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Gift bags made from envelopes
The event for which I needed that non-Satanic craft was this past weekend. In addition to little demon-free booklets, we also made these mini gift bags. "Baglets," as one participant christened them. (Or maybe you'd spell it "Baglette"? Looks more elegant than spelling it like "piglet." Beats me.) If you, too, would like to make Baglets out of envelopes, here's how.
Find an envelope of any size. (I embellished these by printing a label on the front of them first. You can use my design if you want; these PDFs are set up according to how my printer feeds envelopes through. If yours is different, you might need to experiment. Download the label for a small A2 envelope or a larger 6x9 envelope.)
1. After you've finished printing a design on your envelope (optional), seal it shut.
2. Cut off one end of the envelope.
3. Fold one side in toward the center (maybe about an inch or slightly less). Do the same with the other side, then fold the bottom up by the same amount, making creases in the paper.
4. Put the bag over one hand. Use your other hand to shape a flat bottom for your bag, pushing the bottom center crease downward, causing the side folds to buckle out. Crease the corners of the bottom into triangles.
5. Use a bit of double-sided tape to stick the corner triangle flaps to the bottom of the bag.
6. Reverse the folds along the sides of the bag to give it shape.
7. If you like, punch holes and thread ribbon through for a handle.
All done. You can fill your Baglets with candy for party favors or put little gifts in them.
Update: Try this envelope gift bag project with decorative masking tape.


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Sunday, June 10th, 2012Last night I went to see Primus at the Greek Theatre in LA and (because why the hell not) thought I should bike the 15 miles from home to the Greek Theatre. And back.
The trip was a pilgrimage of sorts. A music lover's visit to the Holy Lands of LA. Went past the unmarked grave of Frank Zappa, then bumped into a jolly gay event on Santa Monica blvd (everyone was fabulous), then Sunset boulevard with the Rainbow room (which on several Gun's Roses videos), Viper room, Whiskey a Go-Go (where The Doors took off), few chuckles by the Hustler store, the House of Blues, then Hollywood boulevard (partially closed because of yet another premiere with celebrities walking about the Chinese Theatre).
The trip length was off by a lot from what google maps says, so I missed the opening act (Fishbone), but was on time to enjoy Primus.
The show was great and the band is really really good. I've never listened to Primus carefully before I bought a ticket for the show but have listened to the last album "Green Naugahyde" a lot since. So I'm not very familiar with their old stuff, but I love the new album. One of the surprises (other than discovering how good the guitarist is and, of course, the bass player is totally nuts) was how the bassist plays this fast figure from "Eyes of the squirrel" and sings at the same time. I think humans need more than one brain for such independent tasks. Also funny was look of the audience, half of the dudes were copies of the bassist with big glasses, various facial hair styles and optional hat. Intellectual chic of sorts.
Anyway, enjoy some crappy photos, and, if you're curious, youtube has some videos of the memorable night.
Beverly Hills cop
And to wrap up the rock pilgrimage experience, I had an encounter with the Law. You see I was riding the bike past midnight on Sunset Blvd in the Beverly Hills part and this police car stops me (blue-red lights flashing and all). Reason is I don't have lights on the bike. The cop starts asking me questions (I think the point was to check whether I wasn't drunk or anything) like where am I going? where's home? where was I before? where do I work? I'm currently all bearded and desperately trying to grow some of what hair I have left and overall don't look very respectable. The cop asks me to sit on the sidewalk while he's requesting a check on the radio with my drivers license. Another police car comes. So there I am, sitting on the sidewalk like a real criminal (or a naughty rock star, as I would choose to remember), two police cars partially blocking Sunset boulevard, two cops around me. Fun. It was a night to remember.
As it turns out I don't have a police record, all is fine, we separate on great terms and I'm thinking: man, I should've asked to cop with the bigger car give me ride home because this bike was a little too much.

subset: commoncrawl


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The short and sweet of it is that he's doing really, really well. He's still in a nursing home and he still can't use his left arm or leg well enough to walk or otherwise fully take care of himself, but he's able to use both limbs a little bit more each and every day.
My mom and dad during our most recent family vacation. |
Anyway, how big of a deal is it that he was able to stand up on his own, you ask? Big enough that my dad's physical therapists did a little "dance of joy," according to my mom.
Sadly, I wasn't able to see any of the above in person. I'm hoping I'll be able to witness, from afar, at least some of his future "momentous occasions," though, since my mom recently picked up an iPad and has been using it--and Apple's completely fabulous FaceTime app--to make video calls to me (and to David, too, when he's not working) pretty much every other day.
Thanks again for all of your support, by the way. It's been extremely helpful and my dad, mom and I have greatly appreciated it.
UPDATE: I hate to update this post already, especially with not-so-great news, but I wrote this on Friday night and didn't expect anything negative to happen between then and now. Unfortunately, something did. Basically, my dad had to have his gall bladder removed yesterday. Thankfully, the infection that brought about its removal had nothing to do with his recent strokes. Also, he's expected to recover from the surgery and return "home" to the rehab facility fairly quickly. Anyway, here's hoping this is my dad's last step backward on his road to recovery.
See also: Previous posts about my dad


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Support dairy farmers by buying their products
STARKVILLE, Miss. -- National Dairy Month is a great time to consider the numerous health benefits dairy products provide and how supporting the industry indirectly helps a variety of people.
Data from the International Dairy Foods Association shows the dairy industry had more than 6,000 direct jobs in Mississippi in 2017. It paid more than $182 million in wages and had an economic impact of $871 million.
"Dairy farmers buy seed to grow crops to feed their cattle, support local feed cooperatives to buy feed they can't grow themselves, purchase equipment, and pay utilities and taxes. They employ farm workers, truck drivers, construction crews, retailers and factory workers," said Amanda Stone, dairy specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. "The harder-to-quantify benefit they provide is stewardship of their land to keep it in good condition for the future."
MSU Extension dairy specialist Amanda Stone explains the role diary producers play in Mississippi's economy.
Many of the state's 65 dairy farms have been in families for generations. Buying dairy products helps these businesses keep going.
"The average dairy farmer is nearing retirement age, so, although they are capable of doing many tasks after being on a farm for so long, it would be difficult to find someone to hire them," Stone said.
Another consideration for consumers is the amount of nutrition contained in just one 8-ounce cup of milk. For starters, that cup contains 8 grams of protein, which supplies energy and assists in tissue and muscle growth and repair. Other than dairy products, only meats, dried beans and soy contain this critical nutrient.
"Milk is a good recovery drink for athletes because it includes both carbohydrate and protein," said Brent Fountain, Extension nutrition specialist. "The body uses carbohydrate for energy and protein to build and repair muscles after exercising."
Dairy products, including everyday foods like cheese, ice cream and yogurt, also contain calcium, phosphorous and Vitamin D, all of which play roles in strengthening bones.
"Your bones continue to grow through your mid to late 20s, which is why it's so important for young people to consume good sources of dairy and calcium-containing foods during this crucial phase of their lives," Fountain said. "It is also important for older adults to continue to consume dairy products and spare the body's calcium stores from being used for other body processes."
That cup of milk also has riboflavin and niacin, which aid in blood flow; and potassium, which lowers blood pressure. Vitamin A contributes to skin and eye health, while Vitamin B helps convert food into energy.
Fountain recommends three servings of fat-free milk, cheese or yogurt each day. Six ounces or 3/4 cup of yogurt is considered a serving, as is 1 1/2 ounces of hard cheese.
"Nonliquid dairy products like cheese or ice cream can be good alternatives to milk for someone with lactose intolerance, because they contain much less lactose, which is the sugar found in milk," Fountain said. "When selecting your choice of dairy foods, the key is moderation and variety. Choose dairy foods that are high in calories sparingly."
Being an advocate for dairy products means supporting people who, because of price fluctuations and supply, are not profiting. They are actually paying to produce the food consumers need to survive.
"Buying dairy products will help reduce the oversupply and help get prices back to a more reasonable level. We are losing small- to medium-sized family dairy farms at an alarming rate because of the current state of the dairy industry," Stone said. "Call your legislators and tell them how important the American family farm is to you. Go visit a dairy farm and learn about what they do so you have a better understanding of the human aspect of this situation, and thank farmers for devoting their lives to feeding your family."


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We at Career & Courses provide an unmatched educational experience. Our distinguished faculty helps each student individually using their customised teaching methods. Students thrive academically in a supportive environment, which also looks out for their general well-being. At Career & Courses, we give our students individualised attention, clarity, and consideration for their requirements and talents. Our rich study materials, which include study guides and practice exams, set us apart from the competition. Here at C&C, calmness and quality coexist.
About C&C NEET Coaching in Kashinagar, 24 PGS (S)
Founded in 2018, Career & Courses is a leading NEET Coaching centre in Kashinagar, 24 PGS (S), committed to providing a residential neet coaching programme with board support to students. Recognizing the challenges aspirants face while relocating for coaching to other states like Kota, we have strategically positioned ourselves to bring top-notch residential coaching directly to our students' doorsteps.
Our expert NEET faculty, having over a decade of expertise, ensures a great environment with personalised guidance. Embracing the philosophy of "Yes, you can!", we firmly believe in channelling the full potential of every student. At Career & Courses, we transcend conventional education. We are not just shaping future doctors but fostering aspirations and sculpting promising futures.
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Remembering Saul's Drive-Time Interviews
Today would have been the legendary Saul Bass's 93rd birthday and Google Doodle has paid tribute to him on its homepage by piecing together some of his signature film title sequences – "Vertigo," "The Man with the Golden Arm," "Psycho," "Anatomy of a Murder," "West Side Story," among others.
This brought to mind my brief encounter with Saul. About two years before he died, I was assigned to interview him for an article on film title sequences. In his late 70s then, Saul had downsized his Sunset Boulevard studio maintaining what he called "a repertory group," a small core staff with additional expertise brought in on an as needed basis. At the time, he was doing a title sequence for his friend "Marty's"(Scorsese) film, and explained that at this stage in his career, he only wanted to work with "nice people who respect and like us and who we respect and admire…I don't want to deal with clients who think we're just doing a job for them. With rare exception, all our clients think we are wonderful and we think they are wonderful." From a career standpoint, that seemed to me like the ultimate luxury.


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Four Pin Plug has an exciting new app for your iPad based on the award-winning television show PICME by JAM Media.
PICME Moviebook is an enjoyable and engaging way for preschoolers to learn basic skills through imaginative play and discovery. Created with the help of educational experts to stimulate growing minds, PICME Moviebook is filled with rich blend of education and entertainment, giving children a uniquely engaging learning experience.
PICME is an award-winning children's television show, the first in the world to allow the viewers to become the star of the show. Brought to you by the producers of Cbeebies' Baby Jake and Tilly And Friends, PICME has appeared on Nick Jr in more than 40 countries.
Join the PICME character's Neville the elephant, Gerty the giraffe, Clarence the crocodile, Umi the parrot, Banjo the monkey and Juno the lion in our story where Juno gets a brand new piano. He tries to play a tune on it but he is not very good at all.
Create your Star
In a few simple steps you can personalize PICME with your child's face to transform them into a cartoon star.
Personalized Storybook
Your child is the star of their very own interactive storybook. Your preschooler will love the colourful world of PICME, packed with bright animation, bold colors and loveable characters. Touch characters to see them come to life and speak!
Read-aloud Text
The AutoRead feature allows you to choose the narrator to read aloud to your child, illuminating the words as they are pronounced.
Touch any text and the narrator will read the line.
Can you help Juno the lion learn to play 'Humpty Dumpty' by playing the piano mini-game?
2 more mini-games allow you to run through PICME land jumping to collect musical instruments, and conduct the PICME band as they perform 'Humpy Dumpty' together.
After you have read your book see your self as the star of your own 5-minute cartoon movie!


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Chavez in 2013
The biggest story at the end of 2012, which may well be the biggest Latin America story of 2013, is the Hugo Chavez saga. What a mess. From the AP:
"The president gave us precise instructions so that, after finishing the visit, we would tell the (Venezuelan) people about his current health condition," Maduro said. "President Chávez's state of health continues to be delicate, with complications that are being attended to, in a process not without risks."
So Chavez gave precise instructions not to tell the Venezuelan people anything of substance about the state of their president's health. Instead, they are told by the government that the constitution--which Chavez wrote--will not be followed.
It's no wonder, then, that Chavez specifically addressed the military from his hiding place. It is entirely possible that in a few short days, the military will be asked to accede to the government's demand that the constitution not be followed because Chavez didn't want it to be (for the relevant constitutional issues, see this previous post) because ultimately it didn't say what he really wanted it to.
If Chavez cannot be sworn in, then this boils down to the army, sadly still the last arbiter in so many Latin American countries. Cabello, not Maduro, has the military ties, but how much does that matter? Where does the institution's allegiance lie once Chavez is gone? We'll find out in 2013.
Read more...


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Phishing Scam Careerbuilder Notify Alert!
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If you come across a suspicious or questionable posting on our site, and/or an email that you've recieved, please contact Site Security.
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As one of the few Jews in my elementary school I was often called upon to explain the strange holidays that peppered the Jewish calendar. Generally I was not envied, except when it was time for Purim. Purim is sort of like Mardi Gras but with a plot line. Observing the holiday involves telling the story, making a lot of noise, eating a lot, drinking, dressing up in costume, wearing masks, dancing and merry making long into the night, etc. Where better to learn about these important traditions than in the Big Apple? Here is a selection of exciting Purim events designed for the Jew and the goy alike.
If you want to connect with Israeli pop culture go to le Poisson Rouge, where Hadag Nahash will be pouring forth their provocative political hip-hop. Check out this video for a taste:
For a more, ahem, participatory celebration, make your way out to 3rd Ward for Heeb Magazine's Pour 'em Party!
Pour 'em for Purim! Dust off your costumes, shine your dancing shoes and get ready to guzzle. Ever been caught in traffic while the Chassids of South W'burg crowd the streets in costume in February? They are celebrating Purim. When the Jews of ancient Persia avoided extinction, God commanded them to celebrate by getting so drunk they couldn't tell their friends from their enemies. Sounds good to us! Jewish or not, put on a costume and join us!
JDub Records is also throwing a Purim party, this one of the dancing variety, with excellent DJs throughout the night and $2 beers from Brooklyn Brewery to keep you moving.
As long as you have an appropriate costume in your closet, The Purim Party is free (I used to use a crocheted tablecloth as a veil when I dressed up as Queen Esther). They created this adorable poster so I trust that this party will be one of the more creative events.
I'm sure you're aware that many NY comedians are Jewish, with that understanding I'm sure you realize that there simply has to be a Purim comedy show. There is! And it's at 92Y Tribeca and features spoofs of Jersey Shore, online dating, Glenn Beck, Jay and Conan (including a very special surprise message from a Tonight Show w/Conan star), Glee, and more. Here's the promo video:
And finally, if you're still on your feet by Sunday evening check out the CRAZYKINKYPURIM Variety Show; it'll be packed with crazy comedy, sexy song and dance, and steamy burlesque acts (not for the weak of heart!). Any event thrown by KinkyJews is sure to be, umm… kinky.
Have a very happy Purim! Follow me and Miss Scorpio on twitter for the latest and be sure to sign up for the Gemini & Scorpio weekly events list if you haven't done so already.


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Civ4: BtS (33h) - 1 LAN while LoL servers were down, but I've been keen on getting Fall from Heaven II mod working in the steam version. Started a couple of games, but I'm very pleased at the moment about a Grigori campaign ona tiny map with 6 other AIs and barbarian cities. The place feels more alive right from the start.
Uplink (22h) - Whole introversion pack for $5? done! Mainly wanted to play multiwinia, but uplink downloaded first and it's been great getting back into it. More or less setup at the moment apart from a beefier system to crack LANs before being booted off.
League of Legends (15h) - Game of choice for LANs and multiplayer over the net.
Grepolis (8h) - Helped in a merc war, but an analysis of the 'fantasy of Labour' by Naomi Clark in 'Another Castle' made me sit up and take notice on what the game meant to me. Seems like showing up is all the skill you need in it too if you're not attacking or being involved in an alliance.
Puzzle Kingdoms (7h) - More fiddling around with Sandy and Cameron
For the Glory (7h) - Tinkering more, but fallen by the wayside to ffh2.
EVE (5h) - Victim of a massive steam sale.
Trackmania nations (2h) - more Cameron making maps than actively racing.
Puzzle Quest: Galactrix (1h) - Showed Ben how to win without the other player having a go. took a bit to remember the exact sequence, but managed to beat every ship he had without him getting a turn.


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My WebLink
NCC222251_General Permit and COC Renewal (2024) Email_20240423
Georgoulias, Bethany From: lase email@example.com Sent: Tuesday, April 23, 2024 8:41 PM To: firstname.lastname@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com Subject: [External] Construction Stormwater Permit Renewal Notification - NCC222251 CAUTION: External email. Do not click links or open attachments unless verified. Report suspicious emails with the Report Message button located on your Outlook menu bar on the Home tab. Dear NPDES Permittee: This is a notification to you that your Certificate of Coverage no. NCC222251 for the project 2508 Shandy Lane in New Hanover County was renewed effective 4/1/2024.You can access a copy of the DEQ renewal letter and other records for your permit at this link: https://edocs.deq.nc.gov/WaterResources/Browse.aspx?dbid=0&startid=2373839 If this project has been completed and closed out or sold to another entity, please submit a Notice of Termination (NOT) request at the link below https://edocs.deq.nc.gov/Forms/NCGO1-Termination N.C. DEMLR Stormwater Program has renewed General Permit NCG010000, under which the subject project is covered. This permit is reissued pursuant to the requirements of North Carolina General Statute 143-215. 1 and the Memorandum of Agreement between the state of North Carolina and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, dated October 15, 2007 (or as subsequently amended). The Draft General Permit was posted for public comment from February 13, 2024, to March 25, 2024. The new General Permit became effective on April 1, 2024. The General Permit authorizes discharges of stormwater, and it specifies your obligations for discharge controls, management, monitoring, and record keeping. Please review the new NCG010000 permit to familiarize yourself with the changes in the reissued permit. In addition, please see the Construction Stormwater web page (https://www.deq.nc.gov/ncg01) to view the summary of changes from the previous permit to the current permit document and the Responses to Comments document. The more significant changes in the General Permit since your last Certificate of Coverage (COC)was issued are noted in the Draft Permit Fact Sheet that accompanied the public notice posted on the Stormwater Permitting Unit's website with the new General Permit (https://www.deq.nc.gov/stormwaternotices). Permit COCs with no outstanding fees were automatically renewed. However, a new COC will not be generated.This letter serves as notification that the permittee's COC has been renewed and maintains coverage under the current General Permit. If the renewal date above reflects a date later than April 1, it was renewed upon payment of an owed fee. Please note that the process by which applicants obtain coverage under the NCG010000 will change during this next permit cycle. The application process will be combined with the Erosion and Sedimentation Control plan submittal for projects reviewed by NCDEQ. This combined process should allow for a more efficient permitting experience in the future. 1 If you have questions, please contact Paul Clark at firstname.lastname@example.com. Sincerely, Michael Lawyer, Stormwater Program Supervisor Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources 2


text: NS-045 Blue Moon is a favorite striking color in the Northstar palette. When worked in an oxidizing flame Blue Moon yields bright metallic blues. When worked in a neutral flame it yields bright hazy greens. When worked in a heavily reducing flame Blue Moon produces a nice ash gray. It is well suited for stringer application, blown work, and sculpture. Be sure to try encasing NS-045 Blue Moon with clear or NS-009 Yellow for great effects.


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The Body Issue: In Depth
- Notes from the Frontlines of Bringing Up Girls
- Share
Notes from the Frontlines of Bringing Up Girls
What I really want to tell my daughters about autonomy and sex, in the midst of a war on women.
The other day I found myself telling my two daughters, 16 and 14, "Don't have sex until you're in your 20s—but here are some condoms!"
I'm not sure if there is a better example of sending mixed messages.
Let me explain. I had just discovered that my eldest daughter spent the night with her boyfriend. And though I believe that sex is powerful and beautiful and a profound ritual for entering adulthood, I am still a dad, worried about her well-being. I worry if I've provided her with enough information, worry about social pressures she may be under, worry about shame, STDs, pregnancy. But I am also hopeful, happy to be there for her as she becomes an adult, someone she knows she can depend on. For these reasons, I have consistently brought up sex with my girls, and I have consistently been rebuffed, their stares punctuated with rolling eyes or sighs of exhaustion. "Dad, please."
I don't let it stop me. I know they don't want to confide in me, and I actually cringe at the thought of what they might say if they did. But I want to approach the discussion of their bodies, their rights, differently than the terse warnings I received from my own father on the subject of sex. ("Just keep your dick in your pants," he said.)
However, although I broach the subject with my daughters any chance I get, we don't actually talk as directly as I'd like. So I find myself offering platitudes like: "Remember, please remember, you can always stop. You can always say no, even after you're in the car, in the room, out of your clothes, in the bed. No means no. Stop means stop." And I believe it is important for me to voice these truths about a woman's right to be in control of her actions, but I wish there was more I could do as a male ally and, perhaps more importantly, as a father.
I like to think that fathering made me a feminist. There was a war on women back when, as a college student, I welcomed my son into the world in 1990. At that time the war was aimed at "welfare mothers," the media-created monster blamed for all of society's ills. When my newborn son's mom applied for welfare, I was served papers by Santa Barbara County, officially notifying me that I must "provide" for my child. I suppose they assumed I was just another part of the problem, a drain on the economy, young, unmarried, breeding. The irony of course was that I was rocking my son in my arms and cleaning up the house when the cop knocked. He stood there, scolding me that I should be out getting a job. I said nothing in response. At 21, I was afraid of his power and authority. "Okay," I said, shutting the door.
But I was incredibly angry. My girlfriend and I were both full-time students. We both had part-time jobs. We took turns doing what needed to get done. We switched it up when one of us got tired of, say, balancing the checkbook (or more likely made too many mistakes). We argued and fought, but loved and spent a lot of time focusing on what was important: our son. We sacrificed our autonomy and our freedom to participate in things other 20-year-olds were doing. We were a tight fist of domesticity.
We were also, I see now, a case study, a living example of the difficulties that society stacks against poor families.
We struggled with the decision to send our 6-week-old child to an unlicensed childcare center. The woman who ran it clearly had too many children to handle on her own. But we had no other choice—she was all we could afford. Ironically, as I walked up to her doorstep to drop off my boy, she'd tell me I was carrying him wrong. Time went on, but the attitudes toward men as parents never changed.
On weekends, I would bike around Santa Barbara with my son, letting his mother sleep because she was out till 2 a.m. selling roses to partiers at the bars along State Street. Of course, I admit that balancing a year-old baby on my handlebars, sans helmet, was not the smartest move a father could make. But the number of times I was told that I couldn't parent were infuriating. I was told that I hadn't dressed my son properly, or that I knew nothing about his well being, or that I would hurt him or drop him, which I sometimes did, but not because I was a man.
I took him to classes with me during my first year of studying American Literature at UC-Santa Barbara, not to prove a point about young parents, but because I had no other child care and many of my teachers made no exceptions for spotty attendance.
I remember having to change my child on one teacher's desk after class, her body recoiling, her face full of disdain; it was one of the proudest moments of my life. I didn't then see the irony of being so unwelcome with a child in that space.
Instead, I apologized, afraid I was being disrespectful. I thought of my mother ten years earlier, telling me, a 12-year-old, to stay in the car and watch my brothers while she ran in to take her final exam and complete the program she was enrolled in at the community college.
I realized then the strength she must have needed to continue her studies and persist despite the intense judgment society throws at parents, particularly single moms on welfare, which she was at that time.
She was a fighter too, I realize, and this war never seems to end.
Now, in an attempt to provide positive examples of responsibility and body image to my younger kids, I've looked around to see what's out there for them. Other than a few notable exceptions (young feminists like zinester Cristy C. Road and the writers on websites like Feminist Frequency) I've discovered a surprising effort to disempower women from owning and controlling their own bodies.
Widespread War
on Reproductive Rights
National polls show that most of the public supports birth control and abortion rights. So what's with the trend of trying to limit them?
I read on Jezebel.com that there were 1,100 reproductive-rights-related laws introduced by state lawmakers in 2011. Another 604 had been introduced at the state level as of June 1 of this year. Most of them aimed at controlling women's choices, their bodies, and/or access to information. Many of them written by men.
Jezebel goes on to address inequalities in pay, health care expenses, and domestic violence. It also shows how it is even worse for women of color.
I fear for my daughters.
As I watch my eldest and her boyfriend lounging on the couch, cuddling, learning to love each other, I wonder what things will be like when they become parents, what the front lines of this war will be then. I wonder how I can help them prepare.
I am committed to seeing my daughters as individual people, not limited to their gender, but not disconnected from it either. This is tough. I seek to respect my children's autonomy and privacy, to trust their power and to keep talking with them, even when it makes all of us uncomfortable.
- Am I man enough? Am I powerful enough? Men put their bodies at risk to cover up pain, fear, and vulnerability.
How can we break the silence about what happens when we're dying?- The "Vagina Monologues" author on why knowing your body can shake up the world.


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"I firmly believe that if you had offshore drilling provisions, you would get more votes because people would see energy independence being achieved, and they would tolerate an emission control bill," Graham said. "You don't have to believe in climate change to vote for the bill I'm talking about. You just have to believe that controlling carbon is the way to get to energy independence."All who believe that offshore drilling is relevant to energy independence please raise your hands? The article explains that:
The specifics of Graham's plan would allow for "environmentally responsible" offshore drilling, revenues of which would be split between states as well as the federal government, the latter of which would use the revenue to reinvest in clean technology.
Graham was not specific as to how his plan would specifically regulate carbon emissions.


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Men's Denim
STEP 1: Use these designs for inspiration and as a guide to estimate cost. You can also send us a picture of any garment you wish to have copied and we can quote this separately.
STEP 2: Once you have an idea of what you want to create, please book an appointment for a fitting. If you live/work within 20kms of Adelaide CBD, we can visit your place of work or residence. Alternately, you may choose to come to us at 18 Union Street, Adelaide.
NOTE: We only charge a fee for appointments where we come to you. If you choose to come to the store, your appointment is complimentary. Any booking fee is redeemable in products.
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I'm sitting at my desk in my study with a cup of coffee, catching my breath for a moment while Dingo has his morning nap on his bed at my feet.
My new book, "Blue Plate Special," an autobiographical account of my life in food, is, as of yesterday, finished, edited, copyedited, and off to production; I'm hard at work on a second nonfiction book, the co-written memoir of a brilliant, fantastic female chef; and my next novel is hovering in the wings, under contract and 15,000 words in, waiting for me to return to it.
Meanwhile, our entire kitchen and dining room have recently been gut-demolished down to the joists and beams and brick. I can hear the contractor's guys banging away down there, taking down the old posts from the wall that separated the dining room from the kitchen. We're planning to make it all one big room so we can talk to guests at the table in the dining room while we cook. We're putting a gas insert into the small dining room fireplace; we've always wanted to be able to have a fireplace in the kitchen, but this is close enough.
We sold the old, clinical melamine cabinets, the cold-as-tombstones granite countertops, and less than stellar appliances on Craigslist; people came and carted them away and gave us money for them, which struck us as a great deal. In their place will be wood and copper and butcher block and tile. Brendan found a hardworking, straight-talking guy up in Poland Spring who takes barely-used appliances out of rich people's summer houses when they trade up for new ones; he resells them on consignment out of his barn for a fraction of what they would cost new. Later on today, he's delivering our new butter-yellow Viking stove with gas burners and electric oven, plus a Bosch dishwasher whose didactic beeping thing he's dismantled for us, and he's keeping his eye out for a stainless steel Viking fridge with a bottom freezer drawer.
We've both been working (which is to say, writing) ourselves into puddles of melted butter to be able to pay for all this. Brendan has even more projects afoot right now than I do; we're both a little dazed and burned out, but we have no regrets, at least no big ones. Buying an old house is exciting but daunting and something of a lifetime commitment, although my mother has assured me that it won't always feel quite so overwhelming.
When we first walked into this house in October of 2011, we were struck with starry-eyed wonderment at its beauty and elegance. It wasn't for sale; the downstairs apartment was for rent, but Brendan, who had found the listing, insisted that we go and see it anyway, on a hunch. We'd already looked at twelve other houses in Portland, and none of them was quite right.
"We can't afford this place," I said sadly, dazzled by the original plasterwork, the white fireplace mantles with decorative carving, the tall, graceful staircase. "There's no way they'd sell it to us even if we could."
Thanks to Brendan's persistence, it turned out that the owners did want to sell, after all, and their asking price happened to be exactly the outer limit of what we could afford. Reader, we bought it.
Our tall Italianate brick house survived the 1866 Great Fire in Portland; we're not sure what year it was built, but this much we do know. It has changed hands many, many times. Prior owners include several old, established New England families. In the 1920s, it was owned by a woman named Jennie Stein. It was a boys' school for a while and later a Goodwill House for adults with Down syndrome; at some point, a sprinkler system was installed and the downstairs bathroom was made wheelchair-accessible.
By the time we bought the house, its decor was a sad testament to bad 1990s taste. The instant we had the deed in hand, we ripped out the shiny cockroach-colored Brazilian cherry from the foyer, kitchen, and dining room, and the ugly stained tan wall-to-wall carpeting upstairs and on the staircase. Under about four more layers – of linoleum and tar, cheap birch tongue-and-groove, and plywood – was the original pine and hemlock subfloor, beautiful, strong planks we had sanded and polyurethaned.
We found an awesome contractor who built window seats and cupboards and bookshelves in the two rooms upstairs. We found a clawfoot tub in the basement; he installed it in our bedroom. He also took out the yuppie upstairs bathroom with its MRI-like shower and horrible blue tile floor and enormous fall-of-Rome sink and put in an old-fashioned bowl sink set into a maple counter, a tiled shower, and a pine and hemlock floor. And he painted over the terrible institutional cold sky blue on every wall in the house: forest green in the study; deep blue in the bedroom; warm gold in the parlors; and warm off-whites in the foyer and staircase and hall.
Somewhere along the way, many decades ago, the house was divided into two apartments. We live in the first floor and front half of the second floor and rent out the back half of the second floor and entire third floor to the most excellent tenants in the history of the universe, a young couple whose presence in the house, along with their young female mutt, Tug, Dingo's pal, makes it feel warm and happy and alive. Often I hear faint laughter and music from their half of the house and Tug's racing paws upstairs.
This house was designed in a long-ago era of sweetness and light. The ceilings are very high, even on the second floor; the light-filled double front parlors have floor-to-ceiling bay windows and little fireplaces with tiled hearths and beveled mirrors over the mantles. We've half-jokingly nicknamed the place the Yankee Palazzo, because we feel like New England dukes in here.
Maybe we're superstitious, but the place feels animate and sentient to us. And it seems to us that the house is extremely happy with its makeover – despite all the dust and noise and upheaval, the air feels even sweeter and lighter in here than when we bought it.
Demolition Kitchen breakfast
The contents of our kitchen now sit in boxes on a moving blanket on the living room floor and are also piled on one of the couches and the table in the bay window. We have nothing to cook with but a toaster oven and an electric kettle. For a fridge, we're using our unheated entryway, the tiny tiled space between the two front doors. We wash our cups and plates and silverware in the downstairs bathroom sink, which clogs easily.
Toast two pieces of Canyon Bakehouse multigrain gluten-free bread in the toaster oven. Slather crunchy peanut butter on one slice and drizzle honey over it. Slap the other piece on top. Eat on a paper plate to catch the melted honey.


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TechQual+ Survey at UCL
By Moira Wright, on 13 October 2017
In early 2016, ISD (Information Services Division) carried out the first Staff and Student IT Survey using TechQual+. Over 1,000 of you completed the survey, and over the past 16 months we have been working hard to improve our services in response to your comments.
Below are just a few examples of changes that have been made as a result of the feedback received from the TechQual+ survey run in 2016:
A substantial investment in replacing and upgrading our Wi-Fi technology infrastructure
Service Desk
We've invested in staffing, tools and training to speed up response times and improve quality.
We've partnered with an external organisation and altered shift patterns to provide additional out of hours' support.
We've rolled out 170+ additional printers over the past 18 months, targeting the busiest areas. This takes the current total to 660 printers. In areas of high usage, we've introduced new high capacity printers.
We have invested in storage and now all staff and students can store 100GB for free.
We are continuing to invest in additional cluster PCs, and loan laptops where there isn't space for desktops. We added a further 550 desktops and 60 laptops by September 2017.
We operate one of the largest laptop loan services across UK universities – 266 laptops across 12 locations – and this year a further 60 laptops were added.
We delivered 221 courses last academic year, that's nearly 1000 hours of training with about 3000 people attending. We are working hard to publicise the courses we offer.
Audio Visual
In 2016 ISD invested £2.5m into improving the technology in teaching facilities. Approximately 70 centrally bookable spaces had their facilities updated; this included bringing 43 spaces in 20 Bedford Way up to the standard spec including installation of Lecturecast in approx. 30 spaces. Lecturecast was also installed at 22 Gordon Street and Canary Wharf (3 spaces each). We also refreshed the Lecturecast hardware in 12 rooms.
Based on the findings of focus groups at participating institutions, the TechQual+ project has articulated a set of generalised IT service outcomes that are expected of IT organizations by faculty, students, and staff within higher education. The TechQual+ core survey contains 13 items designed to measure the performance of the following three core commitments: 1) Connectivity and Access, 2)Technology and Collaboration Services, and 3) Support and Training.
The TechQual+ survey will be run again at UCL in December 2017 and we'll be asking for your help to advertise it to your students, encouraging them (and you!) to complete it. All respondents will be entered into a prize draw with a chance to win some great prizes!
We'll be providing more information and communications about the survey closer to the opening date.


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Need help with a health and safety matter in order to comply with an industry that seems to enjoy puzzling everyone?
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Surfside Florida
- Major Airports:
- Miami (MIA)
- Fort Lauderdale (FLL)
- States:
- Florida
Small-town charm near big-city Miami
Surfside's serene beaches run from Bal Harbour to North Beach, between 96th Street and 87th Terrace. Nearly two kilometers of uninterrupted shore and a picture-perfect backdrop of the turquoise-blue Atlantic Ocean can be enjoyed any day of the week.
To thoroughly enjoy this leisurely town, you can rent a bike at the designated Deco Bike stations and take the beach route, which showcases waterfront residential buildings, the town's community center, the chic Grand Beach Hotel as well as luxury condominiums, the Four Seasons Hotel at The Surf Club, and The Fendi Chateau.
When Surfside incorporated in 1935, it consisted of 50 residents and is currently inching near the 6,000 mark. Surfside is special because it still overflows with charm. The business district gives an air of a small-town main street with residential Art Deco-style houses on streets named after famous writers and poets: Abbott, Byron, Carlyle and Dickens.
Just steps away from the ocean, a brisk walk can be enjoyed on the palm tree-lined Harding Avenue, the town's shopping and dining district. You will find unique and independently owned sidewalk cafes serving international to traditional American cuisine. In recent years, Surfside has grown to become known for its generous representation of kosher food options. Selections vary and include upscale kosher Italian, barbecue, sushi and a kosher cholov Yisroel-inspired pizzeria with an ice cream and pastry shop. A kosher supermarket specializes in Shabbat feasts.
Shopping on Harding Avenue is also diverse. You'll find flower shops, eyewear boutiques, high-end fashion and fabric stores, chain stores like Starbucks, Jean Claude Biguine salon, banks and other convenient amenities and services.
While visiting Surfside during the winter months, you can catch Third Thursdays, an evening block party on the third Thursday of the month from January through April. In addition to live entertainment, the party offers a variety of food trucks alongside 95th Street between Collins and Harding avenues, adjacent to Surfside's main shopping and dining corridor.
A couple of blocks south on 93rd Street between Collins and Harding lies the Tales of the Surfside Turtle Art Walk, the town's Art in Public Places initiative where local artists created turtle sculptures to bring awareness to the loggerhead turtles that come to nest in Surfside.
The town is steadily growing and becoming more inviting to visitors who want to enjoy a town that provides easy accessibility for shopping, dining or just spending the day at the beach. It's a safe family environment where one can reconnect to all that really matters.
Fun Fact
In the 1920s, before it became a town, Surfside was named "Normandy Beach" by the Frenchman who owned most of the area.


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Sizzling hot male strippers in Henley on Thames. (not where you are? Click here to try again.)
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I read an article recently that I found very interesting, and so I wanted to share it! It's from popsugar.com. Binge Eating DisorderAlthough binge eating disorder affects more people than anorexia and bulimia combined, it was only recently recognized by health experts. Our friends at Self are here to explain the facts behind binge eating disorder. If you think that you or someone you know may be suffering from an eating disorder, refer to the support links to at the end of this article and take NEDA's Online Eating Disorder Screen. Hearing the words eating disorder, most people automatically think of anorexia and bulimia. But actually neither of these is the most common eating disorder people struggle with. For years, there were essentially three buckets into which eating disorders were grouped: the two we've all heard of, and, well, everything else. If you were dealing with something that was neither anorexia nor bulimia, it was usually referred to as either "eating disorder not otherwise specified" or "other specified feeding or eating disorder." But these catch-all designations are falling out of favor with experts who know that within them, there are more accurate diagnoses that could actually describe what people are experiencing — we just don't know what to call them yet. About three years ago, one particular diagnosis was plucked out of the muddle of EDNOS and OSFED, and today it is considered the most common eating disorder in the U.S. (At least, the most common one that actually has a name.) Known as binge eating disorder, the condition affects 3 to 5 percent of women, which is about 5 million sufferers nationwide. In comparison, up to 1 percent of women have anorexia, and 1 to 2 percent are afflicted with bulimia, according to the National Eating Disorders Foundation. And it's estimated that 57 percent of people with binge eating disorder never receive treatment. Here are nine important facts you need to know about binge eating disorder, including how to recognize signs of it in yourself and loved ones, and what to do if you think there's a problem. 1. Binge eating disorder is more than just eating too much food Insatiable cravings that lead to eating large amounts of food, often quickly and to the point of physical pain, and followed by intense shame and self-loathing, characterize binge eating disorder, says Kathleen Murphy, licensed professional counselor and clinical director atBreathe Life Healing Centers, where the Breakfree at Breathe program specializes in treating binge eating disorder. Unlike bulimics, who also binge, those with binge eating disorder don't purge afterward. Since most sufferers feel so ashamed, they often eat alone or in secret. The ensuing emotional distress affects work, school and personal relationships. 2. Unlike other eating disorders, nearly as many men get it as women While binge eating disorder does affect more women, who make up 60 percent of patients, men account for a significant 40 percent of cases. "We often see that binge eating disorder in women is more likely to occur in early adulthood, while it frequently occurs mid-life for men," says Murphy. Caucasian, Hispanic and African American populations are equally impacted, causing many experts to call it an "equal opportunity" disorder. Up to 1.6 percent of adolescents of both genders suffer from binge eating disorder, though individuals who seek treatment for binge eating disorder are often older than those who suffer from bulimia and anorexia, says Murphy. 3. Binge eating disorder was only recently recognized as a disorder In 2013, binge eating disorder was finally categorized as a recognizable and treatable diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) produced by the American Psychiatric Association. This was incredibly important to the treatment of the disease, since a diagnosis that can be documented leads to greater access to care for sufferers. For example, most health insurance companies won't provide coverage for mental illness treatments that don't have an officially recognized DSM-5 diagnosis. Since it's now listed as a disorder, many insurance plans cover treatment. 4. Binge eating disorder is a habitual eating pattern, not something you do once or twice a year Who hasn't overeaten and felt guilty after an indulgent holiday like Thanksgiving or an all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch? Binge eating disorder is not occasional overeating, however. "Episodes must take place at least once a week over a period of at least three months," explains Murphy. Additionally, binge eating disorder is marked by a considerable amount of distress and a deep feeling of shame over the eating behavior. The overeating-guilt pattern is a vicious cycle that makes people feel completely out of control. 5. Emotion — not hunger — is what appears to be the driving force behind binge eating disorder The disorder is still newly classified, so research is underway and all of the causes of binge eating disorder aren't known just yet. However, there are correlations between binge eating disorder and different manifestations of sadness and emotional stress. "The most common trigger for an episode is feeling badly or depressed," says Murphy. This could be due to relationship and work problems, stress from battling weight fluctuations and body image issues, feelings of loneliness, and even boredom. 6. Certain personality types are more prone to the disorder High risk factors for having an eating disorder, including binge eating disorder, have been identified by scientists. Personalities that are inclined toward perfectionism, difficulties regulating emotion, having a rigid thinking style (like there is only one way to do things), and stress eating, are all more likely to fall victim. Those who suffer from anxiety or low self-esteem, or harbour obsessive-compulsive tendencies, are all more likely to have binge eating disorder too, says Murphy. 7. There's a genetic predisposition to binge eating disorder A close family history of depression or addiction — whether to drugs, alcohol or painkillers — has been shown to coincide with eating disorders, including binge eating disorder (though binge eating disorder itself is not classified as an addiction). Those with genetic conditions such as celiac disease and Crohn's, which require restricted eating regimes, have been shown to be more prone to developing binge eating disorder, Murphy says, though no actual genetic link between the two has been found. 8. Not all people with binge eating disorder are overweight While many binge eating disorder patients are overweight, you can be of normal weight while suffering from the disorder. "It's interesting to note that most obese people don't engage in recurrent binge eating episodes," says Murphy. Experts say giant portions, a diet high in factors like calories, saturated fat and fast foods, as well as a sedentary lifestyle all contribute to obesity much more so than the loss-of-control binge eating episodes that characterize binge eating disorder. 9. You have a better chance of recovering from binge eating disorder than other eating disorders Prognosis for treatment is very positive — remission rates are higher in binge eating disorder treatment outcomes than in bulimia or anorexia, says Murphy. Careful attention to structure and emotional health are still essential to successful long-term self-care. Sufferers know theyshouldn't binge, but the frustration and struggle occurs when that knowledge seems to fly out the window during triggering moments when all they want to do is eat, says Murphy. Most binge eating disorder treatment programs include a combination of methods such as psychotherapy, support groups, nutrition counselling, and even alternative therapies like mindfulness and yoga. If you or someone you know is suffering from binge eating disorder or another eating disorder, here are some helpful resources to learn more and find help: Binge Eating Disorder Association Provider Directory National Eating Disorders Association resource links and help and support, or call the toll-free, confidential helpline at 1-800-931-2237 The Alliance For Eating Disorders Awareness Leave a Reply. |
It's Me, Amy-Lyn!Welcome to my Categories
March 2018


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Millennials are ready to purchase homes finally; after 10 years of declining numbers according to a University of Southern California study. This is fantastic news for the housing market and fantastic news for millennials as they shift from renting to owning. A certain shift from 2014 when Pew research reported that for the first time in 130 years, individuals between the ages of 25-44 were more likely to be living with their parents vs. owning a home.
One of the stunning statistics I came across reading a Bank of America study was total lack of understanding of what is actually available to millennials; their perceptions of what it took to own a home was incredible; here's what it showed:
-30% of millennials believed they need 20% down to get a mortgage
-31% believed they needed 10% down
-Only 5% believed they needed 5%
-6% were simply unsure
That represents 72% of all millennials! Yet most millennials that do in fact obtain a mortgage pay around 3%!
Until recent times, the factors that contributed to both the realities as well as poor perceptions of one's ability to own a home were:
- Increase in Debt
- Unemployment rate
- Increase in rental costs leading to decrease in ability to save for a down payment
- Credit requirements after the mortgage meltdown
- Lower inventory of starter homes
- Getting married later- lack of dual incomes to go on mortgage
As I wrote in a prior blog, times are changing for the good. It's amazing what a positive outlook does for politicians, investors/Wallstreet, business owners and of course, the stock market. Low down and no down payment mortgages are truly helping millennials obtain their goals
My advice to the millennials is simple: roll up your sleeves, get with someone that truly knows what they are talking about and define your point "A". Meaning, if you want to own a home, don't be embarrassed about anything: what your bank account says, what your credit score is or what limitations you think you might have. It's important to get it all out on paper; some may find themselves in their own home right away, some very soon and for the rest, they are left with a clear path to point "B", an exact game plan.
Next week I will reviewing interest rates and inventory; thanks for reading!


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Do We Know Why Some People Feel 'Less Stressed' Than Others Or Just Cope Better With Stress?
Dr. Redford Williams answers the question: 'Why Do Some Feel 'Less Stressed'?'
— -- Question: Do we know why some people feel 'less stressed' than others or just cope better with stress?
Answer: Some people seem to be resistant to stress, whereas others are much more sensitive to stress. At one level, we can look at this at the level of personality. Some of us have a personality which doesn't experience negative emotions like anxiety, fear, anger, sadness as much as others when bad things are happening. Others of us have a personality which means that we're very sensitive to experience those emotions when bad things are happening. So there's a personality predisposition to be either stress-prone or stress-resistant.
Other people have had life experiences which tend to make them more resistant to stress. People who in childhood have had a nurturing environment, who've had parents who positively reinforce them and don't use much punishment can be resistant to stress. On the other hand, people who've undergone a lot of stressful situations when they were children ranging up to, of course, outright abuse and neglect. Those people are much more sensitive to stress -- they're much more likely to engage in maladaptive behaviors when they experience stress later in life.
Next: Are There Any Genetic Factors That May Enhance Or Reduce Our Response To Stress?
Previous: Are Certain Kinds Of People More Likely To Deal With Stress Better Than Others?


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PETER HITCHENS: What will women gain from all this squawking about sex pests? A niqab
This is Peter Hitchens's Mail on Sunday column
Behold my proposed new autumn look for women in politics. The black, I think, is flattering and it radiates an air of cool unapproachability. No Minister would put his hand on the knee of anyone dressed like this; indeed, he'd have trouble finding her knee, or anything else
Well, isn't this what you want, all you squawking flapping denouncers of groping men and 'inappropriate' jokes?
You have lots in common with Militant Islamists on this subject. They, too, believe that all men must be assumed to be slavering predators.
And these beliefs lie behind the severe dress codes and sexual segregation which modern liberals claim to find so shocking about Islam.
Yet on this, it turns out that you agree with them. Any male action, any form of words you choose to disapprove of can and will be presumed to be guilty because, well, men are like that. The culprit will be ruined for ever.
Are you all off your heads? Do you have no sense of proportion?
The country is in the midst of its biggest constitutional crisis for a century, and wobbling on the precipice of bankruptcy.
The welfare system is about to melt down. And you think the most important thing in your lives is a hunt for long-ago cases of wandering hands, or tellers of coarse jokes? Yes, you do.
You have lost all touch with reality, and future generations will laugh at you. Alas, you are in charge now.
Take this, for example: Michael Fallon was one of the worst Defence Secretaries in history.
The Army is a skeleton, the Navy dead in the water, largely motionless and stripped of its most basic capacities.
The former head of the Navy, Lord West, is reduced to writing to the newspapers to try to point out the dangers, because nobody will listen.
But was Mr Fallon made to quit over that? No. Neither the political class nor their pals in the media class care about such things. He was driven from office because he is alleged not to be safe in mixed company.
In a way, this is very old-fashioned. Personally, I am a Victorian prude, though I try to keep it under control. I am still secretly shocked by coarse words, especially used in front of women or children.
I am dismayed to see on public display, on TV and in the street, and in normal conversation, things and events which would once only have been available to shamefully seedy men in shady back-street shops. I don't want to watch other people having sex.
I also experienced the 1960s and their aftermath, and saw the dreadful, often tragic things that happen when men and women abandon the old rules of fidelity and constancy, and wrongly imagine that total freedom leads to total happiness.
Since then, I haven't been able to see why the wonderful new equality between men and women, which is one of the great changes for the better in our age, had to be mixed up with the militant destruction of marriage and the traditional family. I still don't.
But many of those who claim to seek female equality have another, much fiercer objective. They actually see men as the enemy, the 'patriarchy', to be overthrown by all means necessary, and replaced by a feminised society. They also see marriage as a machine for oppressing women. Their objectives moved a lot closer last week.
This is why many of those who said they wanted equality also sneered at restraint and manners. They claim now that they want the restraint and the manners back (though the suspicion lingers that much of the current fuss is aimed mainly at making all men look wicked and grubby).
But where are such restrained manners to come from in our liberated society? They were part of an elaborate code of courtship and respect which was learned by example in the married family, and has now completely vanished. In our post-marriage free-for-all, why should we expect either sex to be restrained? All that's left is the police or the public pillory of Twitter.
It was that old code which allowed us, unlike the Islamic world, to permit the happy mixing of men and women without black shrouds, veils and 'no-touching' rules so strict that they even rule out a male-female handshake.
Now it's gone, what are we to do instead? I am angered by the public denunciations now taking place, not because I believe or disbelieve them (how can we know?) but because they make trust impossible.
Andrea Leadsom, whose own bid for the Tory leadership was destroyed by what I still think was the unfair twisting of her words, should know better than to engage in such things.
Wise men at Westminster will in future go about with chaperones, record and film all conversations with the opposite sex, require women to sign consent forms before meeting them, and certificates of good conduct afterwards. Nothing else will keep them safe from claims that they momentarily applied 'a fleeting hand' to someone's knee.
Or there is always the other solution, the niqab, the burka and the segregation of the sexes. But sanity, the best remedy of all, is obviously unlikely to return any time in the near future.
There are REAL laws against smoking... maybe that's why kids switch to drugs
In secondary schools, illegal drug abuse is now more common than cigarette-smoking. Could this have something to do with the fact that the police (busy painting their nails) long ago stopped enforcing the law against drug possession?
And could it be connected with the generally defeatist 'they'll do it anyway' attitude of schools and the media towards drugs?
By contrast, the Government tries quite hard to discourage cigarette-smoking, and uses the law to ban it in many public places.
Meanwhile, more bad news for the 'marijuana makes you nice and peaceful' lobby. The disgusting, callous killer Ryan Gibbons, who twice ran over ex-Naval officer Mike Samwell with his own car in front of his wife, was revealed in his trial to be a cannabis user.
Eventually the facts may just undermine the billionaire PR campaign being run to portray this nasty drug as safe and good.
I refuse to watch The Crown, the Netflix series about the Queen, no matter how many friends tell me it is marvellous.
I suspect it is intended to damage the monarchy, and will grow nastier and more hostile as it continues.
My belief was greatly strengthened when its writer, Peter Morgan, publicly called the Queen 'a woman of limited intelligence'.
I wonder what gives Mr Morgan, a fashionable republican, and so by definition not very bright, the authority to make judgments on Her Majesty's IQ.
On a former council estate in the Thames Valley, I saw this rather desperate little poster stuck to a front door, and wondered what tale of persecution and plain fear, at the hands of callous youths, lay behind it.
Is it too late to stop the encouragement of the American Halloween in this country? For many it is a night of misery.
If you want to comment on Peter Hitchens, click on Comments and scroll down


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Connectivity the Key to Unlocking Creativity
Editorial in MetalForming Magazine
By: Brad Kuvin
Tuesday, December 01, 2015
Intra-machine connectivity—where pieces of manufacturing equipment communicate amongst each other and can adjust, without human assistance, to changing conditions —has become reality. Case in point: Mazak, which has brought the Internet of Things to its factory in Florence, KY, and is ready to share its good fortunes with the manufacturing community it serves.
We caught a look at Mazak's "smart factory" loaded with "smart machines" during its recent Discover 2015 technology/education event. There, through its partnerships with industry suppliers Memex (Merlin software) and Cisco (a secure networking platform), Mazak introduced its new SmartBox device. When mounted to a machine tool, the device uses the MTConnect communication protocol to enable enhanced monitoring and analytics, with state-of-the-art cybersecurity. For analytics, SmartBox, because it is a completely open standard, works in conjunction with numerous third-party analytical software platforms. Within its own manufacturing operations, Mazak opts for the Memex solution.
This concept elevates lean manufacturing to a whole new level. Mazak demonstrated the new digital-manufacturing strategy, dubbed the iSmart factory, on an automated four-machine cell. iSmart provides plant management with real-time visibility and insights into factory-floor operations. And, third-party personnel (your equipment supplier, for example) can securely log on to your network and access the data, too.
The impact of such grandiose connectivity and information flow reaches as far as the imagination can take it. Within the Mazak facility in Florence, plant management boasts of double-digit increases in machine utilization after using SmartBox devices for a little more than a year. That's the low-hanging fruit, we're told; continued significant operating efficiencies remain in play.
Lean machines are coming, and they can't get here too quickly. I recently heard consultant Dick Kallage (KDC & Associates, Barrington, IL) spring this zinger on metalforming executives: The number of people required to operate a $10 million metal-fabricating shop will drop by 20 to 25 percent by 2020, and by 65 to 75 percent by 2025.
Yes, the "horsepower race" will continue, with equipment suppliers providing more power, workpiece capacity and operating speed than ever before. However, pay very close attention to intra-machine communication that promotes efficiency throughout the manufacturing process. This is where metalformers can make enormous progress in their efforts to eliminate waste.


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Welcome to Scalar
Introducing Scalar
Born-digital, open source, media-rich scholarly publishing that's as easy as blogging.
Scalar is a free, open source authoring and publishing platform that's designed to make it easy for authors to write long-form, born-digital scholarship online. Scalar enables users to assemble media from multiple sources and juxtapose them with their own writing in a variety of ways, with minimal technical expertise required.
More fundamentally, Scalar is a semantic web authoring tool that brings a considered balance between standardization and structural flexibility to all kinds of material. It includes a built-in reading interface as well as an API that enables Scalar content to be used to drive custom-designed applications. If you're dealing with small to moderate amounts of structured content and need a lightweight platform that encourages improvisation with your data model, Scalar may be the right solution for you.
Scalar also gives authors tools to structure essay- and book-length works in ways that take advantage of the unique capabilities of digital writing, including nested, recursive, and non-linear formats. The platform also supports collaborative authoring and reader commentary. The ANVC's partner presses and archives are now beginning to implement Scalar into their research and publishing workflows, and several projects leveraging the platform have been published already.
Scalar is a project of the Alliance for Networking Visual Culture (ANVC) in association with Vectors and IML, and with the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For inspiration, have a look at various projects executed using Scalar: http://scalar.usc.edu/works/


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Lou Dorfsman and his "Gastrotypographicalassemblage" in the CBS cafeteria, 1966
Working as an in-house designer for a big corporation doesn't sound glamorous, and staying in the same place for more than 40 years doesn't sound like a path to career success. But Lou Dorfsman, who joined the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1946 and rose to become its vice president and creative director for advertising and design until his retirement in 1991, may have had the best job in the American design industry.
Over the course of his career, Dorfsman was responsible for everything at CBS from its advertising to the paper cups in its cafeteria. Every bit of it was executed with intelligence, verve, glamour and taste. Trying to get good work done from inside a giant institution is supposed to be hard. How did Lou Dorfsman make it look so easy?
When I learned the sad news last week that Dorfsman had died at the age of 90, I pulled a book down from my shelf that I've referred through now and then through the years: Dorfsman & CBS: A 40-Year Commitment to Excellence in Advertising and Design. Flipping through its 216 pages, I was struck once more by the range and timelessness of the work illustrated inside. And I found an interesting passage, where authors Marian Muller and Dick Hess describe "the do-it-yourself education of Lou Dorfsman," which began shortly after he joined the company as advertising assistant to the legendary Bill Golden, creator of the CBS Eye logo.
It turned out after all that, while working as Golden's assistant, Lou had learned an extremely important lesson about the origin of ads. He had observed that while he and Golden were sitting in their shirtsleeves scaling photos and cutting type apart, certain ivy-leaguers in three-piece suits were sitting upstairs in conferences making decisions about the very projects he and Golden were producing. It was obvious to Lou that he could do a more intelligent and meaningful job if he were "up there" where the problems were being discussed.
So this is how he did it. Here are the four lessons of Lou Dorfsman.
Lesson 1: Mind the client's business.
Dorfsman began his career at CBS at the age of 28, working side-by-side with Bill Golden, his hero and mentor. After a few years, with the rise of the new medium of television, the corporation divided itself into separate units, the CBS Television Network and the CBS Radio Network. Golden took charge of advertising and design for television, the up-and-coming, exciting part. Dorfsman was made art director of the radio unit, the company's "orphan child."
Dorfsman ignored the gloom and doom surrounding the seemingly-fading medium of radio and threw himself into meetings with the radio division's sales reps, understanding its wide range of audiences, not just the listening public, but advertisers, affiliates, government agencies. Dorfsman produced hundreds and hundreds of unglamorous small space print ads. Almost every one is an ingenious gem. Many feature beautiful illustrations, including a 1952 ad that marked Andy Warhol's first commercial appearance in print. All of them unflinchingly and entertainingly make the case for CBS Radio. When Golden died unexpectedly at the age of 48 in 1952, Dorfsman was promoted to creative director of CBS television. Five years later, he was named head design director of the entire Columbia Broadcasting System.
Lesson 2: Learn to identify opportunities.
Through his career at CBS, Dorfsman never sat around passively waiting for requests from his internal clients. Instead, he pushed them, inventing projects that he thought needed to be done. Taking pictures at National Football League games in New York to promote CBS's local sports coverage, it occurred to him that there was a bigger story: documenting the technological feat of broadcasting multiple games each Sunday all over the country. The result was "Field of Vision," a 12 by 12 inch, 132 page book that reproduced, in gorgeous black-and-white rotogravure, photographs of each of the seven football games televised across the United States on the afternoon of November 4, 1962. The book emphasized the prowess of CBS's sports division, made a much-sought-after gift for football fans, and was credited with helping to secure the network's exclusive contract to cover NFL games the following year.
A few years later, Dorfsman topped that feat with a hardcover book commemorating CBS's coverage of the 1969 moon landing. 168 pages long, "10:56:20 PM, 7/20/69" featured a spectacular blind-embossed-with-moon-craters dustjacket and a subtitle ("The historic conquest of the moon as reported to the American people by CBS News over the CBS Television Network") that made clear Dorfsman's goal: to associate CBS inextricably with the grand events that defined the nation. Today, both books are collectors' items; neither would exist at all except for Lou Dorfsman's initiative.
Lesson 3: Assume responsibility.
You can tell that Dorfsman identified passionately with his employer's success. He valorized every one of CBS's shows as if they were separate clients, each with individual importance. It's fascinating: to my eyes, each ad appears to have been done from scratch, with its own unique look and feel; the only consistent element is excellence.
Dorfsman didn't hesitate to be an advocate for programs he cared about. He is credited with saving "The Waltons," a well-reviewed but low-rated show in the early 70s, by conceiving a single ad with the headline "This program is so beautiful it has to die" that exhorted viewers to support it. It ran once in three newspapers. Quoting Dorfsman & CBS: "According to Lou, the ad changed his life. He was never really certain how to measure the effectiveness of advertising. Now he had concrete results. CBS was inundated with letters and petitions bearing thousands of signatures. 'The Waltons' remained on the air and by the end of the season was the number-one CBS show."
Dorfsman, who began his career as an exhibit designer for the 1939 New York World's Fair, never limited his ambitions to print and broadcast. He designed the CBS news booths at presidential nominating conventions starting in 1964, and created some of the first modern "news sets" for daily broadcasts the following year. Dorfsman didn't worry about his job description. He just did what needed to be done.
Lesson 4: Define the company's character.
In 1965, CBS moved into a new headquarters building on Sixth Avenue, a black granite skyscraper designed by Eero Saarinen. Quickly nicknamed "Black Rock," the tower was conceived as a defining symbol for the company by its leaders — and Dorfsman's main patrons — CBS chairman William Paley and president Frank Stanton. Dorfsman understood that this new home was an opportunity to emphasize the company's commitment to excellence. So he contributed to the design of every detail, from the barricades that surrounded the site while the structure was under construction, to the art on the walls in the hallways, to the signage in the lobbies, to the freshly printed letterheads and business cards that greeted the CBS staff the day they moved in.
In contrast to the eclectic approach Dorfsman took to the design of the network's outward-facing advertising and promotional material, the graphic standards at headquarters were almost obsessively rigorous. Dorfsman commissioned two new fonts from Freeman Craw, CBS Didot and CBS Sans, and these were deployed everywhere throughout the building, including door numbers, elevator buttons, and wall clocks, 80 of which had to be dismantled and reassembled with new faces installed. Dorfsman's typographic eclecticism reemerged in his career tour de force, his solution for a 40-foot-long blank wall in the corporate cafeteria. There he collaborated with his longtime friend Herb Lubalin to create an all-type, three-dimensional collage combining words related to food and culinary paraphernalia into a relief sculpture that was dubbed the "Gastrotypographicalassemblage." A combination of enthusiastic excess and clinical precision, the wall was hailed as Dorfsman's ultimate achievement. But I must confess, I am just as impressed — if not more — by the fact that he convinced the NYC safety authorities to allow him to use the elegant (and definitely non-code compliant) CBS Didot font for the building's fire exit signs.
There is no one today — anywhere — that can match the breadth and depth of design authority Lou Dorfsman exercised in his years at CBS. Certainly there is no one like him there today. He retired from the company in 1991. The building was renovated shortly thereafter and new tenants moved in to join CBS. The Gastrotypographicalassemblage was dismantled and put into storage, where it has been slowly decaying. The good news: there is a movement afoot to restore it led by the ambitious team at the The Center for Design Study, who are actively seeking financial support.
A few years ago, we had an appointment at a midtown address that was new to me, 51 West 52nd Street. When the taxi pulled up, I said to my colleagues, "Hey, this is the CBS Building!" And it was. I had never been inside. We were there to see one of the new tenants, not CBS. But the bronze signs in the elevator lobby were still set in CBS Didot. They looked worn but they were as beautiful as ever, forty years later. Rest in peace, Lou Dorfsman. You will be missed.


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I first met with Emily Bazelon to discuss the idea that became her book, Sticks and Stones, two and a half years ago, when my kids were six and eight. As we sat in a conference room and talked, I remember two things going through my mind: (a) Wow, this person is way more smarter than I am, so please let me get through this meeting without humiliating myself, and (b) the topic of bullying is fascinating, complex, and (dreaded word) important, but God, am I glad my kids are still too young to be dealing with it. Much has changed in those two and half years. Mainly, our kids went ahead and got older. They're 9 and 11 now, and while they enjoy school and — knock on wood — have yet to experience the problems that Emily explores in her new book, the social dynamics, not to mention the world they're living in, are growing ever-more complicated. I didn't know it then, but this book – and the lessons to be taken from it, from the danger of the rush to judgment to the absolute importance of empathy – has been a fertile and valuable source of conversation at our dinner table. It has helped Jenny and me talk about these issues, while sounding like we know what we're talking about. And that's all thanks to Emily. Emily is an incredibly reassuring presence, somebody who actually bothers to do the research before opining. She's an editor at Slate, a beloved fixture of their political Gabfest, a contributor to The New York Times Magazine, and – see point (a) above – a fellow at Yale Law School. Knowing that we have a lot of parents who read this site, Jenny and I thought it might be helpful to have Emily answer a few of our more pressing questions. — Andy
What's step number one if my kid is being bullied at school?
First, make sure you have all the facts. Sometimes an accusation of bullying can seem straightforward, but then turns out to be more multidimensional once you understand the full context. Your job, of course, is to support your child. Sometimes it will be clear that he or she is the victim and needs your protection. Other times, however, you will learn that she is caught up in "drama" and has played an active role, rather than being simply at the mercy of bullies. Job number one, then, is to make sure that you have as thorough an understanding of the situation as possible. It's important to protect your child but it's also important not to cry wolf. If what's happening really is bullying, the more specific examples you can cite, the better for making your case.
Even legitimate complaints can boomerang in bad ways if not carefully framed. If school officials are not responding the way you think they should, you may have to keep pushing by going up the chain of command. But remember: school officials are people, too, with a heaping plate of responsibilities and limited time, and the more you respect the role they play, the more likely they will be to sympathize. What I mean is, give them the benefit of the doubt and save the frontal attack for when you feel you have no other choice.
A lot of bullying doesn't happen at school these days, though, right? So what do I do if my kid is being bullied on line?
You can ask a social network site to take down any content that violates its rules, as many harassing posts clearly do. At Facebook, for example: When the target of an abusive post reports it himself, they will generally take his word for it. So your child should report the abuse immediately. You should also keep a record of the cruel content—even if it's painful and you just feel like deleting it forever. It's almost never a good idea to reply to a harassing post. If your child is having continuing trouble, I'd advise taking a break from social networking for a while (though I know that can be a hard sell!). Kids can always go back on when things have calmed down. Finally, police have the authority to address cyberbullying under the harassment laws of most states. But calling in the cops should be a thought-through decision rather than a knee-jerk reaction because it often triggers a response that's more heavy-handed than called for.
A possibly stupid question, but: What's the difference between general meanness between kids and true bullying — and is this a distinction that matters?
There is a difference and it does matter. Yes, absolutely. The best definition of bullying, which psychologists who do research use, is verbal or physical aggression that occurs repeatedly and involves a power differential—one or more children lording their status over another. It might seem like semantics, but that definition is helpful because it's limiting—it makes clear that two-way, mutual conflict (kids often call it drama) is not bullying. At the same time, when bullying is going on, it's a form of mistreatment that kids often find very upsetting and that, evidence shows, links up with serious mental health issues and low academic performance. That's true for both bullies and targets, by the way. The point is, the bullying label is one we should use sparingly, because when it applies, it has real significance. And using it too freely can drain precious resources.
When is it okay to involve the bully's parents? If my child is being harassed at school, is it better to call the parents, or go to the school principal?
Depends on the people involved. If you have reason to think the parents of the kid who is bullying are part of the problem, or you don't know them, going to them directly is probably not a wise course of action. But don't decide against it just because broaching the subject would be awkward. If you have reason to think the other parents involved are reasonable people, on the other hand, you may be able to work together for everyone's benefit. It's great to be able to model to your children how to resolve conflict in a healthy way. Sometimes, however, if you're dealing with a difficult family, it makes sense to urge your child to extricate herself from a bad friendship. If she is spending a lot of time with someone who is making her feel rotten, maybe she needs to walk away.
Where do you stand on phones for kids — and relatedly, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter? What seems to be the right age for all this stuff, and are some of these sites more common platforms for bullying than others?
When my 13-year-old son started a new school last fall, for 7th grade, my husband and I got him a phone. I felt like we'd delayed as long as reasonably possible, and that he was ready. We got him a pretty basic phone instead of a smart phone, though—one that he can text and make calls from, but that doesn't have Internet. It's a personal choice, but I just didn't think he needed instant access to the web in his pocket.
For Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the rest: Legally speaking, kids can't sign up until they're 13. That seems like a wise limit to me, and in fact a recent Pew survey shows that while 82 percent of 13 year olds are signed up for Facebook, only 45 percent of 12 and unders are. So this is a rule that's being broken plenty, but at the same time still has some hold. In terms of which site is better or worse, I don't see a lot of evidence one way or the other on this. Twitter allows for anonymity and has no explicit rule against bullying and harassment, which isn't so hot. Facebook demands real names, doesn't allow bullying and harassment, and has put real thought into how to respond to kids who report bullying. But the volume of posts on that site is enormous, and incredibly hard to patrol. Instagram is really starting to take off with teenagers, and preteens — even down to third and fourth-graders — and the emphasis on photos seems worrisome to me. This stuff can spiral out of control pretty easily.
Lots of parents make different choices about phones and social networking than my family has, of course. In fact, I've been struck by how little community consensus there is about any of this. My own feeling is that the answer should be about your kid, what you think he or she can handle, and weighing the amount of social capital the phone or the social networking has among his peers. I'm in favor of delay if you can get away with it, but not at the expense of making your kid miserable. I'd rather see parents oversee and monitor then deny kids access entirely if that becomes a huge point of conflict. In terms of monitoring, it's easier to start strict and then ease up. The way I think about it is this: It's a new world my kids are entering, so as they take their first steps, I want to make sure to guide them.
What anti-bullying programs have proven most effective, and how would I go about getting my kids' school to consider adopting them?
This isn't an exhaustive list! But to answer the question: I like the anti-bullying approach that's part of Positive Behavioral and Interventions Supports (PBIS for short; bad name, I know). PBIS is a framework for improving school discipline, and research has shown it can reduce the rate of office referrals, suspensions and expulsions, and bullying.
CASEL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning is an umbrella group for social and emotional learning programs, which are designed to help children learn to recognize and manage their emotions so they can make responsible decisions, handle challenging situations, and calm themselves when they're angry. Many of the programs have been evaluated and shown positive effects.
The Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, founded in Norway, works with schools on three levels—the campus, the classroom, and the individual student. In the United States, the federally-funded Blueprints for Violence Prevention assessed more than 900 programs for juveniles and chose Olweus as one of only a dozen proven to be effective, and the only program specifically directed at bullying.
Second Step and Steps to Respect, two programs from the Committee for Children in Seattle, aim to prevent bullying by strengthening the bonds between adults and children in schools. Research has shown that Steps to Respect can reduce the acceptance of bullying and aggression among participating students.
Bullyproofing Your School, a program run in conjunction with the National Center for School Engagement, is designed to battle bullying through the creation of the "caring majority"—a group of students who ensure that their school is a safe place.
One thing that comes up a lot in your book — as the ultimate bulwark against bullying — is empathy. The crucial trait, right? Can it be taught?
Yes, thank goodness. This is a key insight, one that's at the heart of every good bullying prevention or character education effort: empathy can be taught. For a small number of kids who bully, it's true, the inability to feel goes deep and is the hallmark of a psychopath—someone who can inflict pain without feeling an ounce of compassion or remorse. But this is exceedingly rare. Most kids do feel or can learn to be empathetic and remorseful. It's our job as parents to help them find that capacity within themselves, and build on it.


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All the videos of all the talks at ICML were just released this week. Enjoy !
Here are a few I had not noticed before. On average they last about 15 to 20 minutes:
- Theory of Dual-sparse Regularized Randomized Reduction Tianbao Yang
- Guaranteed Tensor Decomposition: A Moment Approach Gongguo Tang
- PU Learning for Matrix Completion Cho-Jui Hsieh
- Low-Rank Matrix Recovery from Row-and-Column Affine Measurements Avishai Wagner
- Intersecting Faces: Non-negative Matrix Factorization With New Guarantees James Y. Zou
- CUR Algorithm for Partially Observed Matrices Miao Xu
- An Explicit Sampling Dependent Spectral Error Bound for Column Subset Selection Tianbao Yang
- Swept Approximate Message Passing for Sparse Estimation Eric W. Tramel
- Towards a Lower Sample Complexity for Robust One-bit Compressed Sensing Rongda Zhu
- Sparse Subspace Clustering with Missing Entries René Vidal
- Safe Subspace Screening for Nuclear Norm Regularized Least Squares Problems Qiang Zhou
- Complete Dictionary Recovery Using Nonconvex Optimization John Wright
- Low Rank Approximation using Error Correcting Coding Matrices Shashanka Ubaru
- A Unified Framework for Outlier-Robust PCA-like Algorithms Wenzhuo Yang
- Deep Unsupervised Learning using Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics Jascha Sohl-Dickstein
- Random Coordinate Descent Methods for Minimizing Decomposable Submodular Functions
Alina Raluca Ene - The Power of Randomization: Distributed Submodular Maximization on Massive Datasets Justin Ward
- Improving the Gaussian Process Sparse Spectrum Approximation by Representing Uncertainty in Frequency Inputs Yarin Gal
- Sparse Variational Inference for Generalized GP ModelsRishit Sheth
- A Deterministic Analysis of Noisy Sparse Subspace Clustering for Dimensionality-reduced Data Yining Wang
- Stay on path: PCA along graph paths Megasthenis Asteris
- Geometric Conditions for Subspace-Sparse Recovery René Vidal
- A Convex Optimization Framework for Bi-Clustering Huan Xu
- Multi-Task Learning for Subspace Segmentation Yu Wang
- Multi-view Sparse Co-clustering via Proximal Alternating Linearized Minimization Jinbo Bi
- Log-Euclidean Metric Learning on Symmetric Positive Definite Manifold with Application to Image Set Classification Bo Xin
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