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Let's design the perfect controller by combining parts from ones that already exist
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i have never had any of those problems in my life with the PS controller layout. and testing on my ps3 controller right now, for me at least, you would have to be controlling the analog sticks using the joints half way down your thumb for that to happen.
so the above pic would also be my perfect controller.
I would say an XBOX360 controller but with the same analog sticks in the same position
There's this thing called a keyboard and mouse, best controlling device in history. Using the mouse to turn eliminates the keyboards swerving issues.
I'll be going with the PS controller layout but it could be a nicer fit in one's hands. Oh and to all those saying keyboard and mouse, using a mouse to play Cthulhu Sleeps on Audiosurf is a very bad idea.
Interesting. I'm not sure it would warrant the price for me, just because so many of the 360's games eventually get released on the PC anyway, but I can see how it would be useful for others. Would also give you a huge advantage over other XBL players.
Looked good in the Portal 2 demonstration, but I doubt it will be better than a mouse and keyboard in game content not specifically designed for it. Now, if you could do one of the hand peripherals in one hand and the mouse in the other, that would be awesome. But then I wouldn't want to be paying its full price, either.
Um, wasn't this done a week ago?
Yes, and it was already mentioned:
It also uses the crappy little nub sticks from the 3DS. Not accurate, not comfortable, and incredibly gimmicky. Probably the farthest you can get from the perfect controller.
Why did you remove my spoiler edit of lordillen's picture? I'm trying to keep the thread reasonable, medium and bigger pics should be spoiled, posting so many large pics in a thread is frowned upon on this site.
Now to my regular response: I didn't mention about how I had problems with the PS controller because the sticks were next to each other on the same height line on the controller.
The reason is that if you compare a PS controller and compare to how the d-pad and the right stick on the 360 controller are spaced, if the left stick in the 360 was placed where the d-pad is, the left stick and the right stick would be closer together than compared to how separated the sticks on the PS controller are.
The PS controller is a longer controller horizontally and the sticks are farther apart compared to that modified picture of the 360 controller. That is why the modified controller in the picture wouldn't work, even with my small hands. As I said before, that is why Microsoft designed their controller to have staggered sticks. They didn't want a controller that is as long horizontally as the PS controller. Instead of bringing the hands too far apart like the PS, the 360 isn't as long and is fat and rounded on the handle sides. Because of that the 360 controller's shape fits better, practically melding perfectly with the palms and under-fingers of each hand.
I'm unsure of that. Most of the journos who demo'd the controller said that they're not the "crappy little nub sticks" from the 3DS, and that they're more like the older analog sticks but without the tension that builds up when you have to hold your thumb against the spring pressure in a certain direction for prolonged periods. In fact, all of the reviews I've read from people who actually used the controller were overwhelmingly favorable. Now IGN is saying that they do use the same circle pads as the 3DS, but even IGN are very excited about the new controller.
You haven't played with the thing, so unless you're referring exclusively to the circle pads (and I would ask if you're a 3DS owner), I wonder how you came about this info. I have spent some time with a 3DS and the circle pad is very accurate and very comfortable. As for the rest of the controller, please tell me you're not joining the other posters who judged "uncomfortable" based on a photograph and against the advice of the entire gaming journalism community, who have collectively assured us that the controller is very intuitive and very comfortable. And gimmicky? When did it become a debate gimmick to use the word "gimmick?" Let's discuss some Nintendo gimmicks from the past. Analogue sticks. Gaming in 3D (not "Avatar" 3D, polygonal 3D). Rumble. Local multiplayer support for 4 players. Intuitive, tactile button layouts.
And yet, when Microsoft and Sony emulate some of its features in the next couple of years, the complainers will still be on board.
as far as i'm concerned, the GameCube controller is pretty much my ideal controller. all the buttons are easily within reach and it works really well
I've played with a 3DS for some time, didn't care for it. The fact that it has thumb sticks at all is what makes it inaccurate, though, in case you misunderstood. We were discussing that earlier in the thread. A mouse has to be a part of the overall control scheme in order for it to be considered "perfect," or anywhere near that, really.
As for being uncomfortable, I CAN tell that just by looking at it. No matter how light it is or how well it sits in your hands, it's not something I'd want to hold for long periods of time, simply due to its bulkiness. Same reason the original Xbox controller sucked.
Lastly, I don't remember anyone calling analog sticks or 4-player support gimmicks. Maybe you do. But the virtual boy was very gimmicky. As was the Wii. And a touchscreen on the controller for a home console? Gimmick overload. It will allow games to be played in a different way. But not a more accurate or intuitive way. People will have to spend a lot of time learning the intricacies of each game's controls on the WiiU. And that's why it's a gimmick. Also why the WiiU will have very little third party support, like the Wii. The rest of the industry will be moving on in a year, and Nintendo will be taking a back seat as usual. Had they released this console instead of the Wii at the same time as the PS3, then maybe developers would have had a chance to give a shit. But that window is long past.
Pressure sensitive keyboard with a macro-able mouse.
Sorry have to represent my favorite, but I'll tell you what, I vote on an actual controller and you hypothetically back me up when I tell console designers to let me use my control scheme.
Dual Shock 3 but maybe have a bit of a click to the marshmellow triggers before the pressure sensitivity kicks in. Just so they are harder to bump and have more feedback.
Since I won't use it you can really do whatever you want but I'll note that I don't like the way an xBox controller is held, with handles that slant inward, I like the parallel handled controls of the GCN, PS, and N64(Though yes the rest of this controller can burn in controller hell).
Maybe a controller with free form handles that can lock into a few different angles to suit the PS and the xBox users?
(1) This is a PC gamer perspective. If you want to be able to turn and aim with superhuman speed, then you're right. If you want a setup that feels and functions more like the way that people moving about in the real world do, a good controller is more precise.
(2) It sounds like the fact that your hands will be a couple of inches farther apart is what's really bothering you. Do you really think this will make the controller uncomfortable? Did you read the text that you quoted? All of the journos said it's very comfortable, even after they've used it for a while.
(3) Anytime a company like Nintendo (or their competitors, for that matter) try something different, a whole bunch of fanboys cry "gimmick," usually without even qualifying it. To this day, people still talk shit about the N64 controller, even though we have it to thank for the analog stick and rumble support. And fanboys still talk shit about the system itself, even though with a much smaller catalogue it still had a great deal more 3D games than its jaggie-fied competitor, the PSOne, and had out-of-box 4-player support. That's what I was saying.
(4) This isn't exactly a bold statement. Almost nobody purchased the Virtual Boy and almost no one thinks that it was a well-advised idea.
(5) The tens of millions of consumers who bought a Wii in lieu of an XBox or a PS3 disagree with you, as do the creators of the XBox and PS3,, who designed peripherals to emulate the Wii. Also, the gamers who appreciate what the IR pointer has done for control, especially in FPS shooters, and can't go back, disagree with you.
(6) How does allowing new kinds of games to be made equate to a gimmick in your mind? And how does having to pause to combine and then use potions, equipment, weapons and spells, and pause or obscure part of the main screen to see the map, mean "precise and intuitive" to you?
(7) And a brand new gamer would have to spend a good deal of time figuring out how to use the controller for the N64, X-Box, Gamecube or any one of the Playstations. Is not learning to play a new way part of the fun? You know what? Scratch that. I took for granted that your assertion was accurate, which of course it isn't. Being able to pause the game but not having to do so to look up inventory or map details or use a tracker or cam chat with NPCs won't have much of a learning curve, and if it does, you can pause the game. How is having a touch screen going to confuse gamers?
(8) That's not the definition of a gimmick.
(9) Remember that you said that in a year, when Tecmo, EA, Sega, Ubisoft and all the rest keep on making games for the new system.
As an effort to end console vs. PC hate I have to say a controller that emulates the precision of a mouse and offers the ability to have the buttons of a keyboard. (Anything that requires a keyboard is usually poorly design on the controls but this is just to stop the bitching). Not sure how you can do this but a more precise motion control might offer this kind of control. Also, isn't it odd that we're trying to cobble together existing tech to make a controller then coming up with new technology. This is a theoretical discussion and I know that current technology is no-where near any sort of peak so shouldn't we be coming up with better stuff then what exists?
Mine would be a PS2 controller with XBOX360 Triggers.
PS2 felt great in weight, shape, buttons and everything. However, the XBOX360 triggers felt good and are better than those PS3 triggers who I feel like the can break any moment.
Size: Xbox 360
mouse and keyboard with pressure sensitive mouse buttons and an analogue stick replacing WASD
i find the thumbsticks to be uncomfortable there(prefer xbox thumbsticks as is)
but your preference is your preference
1. Right, which is also why I suggested a control stick and more standard buttons for movement/weapon selection and etc in one hand, while the mouse would be used purely for accurate aiming and firing/scoping. Infinitely more accurate than a second control stick would be.
2. Yes, that does/would bother me on a controller. Speaking purely from my own perspective, it wouldn't be comfortable, regardless of what the game journalists say.
3. Perhaps so, but again, I don't remember anyone calling Nintendo's innovations in the N64 era gimmicks. Before, during, or after the fact. If it did happen, it was rare. Whereas a lot of their newer stuff is called that often, and with good reason. With the N64, you had optional controller attachments, so everybody was happy using or not using them. The Wii and WiiU, on the other hand, have non-standard functionality that's absolutely integral to the functionality of the console.
4. Which just goes to show that Nintendo doesn't lay a golden egg every time. There's selling well, and then there's accomplishing the task which they have set forth for themselves. On point one, I think the WiiU will do very well. On point two, which is to say, an attempt to reclaim the core gamer base they lost after the Gamecube, I don't think it will succeed.
5. See point four. Selling well doesn't make it any less of a gimmick. The pet rock sold very well too, but I don't think that even the people who bought it would claim it to be a useful purchase. There's no way to gather data on how many Wiis just sit on tables gathering dust.
6. If these "new kinds of games" rely entirely on the console's unique functionality as spectacle in order to sell, that's the very definition of gimmick. After all, how many mini-game compilations did we see released on the Wii as a result of it's rather singular usefulness?
Pausing the game isn't intuitive or necessary. But that's why mini-maps and hotkeys were invented, yes? So that you never have to look away from where the action is happening and won't get killed due to poor game design. Or in the WiiU's case, poor console design.
7. I never said it would confuse them. I said that there would be a separate learning curve for each game on the WiiU. Because it's entirely dependent on how each developer decides to utilize the controller. Whereas if you learn one FPS game on an Xbox 360 gamepad, you've pretty much learned them all. Confusing? No. Annoying and unnecessary? Yes.
8. You're right, but the WiiU does fit at least two definitions of gimmick:
an ingenious or novel device, scheme, or stratagem, especially one designed to attract attention or increase appeal.
to equip or embellish with unnecessary features, especially in order to increase salability, acceptance, etc.
Basically it's unnecessary functionality that looks cool at first glance, and thus increases sales, but then later turns out to be very limited in scope and follow-through.
9. Like I said, VERY LITTLE third-party developer support. I didn't say none. And I don't even want to guess at the outrageous number of mini-game compilations the companies you listed produced for the Wii. Third-party developer support only really counts as support when they're releasing the games which are the main focus of those developers on your console. The WiiU will probably get that type of full support for a year or so, until the next generation of consoles is released by Sony and Microsoft. At which point Nintendo will be thrown right back under the bus.
This is all quite off-topic, however, as we were discussing the perfect controller. And while the Gamecube controller or some of Nintendo's older hardware might be in the running, the WiiU's controller is another story entirely. It's an unknown for the most part. Based on looks alone, however, I don't think most gamers would be so audacious to make the claim that it's perfect. Or even close.
This. Honestly I can't find anything to fault with it. It fits nicely in your hand, its robust, nice feeling buttons and good analogs. It's a good size too, unlike the PS controllers which are quite small in the hand.
Sorry, it really wasn't fair of me to argue with you when your browser wasn't working properly. Let me know when your internet's working better so you can make some informed points :P.
The perfect controller is a helmet that lets your mind control the actions in the game. Virtual virtual reality if you know the Futarama ref.
I like the controller this way because it has the size and concave triggers of the 360 controller (more ergonomic in my opinion) and the symmetry of the ps3.
Basically, I just want the 360 controller to be symmetrical like the ps3 one. Because, in a way, a controller conditions how games will play in the future.
By having a controller with the stick on top and the d-pad on the bottom we automatically create this rule that all games will use the stick to move your avatar and the d-pad for something secondary.
Imagine playing Katamari with the 360 controller (for those who never played it, you use a stick to control each of your hands, which make role a giant ball in the direction you want), which by the way is a game that innovates the way you can use the Playstation controller.
But still lacks a mouse ;)
i see what you mean about the concavity, but i guess that i prefer the xbox positioning because i'm used to it, also(i found this out just now), if i were playing a CoD(for example), and i wanted to walk right as fast as possible while looking to the left as fast as possible, i would hit my thumbs together, which would be uncomfortable, but considering how little i use killstreaks(on account that i'm useless at CoD), i never get this problem
i also find the PS3 buttons to be just a little too shallow, and the Xbox ones to be too rounded(but they stand out better colourwise)
i prefer the PS3 D-pad
I don't know if this qualifies:
It's not perfect yet, but we're getting there.
This is an impossible exercise. You're hoping to please the Unpleasable Fanbase. Can't be done. Even if you make a decent controller, the PC crowd is just going to scoff at you anyway.
Unless it can provide physical feedback, I'm not sure if it will really work for hardcore gaming.
A blend between the 360 and PS2 controller would be perfect. Probably just needs the d-pad of the PS2 controller instead of the 360 one actually.
I came.
Seriously, that looks sweet.
I know I'm gonna be called a fanboy (I'm not), but I prefer the Dualshock the 360's. Anyway, stick the 360's triggers on a Dualshock, throw away the motion control bollucks, stick the SNES's D-pad on, put a small touchscreen in the middle and stick the select and start buttons on the back.
A mouse and keyboard with an analog stick attached in a comfortable position. It's more difficult than I would like to play fixed camera third person games with WASD.
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When You Travel
Planning a trip? Whether you're camping or cruising, you can go anywhere and do almost anything. It just takes a little planning ahead to handle your diabetes.
How you prepare depends on where you're going and for how long. Two weeks backpacking through Europe takes different planning than a week at the beach. Will you be crossing time zones? What kind of food will you eat and when? Will you be more active or less active than usual?
See Your Doctor Before You Go
Before a long trip, have a medical exam to make sure your diabetes is in good control. Schedule the exam with enough time to work on your control before you depart. Get immunization shots — if you need them — at least one month before you leave. If the shots make you sick, you'll have time to recover before your trip.
Before any trip, get two papers from your doctor: a letter and a prescription. The letter should explain what you need to do for your diabetes, such as take diabetes pills or insulin shots. It should list insulin, syringes, and any other medications or devices you use. The letter should also list any allergies you have or any foods or medications to which you are sensitive.
The prescription should be for insulin or diabetes pills. You should have more than enough insulin and syringes or pills to last through the trip. But the prescription may help in case of emergency. In the United States, prescription rules may vary from state to state.
The prescription laws may be very different in other countries. If you're going out of the country, do some research about the laws where you'll be going.
Prepare for an Emergency Abroad
You may want to get a list of English-speaking foreign doctors from the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travelers (IAMAT), 1623 Military Road, #279, Niagara Falls, NY 14304 (www.iamat.org). IAMAT can be reached at 716-754 4883. If an emergency occurs while you're traveling and you don't have such a list, contact the American Consulate, American Express, or local medical schools for a list of doctors.
No matter where you go, wear a medical ID bracelet or necklace that shows you have diabetes. If you're leaving the country, also learn how to say "I have diabetes" and "sugar or orange juice, please" in the language or languages of the countries you'll visit.
Medical IDs
Many people with diabetes, particularly those who use insulin, should have a medical ID with them at all times.
In the event of a severe hypoglycemic episode, a car accident, or other emergency, the medical ID can provide critical information about the person's health status, such as the fact that they have diabetes, whether or not they use insulin, whether they have any allergies, etc. Emergency medical personnel are trained to look for a medical ID when they are caring for someone who can't speak for themselves.
Medical IDs are usually worn as a bracelet or a necklace. Traditional IDs are etched with basic, key health information about the person, and some IDs now include compact USB drives that can carry a person's full medical record for use in an emergency.
Packing Tips
The second rule of travel for a person with diabetes: pack at least twice as much medication and blood-testing supplies as you think you need. Pack all of them in your carry-on bag so that your medication is always with you (checked luggage can get lost).
Whether you travel by car, plane, boat, bike, or foot, you'll want to keep this "carry-on" bag with you at all times. Pack this bag with:
- all the insulin and syringes you will need for the trip
- blood and urine testing supplies (include extra batteries for your glucose meter)
- all oral medications (an extra supply is a good idea)
- other medications or medical supplies, such as glucagon, antidiarrhea medication, antibiotic ointment, antinausea drugs
- your ID and diabetes identity card
- a well-wrapped, air-tight snack pack of crackers or cheese, peanut butter, fruit, a juice box, and some form of sugar (hard candy or glucose tablets) to treat low blood glucose
Eating in the Air
When you fly, you can request a special meal low in sugar, fat, or cholesterol. Make your request at least two days before the flight.
If you take insulin, wait until you see your food coming down the aisle before you take your shot. Otherwise, a delay in the meal could lead to low blood glucose. To be safe, always carry some food with you. If your meal is delayed or an order is mixed up, you won't be stuck with an empty stomach.
Have Insulin, Will Travel
When you travel with insulin, give some thought to where you'll be storing your supplies. Insulin does not need to be refrigerated, but insulin stored in very hot or very cold temperatures may lose strength.
Don't store your insulin in the glove compartment or trunk of your car. Backpacks and cycle bags can get quite hot in the direct sunlight. If you plan to travel by car or bike or to be out in the elements, take steps to protect your insulin. Many travel packs are available to keep your insulin cool.
In general, you should stick with the exact brand and formulation of insulin that you have been prescribed by your doctor.
However, if you run out while you are on the road, and your regular brand is unavailable, you may substitute another brand's equivalent formulation (for example, NovoLog for Humalog, Humulin R for Novolin R). Changes in formulation (for example, from rapid-acting Humalog to to short-acting Humulin R) require medical supervision.
Insulins used in the United States are all of the strength U-100. In foreign countries, insulins may come as U-40 or U-80. If you need to use these insulins, you must buy new syringes to match the new insulin to avoid a mistake in your insulin dose. If you use U-100 syringes for U-40 or U-80 insulin, you will take much less insulin than your correct dose. If you use U-100 insulin in a U-40 or U-80 syringe, you will take too much insulin.
Crossing Time Zones
If you take insulin shots and will be crossing time zones, talk to your doctor or diabetes educator before your trip. Bring your flight schedule and information on time zone changes. Your doctor or educator can help you plan the timing of your injections while you travel.
Remember: eastward travel means a shorter day. If you inject insulin, less may be needed. Westward travel means a longer day, so more insulin may be needed.
To keep track of shots and meals through changing time zones, keep your watch on your home time zone until the morning after you arrive.
If you inject insulin while in flight, frequent travelers suggest you be careful not to inject air into the insulin bottle. In the pressurized cabin, pressure differences can cause the plunger to "fight you." This can make it hard to measure insulin accurately.
Checking your blood glucose while traveling is as important as when you're at home. Also, check your blood glucose level as soon as possible after landing. Jet lag can make it hard to tell if you have very low or very high blood glucose.
When You Get There
After a long flight, take it easy for a few days. Check your blood glucose often. If you take insulin, plan your activities so you can work in your insulin and meals.
If you are more active than usual, your blood glucose could go too low. Take along snacks when hiking or sightseeing. Don't assume you will be able to find food wherever you are.
No matter what kind of diabetes you have, it's smart to watch what you eat and drink when traveling. Avoid tap water overseas. This includes ice cubes made from tap water.
Ask for a list of ingredients for unfamiliar foods. Some foods may upset your stomach and hurt your diabetes control. But you will also find foods that give you a healthy taste of culture.
Wear comfortable shoes and never go barefoot. Check your feet every day. You should look for blisters, cuts, redness, swelling, and scratches. Get medical care at the first sign of infection or inflammation.
Go wherever your heart leads you. Just remember that you take your diabetes with you. Take your self-care along, too.
Other information
Traveling with diabetes supplies — Due to increased airport security measures in response to September 11, 2001, the American Diabetes Association is providing the following information regarding diabetes-related equipment, medication and supplies to all airline passengers with diabetes.
Dehydration and heat exhaustion — Special care needs to be taken during extreme heat.

subset: commoncrawl


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Olga Golovanova '10 fights for democracy in Russia
Alumna has decided to move back to the land of her birth to be on the front lines
Russian political activist Olga Golovanova '10 is fed up with the corrupt electoral system in her home country, and she has taken to the streets—and the Internet—to do something about it.
In a timely talk, two days after Vladimir Putin's victory in last Sunday's Russian presidential elections, Golovanova described many ways in which Putin and his supporters prevent the opposition from having a voice. She also described what Russians, herself included, are doing to combat unfair and illegal practices by a corrupt government.
Golovanova spoke to an audience of about 50 in the Rapaporte Treasure Hall. The talk was the opening event of Brandeis' annual Russian Culture Week, sponsored by the university's Russian Club, Russian Studies Program and Brandeis Genesis Institute for Russian Jewry.
Golovanova said that Putin's supporters rig votes through such practices as "ballot stuffing," which involves people filling out numerous ballots for Putin and adding them to ballot boxes, and paying busloads of people, in an arrangement called a "carousel," to travel from district to district and vote for Putin in each one. As a result, Golovanova said, Putin's United Russia party apparently won as much as 146 percent of the vote in last December's parliamentary election.
After that election, Golovanova said, "people took to the streets" in the largest numbers since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1993. Over time, the protests grew in size from a few hundred people to hundreds of thousands. This was largely due to the efforts of a handful of activists, many of whom Golovanova knew personally, since they had worked with her mother, a journalist in Moscow, and began their activist careers several years ago drawing picket signs in her living room. People were excited to rally around this cause because of its unifying nature, she said. Indeed, the emerging leaders of this movement included such a diverse cast of lawyers, bloggers, television personalities, journalists, members of the government and even stay-at-home moms.
The day after the December 4 parliamentary election, many protesters were arrested in Moscow and began to use one of their only means of free communication, Twitter, to tweet about the poor conditions in which they were being held. From her computer in New York, Golovanova was able to organize people via Twitter to bring food or water to those who had been arrested.
"That was kind of a turning point for me," she said. "I realized I can sit in New York and still make a difference."
But on December 24, she reached a bigger turning point when she flew to Moscow to take part in another protest and found herself looking out over the sea of 150,000 people chanting, "Freedom to Russia!" At that awe-inspiring moment, she decided that she to move back to Russia later this year so that she can be on the front lines of the movement.
In the meantime, Golovanova has helped to establish an international community of independent monitors of absentee voting, which she said is important because election officials are behind most of the fraud. Responsible for organizing monitors for the 18 voting locations in the United States, she reported that, to the best of her knowledge, not one fraudulent vote was cast in this country in the presidential election. Far less support for Putin was tallied in the United States than in Russia.
Currently, Golovanova is very involved in the international organization Fair Vote for Russia, where she is helping to organize a protest in New York March 10. She also co-founded a fundraising project called Wake Up Russia, which targets Russian donors abroad to raise money to support the protests.
Golovanova said that even without carousels and ballot stuffing, Putin likely would have won the election. She said she believes the contest was generally free of fraudulent voting, but that does not make the election fair "when you have no free media, no free TV channels, when you can buy people to go to your rallies, where most of the people are threatened if they don't vote for you."
In an interview after her talk, she explained that teachers making the equivalent of only a few hundred dollars per month would be told by their employers to vote for Putin, which they do, just as they would accept bribes from students in exchange for high exam grades. "A lot of these people don't see an alternative. They'd like to make a difference, but what's more important to them is to put food on their table for their children."
Despite the definitive results of this past election, protests continue in Moscow and around the world.
For the first time, Golovanova said in her talk, Putin is winning by a smaller margin. Also for the first time, the younger and older generations are coming out in numbers to vote. People are starting to realize that they do have the power to effect change, she said.
"Absolutely everybody [came out to vote], whether they're rich, … poor, … educated, … not educated, they're fed up," she said, and this is scaring the Russian government, as demonstrated by soldiers outnumbering demonstrators at the most recent protests.
Golovanova concluded her talk by explaining why she is absolutely sure Putin will not last a full six-year term in office. Putin's hold on the government, she said, is based on power, money, and fear. As people continue to show through large, sustained protests that they are no longer afraid, she said, his wealthy supporters will begin to see him as more of a liability than an asset and will stop investing in him. This, she said, would empower the electorate to take away Putin's political power.
Golovanova said she believes Putin will fall nonviolently as factual information about his regime spreads and unhappiness in the general population deepens.
Heller student and Russian Club member Julia Rabkin '11 M.S. '12, who helped organize the event, said that reining in government corruption will improve the lives of the Russian people dramatically. According to Golovanova, currently government officials are enriching themselves while infrastructure remains poor and the health care system is corrupt. Women in both Golovanova's and Rabkin's extended families needed to pay $40,000 bribes to secure a doctor and a low-quality hospital room when they were having children.
"This is a basic human rights issue, and the Russians deserve these human rights," Rabkin said. "I'm really proud of the fact that they are fighting for it, and I think it's important for people to learn about it."
Categories: Alumni, International Affairs


text:
Read guest editor Joanna Klink's introduction.
Means of Entering the Swarm
It's striking how being in the bottom rank
affects your moral sense.
Or we might never shake our tendency to live
straddling the faultline, knelt within
the dipped spoon washed
clean by flood, or drought's knuckled seizing, or
the ice suddenly breaking
under a bear too tired
to swim any longer. The warlord
galloping by, a rolling twitch
in his left eye.
Or maybe we follow, panting after,
in a fever to be told which animals
we yet can't do without.
Or landmasses.
Perhaps Africa. Continents
forlorn, orphans in a snowstorm,
pearly grains smaller than
the smallest white dot, outlined
in white.
Or take the optimistic view,
conjure the busy convoy of
trucks, laden with grain, crossing
a desert. Or lately two men,
holding hands, and walking,
in the evening, during famine.
Animal Life
When we argued about animals we said
political not lingual and
opened the closet door kept usually
closed. Inside the animals
were clothed in their narrows, answering to
he and she—what
difference what name? What name could be so wrong
so as to render creature other
than its memory of self?—males spilling
eels and the females in the parlour,
grinding salt. The animals may despise
the way we try so hard, if they possess
the caudal fin which is devised
to despise—An eye for an eye
says the elephant, in the dream we have
of elephants—yet, flying
we keep low
and swooping
over faraway countries
of which we know nothing, dropping
feed to fatten rosebuds, or else babies
on the vine. Animal, let me come for you. Another day
I will come for you. I will be
stuffed with feeling, flung
open like the daylily cluster, petals
crushed to tropical powder.
The animals wait in the field,
horns unlocked. When
the brown bear sinks it is
against expectation and the physical heart
that runs
a hundred miles
to the river recently
swollen with flood
and the physical heart unbuttoning
year after year, waiting for sun to assume its position.
Fat drops of black like ink
spread on the surface of stones. Elsewhere
lichen is green as seedlings and interrupted
by moss. If you could make what is quick
even quicker and with a pin thrust out
the petals of a thousand cherry blossoms all at once
like frantic tossing blooms
from the back of a truck, you could also see
with this type of quickness
petals gather force
then shoot out like a shout.
Then the easy wither on branches,
hundreds of heart attacks contained in twine.
When fat tomatoes ripen
in a cluster too fat and run-over with pulp,
it is too much to hold in the hand or not
waste. If you seize the thin gland between male spilling
flanks, you may make
perfume with it. Is this not more
than the sum of parts? Is this not more than knowing
which heartpart to swallow, chew and eat?
The doe's eye glossy not
needing light,
I would that its eye
come close to mine, fire-
worked of vine, blistering skin,
long-leaping as a creature, real creature,
outside. How else can a leap be
but outside? Its redness a color unseen in the dark.
waiting only for the sun to assume its position.
Don't imagine, cool out quick, empty like
a bleached bone, sky drained towards the edge
of no color, when later, there is working,
and the purse zippered and the willful waiting and coffee spilling, and then
the deer. The deer
trying to tell but she was not. The deer
making sound but it was not. Its rolled
eye sideways not looking. The real heart
loud pump sounding and viscous-eared.
Accord of time and space
but no amity.
How to address it. Deer, deer—
but to whom else shall I speak? Not
you which brings us too close
for mud, for shale roofs and damaged houses—not thou,
and then again
high on the ridge of stunted junipers,
the rocks are dipped
with fat black drops. Even lichen cannot recall
a color outside the palette of decay. Rocks in slow decay,
sore skin friction. Give me
the moment before,
the intensity of its not looking.
in the river and along the banks
and buried afloat above its silty bottom are creatures
you never dream of
and have never seen.
The Physical Heart
Bring me your earliest hunger
wrapped in paper. I too
am lost from my tribe.
One day you had
one handful
to eat.
you are assembled
in bird cages, typewriters, dentists' chairs,
baby spoons, mannequins, thimbles and
expensive silver earrings
thin as needles and when I lose one,
you buy me more.
the physical heart
it enters hard
wanting graft
to the hidden chamber,
so every breath entering
must tread
around its mass
observe its face
like a husk
In the kidneys
I remember,
in the liver,
in the sponge bore of stomach
encrusted with scarlet,
in vertebrae's thick knotting, the fat penguin rosary
of the spleen, its ruminating
ink blotting, I
remember, in the dark holy impress
of the lungs,
in the choked-weed dreaming
of the genitals that grow woolen,
dream latest, I remember
your earliest hunger, wrapped
in paper
and brought
to the famish of adulthood. And there was
all during those days
one moment when
you were nothing to me. One
moment. Nothing
more than what you are now.
Would That No One Could Refuse Me
Thrusting past
The obdurate soil. Caged
In the henhouse, subject
To avian diseases. Would I feel
The corrugated flush of fruit flies
Swarming, would I wait for
The gate to close again, with
A pockmarked boy
Wearing guilt like a trench-coat.
Would I have taught you
Nothing, would I tell you put a cloth
On the pillow, or pillow on the floor
To mask the odorous imprint, would I trim
You with the tiniest blade, so you may fully
Heed my wettest lip, have you
Sprawl the coat on the bathroom floor,
Door that locks, the undone button. Would
I fix your eye on the distant
Jewel, hidden under skirts. Or let me
To love as a cow
At the slaughterhouse gate, let
Me keen for the hook,
Steely and skyward, as a child
Whose dazzling array of
Teeth dropping, dream of
The flowering
Grave, shallow where new teeth are
Born, then bones, then souls,
Then animals, without souls, pecking.
Before We Came the Kingdom
Outside the green enclosure
where birds and foxes are taken
for food,
there is no food.
The ostrich is first
to prolong its bristled taper towards
the dirt. Black-winged stilt and marble teal tip
their cawing beaks in. Meanwhile, indigenous antelope
makes its cross-legged bow. Meanwhile, ruby pike
dwindles, with large-mouthed erosions.
Sarcophagus flower
trampled in sand. Dark velvet petals
and scarletted under. A copia
of elephants and how they sink
and will not trample. Giraffe crumbling,
the arboreated cricket plies
a long green scatter
into song. Now exit baboon,
peacock, ocelot. Blackbucks and jackals sniff
for grubs. You should
hear them, see
white-hoofed llama before the kick
and fall. See
white-throated dipper heft
a broken foot under. Next the heavenly-
belted rhinoceros makes dry arc
of breathing. Then the heavy roll
in grass slick
with feces. Next the pilot
shunts the gear lever hard
and ignites. Next a yellow car to carry
all the corpses. Next Arabian horses
flick thin hooves and
are no more. Next
the water
runs red then black then stops
running. Demoiselle
in flames. Brown bear flexing
for the flesh of once Dalmatian pelicans.
Even zebras
do roam.
Pygmy cormorants also rustling
like a paper cone of peanuts
clasped and eaten. Next the lion
lays his shaggy brow
upon the rock. It weeps
into his eye.
Youna Kwak was born in Seoul, Korea. She has lived in Manhattan, Maryland, Missoula, Providence, Paris and Brooklyn, New York. Her poems and translations have appeared in journals including The Boston Review, The Brooklyn Rail, Cerise Press, The Horizon Review, Left-Facing Bird, Muthafucka, Neo, and Po&sie.


text:
Happy Together / Life's A Gas / For Lovers / If Not For You / It's A Beautiful Day / Run With Us / The Beat Goes On / The River Song / True Love Will Find You In The End / Two Of Us
Taking a slight turn from our regular output we present Runaway Orchestra's self-titled debut album; a collection of ten cover songs that feature the beautiful vocals of Sophie Madeleine (a side project to her solo work) and the folk arrangements of Runaway Orchestra. Together they have created a gentle and uplifting re-imagination of past classics which will leave you dreaming of hazy summer days. Across it's ten tracks, 'Runaway Orchestra' carefully crafts covers of classics with a fresh folk twist.
Opening with The Turtles 1967 hit, 'Happy Together', re-worked as a delicate love song, the track flows with lush string arrangements and Madeleine's warm and inviting voice.
Further highlights on the album include a stunning cover of Wolfman and Pete Doherty's 2004 indie success 'For Lovers', which keeps the original's melancholy undercurrents whilst injecting a more upbeat and brighter mood with its careful instrumentation. Cher and Sonny's 'The Beat Goes On' is transformed into a gentler number with subtle drum arrangements and interplay between Madeleine's singing and the lead melody. Also on the album is a memorable cover of Bob Dylan's 'If Not For You', where Madeleine's voice hypnotises the listener with its subtle pitches and gentle folk melodies.
Sophie Madeleine is best known as a Ukulele-playing singer and songwriter, who takes a joyful DIY approach to her music. Though she started her musical endeavors on the piano, before teaching herself the guitar, it was finding the ukulele that made Madeleine feel most at home. She captivates her audience with her soft vocals, her classic 60's French songstress looks and her hands on, direct to her fans approach to her music. She is a self-declared fan of Pledge Music – an organisation which provides fans and artists the opportunity to work together to make new records and raise money for charity.
Featuring musicians from The Divine Comedy, UNKLE, and Cinematic Orchestra.
The CD packaging features a hand-drawn, comic-style booklet by UK illustrator Henry McCausland.


text:
Dorothy D, Ontario
- 6/30/2011
About Me
I'm from Dundas Ontario Canada. I am an elementary school teacher currently on leave to be a stay at home mom to my two wonderful children. I have been visiting Walt Disney World since the age of two. I have experienced the parks as a child, a teenager and now a mom. Seeing the excitement in my children's eyes as they step off the monorail and enter the Magic Kingdom entrance evokes the same feeling that I had at their age. I am the "family photographer" with every moment of every vacation clearly documented with hundreds of photos (thank goodness for digital cameras!). I also enjoy playing the piano and traveling. I am a strong believer that vacationing is a great way to create a close-knit family. There is no better place to achieve this goal than a trip to Walt Disney World. Where else can you visit a place that invites you to believe in your imagination, takes you on a trip around the world to explore different cultures and builds memories that last a lifetime?
About My Family
I share my castle with my husband, a fellow Disney fanatic. The two "characters" who keep our household busy are our 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. When they are not off at piano or swimming lessons they too are offering advice to their friends on all the must-see and do attractions at Walt Disney World. Around my house we lovingly refer to Walt Disney World as our "home away from home." We are annual pass holders who visit the parks at least four times a year. We have celebrated our children's birthdays there and last year we witnessed the filming of the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade. Despite our frequent visits we have yet to see and do everything at Disney. Spending as much time as we do in sunny Florida, we have also taken up golf as a family sport.
About My Disney Experience
My love for all things Disney has made me a bit of a celebrity in my hometown. I am known as the "go to girl" for planning a Walt Disney World vacation. I have assisted family members, friends and other acquaintances plan their Disney vacations. From dining suggestions to mapping out entire vacations, I enjoy sharing my love and knowledge for Walt Disney World. My family and I have even surprised my sister and her family at the parks to give them a guided tour on their very first Disney experience. The most memorable vacation I helped plan was a family reunion. For me, organizing such a magical gathering was rewarding - I knew I was helping create not only a vacation but many memories. I look forward to the opportunity to help other families create their very own magical moments.


text:
Emilio Cirelli has been a real estate investor the past 24 years, selling homes, lots, and even island property.
Emilio Cirelli has been a real estate investor the past 24 years, selling homes, lots, and even island property that he has purchased, primarily at tax-deed sales.
Among the Ormond Beach resident's current 60-plus Volusia County holdings is a 3-acre parcel of undeveloped land on a 160-acre mangrove island in the middle of Halifax River in Port Orange.
He and his partners also own 1.3 acres on a 16-acre island in the Halifax River, just south of the Flagler County line, near Ormond Beach.
"The prices were right and I've just always wanted to own an island," Cirelli said. "I would like to build on them, but the cost is prohibitive to me so they're for sale."
His first purchases of island property were 3.8-acre and 1.1-acre tracts on a 129-acre low island along the Intracoastal Waterway in Jacksonville, four miles south of the St Johns River.
"That got me excited and so I kept looking for others to buy that might be developed," he said.
Ten years ago, he and some partners bought the island property in Port Orange, 1.6 miles south of the Dunlawton Avenue bridge, for $11,150 from the state's Inland Water Navigation District.
The unnamed marsh island was used in the 1930s to deposit dredge material when the Intracoastal Waterway channel was deepened.
Over time, vegetation grew on the island's northern tip, which is about 4.5 feet above sea level. The island is along the west side of the Intracoastal Waterway, roughly parallel on the east with the Boondocks Restaurant and the Adventure Yacht Harbor Marina in Wilbur-by-the-Sea.
Cirelli bought out his then-partners and went to talk to Port Orange city officials about what he could do with the island property. Around the same time he and another group of partners bought the property on the island near the Flagler County line for $765.
"My vision (for the Port Orange property) was to have elevated rental cabins all interconnected with elevated boardwalks tied to one central dock," Cirelli said. "They would be 12 feet off the ground so as not to damage the vegetation."
But what Cirelli and his partners didn't know then was the federal government had placed spoil-right easements on the man-made islands for future dredge deposits.
The owners had to apply and pay the federal government to have those easements released on the portions they owned.
"They only released them because I asked. It took a long time, a lot of red tape and a lot of meetings," Cirelli said.
The Port Orange island property has a small sandy beach that's been used for years by boaters and campers.
"I once put up 20 "No Trespassing" signs and a few weeks later they were all gone," Cirelli said.
What can be developed on the land is unknown as Cirelli has not tested the process of obtaining building permits from Port Orange or Volusia County.
"The city has welcomed me with open arms as long as I comply with all their (land-use) codes," he said.
Anyone can apply for site plans and building permits, said Palmer Panton, Volusia County's director of planning and development, approvals are another thing.
"It seems pretty difficult for sure," Panton said of the island property Cirelli and his partners own near Flagler County. "Buying an island might seem great until faced with issues of water, power and waste. I would think those things would be hard to overcome."
In 2008, local appraisal firm Hamilton & Jacobs evaluated the island property in Port Orange for the Inland Water Navigation District to determine the value of the spoil-right easement.
"The highest and best use is recreational with little or no alterations to the site"' the appraisers wrote. "While some future development is possible, the hazard to property and human life is so great as to make potential permanent future use highly speculative."
Zoning classifications of conservation in Port Orange and resource corridor in Volusia County also throw up development hurdles.
Cirelli understands it will not be cheap for anyone to buy his island in Port Orange. He won't take less than $1 million, he said. He won't say what he'll take for the island property near the Flagler County line.
Besides the purchase price, there's the cost of engineering and permitting any structures plus the high construction cost considering all material has to be shipped to the location. Cirelli also said he might have to sign waivers regarding fire, ambulance and garbage pickup services.
"It's possible. There's room for septic. But you have to be pretty wealthy," Cirelli said of developing the Port Orange property. "It may not be worth it to a lot of people, but I'm sure there is someone out there that wants to have some exclusivity, a one-of-a-kind."


text:
My CIH
Login to your account
Log in to MyCIH to update your details, view bookings and purchases and upgrade to membership. If you are already a CIH member, log in to access member only content and see the latest benefits in your My CIH area, including access to your CPD log, CiZone and more!
Don't have an account? Register here for free, then become a member to access exclusive benefits.


text:
I host my own git repository on a VPS. Let's say my user is john.
I'm using the ssh protocol to access my git repository, so my url is something like
Root is the owner of everything that's under
I'm attempting to give read/write access to john to everything which is under
I've tried both
chmod and
setfacl to control access, but both fail the same way: they apply rights recursively (with the right options) to all the current existing subdirectories of
/path/to/git/myrepo, but as soon as a new directory is created, my user can not write in the new directory.
I know that there are hooks in git that would allow me to reapply the rights after each commit, but I'm starting to think that I'm going the wrong way because this seems too complicated for a very basic purpose.
Q: How should I set up my right to give rw access to john to anything under
/path/to/git/myrepo and make it resilient to tree structure change?
Q2: If I should take a step back change the general approach, please tell me.
Edit: The question was answered as is, but that was the wrong question. The right question would have been "How to configure a bare git repository on the server for use with ssh access?". See my own answer.


text:
Attack Tools Workshop
thursday, september 20, 2012
1:00 pm EST/10:00 am PST • FREE
Brought to you by:
Armitage by Raphael Mudge
Threadfix by Denim Group
Smartphone Pentesting Framework by Georgia Weidman
Click Security with CTO & Founder, Brian Smith
"The right tool for the right job." That is the reason Black Hat created the Arsenal to the USA event, an area in which Free and OpenSource tool authors could show off their wares. This webcast features three of the most popular tools and their authors:
Armitage with Raphael Mudge
Armitage is a red team collaboration tool built on the open source Metasploit Framework. Released in December 2010, Armitage has seen constant updates and improvements since its inception--updates and improvements driven by feedback from its wonderful user community. This demo will show how Armitage works and dive into some of the lesser known features that are quite handy for penetration testers.
ThreadFix with Dan Cornell
ThreadFix is an open source software vulnerability aggregation and management system that allows software security teams to reduce the time it takes to fix software vulnerabilities. ThreadFix imports the results from dynamic, static and manual testing to provide a centralized view of software security defects across development teams and projects. ThreadFix empowers managers with vulnerability trending reports that demonstrate software security progress over time.
Smartphone Pentesting Framework with Georgia Weidman
As smartphones enter the workplace, sharing the network and accessing sensitive data, it is crucial to be able to assess the security posture of these devices in much the same way we perform penetration tests on workstations and servers. However, smartphones have unique attack vectors that are not currently covered by available industry tools.
Sponsor Presenter:
Brian Smith is the CTO and Co-Founder of Click Security. Previously, Brian co-founded TippingPoint Technologies in 2001. He was TippingPoint's Chief Architect from 2001-2009 and Chief Technology Officer in 2009.


text:
STOCKTON - Hoping to score some quick cash, the city plans to put on the market dozens of old hotels, historic buildings, oddball-sized lots and even some lakeside pasture land.
STOCKTON - Hoping to score some quick cash, the city plans to put on the market dozens of old hotels, historic buildings, oddball-sized lots and even some lakeside pasture land.
Each piece of property - no matter its shape or sentimental value - amounts to excess cargo that Stockton needs to jettison amid its financial storm. Creditors in the city's bankruptcy have pressed the issue.
The city expects to raise anywhere from $4 million to $7 million, money that will be used to pay down Stockton's claims in the ongoing Chapter 9 case and other costs to the general fund.
The City Council tonight will consider handing off the list of some 44 parcels to CBRE, a commercial brokerage firm.
The bulk of the parcels - 24 lots totaling more than 1,800 acres - lie around New Hogan Lake, a source of city drinking water 30 miles east of Stockton in the rolling hills of Calaveras County. It's mostly grazing land, but some parcels could be used for homes, the city says.
Other property going up for sale - the shuttered Fair Oaks Library, two temporary firehouses and a former police station - are scattered around Stockton. The list includes a few crumbling downtown hotels, such as El Tecolote Hotel and the Hotel Terry.
More treasured pieces of property include a 1912 building that's home to the Philomathean Club and the Stockton Rod and Gun Club, built in 1941. Members of each social club with long histories have their own questions about what could happen to their city-owned property.
Mary Jo Gohlke, treasurer of the Philomathean Club, said they received a letter from the city late last week informing them of the potential sale, which isn't a large worry because they have a contract protecting them.
"We were rather surprised they are treating this as an 'excess office building,' " Gohlke said. "It's on the state and national registry of historical places."
The Philomathean Club meets several times a month in the century-old building at Hunter and Acacia streets. The women's enrichment club invites in guest speakers and hosts bridge tournaments.
The city bought the building from the cash-strapped club in 2000 for $25,000. Terms of the club's agreement with the city say that in case of a future sale, the new owner has to let the club continue using it as long as it has at least 10 members.
They don't have the 700 as in the 1970s, Gohlke said, but today they're around 60 members and growing.
"Several of them are quite young," she said. "We're going to have our own website and Facebook page."
Also, if the city sells it, the club will net one-third of the profit, according to the agreement. That and the club's historical significance to Stockton are two things Gohlke said she wishes to remind the city of at tonight's council meeting.
Offers on any of the properties that come in lower than 15 percent of the estimated value will be rejected or brought to the City Council for approval, as well as sales of more than $500,000.
The city's defunct Redevelopment Agency has another list of 25 or more pieces of property that it began trying to sell or put on the city's books outright. That different list consists of the Bob Hope Fox Theatre and the Children's Museum.
The Rod and Gun Club sits on less than 1 acre on the north bank of the Stockton Deep Water Channel looking across to the Port of Stockton. The clubhouse has a bar and a small dock, which are open to members.
The 5,900-square-foot building isn't fancy, but the club's some 500 members are fiercely protective. They allow the Hula and Tahitian Dance group to practice there and let the Sea Scouts use their dock for free, said Dennis Morgan, the club's vice president.
"We're not a very rich club, but we do what we can," Morgan said. "If they do sell, we hope they'll consider letting us purchase it."
Contact reporter Scott Smith at (209) 546-8296 or email@example.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/smithblog.


text:
Web resources
The Portable Antiquities Scheme database is constantly updated by staff with several hundred new objects each day.
These objects range from the Palaeolithic to around the 18th Century, and include items recorded in the Annual Treasure Report published by the DCMS.
Portable Antiquities Scheme database
PASt explorers is the Portable Antiquities Scheme's education website. It is designed for use in the classroom, museum or at home. It has been split into 3 distinct sections – Fun, Teachers and Database, each of which contain teaching and learning resources.
'Mapping coins from the Portable Antiquities Scheme'
'MicroPasts: Crowd and community fuelled archaeological research'


text:
The Ballzy Worm is a tiny lure designed to imitate aquatic worms and larvae. Once rigged on a jig head (see photo above), the ball at the end of the slim tail dances enticingly as the lure is wiggled, giving it lifelike movement. Flavoured with Big Bite's 'Bite Juice', these are great LRF lures that will tempt a wide variety of species. 10pcs per pack.
Length: 1" (2.5cm)
Colour: Pink (see photo)
Price: £0.99 per pack
Link below to suitable jig heads:
Jig Heads - size 12


text:
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Water Damage www is available 24/7/365. For Free Estimate Call Us at: (877) 493-6885


text:
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
How To Hang a Curtain Without A Rod
35 comments:
- Digital Scrapbooking Made Easy said...
I love this idea! I'd love to have you link it up to my party at http://scrapbookingez.blogspot.com/2012/03/anything-goes-linky-party_22.html. Thanks for sharing!
- March 22, 2012 at 9:24 AM
- Our Pinteresting Family said...
What a great idea! I love how you were able to do it so budget friendly. :) Megan
- March 22, 2012 at 10:30 AM
- Coleen McCrea Katz said...
Very clever! I really like the pink ones. Stopping by from It's a Keeper blog hop. http://craftyandcookingmomma.blogspot.com/
- March 22, 2012 at 10:59 AM
- rreynol3 said...
Will you do this for me in the basement?!?!? Thanks :-)
- March 22, 2012 at 7:27 PM
- Kori said...
Found this pinned on Pinterest. I love it! A fantastic idea!
- March 22, 2012 at 7:35 PM
- Christine said...
GENIUS!!!!!!!!!!! You just solved a BIG problem of mine!!! My front window is just too big.. I can't find a rod for it.. so right now I'm using a two copper pipes welded together!!
I sure would LOVE IT if you shared this at The DIY Dreamer.. From Dream to Reality! PLEASE :)
- March 23, 2012 at 4:17 AM
- Sonja @ practical-stewardship.com said...
Totally cute idea!
Your family is beautiful, and truly a blessing from the Lord.
- March 24, 2012 at 9:42 PM
- 4you-withlove said...
This is such a beautiful technique!
- March 26, 2012 at 6:32 AM
- Mammy Made said...
That is really gorgeous, I love how it looks overlapped aswell!
- Adele @ Mammy Made
- March 26, 2012 at 3:54 PM
- Barbara said...
I am smitten too:-) This has some merit in my future remodeling. Thanks for sharing with us.
- March 26, 2012 at 8:19 PM
- Tara @ Tales of a Trophy Wife said...
I LOVE this! pinned it! Thanks. If you got a moment, I'd love for you to join my linky party: http://trophyw.blogspot.com/2012/03/week-35.html
- March 27, 2012 at 5:27 PM
- Shiloh said...
I love the drapy look! It's so pretty!
- March 28, 2012 at 7:39 PM
- Miss Jenn said...
Ridiculously adorable!!!
- March 28, 2012 at 10:52 PM
- Natalie said...
Ok - Im loving this idea - so simple and easy - my 2 favorite things!
Im also a new follower! I would love you to visit me and maybe follow if you like what you see. Take care and by the way your kiddos are super cute xx Nat
- March 30, 2012 at 3:52 AM
- Tara @ Tales of a Trophy Wife said...
Congrats, this was last week's most viewed link:)
- April 4, 2012 at 5:48 AM
- Alexis @ we like to learn as we go said...
That is way cuter than using a curtain rod! I'll need to try that in my daughter's room. Definitely pinning this! I would love for you to link it up to my link party. I know my readers would love it too! http://weliketolearnaswego.blogspot.com/2012/04/what-i-learned-wednesday-4.html
- April 4, 2012 at 1:22 PM
- Alexis @ we like to learn as we go said...
Thanks for linking up to What I Learned Wednesday! I'm featuring this!
- April 10, 2012 at 1:08 PM
- Waseem said...
clever idea....beautiful technique you use to hang it...look fresh and clean..I really like it.
Roman shades concord, ca
- May 23, 2012 at 1:31 AM
- Ana Lopes said...
So cute!!! Love this project Thanks so much for sharing the great tutorial! I'd love for you to visit my blog.
Happy weekend!
Hugs from Portugal,
Ana Love Craft
- October 20, 2012 at 2:33 AM
- The Thriftiness Miss said...
This is great! I love the look and the pop of color the pink gives. Gotta try it :)
- January 20, 2013 at 8:30 PM
- Mrs. Osmond said...
Thanks for linking up!!! I'd love to do a shout out to your post, and would love for you to grab a button of ours. :) cute idea, super smart!!
- January 23, 2013 at 4:06 PM
- Mrs. Tucker said...
We have been searching for an alternative...here it is!
- January 29, 2013 at 9:15 AM
- Debbie Willson said...
What a fab way to do it! I saw one idea once to just use nail tacks then cover with buttons/flowers etc. This was ideal for fabric blinds but i like this idea better for curtains!! :)
- February 6, 2013 at 3:00 AM
- Sassy Kay said...
Adorable! Especially the curtains in Ella's room.
- February 7, 2013 at 9:45 AM
- Melinda Collazo said...
What a fantastic way to hang curtains!
- February 12, 2013 at 6:51 AM
- Michelle Smith said...
The post was professionally written and I feel like the author has extensive knowledge in this subject. Great post about this. I am sure many visitors will find this very useful.
- March 6, 2013 at 2:40 AM
- Angela Betlewicz said...
Thank you so much for linking up to Efforts and Assets! Can't wait to see what you have ready for next Tuesday's Linky Party.
- May 9, 2013 at 6:42 AM
- anastasia anezinis said...
woow you made wonders!!!Is amazing look for child room!I love it!!!!
- May 10, 2013 at 1:55 AM
- Penny Lane said...
Love it! Very creative and beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
- May 14, 2013 at 12:32 PM
- Maria Elena said...
What a super great idea! They look beautiful! I have a new weekly link party which is live now and I would love if you stop by and link up this wonderful post! Hope to see you there! http://mariaelenasdecor.blogspot.com/ Hugs, Maria
- July 11, 2013 at 5:56 AM
- Cathy Compeau said...
I would love for you to share and link up at my weekly TGIF Link Party if you haven't already this week. Your favorite posts, most popular, recent or new! The party is open every Thursday night and closes Wednesday's at midnight. Followed by (Not SO) Wordless Wednesday! http://apeekintomyparadise.blogspot.com/.
I would be honored if you join us and follow to stay connected Have a wonderful week!
Hugs, Cathy
- July 17, 2013 at 7:48 PM
- Leslie Lambert said...
Thanks so much for linking this post up to Create It Thursday…this post was featured this week! I appreciate you sharing such a great idea!
Leslie @ Lamberts Lately
- July 18, 2013 at 4:30 PM
- TraciA said...
Thank you So Much for this tip!! I love the hanger bolts and how you used the drill to drill them in to the wall. Genius!! I saw your tutorial and went straight to home depot and found easily what you showed and hung up a little curtain over my kitchen sink. Thank you ever so much!!
- August 1, 2014 at 10:32 AM
- Susan Harper said...
Love it, love it, how could you not!
- October 12, 2015 at 4:28 PM
- Susan Harper said...
Love it, love it, how could you not!
- October 12, 2015 at 4:28 PM


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MLB trade rumors: Add Yasiel Puig to market? Dodgers might do it
With Matt Kemp's name on the ears of everyone listening to MLB trade rumors, it comes as no surprise the Los Angeles Dodgers are in the position to deal. Might Yasiel Puig join the list of players in this L.A. confidential?
That's a juicy tidbit for a market that grows hotter by the day as baseball's general managers prepare to meet starting Monday in Orlando, Fla. Even before formal summit begins you can bet swap talk will take precedent.
MORE: Tulowitzki talk | Kemp rumors hot | BoSox want Tim Hudson | And Mark Trumbo?
Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports' respected insider, noted recently the Dodgers are ready, willing and able to entertain offers for Kemp, Andre Ethier and Carl Crawford. All three are high-ticket players with caveats. Kemp and Ethier are coming off injuries, while Crawford is a high-maintenance player with a track record that might scare away teams needing outfield help.
Still, as Rosenthal noted, Dodgers brass is spreading the word: "If you're interested in one of them, make us an offer."
Now, another news source is added fuel to the Dodgers' potential fire sale of outfielders.
Puig hit Chavez Ravine like a freight train this season, making the biggest splash in Dodger Stadium since Fernando Valenzuela. He is a talented performance, albeit one in gross need of polish and training in fundamentals. There are whispers he aleady has maxxed out his talent, although at 22 he has yet to reach his prime.
MORE: Angels after David Price | Yankees/Brandon Phillips | Stanton off limits
Still, do the Dodgers have any outfielder who would command more in return? That's the gist of an ESPN-Los Angeles report. Puig also would be easier to move than the three veterans - and his contract price would be easier to swallow as well.
The report also notes the Dodgers are high on outfield prospect Joc Pederson.
Surplus is a sure sign of trade potential. And Puig would make teams come a-running if the Dodgers call for suitors.


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Being cited is no fun for any player - and nobody knows that better than I do
I was cited three times in my career - two were deserved but one was totally unfair
Alan Quinlan's confrontation with Leo Cullen in the 2009 Heineken Cup semi-final resulted in a citing which cost him his place on the Lions tour that summer. Photograph: Getty Images
I was glad to see that Paul O'Connell wasn't cited after the Leinster game the other night. At the time, I thought the ball was there to be kicked and it was only when you slowed it down that it looked like there might have been a problem.
The timing was split-second and I don't honestly think there was much he could have done differently. To suspend him for it afterwards, you would be saying that he had time to think through the outcome of kicking the ball. You would have been saying that it was a red-card offence.
Being cited is no fun, that much I know for sure. If anyone can be considered an expert on it, I can. I was cited three times in my career and all three times I got suspended. For two of them – a stamp on Mark Lewis of Cardiff and the famous incident with Leo Cullen – I have to hold my hands up and admit my guilt.
Though neither was malicious, I was reckless both times and I deserved to be suspended. But in between times, I got done for nothing more than a bit of rucking on Rodney So'oailo against the All Blacks, which I still think was totally undeserved.
The Mark Lewis one in 2006 was stupid on my part. We were pushing for a bonus point and we were dominating them with our maul, which he kept trying to drag down. It was pure frustration – I went in to get him out of the way and ended up standing on his calf. There was no venom in it but it was the wrong thing to do and I had no excuse for it.
The problem for me came from the fact that he hurt his knee somewhere along the way and the Cardiff management felt I might have been the one to do it. So when the citing commissioner went into the dressing room after the game – as he does with all teams, just to see if they have any issues – my name came up. Word got back to us that I might have a case to answer and sure enough, the next day the Munster management was told that I had been cited.
A few days later I was up in Dublin to defend myself. I went into Huguenot House on St Stephen's Green – a building I ended up becoming far too familiar with – and went in front of the panel. I had already met Lewis and apologised to him and he was fine about it. I knew I really had no great case to make in my defence.
I thought that maybe it was stretching things a bit to say that I caused his knee injury but that didn't change the fact that I shouldn't have done what I did. I got a six-week suspension and that was the end of it. I only had myself to blame but even so, it's a far from enjoyable experience.
Totally modern
It's a totally modern one as well – the game has changed so much over the years and the stuff that guys would have got away with in the 1980s and 1990s just won't be allowed nowadays. I was at a match before Christmas where I was introduced to Wade Dooley, the big England lock that I would have grown up watching. I asked what he was up to now and he said he was a citing commissioner.
"Good God," I said. "Sure you took no prisoners yourself when you were playing. Maybe I should get into that!"
The game has definitely changed. You have to be so careful with your feet now. You are still allowed to ruck but it's very technical – you have to be moving forward and pushing your feet in a backward motion.
It's right that there are rules governing this area of the game but in the heat of battle when you have guys like Richie McCaw and David Pocock lying on the ball, the difference between a downward motion and a backward motion can be minuscule. Get the wrong disciplinary panel on the wrong day and that small difference can lead to big consequences
I found that out to my cost when I got my second citing in 2008. It still bugs me, that one, because there was no way I deserved it. And that's not just my opinion – it's the opinion of the referee on the day. I rucked So'oailo to get him off the ball – it wasn't even that aggressive, it wasn't near any limbs or anything – and the referee Mark Lawrence gave us the penalty. He was standing right beside the incident and decided that the All Blacks were killing the ball and that I was perfectly entitled to do what I did.
The line
I never gave it another thought. Sometimes you know well that you might be in bother. You know you might have crossed the line and you worry until the word comes through that the citing commissioner has decided whether you have a case to answer or not. But this time, it just never occurred to me that there was anything to think about.
So when I heard the next day that I was being cited, I couldn't believe it. I have no problem admitting when I crossed the line. The first and third citings of my career, I was 100 per cent guilty and I've no complaints and no defence. But this was nothing. It was less than nothing.
We were staying in the Shelbourne so the trip to Huguenot House was literally a 30-second walk. The IRB's disciplinary panel consisted of one guy – a barrister from Scotland. When we got there, I actually thought this was going to work in my favour – we met Tony Woodcock, who had also been cited, on his way out and the guy had decided that because he got a yellow card during the game, that punishment had been enough.
Clear punch
Since Woodcock had been carded for a clear punch, I figured that this was like getting a judge who was in a good mood. We shook hands and I reckoned I was home and hosed. If a straight punch doesn't get you a suspension, sure a bit of rucking is a five-minute job. This was going to be a piece of cake.
I went in with Declan Kidney and Paul McNaughton and the IRFU solicitor. Mark Lawrence was there to explain how he saw the incident.
In his evidence, he said that he had reviewed the tape and had looked at the incident and saw no reason to change his opinion. As far as he was concerned, it was a penalty against New Zealand for the number eight going off his feet. He even said: "Look, we're all human, we can all make mistakes and referees can make them just as easily as anyone else. But having looked at the tape, I would not change my opinion."
So obviously I was thinking, 'Well that's that then.' This guy had been a referee for 14 years, he'd refereed in two World Cups, he'd gone back and looked at the incident and saw nothing wrong. I was nearly looking at my watch, thinking I'd make it back to the hotel for dinner with time to spare at this point.
The barrister asked me a few questions about the incident, the IRB put their case for the prosecution if you like and then we left the room for 10 minutes while he made his decision.
I got the shock of my life when we came back in. He deemed the referee to be incorrect, he deemed my explanation not to be good enough and he deemed from the footage he watched himself that this was a red-card offence.
He basically jumped four levels of the disciplinary ladder – the incident went from being worthy of a penalty to Ireland to, in his mind, not just a penalty to New Zealand, not just a yellow card for me but a red card and a three-week suspension.
He thanked us for coming in, put on his top coat and his hat and headed off.
Totally unfair
This felt totally unfair but there was nothing I could do about it. I know I was no angel over the years and as I say, on the other two citings, I hold my hands up. But this one just brought home to me how precarious the citing process is.
I was completely powerless even though I had the referee's support.
Yet on the basis of one guy's opinion – a guy who had just cleared Tony Woodcock after he'd thrown an obvious punch – I was deemed worthy of a red card offence and a three-week suspension. I was just totally dismayed by it.
It's a killer being on the inside of that process.
Now, obviously, most of the time if you're there it's your own stupid fault. That was the case with the incident with Leo Cullen and I paid the price for it.
The worst part of that one was the waiting around – there was nearly a week and a half between the match and the hearing. Normally you wouldn't have to wait that long but that one took ages. There's no point in me going into it again because we all know what happened in the end.
I have to say, for all my own scrapes with it, the citing process is a very good thing for the game. It has made players more careful and in a physical game where players are bigger and bigger every year, it has taken some of the uglier incidents out of the sport.
The game will always be physical, there will always be niggle, there will always be fellas stepping on bodies and the odd punch thrown. I don't really mind that as long as there's no malicious intent.
That's why Paul O'Connell wasn't cited, I'd say. It was careless but there was no malice in it. He didn't go in with the intention of kicking Dave Kearney in the head, just with the intention of kicking the ball. In the heat of battle, he had to go for it.


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Facebook's revenge in court
FORTUNE — On March 30, 2011 — 19 months before federal authorities finally arrested and charged Paul Ceglia with pressing a fraudulent suit against Facebook based on a forged contract that purported to give him a 50% interest in the company — Ceglia's lawyers learned of the existence of strong forensic evidence of fraud, according to a key document that was quietly unsealed and filed in court last week.
In the document, a letter written April 13, 2011, a lawyer at the high-powered litigation firm of Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman, which had been evaluating whether to represent Ceglia, explained to Ceglia's other lawyers that his firm's forensic analysis of Ceglia's computer hard-drives showed that Ceglia's contract was "fabricated," that his firm would make its experts available to them, that Kasowitz was dropping all involvement, and warning the lawyers of their ethical obligations, including a possible duty to report "the misconduct that has occurred" to the presiding judge.
The existence of such a document has been known since this past summer, but its unsealing—apparently not previously reported—sheds light on, and gives texture to, the likely basis for the suit Facebook has vowed to bring against at least some of Ceglia's lawyers. That Facebook plans to bring such a suit was reported by Andrew Ross Sorkin in his Dealbook column of the New York Times on October 29, and Facebook's (FB) intent was reiterated in a document it filed Tuesday in federal court in Buffalo, where Ceglia's lawsuit is still pending, though Facebook has moved to have it dismissed.
"Defendants intend to hold accountable all those who aided in Ceglia's fraud — including his attorneys and former attorneys," wrote Facebook's attorneys at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, who are led by Orin Snyder, in response to a request by Ceglia lawyer Dean Boland, of Lakewood, Ohio, to withdraw. By Gibson Dunn's tally, Boland's would be the tenth law firm to come and go on Ceglia's behalf since he filed the case in June 2010. Others who have represented Ceglia along the way include former New York State Attorney General Dennis Vacco of Buffalo; Robert Brownlie of 3700-lawyer DLA Piper, one of the largest law firms in the world; and Sanford Dumain, who chairs the executive committee of the well-known class-action firm Milberg.
MORE: Surreal twist in Facebook ownership case
In a letter to Fortune Vacco writes, "Our firm acted, has acted, and always will act with the highest ethical standards." Neither Brownlie nor Dumain had responded to calls or emails as of publication.
Ceglia, of Wellsville, N.Y., southeast of Buffalo, is in custody. At a telephonic bail hearing held on October 31, he argued that his contract's authenticity was supported by expert testimony, and suggested that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg might have hacked into his computers to plant phony documents. "The fact that…the prosecution is attempting to slight [my] world-renowned experts for [Facebook's] benefit I think is wrong." (Facebook declined comment for this story.)
Ceglia's only remaining civil attorney, Paul Argentieri of Hornell, N.Y., did not return an email or phone call, but did email Fortune last week, in response a different inquiry: "We're very disappointed that our legal arguments and expert reports have not been objectively scrutinized by the fourth estate. Not to be difficult, but until somebody understands our case (which is not complex), there is no point in responding to questions."
In court filings, Ceglia's lawyers have characterized the authenticity of the contract as hinging on a good-faith swearing match between opposing banks of forensic experts and, accordingly, a dispute which can be resolved only by a jury.
Originally represented by Argentieri and a small local firm, Ceglia filed the case in state court in Allegany County in June 2010, appending a copy of what purported to be an April 28, 2003 contract between him and Mark Zuckerberg, who was then a Harvard freshman and is now the founder and CEO of Facebook. The contract's terms gave Ceglia at least a 50% interest in Facebook — and, under certain circumstances, as much as an 84% interest — in exchange for Ceglia's $1,000 investment in the project.
MORE: Google and Facebook's new tactic in the tech wars
Facebook had the case transferred to federal court. From the outset, Zuckerberg acknowledged having done programming work for Ceglia while he was a student in 2003. But he maintained that the contract appended to Ceglia's complaint was a forgery, and that the real contract made no mention of Facebook, which Zuckerberg had not even conceived of creating until about December 2003. The actual contract pertained solely to a startup Ceglia was trying to launch at the time, called StreetFax, according to Zuckerberg.
While the parties engaged in early skirmishes over whether to send the case back to state court or not, Argentieri drew up a brochure about the case in an attempt to entice big-time litigators into the case. Kasowitz Benson was one of the firms courted. On March 29, it had outside forensic specialists at Capsicum Group examine Ceglia's laptop, hard-drives and floppy disks. The next day the experts reported back that they had retrieved scans of the original Ceglia-Zuckerberg contract, which Ceglia had appended to an email he had sent to outside lawyer on March 3, 2004. Just as Zuckerberg maintained, that contract made no reference to Facebook, and pertained solely to StreetFax. Kasowitz attorney Aaron Marks informed Argentieri of the result that same day and cancelled his firm's involvement (never having entered a formal appearance), according to a letter he wrote two weeks later—the document unsealed last week.
Ten days later, to Marks' evident surprise, Argentieri filed an amended complaint on Ceglia's behalf, expanding Ceglia's claims and reappending the same contract that Marks had believed to be "fabricated." The amended complaint was also signed by Brownlie of DLA Piper and former attorney general Vacco, of Buffalo's Lippes, Mathias, Wexler Friedman.
On April 12 and, again, on April 13, Marks wrote to Argentieri, Vacco, and the DLA Piper attorneys to express his concerns. In the second letter, he wrote that he would "refrain from reporting to the District Court the misconduct that has occurred" until 3 p.m. the next day "in light of your representation that your firm will undertake an investigation of the concerns set forth in my April 12 letter. … Upon your firm's reporting to me on the findings of your investigation and the steps your firm will take as a result thereof, we will again assess our firm's professional obligations. Please note your firm's obligations to the District Court under [New York Rules of Professional Conduct] Rule 3.3, should your investigation demonstrate that the amended complaint contains false statements of fact."
MORE: How Facebook really works
In his letter to Fortune, Vacco writes that both DLA Piper and his firm contacted Marks "for the purpose of reviewing issues he raised regarding the available expert opinions. After completing our review, we believed that the continuation of our representation in the suit was proper in all respects." Both Vacco's firm and DLA Piper continued in the case for two months, until June 28, 2011, when they were substituted for by a San Diego law firm, Jeffrey A. Lake, APC. The departure of Vacco's firm "had nothing to do with the concerns raised by Mr. Marks," Vacco says.
According to legal ethics expert Stephen Gillers, a professor at New York University School of Law, the rule in New York, as in most states, is that when an attorney representing someone in court learns that a false document has been submitted or false testimony given, his "duty to the tribunal" trumps his "duty of confidentiality to the client," and he must take "reasonable, remedial measures," which "can include, and may have to include, disclosure of the false document or testimony" to the court. However, he adds, the duty applies "only if you 'know' the document is false. Belief, even strong belief, is not enough." The lawyer has to have "a high level of confidence" that the document is false to trigger this duty. Gillers adds that the duty to report would not apply to a firm like Kasowitz Benson, which had not entered an appearance in the case.
The Lake firm, which replaced Vacco's firm and DLA Piper, itself withdrew in October 2011, and was replaced by Dean Boland of Lakewood, Ohio. Neither Lake nor Boland immediately responded to emails seeking comment.
In March 2012, the Milberg firm signed onto Ceglia's team, along with two smaller firms. All three firms withdrew three months later, on May 30, leaving Boland and Argentieri.
Boland asked to withdraw on October 30, four days after Ceglia's arrest. In a memo accompanying the request, he wrote: "Myself and prior counsel all have and had a duty to bring to this court any evidence of fraud, even fraud by our own client, should we have come across it. No prior counsel and current counsel, including the undersigned have done so. The undersigned, at no time, has encountered evidence of fraud by Plaintiff…The undersigned feels it is important to emphasize in the strongest terms possible, that the reasons underlying this request [to withdraw] have
nothing to do with any belief by the undersigned that Plaintiff is engaged in now or has been engaged in during the past, fraud regarding this case
." (Emphasis in the original.)


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Alex Prior - Conservation & Environment, Rainforest Conservation in Peru
If wildlife is your thing, then Taricaya will be your thing. If meeting excellent, like-minded people from all around the world appeals, then Taricaya will appeal. If having the time of your life is top of your gap year to-do list, then Taricaya should really be top of your gap year to-do list. From the minute I arrived at the lodge, surrounded on three sides by dense jungle, and on the fourth, a huge piranha-packed river, I knew that my stay here would be unforgettable.
However, this incredible moment only came after the massive journey to get to this most remote of locations. An incredible experience in itself. An overnight stay in bustling Lima was quite a shock after such a peaceful flight over 'the pond' from Heathrow. Thankfully this short stay went without a hitch and before I knew it, I was in another plane swooping down over the Sacred Valley to re-fuel in Cusco. The next leg of the journey (Cusco to Puerto Maldonado) was where I first realised how isolated my home for the next 3 months would be...an area of incomprehensible size stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction, covered in what looked just like broccoli. The only things breaking up this vastness of green were brown rivers of all different sizes, snaking off into the distance, and the sad sight of acres of land stripped of trees. However, it did make me all the more eager to do my bit and begin work on the conservation projects at Taricaya.
The frontier town of Puerto Maldonado was the next stop, where I was met by the friendly face of Nando, one of the founders of Taricaya who I would quickly come to respect immensely for his knowledge and friendly personality. Along with a few other volunteers, we swiftly arrived at the port via the amazing motorcycle taxi service running throughout Puerto. Before long we were speeding down the Madre de Dios River, passing locals in canoes going about their daily lives. I remember spending the whole hour-and-a-half staring in amazement at the strange and beautiful scenery all around me. Then we arrived! I was warmly welcomed by the other volunteers, staff and animals which Taricaya was temporarily home to. The hard work soon began; my first job being to help re-clear one of the many jungle pathways in the vast network of trails used for animal observations (one of the most important of many jobs to be done at Taricaya). However, it wasn't all hard work.
Something I always enjoyed, and was lucky enough to experience quite a few times, was caiman catching. We would all go out in the boat, with Stuart (another founder of Taricaya) at the front, waiting for the unmistakeable amber glint of Caiman eyes to shine in the torch lit darkness. With the boat in the more than capable hands of Eugenio, a local staff member commonly known as 'jungle master', we would gently edge towards the two beady eyes whilst Stuart would hang from the front of the boat ready to make his move when the moment came. On successful occasions when Stuart was quicker than the Caiman (pretty much all the time, right Stu?), we would all have the chance to hold it and see for ourselves what had been said in the preceding talk.
The food at the lodge was fairly basic, and it's fair to say that I'll never look at rice or beans in the same way again. At some point during my stay however, an oven was installed in the kitchen, which widened our culinary capabilities no end.
Whilst I was at the lodge, a typical day would have involved a short, early morning trek to one of the highest canopy tree houses in South America to enjoy the waking rainforest and carry out observations for 2 hours. After breakfast, another short stroll down to Taricaya's very own pilot farm to train the resident Donkeys would see us racing them through the various tracks around the farm. After re-grouping over lunch, we would go our separate ways to carry out the afternoon's activities. This might have involved crossing the river to work with Percy (a local farmer), or maybe work on the construction of a new lodge building. Whatever the work, I was always ready to leap into the creak to cool off afterwards.
However, not everyday was a typical day. There were several trips to various places around the area. One such trip took us to Lake Sandoval, a beautiful protected lake in the Tambopata national park, where the main attraction is the elusive family of giant Otters. I was very lucky to see not only the Otters very clearly, but also a host of other wildlife like a large black Caiman, Howler monkey's, many amazing birds and some huge Tarantulas.
At weekends, it was back to Puerto Maldonado.an interesting little town, which I very quickly began to love. Being such a small and secluded town, everything you need is very close to hand, and in my opinion, anything not available from the market is not worth having. Many of my hours in Puerto were spent getting wrinkly skin in the pool and eating as much ice cream and cake as I could manage in the incredible café on the main square. Clubbing was always an interesting experience here and I have some amazing memories of dancing to the unforgettable beat of the very popular reggaeton music.
I took part in some amazing and worthwhile work, met some incredibly good people and enjoyed myself immensely. I'll never forget the time I spent here, and one day I really hope to return to Taricaya and see the progress that's been made.
Alex Prior
Dit verhaal is een persoonlijke ervaring van een vrijwilliger op dit project en dus een momentopname. Houd er rekening mee dat jouw ervaring hiervan af kan wijken. Onze projecten veranderen constant, omdat we inspelen op de lokale behoefte en we voortborduren op de behaalde resultaten. Ook verschillende weersomstandigheden kunnen de ervaring beïnvloeden. Lees meer over wat je kunt verwachten van dit project of neem contact met ons op voor meer informatie.


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You want something that is SAFE and COMFORTABLE and looks pretty. Well, maybe "looks pretty" isn't a deal breaker but you have to admit you want something that looks stylish and not like you're pushing around a shopping cart.
While the video doesn't show me using one hand to steer/turn it does show just how EASY and that you don't need much room to get her where you need to go. I was even able to do a full spin (just like in the video) right in the middle of the isles of Target and Michael's ;)
Storage on the Tango is OUT OF CONTROL!!!
You've got two LARGE "pockets" on the back of each seat that you could easily fit a handful of diapers and wipes in for each kiddo. PLUS there is a HUGE storage compartment under the 2011 stroller that……wait, get this…..opens from the side too just in case you have the seats reclined and DON'T want to wake your sleepy head(s)!
Speaking of canopies....you've got LOTS of options on how to use them.....
If you are NOT in the market for a double stroller, Zooper also makes single strollers. And I must imagine they are just as fabulous as the 2011 Zooper Tango! Visit the NEW Zooper Website to see a full line of their strollers.
Here's a comparison chart:
Here are a few shots of us
EVERY TIME we have the Tango out we get a compliment on how nice of a stroller it is!
You can find a list of authorized Zooper dealers on their site but in pure Steals, Deals and Heels fashion I looked around the internet and found the BEST price for you!! :)
Baby Catalog has the 2011 Zooper Tango for $499 PLUS 15% off right now PLUS FREE shipping!!!
click HERE to get this DEAL!
- To enter visit the Zooper site and comment here which color or pattern is your favorite!
- Name one of their ELITE strollers listed on the site
- Become a public follower of the Steals, Deals and Heels blog
- Add the Steals, Deals and Heels button to your blog
- "Like" Zooper on Facebook and post on their page telling them Steals, Deals and Heels sent ya!
- Blog and/or Facebook about this review and giveaway


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Of all ancient names, David, king of Israel who killed the giant, Goliath, and led his nation in great victories over the Philistines would be quickly recognizable. He took Israel into her "Golden Age" and left a lineage maybe of the most famous family in history, "the House of David" from which Jesus Christ would come. He would write the largest section of the Bible written by any one man, the 150 chapters of Psalms.
His bravery and remarkable deeds led to him being the most popular, successful figure in Hebrew-Jewish history. He held the world in his hands. But we forget all of his achievements and are transfixed on his "fall from grace" when he seduced Bathsheeba, conceived an illegitimate child, tried to cover the scandal with murder and was exposed.
He had 18 or 20 wives, but committed adultery with the wife of one of his loyal officers and arranged his death. One of the most electrifying sentences in the Bible is when Nathan pointed his finger at his king and said "Thou art the man!"
I used to frequent a dry cleaners-laundry where a sign was displayed saying "When we are right, no one remembers. When we are wrong, no one forgets." It is a shame that every review of the life of King David remembers his great, unbelievable deeds of achievement but quickly let's that be blemished by the affair with Bathsheeba.
His kingdom and his family went downhill from that affair.
In modern times, we have another David, Gen. David Petraeus, 4-stars, a graduate of West Point and a doctorate from Princeton and a storybook rise to the top of military success in battle. He attained world recognition as director of the CIA. And all of a sudden this man with impeccable credentials "falls from grace" as did the earlier David.
He shocked the world at a critical time in history when we need clean heroes by confessing to an affair with another person who had outstanding credentials. Our nation is heart-sick and our faith in humanity is seriously wounded. The part of the world that doesn't like the U.S. is gleeful and laughing and likely our world wide witness is hurt.
There is grave danger in rising to great success. The Devil sees a target and looks for vulnerability and "pride goes before destruction" when we feel we are above the law.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mark Sandford, John Ensign, Anthony Weiner, Eliot Spitzer and many others join the Davids in alerting us all we are always inches away from a deed or decision that largely cancels out all the good we have done. It is a call to be alert. Jesus said "Deliver us from temptation." We must forever be aware it is all around us.
The sad by product of this is too many of us rejoice in scandal. We are titterlated and can't wait to tell another or hear more about it. Paul says in I Cor. 13 "Love does not rejoice in wrong, but rejoices in the right." Would that our thrill in good things could match our delight in scandal. Old King David did some good things after his "fall from grace" and modern Davids can also achieve unique things as they recover. Amazing grace can sometimes reverse our falls from grace.