the little characters and objects she puts in them. I really want to make a little gnome garden, but don't have the right bits and bobs yet - will keep a look out!
I didn't want to start with a large one, I thought I'd give it a go on a smaller scale first. I liked the look of the light bulb ones on Pinterest and found a good website showing you how to get the filament out, but I had no dead light bulbs (will have to wait for that project). So, I thought I'd start with a bottle terrarium.
I found a bottle in the shed that I'd cleaned out and kept for making flavoured vinegars etc. To give you an idea of scale, it's a single serve Bottle Green sparkling pressé bottle - 275ml, measuring about 20cm in height. I should point out that I have no real idea how to make a terrarium. I put some gravel in the bottom and a bit of cleanish potting soil (I hope - I don't want bugs). Then I bunged in some moss from the garden and added a bit of water. I think I added a bit too much water, so I'm hoping some will evaporate off.
Although I wanted to make a gnome garden, the bottle is a bit small for that and I don't have any gnome-themed miniatures yet. However, I did want to put something of interest in it to make it slightly less dull. I found a small ?Chinese figurine in a garden pot, which has been following me around for a few years now. I'm not sure where he originated from, I have a feeling he was my Nanny's but I'm not sure. He is painted and says 'Longevite' along the bottom. Strange thing. Anyway, he has now got a new home inside a bottle whether he likes it or not. I wanted to put in a lucky sixpence, but it wouldn't fit so I put in a tiny silver threepence from 1918. Not sure if that's so lucky though.
Here is my finished bottle terrarium. The photos aren't particularly clear as it's tricky to photograph into a bottle and the glass was a bit steamy. Sure you can get the gist though.
I'm not sure where it's going to live yet, I don't think they like direct sunlight. Has anyone else got/made a terrarium?
Hope you're all having a lovely weekend,
Thistle Girl x


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My name is Kimberly Elicker, and I live in Hanover, Pennsylvania. My mother recently had her first mammogram, and they found a spot. It was a tumor, and she needed surgery to remove the tumor. Once everything was all over, they found out that it was benign, but it was still a big scare to my family. This made me think just how much a mammogram is worth it. If the lump they found was cancerous, it was early enough that it could have been taken care of.
I wanted a way to spread the message about breast cancer. It is quite simple. Prevention and early detection is the purpose of my campaign. Daily exercise and eating healthy can greatly reduce the risk of many health risks, including breast cancer. I am personally working on a plan of my own. I call it the 3-5-10 plan. I try to drink 3 glasses of milk a day. I try to eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day. And I try to walk 10,000 steps a day. I do not think of my plan as a diet, but simply a healthier way of life. My campaign is to make people aware of the ways to avoid breast cancer. Making small healthy decisions here and there throughout the day can really pay off in the end. As for early detection, take the necessary steps to maintaining healthy breasts. Perform regular self-breast exams, and receive regular mammograms if you are over 40 years old. Most cancers that are caught early can be treated and eliminated.
People spend millions of dollars a year to search for a cure for breast cancer. I think that a more effective way to reduce breast cancer is to simply educate people. By making small changes to our lifestyle, we can save lots of money and stress by preventing breast cancer. The information is out there, but not many people take the time to find it. My project is devoted to bring the information to the people.


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- Audio
- Microphones
- Broadcast Mics
- Audio-Technica AT8004L Omnidirectional Dynamic Microphone With Extended Handle
Audio-Technica AT8004L Omnidirectional Dynamic Microphone With Extended Handle
|Product Code
Buy this from the A.C. Audio Online Store. Request more information or contact us now for purchasing information.
Audio-Technica's AT8004L (9.43" long) is designed for on-location interviews/sports broadcasting. Its extended-length handle provides ample room for a microphone flag. The microphone offers exceptionally natural reproduction. Internal shock mounting minimizes handling/cable noise. The microphone's omnidirectional polar pattern is ideal for reproduction of surrounding ambience. Its rugged housing with hardened-steel grille stands up to field use. Also available as the shorter-length AT8004 (5.93" long).
Long handle is ideal for interviews/sports broadcasting
Omnidirectional polar pattern provides natural reproduction
Rugged housing with hardened-steel grille stands up to field use
Internal shock mounting minimizes handling and cable noise
Element: Dynamic
Polar Pattern: Omnidirectional
Frequency Response: 80-16,000 Hz
Open Circuit Sensitivity: -51 dB (2.8 mV) re 1V at 1 Pa
Impedance: 300 ohms
Weight: 215 g (7.6 oz)
Dimensions: 239.5 mm (9.43") long, 35.8 mm (1.41") head diameter
Output Connector: Integral 3-pin XLRM-type
Accessories: AT8405a stand clamp for 5/8"-27 threaded stands; 5/8"-27 to 3/8"-16 threaded adapter; soft protective pouch
Equipment available to buy from this site is for professional use only. Please note in certain countries some products listed may not be available from A.C. Entertainment Technologies Ltd.
E&OE. Information is subject to change without notice. The rights and ownership of all trademarks are recognised.


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The View from
Newsletter Archive
Welcome to
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Each edition includes articles that focus on a question or issue that folks who are interested in "recognizing, understanding and appreciating differences" have asked us. We've also included some links to videos, books, and articles/websites that we've found interesting and want to share.
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Newsletter: The Advantage of a "4-Levels" Lens
Finding an effective strategy to deal with a challenging issue often means widening your lens...
Newsletter: Modern Racism and Gun Violence 2/13
Join us as we look at the links between the legacy of racism and the current discussion of gun violence
Newsletter: In Our Opinion: On Election Eve
Exploring how "race" and "modern oppression" or "unconscious bias" have played out in our recent politics
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Engaging across the political divide...
Newsletter, January 2012
How our worldviews play out in our actions.
Newsletter: In Our Opinion: The Help
Dr. Valerie Batts comments on the new movie/book, "The Help."
Newsletter, Summer 2011
Effective ways to get your organization to commit to diversity work.
Newsletter, Spring 2011
Can dealing with differences actually unite us?
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Global "Cordierite DPF Market 2018" Industry Share, Growth, Research, Analysis, Development Trends, Demands, and Forecasts.
The Cordierite DPF research report contains a professional analysis of the current state of the global Cordierite DPF market and the factors that will shape its progression in the future. The Cordierite DPF industry report also examines marked growth trends and technological developments that will come to the fore in the said Cordierite DPF market in the coming years. In addition, the Cordierite DPF market report includes historical growth markers, competitive hierarchy, and development trends and data about how these indices will change in the regional and international markets for Cordierite DPF in the coming years.
For more info, get a free Sample Copy of Cordierite DPF Report Click Here: http://ereports.market/global-cordierite-dpf-market-2018/#Request-Sample
Key Segments of the Global Cordierite DPF Market
This report studies Cordierite DPF in Global market, especially in North America, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Japan, and India, with production, revenue, consumption, import and export in these regions, from 2013 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.
The Cordierite DPF market 2018 examines the global Cordierite DPF industry from a competitive outlook as well. Top manufacturers of Cordierite DPF are mentioned and a detailed competitive profile is presented for each of them. These are Delphi Corporation, Dinex, ESW Group, Weifu, Hug Filtersystems (Hug Engineering), Alantum Corporation .
Following this, the Cordierite DPF market report 2018 examines the profit analysis and gross margins for Cordierite DPF manufacturers for the 2013-2018 periods. Consumption volume, sale price analysis, and consumption values are other factors that are discussed on the basis of region, product type (OE, Retrofit ) and application (Road Vehicles, Off-road Vehicles ) for the 2013-2018 periods.
The Cordierite DPF industry report begins with a detailed overview of terms and terminologies, applications, and classifications that are used in the context of Cordierite DPF . For instance, Cordierite DPF are classified on the basis of the intensity of the magnetic field. This is followed by a look at the industry chain structure of Cordierite DPF at the regional and global level. The section concludes with a glance at recent industry news and statutory mandates that the Cordierite DPF industry needs to abide by.
The report provides insights into the manufacturing cost structure of Cordierite DPF . This is calculated as an aggregate of raw material costs, equipment costs, labor costs, and other costs. Insights into the manufacturing processes of Cordierite DPF are also provided herein. In terms of a technical consideration, the report discusses the production capacity of major manufacturers of Cordierite DPF . This is estimated on circumstances such as the number of production plants, R&D status, raw material sources, and technology used by these manufacturers in 2018.
The report concludes with an overview of the distribution channels and marketing channels of Cordierite DPF . This mainly consists of trade groups and industry associations, says the report.
For Any Kind of Inquiry Click Here: http://ereports.market/global-cordierite-dpf-market-2018/#Inquiry-Before-Buying
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christmas giveaway where they are giving out $100 worth of grocery samples every day. To sign up all you need to do is enter your name and email, then answer the questions on screen (they are very simple). These samples are only available to people in the U.S.
By entering into this giveaway you will be able to get some select, small grocery samples once you have signed up. However you will also be entered into the main prize draw, whichgrocerysamples is for $100 worth of grocery samples.
You will have a chance to be contacted by email and you will be given a final chance to choose your samples before they are sent out.
I'm a big fan of Choice Gift Rewards, they have some really good makeup samples and their giveaways are often easy and quick to sign up to. I'm not too sure what these samples fully include, but as they are grocery samples I'm positive there will be a huge selection and quite a few different brands to choose from.


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Cane Creek 40 Series ZeroStack Top Cover
This item is currently not available.
This is the Top Cover for the Cane Creek 40 Series ZeroStack headset. Please contact us if you have any questions about which parts are correct for your headset.
For 1 1/8-inch fork/headset
Stack height (short/tall): 8/15mm
Short/tall: 44/53 grams
Read 0 ReviewsWrite a Review


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About Our Shop
Englewood Florist founded in 1993 is the premier Lawrence, KS florist. We hand arrange and deliver flowers, plants, balloons and gifts for your special occasion. Our highly trained staff will handle your order with care and we offer ssame day delivery at no extra charge. With Englewood Florist, our arrangements are attractively arranged by skilled floral designers and hand delivered to your recipients.


text: A new paper in Topics in Cognitive Science argues that healthy old people aren't mentally enfeebled after all. They perform slowly on tests because they have more accumulated knowledge to sort through than glib and ignorant young people do. Heartening news for those of us in middle age, something something something.


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Photo by Carter Hasegawa
Click here to download a hi-res author photo.
Books written and illustrated by Matt Tavares
Zachary's Ball, Candlewick, 2000
Oliver's Game, Candlewick, 2004
Mudball, Candlewick, 2005
Henry Aaron's Dream, Candlewick, 2010
There Goes Ted Williams, Candlewick, 2012
Becoming Babe Ruth, Candlewick, 2013
Growing Up Pedro, Candlewick, 2015
Crossing Niagara, Candlewick, 2016
Red & Lulu, Candlewick, 2017
Books illustrated by Matt Tavares
'Twas the Night Before Christmas, Anonymous, Candlewick 2002
Jack and the Beanstalk, E. Nesbit, Candlewick, 2006
Iron Hans, retold by Stephen Mitchell, Candlewick, 2007
Lady Liberty: A Biography, Doreen Rappaport, Candlewick, 2008
The Gingerbread Pirates, Kristin Kladstrup, Candlewick, 2009
Jack's Path of Courage, Doreen Rappaport, Disney-Hyperion, 2010
Over the River and Through the Wood, L. Maria Child, Candlewick, 2011
Helen's Big World, Doreen Rappaport, Disney-Hyperion, 2012
Jubilee!, Alicia Potter, Candlewick, 2014
Lighter Than Air, Candlewick, 2017
Matt Tavares was born in Boston, and grew up surrounded by books and reading. From the time he was very young, his mother read to him every night, and his family made countless trips to the public library. Years later, as a studio art major at Bates College, he rediscovered his love for picture books, and decided to try to make his own.
For his senior thesis project, Matt wrote and illustrated a story called Sebastian's Ball, about a boy who caught a magic foul ball at a Boston Red Sox game. Three years later, after much revision, Sebastian's Ball became Zachary's Ball, Matt's first published picture book. Zachary's Ball went on to win a Massachusetts Book Award Honor, and was named one of Yankee Magazine's 40 Classic New England Children's Books.
Since then, Matt has published eighteen more books and has won several awards, including three Parents' Choice Gold Awards, an Orbis Pictus Honor, and two ALA Notable books. His artwork has been exhibited at the Museum of American Illustration, the Brandywine River Museum, and the Mazza Museum of Picture Book Art.
When Matt's not working in his studio on his latest book project, he travels the country speaking (and drawing) at schools, libraries, conferences, and bookstores. He has presented at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Eric Carle Museum, the White House Easter Egg Roll, and he's even done a few book signings at Fenway Park.
Matt lives in Maine with his wife, Sarah, and their two daughters.
For more information about Matt Tavares, visit the Candlewick Press website.


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Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
The history of the Grace Maternity Hospital begins with the purchase of an old school in the South End of Halifax by the Salvation Army. It was opened as a haven for unmarried pregnant women. Physicians donated their time and it was known as a reputable home for maternity care. In the early days, Dr. P.A. MacDonald was the medical superintendent of the home.
In 1918, the Halifax Medical Association proposed a need for a modern maternity and obstetrical teaching hospital and suggested the Salvation Army build and manage it. The Grace Maternity Hospital opened its doors on April 29, 1922 with Dr. P.A. Macdonald as Chief of Staff.
The Grace has always been considered a pioneer in maternity care. In 1928, while Dr. H.B. Atlee was Chief of Staff, he implemented the practice of early rising which encouraged women to leave their bed a day after giving birth, a practice unheard of until that time. It was the first hospital in North America to adopt this concept.
In 1967, the Grace implemented a program to encourage parents to help in the special care unit, enabling them to hold and touch their babies. In 1971, it was the first hospital in Canada to allow fathers to take part in pre-natal courses and delivery. Further, fathers were allowed into the operating room during C-sections in 1980. While these are common practices today, the Grace has a tradition of using innovative techniques.
Although major renovations were undertaken in 1956 and 1967, the hospital was in desperate need of a new facility in the mid-1980s. In 1992, the new building was opened. Although the Salvation Army gave most of its assets from the old Grace to the new I.W.K. Complex in 1997, the partnership between the two continues. The Salvation Army has a membership on the board and provides pastoral services.
The new hospital was christened the Izaak Walton Killam-Grace Health Centre for Children, Woman and Families, or the IWK-Grace for short. The amalgamation between the two hospitals linked the administrative and operational services.
In affiliation with the Grace, Dalhousie University trains its healthcare students at the hospital. Healthcare disciplines include the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Dentistry, and the Faculty of Health Professions.


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Trevor has always been interested in politics, both as an activity and a subject of study. He began both simultaneously as at student at the London School of Economics in 1955, where he joined the Liberal Party (when Clement Davies was its leader) and specialised in political science. He became Chairman of the LSE Liberal Society and later Chairman of the Union of Liberal Students, and was a founding member of the New Orbits Group which sought to modernise party policy. He contested the 1959 General Election in West Lewisham, being the youngest candidate of any party that year.
After that, while remaining active in the party serving on various policy sub-committees, Trevor concentrated on an academic career, teaching politics at the Universities of Exeter, Hull, York and California State (USA). He moved to Queen Mary College (later Queen Mary and Westfield College) in 1967 where he was successively lecturer, foundation professor and head of department, faculty dean and deputy principal until 1991 when he was appointed vice-chancellor of the University of Ulster from which he retired in 1999. He also served as chair and president of the Political Studies Association.
Outside of university life, Trevor pursued a number of interests. He was a board member of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd since 1975 and its chair from 1987-1999; he retired in 2007. He was President of the Belfast Civic Trust (1995-99). He developed a strong interest in health policy, having served as vice-chair of the Tower Hamlets Health Authority (1988-91), as a vice-president of the Patients' Association (1988-95) and from 2000 - 02 he was a member of the North Yorkshire Health Authority. He has also been on the boards of the New Statesman, New Society and Gerald Duckworth (publishers).
Knighted for services to higher education in 1996, he became a Liberal Democrat working peer in 1997 and since 2000 have been spokesperson on Northern Ireland in the Lords and on the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly. In 1999-2000 he served on the Lords Science and Technology sub-committee investigating complementary and alternative medicine and in 2000 was appointed to subcommittee F of the EU Committee which deals with law and institutions. He chaired the Select Committee on Animals in Scientific Procedures (2001-02), was on the Select Committee on the Constitution (2005-08) and currenty sit of the Ad Hoc Select Committee on the Barnett Formula.
Trevor served as Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Policy Committee on Northern Ireland until May 2011.
He is an honorary professor of the University of Ulster and was a visiting professor at York and Portsmouth universities.
Married, with two sons and a daughter, he also has four grandchildren.


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This is part three, the last of the series. Due to facebook's incompetence and poor site I am posting this here.
This is divided into four comments posted below:
1) Where to get left handed stationery and goods.
2) Role models and famous left handers.
3) Examples of abuse and discrimination against left handers, present and past. You definitely need a TW for this one.
4) The lie that left handedness is a "first world problem".
I hope these posts change a few people's minds. Kids deserve the best education possible. Being a minority is not justification for impediments caused by a selfish and inconsiderate majority.
Websites and stores that sell left handed products
Schools should provide supplies for left handed students, but don't due to the right handed privilege of the majority. (If that term triggers you, take a breath and keep reading.)
These links are for school administrators enlightened enough to think, for teachers considerate and caring enough, and most importantly for parents who want their children to succeed in school. Pass these links onto other teachers, parents and administrators, and let them know that such products exist.
In Taiwan, I have encouraged lefty students to start using Pilot Kakuno fountain pens which are sold in some stationery stores. They take getting used to (i.e. the ink takes time to dry) but they're much easier to write with if you're left handed.
Ball point pens are designed to be pulled by right handed people, and they jam when pushed by left handed writers. Writers of right to left languages like arabic and hebrew prefer fountain pens for the same reason: ball point pens jam up. (Funny thing, countries that write in arabic and hebrew are some of the most oppressive towards to left handedness.)
This is not an exhaustive list of sites, there may be others. Surprisingly, you can find left handed scissors for kids in Taiwan, though not scissors for adults.
1) Left Handed Specialty Stores
These stores sell a variety of products for left handed people.
- educational materials (e.g. books on handwriting)
- stationery (pens, rulers, folders, geometry sets, etc.)
- housewares (knives, can openers, gardening tools)
- watches (the dial on the left of the face)
- musical instruments and supplies
- novelty items (e.g. mugs that face a left handed user)
- entertainments (playing cards for the left hand)
Lefty's Australia
Lefty's Left Handed
Anything Left Handed, UK
Left-Handed Convenience Malaysia
Left Handed New Zealand
2) Stationery only, various items:
Maped UK
3) Notebooks:
These companies sell books with the spine on the RIGHT side, not the left. The left hand can rest comfortably on the table, as righthanders do with most notebooks.
Imborrable, Spain
RS Paper Products
Rainbow Resource (yes, it's a "homeschool" company and run by fundy christians; I include it because there aren't many sources for left handed materials)
4) Pens:
These pages sell fountain pens, space pens and yoro pens, the latter designed specifically for left handed writers. I have included only sites selling affordable pens.
Tools To Live By, Taiwan (online)
Tools To Live By, Taipei and Kaohsiung
Pen Heaven, UK
Jet Pens
TTS Group, UK
Pen Chalet
Sporting goods are easy to find, so I'm not listing any. Left handedness an advantage in many sports (e.g. hockey, playing first base in baseball) so manufacturers make many products that are easily found.
The list of famous and important left handed people is long and full of significant names from ancient history (e.g. Alexander the Great, Joan of Arc, Julius Caesar) to the modern day. It includes some of the greatest minds and achievers in history. The idea that left handedness is an "impediment" to success is farcical.
There are unproven claims that left handed people have higher IQs and that we make more money. But there is also the fact that left handed people cannot do certain jobs or produce as high a quality of work because equipment is made only for right handed people (e.g. industrial machinery). And don't get me started on desks in schools and colleges, made solely for right handers....
Marie Curie (two Nobel prizes)
Charlie Chaplin
Mark Twain
Albert Einstein
Brian Kerninghan
Nicola Tesla
Business people:
Bill Gates
Mark Zuckerberg
Henry Ford
Artists, Musicians and Writers:
Leonardo da Vinci
Wolfgang Mozart
Ludwig van Beethoven
H.G. Wells
Cole Porter
M.C. Escher
Lewis Caroll
Vincent Van Gogh
Politicians and militarists:
Winston Churchill
Napoleon Bonaparte
Barack Obama
Bill Clinton
Ronald Regan
Herbert Hoover
John F. Kennedy
Harry Truman
Famous Left-Handers by M.K. Holder PhD, U of Indiana
Famous left handers from LeftHandersDay.com
Left Handed Wiki: Famous Left Handers
Biography.com: Famous Lefties
The Guardian: One hundred famous left-handed people
A short history of abuse against left handed people:
Last year on this blog site (I blog elsewhere now) I posted a seven part series on left handedness. Part three of the series focused on social discrimination and violence against left handed children. Kids lack the voice to speak out, the money to buy things, the experience to solve problems, the strength to defend themselves. By comparison, left handed adults don't have problems.
My blog page lists examples from all over the world, both from the past and where it's still happening today: Russia/USSR, Brazil, Indonesia, India, New Zealand, Ghana. You can find similar examples across all of eastern Europe, other African countries (Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, et al), Asia (China, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Burma, et al) and South America.
Violence against left handed kids has been common throughout history.
Here is an excerpt from Chris McManus's 2002 book, "Right Hand, Left Hand":
Looking further afield, geographically and historically, soon reveals how discrimination against left-handers can take many forms from the systematic and the oppressive to the subtle but nonetheless effective. Among the most extreme are the Zulus of southern Africa who,Put a child's left hand in BOILING WATER so it's permanently damaged and can't be used. That's your "cure" for left handedness? Why not just cut the hand off with an axe instead? It would be faster and less painful.
if a child should seem to be naturally left-handed, pour boiling water into a hole in the earth and place the child's left hand in the hole, ramming the earth down around it; by this means the left hand becomes so scalded that the child is....
In case you have the racist idea that this such barbarity is limited to Africa, Asia and islamic and other non-white countries, forget it. When Ireland and its schools were run by the catholic cult in the 1960s, abuse was normalized:
Historical Abuse Inquiry: Boy punished for being 'left-handed'
Jon McCourt, a high profile campaigner to get the inquiry set up, has waived his right to anonymity.
He told the inquiry on Thursday: "I remember, when I was about five years old, being constantly beaten by one particular nun, to get me to stop writing with my left hand."
He said this was a common practice at the time before adding: "They were messing up with how we were wired."I had to put up with the same abuses in a Canadian public elementary school and at home, with religious fanatics for parents. And that was in the 1970s.
Have you ever noticed Barack Obama's atrocious hook handed writing position? Mine used to be worse. He talked about his childhood, being beaten at school in Indonesia:
Obama: In Indonesia, 'I Would Get Hit With Rulers' for Writing With Left HandMost recent US presidents of the last 40 years may have been left handed, but that no more "proves" there is no anti-left hand bias in the world than a black US president proves there's no racism in the US.
President Obama, who is left handed, revealed today in Israel that as a kid in Indonesia, he "would get hit with rulers" for writing with his left hand. From the pool report:
While Obama, a lefty, signed, he talked with Sara some more. "Michelle, she's a right hander. I'm trying to work on it."
Then Obama told a story: "When I was in Indonesia, it was considered bad manners (writing with left hand). "Even though I would get hit with rulers, I just stuck with it," he explained.
Ignorant attitudes still persist today.
From the United Arab Emirate's official website, Washington, D.C.:
Traveling in a Muslim CountryI will eat with my left hand and don't care if others don't like it. (I have encountered anti-left hand attitudes in the Philippines and Thailand.) If someone speaks ignorantly because I touch food with my left hand, I hand them food with the right. Then when they eat, I tell them my right hand is my toilet hand.
The act of communal eating is a highly recognized outward expression of friendship in the Middle East.
- Do not eat with your left hand, which is considered unclean.
Their facial expressions are priceless.
UNICEF reports that violence against children is still common around the world:
In Ghana, an effort to abolish violent discipline in schoolsSimilar attitudes extend to Haiti: "An Investigation Of The Perception Of Left-Handedness In Haitian Vodou", by Athena C. Patterson-Orazem, University of Florida.
ASSASSAN, Ghana, 3 September 2014 – When Benedicte Bon-Farson was a young girl in grade 3, she didn't want to go to school. "Anytime I got up to go to school, I feel like, ahh!" she recalls, many years later.
Ms. Bon-Farson is left handed, and because of this, her grade 3 teacher constantly 'caned' her – punished her by hitting her with a cane.
"It took me a lot of pain to go through that one year," she says.
Today, Ms. Bon-Farson teaches religion and moral education at Assassan Catholic School in the Ajumako District of central Ghana.
And she never uses a cane to discipline her pupils.
India also views the left hand as the "dirty hand" in the same way as muslim countries do.
How is being left-handed not right?
I remember the day when my mother was dumbfounded to see my daughter (who was then around two years old) invariably using her left hand for most of her activities. My poor mother reminisced the days when she struggled to convince the elders of the house that her daughter (myself) was left-handed and that there was nothing opprobrious about it but she failed miserably. She was sternly advised to change my natural inclination to use the left hand and fearing the repercussions of defying them, she coerced me into making me a right-hander.
From Radio France International:
After my hue and cry for the past three years in my family, my daughter has at last been permitted to use her left hand for most of the activities like writing and playing, barring a few like eating and serving. I feel it is very unfair to compel a left-handed child to eat with her right hand as having food is such an important activity of our daily life which is done with our heart and soul, relishing morsel by morsel, but my daughter is pressured and is not able to enjoy her food wholeheartedly. What a punishment for being a left-hander?
African lefties speak out on International Left-Handers DayAfricans Unite Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA) published a document called "What Is Witchcraft Abuse?" Left handedness is considered "a sign of witchcraft".
For some, they want to promote left-handedness because they weren't allowed to use their left hand at school. That's the case for Bernard Bogere Ssenkubuge, the founder of Keep Left Uganda based in Lugazi, outside of Kampala, the capital.
"It is a bit taboo in Uganda to be left handed, because your mother or parents at home would always beat the hand and say, 'the left hand doesn't eat'. In school, the teachers will still tap the hand of a child and say, 'you are not supposed to write with your left hand'. So it is a problem," he says.
Dieumerci Nugwaneza, another member of the Rwanda Left-Handers Club in Kigali, says that when he was in school, the teachers never explained how to write, but made them switch their hands.
In England. In 2009.
This is only part of the examples I have collected over time. And that's without mentioning language bias, where every word for left is associated with ideas like awkward, weak, female, bad, evil, etc. Right is associated with good, capable, correct.
One of the responses I get when trying to discuss left handedness (and especially when saying right handed privilege) is to call this a "first world problem".
Are people really that stupid? Apparently, yes.
"First world problem" is the last thing you can call the bias against left handed people. "First world countries" don't beat children in schools anymore, don't call the left hand "dirty" or deem using the hand "disrespectful".
The only "first world problems" left handers face are in technology and mass manufacturing, but those also become developing world problems because technology gets exported to developing countries. The other countries see it with no left handed options and then ignorantly say, "See, first world countries don't have left handedness either!"
Let's talk about phones, since everyone has them.
Apple's poorly made iphone 7 gets a weak signal or none at all if held in the left hand. The iphone 6 didn't work either, nor did the iphone 4 or 3. I suspect it was only by accident that the iphone 5 worked left handed, not a better design. What was Apple's arrogant and ignorant response to reports and news stories of poor reception?
"Use your right hand."
From Time.com, about the iphone7:
Left-Handed? You May Not Want to Buy an iPhone
Alicia Adamczyk
Sep 09, 2016
If you're left-handed, you may want to rethink running out to buy the newest iPhone model. Or buying any iPhone for that matter.
The latest iPhone models, including the SE, 6, 6S, and 6S Plus, have the worst reception of the most popular cell phone models when held in the user's left hand, according to a report commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers that analyzed cell phone reception. Models like the DORO PhoneEasy 530X, Microsoft Lumina 640, and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge performed significantly better.
If you're left-handed, you may want to rethink running out to buy the newest iPhone model. Or buying any iPhone for that matter.
The latest iPhone models, including the SE, 6, 6S, and 6S Plus, have the worst reception of the most popular cell phone models when held in the user's left hand, according to a report commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers that analyzed cell phone reception. Models like the DORO PhoneEasy 530X, Microsoft Lumina 640, and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge performed significantly better.
The difference in efficacy happens because the antenna that receives radio signals is located in a different place in every phone model, and also depends on how the user holds the phone to their head during a call. According to Quartz, "iPhones are generally bad at transmitting signals, no matter which hand you use."
If you're left-handed, you may want to rethink running out to buy the newest iPhone model. Or buying any iPhone for that matter.
The latest iPhone models, including the SE, 6, 6S, and 6S Plus, have the worst reception of the most popular cell phone models when held in the user's left hand, according to a report commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers that analyzed cell phone reception. Models like the DORO PhoneEasy 530X, Microsoft Lumina 640, and the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge performed significantly better.
The difference in efficacy happens because the antenna that receives radio signals is located in a different place in every phone model, and also depends on how the user holds the phone to their head during a call. According to Quartz, "iPhones are generally bad at transmitting signals, no matter which hand you use."
Left-Handed? You May Not Want to Buy an iPhone
Left-Handed? You May Not Want to Buy an iPhone
Left-Handed? You May Not Want to Buy an iPhone
Why Some Left-Handed People Are Having Big Problems With the iPhoneFrom Engadget.com, about the iphone4:
"The iPhone has never really been designed for lefties," said 23-year-old Kaitlyn Jakola, a Mic copy editor. (Many lefties in the Mic office noted issues with the iPhone.) To compensate, she devised a system to make her lefty life as easy as possible: employing both hands, using a Swype keyboard and using her right hand instead of her left to tap, among other things.
Except it all fell apart as soon as she downloaded iOS 9. "Before, it seemed like the iOS was designed for everybody," she said. "Now it seems expressly meant for use by right-handed people."
Some iPhone 4 models dropping calls when held left-handed, including ours (Update: Apple responds)
What's more annoying than spending hours lining up for a shiny new gadget? Learning that your precious phone can't actually connect to the network. Well, depending on how you hold it -- word has it that the iPhone 4's bottom-left corner isn't playing nice with your skin. If you recall from the keynote, that's where the Bluetooth / WiFi / GPS antenna meets its GSM / UMTS counterpart. So we decided to test on two brand new iPhone 4 handsets purchased today in the UK.From Engadget.com, apple's idiotic response to the above article:
One iPhone 4 demonstrated the issue everytime it was held in our left hand (as a right-handed person is apt to do) so that our palm was essentially bridging the two antennas.
Apple responds to iPhone 4 reception issues: you're holding the phone the wrong way
We know what you're thinking, and we're thinking it too: this sounds crazy. Essentially, Apple is saying that the problem is how you hold your phone, and that the solution is to change that habit [read: use your right hand - R], or buy one of their cases.Here's an easier solution: Don't buy iphones, then you won't have that problem.
Update: To add a little perspective, check out a video from 2008 after the break showing the same issue with the now-ancient iPhone 3G.
Android phones aren't much better. True, there are no reports of poor reception when held with the left hand (including my Asus Zenphone). Android does have a left handed option, ***BUT*** it's buried deep within the software instead of being readily accessible on the phone's settings and options menus. You have to jump through hoops to find it:
- Open "Settings > About Phone".
- Scroll down to "Build Number".
- Tap SEVEN TIMES quickly to enable developer options.
- Go back to Main Settings.
- Open Developer Options (not visible by default).
- Scroll down, enable "Force RTL layout direction".


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Recipes in this Post
When I was a little girl, wedge salads were all the rage. I hated them because I couldn't figure out how to eat it. Luckily for me, they came back, and I love them.
I did a big shop on Friday, and almost forgot to get something for dinner, so I picked up some crab and some asparagus. I'm not sure what I was thinking, but when the produce truck that comes to my neighborhood honked his horn, I ran out and got a nice head of iceberg lettuce to make my wedge crab salad with Louis dressing.
People confuse Louis dressing with Thousand Island and Russian dressing. It's actually completely different, and done well, quite tasty.
Recipe: Louis Dressing
Summary: This dressing goes very well with seafood
- 1/4 cup balsamic ketchup
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire
- 1/8 tsp Tabasco
- 2 True Lemon crystallized lemon packets
- Mix all ingredients together. Taste for seasoning. Serve over or on the side of salad.
Quick notes
If you don't have True Lemon crystallized lemon, use 1 teaspoon lemon juice instead. The True Lemon is preferred, however, because it is not liquid and you will have a nicer dressing.
Preparation time: 1 minute(s)
Diet type: Vegetarian
Diet tags: Gluten free
Number of servings (yield): 4
Culinary tradition: French
My rating
Copyright © The Good Plate.
Recipe by Adrienne Boswell.
Microformatting by hRecipe.


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Khadija Niane called Katoucha (Dec 30,1960- February 2, 2008) was one of the first Black Top model. She has been living in Paris since the late 70's. She was born in Guinea Conakry , nicknamed the Peul Princess in reference to her ethnic background.
Katoucha Niane disappeared on 2nd of February 2008, she had been living on a barge on the Seine and her affairs were found on the boat. Police are investigating her disappearance and it has been suggested that under the influence of drugs or in a fit of depression she may have fallen into the water. Finally her body has been found on February 28, 2008 in the Seine in Paris.
She is the daughter of the writer and historian Djibril Tamsir Niane, born in Conakry, Guinea. She was circumcised at the age of nine, according to tradition and her father's choice. Nevertheless he was cultivated and educted with a diploma from the University of Bordeaux and was a University rector.
She was obliged to seek exile in Mali by the actions of the dictator Sékou Touré. She was raped by her Uncle and found refuge with her familly in Dakar (Senegal). She became pregnant at the age of 17 after having a forced marriage. She escaped to Paris with her daughter and was lucky to become a model for Thierry Mugler.
Her luck continued and she became a top model for Azzedine Alaiä, Paco Rabanne, Christian Lacroix and Yves St Laurent.
She created her own line of clothes in 1994 and in the same year presented her collection at the Espace Cardin (Paris). She went to Dakar in 2006 and started the annual "Top Ebony model" contest which can start the career of young African models. In the same year she was the coach on the TV serieds "Top Model" on the french television station M6.
She started the KPLCE association association - the Katoucha association against circumscision, to stop this dreadful tradition and to look after the victims.
She has left three children (Amy, Alexandre , Aiden)


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Today's Insults
You are an incalculably insufferable imbecile and a myopic, mucous-eating curse on society. – anonymous
We all spring from apes, but you didn't spring far enough. – Allen
If you ever tax your brain, don't charge more than a penny. - unknown
Americans are possibly the dumbest people on the planet. …We Americans suffer from an enforced ignorance. We don't know about anything that's happening outside our country. Our stupidity is embarrassing. – Michael MooreÂÂ
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My children are 4-years-old.
They believe in Santa, some people do not. Mainly adults.
My children are 4-years-old.
They believe in Santa, some people do not. Mainly adults.
Bath time with my boys is never dull. Last night was no exception.
Continue reading
I love Christmas. I REALLY love Christmas, especially the decorations.
Last weekend while I was at work the man got started on decorating. My FAVORITE part in the house is our banister.
Starting tomorrow…yes, Thanksgiving, I'm starting my weight loss journey…again.
I'm using our Xbox Kinect.
It's my favorite time of year…CHRISTMAS TIME!!!
I broke out the Christmas movies last week. The man ordered Home Alone 1 &2 for me last week…we started watching it 2 days ago. And yesterday…well yesterday I hung my Christmas wreath on the front door much to the mans chagrin.
But tonight the rest of Pittsburgh joins in my festive mood. Tonight is downtowns LIGHT UP NIGHT!!!
I have kids. I have two kids…twins actually. They turned 4 three months ago.
We had issues with their talking, as in them not, for a while. Oh that has all changed.
Nobody has been executed in the state of Pennsylvania since 1999. That's 13 YEARS!
Today could mark the end of that streak.
It has been a while since I've said much about my health.
Well, it's shitty.
Today at the Pittsburgh zoo and PPG Aquarium a 3-year-old boy fell to his death.
I don't blame the zoo. I blame the mother.
It's that special time of year again. It's the time when writer's go OMG!
We have to write 50k words in the next 31 days.


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Aeria Games Acquired GENESIS AD oh sorry Repulse BETABy: FirstPersonShoter posted at Jan 11, 2012 11:30 am
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Repulse (Genesis AD) is aeriagames's new upcoming sci-fi multiplayer online first-person shooter (MOFPS).
Closed Beta has begun! Download the game to play now!
Today Aeria Games announced its latest sci-fi themed first person shooter game. In Repulse, players must create a soldier and enlist to help save the future of mankind by battling enemies in a variety of player-versus-player (PvP) and player-versus-environment (PvE) matches. The game's fast-paced combat is fueled by an arsenal of sci-fi inspired weaponry and squad-based tactics. Matches take place across a diverse selection of engaging, other-worldly settings. Each map is strikingly rendered in crisp, 3D graphics and loaded with plenty of sniper hideouts and other twists designed to create an edge-of-your-seat Counter-Strike s
Beta Sign-Ups Open for RepulseBy: Zevri posted at Nov 08, 2011 3:33 pm
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Have you heard of the game Repulse that Aeria Games announced? Well, what about Genesis A.D previously from ijji? If you heard of Genesis A.D, then you should know by a video or a few screenshots that Repulse is a re-released of Genesis A.D under a new name and new management.
The game features three dynamic classes to choose from, each forming different roles for the group. The ones you can choose from are the standard Sniper, Assault, and Engineer. There are several modes to choose from such as death matches, destroying bases in demolition matches, fend off alien hordes trying to infect you, or the always fun and classic capture the flag.
Something that sets it a bit apart is the abilities you can get in game; such as wall jumping, leaping through enemy fire, and cloaking. (WhiContinue Reading
"New Sci-Fi Shooter"By: Shadic0 posted at Nov 03, 2011 6:32 pm
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A new Sci-Fi game from Aeria games has been announced called Repulse ( Genesis A.D.)
Choose from three dynamic combat roles, each specializing in unique skills, equipment, and firearms. Focus on aggressive front-line warfare, support your teammates with healing abilities, or cloak and kill your enemies from afar. A well balanced roster of soldiers makes for a formidable force.
Team up with friends or blast them away in a variety of exciting multiplayer gameplay modes. Battle to the end in 16-player death matches, destroy your opponents bases in demolition missions, stave off player-controlled alien hordes determined to infect you, or test your mettle in fast-paced capture the flag (CTF) missions.
Experiment with numerous types of weapons, armor, and ultramodern equipment. Take charge of a variety of high-powered abilities wall-jumping, acrobatic leaps through enemy fire, power-boosting across huge distances, and cloaking.
Combine strategic gameplay and amped-up abilities in fast and frenziContinue Reading


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Special Events & Red Carpets
Sofia Vergara Admits To Being Bridezilla As She Prepares For Wedding
Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello looked as though they didn't have a care in the world as they enjoyed a relaxing stroll through New York. Taking advantage of a break from her busy Modern Family promotions the Colombian beauty and her Magic Mike star fiancé headed out into the Big Apple. But while this outing paints an image of a relaxed bride to be Sofia admitted that she's actually turned into a Bridezilla while planning their impending nuptials. Speaking during her appearance on Good Morning America the 43-year-old actress confessed she's being a nightmare. We don't feel too sorry for Joe though; he is marrying one of the worlds most beautiful woman.


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The President-elect has continued the process of choosing his cabinet. Among those he's chosen is Ben Carso who'll oversee Housing and Urban Development, Niki Haley will be the U.S. Ambassador of the United Nations, and Betsy Devos in charge of the Department of Education as the Education Secretary. Some of the cabinet nominees have accepted the offer; Ben Carson hinted on Facebook that he's willing to accept the position.
In a statement on Tuesday, Ben Carson said that the position was among those on the table and that he would be praying and thinking about it during the Thanksgiving period. Jason Miller who is Mr. Trump's aide reported that the transition team would make more announcements on Wednesday.
In a statement made by Nikki Haley, the South Caroline Governor; she said that it was a sense of duty to accept Trump's offer owing to the fact that the U.S. is facing numerous issues and challenges internationally and domestically.
Haley said that it's important to heed to a calling when the President believes that she had the capacity to make major contribution to the welfare of the country and the standing of the United States in the Globe. Haley also pointed out on how satisfied she was following the many achievements that her state had achieved in the last six years adding that the state was in an upward trajectory.
It's surprising how both Nikki Haley and Ben Carson had earlier on in the GOP Primary opposed Donald Trump's nomination as President with the Republican party. Donald Trump also announced that Betsy Devos was his choice for the Education Secretary. The position of Trump's Secretary of State has been left up for grabs for either Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani or some other candidate that's yet to be announced.


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I didn't believe in love at first sight until I set foot in Rome.
I had an easy trip coming from Budapest on the Wednesday afternoon before Easter, armed with some Duolingo lessons and the fact that Spanish and Italian share quite a few words (that's all you need, right?). I took the instructions from my friend Rachel, who's studying abroad in Rome this semester, and took a bus from the airport to the city center. I honestly just assumed that you paid the bus fare on the bus (as I've done with every other bus system I've ever encountered) but before I could ask how much it was the driver hastily ushered me onto the bus and pulled away from the curb. Since there was no coin receptor and it was so packed that there was hardly even room to breathe I simply said a mental thank you for the free bus ride.
My hostel, which happened to be a convent previously (how cool is that!?), was located in Trastevere, so the ten minute walk between the bus stop and my hostel consisted of sauntering along the length of the Tiber river, lined with ancient domes and buildings; not to mention that the temperature was perfect and probably the warmest I'd experienced in several months. I found the hostel easily amongst the little cobblestone streets and after taking a few minutes to get settled I headed right back out to pick up my tickets at the Vatican for the Holy Week masses.
I remember the moment I stepped into St. Peter's Square (which is not at all a square) and immediately felt something tug at my heart. I was pretty excited about the fact that it was my third ever land border crossing, but it was something much more than that. I'm honestly still not entirely sure what it was, but my best guess is that it was caused by simply entering into a place that is so historically significant, so beautiful, and where some of the most incredible examples of human beings have lived, prayed, mourned, and celebrated.
After standing in awe for a solid several minutes, I started looking for the Puerta de Bronce, where the letter I had been sent told me to pick up the tickets. I wandered around clutching my little piece of paper and ended up asking the post office, the tourist shop, and finally the military guards wielding huge firearms where it was, because all I could find was the ridiculously long line to go through to security to walk through the Basilica. Finally, I ended up wandering in the right direction and when the security guard saw my letter he put me at the very front of the line to go through the metal detector. Then, instead of following the trickle of people up the steps of the Basilica, I went up some side steps to a couple of Swiss Guards and handed over the letter. While one searched for the tickets I chatted with the other, and it turned out that he was more comfortable with Spanish than English, so I was delighted to oblige. The one came back and asked if I was sure that I had tickets and that they were in my name (of which I was 700% sure) and asked for my passport. He didn't end up finding anything with my name on it but thankfully he gave them to me anyway. Despite their serious demeanor, they were super friendly and nearly impossible to take seriously in their colorful get-ups.
I then took advantage of having already skipped the line for security and took a peek into the Basilica. As I was leaving the sun was just setting and it was absolutely breathtaking.
For dinner I met up with Rachel in Trastevere at this little restaurant and, while sharing some amazing fish and pasta, we huddled over the map and she circled all the most significant places to try to visit in the three short days ahead. If I had been excited before, I was about to leap out of my seat by the end of dinner. We crossed the river and walked around the center of the city quite a bit, stopping at some ruins (home to many many cats), the Pantheon, and Giolitti, where I discovered the wonder that is caramelized fig gelato. Rachel even showed me the Cornell in Rome program classrooms and workspaces, which just happen to share the building with the Russian embassy. It's all very new and elegant and we chatted with a couple of the other Cornell students; definitely an odd but quite pleasant experience to talk to other Cornellians again.
At that point it was about 10 o' clock at night so I was about to slowly wander back to my hostel and sleep because I had to be up early the next day, but I forgot it was a Wednesday until they were about to have a meeting for a group project. I had honestly forgotten that it's entirely normal (and necessary) for Cornell students to work until pretty late at night, and I had a small pang of dread realizing that this would once again be my reality in a few short months. As I've may have mentioned before, I have very much a love-hate relationship with Cornell.
The next morning I was up before 7:00 to get to the Vatican by 8:00. The Holy Thursday Chrism mass didn't start until 9:30 but seating in the Basilica is first-come first-serve so a ticket only guarantees entrance if there's still room. Again, I felt like a VIP walking up to the Basilica because there was no line or anything; all I had to do was hold on to my bright green slip of paper and flash it to all the police officers, military personnel, security guards, ushers, and Swiss guards (there was a lot of security if you couldn't tell). There was a door on the right and the left and I chose the right without even thinking and grabbed a seat in the closest row to the front that was still free. I ended up in the 5th or so row next to some seminarians but when I looked across the aisle I regretted not going in the other door because I saw a superfluity of nuns (yes that's actually what a group of nuns is called, I just googled it), many of whom were Missionaries of Charity (the order founded by Mother Teresa).
The seminarians next to me were speaking English but they seemed to be in deep conversation and I didn't want to interrupt. They then began to say morning prayer (part of the Liturgy of the Hours) so I listened silently as they read the various psalms and readings. A few minutes after they finished, when I was zoned out and my mind was on an entirely different continent, the seminarian closest to me quite suddenly turned to me and said "so you speak English?" Trying to hide how startled I was, I said yes. His name was Will and he and his fellow seminarians were all actually from the U.S. but finishing their last few years of studying at the North American College in Rome. He was quite kind and we talked about everything from Charleston, NC to the requirements to become a Pontifical Swiss Guard.
The Chrism mass is held every Holy Thursday where both the washing of feet and blessing of all the chrism oil to be used over the next year takes place. It was B E A U T I F U L. Everything about it was beautiful. The Basilica itself, the choir, the mass parts all in Latin, the readings in different languages, and, despite only understanding the Italian words that are similar to Spanish, the homily as well. I had never even seen Pope Francis in person before (missed him by just a few minutes in Philadelphia) and suddenly he was only a few people-widths away, looking just as ordinary and grandfatherly as always.
Since Will and I had talked about confession and I told him I hadn't gone at all during Lent because I was too chicken to do it in Spanish, after mass he tried to help me find a priest. This is much easier said than done in Rome during Holy Week because all seminarians are required to wear clerical collars in Rome, as mandated by one of the 20th century popes (I don't remember which), so you couldn't tell who was actually a priest and who was a seminarian. We were unsuccessful so we parted ways, and I was honestly kind of sad because I knew the chances of running into him again, especially with so many people in Rome that week, were slim.
I found one of the pasta places Rachel had recommended to me, Pastaciutto, where I got a bowl of homemade pasta for €5! I asked for it to-go and found a sunny bench right outside St. Peter's Square. It was still pretty chilly in Santander at that point, so with a dose of sunshine and pasta I was in heaven.
I decided to make the most of the afternoon and explore the Vatican Museums. As I was walking there, a guy jumped in my way and tried to get me to buy a ticket to skip whatever line and the conversation went something like this:
Guy: Have you seen St. Peter's Basilica yet?
Me: Yes.
G: But you've only seen the outside.
M: No, I was there this morning for mass.
G: Noooo, you must've just been outside.
M: No, I was at the Chrism mass in the Basilica this morning.
G: No no no, it's closed to tourists today.
M: No. I had a ticket and went to the mass this morning. Which. Was. In. Side.
G: *still skeptical* oooookay
Because St. Peter's Basilica is definitely nothing more than a tourist trap where you can glimpse a cute old man named Francisco wearing a pointy hat.
What I didn't realize until I finally made it into the museum was that you couldn't just walk freely around. I supposed theoretically you could, but, being Holy Week, it was packed, so there was only a slow trickling mob of people in every hallway. I figured, since the Museums were so vast, that I'd make my way to the Sistine Chapel first and just enjoy whatever art was on the way. Even so, it took me about two hours to get there.
There;s a quote from a great movie called "Goodwill Hunting" (thanks Priya 😉 ) and a great actor named Robin Williams:
"So if I asked you about art, you'd probably give me the skinny on every art book ever written. Michaelangelo, you know a lot about him. Life's work, political aspirations, him and the pope, sexual orientations, the whole works, right? But I'll bet you can't tell me what it smells like in the Sistine Chapel. You've never actually stood there and looked up at that beautiful ceiling."
So now I can tell you not only what it smells like, but also what it feels like to stand in a crowded room where everyone is just chatting away and the security guards are constantly yelling at everyone to stop talking and to stop taking photos. The visuals? Breathtaking. The atmosphere? Thoroughly lacking in awe.
That afternoon I simply walked. I went to the Pantheon, got gelato at Della Palma, and somehow ended up all the way at the Spanish steps, which was almost an hour's walk from my hostel. It was pretty late by the time I got back and I had done so much walking that I physically needed to give my feet a break before even attempting to find dinner, something I don't think I'd ever experienced before.
The morning of Good Friday I met up with Rachel at Villa Farnesia. We got an audioguide to share and she gave me an extra in-depth tour, as per usual, of all the beautiful artwork since she had gone on school trips there before. While making our way through Trastevere, stopping at countless churches along the way, we happened upon a bakery that Rachel is particularly fond of. We bought some little cookies, including two that were shaped like some sort of indistinct farm animal, and another pastry (at this point I've forgotten the name) that looks like a little pie but is even better. We followed the Tiber River nearly all the way to the Colosseum and the last stop, before Rachel had to head back to her schoolwork, was a huge double door with a little teeny peephole. She wouldn't tell me what everyone was looking at and let me see it for myself after waiting in line for at least 20 minutes. I won't ruin the surprise but it was definitely worth the wait 😉
By the time I arrived at the Colosseum and the Roman Forum I had to turn around to get to the Good Friday service (it's the only day of the year there is [technically] no mass, so we just call it a service), and that's when my bad luck with transportation kicked in. The Via Crucis was to be held later that night outside the Colosseum, so some roads were blocked off. I had been planning on taking the metro, but that particular station was closed and I didn't know where the nearest bus stop was and I couldn't get to the tourist info place because it was located on one of the blocked off parts of the street. Luckily, I had taken a photo of the bus map on the first day and found a route that would take me in the general vicinity of the Vatican. I simply walked in the right direction until I came to a bus stop and, since I didn't have a bus card nor did I know how or where to get one, I hopped on and fortunately the bus was so crowded that I wouldn't have been able to verify my ticket in the little machine even if I'd had one. And I figured of all the reasons in the world to hop on a bus without paying, getting to the Vatican on Good Friday was an incredibly valid one.
Thankfully I got there pretty on time, but not early enough to go to reconciliation (although I'm not sure if they would've had it anyway considering the special occasion). As I tried to find a seat I super quickly scanned the room to see if I could find the seminarians, but I didn't see them so I just picked the first empty seat I found. Of course, the service was quite somber, but nonetheless beautiful.
Afterwards I had a relatively small window to get from the Vatican back to the Colosseum for the Via Crucis (stations of the cross), but I wanted to see Rachel again so I stopped at the Cornell space for a bit. It was lovely to sit down for a few minutes and someone brought an Italian Easter cake so it was a short but lovely visit.
On the way to the Colosseum I grabbed a slice of pizza (from a place that happened to be named "Florida") and ate it as I walked. As I got closer, a steady flow of people formed and we ended up being pretty packed together yet surprisingly comfortable as we waited for Pope Francis. Somehow I missed the person handing out booklets (or maybe they ran out) so my brain ended up wading through a flood of Italian words, but I know the stations so I was actually able to follow along pretty well.
Here's the crazy part. As I was walking back, again in a sea of people, I hear someone to my right say "hey, look who it is!" and out of the corner of my eye I see them point to their left, so I look to my left, expecting to see I don't even know who, but I don't recognize anyone. I simply figure that they're talking about someone I don't know and keep walking, but oddly enough something makes me turn to the people who were talking to see who they are and LO AND BEHOLD it's the seminarians! They had been pointing to me! This time there were a couple more with them so we introduced ourselves and they asked where I was staying. It turns out that they live in a house somewhere near Trastevere and, especially since it was nearly midnight at that point, they offered to walk me home, which was incredibly kind of them. I found out that they had also gotten tickets to the Easter Vigil mass the following day, but we knew it would be even more crowded than other event, so when we got to my hostel we said our goodbyes knowing that we probably wouldn't run into each other again.
Holy Saturday was my last full day in Rome so I got up even earlier than the previous days and set out towards the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. I kept on walking right past all the really crowded touristy places, and anyone who knows me well knows that under all the engineering/sciency stuff I'm also a history geek, but don't think I was skipping out on all of Rome's historical sites. Don't get me wrong, the Colosseum is cool, but I had my sights set on somewhere infinitely more historically significant than a crumbling ampitheater. Not far from all the hustle and bustle is a tranquil plaza with a plain door guarded by two armed military officers with a set of steps inside. They're made of marble but hidden underneath they are actually wooden. They've been named the "Scala Sancta," or "Holy stairs" because they're the steps Jesus ascended just before being presented to Pontius Pilate; before being sentenced to death on the first Good Friday.
Before you get all historically accurate, no, none of that actually happened in Rome, but rather in Jerusalem. In the 4th century the steps were removed (who knows why) and specifically brought to Rome. They're covered with marble because the wood is extremely old and delicate, and quite possibly because they're simply so sacred. Out of sheer reverence and solidarity with Christ's suffering, they can only be ascended on one's knees.
A couple friends of mine visited here a while back and told me that it was actually painful to go up the steps on their knees, and I distinctly remember thinking that I've kneeled on countless hard surfaces (marble, concrete, wood, you name it) and it's not that bad. Kids, do not try this at home. They were absolutely right. I don't know if it's because of the marble or because I was practically crawling up the stairs or because I was essentially walking with Jesus en route to his crucifixion, but it HURT. I was nearly in tears halfway up, but I was trying so hard to hide it. There was a group of nuns there who appeared completely unfazed and spent much longer on each step than I did, so I was completely humbled watching them. I could've sworn that my knees were going to literally be blue and green with purple polka dots (yes, I've had bruises like that before), but when I got up and hobbled away they were very stiff and sore, but they looked 100% normal. You wouldn't have even been able to tell that my knees felt like they were going to melt away.
Afterwards I went to visit the church that houses relics of what is believed to be the cross and a replica of the Shroud of Turin. I then met up with Rachel for lunch at Rosciolo, a really good pizza place. They had all their Easter cakes hanging upside down in the back of the shop (I'm not sure why but they have to hang like that to rise properly I believe). We took the pizza to-go since there wasn't really seating inside and she brought me to a little park nearby and told me the story of how the giant hole in the fence came to be when an old couple crashed into it during the parks opening ceremony. The weather was absolutely perfect and I was also able to pass along to Rachel some extra Vatican Easter Mass tickets that the seminarians had given me because they somehow ended up with so many. I thanked her for being such a wonderful tour guide and we parted ways.
I headed back to the Vatican because I wanted to get some souvenirs for friends and family before it got really busy and crazy for the Easter Vigil, and I still hadn't been to reconciliation. I went to every souvenir shop I passed by (and there were a lot) to see if they had blue miraculous medals, Saint Theresa of Calcutta medals (ones that specifically said saint on them), and a green scapular. This last one got me the highest tally of weird looks, but it definitely exists. Eventually I found all except the green scapular, and since I still had a bit of time before I figured I'd have to get in line for the Vigil, I decided to try to find a priest for confession. You'd think this would be incredibly easy being in St. Peter's Square at Easter, but the problem is that all seminarians are required to wear the clerical collar while in Rome, a rule created by JPII. So every time I saw someone in a collar who wasn't busy I'd ask them if they were a seminarian or a priest, but every answer was the same. Finally, as I stalked the ever growing line to get into the vigil, I spotted a slightly older man in a collar and figured the older he is the more likely he is to be a priest rather than a seminarian. Bingo!! He was actually a priest! And he happened to be from Uruguay but spoke English perfectly. He agreed to hear my confession and tried to see if we could go in a little church nearby but it was closed to the public those few days. So it ended up being a literal sidewalk confession. I think on the sidewalk in line for the Easter Vigil is about as last minute as you can get, but it was totally worth it.
I wanted to find a bathroom before committing to the line and I had to essentially walk along the line on the other side of the barrier to get there and at one point I see an unusually large cluster of clerical collars and I'm like WAIT A SECOND. It was them. For the third day in a row. Against all odds. And this time there were eight of them. All because I was trying to find a bathroom. The seminarians spotted me and insisted that I join them in line because navigating the mass of people alone would've been quite an ambitious endeavour. We were standing in line for probably about two hours and at that point it was getting late but I hadn't thought to get dinner before staking out a spot in line. Seminarians came to the rescue once again when one of them made a sandwich run and brought back food for all, including me.
Once they actually opened the gates to the square everyone was packed together like sardines. Somehow some of the seminarians who were behind got ahead of us and one or two ended up forging ahead to save us seats once they got through security. We ended up breaking into smaller groups so no one got left behind and when we all got through we were concerned about finding each other, but again we all reunited somehow.
The mass began as all Easter Vigils do: in complete darkness with one candle giving light to others and those continuing to pass it on until the whole church is a sea of little glowing lights. That's always my favorite part. If you've never been to an Easter Vigil mass before, I would highly highly recommend going at least once in your life. It's definitely a commitment because they're normally about three hours long, but it's once a year and incredibly beautiful.
During the mass we made our way through the old testament in Italian, French, English, and Spanish, and when it came time for Pope Francis to give the homily (in Italian and unfortunately the only part not in the booklet) I pulled out my journal and decided that writing down the words that I could understand might help. By the end I had an interesting mix of words but it still wasn't enough to get the gist of what he was talking about. Afterwards I was talking to one of the seminarians about it and I said that most of the words I understood were "Jesus," "death," and "mercy." He simply replied, "Well those are the most important parts, so what more do you need?"
By the time the vigil ended it was about midnight and the seminarians didn't want me walking home by myself. However, the seemingly perpetually hungry Y chromosome was kicking in and they wanted to get something to eat. One of the few places still open was a little gelatería near the Vatican Museums so we ended up there and they told me that the Knights of Columbus wanted to buy me gelato. I was already pretty cold because of the wind but I certainly wasn't going to turn down free gelato, not to mention that it was finally Easter and we were supposed to be celebrating! I had ordered gelato a few times before so I made an attempt at doing it in Italian, and I tripped up quite a bit but the servers had a great sense of humor and thoroughly enjoyed watching the seminarians come to the rescue.
On the walk home Will taught me a story (I don't remember why) to remember all the greek letters, and although I think he made it way more interesting than this, I found a video that tells the same story! (the whole part about the little lambdas made me laugh to hard)
Before they dropped me off at my hostal they invited me to Easter brunch with them because they didn't want me to spend Easter alone, but very sadly I had to decline because my flight to Lourdes was leaving at 1PM the following day.
If I hadn't already bought the plane ticket I would've 1,000% stayed in Rome for the rest of my Easter break. I was heartbroken that I had to leave both the city I had just fallen in love with, of which there was still so much left unexplored, and the seminarians I had just befriended. I'm not gonna lie, I cried for a bit on the plane and made a very comprehensive list of what I wanted to do and see when (not "if," but "when") I return to Rome. Then, when I looked up and peered out the window, I saw this:
It was truly a once in a lifetime experience because I honestly will probably never again be in Rome during Easter, and it was, by far, outside of visiting family, my favorite trip during my year abroad. I still can't believe that I was able to visit, out of all the seasons of the year, during Holy Week, that I was able to get a ticket for each mass happening while I was there, that I was able to get any tickets at all considering that you're supposed ask six months in advance and I asked one and a half, that I happened to sit next to an American seminarian on the first day, and that I ran into them every subsequent time I was in St. Peter's. I'm entirely convinced that this was all purely by the grace of God.
AND, if that all wasn't enough, it was through Rachel mentioning her past summer internship at Cornell Plantations that made me check the student job site for summer openings because my Ithaca lease started in June anyway and I was already sad about missing one of my short few years at Cornell so I knew I'd love spending a summer in Ithaca. AND when I checked for non-engineering jobs (I was getting desperate), there just so happened to be a posting for a single summer internship with Cornell Facilities Engineering. AND it just happened to be Civil Engineering focused. AND subsequently I found out that two of my best friends and I all, without each other knowing, ended up applying to Cornell summer internship/research positions. AND all three of us ended up getting the position we applied for, even though we each only applied for a single one. AND a dear friend who was abroad the semester before I was and just graduated in May, whom I thought I was never going to see ever ever again, happened to end up working with a middle school summer program on campus in July and the beginning of August. Call it what you want, but I call it the grace. God is good everyone ❤


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Friday, June 22, 2007
Eggless Cake
When I was growing up, we used to make cakes all the time. And, on occasions like birthdays, anniversary or any parties we only needed a reason to make it. We are pure vegetarian and we don't eat eggs, so we had to make cake without them. My sister learnt this receipe from her friend who is very good at making and decorating cakes. I then learnt this from my sister. I love to try new cake receipe but this one, according to me, is the best one. The cake always comes out soft and fluffy and yummy to eat.
Preparations time: 20 mins
Cooking time 1 hr
Maida/All purpose flour - 2 cups
Butter - 100gms
Vanilla Essence - 2 tsp
Sweetened Condensed Milk - 1 tin
Mountain dew drink - 250 ml
Baking Powder - 21/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup
1. Preheat the oven at 350 *F
2. Sieve the flour, baking powder and baking soda and keep it aside (dry ingredients)
3. Take the butter in a bowl mix it very well till it is creamy.
4. Add vanilla essence, condensed milk and granulated sugar and beat it till it is creamy and fluffy.
5. Add the dry ingredients(maida, baking soda, baking powder) and mountain dew little by little one at a time stirring continously till all is mixed well.
6. Beat it for 5 mins till it is in a smooth consistency.
7. Grease the baking dish with butter and flour. Dust the excess flour. Divide the batter into two 8 x3 inch pans filled almost half.
8.Bake it in the oven at 350*F for 1 hr or until it is cooked. To check if it is cooked put a toothpick in the centre of the cake if it comes out clean , it means it is done.
9. Cool it on the cooling rack for 5 mins and Remove the cake on the baking tray to cool completely.
10. Ready to eat.
Note: Instead of mountain dew you can use SevenUp or Sprite. No carbonated water.
10 comments:
- nivedita said...
I tried out the eggless cake seeing Athika's recipe.It tastes real good and it is soft and spongy.Thanks for sharing out Athika.
- July 24, 2007 at 11:30 AM
- Athika said...
Hi nivedita, Thanks for your comment.
- August 1, 2007 at 2:32 PM
- Sonu said...
cake looks yummy!!!!!!!
- September 27, 2007 at 8:21 AM
- sanjeev said...
cake becomes harder as it cools? how can i correct it?
- December 27, 2007 at 9:26 AM
I tried the eggless cake recipe. After about 55 minutes at 350F the cake still had a lot of soda left over that had not evaporated off. I think one must lower the amount of soda (i.e., the volume of mountain dew) down to 200-150 mL. The batter appeared too thin. I used tonic water instead of mountain dew, and put the cake in at 350 a bit longer. The cake is way to moist and too fragile/soft. Its cooling right now and looks appetizing. Lets hope for the best....!! Thanks
- July 22, 2008 at 3:08 PM
- Sarah said...
Do you have to use condensed milk? Can you use regular milk?
- March 20, 2009 at 3:40 PM
- Danny said...
Love eggless cakes.. This one I'll surely try out.. :)
- January 7, 2010 at 2:17 AM
Good post and this post helped me alot in my college assignement. Thanks you for your information.
- January 19, 2010 at 11:42 PM
- Sarika said...
This is a great recipe and it worked awesome for me. Thanks a lot for sharing and my husband lover this cake. Im now going to try ur brownie recipe.
- July 1, 2010 at 11:40 AM
- Athika said...
Sarika, Thanks for the comments. Hope you like the brownie recipe as well.
- July 11, 2010 at 9:09 AM