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We realize that blinds and shades are a crucial part of home decorating and design. We've come up with 7 different ways to use bamboo shades in your home. Whether concealing storage or creating warm spaces, investing in affordable window treatments is a great way to create that one-of-a-kind home space you've been dreaming of. Embed this Infographic on Your Site:
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Source: Make Over Your Home – 7 Ways to Use Bamboo Shades
Cozy Up for Christmas
When you think of the winter, you likely think of staying warm from the cold. Cozying up next to the fire, snuggling in a warm blanket and drinking hot chocolate with mini marshmallows. With predictions of another frigid winter, you can keep your home warm in both temperature and ambiance with a few simple additions. Read on to discover unique ways you can make your abode cozy this cold season.
One way to keep your home feeling toasty is to add a woodsy element. An easy way to achieve this is with wood window blinds. Not only do they provide elegance and warmth to cozy up a space, they also add a unique style to any room, especially a bedroom or living room. This look can be supplemented by hanging up heavy drapes for an even more decorative and inviting aura.
Since energy bills are usually higher in the winter months, you'll definitely want to reduce your bill anyway you can. Blackout cellular shades are perfect for those who are more practical but still want sophistication. They protect against heat loss in winter. Windows are the source of the most wasted energy inside the home so these shades are a must. A bonus? They're cordless, making for extremely easy opening and closing. Try to choose rich colors that evoke feelings of tranquility and safety. Colors like amber, espresso or vanilla will make you feel like you're in winter oasis. Reds and yellows are also good choices— just be sure to stick to mellow tones of each.
If drapes or blinds aren't for you, there are other options— shades or sliding panels, for instance, add a sophisticated and distinct vibe to your windows. This unexpected element can keep you warm both functionally and visually. Try Roman window shades, which combine fabric and the easily operated shades, for an elegant touch, or bamboo shades for a trendy touch. The latter will lie flat against the window and can then be rolled up to allow more light to shine through. They also bring the beauty of nature indoors with rich textures, beautiful colors and natural style.
Window decorations aren't the only way to spruce up your home. Instead of having a cold, bare floor, think about placing rugs underneath coffee tables in neutral colors or ones that pop. One key to picking rugs— or any object used for decoration— is to pick ones with a color that doesn't stimulate but makes you feel secure. That means a vibrant, lime green rug wouldn't be the wisest choice for warm, wintery decor. Instead, look for colors in browns and maroon reds, like the drapes. A jute rug, braided in pattern and great for big spaces, lends to feelings of comfort and security. Additionally, these rugs are eco-friendly and can easily be cleaned from spills or melting snow.
In addition to using blankets and sweaters to stay warm this winter, a few key household accessories can really help provide that cozy, inviting feeling that everyone looks forward to when they visit family over the holidays.
Out With The Old, In With The New
Spring cleaning isn't a new concept. You sift through all the things you've acquired over autumn and winter, and you start anew with a more organized home. But in order to accumulate these things, you must do a little of what we like to call fall decorating.
One of the best ways to transition into the colder seasons (besides making more hot chocolate and buying an abundance of sweaters) is to decorate your home with fall and winter decor. Use this time of the year to pack up all your bright-colored decorations and furniture, and turn to darker neutrals, deep reds, and moss greens, perhaps even some golden yellows - think the colors you see on changing leaves.
The first addition to your newly-decorated home should be a rug, simply because it's easiest to build your other decor around this central focal point. Since you'll most likely be spending more time indoors during these colder seasons, you'll need a more durable rug.Jute - which is a strong fiber made from plants - is one of the best materials for a fall and winter rug, because not only is it eco-friendly, but it has water-repelling properties for those little spills. Try the Mustard Seed Jute Rug to brighten up an otherwise dark room or the Salem Jute Rug to tone down any bright walls or decor you may have.
Mustard Seed Jute RugSalem Jute Rug
And even though it's not the season of spring cleaning, be sure to stay adamant about cleaning your rugs so you can pack them up at the end of the season and reuse them instead of having to toss them because they go too dirty. Does this mean you have to take a steam cleaner to your rug every week? Absolutely not. In fact, it's only necessary to deeply clean your rug right before you replace it with your spring and summer rug. Instead, simply vacuum twice a week to maintain appropriate cleanliness.Once you've selected your rug (or multiple rugs if you have a rather large living space), it's time to decorate around it. Choose some heavy drapes to add to the coziness of your new space. The rule of thumb is if your rug has multiple colors, go with neutral drapes. But if you've chosen a single-colored rug, you can get more adventurous with the drapes.
Advantage III Drapery Panels
If you'd prefer to bypass drapes, but still want some coverage for your windows, opt for bamboo shades. But be forewarned, once you make the switch to bamboo shades, you'll never want to go back to cheap, plastic shades ever again (which is actually a good thing). The best thing about bamboo shades is the natural light they let in as well as the fact that because of their decorative quality, they look good alone or with drapes.
Premium Bamboo Shades
Switching out all of your decor after the summer may seem unnecessary, but you'll be surprised how much cozier your home will feel when you fill it with new rugs and window fixings.
Payless Décor's Premium Bamboo shades come with a universal "L" shaped metal bracket for installation. There are several sets of holes on the bracket that will allow you to back, top, or side mount the shades depending upon how it is turned. There is a portion that is threaded that comes down like a screw with a wingnut and washer attached.
The Premium Bamboo shades will be routed at the top. You will need to unscrew the wingnut and remove the washer from the bracket. Then, you just slip the shade over the screw portion of the bracket. Next, just replace the washer and wingnut and then the shade is installed securely.
The bracket is about 2" deep by about 1 3/8" long. In order to inside mount these, you will need a minimum depth of at least ½". If you want a flush fit (where your shade is fully recessed) then you need to have at least 2" of depth.
To back mount, you will utilize the back set of holes.
To top mount, you will utilize the upper set of holes.
To side mount, you will turn the bracket and use the back set of holes.
The hardware will be exactly the same for inside and outside mount. Screws and dry wall anchors will also be included in the hardware packet.
Make sure to check out the measuring guide before ordering so that you will get a perfect fit: http://www.paylessdecor.com/measuring-guide.asp
You can download a PDF version of our Premium Bamboo Installation instructions here:
For those who seek to make a positive impact on the environment, there are things you can do in addition to composting and recycling. It's possible to decorate your home in a green way - without using the color green. Here are some decor ideas for the environmentally friendly.
Conserve energy You can cut back on the environmental damage that the energy used for heating and AC can cause by better insulating your home. Using cellular shades in the summer keeps the sun from heating up the room, and installing additional film over windows helps cut back on draftiness in the winter. Taking these measures will reduce the need for air conditioning and heating which, in addition to saving you money, will help to shrink your carbon footprint.
Upcycle Rather than buying a new vase, why not use a nice looking glass bottle? Reusing recyclables or items around the house instead of buying them is referred to as "upcycling," and is an environmentally friendly way to decorate. Giving old products more value instead of throwing them away reduces the need to use new materials. Next time you go to buy a new product, ask yourself if there's something around the house you can use instead.
Have houseplants What's more green than houseplants? In addition to being visually appealing, having foliage indoors can improve air quality. NASA has discovered that they can use common plants to keep space stations breathable for humans, According to the University of Minnesota. Through photosynthesis, plants remove toxic gases from the air, like carbon dioxide, benzene and formaldehyde. If it's good enough for space, think about what it could do for your home.Use renewable resourcesBamboo is a grass product and grows much more quickly than a tree. Using bamboo for floors, furniture or of course window shades is a terrific way to make your house feel more environmentally friendly, while also using your wallet to encourage bamboo production.Image: Blackout cellular shades are a great insulator and keep your room warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.
Food tastes better when your catch it yourself - or at least when you eat it on a rough wooden table. That's why rustic dining rooms are so hot right now - they transport you back to a simpler time, or to a remote cabin in the woods where your meals are the satisfying end to a hard day's work.
Lighting In a rustic dining room, natural light is key. However, since most of us eat after the sun goes down, it can't be UV rays all the time. Layer warm lights to imitate the kind of glow that you might find in the great outdoors. Try hanging a few low-hanging overhead lights with iron details over your dining room table for deep woods ambiance.
The custom window treatments you choose are totally up to you. Keep with the color scheme, but aside from that the sky is the limit. Natural roller shades, drapes and bamboo blinds are all fair game in your new rustic dining room.
Natural materials What better way to create a woodsy dining room than with natural materials? But nature-inspired accents aren't limited to wood. While an oversized, rough wooden dining room table is a staple of this particular style, that doesn't mean it's the only material you can use. Consider installing large slate tiles for the flooring and topping it with a plush but modest rug for a touch of coziness.
Another form of natural materials include greenery. While flowers don't necessarily fit into the whole roughing it vibe, you could keep a collection of succulents in the middle of your table as a nature-inspired centerpiece. If you want to add a touch of femininity, put a few long-stem flowers in a vase.
Keep it on the simple side The rule of thumb when it comes to decorating a rustic room is to keep everything on the simpler side. The space should look as though it could have been built without the use of modern technology. Patterns can be used, but try to keep them in a low contrast and in a darker hue. The less frills you end up featuring in the room, the more successfully you will pull off rustic chic. That doesn't mean eliminating all details, but try to minimize it as much as you're able.
A sunroom is a great addition to any home - it's the perfect place to relax and can be a good space for parties. Traditionally, sunrooms are built into the side of a house, but they are essentially any room that gets a lot of sun. There are lots of themes you can explore to decorate your sunny spot: classic, beach-themed and contemporary. But by utilizing elements from Bohemia, you can turn the room into a paradise, totally separate from your day-to-day life.
Fabrics Bohemian style decor often utilizes a lot of fabrics, like throws, carpets and floor-to-ceiling drapes. Buy discount window treatments in deep colors and keep them half closed during the day to get the right amount of sunshine. By taking an eclectic bunch of patterned blankets and draping them over the furniture, you can project luxury and add comfort for you and your guests. When it comes to carpets, look for one that is patterned and doesn't necessarily cover the whole floor. If you angle the carpet in such a way that it's not laid out parallel to the walls, it will help your sunroom to feel more like a tent in paradise than a room.
Colors To create a utopia in your home, you'll need to select colors carefully. A lot of your color scheme should be based on your own tastes, but when going for a Bohemian look, there's a lot of leeway. This is because the traditional Bohemian style incorporates a lot of colors and patterns. The easiest thing to do is to keep the walls simple with an off-white or light orange, and use colors in the fabrics. If you're looking for a more dramatic effect, paint the walls deep red and choose textiles in similar reds and purples. But you don't have to go all-out - you can keep everything neutral and highlight one element with a bright color, like yellow.
Natural elements Another feature that a sunroom might have is natural elements. One way to incorporate this is by using bamboo shades as a window treatment rather than drapes. You can get the look of drapes by hanging fabric from the ceiling and using a cloth separator instead of a door. Bamboo shades truly provide a outdoorsy, Bohemian feel, and will let the perfect amount of light into your sunroom. The natural element can also be achieved with lush hanging plants and ferns throughout the room. Line up cacti along windowsills and group them on tables to get a desert look. You can also incorporate wooden materials by decorating with wicker furniture - but not your mother's wicker. Look for uniquely shaped chairs, such as the hanging egg chairs that have become so popular.
Lighting A sunroom's main source of light should, of course, be the sun. There are a lot of fun ways to get a small amount of light during dusk for a dimly-lit gathering. You may be hesitant to decorate using string lights, but the right kind can transform a room into an indoor bazaar. Look for lights with round bulbs rather than the pointed ones you typically see on a Christmas tree. There are also bulbs that are encased in small stars, which can bring a truly unique look in your sunroom. Another way to get a small amount of lighting is with hurricane lamps, both hung from the ceiling and on surfaces. The barrier in front of the flame is especially useful in a room that uses a lot of fabrics.
Feng Shui is the art of maximizing the energy flow in your home. It originated in China, where energy is referred to as chi. Getting a good energy or chi balance in your home can help to de-stress any room and promote positive feelings. Many people in both the Eastern and Western worlds embrace Feng Shui's simple guidelines to improve their home decor.
Energy Beneficial energy flow is central to the Feng Shui approach, notes India Times. The flow of energy goes from the front door all the way through your home, so it's best not to have any objects in the way. All furniture should be arranged so that you are still able to pass through a room unhindered. Try to position furniture so that the user's back is to the wall - this will help them to feel more grounded and relaxed. Removing clutter before it becomes somewhat of a permanent fixture in your home will help keep energy pulsing as well as make your home feel more inviting.
Materials There are five main elements of Feng Shui: wood, metal, water, earth and fire, notes HGTV. It's best to balance the amount of each element that is present in a room. There is also a heavy emphasis on using natural materials, so utilizing wood for furniture, decorations and accessories like wood blinds can be very helpful. When using wood, try to mimic the natural shapes and flow of trees. Having columns or other rounded wood shapes can help. A wonderful new option we carry are our bamboo roller shades. They provide a natural look, all light to filter in your room and come in a variety of gorgeous styles.
Fire is another great element to incorporate and you don't actually need a fireplace. Candles will work in many cases or you can view fire more symbolically and use items that evoke a primal feel, like animal prints. With earth, it's also fine to just use things that have the same colors instead of actually using raw materials to decorate your home. Metal is common in many houses and should be used in its full capacity because it is a strong and shapely material. As far as water goes, if you don't want to install a hot tub, don't fret - objects with deep blues and greens will work fine as well.
Light Taking advantage of natural light plays an important role in Feng Shui as well. Keep all your windows free of obstructions and try to use blinds and shades made of natural materials whenever possible. Hanging mirrors are also a great way to boost the light in your home, as keeping it bright is good for the mood.


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DEPUTY Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi is free to quit the Jubilee coalition, his erstwhile partner Eldoret North MP William Ruto said yesterday.
Ruto's URP party and Uhuru Kenyatta's TNA cannot "hold a gun" to Mudavadi's head to force him to remain in the troubled Jubilee coalition, said the pugnacious politician from Rift Valley.
TNA this week wrote to the Registrar of Political Parties informing her that the deal signed with Mudavadi's UDF on December 4 was not legally binding as it had not been ratified by the party's delegates.
The TNA petition seeks to immediately terminate the coalition with UDF without waiting for the three-month notice period stipulated by the law.
To further complicate the situation, Mudavadi's party has issued a four-day ultimatum to TNA and URP -- implement the agreement in which Uhuru steps down as presidential candidate in favour of Mudavadi, or UDF quits the coalition.
Mudavadi's party also wants to amend the exit clause that requires him to give three months notice. Speaking during Citizen TV's Cheche morning talk show, Ruto insisted that Mudavadi should abide by the coalition agreement signed between URP, TNA and agreement signed between URP, TNA and UDF and which was deposited with the Registrar of Political Parties on the afternoon of December 4.
According to Ruto, this agreement stipulated that the presidential candidate would be picked through a nomination process.
"The coalition document was very clear on how the presidential flag bearer is to be nominated. It says there will be a nomination process that will guide the whole process, and I think that is what is going to guide us now. We are doing nothing new other than what we deposited at the Registrar of Political parties," Ruto said.
According to the agreement, Ruto will be the running mate of whoever is the presidential candidate. Whoever loses the presidential nomination would have the choice of becoming Leader of the Majority in Parliament or Speaker of the Senate.
However on the morning of December 4, Mudavadi had signed a memorandum of understanding with Ruto and Uhuru where it was agreed that he would be the Jubilee presidential candidate.
On Tuesday, Mudavadi claimed he had been betrayed by Uhuru and Ruto over the method for choosing the coalition's presidential candidate.
Uhuru admitted signing the MoU but said he was forced to do so "by dark forces," widely believed to refer to State House and the NSIS.
TNA delegates and MPs have rejected the deal with Mudavadi and insisted that the delegates pick the coalition presidential candidate.
"We are not doing anything that is outside the original agreement," Ruto said yesterday. "It is clear that the agreement was between URP and TNA, we will share the positions on a 50-50 basis and all of us will have equal say in the running of the coalition government. Others will have to be incooperated through other means," Ruto said yesterday.
He said that Mudavadi should negotiate with Uhuru on how to share TNA's 50 percent. Mudavadi and his team said that their agreement with TNA and URP was that UDF would get 25 percent of government positions and the presidency, Ruto would get 33 percent and Uhuru's TNA gets 41 percent of positions. One per cent was reserved for other 'friendly' parties.
Ruto said that the Jubilee coalition would consider working with the Chinese government if they win the election and Western countries do not want to work with Kenya.
Uhuru and Ruto are facing charges ofcrimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. Their trials start on April 10 and 11 respectively while the likely second round run-off of the election will be on April 11.
"It is only Kenyans who will decide if we are fit to hold the office, not The Hague. If they will vote for us, then it shows that they have faith in us. Let me tell you, that we will manage to run this country regardless of the Hague process. Uhuru can attend the court proceedings while I am running the government and when it is my turn, Uhuru will be in control," he said.
"The court does not operate in space but in real world, we are capable of running the country even at The Hague," he said.
The Registrar of Political Parties Lucy Ndung'u yesterday confirmed receiving the letter from TNA requesting the removal of the clause including Mudavadi's UDF in their coalition.
"There is a letter we have received but our legal officers are going through it before we can respond to them," Ndung'u told The Star yesterday.
The Jubilee Coalition had earlier requested the registrar for a seven-day extension of the nomination period for its presidential candidate to December 24.
A lawyer in the technical committee said that amending the exit clause in the coalition agreement would make it easier for Mudavadi to leave. However he said that TNA, URP and UDF were still committed to finding a solution to the impasse inside Jubilee.
The December 4 coalition agreement states, "It may determine that the Agreement is irreparably frustrated, in which case the aggrieved Party shall be at liberty to withdraw from the Coalition upon service of a three (3) months written notice."

subset: commoncrawl


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The new over the air update feature of iOS5 work very well. Why is it good to update? Other than the latest bug fixes it keeps your iDevice secure as updates contain important security fixes. The following will give you a brief guide on how the over the air update, introduced in iOS 5, works.
Rather than needing to connect to iTunes and download a complete image of the OS (some 5-600Mb depending on your model) the over the air feature works directly off your iDevice and only download's what it needs (40-50Mb depending on the model).
If you iPhone, iPod or iPad has not already informed you about the latest 5.0.1 update click on your "Settings" icon.
Now click on "General"
In the "General" tab you will see an option "Software Update"
Plug your iDevice into a power source before continuing, it's not good if you run out of power half way through doing this update.
If an update is available this screen will give you a summary. In the case of iOS 5.0.1 the major fix is the battery issue reported on iPhone 4S devices along with a few other bug fixes.
Click the download and install button.
After a period of time (depending on the speed of your internet connection) the update will download. When it's ready to install it will ask if it is OK to restart and install. Click the install button to proceed.
The iDevice may restart a few times before the process is complete. When complete if you go back into the Settings, General, Software update tab you should see:


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Shop Online - Our online store is always open for business. Use the toolbar at the top to begin shopping right now
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Need batteries and light bulbs? We have you completely covered with stores located conveniently throughout the Triad metro area. We have the widest selection of batteries, in stock! You will find top-quality car batteries, laptop batteries and chargers, cell phone batteries and accessories along with the best batteries for golf cart, boat, jet ski, digital camera, camcorder, UPS, security and alarm and much more. We offer free car and truck battery testing with no appointment needed along with car and watch battery installation. Are you looking to save money with energy-efficient light bulbs? We stock a complete offering of LED, compact fluorescent, CFL and Halogen bulbs. We also carry automotive, appliance, fluorescent tube, and commercial metal halide lamps. Business accounts are welcome. Visit us today!
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Against the Odds: Melissa Hamilton's late start should have prevented a ballet career. Instead, it pushed her to unthinkable heights.
Dance by the Numbers: How do judges manage the role of subjectivity in their scores?
Beyond Viral: How husband-and-wife team Keone and Mari Madrid found choreographic fame via YouTube
Choreography Knocks: Opportunities for choreographers at all levels
A Growing List of Living Female Choreographers
We want your feedback!
posted by
Jenny Dalzell on Wednesday, Dec 04, 2013
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If you're like me, you've had December 5 logged in your brain and on your DVR for some time. It is, of course, when country superstar Carrie Underwood and True Blood vampire Stephen Moyer become Fraulein Maria and Captain Von Trapp in NBC's "The Sound of Music Live!". The stakes are high—they're performing the musical live. Luckily, though, the show's supporting roles are filled with Broadway vets like five-time Tony winner Audra McDonald (oh, to hear her sing "My Favorite Things"!) and Peter and the Starcatcher's Christian Borle. All this on top of choreography by co-director Rob Ashford. I can't wait.
Underwood and Moyer, photo by Paul Drinkwater/NBC.
To clear things up: It's not a reproduction of the classic 1965 movie; instead, it's a restaging of the Broadway musical. Still, Carrie Underwood has big shoes to fill: Mary Martin starred as the first Maria when the show opened in 1959 (and we all know Julie Andrews in the film). It also seems like Ashford has made different artistic choices from the original stagings, first by Joe Layton on Broadway and the recently late Marc Breaux for the screen. For instance, Ashford explains in the "Making-Of" special (which aired Nov. 27 and you can see here) that the familiar "16 Going on 17" gazebo scene will be set on a mountain side.
From left: Jessica Morley (Sister Berthe), Elena Shaddow (Sister Sophia), Audra McDonald (Mother Abbess) and Christiane Noll (Margaretta)
Photo by Will Hart/NBC.
Ashford, however, is no stranger to successfully recreating well-known musicals. His revivals of Promises, Promises, How to Succeed in Business... and Evita all earned Tony nominations for best choreography. I spoke with Ashford while he was working on Evita, and he said revivals are often most challenging because of the familiarity. Take a look at this clip of the Promises, Promises office number at the 2010 Tony Award Ceremony. If "The Sound of Music Live!" staging is anything like this...I'll be one happy yodeler, singing along to Rodgers & Hammerstein's glorious music.
The three-hour (yikes!) event begins this Thursday at 8pm ET/PT. Dance Magazine will be live tweeting during the broadcast (sorry, West-Coasters). Join us @dance_magazine.


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Whether trying to find out when your target rate of return can be met on a stock investment, or how soon you can afford the down payment on a house, using our finance calculators can help paint a clearer picture of your financial health, abilities and future. Click the navigation buttons on the right for our available finance calculators, and find out how easy it can be to reach financial clarity.


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Dallas, TX (PRWEB) October 18, 2011
ShopSavvy, the leading mobile shopping assistant, today announced a new, feature-rich release of ShopSavvy for Windows Phone, designed to fully leverage the enhancements in the Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" update.
ShopSavvy, the top shopping app on the iPhone and Android platforms with more than 20 million downloads, was initially released for Windows Phone in December 2010 and has been one of the most popular apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace ever since.
"The new release of ShopSavvy fully exploits the Metro UI and the improvements in Mango to create a fluid, enjoyable and efficient experience for users," said Matthias Shapiro, ShopSavvy's lead developer for Windows Phone. "We expect mobile users who embrace Windows Phone 7.5 to have a lot of fun shopping with ShopSavvy in hand."
New features in ShopSavvy for Windows Phone include:
The latest release of Windows Phone boasts hundreds of improvements and new features, including custom ringtones, visual voicemail and new speech commands that let users text and search the Web hands-free. Other changes improve the functionality of e-mail, social networking features, games, apps, browsing, the camera and more.
Microsoft has called it the "largest and most feature-packed software refresh to date." It was made available starting Sept. 27, with most customers expected to see their update message over the following several weeks.
Download ShopSavvy in Windows Phone Marketplace at http://bit.ly/shopsavvymango.
About ShopSavvy
ShopSavvy is the leading mobile shopping assistant, with more than 20 million downloads and 11 million current unique users. ShopSavvy empowers smartphone users to quickly and seamlessly locate, research and buy products at the point of sale. When users scan a barcode or input a product name, they discover where the item is sold locally and online, where it's in stock and at what price. ShopSavvy aggregates product data, deals, ratings and reviews from retailers, partners and its own users to provide the most comprehensive source of information and advice for mobile shoppers anywhere. For advertisers, ShopSavvy delivers "hyper-relevant" deals, promotions, warranty offers, and other UPC/GPS-targeted content to consumers. For more information, visit http://shopsavvy.com.
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The first Orlando Predators game I covered, the kick returner actually bumped into my lens hood while backing up to receive the kickoff. I realized I was dealing with different rules and I backed up a couple of steps. I took a picture to illustrate the access at last weekend's Predators/Jacksonville Sharks game.
The fans also have a great deal of access. I watched as Predators fullback Marlon Moye-Moore flipped a ball to a young fan who was leaning onto the field. The fans can reach over the playing field and touch the players during games. Fan access is encouraged by the league. T-shirt tosses and other prize giveaways during the game are constant and include the fans in the pageantry.
During the recent Predators/Sharks game, Orlando wide receiver Jason Geathers actually fell over the wall and was credited with a touchdown. (The touchdown was taken away due to a holding penalty, but nonetheless it was ruled valid.) These rules, where the field is almost part of the spectator area, makes for interesting interaction!
email@example.com Follow Stephen M. Dowell on Twitter @OSPhoto. Like us on Facebook: Orlando Sentinel Photography.


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Back to Basics-Simple, Spicy Vegan RisottoThursday, January 7th, 2010
If you are like me, you are constantly trying to veganize dishes you remember from your pre-vegan life. I for one have been obsessing on how to make the perfect vegan mozzarella. I'm pleased to say I've finally cracked the code, and managed to make a ball of vegan mozzarella, and I will be sharing that recipe with you soon. While obsessing on things like that, I forgot that the best part of being vegan is staring right in front of me-All the wonderful fruit and veg I get every week. So, today it's back to basics with this very simple spicy risotto. If you've never made risotto before, this is a good starter recipe, and then as you get more confident, you can add whatever you like to it.


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This soup is gluten-free adaptable. Please see tips below the recipe…
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 20 min
This is our family's special recipe for clam chowder. We've eaten and enjoyed it for many years now.
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
2 cups red potatoes, skin-on & diced
2 (6.5 ounce) cans clams, juice reserved
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
2 cups nonfat milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1. Place onion, celery and potatoes in a large saucepan. Pour clam juice over veggies (don't add the clams yet); add enough water just to cover the vegetables, sprinkle on salt, and simmer until tender.
2. Make white sauce when veggies are done simmering. In another large saucepan, melt butter; add flour, mixing well with a wire whisk. Add milks and whip until thick. Add clams, simmered vegetables and salt, as desired. Heat through.
3. Serve in soup bowls with a chunk of crusty sourdough bread.
*To prepare this recipe as GLUTEN FREE, substitute GF flour for the all-purpose flour.
*We like to sprinkle red wine vinegar on top of our clam chowder. Try it!
Source: RecipeGirl.com


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TAGSbaby Baby Shower Baby Shower Invitations Baby Showers Back to School Birth Announcements Birthday Birthday Party Cards Christmas Christmas Cards Contest Crafts Deal of the Day Decor DIY family Father's Day Food Fun Gifting Graduation Greeting Cards Halloween Holiday Cards Holiday Party Holidays Ideas Inspiration Board Inspiration Boards Invitations Kids Mom Talk Parenting Party Recipes Staff Picks Stationery Summer Thanksgiving Thank You Cards Tiny Pleasures Tiny Prints Valentine's Day You Tell Us
August 2009
Friday Favorites: Studio Basics Baby Shower Invitations
Just because baby showers are all about everything cute and cuddly doesn't mean they can...
You Tell Us: The Octomom Documentary
On August 19, FOX aired a reality TV special titled "Octomom: The Incredible Unseen ...
Adorable Baby Pics: Alston
Meet Alston–our adorable baby of the week! Alston is 8 months old Alston loves to play ...Read More
New! Photo Books from Tiny Prints and MyCanvas
Since Tiny Prints is famous for helping people transform life's special events into ...
The Gratitude Challenge, Day 6
Even though I've not been asked to blog today, I thought I've give a recap of how ...
Decor Delights: A New Kind of Wall Art
I love crossword puzzles, word puzzles and anagrams, and I'm pretty sure my obsession ...Read More
Inspiration Board: Thank You Basket
Since we are all practicing being grateful through The Gratitude Challenge this week, we ...
Bad News for Baby Einstein
If you were skeptical to believe that watching a video could make your little one smarter, your...
Back-to-School Preparations
Everyone has heard that it takes a village to raise a child, but I can't think of ...Read More
The Gratitude Challenge, Day 3
We are on day 3 of The Gratitude Challenge, and I am surprised at the effect it has already had...
Adorable Baby Pics – Jackson
Meet Jackson–our adorable baby of the week! Jackson is 3 years old His favorite book is...
The Gratitude Challenge, Day 1
So, here we go. For the past several months I have been working with some of my fellow Tiny ...Read More


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Jersey Shore
How to Dress Like Snooki for Halloween
Halloween can be a stressful time of year, what with all the vampires, witches, and werewolves making the transition from on-screen phenomena to candy-craving trick-or-treaters. Most people simply don't have the time to come up with a clever costume, and countless others lack the necessary creativity, going as the same monster, sexpot, or dead president year after year. Fear not, all you costume-challenged individuals: Jersey Shore has come to your rescue with a cast of awesomely tanned, coiffed characters. Our pick for the best Halloween costume ever? Snooki, of course. Here are all the steps needed to make your costume stand out.
The G
Unlike the Jersey Shore boys, Snooki's not known for her muscles. The best accessory you can pack into your Snooki costume is your short stature. Those high cupboards that have kept you out of cookie reach, the concerts you heard but didn't see, the professional basketball player dreams you laid to rest — all of those fade into the background, for you are the perfect Snooki size. Okay, even those 4-feet-11 and above can still pull off the Snook Look, but the shorties have the advantage.
The T
Skin cancer's a scary thing, kids. We recommend you skip the sun and the fake-bake beds and instead follow the advice of the video below to use two different self-tanners to replicate Snooki's signature orange glow.
To pouf or not to pouf, that is the dilemma. Snooks shocked Jersey Shore fans the world over when she emerged at the 2010 MTV VMAs with bangs instead of a bouffant. But to really capture the essence of Snooki, we suggest you pump up the volume. If you lack Snooki's midnight locks, or if your hair is thinner than Ronnie's excuses to Sammi, you may want to go the wig route. There are plenty of companies just waiting for you to shell out some cash for your own personal pouf.
If you are blessed with a mane like Snooki's, you can follow the video below, in which Snooki tries (and fails) to pass on the wisdom of the pouf. The steps are there, but Snooki's client simply lacks the requisite amount of hair. The 'do requires lots of hair spray, a teasing comb, and possibly a hair dryer. An anti-gravity field might also help.
The Makeup
According to the video below, the smokey eye and the Snooki eye are synonymous. You will definitely want to pick up gray eye shadow, black eyeliner, and false eyelashes. The video explaining self-tanner (see above) also has detailed instructions for how to pack on the panda eyes. Skip to about 5:22 for this edifying section.
To complete your makeup, use a rosy blush and nude lipstick — which you can carry around in your cleavage à la Snooki if your ensemble lacks pockets. Are you a nail biter? It would be wise to invest in some press-ons of the French-tip variety. You'll likely lose a few throughout the night, but this will only add to your costume's authenticity.
What you actually wear to capture the aura of Snooki may depend on whether you'll be tricking or treating. If, like Snooki, you like to show off your ta-tas — whether JWOWW enhanced or au naturel — nothing short of Snooki herself screams Jersey Shore like a tight, short dress and high heels. If you feel the need for falsies (just don't wear them in the hot tub) or simply want to keep a little covered up in the October chill, a T-shirt, booty shorts, and fluffy pink slippers will immediately identify you as post-partying, bedtime Snooki. Either way, you're going to be showing a lot of thigh.
If you feel under-Snooki-fied, a few choice props could make all the difference. Anything pickle-themed, a pair of rhinestone-encrusted sunglasses, or a batch of Ron Ron Juice will add to your Shore cred. If you simply can't master the pouf, a ridiculously loud Ed Hardy trucker hat will hide your hair fail.
Warning: Just because you look like Snooki does not give you license to act like Snooki. Keep the handsprings to a minimum, and whatever you do, stay away from the grenade grundle chodes.
Finally, if this getup is too involved — or proves to be too dangerous when combined with Ron Ron Juice — pick up a premade Pauly D costume. After all, it's got the official Pauly D seal of approval. Or make your own!


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Sindh Festival
The two-week-long Sindh festival, now underway in Pakistan, is significant for multiple reasons. For one, it is about the unfolding leadership transition in the Pakistan People's Party from Asif Ali Zardari, who led it after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007.
Zardari now appears to be stepping back to let his son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, take on a larger role. During his five-year tenure as the president and mentor of the PPP-led government in Islamabad, Zardari consciously sought to promote the unique cultural heritage of Sindh, the stronghold of the PPP. Bilawal has now taken it to a higher level by assuming personal leadership in organising a lavish celebration of Sindh's cultural heritage at the site of Mohenjodaro, one of the most valuable sites of the ancient Indus Valley Civilisation. Some experts have warned that these celebrations might damage the ruins. The organisers, however, have contradicted these claims and asserted that they have taken every care to avoid any damage. That a leading political party is celebrating vital civilisational heritage is an important development not just for Pakistan but the entire subcontinent.
The Sindh festival comes amidst the rise of sectarianism and extremism that have vandalised the subcontinent's priceless heritage, both pre-Islamic as well as Islamic. The Afghan Taliban, it might be recalled, destroyed the spectacular Buddha statues in Bamiyan. In the last few years, militant groups have attacked many historic Islamic shrines in Pakistan, including the Data Darbar in Lahore. The traditions of Sufi and Barelvi Islam that have had such influence in the subcontinent are under massive assault in Pakistan. If the collective response in Pakistan has been muted so far, Bilawal's effort could have the potential to change the terms of the discourse.
Indus Valley
Leading Islamic countries — Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Indonesia to name a few — are proud of their pre-Islamic roots and have gone to great lengths to preserve and showcase it to their own people and the world. A similar effort in Pakistan is welcome. The PPP is not the only one in Pakistan to have shown interest in pre-Islamic heritage. During the Musharraf years, Islamabad had decided to restore the Katas Raj temples in West Punjab dating back to the Mahabharata era. BJP leader L.K. Advani was shown the sites and briefed of plans by the Musharraf government during his visit to Pakistan in 2005. It is not clear if the import of these fleeting signals from Pakistan is appreciated in Delhi. India needs to think boldly about cooperation with Pakistan in excavating, protecting and promoting the shared cultural heritage of the Indus Valley civilisation. Unlike Pakistan's national narrative, India's has always tipped its cap to the Indus Valley Civilisation. But Delhi is …continued »


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Press releases
"Khao-Chae" Promotion at Benjarong restaurant 22-29 April
04 April, 2012
From 20-29 April, Dusit Thani Bangkok's Benjarong restaurant will be creating mouth watering variants on Thailand's favourite summer dish, khao chae. Earning its status as a dish of Royal Thai Cuisine khao chae – which means rice soaked in water – made its first appearance in the court of King Rama II as a means of relief during the hot season.
Khao chae itself is quite simple. Just rice, jasmine water and crushed ice. The complex side dishes are what make this annual meal so sought after. Most of the sides tend to be sweet, except for one: young green peppers stuffed with minced pork, which are then drizzled in egg and fried.
Another must-have khao chae component is deep-fried kapi (shrimp paste) balls, which are rolled in ground coconut, battered and then deep-fried to perfection. This also goes well with kra-chai, or fresh Chinese ginger, which is usually served along with other fresh vegetables such as cucumber, spring onions and strips of raw mango.
Executive Assistant Manager Food and Beverage Alex Schillinger said, "Khao Chae is Thailand's classic summer treat and is rarely found during any month except April. Don't miss this opportunity to experience the refreshing qualities of this dish at our Royal Thai Cuisine outlet, Benjarong".
For reservations, please call (0) 2200 9000 ext. 2699


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Rowenta, the official garment-care provider of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, is giving ten lucky StyleList readers an exclusive Fashion Week Survival Kit valued at $250!
How do you like them apples?
Created for twenty up-and-coming designers, including Christian Siriano and Richard Chai, the Rowenta Survival Kit contains all the essentials for keeping your cool from the front row.
Inside the chic camo tote you'll find the Rowenta Pro Master Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week iron; a Rowenta garment bag; a relaxation mask; an aromatherapy candle; a Stiletto Survivor kit; herbal tea; a notebook; pins and double-sided tape for those fashion emergencies; a lint brush; Band-Aids; Advil; tissues; and mints.
Sadly, a male model to carry you from show to show and feed you grapes isn't included, but everything else you need to get through the week in one piece is.
Here's how to enter:
- To enter, leave a confirmed comment below telling us who is your favorite designer.
- The comment must be left before 5pm ET on September 6, 2010.
- You may enter only once. Ten winners will be selected in a random drawing.
- Ten winners will receive one tote filled with the Rowenta Pro Master Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week iron, a Rowenta garment bag, relaxation mask, aromatherapy candle, Stiletto Survivor kit, herbal tea, notebook, pins and double-sided tape for those fashion emergencies, lint brush, Band-Aids, Advil, tissues, and mints (valued at $250).
- Open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec) who are 18 and older.
- Click here for complete official rules.


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Sec. 4-105. Institutional Articulation Agreements.
The President, or his designee, is authorized to enter into institutional articulation agreements on behalf of the University with educational institutions in the United States and Canada. The President shall promptly advise the Chairperson of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees of each new institutional articulation agreement, and shall provide an annual report to the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees.


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Make your appointment now for Sunday Nov. 30th 2014. Contact Me Here
*New location this year, in Miami County, just seven miles from Hwy 75 and one mile off of St. Rt. 36
Santa Session $50.00 for sitting and 2 Photo Units
limit of 4 children per sitting time, you may book more than one sitting.
Book Before Nov. 1st and get an additional unit Free!
Photo Units $12.00 each
1 - 8x10
2 - 5x7
4 - 4x6
8 - wallets
1 - digital file
25 Cards - 2 Units
Background and Props could be different each year.
"Our family loves visiting Santa at Cindy's studio because it is such a welcoming and magical environment for young children. There are no long lines, loud music and forced photos. Cindy takes the time to make sure our children are comfortable. She is able to capture precious moments of our boys interacting with Santa. Our family and friends comment each year on Cindy's ability to tell the story of Christmas magic through her pictures." - Catie B.
" Cindy's Santa portraits are always so much fun. Cindy has such good ideas for the perfect shot, but she is also open to ideas and suggestions from her clients. She and Santa are so patient and understanding with small children. I have teenagers as well as younger children and they make it enjoyable for all of the kids. It is always fun and it is nice to have some private time with Santa and not have to worry about getting out of the way for the next family in line." - Betsy R.
" Cindy is very professional and goes the extra mile to get the perfect magic moment for the memory of the season." - Lisa H.


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‹ Exit photo gallery
Time's Persons of the Year, a look back
President Barack Obama has been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2012. Here's a look back at some of the other people who made the list in previous years.
President Barack Obama, 2008
Obama also received the honor in 2008, when he was President-elect.
(Photo: Associated Press/Time Magazine/WJLA) fullscreen mode


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Google recently released a 64-bit version beta version of Chrome for Windows 7 and 8 users and for an encore the company has turned its efforts towards Apple's OS X. The search giant has silently added 64-bit support to its Chrome Canary and Dev channels for Mac users. If you're running the latest version of Canary on your Mac, the software should read as 64-bit capable in its About tab.
Google silently launches Chrome 64-bit Canary and Dev channel for Mac OS X users
Google Chrome for iOS update adds Cast support to web pages, gets a tweaked icon
Google has released an updated version of the Google Chrome application for iOS today, bringing at least one interesting new feature to the app: mobile websites that have Cast support will now work with all of your Cast-capable devices. It's unclear how the feature works at the moment, but according to the release notes, developers are going to need to add support to their webpages before they can take advantage of the feature.
Also, as will likely be praised by iOS users everywhere, the version 36.0.1985.49 update goes the way of Google Hangouts and finally gets rid of the infamous "lip" located at the bottom of the app icon:
Apple buys data compression, mobile imaging and video firm AlgoTrim
According to Rapidus.se (via TechCrunch), Apple has purchased a Swedish firm called AlgoTrim for an undisclosed price. The small company specializes in image and video, specifically JPEG, compression techniques on mobile devices which allow faster processing of images on power-constrained mobile devices.
AlgoTrim™ develops advanced solutions for mobile devices within the fields of data compression, mobile imaging and video, and computer graphics.
These solutions are designed to excel in terms of high performance and small memory requirements, making them ideal for mobile devices. Many solutions offered by AlgoTrim are codecs that are the fastest on the market, for example, the lossless codec for general data compression and the imaging codecs.
Apple could use these codecs in its camera and image viewing and manipulation apps on iOS. It is probable that the cost of picking up the company and owning the technology outweighed the cost of licensing the technology over its hundreds of millions of devices. This also could be an "aquihire".
Apple is no stranger to the Swedish technology market. It picked up Polar Rose in 2010, a face recognition company and C3 a Swedish 3D mapping company in the run up to its Maps product launch. Cupertino has been on a bit of a startup binge lately buying such companies as Embark and Matcha.tv.
Last year, AlgoTrim reported a revenue of 3.0 million USD, with an net income before taxes of EUR -1.1 million. Until now, AloTrim has been focused mostly on Android development.
Update: The acquisition has been confirmed to TechCrunch:
Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.
Reminder: Google I/O coverage today at 9to5Google
Just a friendly reminder that 9to5Google will be covering Google's yearly developer conference called Google I/O today. The 3 hour(!!) keynote starts at noon ET today and can be watched via live stream here.
9to5Google will be posting the announcements as they happen so check back often. Read more
April 1st: iFixit, ThinkGeek, Google, and more
There are a lot of interesting announcements this Sunday morning. Here is a rundown, but make sure to hit us with anything else you find in the comments below.
iFixit offers a special tool for opening the new iPad, which is reinforced with extra glue:
From the makers of Doxie comes Shreddie, the portable document shredder.
ThinkGeek —whose previous entry, the iCade, became a real product— introduced us to Hungry Hungry Hippos for iPad:
O2 has a phone that will last for 1,000 hours of talk time:
Adblock is showing LOLcats today:
Google, which seems to give every department a mission for today, has a bunch of great stuff:
Whited00r brings newer features to legacy iOS devices
In recent years, as newer iOS devices begin to shine, the older ones start to be left in the dust due to newer iOS features. Luckily, a new custom firmware called Whited00r brings some of these features to older devices such as the iPhone 2G/3G and older iPods. The firmware does not call for a jailbreak, but instead it is based off iOS 3.1.3 to bring you some of the latest features.
Whited00r added features like multitasking, app folders, reminders, improved home screen, video recording, and faster speed. What about iCloud? Whited00r used Dropbox syncing throughout the operating system to sync files with other devices. Whited00r also used a custom Newsstand to deliver news. (via TechCrunch)
The install process is very straightforward:
iOS continues to rise in the mobile/tablet space
Net Applications has come out with new numbers showing mobile OS market share. Android has almost caught Java ME. (Data: Net Applications. Chart: PED via Fortune)
Hackers slap Lion overlay onto iOS, with surprisingly good results
Not, "put this on my iPhone now" good but "wow, that's interesting and must've taken a lot of hard work" good. Lifehacker explains:
You can now grab the theme via an app on Theme Outlet. Here's how. (And make sure you have Dreamboard installed, as this is a Dreamboard theme and requires it.)
- Open Cydia
- Tap Manage Sources
- Tap Edit, then Add, then add source fnetdesigns.com/cydia/repo
- Go to the Changes section and install Theme Outlet
- Close Cydia, go to your home screen, and open Theme Outlet
- Browse for OS X Ultimatum and download it from there
- Open up Dreamboard, browse for the OS X Lion Ultimatum theme, and install it.
Google releases new stable Chrome version, featuring full-screen mode and overlay scrollbars
Google has announced on the Chrome Blog a new release on the Chrome stable channel. The new release has been available to developers in the dev channel since August, where developers got the chance to use the full-screen mode (Ctrl+Shift+F) and overlay scrollbars inside of Lion. Today, these features have landed for everyone; download it here.
Also landing in the new version are two new technologies for developers: Web Audio API and Native Client. Web Audio API adds the ability for developers to use different audio effects, but even better, Native Client brings the ability to execute C and C++ code in the browser. Check it out in the video after the break:
Kindle goes cloud with Kindle Cloud Reader, works great on the iPad
Screenshot of web app courtesy of @drbuk
As reported by TechCrunch, Amazon has released a new Kindle Cloud Reader service. The service allows users of both Macs and PCs running either Safari or Google Chrome to read their Kindle books online. Better yet, the service works on iPad's Mobile Safari. A feature that owners of WiFi-only iPads will enjoy is page caching for offline reading.
Notably, this is a great solution for Amazon to work around Apple's in-app-purchase requirements for applications that offer purchases. In fact, what better way to spur Web innovation than to force people out of the store? Good job Apple!
Full Press release follows:
Safari posts stronger gains than Google's Chrome in July
Although Chrome controls one-fifth of the global web browsing market and has overtaken Firefox as the second most-used browser in the UK, Google's browser has been growing slower in absolute terms than Apple's Safari in the month of July. In July, Chrome added .34 percentage points of market share for a 13.45 percent web usage share. In the same period, Safari grew .57 percentage points for a 8.05 percent web usage share in July, per latest Net Applications metrics. Apple's and Google's browser were the only ones growing (with the exception of the Other category), while Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox ceded market share and had 52.81 and 21.48 percent web usage share.
A big factor: Apple just revamped its consumer MacBook Airs and Mac Minis as well as refreshing the Mac OS with Lion.
Of course, the numbers are not representative of the whole market because Net Applications derives stats from some 40,000 participating web sites, but they're a good and fairly accurate indication of market trends.
Embarrassing: MacBook Air, Safari 5.0.4 pwned at hacking contest in five seconds
Why is it that Apple's otherwise excellent Safari browser seems to be more prone to vulnerabilities than rival offerings from Microsoft, Google and Mozilla? Ever since security whiz Charlie Miller in 2008 broke into the MacBook Air in two minutes through Safari, the browser has been the subject of intense criticism for its various security weaknesses. Well, Safari just got pwned again at yesterday's HP TippingPoint-sponsored hacking challenge at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.
This time, the bragging rights belong to the French security firm Vupen which won a cool $15,000 and a MacBook Air for beating its perks in pwning Apple's browser. It took the team just a few seconds to exploit an unpatched Safari vulnerability. "We pwned Apple Safari on Mac OS X (x64) at pwn2own in 5 seconds," they tweeted.
Read more


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2 reviews
By installing you agree to the Terms of Use and other terms
More from Taggeo
Download size6 MB
Last updated2/3/2014
Works with
- Windows Phone 8.1
- Windows Phone 8
App requires
- location services
- maps
- music library
- photos library
- media playback
- data services
- movement and directional sensor
- web browser component
- HD720P (720x1280)
- WVGA (480x800)
- WXGA (768x1280)
Supported languages (2)
English (United States) português (Portugal)
Discover awesome things around you or anywhere in the world. Wherever you are, find events, places to visit, photos and even hidden messages left nearby. Simplify. Now you can find everything thing around you through one single app, without having to install many differents apps for each type of content. We search for the things you like, so you don't have to. Share. You can also share your thoughts anywhere! Comment on events, places, photos and messages or leave your own tags and photos in any place. You can even recommend anything to your friends or share anything you like with your friends on Taggeo or on Facebook. Discover life with Taggeo! Taggeo requires an Internet connection and extended use may adversely impact battery life. Continued use of GPS running in the background can dramatically decrease battery life.


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|Current Issue
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Defining the Nation and Confining the Musician: The Case of Irish Traditional Music
When a Swedish company performs The Magic Flute, or a children's
orchestra from
These comparisons from the differing scenes of art music and world music provide a starting point for challenging assumptions that music "of the people," whether it is performed by tradition bearers, world music enthusiasts, or Western art musicians, inevitably expresses the collective character of that people.
In what follows I use a well-known song to exemplify the processes by which meanings become attached to musical texts. I hope to demonstrate that such meanings do not inhere in the musical texts themselves but in the discourses within which they are retrieved, revised, performed, and received, as well as in the literary texts (lyrics) with which they are linked. Using the case of Irish traditional music, I demonstrate some of the ways in which musical texts may acquire an affective language and a gendered discourse based on colonial stereotypes, and how the values embedded in these discourses may be inverted within anti-colonial movements. I then argue that this discursive construction of a national musical tradition has had the effect of limiting or devaluing the participation of certain groups within the nation, particularly women.
A "beautiful air" from
In exploring the genealogy of the musical text now best known as the song "Danny Boy," we can follow the air from the Irish countryside to its urban centres and the imperial hub of London and back again, and as it is performed by street musicians, Irish nationalists, homesick emigrants, and by a wider public as an expression of loss and longing. In the process, this musical text exhibits some of the many ways in which musical meanings mutate across time and space, illustrating Edward Said's proposition that musical practice may be "contrapuntal": that it may embody and enact both imperial power and resistance to it.[1]
Underpinning Said's critical work is the concept of the worldliness of literary texts, which, he claims, "even in their most rarefied form are always enmeshed in circumstance, time, place, and society."[2] A cultural text is not a representation of the material world but is an act located in that world and implicated in both the power relations within which it was produced, and in those within which it is consumed. A text's worldliness, then, is its situatedness in time and in social and political circumstances.
Musical texts exhibit this worldliness, but because music is non-denotative, in the sense that sounds in music depend upon the signifying processes of language in order to take on meaning, music is more open than literature, for example, to be interpreted in varying and even contradictory ways. This potentiality allows musical elements to accumulate delineated meanings, which are the product of images, associations and beliefs that inhere, not in the musical elements themselves, but in their social relations, their worldliness.[3] When deeply embedded in cultural history, these delineated meanings sound "natural," as when we hear a minor third interval as "sad" and a major third as "happy." On the other hand, and because there is in fact no inherent relationship between a musical element and its delineated meaning, music also has the "nomadic" or "transgressive" ability to cross over into other domains, "to attach itself to, and become a part of, social formations, to vary its articulations and rhetoric depending on the occasion as well as the audience, plus the power and the gender situations in which it takes place."[4]
"Danny Boy" is one of
The practice of transcribing,
publishing, and recreating in performance musical texts from the Irish
countryside was one part of the cultural movement that exhorted nationalists in
Ireland (as did similar movements elsewhere in Europe) to hunt down, preserve
and disseminate the indigenous culture. By the time Petrie's Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland
was published in 1855, this task was seen as urgent, since
Figure 1. The unknown song that
became "A Londonderry Air" and "Danny Boy." From David Cooper, ed., The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music
Note that the transcription
reproduced here is not an actual
musical text, but the representation
of a musical text: a description of a cultural act and not the act itself. Just as published collections of
In the
Some musicologists have expressed reservations about the accuracy of Jane Ross's transcription. Hugh Shields, for example, has attributed the tune's upward swoop, the downfall of many a bar-room warbler, to the "keyboard divagations of a middle-class lady."[7] Anne Gilchrist accuses Ross of incompetently recording the metre as quadruple rather than the triple metre that was typical of Irish airs.[8] Brian Audley takes a similar view when he links the Derry air with "The Young Man's Dream," an air in triple time that Edward Bunting (1773–1843), whose work in collecting and publishing Irish music from the oral tradition preceded Petrie's, had transcribed from the playing of the elderly harper Denis Hempson (or Hampsey) in the 1790s. In proposing that the "Londonderry Air" was simply a version of "The Young Man's Dream" that had been rhythmically misapprehended, Audley offers a solution to the mystery of Jane Ross's musical sources, for the tune in the form she transcribed it has not been recorded by any other collector.[9]
Figure 2. "Aisling an Oighfir" or
"The Young Man's Dream," in Edward Bunting, A
General Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland (
In the late eighteenth century, during
a period of political uprisings and repression of the Catholic majority in
"The Young Man's Dream" was also set to
other verses as "Castle Hyde" by an itinerant balladeer for his ungenerous
patron. That song was later parodied by Richard Alfred Millikin as "The Groves
of Barley." It is significant that Thomas Moore later used the melody as the
basis for two different songs, which were published in Moore's Irish Melodies
between 1865 and 1889. One of those songs was "'Tis the Last Rose of Summer,"
which he based on the "old air," "The Groves of Barley"; the other is the
lesser-known "As a Beam o'er the Face of the Waters," for which he cites his
source as "The Young Man's Dream." Both songs retain the triple metre of the
source tune, and in both cases internal metrical differences in the tune
correspond with metrical differences in the lyrics, pointing to another way in
which song airs mutate over time. Similarly, the languid, emotive
Audley points out melodic similarities (and metrical differences) between the "Londonderry Air" and another contemporaneous song, "Devorgilla's Lament," which adopts the popular confessional form, beginning "Oh shrive me, Father . . . ." Audley thus exposes the opportunistic variation of metre in the interests of conveying lyrics and the complex connections among contemporaneous musical texts: Irish-language poetry with anti-colonial connections, English verses that provide a critique of the landed gentry's patronage of itinerant musicians, as well as doggerel in Irish (another variant of the air conveys the drinking song "Preab an Ól" or "Spring into the Drink").[12]
But then if we were to go further back,
searching, as Bruce Olson has done, among the manuscripts in the Scots Musical
Museum and in collections of broadside ballads, we may find similar versions of
"The Young Man's Dream" had been transcribed in Scotland and in England as
early as the seventeenth century.[13]
As we search among the tune's variants, we find, not the musical texts of a
"pure" indigenous culture (as Irish cultural nationalists believed), but a
vigorous hybridity. We can see, too, that the many variants of this melody
conveyed happy, grieving, mischievous, subversive or rollicking verses. In its
diverse musical and literary manifestations, the air we know today as "Danny
Boy" thus exhibits the hybrid richness of life in
Moving forward in time from the
publication of "Londonderry Air" in 1855, and as the market for printed music
expanded in the second half of the nineteenth century, many versifiers,
particularly in England, published new lyrics to the by then widely enjoyed
melody with recurrent themes of love, loss and dying. With its musical energies
bowdlerized, its varying sound standardized, translocated from the rural poor
to the urban middle class, the air came to be regarded as the quintessential
Irish song. Most other lyrics were forgotten once "Danny Boy," the work of
Frederick Weatherly, a
This five-minute fantasia, described as
a "national medley,"[16]
constructs a musical version of a United Kingdom of Britain and
Composed by Fritz Spiegl (1926–2003), a refugee from Hitler's Anschluss, the UK Theme draws upon delineated musical meanings, eliding the political implications of the piece, for Britannia's musical triumph is a product of the assimilation of cultural difference. The romance of Celtic sentiment softens the militaristic might of the Anglo-Saxon, but in the process the Celtic theme is absorbed. We hear the wistful Irish melody and recognise in it the racial stereotype of the Celt. The feminine sadness of strings is drawn into the embrace of imperial brass. They harmonize. There is climax. In adding to the British whole, the "Londonderry Air" loses its Celtic identity: a metonym for the processes by which (it is implied) empires justly absorb colonies and are the better for doing so. Their appreciation and assimilation of exotic qualities adds to the alleged humanity of colonial power, while the colonized Celts' differentiated identity is diluted through cultural contact. The very thing that makes the empire rich makes its colonial subjects poor.
The gendered discourses of Irish nationalism and English colonialism
The fact that an orchestral setting of a tune assumed to be of Irish provenance evokes a familiar stereotype—the feminine, melancholy, artistic, charming but impractical Celt—begs two rather different questions. First, why these particular characteristics? Second, how might this stereotype relate to its masculine countertype, the brutish buffoon epitomized by the "Stage Irishman"? I will attempt to answer each of these questions in turn.
At the end of the eighteenth century,
Protestants in
Irish cultural nationalists differed
from their European counterparts in seeking aristocratic rather than popular
musical texts. As historian John Hutchinson points out, the goals of Gaelic
revival were "to reconcile the different traditions of
Figure 3. The languishing
feminine figure representing
From the comfortable distance of the
imperial centre of
During the period when Matthew Arnold
was writing and notably when there was periodic agitation from the Irish at
home or in
This dichotomy had been present in colonial relations for centuries. English poet Edmund Spenser, a colonial administrator in Ireland at the end of the sixteenth century, produced in his The View of the Present State of Ireland (A Veue of the present state of Irelande [1596]) what might be regarded as a paradigm for that colonial discourse, identified by scholars in postcolonial studies, within which a colonized people is represented as disruptive and barbaric, against the colonizer, who is defined as orderly and civilized.[20] Spenser's representation of the Irish as brutal and uncivilized typified the colonial view of the Irish at the time, along with a distrust of earlier Anglo-Norman colonizers whom it was feared had become politically corrupted by their assimilation of the inferior and subversive cultural practices of the native Irish and through their shared Catholic faith.[21]
This second stereotype of the Irish, one that co-existed with the discourse of Celticism, was utilized in the propaganda war against Irish anti-colonial movements during the nineteenth century, particularly in the English press. Its manifestations included political cartoons in which the Irish were depicted as ape-like creatures. The music and dance associated with this degraded figure were far from the aristocratic harping and sweet, melancholy songs that cultural nationalists used to support their cause. Instead, the dance music that the artisan musicians of the lower classes played on fiddles and pipes and to which Irish youth danced with vigour, was depicted as wild and uninhibited.
Figure 4. English cartoonist John Leech's "Mr. G-O'Rilla" appeared in Punch, 14 December 1861, accompanying an article quoting calls for Irish independence made in The Nation.
Music was an important ideological tool
in both the cultural and the more militant nationalist movements in
Numerous scholars have contributed
studies of constructions of gender in Irish colonial and nationalist
These trace symbolic representations of
The ideal woman of the new nation, a
version of the mythical Mother Ireland, is enshrined in
Article 41, 2.1: In particular, the state recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the state a support without which the common good cannot be achieved.
2.2: The state shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.[24]
As Elizabeth Butler Cullingford argues, such representations have a continuing power to constrain Irish people in general and Irish women in particular: "as applied by Irish men it has helped to confine Irish women in a straitjacket of purity and passivity; as applied by English cultural imperialists it has imprisoned the whole Irish race in a debilitating stereotype."[25] For example, feminist historians have noted that, while women were active participants in the early years of that anti-colonial struggle, once an independent state was formed, they became increasingly excluded from political life, as their participation was contained in separate "women's auxiliaries." The same holds true for the socialists who supported the anti-colonial movement and were sidelined by the new state.[26]
An analogous situation occurred in musical life after independence. The dance tunes that by this time were regarded as "national" and also "ancient"—although in most cases they were neither, having largely Scottish and some English provenance—increased in symbolic status from association with wildness and intemperance with the rise of the Gaelic League, a new development in cultural nationalism which focused on the preservation and use of the Irish language as well as Irish music and dance. The Gaelic League promoted their own repertoire of what they considered the true "national" dances, which were versions of old long and circle dances that had been substantially adapted for the ballroom. These became the "official" Irish dances and the Gaelic League sought to have the more popular quadrille "sets" banned because they derived from "foreign" dances.
During the 1930s, these "céilí dances," as the Gaelic League's approved dance repertoire came to be called,[27] began to spread more widely through Ireland, partly as a result of the banning of unlicensed dances held in private houses (at that time a common rural social practice), and the suppression of jazz and jazz dancing. Instead, Irish citizens were encouraged to dance the relatively chaste céilí dances in new parochial halls built for public dancing under the watchful eye of the parish priest. By the end of the 1930s this transformation was complete, with most social dancing in rural areas consisting of the performance of revived Irish line and circle dances with some ballroom dances such as the waltz and the barn dance.
Music that promoted a feminine
delineation of
The transformation in musical practice
considered emblematic of
These mid-twentieth-century changes in
the performance of Irish traditional music set the stage for the revival that
began in the 1950s. Migrant labourers who had worked on post-war reconstruction
projects in
By the beginning of the revival
movement of Irish traditional music in urban centres in
Today girls and women predominate as learners of Irish traditional music, attending classes and summer schools in far greater numbers than boys and men. It has been observed, however, that prizewinners in national music competitions are much more likely to be male.[31] This differential becomes more obvious the higher the status of the musical activity: recording artists, festival performers, composers, commentators, critics, music organization presidents, summer school organizers, radio and record company producers, and so on. In performing and recording groups, women overwhelmingly continue in the conventionally feminine roles of singer and keyboard player.[32]
Figure 5: In popular
representations, the generic Irish traditional musician is a masculine figure,
of mature age and from a rural background. Postcard published by Cardall Ltd,
As I have argued elsewhere,[33] women's participation in these informal sessions of Irish traditional music has been constrained by societal values that accord men higher status in mixed gatherings; that conventions governing the conduct of these gatherings, particularly the status and authority given to those who are oldest and most renowned. For various reasons, women are unlikely to be either of these. While women's participation in public music sessions has increased exponentially since the 1970s, as with the introduction of women into other previously forbidden realms of public life (universities and polling booths, for example), it takes some time before men and women fully internalize women's entitlement to be in such places and to have an equal status there.
Edward Said alerts his readers to the worldliness of musical texts, in which the social and political circumstances of their creation, dissemination, and reception are always implicated in the meanings we take from them. As I have argued above, this contingency of meaning, its situatedness in and particularity to political time and place, is manifest as much in our understanding of one particular melody as it is in our understanding of musical instruments, musicians, and nations.
The construction of a body of musical
practice understood to represent and express the Irish condition has taken
place within the discourse of nationalism. Perhaps the most important aspect of
this is the emphasis on a single, united cultural identity. Despite the many
geographical, religious, class, economic, and political differences among
Irish traditional music was accorded a
feminine symbolic identity by cultural nationalist movements in
This feminine stereotype was put under
pressure as more militant anti-colonial movements rejected the adequacy of the
cultural nationalist project and sought an independent state for
Both the representation of the ideal Irish woman as confined to domestic life, and the redefinition of Irish music as a masculine domain in which male musicians are the "natural" leaders, resulted in limited opportunities for women to perform Irish traditional music publicly, particularly in the early decades of the independent Irish state, from the 1920s to the 1950s. While societal values continue to accord men higher status in mixed gatherings, and public performance is located mainly in the masculine territory of the pub, the lesser participation of women as musicians has also reinforced their lack of authority across the years, as critics and commentators, as composers and producers. In such ways, both the ideology of the nation and the social values that sustain it weave a constantly mutating web of worldliness around the production and consumption of musical texts.
This article examines some of the ways in which defining a set of musical practices as "national" reproduces both the stereotypes adopted by colonizers and inverted in anti-colonial movements, and also the exclusions that are integral to the processes of nation formation. As one of the cultural forms nationalists enlist in their project, music is regarded by them as reflecting the imagined political, territorial, and cultural unity of the putative nation's people. I use the case of Irish traditional music, and the exemplar of the song "Danny Boy," first to demonstrate that the meanings attributed to musical texts are contingent upon the social and political circumstances of their production and consumption, and then to argue that the ideal Irish musician is discursively constructed as masculine.
[1] Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism (London: Chatto & Windus, 1993), 68.
[2] Edward Said, The World, the Text and the Critic (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983), 35. The concept of music as a kind of universal language has been widely discredited. See, for example, Richard Leppert and Susan McClary, eds., Music and Society: The Politics of Composition, Performance and Reception (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987) and John Shepherd and Peter Wicke, Music and Cultural Theory (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1997).
[3] See Lucy Green, Music on Deaf Ears: Musical Meaning, Ideology, Education (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1988), 28.
[4] Edward Said, Musical Elaborations (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991), 70.
[5] George Petrie, The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music
[6] David Cooper, "Editor's
Introduction," The Petrie Collection of
the Ancient Music of Ireland (
[7] Hugh Shields, "New Dates for Old Songs, 1766–1803," Long Room 18–19 (1979): 34–41.
[8] Anne
Gilchrist, "A New Light upon the
[9] Brian Audley, "The Provenance of the
[10] A basic midi version of "The Young Man's Dream" may be heard at <www.standingstones.com/midi/aislean.mid>, in which the melodic similarities to "Danny Boy" are evident, despite the metrical difference.
[11] See Máirín Nic Eoin,
"Aisling," in The Encyclopaedia of
[12] Petrie, 228.
[13] Bruce Olson's discoveries are recorded in Michael Robinson, "Danny Boy—The Mystery Returns!, or, The Young Man's Dream," which can be accessed at <www.standingstones.com/aisling/html>.
[14] For example, the recording of John McCormack's "Oh Mary Dear," from John McCormack: Legendary Irish Tenor (1935; Goldies, 2001), which can be accessed at: <http://www.cdworld.ie/mp3/10953_000100010016.mp3>. Although a hugely popular recording, the lyrics McCormack used did not take hold.
[15] Although the five-minute UK Theme was replaced by a much shorter piece in 2006, the original can still be heard via the BBC 4 website, <www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/uk_theme.html>.
[16] See cover of CD, The BBC Radio 4 UK Theme, performed by
the Royal Ballet Sinfonia with Gavin Sutherland (
[17] John Hutchinson, The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism: The Gaelic Revival and the Creation of the Irish Nation State (London: Allen & Unwin, 1987), 56.
[18] Petrie, 57.
[19] Matthew Arnold, "On the
Study of Celtic Literature," in English
Literature and Irish Politics, ed. R. H. Super (1866;
[20] See, for example, the works of Homi Bhabha, Ashish Nandy, and Edward Said.
[21] See David
[22] Thomas Davis, cited in Francis O'Neill, The Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (Dublin: Waltons, 1965 [1907]), 3.
[23] See, for example, Ann Rosalind Jones and Peter Stallybrass, "Dismantling Irena: The Sexualising of Ireland in Early Modern England," in Nationalisms and Sexualities, ed. Andrew Parker et al. (New York and London: Routledge, Chapman & Hall), 157–71; David Lloyd, Anomalous States: Irish Writing and the Post-Colonial Moment (Dublin: Lilliput, 1993); Maurice Goldring, Pleasant the Scholar's Life: Irish Intellectuals and the Construction of the Nation State (London: Serif, 1993); Richard Kearney, Postnationalist Ireland: Politics, Culture, Philosophy (London and New York: Routledge, 1997); Helen O'Shea, "'Good Man, Mary!': Women Musicians and the Fraternity of Irish Traditional Music," Journal of Gender Studies 17, no. 1 (March 2008): 55–70; and Colin Graham, "Subalternity and Gender: Problems of Post-colonial Irishness," Gender Studies 5, no. 3 (1996): 363–73.
[24] Republic of Ireland, Constitution of 1937, cited in J. J. Lee, Ireland 1912–1985: Politics and Society, (Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 150.
[25] Elizabeth Butler
Cullingford, "'Thinking of Her . . . as . . .
[26] See in particular
Caitríona Beaumont, "Gender, Citizenship and the State in
[27] The term "céilí" is a borrowing from the Scottish
cultural nationalist movement, as is the project of creating a national dance
form based on "ancient" dances but adapted to the ballroom. This
cross-fertilization took place in
[28] Lucy Green, Music, Gender, Education (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 58.
[29] Sean Quinn, "Accordion," in The Companion to Irish Traditional Music, ed. F. Vallely (Cork: Cork University Press, 1999), 2–3.
[30] Doreen Massey, Space, Place, and Gender (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994). See also Gillian Rose, Feminism and Geography (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1993).
[31] Rina Schiller, "Gender," in Vallely, The Companion to Irish Traditional Music, 150–51.
[32] See Green, 59.
[33] See O'Shea, "'Good Man, Mary!'"


text:
The Ravens were hoping Bryant McKinnie would show up for the start of training camp slimmed down and in better shape.
Instead, the troubled left tackle didn't show up at all and it's unclear when or if he will. Given little choice, the Ravens placed McKinnie on the reserve/did not report list after he didn't show up for Thursday's first full-squad practice of training camp.


text:
RESIDENTS of Nakuru West constituency want their next MP to deal urgently with the spiralling garbage problem once elected. They want the MP to find a permanent solution to floods that submerge their houses during heavy rains.
The residents were presenting their grievances during a parliamentary candidates public debate held in Nakuru town at the weekend. Mike Brawan, who is running on the UDF ticket said if elected, he will push for a law outlawing reckless disposal of garbage.
TNA's candidate Charles Maisiba said he will establish a recycling company that will not only deal with the garbage problem, but also give jobs to the unemployed youths. One of the biggest dump sites, Gioto, in Nakuru is in the constituency and has caused anguish to the London and Kiamunyi estate residents.


text: Tactical Accessories > Bags and Packs Tactical Accessories Bags and Packs Our passion for delivering the best in functionality turned the bags and packs project into more than just a few sketches on paper. After thousands of hours of design, tweaks and testing, we are proud to present six new feature-rich bags. All worthy of the Vertx name. LEARN MORE Featured Products EDC Commuter SlingOrbital strap deign for fastest back to front transition EDC SatchelAmple space With A Compact Design Filter Results Capacity15 Liters23 Liters28 Liters35 LitersColorBlackSmoke Grey Compare Products (0) Sort Products Popular Items Price Low to High Price High to Low EDC Gamut Plus Limited Edition Bag Limited Edition Smoke Gray With Red Trim Item # VTX5020SGR 0 REVIEWS Compare $199.95 EDC Commuter Sling Orbital strap deign for fastest back to front transition Item # VTX5010 4 REVIEWS Compare $184.95 EDC Satchel Ample space With A Compact Design Item # VTX5000 0 REVIEWS Compare $149.95 EDC Gamut Backpack Built to carry a full load and then some Item # VTX5015 1 REVIEWS Compare $199.95 EDC Gamut Plus Backpack SAME CONCEPTUAL DESIGN IN A HIGHER CAPACITY PACK Item # VTX5020 1 REVIEWS Compare $219.95 $189.95 EDC Courier The ideal go-to bag for the prepared professional Item # VTX5005 1 REVIEWS Compare $179.95 A-Range Bag Developed in conjunction with professional firearm instructors Item # VTX5025 1 REVIEWS Compare $219.95


text:
It all started out of curiosity. "What's really out there?" Last summer I made a trip through Eurasia out of my savings account and a goal to explore Japan, Amsterdam, and Copenhagen, three places I wanted to visit. I added a few destinations in-between, but the foundation was simple, to make a Eurasian journey overland. As I write this now, I'm finishing the last entries of those travels in the Journey – a travelogue of interactions across Eurasia.
So, how did it turn out?
I had some of the most intense encounters during these months. I ended up as far as Beijing, but also added many places in-between that were unplanned and spontaneous. With these spontaneous interactions, I began to realize the Journey was becoming bigger than just me. There was an ethereal feeling and I felt as if a Muse was guiding me along my winding path. I started weaving my own thoughts into stories, instilling my own message of positivity that I gained from my spiritual connection with those I met. However, with each unexpected visit, I would be taking away from reaching my ultimate destination, Japan. When I failed to reach Japan, did that hinder my feeling of enjoyment with the Journey?
Of course not.
The goal of reaching Japan was great, but then again, it was just a goal. As was the ambition to do the whole journey overland. But what it did do was give me something to reach for while still enjoying the journey. It kept me asking myself what the best course of action was to be most present with the people and world around me. Living in the now, being present with the encounters with the many souls I met, that was the true goal. To capture these encounters and share them with you was my hope.
That's where it left me until about 1 month ago when I decided I would come back to Europe to finish what I started. I'm back in Amsterdam living a very different life than that of the one I did before. I wrote the beginnings of the Journey while I traveled, so they are deeply personal and confronting, since I was confronting much of my own life at the time. But now, I am finally sitting down and putting the untold encounters and the unseen images into a readable travelogue that echos those experiences. My hope is to help others realize that they too can confront their fears, loves, or at least go out and explore them! For if we stay in one place too long, we will never know what is truly out there. I hope I can give my reader the ability to see into my encounters and maybe take something from them they can use in their life. Maybe that's inspiration to travel abroad, or maybe it's simply to confront their own hopes and desires.
As I finish this idea of writing a travelogue, I can see other ideas popping into my head about what's next. But to be honest, I know they are just resistance tempting me to lose sight of the goal. I often get a flurry of ideas when I travel. But as I travel now, these places serve as reminders of the Journey. They bring me back to a journey that has inspired me to continue practicing compassion and has pushed me to find creative ways to positively interact with the world more often.
The process of writing this has been a journey itself. From feelings of doubt, despair, to a generous optimism, it's important to know a journey is actually very simple; you just need to be present everyday and it will all fall into place.
[This is current place I've been staying at in Amsterdam. It is right along the Keizersgracht canal and is pretty much amazing. I found it through Airbnb, an international accommodation website that links travelers and guests to local apartments, houses, or rooms to rent for a few nights.
Here is the final version of The Journey, available for iBooks! Enjoy!


text:
Before we're blasted into the Summer movie season, here's what's headed our way first. Read More »
Tag Archives: Despicable Me
Blizzard of December 2010: Apocalypse Snow
No matter how you look at it, people died and suffered and someone must be held accountable. Read More »
Blizzard of December 2010: Surviving Cabin Fever
Before you know it you'll be back at work and school and wishing you could do something like this, so enjoy it while you can! Read More »
Blu-ray Review: Despicable Me
A surprisingly fun, heartwarming tale sure to charm the entire family. Read More »
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How much fun can you have with a tale about a bad guy who wants to steal the moon? Read More »
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Has its moments, but not all that great. Read More »
Box Office Update 7/9-7/11: Despicable Me Has Many Minions, er, Millions
Minions rule the roost. Read More »
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Aliens and minions rule to rule the weekend. Read More »
Movie Review: Despicable Me
Thankfully the filmmakers don't live up to the film's title and deliver some big laughs. Read More »
2010 Summer Movie Preview: July
The summer movie season forges on with fantasy, fun, and fine gems. Read More »


text:
Iran's supreme leader warns U.S. over alleged D.C. terror plot
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's supreme leader warned the United States on Sunday that any measures taken against Tehran over an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington would elicit a "resolute" response.
Two men, including a member of the Iranian special foreign actions unit known as the Quds Force, have been charged in New York federal court with conspiring to kill the Saudi diplomat, Adel Al-Jubeir. U.S. officials have said no one was ever in any immediate danger from the plot.
"If U.S. officials have some delusions, (they must) know that any unsuitable act, whether political or security, will meet a resolute response from the Iranian nation," state TV quoted Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying.
Iran also demanded that a diplomat be allowed to visit one of the men in prison.
Khamenei's comments may reflect Iranian concerns that Washington would use the Al-Jubeir case to ratchet up sanctions and recruit international allies to try to further isolate Tehran.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has been blunt in saying the United States would use the allegations as leverage with other countries that have been reluctant to apply harsh sanctions or penalties against Iran.
Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, said that the U.S. accused Iran of terror in order to divert attention from its economic woes and from the Occupy Wall Street protest movement.
"By attributing an absurd and meaningless accusation to a few Iranians, they tried ... to show that Iran is a supporter of terrorism. ... This conspiracy didn't work and won't work," he said.
Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for his part, dismissed the U.S. accusations as a fabricated "scenario."
"Iran is a civilized nation and doesn't need to resort to assassination," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying Sunday by the official IRNA news agency. "The culture of terror belongs to you," he said, addressing the United States.
Iranian officials have consistently denied the allegations since they first emerged last week. An earlier statement by Khamenei on Saturday, and Ahmadinejad's remarks on Sunday, were the first comments made by the country's two highest leaders.
In a formal statement released Saturday, the Iranian government said it has no connection to Manssor Arbabsiar, the man arrested in the alleged plot.
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