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New In-Kiln Moisture Measuring System Released
CONTACT: Ron Smith
Email: email@example.com
Wagner Electronics is very excited to announce the future arrival of the newest member to the family of superior products designed to provide the total moisture measuring solution in the wood products industry today. The New Wagner MC 4000 In-Kiln Moisture Measuring System includes:
- Patented moisture measurement technology
- Accurate moisture content measurement within kiln drying environment up to 300°F
- Consistent moisture content shutdown points within 1%
- Innovative sensor lead design includes an automatic sensor release, eliminating damage from falling wood in the kilns
- Advanced distributed measuring system design continues to operate if another part of the system is not in use
- Modem communication for troubleshooting and monitoring by Wagner and mill personnel
Wagner Electronics is recognized as the leader in advanced moisture measurement and management solutions, with the most In-Line Moisture Management systems in-place worldwide. Wagner Electronics has the easiest to use and most accurate moisture measuring technology in the industry as cited in numerous university studies.
Call Wagner today to find out how the new In-Kiln Moisture Measuring System can help you to achieve your quality control goals and maximize your profit potential in today's ever-increasing competitive marketplace.
Contact your Wagner Electronics Account Executive toll-free for more information at 1-800-634-9961.
Wagner Meters is a family-owned American business that aims to provide solutions in moisture measurement technology that will enhance the quality and value of each customer's project. With an almost 60-year legacy of innovation, Wagner continues to be a resource for both individual craftsmen and high-performance commercial endeavors.


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Find more pictures on my Flickr!
I missed doing Weekly Winners, so I'm back to doing these on Sundays! 😀
Just a fun edit to a picture I took of my One on my Saucony shoes!
I missed doing Weekly Winners, so I'm back to doing these on Sundays! 😀
Just a fun edit to a picture I took of my One on my Saucony shoes!
I did it! I chopped off my hair! 😀
I really love how it turned out. It'll be super easy to change it up, just by adding a clip or barrette, or even just a curl here or there. I love it!
Madison got new shoes. She picked both pair out. She also saved me $20 by doing it because the shoes I wanted to get her were more expensive! Plus, she's taller!!
She's wearing her tennis shoes to school today, and is already asking when she can wear her sandals!! That's a good sign, because that means she loves them! She'll usually go outside barefoot to see Josh come home, but she had to take the time to put on her sandals yesterday. *w00t* She chose well, I think. Very pink. Very girly.
I love, love, love to shop for shoes but I'm scared to death to buy them online. I have this really weird arch that requires certain shoes. So, the super cute high heels and even most athletic shoes don't work out for me.
I've been on the hunt for a certain pair of tennis shoes, though. They're Adidas Ozweegos. Many moons ago, I found a pair that I wanted so bad. They had PURPLE. Purple, I tell you, and I've yet to find them again. When my parents had the funds to get them, they disappeared, and were replaced with this ugtastic red and gold combination. *gag* So, I didn't get them, and went with a pair of purple Athletic Works or something from Walmart 🙁
Now my goal is to find a few pair of Sketchers or Airwalks that I like. When it comes to shoes, and the comfy good ones that fit my feet perfectly, they tend to run upwards over $50. I can't justify spending that much on a pair of shoes. Why? Because I do not wear shoes often enough. I'm almost always barefoot.
So, what type of shoes do you like?
Pictures are not in any special order 🙂
Is that an EAR I spy?
Mommy and her boy (ignore the splotchies … skin is getting used to its own hormones)
Hmm, nice ass 🙂
Papier please? (Yes, he says "papier")
More rings than keys, XD
Who cares about maturity? It's BIG but COMFY!!
Too damn small!!
Sims music is awesome (actually, I just get annoyed hearing it when I'm trying to watch TV, xd
Oh that? That's my spot 🙂
Hey, privacy here!! I'm talking to my husband 🙂
Shirt says it all! "Totally Yours … Until I'm Bored", and I was bored 😛
What's more adorable? His gorgeous blonde hair or the fact that he's putting on his sunglasses, inside, and upside-down?
Madi's very domestic, even if it's in Ethan's room, 😛
The colored walls. They were originally pristine white.
Double the cuteness, but only singlet of trouble.
The haircut is too freaking CUTE!!
She's actually comfortable that way o.O
She's so sweet looking 🙂
He needs a grooming!! His brows, at least!!
They love their new shoes 🙂 Madi got Tinkerbell ones (she picked them), and Ethan got a pair of Thomas tennis shoes, and plain brown sandals (Madi already got new tennis shoes)
Mr. Thrilled
Adorable sleeper
Yeah, she's gonna cry, for some reason.
You're doing it wrong!
Bye bye, Shaggy look-a-like 🙁

subset: commoncrawl


text: Periodically on First Light, University of Illinois Extension educator Richard Hentschel and Frist Light host Brian O'Keefe get together for the 'Farm to Table' segment. They cover everything from backyard gardens and home landscaping to the state's largest industry, farming and agribusinesses. This week, Richard and Brian traveled out to Kane County and Peck Farm Park where they met with Trish Burns…she coordinates a large community garden program


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Alright, so I think I have gained my composure enough now to write about a very serious topic. That being one of hiring a taxidermist to preserve your cherished trophy. When it comes to the world of taxidermist, they too have their share of charlatans, those who are wannabes and talk a good talk all the way to the bank with your hard earned money. Leaving you, the customer with a slim chance of reversing the damage which they did to your "one of a kind-once in a lifetime" trophy. Tarnishing forever a cherished memory.
So, be warned and do your research. This includes those who are just casual acquaintances, who call themselves taxidermists.We don't go to just any ol' doctor, realtor or drop off the kids at the baby sitter without investigating who these people are and their business history. We want, no we need to know if there is something undesirable in their history. Call your local better business bureau and conduct basic interviews with more than one taxidermist before you hire them. Talk with the president of your own, states taxidermists association and find out who not to go to, and who they recommend in your area. This is imperative, you must do your homework before you have that trophy in your hands. Waiting til you need a taxidermist is inadvisable. Reasons being you are elated with your trophy and the shady "taxidermist" will talk a good line leaving you feeling confident until you go pick up your trophy and then it's to late.
This past year I personally have had problems with a local taxidermist. So I speak from experience and trust me, there are few things that are as hard to swallow as a trophy that is forever damaged. Especially when the taxidermist claims to have done it correctly and takes no responsibility for the damages sustained. Yet the evidence is as plain as the nose on your face. Can you say, "boiling blood"? There is very little recourse. The best remedy is to do your research, spell out in detail exactly how you want your mount to be done and make sure this information is in writing on the work order. No detail is to small. A reputable taxidermist will be glad you are this concerned about your animal...they should be too. Ask for references of their work because it is you who are hiring them for a service. Ultimately the best way to protect yourself and your recent trophy is to educate yourself and become a knowledgeable and savvy client. Good luck and be careful! (P.S. I can tell you one not to go to!) http://www.nationaltaxidermists.com/
Women's Hunting Journal Integrity For The Hunt
Women's Hunting Journal Integrity For The Hunt


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i got charge for TD C/C what is that mean ???
lovely, toronto
December 30, 2017 10:39:27 AM
10 people recommended this |
1 Response
In reply to lovely, toronto
Welcome to TD Helps, Lovely.
We apologize for any confusion you may be experiencing with a transaction that may have been assessed to your account, and while we're always happy to help, before we begin, we notice that you're contacting us today from Toronto in Ontario, CA. Because of this, we believe that you may have intended to speak with TD Canada Trust, and not TD Bank.
We apologize for any confusion this may cause, and so that we may better assist you, we'd like to recommend that you speak with TD Canada Trust directly.
We have provided a link here https://go.td.com/1woOVay with all the options that you have when wanting to contact TD Canada Trust. A Live Customer Service Specialist may also be reached by dialing 1-866-222-3456. Specialists are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and will be more than happy to further assist you with any questions you may have.
We look forward to hearing from you soon, Lovely!
Thanks again for stopping by, and have a safe and happy new year!
Brittany M, Mount Laurel
December 30, 2017 10:39:43 AM
3 people recommended this


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As the bloated throngs staggered out of 23 Wall Street, I'm sure at least a few of them must have thought about the irony of stuffing their faces with some of New York City's most sophisticated food and drink for four hours -- all so that fewer kids across America would have to go hungry. I would have thought the same thing, had my brain still been functioning normally. But since all the blood in my body was in my distended stomach, furiously trying to digest the obscene amount of eats and drinks I'd ingested, I could muster little more than a "There's the uptown express train. Need to get home and go to bed."
But it is truly a wonderful world in which we live, where the most talented chefs in our fair city can come together with the charitably-minded and foodistically-inclined and, in one night, raise more than $900,000 for No Kid Hungry, an organization devoted to making sure low-income public school kids across the country have access to a healthy breakfast every school day.
No Kid Hungry has been raising money through culinary events since 1988. Monday night's NYC Night Out For No Kid Hungry, sponsored by Citibank, the Food Network and Disaronno, among many others, was the first one I've attended, so I can't knowledgeably compare it to the others. But I think if previous shindigs had been any better, there would have been at least a few cases where patrons simply exploded a la Monty Python's Mr. Creosote.
Eat a little food, drink a little booze, get down tonight. (photo courtesy Kat Hennessey)
Now, I did not get to sample the sit-down dinner which I'm sure was sensational, but which was open only to big-time donors and writers far better connected than I. But who needed a sit-down dinner anyway? The real action was in the walk-around tasting, where three floors -- three entire floors -- of the building were filled by more than 50 restaurants offering bite-sized samples of their fare, along with a dozen bars keeping the 1,000-plus attendees well-lubricated.
There was something for everyone on this night. Gulf shrimp salad with subtly spicy "fire and ice dressing" from Asia de Cuba. An earthy whipped Camembert and mushroom confit toast from The Good Fork. Sublime grilled beets with pumpkin seed-almond granola and Greek yogurt from The Little Beet. Firm yet creamy chilled fresh tofu with chili oil, cilantro and scallions from Bar Chuko. Surprisingly delicate Peking duck dumplings from Hakkasan.
The problem with bite-sized dishes is that it's so easy to eat way too much. What's another bite or two, right? Shank of the evening, you down a few, maybe with Middle Branch's Disaronno Sour (Disaronno almond liqueur, Plymouth gin, lemon juice) or Mulberry Project's Flood (Fidencio mezcal, Ford's Gin, lime, cilantro, Thai chili), and you think, hey, I could do this all night. You eat indiscriminately, greedily, gobbling everything in sight. An hour in and you're thinking, whoa, I'd better slow down. Only eat the stuff that looks really, really good. And that's when you find candied bacon on a stick from The Smith. Or an open-faced roasted pork sandwich on sourdough bread with ramps and tomatoes from Paulaner. Or rich, melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi bolognese from Davio's Northern Italian Steakhouse. Or my favorite dish of the night, spring kimchi salad with a creamy dressing over al dente noodles from Louro.
And then you're thinking, yikes, I should really just stop. This salty, crispy pretzel pork & chive dumpling with tahini mustard from Talde will be the last thing I eat tonight. OK, seriously, this creamy, decadent chicken liver puree with birdseye chili jam and Asian pear on a cassava chip from The Cecil is it. I'm done. Although now I'm thirsty, and that cocktail from Mace (lime aquavit, Aperol, beet juice, orange acid and Thai coconut cordial) looks delicious. Hey, why did the button on my pants just pop off?
Whipped Camembert & mushroom confit toast? Don't mind if I do! (photo courtesy Kat Hennessey)
Oh, and did I mention the strolling oyster shuckers?
I finally finished the night off with a mini Cubano sausage sandwich with Swiss cheese and pickles from Jake's Handcrafted. With no room to spare for the addictive dessert cookies from Levain Bakery, I hightailed it out of there before I caught a second (third? fourth?) wind.
Dear reader, I list the above delights neither to confess my sins nor brag about how I got to eat the best the city has to offer, all in a single night. OK, so I am kind of bragging. But the real reason to mention all the deliciousness is to get you to participate in next year's Night Out (No Kid Hungry also does similar events all over the country; check their website for details). It ain't cheap -- the least pricey ticket to the walk-around tasting is $350. But it's for a worthy cause, and if you're as much of a pig as I am, you may just get your money's worth.


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Nice to see Bob Dylan getting the Nobel Prize for Literature – it shows that you don't have to be academically acceptable to win it. One of the people he beat to the Prize was Salman Rushdie, who is eminently academically acceptable but possibly the most over-rated writer in history. I've waded through The Satanic Verses and a couple of his short stories and found them bloody near unreadable…….if it hadn't been for the Fatwa and years of personal bodyguards (at tax payers' expense, I seem to recall) I think he might well have sunk without trace.
But he was not as bad as Roy Hattersley, the former Labour Party politician and professional Yorkshireman. Many years ago, in a budget bookshop in Tintagel, Cornwall, I bought a book of his called The Maker's Mark, about a steel family in Sheffield in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was billed as "part one of an epic and unmissable seven part family saga". God only knows what happened to parts 2 to 7 – I've never seen them anywhere, which is no surprise: the first book is without a shadow of a doubt the worst book I have EVER read. Apart from how badly written and turgid and humourless it was I remember nothing about plot or character (I think one of the characters rose to fame playing football for Notts County or someone, but I may have imagined that bit….). I spent the best of part of a year reading the thing, out of sheer bloody-mindedness and a determination not to be beaten, and then, exhausted, passed it over to the second-hand book stall at the local church summer fete. Priced at 10p, it was still languishing, unsold and dusty, at the last fete day I went to, perhaps 8 years later. It's probably still there now. I remain convinced it only found a publisher because of who wrote it, not its quality.
So the fact that a songwriter and musician has won this years' Nobel is refreshing and a bow to popular culture rather than Academia, and this is no bad thing. Without a doubt, Bob is a fine and inventive songwriter, but whether songwriting should be considered "literature" is an open question. Judged on sales and influence over a generation, then possibly – and no-one could seriously question Dylan's output or appeal over the last 50 years. He knocks Rushdie and the other contenders this year out of the ball-park in that respect. People will be singing along with Like A Rolling Stone or Lay, Lady, Lay long after our Salman has been forgotten, in my view. But literature? Arguable, I would say.
Some poet (who needless to say I've never heard of and whose name I have immediately forgotten) was particularly critical, and described Dylan's lyrics as childish, poorly written and lacking in rhyme and rhythm. Probably overlooked for the Nobel……. But childish? The early stuff, maybe, when he was learning his trade (the same as all of us). Poorly written? No, a lot of it is unforgettable – The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll and Isis are little gems. Lacking rhyme and rhythm? Possibly, but they are songs, so perhaps the rhyming bit doesn't matter as much as it does in poetry (and since when did say e.e.cummings bother about that? Great poet, but still trying to figure out upper case letters, never mind rhymes and metre). Still, each to his own I guess. If the judges are happy to call it literature, I ain't going to argue.
As fine a lyricist Dylan is, though, he is not my favourite.
Nor are Lennon - McCartney, or Jagger – Richard, ground-breakers though both pairings undoubtedly were. Nor Elton john and Bernie Taupin, another 70s duo still going strong in this 21st century. All six of them are touched by genius, and along with the late great David Bowie formed and continue to supply the soundtrack to my life and dominate the Music Library on my phone.
In fact, I have two favourites and simply cannot choose between them. Both have been around for years, and share another huge chunk of my Library. They are both firmly blue collar working class boys, much like myself, who have made good (and huge piles of money) working their arses off and making some quite brilliant music on the way.
From the US is the brilliant (though often denigrated, for reasons I can't begin to understand) Boss, Bruce Springsteen. I first heard him way back in 1975 or thereabouts, when over a few beers in a Tunbridge Wells pub I spent a drunken hour listening to two close friends complaining bitterly about what a poser he was, how his music was boring, pretentious shit, his guitar playing no more than rudimentary beginners' strumming, and much else that was a lot worse. Intrigued, I wandered off to my local Our Price and purchased an original vinyl copy of Born to Run. It simply blew me away. I later bought Born in the USA, also on vinyl, tapes of Human Touch and Tunnel of Love, and later downloaded The Ghost of Tom Joad, The Rising and We Shall Overcome (The Seeger Sessions), as well as a two volume Essential…. compilation. And the 30th anniversary box set of Born To Run, complete with the DVD of that immortal 1975 London concert that broke him in my homeland.
I remember watching an MTV Unplugged session, with a band of then young musicians (rather than the magnificent E-Street Band) including, if memory serves, on drums the excellent Cindy Blackman (now married to Carlos Santana and a mainstay of Lenny Kravitz' band). He played the first song, solo and acoustic, then said something like "That's the unplugged bit, now let's do the real stuff", brought the band out, strapped on his battered old Fender and blew the place away for an hour and half. A short concert by his standards – I saw him and the E-Street Band in London's Earls Court in the mid 90s and was treated to a full-on three hour concert that remains the best gig I've ever been to. Twenty thousand people – including yours truly - singing along word-for-word Born To Run reduced me (and many others) to tears. Magic is the only word I can find to describe that night.
But live concerts are transient things, by their very nature. You buy your ticket, turn up at the venue, enjoy the show (or not – I dozed off in the front row of one once, Barclay James Harvest in Croydon, many years ago: sober too) and then go home again. Springsteen at Earls Court was exceptional and not to be forgotten, others I've been to I've forgotten before I've arrived home. What makes a show, and an artist, exceptional is the content – the quality of the music, the skill in the song writing. In both areas, in my view, Springsteen is without peer.
He is more than a rocker (though tracks like Tenth Avenue Freeze Out and Born to Run, Born in the USA and Glory Days are American anthemic rock at its very best). Listen to The Ghost of Tom Joad – the entire album is country music, and he is as adept at that as his lung-bursting stadium rock. Or The Seeger Sessions – pure traditional American folk, complete with fiddles and washboards (and recorded with a local bar band in his kitchen in New Jersey, apparently). And don't forget the ballads – the Oscar winning Streets of Philadelphia, Nebraska (which is classic country too), and American Skin (41 Shots). Ignoring Seeger, all of those feature some sublime lyrics that are in my view more poetic than anything Dylan has written.
Springsteen appeals to the American blue-collar worker in a way few contemporaries have. His songs are full of small town America, its people struggling with a depressed economy and unemployment, but always with some hope to keep them going. In The River, he writes about a young family, High School sweethearts, whose love is fading – some of the most poignant lyrics I've ever heard are in this song: "We went down to the Courthouse and the judge put it all to rest/No wedding day smile, no walk down the aisle, no flowers, no wedding dress…" and again: "I got a job working construction for the Jonestown Company/But lately there ain't been much work on account of the economy". Rural New Jersey in the 1980s recession personified. In Thunder Road there is more hope for the young lovers: "Well I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk/And my car's out the back if you're ready to take that long walk"…..and a final bellow of "It's a town full of losers and we're pulling outta here to win!" You did, Bruce – you surely did. I could write pages of this stuff, quote lines from song after song – but I won't. You can find 'em all on Spotify or iTunes or You Tube, and enjoy them all at your leisure.
My other hero (and that is seriously not too strong a word) is Britain's own Mod wide-boy, the recently knighted Sir Rod(erick) Stewart, Highgate's finest, professional Jock and Celtic fan. I never saw him perform, but did once see him on the M25 motorway, near Swanley in Kent. I was driving clockwise towards Sevenoaks one sunny Sunday afternoon, and across the carriageway, on the hard shoulder of the anti-clockwise side was a brilliant red Ferrari Testarossa, a cloud of steam streaming from the rear-mounted engine compartment. And standing at the front, yelling (presumably) into a mobile phone was Rod. I guess the AA or Green Flag Rescue was being summoned….. At the time, as well as the LA mansion, he had an estate near Epping Forest in Essex, in the grounds of which he had laid out a full-sized football pitch that was kept in pristine condition and was good enough for the top clubs to use if they were in town and wanted to train away from the press. Gordon Strachan, now managing Scotland but then in charge of Southampton used it from time to time, I remember. Top man, our Rod.
I bought his classic Every Picture Tells A Story album back in 1973, largely because I liked Maggie May, the stand-out single taken from it and his breakthrough chart hit. I remember seeing him perform it "live" on the BBC's Top of the Pops show, using his then full-time band The Faces as back-up, with Radio One dj John Peel guesting on mandolin. All a joke – Peel was clearly miming, as was the band – drummer Kenny Jones was pretending to play bass, guitarist Ronnie Wood was a half-beat behind on drums, keyboard wizard Ian MacLagan tried to look as though he knew how to play guitar, and bassist Ronnie Lane tinkled the ivories. During John Peel's little mandolin "solo" (played on the record by Lindisfarne's Ray Jackson) the rest of the band started playing football on the stage. It was fun, and summed up that band's entire ethos. Thirty years later a couple of greatest hits compilations came out called, very accurately, Five Guys Walked Into A Bar and Nice Boys (When They're Asleep) - the latter of which I downloaded and thoroughly enjoy.
If there is one thing The Faces enjoyed, it was having a good time. A few beers (well, several, actually), some Jack Daniels bourbon or a vodka or two, Rothman's King Size cigarettes, maybe a Castella cigar. A game of darts or bar billiards (pool was not as ubiquitous as it is nowadays). And of course, girls. A whole string of them. So basically what the vast majority of us were doing on a Saturday (or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) evening……Friday was usually a night off, because we had football matches to play the next day. Followed by fish and chips, a curry or a Chinese. Happy days.
But while the rest of us just enjoyed it all, Rod was busy chronicling it in a catalogue of good-time English rock songs, of which Maggie May was the first and still best known (although in my mind not the best song). Lyrically, the songs are like Springsteen's – working class guys enjoying life, stuck in dead-end jobs, looking to better themselves, falling in and out of love. But instead of America's vast plains and dusty dirt roads (to quote Springsteen again, from Thunder Road), Rod spread his net further afield to catch a decent phrase. Whether he had been to all the places he referenced, at that relatively early stage in his career, is doubtful, but they worked exceptionally well in his songs. The Faces classic Poolhall Richard, for instance, talks of the legendary Minnesota Fats "standing at the back in a plastic mac" while our hero beats the titular Poolhall Richard in a frame of eight-ball in order to save his relationship with his lady – "Man, you'll never ever steal my lady then!" he sings joyfully.
There's another reference to the States in You Wear It Well, a later single from the album Never A Dull Moment. It starts "I had nothing to do on this hot afternoon/But to settle down and write you a line/I've been meaning to phone ya but from Minnesota…/Hell, it's been a very long time". Call me cynical, but the American Midwest seems a bit of an unlikely destination for an up and coming singer from north London just starting out – but it works well in the song.
There are more geographical references throughout the Stewart catalogue, especially in what for me is the best song the man ever wrote, the title track from Every Picture…. The vinyl I bought is long gone, sold for the price of a beer sometime in the alcoholic haze that was 1972 to 1976 in my life, but even then I knew it by heart and loved it. I found it again on a CD compilation called The Millennium Collection, in a Tesco superstore in Gdynia of all places. It remains one of my favourite albums and has pride of place on my Music library – there is nothing on there later than about 1976, all taken from his classic solo albums (nothing by The Faces), and every track is good-time English rock that evokes memories of my own misspent youth.
Every Picture…. tells of Rod leaving home to seek his fortune with his father's advice ringing in his ears – "Daddy said son you'd better see the world/I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to leave/But remember one thing – don't lose your head/To a woman that'll spend all your bread/So I got out….". And out he goes – to Paris ("I got arrested for inciting the people to riot/When all I wanted was a cup of tea!/I was accused!"), then on to Rome ("My body stunk but I kept my funk/At a time when I was right out of luck/Oh my dears, I'd better get out of here/'Cause the Vatican don't give no sanction"). I was jealous of the man, and wanted to go too, especially after the next bit….."On the Peking ferry I was feeling merry/Sailing on my way back here/When I fell in love with a slit eyed lady/By the light of an Eastern moon/She took me up on deck and bit my neck". But it was perhaps a bit risky, because "Shanghai Lil never used the pill/She claimed that it just ain't natural!" And that little couplet sums up Rod Stewart…….a little bit racist (Slit Eyed lady indeed!), a little bit sexist (never used the pill?) but for all that having the time of his life – while I slaved away in what I considered the kind of dead-end job he had escaped from. And of course I escaped too, in his music.
Apart from a slushy interlude when involved with Britt Ekland, his music never really changed, and the same themes and word play cropped up again and again. In Dixie Toot from the album Smiler, he sings about being in New Orleans for Mardi Gras – "Sitting in my back yard, wondering which way to go/The sun shines on my back and it hurts" and in the next verse another brilliant batch of fun and games: "I might lose control of my powers/I might even lose my trousers/Smash my glass, behave like trash if I want! Ha!" Who cares what anyone else thinks, I'm having a great time! From the same album, in Sailor, he sings about a narrow escape: "Running down the highway in the pouring rain/Escaping from my wedding day/I heard the bells ringing in the local church/The ceremony's nearly under way/Her mama got hysterical, the bitch was cynical/Daddy's in the corner drunk" then a cry of "Sailor, show me which way to go!/I screamed out loud!" Considering the man has been married about four times and has eight kids, I find that one a little ironic……but it's a great song.
He was the same in The Faces before they broke up (when he left to go solo and make his millions in the States, and his co-writer Ronnie Wood replaced Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones - still there forty years later). The best example is probably Stay With Me: another classic that these days may not have seen the light of day, with a final verse going "So in the morning/Please don't say you love me/'Cause I'll only kick you out of the door/Yeah. I'll pay your cab fare home/You can even use my best cologne/Just don't be here in the morning when I wake up!" On Miss Judy's Farm there's another nice throwaway couplet that again offends, this time animal lovers: "She had a peroxide poodle/That I would kick if I was given the chance". Not my favourite mutt, either, Rod……
Over the years he mellowed and rather than being the cockney rapscallion he showed a more romantic turn of phrase, but there has always been the odd throwback to a freewheeling youth – Do Ya Think I'm Sexy is a more or less a disco re-run of Stay With Me (boy meets girl in club, takes her home…..the twist is in "watching the early movie" rather paying "a cab fare home"), Lady Jane (bitter ex-lover who knows "secrets about you" and has "plans of my own") to name but two of the better known. And of course the universally panned (but I quite like it) Hot Legs ("You're wearing me out/Hot legs, make me scream and shout/I love you honey!"). Not sure whether that makes Rod the irresponsible kid or me……probably both of us.
So there we have it. The Boss and Rod the Mod. Two very different songsmiths, whose art has entertained me for most of my adult life and continues to do so still in my 60s. Born to Run, Thunder Road and The River still bring lumps to my throat and a tear to my eyes, and Every Picture….., Miss Judy's Farm, Dixie Toot and pretty much anything by The Faces a smile to my increasingly wrinkly old face. Whether either of them are worthy of a Nobel Prize in the same way as Dylan is doubtful, but for this listener at least their work is better and more accessible than Bobby Z's sometimes opaque verse.


text:
Billy Keniston
Billy Keniston wishes he was born
in a different place,
in a different time.
not any specific country,
or any specific era.
just not here,
and not now.
By the time I was old enough
to understand my 'people'
and my society...
I knew that
I didn't want to be a part of many of the things
that they believe in and do.
Research Interests
- Whiteness; (Anti-)Apartheid; Slavery & Emancipation; Colonialism & Decolonization; Communism & Anti-Communism; Repression, Racial Violence... Resistance & Radical Thought
Research Description
In seeking to understand the rationality behind the violence of apartheid, my desire is not to lessen the well-deserved condemnation of the system. Rather, my concern is to offer a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of state repression - whether this took the form of batons, bombs or books - so that we might finally liberate ourselves from them.


text:
Latest Documents
17 February 2015
Briefing on the European Fund for Strategic Investments
The Russell Group is concerned that EU funding originally designated for excellent science and research will be diverted to other EU areas through the European Fund for Strategic Investments.
30 June 2014
Government's Balance of Competences review - Education
There are significant benefits to the UK of EU action in some areas of education and training. However, these actions are advantageous because they are in addition to (rather than instead of) national government action: the key to success is that EU programmes should complement national policies.
30 June 2014
Government's Science and Innovation Strategy
Our universities lead the world in producing excellent research – we should aim to secure this position of strength for the long-term, maintaining our international competitiveness and paving the way for future economic growth.
17 January 2014
Government's Balance of Competences review - EU Budget
EU funding streams are key to the continued growth of research excellence in the UK, to innovation and to the creation of economic value. They are an irreplaceable source of funding for UK universities and for research-intensive universities in particular. The EU provides a unique and highly competitive platform for international collaboration.
06 August 2013
Government's Balance of Competences review - Research and Development
05 August 2013
Government's Balance of Competences review - Free Movement of Persons
05 August 2013
Government's Balance of Competences review - Asylum and Immigration
21 June 2013
House of Lords Science and Technology Committee inquiry on scientific infrastructure
31 May 2013
Sir Andrew Witty's review of universities and growth
11 February 2013
House of Lords EU Select Committee inquiry into the effectiveness of EU research and innovation proposals
Out of hours media enquiries
07875 840930
Dr Tim Bradshaw
020 3816 1300


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RNP News
Transparency International Vice-chair Commends RNP anti- Corruption strategies
The Vice-chairperson of Transparency International (TI) Board of Directors, Elena Panfilova on working visit in the country has lauded Rwanda National Police (RNP) for its efforts in combating corruption, saying that the measures put in place by the force are impressive and need to be sustained.
Panfilova made the observation on February 24, during her visit at the Police Headquarters where she met with the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Emmanuel K Gasana and some Police Commissioners.
During the meeting, the Police Chief thanked Panfilova for the courtesy call and explained measure and strategies put in place to fight corruption, where he pointed out that police being a law enforcement institution has the duty to investigate crimes including corruption and particularly within the force.
The measures include annual declaration of wealth by all Police senior officers, establishment of the department of anti-corruption, inspectorate of services and Ethics, the Police Disciplinary Unit, annual Performance contracts among others.
The IGP informed TI boss that RNP has also signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with several institutions including the Office of the Ombudsman, Rwanda Governance Board (RGB), National Commission for Human Rights, and all the 30 districts; the MoUs are geared towards collective effort and strategies in fighting graft.
He went on to say that the police use various channels including toll free lines and the media to respond to public concerns and receive information as well as complaints of those reporting corruption.
"All these measures are put in place to ensure we don't go off the line – In fact, our institutions in the country have no remorse for any corrupt officials irrespective of what position the person hold or the amount involved in the case, we also appreciate our partnership with Transparency international, Rwanda Chapter for keeping us informed of the bribery and corruption perception," IGP Gasana said.
"We have had some cases of police officers involved in corruption and they were punished including dismissal regardless of the amount or value involved, rather the unethical act committed,we know very well its effects to development and any nation built on corrupt institutions has to collapse at one point by all means" the IGP said.
In her remarks, Panfilova said that the purpose of her visit was to exchange ideas with the people of Rwanda, Government official and development partners an share her experience as well as global status of corruption.
"The anti-corruption strategies and policies you developed here are commendable; I was particularly impressed with how the Police here work in openness with NGO,the Civil Society and other government institutions" She said.
She further pointed out that Rwanda is far better than many countries in Europe in fighting corruption.
"We need to share most of these best practices that have worked in some countries and help others to emulate"
She went on to say that in dealing with emerging corruption related crimes, the world today needs to internationalize corruption related crimes in ensuring that offenders have no safe haven.
Both the IGP and the TI vice chair person agreed to farther strengthen cooperation in the quest to fight against corruption.


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If you thought Greece's recent economic downturn had detracted from its standing as a premier holiday destination, then think again. Officially known as the Hellenic Republic, our luxury Greek holidays allow you to sample the country's rich history and culture, as well as its attractive Mediterranean climate, to ensure you have an unforgettable experience.
We can think of nothing better than unwinding on one of Greece's beautifully secluded islands. While their sheer number might seem daunting at first, all of them offer sun, sand and ultimate relaxation.
Central and northern regions of the country offer great opportunities to wonder off the beaten track. But while you enjoy the area's tranquil sparsity of tourists, don't forget that there is still plenty to see and do. Luxury Greek holidays can also include trips to Larissa and Thessaloniki, which will both rightfully vie for your attention, though it's really things like the serene hilltop monasteries of Meteora and the prime trekking opportunities of Olympus National Park that provide the area's biggest attractions.
To say that Athens boasts an incredible history is an understatement. Located in the Attica region, many regard it as the birthplace of Western civilisation. Marvel at the ancient ruins of the Acropolis, soak in the culture of world-class museums and wash it all down with a spot of shopping at Athens' famous street stalls.
Hotels in Greece
Map and travel information
Direct flights to Greece and her islands from the UK take between 2 and 4 hours. Flight times depend on destination.
Speak to our team:
Monday – Friday: 9am – 5:30pm
Saturday: 10am – 4:30pm
1 Market Place Mews,
Henley-on-Thames, OXON RG9 2AH


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Child Development and Parenting
Autism 200 Series
Autism 200 is a series of 90-minute classes for parents and caregivers of children with autism who wish to better understand autism spectrum disorder. Faculty from Seattle Children's and the University of Washington and community providers teach the classes. Each class includes time for questions. Read the series flyer (PDF).
Classes are held on most third Thursdays of the month from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Pacific time.
Attend in Person
Join us for an opportunity to ask questions, meet the presenters and meet others from the autism community.
Wright Auditorium, Seattle Children's Main Campus, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98105. Free parking in the visitor lots.
Watch Online
You can live-stream classes using Facebook Live on Seattle Children's Facebook page. If you are with a school, community organization or group who would like host a community event and would like to discuss other teleconferencing options, please email us.
View Past Lectures
Lectures are also recorded and can be viewed following the lecture. View past lectures. You can view all Autism 200 Series lectures from the past two years on the Autism 200 Series YouTube playlist.
Please call Seattle Children's Autism Center at 206-987-8080 with questions, or email us.
2019 Series Schedule
Autism 201: The State of Autism in 2019
January 17, 2019
Instructor: Jim Mancini, MS, CCC-SLP
Read the presentation (PDF).
SMART handout (PDF)
Pathway to Progress presentation (PDF)
There were many developments in the areas of research and in the community in 2018. Join Jim Mancini from Seattle Children's Autism Center for a facilitated discussion with special guests to recap 2018 and take a look ahead at 2019. Guests will include Drs. Sara Webb and Frederick Shic from the University of Washington to discuss highlights from the year in research as well as Arzu Forough from Washington Autism Advocacy Alliance and Amy Carlsen from the Washington State Medical Home Partnerships Project to discuss developments statewide and what to expect in the coming year.
Autism 202: Best Practices in ASD Treatment: Applied Behavior Analysis Update
February 21, 2019
Instructors: Mendy Minjarez, PhD, and Elizabeth Hatzenbuhler, MS, BCBA
Interventions grounded in applied behavior analysis (ABA) have demonstrated effectiveness across a variety of individuals and behaviors especially within the treatment of autism. Decades of research support that ABA is an effective scientific methodology with an emphasis on teaching skills and reducing challenging behaviors. As ABA can be implemented in many different ways and the field has evolved over the last few decades, there are many types of treatment strategies supported by a large body of knowledge. As such, this can be confusing for parents, autistic individuals and other consumers outside of the field to navigate. This talk will provide an overview of the defining features of the science of ABA, provide an overview of some examples of how it can be applied and discuss quality indicators that can be used to evaluate ABA programs. It will also highlight some of the misconceptions and sources of confusion about ABA, including the origins of these issues as well as the response from the ABA field.
Autism 203: The Visual Pathway in ASD: Explicit Teaching Methods to Promote Social Communication
March 21, 2019
Instructor: Georgina Lynch, PhD
Read the presentation (PDF).
Much has been learned from neuroscience about brain development in ASD and underconnectivity impacting development of language and social communication. This work has been paradigm-shifting in that researchers have identified atypical patterns of neurodevelopment directly relating physiology and behavior, in which both can be influenced by specific treatment approaches. Eye-tracking studies help measure observable differences in social interaction and atypical patterns of arousal which impact social communication across levels of severity. This presentation reviews emerging eye-tracking research relating the visual pathway, attention and arousal with innovative visual teaching methods (VTM) targeting early-emerging and later-developing social language skills.
Autism 204: Perspectives on Psychiatric Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder
April 18, 2019
Instructor: Hower Kwon, MD
Read the presentation (PDF).
Although psychiatric medications are not typically prescribed to help with most core symptoms of ASD, they can still be extremely useful in treatment and management of behavioral and emotional symptoms associated with ASD. These associated conditions include anxiety, attentional issues, depressed mood and behavioral disruptions, among others. The presentation will explore clinical situations in which psychiatric medications may be of benefit to individuals with ASD, and how these treatments may be integrated into the overall treatment plans of those individuals. A panel consisting of several psychiatrists expert in managing psychiatric care of individuals with ASD will provide different perspectives on treatment approach.
Autism 205: Gender Diversity and Autism: Exploring Identity, Healthcare and Advocacy
May 16, 2019
Instructors: Felice Orlich, PhD, and Rachel Earl, PhD
Read the presentation (PDF).
Individuals may identify with a gender that is different from their assigned sex at birth or may not identify with traditional definitions of male or female genders. Given societal pressures for gender conformity, gender diverse children, adolescents and young adults may face particular challenges navigating their communities in a way that feels true to their affirmed gender identity, which can cause significant distress and mental health risks. The experience of being gender diverse in the context of autism is not well understood at this time, and is an area of important study for researchers and clinicians looking to provide personalized, gender-affirming care to patients and their families. We will review what is currently known about gender identity development for individuals with autism, balanced gender-affirming healthcare considerations and supports for patients and families. We will also discuss community resources and self-advocacy for those navigating gender diversity and autism.
Autism 206: Transition to Adulthood – "My Physical Body and Mind Started Shutting Down": Autistic Burnout and the Costs of Coping and Passing
July 18, 2019
Instructor: Dora Raymaker, PhD
Read the presentation (PDF).
Although autistic adults have identified an urgent need to address autistic burnout – a near-total exhaustion, sense of hopelessness and detachment and loss of function in daily life (sometimes called autistic regression) – research on burnout and autism has focused on caregiver and provider burnout. The Academic Autism Spectrum Partnership in Research and Education (AASPIRE), a long-standing community based participatory research partnership, has begun new research in this area. This presentation will first provide an understanding of the characteristics and experience of autistic burnout, and how it impacts people's lives. Then we will discuss its potential causes, including prolonged masking of autistic traits. Lastly we will offer suggestions for preventing or reducing autistic burnout, and conclude with implications for healthcare and service providers.
Autism 207: Transition to Adulthood – Abuse and Neglect of Adults with Developmental Disorders
August 15, 2019
Instructor: Rachel Loftin, PhD
Read the presentation (PDF).
People with developmental disorders are at an increased risk of abuse and neglect. This population also appears to be an increased risk of exposure to intimate partner violence in childhood, which can produce lasting effects. At the same time, post-traumatic stress can be very difficult to detect and treat among developmentally delayed adults. This presentation will outline primary risks, as well as recommendations for assessment and treatment of trauma and neglect in adults with developmental disorders.
Autism 208: Crisis Support and Autism for Complex Behavioral and Mental Health Needs
September 19, 2019
Facilitator: Eric Boelter, PhD, BCBA-D
Read the presentation (PDF).
When faced with a crisis, where do individuals with severe autism and IDD turn for support, treatment, services and stabilization? Many individuals with autism who have complex mental health or significant behavioral challenges are not being served by current crisis services. The lack of space, being held in emergency rooms or being transferred to inappropriate inpatient psychiatric facilities are just a few of the alarming concerns. This panel discussion will include multiple state and community organizations and take a closer look at crisis services – what is available; what are the challenges, gaps and barriers; and what should be done to provide prevention and intervention services to people with IDD and/or autism experiencing crisis, challenging behaviors and mental health emergency. This presentation will focus on crisis support for the individuals enrolled in or eligible for DDA. Stay tuned – we plan to hold an Autism 200 in 2020 that will address the state of crisis stabilization services for autistic individuals who do not meet DDA eligibility criteria.
Autism 209: Managing Autism
October 17, 2019
Instructor: Karen Sporn, ARNP
Read the presentation (PDF).
Our goal as nurse practitioners is to support your child's health and well-being, by being a partner with you in their autism care planning. In this presentation a panel will discuss what our role as nurse practitioners entails, including developmental monitoring; autism-related health assessment and treatment recommendations; medication consultation and management; and coordination of care and services.
Autism 210: A Panel Discussion: Perspectives from the Autism Community
November 21, 2019
Facilitator: Gary Stobbe, MD
If you've met one person with autism… you've met one person with autism. The autism spectrum is wide and encompasses a vast array of unique, diverse and amazing individuals, each with their own distinct set of skills, challenges and abilities. Please join us for an panel discussion as we seek to understand and explore the many views, perspectives and lived experiences of autistics, advocates, parents and professionals who serve the autism community with the hope of building continued respect, dignity and collaboration.
2018 lectures
Autism 201: The State of Autism in 2018
January 18, 2018
Instructors: Raphael Bernier, PhD, and Jim Mancini, MS, CCC-SLP
Autism 202: But I Don't Wanna Go to School!: Strategies for Addressing School Avoidance
February 15, 2018
Instructor: Kendra Read, PhD
Read the presentation (PDF).
Autism 203: Social Inclusion Through Person-Centered Planning
March 15, 2018
Instructors: Ramona Hattendorf, Director of Advocacy, Arc of King County, and Cathy Murahashi, Family Engagement Coordinator, King County Parent and Family Coalition
Read the presentation (PDF).
Autism 204: Powerful Partnerships: Strategies for Navigating the Family/School Relationship
April 19, 2018
Instructors: Carrie Basas, JD, MEd, and Rose Spidell, JD, Washington State Governor's Office of the Education Ombuds; and Mariam Araujo, PhD
Read the presentation (PDF).
Autism 205: Inclusion: What's Working and What's Next? – A Panel Discussion
May 17, 2018
Facilitator: Kimberly Corrigan
Read the presentation (PDF).
Autism 206: Transition to Adulthood: Housing Options – A Panel Discussion
July 19, 2018
Facilitator: Rose Yu, MA, MBA
Read the presentation (PDF).
Autism 207: Transition to Adulthood: Behavioral Support for Adults
August 16, 2018
Instructor: Monica Meyer
Read the presentation (PDF).
Autism 208: Hiding in Plain Sight: Girls With Autism Spectrum Disorder
September 20, 2018
Instructors: Sara Webb, PhD, and Karen Barnes, PhD
Autism 209: Let's Talk About AAC and Autism Spectrum Disorder
October 18, 2018
Instructors: Jo Ristow, MS, CCC-SLP, and Meg Pattee, MS, CCC-SLP
Autism 210: We Are All in This Together: Finding Common Ground Between Autistic and Parent Advocates – A Panel Discussion
November 15, 2018
Facilitator: Zack Siddeek, MSW
Read the presentation (PDF).
2017 lectures
Autism 201: The State of Autism in 2017 With Jim and Raphe
Instructors: Raphael Bernier, PhD, and Jim Mancini, MS, CCC-SLP
Autism 202: Autism Genetics: What Parents Should Know
Instructors: Heather Mefford, MD, and Jennifer Gerdts, PhD
Autism 203: Making Friends on the Playground: Social Skills Support in School
Instructor: Jill Locke, PhD
Autism 204: Parent Training to Address Problem Behaviors of Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Instructor: Karen Bearss, PhD
Autism 205: Autism and Police: Staying Safe Together
Facilitator: Robin Tatsuda, MSW
Autism 206: Transition to Adulthood: Finding a Job
Instructors: Richard Wilson, MPA, and Maureen Roberts, MEd, CRC
Autism 207: Transition to Adulthood: Keeping a Job
Instructors: Gina Solberg, CESP, and Abbey Lawrence, MEd, BCBA
Autism 208: Screening for ASD: A Preventative Intervention Approach (video not available)
Instructor: Lisa Ibanez, PhD
Autism 209: Early Intervention in Autism: An Overview of the Seattle Children's Autism Center Model
Instructor: Mendy Minjarez, PhD
Autism 210: Autism From a Sibling's Perspective: A Panel Discussion
Facilitator: Tammy Mitchel, sister; manager, Alyssa Burnett Adult Life Center
You can view all Autism 200 Series lectures from the past two years on the Autism 200 Series playlist.
Additional resources
For additional resources, visit the Autism Center Resources page or The Autism Blog, authored by Seattle Children's Autism Center. The world of autism spectrum disorders is constantly changing and we at Seattle Children's Autism Center are eager to share with parents and caregivers what we continue to learn. The Autism Blog is designed to be a resource on autism as well as to give you an opportunity to comment on our posts and engage with our experts.


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Carbon Monoxide (CO) Awareness
Often called the invisible killer, carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas created when fuels (such as gasoline, wood, coal, natural gas, propane, oil, and methane) burn incompletely. In the home, heating and cooking equipment that burn fuel are potential sources of carbon monoxide. Vehicles or generators running in an attached garage can also produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.
- The dangers of CO exposure depend on a number of variables, including the victim's health and activity level. Infants, pregnant women, and people with physical conditions that limit their body's ability to use oxygen (i.e. emphysema, asthma, heart disease) can be more severely affected by lower concentrations of CO than healthy adults would be.
- A person can be poisoned by a small amount of CO over a longer period of time or by a large amount of CO over a shorter amount of time.
- In 2010, U.S. fire departments responded to an estimated 80,100 non-fire CO incidents in which carbon monoxide was found, or an average of nine such calls per hour. The number of incidents increased 96 % from 40,900 incidents reported in 2003. This increase is most likely due to the increased use of CO detectors, which alert people to the presence of CO.
Safety Tips
- CO alarms should be installed in a central location outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home. For the best protection, interconnect all CO alarms throughout the home. When one sounds, they all sound.
- Follow the manufacturer's instructions for placement and mounting height.
- Choose a CO alarm that has the label of a recognized testing laboratory.
- Test CO alarms at least once a month; replace them according to the manufacturer's instructions.
- If the audible trouble signal sounds, check for low batteries. If the battery is low, replace it. If it still sounds, call the fire department.
- If the CO alarm sounds, immediately move to a fresh air location outdoors or by an open window or door. Make sure everyone inside the home is accounted for. Call for help from a fresh air location and stay there until emergency personnel.
- If you need to warm a vehicle, remove it from the garage immediately after starting it. Do not run a vehicle or other fueled engine or motor indoors, even if garage doors are open. Make sure the exhaust pipe of a running vehicle is not covered with snow.
- During and after a snowstorm, make sure vents for the dryer, furnace, stove, and fireplace are clear of snow build-up.
- A generator should be used in a well-ventilated location outdoors away from windows, doors and vent openings.
- Gas or charcoal grills can produce CO — only use outside.


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Must Love Pekes is a blog for those who love Pekingese, their looks, their antics, their personalities. It is written by me, Linda, and I have been rescuing Pekingese for over 15 years. Lots of them have gone through our home. We have loved them all.
Sunday, February 11, 2018
2 comments:
- LadyJicky said...
Happy Sunday to BeeBee and Nala !
- February 11, 2018 at 1:44 AM
- Lost Earring said...
That is the cutest thing but the Sisters manage to create so many cute scenes that it's hard to pick out a favorite.
- February 11, 2018 at 8:41 AM
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


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I moved into my house about a year ago and have never really paid much attention to the fireplace because it has never been cold enough to use it (I live in Georgia and we can usually get by with the central heat/air). Now it is 25 degrees outside and I wanted to build a fire this evening, but after a quick inspection I noticed a couple of problems.
First of all, the chimney is nasty and needs a good cleaning. Second, there is a fairly large gap (about 1/2") between the firebox and the hearth. The hearth is covered in ceramic tile and the builder used grout to fill the 1/2" gap. Now that it has been in there for a while it has started to crack and chip out, exposing the wood framing underneath.
What is the best way to fill this gap back up? I have heard a few different things ranging from filling the gap with bits of broken tile and re-grouting it, to simply filling it with a high temperature caulk. I want to do this right the first time so that there is no risk of embers falling down in the crack and setting fire to the wood underneath.


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Please be reminded that the Club's dress policy does not allow torn and faded denim, t-shirts, shorts and sneakers. Additionally, jackets are required for gentleman in the Harbour Dining Room during dinner. Members and their guests should dress accordingly when in the Club.
Jackets are required in the evening for men. Ladies should use discretion to dress accordingly. Children should adhere to these policies as well. T-shirts and jeans are not allowed.
Dress in these areas is business casual - no jackets are required. However, shorts or sneakers are not allowed.
100 Federal Street
Boston, MA 02110


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Missing documents found in furnace room of Coventry town clerk's office
copyright the Chronicle October 12, 2016
by Elizabeth Trail
COVENTRY — When selectman Scott Morley and auditor Jeff Graham walked through the doors of the Coventry town office early Monday morning, they saw Town Clerk and Treasurer Cynthia Diaz headed into the furnace room carrying a tub and a box of papers. She came back empty handed, Mr. Morley said.
The sight stuck in Mr. Morley's mind all day. After Ms. Diaz left, he and Mr. Graham went to the furnace room and found what she had left there — a pile of Coventry tax and financial documents, including some that Mr. Graham, a forensic accountant, has been requesting for the past year.
Mr. Graham snapped a picture of the items sitting on the floor just inside the furnace room door.
…To read the rest of this article, and all the Chronicle's stories, subscribe:
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(To find a particular article, search for the corresponding edition of the newspaper)


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The crowd roared and flashes popped as limousines pulled up to deposit the likes of Tom Hanks and Nicole Kidman at the top of the red carpet Monday night.
While the scene is a common occurrence for Hollywood premieres, this red carpet was more than 100 miles from Tinseltown, trading the Chinese Theatre for the Palm Springs Convention Center for the 28th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala.
The gala has become one of the most reliable barometers of Hollywood's awards season, coming less than a week before the Golden Globes and often giving a glimpse of who will be nominated for Oscar gold.
And it's become a magnet for the most feted stars of the moment: This year's honorees included Kidman, Natalie Portman, Octavia Spencer, Mahershala Ali, Amy Adams and Ryan Gosling.
Started by then-Mayor Sonny Bono in 1990, the Palm Springs International Film Festival has grown in size tremendously.
"In the last four years, in the year in which they were honored, 38 of the gala's 42 nominees were nominated for an Academy Award," festival Chairman Harold Matzner told the crowd inside the gala.
One of the stars on track for that honor is Annette Bening, who was given the Career Achievement Award on Monday night. Bening, who attended with husband Warren Beatty, is nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of middle-age mother Dorothea in the dramedy "20th Century Women."
"She was very unpredictable and that's what I loved about her, her contradictions, that she was full of paradox," Bening said on the red carpet.
Kidman was given the International Star Award for her work in "Lion."
"To represent the Australian community with a story like this, that's so global, it's an honor," she said on the red carpet.
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Like Kidman, many of the stars are repeat visitors and honorees, including Hanks, Adams, Portman, Spencer and Andrew Garfield.
But they're not the only ones who keep coming back.
In what's become an annual tradition, Steven Markin and Steve Cutler of Cathedral City arrived early for their chance to get close to the stars. Their mission: to get glossy photos autographed.
To prepare, they had photos of the celebs alphabetized by first name in an expanding file folder. Over the eight years they have been coming to the festival, they have snagged 52 signed photos.
They arrived at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, not even the first in line, but brought along friends and plenty of junk food.
They were hoping for autographs from Hanks and Kidman and a second from Spencer, whom they netted the last time she attended. Their goal is five autographs per year, but snagged seven each in 2015 and 2016.
They were among the throngs who braved the chilly evening to get a glimpse of the celebrities.
"We were here a couple of years ago and we really enjoyed ourselves," said Karen Friesen.
Friesen and Mike Pallick, of Winnipeg, Canada, had so much fun seeing Reese Witherspoon and Robert Duvall the last time they were in Palm Springs for the film festival, they showed up at noon Monday to attend for the second time.
The celeb Friesen most wanted to see: Gosling.
She wasn't the only one. There were hundreds of fans chanting the "La La Land" leading man's name.
And Friesen got an up-close and personal encounter when Gosling went to the crowd Monday night.
Like Friesen, the festival has also won over celebrities, including Jane Lynch, who presented Gosling and the "La La Land" team with the Vanguard Award.
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"I love Palm Springs. I've never been to this festival before, was thrilled," Lynch said. "It was a perfect storm of 'Will you give the award to "La La Land" and we can drive you in a Mercedes and will you stay in this beautiful hotel?' And I said yes."
The festival will screen 190 movies from 72 countries and runs through Jan. 16 at various locations around Palm Springs.
What: 190 films from 72 countries
When: Through Jan. 16
Where: Locations throughout Palm Springs including the Annenberg Theater, Camelot Theatres, Palm Canyon Theatre, Palm Springs High School and Regal Cinemas as well as Mary Pickford Theater in Cathedral City.
Admission: Individual passes are $13 for most films. Special events are more.
Information: 800-898-7256, psfilmfest.org
Contact the writer: firstname.lastname@example.com or @vanessafranko on Twitter


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Founder of CMP Productions, Inc., Cindy Bryson brings over 15 years of event experience that makes up the backbone of CMP. From local to destination projects, weddings, themed events, charity golf tournaments, to corporate events/activities.
With Cindy's passion for golf and our U.S. military, HEROES For Freedom Golf Tournament was created in 2014 in The Woodlands, Texas in memory of Cindy's dad who served in WWII. This is a small way to thank our men and women serving and our veterans with a day of great golf, great food and great laughs. HEROES For Freedom's message is to bring awareness and support to our homeless veterans in The Woodlands, Texas and Phoenix, Arizona areas.


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We're making a short film to CHANGE THE NARRATIVE of how Syrians are depicted in the media, and ultimately change minds. By telling a story about one doctor's experience in Aleppo, we hope to shed light on the critical work of all doctors and victims of the war as it continues.
Hanan, a successful young Syrian-American doctor, returns to Syria to help victims of war. When the hospital where she works is bombed, she suffers a traumatic brain injury that leaves her face blind. Unable to recognize the faces of even those closest to her, Hanan's world has been turned upside down and her identity lost.
Now home in New York, Hanan has difficulty coming to terms with how her life has changed following the attack. Haunted by her trauma and struggling to adjust to her condition, Hanan must confront her fear of navigating the world, putting her identity, and her future as a doctor, in doubt.


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Product Description
Circa 1900, good Sheraton style mahogany overmantel mirror, with a classic shaped cornice with break sections at each end. Beneath this is a centre plate which is inlaid with a classical urn with swags and tails. On either side of this is a recessed panel with string inlay. On the left and right are pilasters with shell inlay at the top and beneath this a fielded panel with tapering flowers. The mirror itself has the original bevelled edge plate glass in good condition, contained within a moulded frame. At the base is a moulding which runs around the entire mirror. Great colour, excellent condition and top quality.
- 82cm high x 172cm wide.


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November 26th, 2018, 17:38 Posted By: wraggsterWe are closing in fast to the end of our current console cycle, and rumors are flying around fast these days, first with a possible Switch Pro in March 2019, and now more recently Microsoft rumored to be launching an disc-less Xbox One in Spring 2019, and today the news was announced that now Sony besides not doing their own PSX event this holiday season in 2018 they are now will be also skipping the E3 in 2019, which means come December 2019 we could see an special PSX event just for launching their PS5.
With the PS4 turning five this year, it's safe to say that Sony's PS5 is in active development. More so when you consider that development kits for the console are already out in the wild.
"As the industry evolves, Sony Interactive Entertainment continues to look for inventive opportunities to engage the community," said Sony in a statement. "PlayStation fans mean the world to us and we always want to innovate, think differently and experiment with new ways to delight gamers. As a result, we have decided not to participate in E3 in 2019. We are exploring new and familiar ways to engage our community in 2019 and can't wait to share our plans with you."
And while Sony won't have its own event around or during E3 like EA tends to do, some speculate that it's to focus on the PS5.
"Based on conversations with developers across the industry, I expect the PlayStation 5 to be released in 2020, and the publisher skipping E3 2019 certainly points to that," claims Kotaku's Jason Schreier who has a solid track record when it comes to industry happenings of the more nebulous variety, such as a yet to be announced console.
The PS5 may have a 2020 release date and it will be using AMD's Navi GPU. Previously it was suggested that the PS5 would also be using AMD's Ryzen CPU tech and it seems that AMD will have a hand in the PS5's GPU as well. This is according to a report from WCCFtech citing "sources intimately familiar with the entire situation". In addition to letting slip when we could expect the PS5, it delves deeper into the reasoning for AMD not announcing a new GPU at Computex 2018 - it has found the custom-applications space more lucrative.
Click to expand...NEWS SOURCE: Sony Skipping E3 2019, Possibly to Prepare for PS5 Launch (via) Gadgets360
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Near the end of the second of these novels their young heroine, Maura, laments: "Jesus, Mary and Joseph . . . are we Irish to get no peace in this world?" Her question might well serve as epigraph for the tale of trials and tribulations which befall her and her brother Patrick when, fleeing from the Great Famine of the 1840s, they emigrate to America. These travels demonstrate more than adequately the truth of the notion that when sorrows come they come in battalions.
The overall picture that emerges from these near-700 pages is bleak and harrowing. Whatever the determination of some historians to refashion our perceptions of the Famine, its significance in Irish folk memory remains central. It is a story which requires and deserves any number of re-tellings.
The long trail which takes Maura and Patrick from their tiny native village of Kilonny to Boston provides Avi with the opportunity to create a rambling, picaresque pair of novels which - for most of the time - sustain the reader's interest. They are based primarily on a view of story which sees it as a series of flights and encounters, of unexpected (and not always totally credible) discoveries and of dramatic fluctuations of mood. If the whole is sometimes threatened by a note of breathlessness, it is invariably redeemed by the introduction of yet another Dickensian grotesque, bringing the possibility of comfort or chaos to younger lives.
The breathlessness is, in the main, a consequence of the choice of structure. In essence, it is based on the quest, deriving from the fact that Maura and Patrick's prime aim in travelling to America is to be reunited with their father who has emigrated earlier. Interwoven with these is the quest of one further, and superficially very different, child to find a haven from domestic maltreatment: this, by one of the coincidences which pepper the narrative, is the aristocratic Laurence Kirkle, son of one of the landowners largely responsible for Ireland's misfortunes.
The three children's shared journey is tracked in a long succession of short chapters, the content of each of which is signalled in a "now read on" signpost title. There is enough (perhaps more than enough) here to keep the pages turning: the romantic, the realistic and the sentimental combine to remind us that brutality and persecution can take many forms and that - at least in children's historical fiction - they will ultimately be routed by youthful perseverance and resilience.


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On March 16-18, 2018, The Bombay Beach Biennale took place at the shores of the Salton Sea. This renegade gathering was a celebration of and for the locals, artists, creators and volunteers who are transforming Bombay Beach into a newly relevant year-round cultural destination. The Biennale is an exuberant celebration of art, music, and philosophy, which leaves a lasting mark on Bombay Beach, a small town at that refuses to be forgotten or written off, even as the man-made lake it was built upon risks disappearing.
Photos by Tao Ruspoli
Photos by Daniella Midenge
Photos by Amanda Vandenberg
Photos by Anya Kaats
Photos by Jean Karvelis
Photos by Sarah DeRemer
Photos by Suzanne Mitchell


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Our second part on Britain's MAC report focuses more on the impact this might have on lower-skilled labour. It is particularly interesting to observe the implications for EU/EEA workers. You can find a summary of the impacts of EEA workers as portrayed by the MAC report in Figure 1.
Read Part 1 here
Lower-skilled migrants
The message is loud and clear: the UK wants more high-skilled workers and less low-skilled workers. The MAC report decidedly verifies this fact and even gives this sentiment gravity through a thorough economic assessment of the situation. As seen by the recent removal of doctors and nurses from the Tier 2 visa cap[1] due to the NHS demand for more workers, the government is already looking to encourage this shift. Therefore, the report's recommendation comes as no surprise to this.
The salary threshold for Tier 2 visas at the moment sits at £30 000. A person earning less than £30 000 per annum, however, does not realistically qualify as being a "lower-skilled worker" in all regions of the United Kingdom – let alone Europe. For example, Scottish businesses will likely be forced to increase wages in order for their salaries to meet the threshold and be able to sponsor said visas and attract workers, while London businesses will hardly be affected since their wages are already much higher.
The report also states that the Tier 2 visa will only be open to jobs of RQF3 and above, which roughly translates to A Level holders (or equivalent) and above.
The impact of these recommendations, if adopted, will of course be the desired outcome for the UK, meaning that there will be much greater barriers of entry to lower-skilled workers. Figure 2 clearly shows that 83% of people in the whole of the UK are earning less than the desired amount for workers of RQF <3 and 63% for those on RQF3 in order to be eligible for a Tier 2 Visa.
It is also worth mentioning that there is a huge difference when comparing the percentage of people in RQF3 who do not qualify through the salary threshold in London (47%) and people not qualifying in Scotland (64%), meaning that migration trends of lower-skilled workers will be greatly halted in the more Northern regions, while the South will see a minor discrepancy.
Impact on EU citizens
The impact towards EU citizens however, will be much greater. The UK has been a very popular destination since the 1980s as seen in Figure 3 and has had a positive net migration figure since the 1990s – regardless of skill cap. This sudden barrier of entry, will force one of two outcomes for EU citizens: 1. To stay in their home state; 2. To move to another EU state.
- There is already a huge strain on numerous countries' welfare system (e.g. Spain, Italy, Cyprus) where unemployment rates, especially amongst young people (Spain's youth unemployment rate is at 33.4%) are soaring. Even though there seems to be a downwards trend, this is often attributed to people migrating to other more "opportunity-rich" countries, such as the UK.
The pessimistic approach to this could definitely spell out the destruction of the notion of a welfare state and the practical annihilation of any support systems due to an insurmountable demand.It could however also be an opportunity for the development of local businesses, usually away from the realm of the financial, investment and economic sector, due to the overwhelming dominance of other such hubs, such as London. There has been a trend as of recently to work through grassroots movements, especially through the populist surge prevalent in a few of these countries – namely looking at Podemos in Spain and SYRIZA in Greece.
- There is always the option to move to another EU state where there are more job opportunities compared to one's home state. There has already been a decrease in EU migrants going to the UK due to the Brexit vote, but this could swing the numbers even further. According to Eurostat (Figure 4), the percentage of EU citizens in the UK was in fact one if the highest in 2016, but there is also a case to be made about other countries such as Germany or Austria and even Luxembourg.
Granted, there is the argument of population size, but it is an undeniable fact that – at least geographically – other EU countries are far more accessible than the UK. By adding another barrier, a political one in this case, the numbers will surely decrease and migrants will pivot to other member states. This could potentially see even more strain towards the migration issue due to the high influx of lower-skilled workers in countries, which cannot possibly sustain them. Even so, it will be unlikely for EU economic migrants or job-seekers to move into a country such as Greece (e.g. in 2016 it only had 14.2%).
So where does that leave lower-skilled EU workers vis-à-vis their future after the potential MAC recommendations come into effect? Assuming that the UK sticks to this plan, then there will definitely be an exodus of said worker from their country.
The best bet would be that there will actually be an overall gross increase in migration throughout Europe in the pursuit for a new recipient to these citizens, since the push factors are still very much in place, while the pull factors for the UK will essentially disappear.
Figure 1[2]
Figure 2[3]
Figure 3[4]
Figure 4[5]
Crédit photo: Markos Loizou
[1] "Doctors and nurses to be taken out of Tier 2 visa cap" https://www.gov.uk/government/news/doctors-and-nurses-to-be-taken-out-of-tier-2-visa-cap
[2] MAC Report (2018), paragraph 7.1, p.108-109
[3] MAC Report (2018), paragraph 7.3, p.122
[4] "What Immigration system should Briatin adopt after Brexit?" – The Economist, September 20th, 2018
[5] Eurostat (online data code: migr_imm1ctz)


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1. Containment under Truman and Eisenhower (ATL)
Containment under Truman and EisenhowerHere are some different activities that you can do for this first part of Section 16 on the Cold War and the Americas. There is overlap here with Paper 2, Topic 12 on the Cold War and links will be given where appropriate. Similarly, most of the videos for this section can be found under the Paper 2 topic on the Cold War Videos and questions: CNN Cold War Series and Videos and...
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This spring, join us in SE PDX on Wednesday Nights for a fun, hands-on introduction to human-centered design!
In UX Night School's Intro Workshops, we'll learning skills and tactics for UX design and research. Then, we'll put our skills to use for good- we'll match interested students with volunteer projects with local nonprofits.
Weds 4/4- 6PM Usability and Accessibility - Planning UX Projects
Weds 4/11- 6PM- Talking to Strangers: Ethnographic Interviewing
Weds 4/18 - Break for Design Week!
Weds 4/25- 6PM - Interviewing Users and Journey Mapping
Weds 5/2 - 6PM - Designing Services and Prototyping
TBD- Volunteer Projects Work Session


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Deloitte Property Index 2015 - Overview of European residential markets
Residential property prices increase
Deloitte's Property Index, an overview of European residential markets, reveals that the residential market is gaining momentum in Europe. Prices have grown in 12 markets in 2014, compared to only 5 in 2013.
Executive summary
The newly issued publication is the fourth edition of the annual Property Index, a comparative report on residential markets and housing across Europe. It analyzes factors influencing the development of residential markets and compares residential property prices in selected European countries and cities.
REflexions issue 2 - October 2015
REflexions is a bi-annual digest, dedicated to the real estate investment management professionals, which brings you the latest articles, news and market developments from Deloitte's professionals and clients.
PDF - 7.8mb


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Manchester: Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho expressed sympathy with Manchester United counterpart Alex Ferguson after the Spanish side's controversial victory in the Champions League last 16.
Madrid came from behind to win 2-1 at Old Trafford on Tuesday and complete a 3-2 aggregate win after United winger Nani had been controversially sent off for catching Alvaro Arbeloa in the chest as he tried to control a high ball.
Ferguson shirked his media responsibilities after the match, while the home side's players walked through the mixed zone without speaking to waiting reporters.
Assistant manager Mike Phelan faced journalists in the post-match media conference and he said the home side had felt betrayed by Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir's decision to send Nani off.
"I don't think the manager is in any fit state to talk to the referee about the decision," he said.
"I think it speaks volumes that I'm here speaking to you and not the manager of this fantastic football club.
"I think we all witnessed a decision which seemed very harsh, which seemed incredible in that moment of the game."
Mourinho said United could have "no complaints" about Arbeloa's reaction to the challenge, but said he had experienced a similar situation in 2011, when Pepe was sent off in a Champions League semi-final loss to Barcelona.
"(Nani's dismissal) had the same influence as the decision two years ago to send Pepe off in the semi-final," he said.
"At this level, there's such a fine balance between such equally matched teams. Playing with one man down for such a long period is going to change a lot in the game."
Ferguson unexpectedly omitted Wayne Rooney from his starting line-up but Mourinho felt the home side's tactical set-up had been cleverly devised and said the United manager was beyond reproach.
"Sir Alex Ferguson has won the right (to pick his team) over the years," he said.
"Every decision is correct and every decision should never have a question mark in front. He's the best, he's the top, he's created an incredible history.
"You (reporter) are nobody, I am nobody, to put a question mark in front. His team was very well-organised. The defence was fantastic and I think he did a great job."
United led 1-0 through a 48th-minute Sergio Ramos own goal when Nani was sent off and Madrid took just 10 minutes to level through substitute Luka Modric, before United old boy Cristiano Ronaldo netted a 69th-minute winner.
Modric has been unable to hold down a first-team place since joining Madrid from Tottenham Hotspur last year, but Mourinho praised his impact on the game.
"I've always been justified in bringing Modric to the club," he said.
"I've always been fully convinced he's a great player and today (Tuesday) he brought something different.
"Tactically, Man United were very well set up and defended stoutly, and Modric brought a bit of speed to our play with his vertical thinking. I think he made the difference."
Mourinho conceded that he had also been indebted to second-choice goalkeeper Diego Lopez, deputising for the injured Iker Casillas, who produced a string of eye-catching saves in the closing stages as the visitors hung on.
"We couldn't control the game with possession, which frustrated me, and in that moment we had Diego Lopez who gave us victory," he said.
Phelan said United felt they "had got the tactics right" prior to Nani's dismissal, but he said rousing the club's players would not be a problem.
United lead Manchester City by 12 points in the Premier League and host Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-finals on Sunday.
"Disappointment in football is part of the game," he said.
"It's important we finish the season well. We're still in the FA Cup, we've got a great opportunity in the league, and I'm sure that'll drive the players forward in order to achieve something."


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Near-shoring and real efficiencies in the fashion cycle
There is an interesting and detailed report out today from McKinsey and Co. While it is focused on the concept and practicalities of brands and retailers bringing production closer to their main markets (essential when we only have a dozen years to save the planet) it touches on a number of reasons why AND highlights many of the practices and mindsets which make the fashion industry inefficient and wasteful. Both of which contribute to the damage we are all doing to the planet.
I could rant on about other matters here. Politics, education, rampant capitalism, etc, etc, but will stop here and instead highlight some key statements from the introduction to the report. All of which we are directly addressing with the advent of bnv.me.
I have just quoted and highlighted the points that we are DIRECTLY addressing as part of the bnv.me business model.
"Mass-market apparel brands and retailers are competing with pure-play online start-ups, the most successful of which can replicate new styles and get them to customers within weeks. Furthermore, apparel companies have lost much of their clout in setting the tone. In most mass-market categories, today's hottest trends are determined by individual influencers and consumers rather than by the marketing departments of fashion companies. Pressure on profitability due to decreasing full-price sell-through, as well as increasing concerns regarding the environmental impact of overproduction, call for agile production in smaller batch sizes and for on-demand replenishment. "
"The problem is, most of the established fashion players are burdened with slow commercial processes and legacy supply-chain and sourcing setups—and therefore struggle to keep up with more nimble competitors."
"Today, the industry is at a crossroads where speed beats marginal cost advantage and basic compliance is upgraded to an integrated sustainability strategy. The traditional supply chain setup is now challenged, and as labor costs converge, brands and retailers are starting to rethink their sourcing and production models more broadly."
"Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental impact of the traditional linear apparel production modes, and the public outcry concerning overstock liquidation is becoming louder."
"As the mass-market apparel sector is moving to a demand-focused, agile supply model—and as labor costs are rising—automation will play a key role in increasing labor efficiency, throughput, and flexibility."
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