text:
Winter is coming. We tell people in America it gets cold here in the winter, and they are sympathetic. They know cold. Cold is not great.
"How cold does it get?" they ask.
We cringe when we tell them it gets down to 50°C (around 10°C) because we know they will laugh.
"That's nothing!" they say.
Yes, but: the houses here are built to be cool in the sickeningly hot and humid summers. So they are built of concrete, often with tile floors and even tile walls. The windows are often big to allow for creating cross breezes, and the ceilings are high. The kitchens are tiny in the newer houses, because nobody wants to be stuck inside cooking in a hot kitchen when you can get dinner outside for cheap.
There are often air conditioners in the apartments, but never heaters. The weather starts to get unpredictable, from day to day, then hour to hour, then one day it starts raining and doesn't stop raining for two weeks and your clothes and the linens and the bathroom start to smell of damp.
The cold seeps into the wet concrete walls and settles on the ceramic tiles. You want to cuddle up for warmth, but keep your icy feet to yourself if you aren't wearing socks. You can see your moist breath in the living room. You hang your clothes, but they take three days to dry. By then they are stiff and they smell weird. Room temperature water is cold, and even if drinking cold water weren't culturally proscribed, it's hard to do on a cold day. Stick to tea or coffee.
There's no hot water in the taps to wash your hands. You do it anyway, bracing yourself, cursing if a drop gets on your sleeve. The students' sleeves are wet and dirty all day. Your contact-lens solution is cold. The toilet seat is very, very cold. The shower is hot and you never want it to end because when you step out it will be cold.
It also starts getting dark earlier and earlier, so that the sun is rising with you in the morning and sets by dinner time. If you're working 9-5, you might miss it.
You know how in the U.S., if you're lucky enough to have a car, and lucky enough to have a car-starter, you can stand in your living room, drinking your first cup of coffee, and turn the car on by pressing a button, so that even if you have to move some snow to get to work, it will be melted by the time you get outside?
Yeah, well, in Taiwan you drive a scooter, rain or shine. You don't want to get wet at all, because any part of you that gets wet on the way to work is going to be wet all day, and cold. You put on rain boots, rain pants and a giant poncho over your winter coat. You don't want to wear the kind of gloves that will get wet, so you wear big waterproof winter gloves (they are never really waterproof though); or you put industrial rubber gloves over your nice woolly ones. Then you do up your poncho over your scarf, and then put on your helmet, visor down. That's how you drive to work. In the summer, you would have stopped on the way for a coffee or a sandwich, but in the winter you'll have to take off half your gear just to go in the store. Then it'll get wet and so will you, so no coffee today, no sandwich. Just drive in the cold rain, your nose running and your hands too encumbered to wipe it.
You take off your rain gear when you get to school. But not your coat, your gloves, or your warm rubber boots because even if you have a space heater at home, there's no heater in the schools, and you and the kids are all bundled up for the whole class. (Some of the babies will come to class in so many layers of shirts that they get damp with sweat in the cold and can't move their arms very well, so out of compassion you and your co-teacher remove three or four undershirts and only put them back on again right before Gramma comes back to pick them up.) It's too cold these days for the kids to go outside, so we all stay inside, locked up germ-incubators, always sputtering and coughing, red-eyed and hoarse, until spring.
"You think that's cold? Back in Russia…"
Okay, yes. But it still stands that 50°F is a lot colder here than a crisp autumn day is back in Pennsylvania…


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
The tasks in this step are:
When you add a new Page Flow, it is displayed in the Page Flow Perspective by default. The Page Flow Perspective gives you four different views on a particular Page Flow:
The Page Flow Explorer shows a logical view of the current Page Flow, listing all of the Actions, JSP Pages, Form Beans, etc. contained in the Page Flow. The Page Flow Explorer depicts the properties in a way similar to a file tree. But it is important to note that this tree is not the way that the Page Flow is written to disk. (To see the actual file tree of a Page Flow as it is written to disk, switch to the Navigator view.)
The top-level node gives the package of the current Page Flow. In this case the package is customerManagement.
The first child node gives the Page Flow Controller class being viewed, in
this case, CustomerManagementController.java.
The next node lists the Actions. In this case there is only one action: begin. This action is created by default with each new Page Flow.
Next the JSP pages are listed. There is only one JSP page at this time: index.jsp.
At this time, all of the other nodes are empty, because our Page Flow is relatively undeveloped. As we proceed we'll add items to the nodes.
The Page Flow Editor gives a graphical view of the current Page Flow.
The graphical view depicts the Page Flow's actions, JSP pages, and the connections between the actions and pages. In the picture below, the begin action is shown in the center pane. An arrow extending from the begin action to the index.jsp page depicts the Forward that navigates users to index.jsp, whenever the begin action is called.
The left side of the pane is called the upstream pane and the right side is called the downstream pane. Note that the Page Flow Editor always depicts the direction of flow as starting from the left and progressing to the right.
To change the current Page Flow depicted, click the dropdown list marked by the green triangle, as shown below.
As you can see from the dropdown list shown below, there are two Page Flows in the web application: (1) Controller (a default Page Flow created with each web application) and (2) CustomerManagementController (which you will be developing for the remainder of this tutorial).
You can also access a list of available Page Flows by clicking the icon on the Page Flow Explorer tab. In the image below the icon is circled in red. (The icon directly to the right will pop up the new Page Flow wizard.)
The Page Flow Overview gives a graphical summary of a page flow. It shows all of the actions, pages, and the relationships between them.
Double-clicking on an icon in the Page Flow Overview shows the associated source code in Source View.
The source editor, appearing directly underneath the Page Flow Editor view, shows the Java source for the Page Flow Controller class.
In this step, you will add a control, CustomerControl.java, to the Page Flow. The methods of this control (addCustomer, editCustomer, etc.) allow the Page Flow client to interact with customer data in a database. The interaction between the Page Flow client and the database consists of three classes:
The control CustomerControl.java acts as a wrapper intermediary class between the client, CustomerManagementController.java, and the Database Control CustomerDB.java. This wrapper intermediary increases the modularity of the application, allowing the user (1) to switch to a different Database Control if necessary in the future and (2) to execute any data type recasting within the wrapper class.
In this tutorial no actual recasting occurs, but it is easy to imagine a case where recasting is necessary. For example, suppose your Page Flow expects a Customer[] object but your Database Control returns an ArrayList of Customer objects. In such a situation you could use the intermediary wrapper class to load the ArrayList into a Customer[] before passing the data to the Page Flow.
You have just added four lines of code to the Page Flow Controller class CustomerManagementController.java:
import org.apache.beehive.controls.api.bean.Control; import controls.CustomerControl; ... @Control private CustomerControl customerControl;
These lines declare the Customer control on the Page Flow, allowing you to call control methods.
When you declare a control on a Page Flow class, it appears in the Referenced Controls node, along with a list of its available methods:
In this task you will edit the Page Flow class so that it retrieves customer data from the CustomerControl. In particular, you will add an Action ( i.e., an annotated method called getCustomers() ) to the the Page Flow class that calls the CustomerControl method getCustomers(), a method which returns an array of Customer objects. (In the next step you will create a JSP page that displays this array of Customer objects, rendering it as an HTML table.)
@Jpf.Action(forwards = { @Jpf.Forward(name = "success", path = "", actionOutputs = { @Jpf.ActionOutput(name = "getCustomersResult", type = model.Customer[].class) }) }) public Forward getCustomers() { Forward forward = new Forward("success"); model.Customer[] getCustomersResult = customerControl.getCustomers(); forward.addActionOutput("getCustomersResult", getCustomersResult); return forward; }
Click one of the following arrows to navigate through the tutorial:


text:
After our tour of the stadium we were shown into an exhibition of the next phase of development of Manchester City Football Club, and very impressive the plans are, doubly so as they are not pie in the sky plans but WILL happen as the financing is already in place and coming from an unimpeachable source. No dealings with dodgy banks for Manchester City these days!
The stadium was built here for the Commonwealth Games of 2002 in what was then one of the most depressed parts of the city. It was built on land formally used by Manchester's great engineering industry which, by the 1980s, had all but withered and died leaving the area in ruins and the people living in this part of the city with high unemployment and very little chance of bettering themselves. The stadium could have been built on a greenfield site in the affluent suburbs on the edge of the city but it was decided to build it here hoping it would stimulate economic activity and growth and bring work to the area. It has done that with apartments lining the Ashton Canal and Ashton Old Road with views of the stadium. New businesses like ASDA moved in and the area began coming back to life slowly.
The area was given a huge boost when Sheik Mansour bought Manchester City. When he bought it, it was a team in the shadow of its illustrious neighbour across the city, Manchester United. The best it could hope for was mid-table respectability and didn't have the money to challenge the big clubs like United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. Along came Sheik Mansour who bought the team and promised the world. Well at least the European Cup! And he has been as good as his word. HUGE amounts of money were thrown at the team tempting the best players on the planet to come to Manchester with eye-watering weekly wages. Some people say you can't solve a problem by throwing money at it and you can't buy success. Oh yes you can! Throw enough money at something and most problems evaporate. Manchester City is now seen as one of the most successful and feared clubs in the world and the silver trophies are beginning to flow into the club's museum.
Last year the club was able to upgrade the stadium and wonderful it looks. The next stage is to develop a state of the art centre of football excellence which will develop the talent for the next generation of footballers to play at the club and others. It is based on the idea developed by Barcelona FC who have a similar organisation. Except Manchester City's will be the best and £200,000,000 of Sheik Mansour's billions have been put aside to build it.
In the picture below you can see Manchester City's stadium in the top left hand corner. A broad walkway leads diagonally to a bridge that carries the route across the junction of Ashton New Road and Alan Turing Way on a spectacular new bridge. Once over the bridge you will be in the School of Football Excellence. It will contain two further stadiums, one for the Manchester City reserve team to play in and of such a high standard that many other teams would like to have it as their main stadium. The second stadium will be for training but can be hired out to other teams for games and event. Around these stadiums will be, I think, 25 further football pitches that can be hired for use by people in the city.
In the bottom left hand corner are a set of buildings that will include a school for the 16-18 year olds of the area and sporting and fitness facilities, including a swimming pool, for the local people. Manchester City have a plan to involve every school in the city in their development, finding talent that could be developed at an early age. This is on top of their centres in New York, Los Angeles, Abu Dhabi and New Delhi.
All of the £200,000,000 will be spent with companies within 15 miles of the stadium so the money will support local business and create jobs locally. On the day before we went, Manchester City had just taken on 10 people just to look after all the trees and plants that will be used on their development. All the people were taken on locally. The trees are local as well, already growing and waiting to be transferred to the complex when it is finished. And the wonderful thing about it is it WILL be built.
Our guide hinted that this was not the end of the development. Manchester City would like to increase the capacity of the main stadium to get more fans in.


text: Hi, In order to map the binding site(s) on a receptor for a peptide hormone I'm studying, I want to make a library of semi-random point-mutants, express this library of mutants in yeast, and then screen by FACS (using a fluorescent derivative of the hormone as a probe) for mutants that don't bind to the hormone. Our lab does not have mammalian tissue culture facilities (which is why we want to do our studies in yeast), but there is a departmental FACS. How permeable is the yeast cell wall? I realize that for immunofluoresence,the cell wall must be removed. But the peptides of interest are only 30-50 residues long (an order of magnitude smaller than antibodies). Would these have a problem getting through the cell wall to the plasma membrane (where the receptor would be localized)? Thanks, Navin Pokala navin at uclink4.berkeley.edu


text:
The FDA is Regulating Human Poop? What Gives?
A recent report in Scientific American may raise a few eyebrows. It's all about the FDA's efforts to regulate and standardize a "drug" almost nobody wants to be prescribed: fecal transplants. And yes, they're exactly what they sound like.
If you've never heard of a fecal transplant before (and even if you have), it sounds pretty surreal. Basically, the transplants are a way to treat people with severe, antibiotic-resistant intestinal infections — in particular, a bug called Clostridium difficile, which kills an estimated 14,000 people in the U.S. every year. The transplants work, too, eliminating up to 92% of recurring C. difficile infections which don't respond to antibiotics. Usually a single treatment is enough to eradicate the illness completely.
So how does this treatment actually work? Our guts are filled with trillions of helpful bacteria, which help digest food and fight off infection. But when a health condition or a medication wipes out the "good" bacteria, sometimes people are left only with dangerous bacteria in their guts. Those bacteria gain a foothold and start wreaking havoc on the body. Antibiotics may only make the situation worse by wiping out beneficial bacteria that might fight off C. difficile. When stool from a healthy person is transplanted into the body, it allows the guts to become colonized with friendly bacteria once again.
It may be gross, but it turns out the most shocking thing about fecal transplants isn't the treatment itself. It's that until recently, there's been no government regulation of this extreme treatment. In fact, doctors can't even agree how a transplant should be performed –they're still debating storage methods and how "fresh" the samples need to be to cure infections. The lack of regulation gets scary when you realize there aren't always adequate screening measures in place to prevent the possible transmission of new diseases to the already-sick patient.
That's all changing after a public workshop at the US National Institutes of Health last month. The FDA announced it's going to regulate feces like a drug — and that doctors performing transplants from here on out must submit an Investigative New Drug application detailing their methods. The added paperwork is just the first step, they say, in ensuring that the treatment is actually safe. Over time, they hope to develop a standard treatment protocol.
Some doctors aren't too happy about the shift. Dr. Michael Edmond, a doctor of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, has been particularly outspoken about the crackdown. In an interview with The Verge, he explained why he no longer offers the procedure:
"It's really burdensome, it's just an enormous amount of time to invest," Edmond tells The Verge, noting that fecal transplants are time-intensive in their own right, and often result in comparatively small reimbursements for physicians. If he were to perform them now, he would have to get approval not only from the FDA, but from his own institution as well, adding even more paperwork and hours to every case.
"I feel bad about it because I of course want to help the patients, but it just got to a point where I couldn't really justify the time," he says. "You can only do what you can do."
In the meantime, because of the high cost and the regulatory hurdles, some are predicting that fecal transplants are actually going to be driven underground. Already online communities are popping up offering DIY instructions for desperate disease sufferers. If the concern is the spread of disease and lack of screening donors for parasites and diseases, home transplants aren't likely to make matters better.
In the end, the best treatment may end up being a synthetic version of the real thing. Enterprising doctors like Elaine Petrof are working on synthetic stools that pose fewer potential health risks by culturing bacteria from healthy people and mixing them in the correct proportions for effective treatment. And maybe once the "gross" factor is removed, more doctors will be willing to try the treatment when antibiotics fail.
Photo from Thinkstock


text:
"Welcome to HOPE Counseling and Psychotherapy,
where we are dedicated to "Helping Other People Evolve".
HOPE Counseling and Psychotherapy
Integrating Mind, Body, and Spiritual Wellness
A Christian Ministry of Back to the Garden Ministries, Inc.
Serving all of Hampton Roads
Angela F. Montgomery, LPC, NCC
Licensed Professional Counselor
National Certified Counselor
Certified Clinical Trauma Professional
Certified Anger Management Professional
Counselor Qualifications and Areas of Practice
Angela Montgomery received professional training in Counseling and Psychotherapy through Liberty University; ultimately earning a Masters' degree in Counseling. Ms. Montgomery is a Licensed Professional Counselor in good standing with the Virginia Board of Counseling. She is the Community Counselor for Back to the Garden Ministries Church. She is also an active member of several professional organizations. Her practice addresses the needs of individuals, couples, and families. Her practice is extended to persons of all ages and faiths.
Ms. Montgomery has particular interest in Church Based Counseling and Religious Studies; Substance Abuse and Dependence; Anxiety Disorders: Grief, Loss, and Trauma; Gender Issues; Depressive Disorders; Working with Children and Adolescents; Marriage and Family Issues; Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Domestic Violence; Career Counseling, and diagnosis and treatment of other mental health disorders and problems in living as described in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association.
Theoretical Orientation
Ms. Montgomery's primary theoretical orientation (her primary framework for practice) is Integrative. This theoretical orientation allows the counselor/therapist to apply components of several major counseling and psychological theories including Cognitive-Behavioral, Adlerian, Existential, Person-Centered, and traditional Psychodynamic Theory and other disciplines within the field of psychology and counseling to allow for maximal results based upon the specific needs of the client. Each of these approaches is a well established, researched, and respected therapeutic orientation.
At HOPE Counseling and Psychotherapy, we give attention to the unique detail of each person's needs and offer counseling
and psychotherapy services to address a variety of issues including but not limited to:
in Living
for Growth
Distressing Experiences
End of Life Issues
Life Challenging/
Changing Illness
Relationship/Couples' Counseling
Traumatic Loss
Complex Posttraumatic Stress
Grief and Loss
Organ Transplant
Career Counseling
Combat Related Trauma
Bipolar Disorder
Pre-separation Counseling
Gambling Problems
Self Esteem and
Self Concept
Physical Abuse
Internet "Addiction"
Personal Coaching
Emotional Abuse
Sexual Problems
Military Life Issues
Adjustment to Job Changes
Executive Coaching
Spiritual Abuse
Suicidal Thoughts
Military Deployment Issues
Domestic Violence
Sexual Abuse/ Sexual Assault
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Anger Management
Pre-marital Counseling
Non-Suicidal Self Injury
Recent or Pending
Educational Issues
Pornography "Addictions"
Caretaker Challenges
Excessive Worry
Intrusive Bad Thoughts
Sleep Problems and Nightmares
Crisis Debriefing
Clinical Supervision
Video Game "Addiction"
Eating Disorders
Job Loss
Clinical Peer Supervision/ Consultation
Experienced a Traumatic Event
Body Image/ Perception Problems
Children Leaving Home
Impulse Control Problems
Pregnancy Termination
Unexpected Change
All of us encounter problems in living at some point in our lives. Sometimes, those problems interfere with our ability to function
at home, work, or school; or in other important areas of life. They can have a negative effect on our relationships
with others and even on how we view ourselves.
If this is happening to you, counseling can help you regain your footing and set you back on track, or even help
you switch to a new and improved one! At HOPE Counseling and Psychotherapy,
not only do we have the educational and professional training to help you, but we also have the heart.
More than anything, we believe... there is always hope.
To schedule a confidential session call us at 360-305-6900
or e-mail us. Click Here to download our Professional Counseling Disclosure


text:
Burlap Wedding Invitations
Lace weddings. Rustic Weddings. Country Weddings…These have to be some of my favorite wedding themes of the season. If you haven't come across them yet, you will certainly fall in love! Linen, or a soft burlap paired with a dainty lace detail has been all the rage in weddings lately. It is a wonderfully romantic theme that encourages elegant and creative lace details in all elements of your wedding. Taking a glance at the inspiration board above will show you how cute lace and linen bows can be as they decorate your ring bearer pillow, your wedding ceremony chairs and even your wedding cake! If you are truly daring and courageous, why not choose a gorgeous lace wedding gown and complimenting lace accessories? Last but not least, to invite your friends and family to the wedding of your dreams, choose an elegant lace and linen wedding invitation- these ones by the Monogram Gallery are simply stunning. They feature a printed graphic of a whimsical lace pattern, which is also a damask, paired with a rustic linen background. Having the first initial of the bride and groom as monograms on the invitation is also a hot trend. Remember that these invitations by the Monogram Gallery are completely customizable, so you are able to use your own initials for your own wedding invitations. Be sure to check out the rest of the wedding suite as well, to incorporate this theme into such things as your RSVP cards, thank you cards, and much more!
Top Row { Burlap and Lace Ring Bearer Pillow, Linen and Lace Bows, Vintage Burlap and Lace Utensil Wrap}
Bottom Row { Linen and Lace Wedding Cake, Bride Lace Headband on green Wedding Shoes, Vintage Lace and Linen Wedding Invitations by the Monogram Gallery}


text:
PUT IT IN THE BOOKS — Season 4 Finale at Littlefield
That's all, folks!
Running Late wrapped up Season 4 last night at Littlefield, with one of the loosiest, goosiest shows on record. But gaddamn was it a fun one. The creators of some of the most viral tumblrs of 2013 including Anna Drezen & Todd Briscoe of How May We Hate You?, Ryan Nethery of The Worst Room, and Jason Mustian of Pornhub Comments on Stock Photos showed off their blogs, veteran actor Josh Pais shared some tales from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set, Simon Rich & Farley Katz explained their latest archeological discovery (available now on Amazon), Amber Tamblyn admitted her deep, sexual longing for Marty and was joined by her grandfather/Eugene Mirman to teach Scott her famous Tamblyn Family Eggnog Recipe, and comedian Damien Lemon brought down the roof one last time, resulting in scores of injuries and 4 confirmed deaths.
Running Late now embarks upon a brief hiatus before returning in a BIG way in 2014. In the meantime, Scott asks that you please respect his privacy as he spends the next three months alphabetizing his baseball card collection.


text:
The Institute communicates its scientific and educational information in a number of ways. One major outlet is peer-reviewed publications and reports. Cary Institute staff regularly publish in the best-rated journals in their respective fields.
Export 11 results:Sort by: Author [ Title] Type Year
Filters: Author is Schlesinger, William H. and First Letter Of Title is E [Clear All Filters]
Ecological objectives can be achieved with wood-derived bioenergy, reply to Dale et al.", Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, vol. 13, no. 6, p. 299 - 299, 2015., "
An ecologist's thoughts on forests and farms in a cap-and-trade system", Emory Law J., vol. 58, p. 423-425, 2009., "
Effects of Agriculture upon the Air Quality and Climate: Research, Policy, and Regulations", Environ. Sci. Technol., vol. 43, 2009., "
Effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on amino acid and NH4+-N cycling in a temperate pine ecosystem", Global Change Biol., vol. 13, p. 1950-1959, 2007., "
Elevated CO2 increases root exudation from loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) seedlings as an N-mediated response", Tree Physiol., vol. 29, p. 1513-1523, 2009., "
The engaged university: providing a platform for research that transforms society", Front. Ecol. Environ., vol. 8, p. 314-321, 2010., "
The Environmental Justice Dimensions of Climate Change", Environ. Justice, vol. 4, p. 17-25, 2011., "
The Environmental Price Tag on a Ton of Mountaintop Removal Coal", PLoS ONE, vol. 8, no. 9, p. e73203, 2013., "
An estimate of the global sink for nitrous oxide in soils", Global Change Biology, 2013., "
An evaluation of abiotic carbon sinks in deserts", Global Change Biology, 2016., "
Eyes wide shut", in K. S. Van Houtan and M. S. Northcott (eds.). Diversity and Dominion, 2010, p. 13-20., "


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text:
In the lessons we are presenting this week, they are all about discovering inner peace, what is inner peace, how do you achieve inner peace, what are the benefits of inner peace. These are just a few of the questions that we wrestle with in our lives every day. If you could just pause your many thoughts for just a moment and think about all the anger, resentment, unhappiness, physical and mental tension, nervousness, strife and the waste of time and energy that results from lack of inner peace, then you will start to appreciate the importance of discovering what real peace of mind is all about.
Now listen to what the bible tells us about finding inner peace, it says, "If the anger of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness will lay great offenses to rest." (Ecclesiastes 10:4 ESV) In other words, we are to calm our thoughts from the tension that has come over us and allow real peace to surround us. If someone are something else has angered us, do not leave that place of calmness that God has brought you to. That statement of mind of calmness is your home. Now remain at peace there. The devil wants you to get angry, he wants you to yell and scream, throw things, break things, curse others out and blame them for all the wrong that is taking place in your life. When you lose control, you lose your self-respect and then you enter into the pits of hell. That is where the devil resides and just where he wants you to be as well. Stay calm, stay focus and stay in control. The bible tells us that when we find ourselves in this position, this is what we should do, "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV).
Let us understand this fact, when your mind is calm, it is at peace, and when it is at peace it is being strengthen in every direction. When you are at peace, you are then put in a higher level of thought and when you are there you will soon discover you are finding deeper levels of peace and concentration unlike anything you have ever experienced before.
In addition, when you are at this level of concentration, it provides you with an increased level of energy, the power of your mental factors are greatly increased; you will begin to experience a greater memory level, and your ability to study and learn complicated topic's will greatly be improved, and finally as you go about your daily affairs in life, you will soon discover that you are much more able to handle with greater efficiently the stressful and difficult situations that life throws at you.
Now is the time to make some changes in your life to have that peace and calmness that we all seek to enjoy. You can do this by beginning daily to practice calming your mind. When you begin to do so, the calmness that you experience will influence your inner being, your body, your circumstances and the people you meet. You can now begin to live a fruitful life that will provide you with much joy. Read and study the many lessons that we teach here daily on this subject and many others and your life will begin to change.
Now listen to God's last word on this subject. "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (Ephesians 4:11-16 ESV)
Please return for our next lesson which is title, "CALMNESS OF MIND." This lesson is from the book of James Allen.
Related articles
- When God is in Charge 2 (livinginthereign.wordpress.com)
- Finding Personal Peace (thedarkglobe.wordpress.com)
- The 'Anger Room'? How do YOU blow off steam? (freedomhallblog.wordpress.com)
- Finding Peace in a Chaotic Life (joyofspa.com)
- The Road to Peace (kingskidneal.wordpress.com)
- Peace be still (positivelybranded.wordpress.com)
- Calm lake! (lijiun.wordpress.com)
- Where is my Peace? (transplantedandgrowing.wordpress.com)
- 30 Days Without Anger (habituatedbuddhist.com)
- The Peaceful Way (passionfortruths.wordpress.com)


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The Perry City Council unanimously approved an ordinance which allows the city to enter into an agreement with the West Palm Beach-based BioNitrogen to provide collateral guaranty on a $5 million line of credit taken out by the company for work on a proposed plant here.
The council, along with the Taylor County Commission and the Taylor County Development Authority, have been working to entice the company to build a plant here which is projected to create 52-55 manufacturing jobs in the county with an average starting salary of $38,000 plus benefits. The total investment here has been estimated to be between $100 million and $220 million.
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You've certainly heard her hits 'The Closest Thing to Crazy' and 'Nine Million Bicycles'. If you're already a fan of Katie Melua you probably also know that she's internationally respected as an advocate for environmental protection and charitable activities. In fact, we are so inspired by her work and attitude that we've made her our environmental Brand Ambassador.
"We are thrilled to be working with Katie," says Peter Hope, Vauxhall's Marketing Director. "Vauxhall is all about being British, forward thinking and energetic, and we think Katie embodies these values perfectly. In addition, we are passionate about consistent environmental awareness and social responsibility; as a subject very close to Katie's heart, this only makes our partnership more fitting."
The singer is equally positive: "I like the way Vauxhall addresses topics like environmental efficiency and sustainability and I feel very comfortable with the partnership; it's a great fit."
Images and colours shown are for illustrative purposes only and may show optional equipment.


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Case Study
Fortune 500 Company Gained Control of SAP License Management and Spend
This Fortune 500 company faced a number of challenges with management of its SAP software investment. Hover your mouse over the graphic below to see how they gained control of SAP license management and reduced software costs once they started using FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications.
Learn more about FlexNet Manager for SAP Applications View more success stories


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Hi everyone, wish you all a happy and prosperous new year 2014! I am so glad a new year is here. I am all set to start afresh. I took a little break from blogging to recharge my batteries and I am well-rested, more passionate about my blogs and full of new ideas to share with all of you through my blogs.
I also completed 1 year as a beauty blogger here in Shopping Escapades. It has been an uphill climb and now I feel like I am a beauty blogger. Yes, it took a year of blogging for me to feel like I know what I am doing. And it certainly wasn't easy.
2013 was a fabulous year for me despite my resolutions being less than half-way done. But I am proud of what I did, learnt and experienced. So let's get started with what I have in mind for 2014!
My resolutions for Shopping Escapades – 2014 edition!
1. Publish beauty posts 4-5 times a week.
This is the top resolution on both of my blogs. I want to do blogging full-time and I know the amount of hard work it takes. I have blogged almost everyday for the most part of 2013 so I know I can do it. But it is not about writing anything and publishing.
I want to write THOROUGHLY researched, well-written, good length, comprehensive posts on each subject. I want to do more product reviews and comparisons.
I did more shopping haul posts last year since I was building my collection and now that I have a respectable collection and I have tried a lot of new products and brands, I feel like I am ready to compare products, brands and write more intelligently (yup!). I am doing away with the Sunday chitchat posts. I may write something personal random here and there but I am closing the weekly chatty posts.
2. Interact with fellow beauty bloggers.
I might have been the worst at this in 2013 but that was because I was new and focused on building my content. It is time to find people I would like to discuss beauty stuff with since not many real-life friends of mine are into makeup or beauty.
3. Do at least one makeup look a week on blog/YouTube.
I am an average woman having fun with makeup so I focused on having fun alone. But recently I started making YouTube videos (published only 1 until now). So I would start sharing my makeup videos online this year. I plan on doing 1 video a week. Mainly because I make an effort to do a full-face makeup once a week usually. Other days I am all about eyeliner, highlighter and tinted lipbalm only.
I also want to do more EOTD posts on the blog too. There is so much that can be done with the eyes!
4. Hold giveaways and open the blog got guest blogging.
I am in Seoul at the moment and have no idea about giveaways. I wanted to do one for my 1 year anniversary but couldn't. I plan to do giveaways on special occasions this year. Let's see when I get back to India and get to do it!
One of things I am excited about is opening my blog for guest posts. In the last one year I realized I can talk about many products, but it will be specific to my skintype, my preferences, my geographical location and my taste but my readers will benefit from a little bit of variety! I do not plan on going crazy since I want to write here daily but I do want to have a guest blog maybe once a week. I also want to write guest posts for other beauty blogs.
5. Increase my reach.
I usually go for things that are easily available in South Korea. And this makes it difficult for me to connect with many people interested in beauty products since Korean products are not easily available everywhere yet. I plan on trying out more international brands while also exploring Korean market to provide more value and exposure to my readers. I want to increase the reach of my blog.
I know my goals are big enough to challenge me and realistic enough to be achievable. I am very excited to get started on these and I cannot wait to see what 2014 has in store for me! My 2014 has started on a happy note and I am grateful to be alive and to be living a good life 🙂
Have a happy and Prosperous New Year 2014!


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A Davidson County judge Tuesday sentenced Denver McMath to 140 years in prison for a raping a child.
McMath was convicted last year on four counts of rape of a child and four counts of aggravated sexual battery. Last August, a jury convicted McMath of assaulting the minor at various times while she was in the second through seventh grades.
Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins sentenced McMath to serve 25 years for each of the rape convictions and 10 years each for the battery convictions, all of which are to be served consecutively.
Why put such a man in prison for life? You are only going to house him, cloth him, feed him, provide free health care and give him gym to work out to stay fit.
That is an absolute waste of taxpayers money which could be used for much greater purposes.
It shows the ignorance of legislators to abolish the death penalty. It should be brought back.
yucchhii to Yogiman; Don't worry, a child rapist life expectancy in prison is NOT LONG! One thing inmates in prison DON'T like is a child molester and they will KILL him as soon as they can do it and get away with it. Provided that they don't put this guy in solitary confine ment.
The death penalty has not been abolished. While I believe the offender should never be free, there's also the fact that the death penalty is far more expensive to carry out than a life sentence, which is what this guy got.
Say what you want about the Taliban, but sometimes there's something about the ol' bullet to the head. Jail until the short eyes gets a shank, or 15 years on death row, costs millions.
BEOWULF: Since no real consensus is apparent, why don't we just let the warden/guards place him in gen pop...inside or on the yard, justice should be be swift!...[Freddy! What a despicable, wonderful thought.]
SassyLady:Before you condem someone,do you know the real facts?It's condemnation when we hear of such things.At this point his fate has been established.Everyone in prison has a reason to be there.So,why does a certain group of prisoners decide on who lives and who dies!Keep in mind prisons make up is of all kind(murderers,rapist,drug dealers etc),it's all the same.If that's the case ,shank EVERYBODY in prison!!!!


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Posts Tagged: Jezebel Results 6
Bowing to the OU, Jezebel Changes It's 'Racy' Name
Jezebel may be a fitting moniker for an irreverent feminist blog, but the Orthodox Union thinks it's not a good name for a glatt kosher restaurant.
When it Comes To Eating Local, Kosher-Keepers Are Split
The sun was shining over the Union Square farmers market on a recent chilly morning as Chris Mitchell, a 34-year-old chef at the fashionable kosher eatery Jezebel, loomed over a table of Jerusalem artichokes. The six-foot-something Georgia native carefully inspected the exterior of the root vegetable before buying a handful to serve as dried chips.
Mitchell comes to the Manhattan market every morning to buy Jezebel's produce as part of the restaurant's commitment to purchase locally produced food.
A Kosher Steak with a View
Restaurants with views of New York's skyline are rare, and in the kosher world, non-existent. Well, that was true until this Sunday, when Prime at the Bentley opened atop the Bentley Hotel on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
What To Eat at Jezebel
After hearing (and reading) all the hype about how new, hip Soho restaurant Jezebel would rejuvenate, modernize, and make kosher dining "cool," I had to check it out.
Mixing Bowl: Kosher Wimbledon; Pickle Video
Take a tour of Uri Buri's ice cream shop in Acco, where he makes locally sourced seasonal ice cream flavors like yogurt with lime and poppy seeds. [Serious Eats]


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For related articles and more information, please visit OCA's Environment and Climate Resource page, Organic Transitions page, and our Breaking the Chains page.
Some developers are starting to incorporate a new feature into neighborhoods: A food supply. Landscape Architecture magazine reports in its April issue on forward-looking urbanists who are situating working farms next to homes in mixed-use projects.
"Both development and agriculture are broken, and the answer to each is in the other," architect Quint Redmond tells the magazine.
Community gardens are a familiar manifestation of residential-area agriculture, but many of the new designs are incorporating farms that are bigger and intended to meet more of the community's nutritional needs.
In one setup, a neighborhood of small lots adjoins land set aside for conservation and agriculture. The land is owned by a nonprofit or homeowners' association, and the farm management and/or operation is contracted to a professional farmer. Residents can get the produce through a market or by joining a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program. Prairie Crossing near Chicago and Serenbe near Atlanta are two examples of this type of approach.
Other proposed communities are still on the drawing boards and attempting to attract support. One designed by Redmond's firm TSR Group would turn 618 acres of current industrial farmland in Milliken, Colorado, into an "Agriburbia" community using almost half the land for commercial farming. Another 135 of the acres would go to acres to parks and natural habitat, and the rest would host 994 dwellings.


text: The only statement I read that was stupid was that it was good Locker not playing against Seattle and Niners. You say we have a bright future yet Locker isn't here to experience a defense like Seattle and Niners. He needs to experience those type of games for the future. This team is headed in the right direction and you want to win games to create momentum into the playoffs or into the next season. Losing Locker is big on the team and himself individually. I see nothing good in losing Locker. He is losing the experience he needs. I lied, one other statement I read was maybe not stupid but a bit of a homer statement. If you really think we are going to beat the Broncos in the post season you're crazy. Yes, he has had bad post season success but he is on the best team he has ever been on. That team is dangerous and explosive in all three phases. It would take a lot out the offense to keep up with the Broncos offense because Peyton is going to score regardless who he plays.


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BlackBerry, which is having difficulty selling its new Z10 phones, has turned to Porsche to create a new customized luxury phone.
Unlike its Z10, which sells for a little over $600 with no contract and just under $200 with a contract, the Porsche Design P'9982 will sell for $2,400.
It seems a counterintuitive move for a company in the midst of a restructuring that it will see its product line contract. A BlackBerry spokeswoman called it a "niche product."
Porsche Design, which has collaborated with BlackBerry on a smartphone for a second time, says the P'9982 is made of stainless steel with an Italian leather back door. An exclusive 500 models will have crocodile leather cases.
It has a customized version of the BlackBerry 10.2 operating system, with an onscreen keyboard that adapts to how you type and a hub system to manage conversations and content.
The phone is being launched Thursday at Harrods in London. It won't be available in Canada until January.
BlackBerry wrote off $995 million in the third quarter on the Z10, with a new operating system launched in February that failed to find a market.
The company had sought a buyer, but gave up on that idea in October, when it accepted a $1-billion funding offer led by Fairfax Holdings.
Interim CEO John Chen has taken the reins at the troubled smartphone company, which has laid off thousands of workers in the last year.
However, BlackBerry has signalled its intention to go after the enterprise market, where an exclusive handset may be sellable.
Investors were not keen on the announcement, sending BlackBerry stock down to $6.02 on Wednesday.
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CALGARY, Sept. 8, 2016 /CNW/ - Canadian Pacific (TSX: CP) (NYSE: CP) today announced that Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer Mark Erceg is stepping down from the position of CFO effective Sep. 9, 2016. Erceg will be returning to the U.S. to assume the role of CFO at a U.S.-based NYSE-listed company where his responsibilities will include not only Finance but Information Systems.
Nadeem Velani has been appointed interim Vice-President and CFO. Velani joined CP in March 2013 and most recently served as Vice-President Investor Relations. Prior to CP, Velani spent 15 years at Canadian National Railway Co. where he worked in a variety of positions in Financial Planning, Sales and Marketing and Investor Relations.
"While this was a difficult decision for me to make, I am truly proud of the work we have done in my tenure at CP," said Erceg. "Leaving at this time to pursue this exciting new opportunity is the right decision and I know CP, under the leadership of Hunter Harrison and Keith Creel, is well positioned for continued success."
"Mark was a big part of CP's senior leadership team and will be missed," said E. Hunter Harrison, CP's Chief Executive Officer. "We wish him and his family well in their future endeavours and look forward to working closely with Nadeem as he assumes the role of CFO on an interim basis."
About Canadian Pacific
Canadian Pacific (TSX:CP)(NYSE: CP) is a transcontinental railway in Canada and the United States with direct links to eight major ports, including Vancouver and Montreal, providing North American customers a competitive rail service with access to key markets in every corner of the globe. CP is growing with its customers, offering a suite of freight transportation services, logistics solutions and supply chain expertise. Visit cpr.ca to see the rail advantages of CP.
SOURCE Canadian Pacific
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As Lewis Carroll's Alice so aptly points out, "What is the use of a book…without pictures or conversations?" Welcome to RA Crossroads, where books, movies, music, and other media converge, and whole-collection reader's advisory service goes where it may. In this column, HBO's addictive series Game of Thrones leads me down a winding path.
Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season. 5 discs. color. 561 min. HBO Studios. 2012. DVD UPC 883929268757. $59.99.
Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season. 5 discs. color. 550 min. HBO Studios. 2013. DVD UPC 883929242993. $59.99.
Game of Thrones: The Complete Third Season. HBO Studios. Not yet released on DVD. $59.99.
Based on George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Fire and Ice" saga, HBO's grandly ambitious series, which just completed its third season, follows the intricate and complicated maneuvers of a huge cast of characters engaged in a battle for a crown: the heirs of a slain king are set in murderous opposition, an exiled would-be queen plots in the East, and two ruling families, along with legions of connections, spies, and allies, fight a pitched and bloody battle from North to South. It is a complicated, richly textured, and gripping series, notable for its sudden plot twists and its darkly violent tone (played out through plenty of very disturbing scenes). With so many players seeking the throne, and so many competing interests, the power of the series rests firmly in the characters, which are portrayed with sharp edges and murky borders. Morally ambiguous, the show features few characters that are purely good or evil (although evil certainly has a tight grip on some). Equally compelling is the world building, which vivifies as it expands: vaguely medieval landscapes are joined by those reflecting an even older, more mythic feel, as well as icy plains, lush forests, and any number of unique castles and holdings. Blending both historical touchstones and fantasy motifs the series evokes the War of the Roses, the schemes of the Borgias, and Viking sagas and includes characters that can embody animals, see the future, and mother dragons. With its multiple plotlines and quick, episodic pacing, the series feels both portentous and immediate—a thrilling combination that leads to quick addiction and binge watching.
The Vikings. History Channel. 2013. (Not yet released on DVD).
For fans who are most interested in the adventure and underlying mythic elements of Game of Thrones, suggest this new series on the History Channel. It, too, has a lush and tactile visual feel and the same strong sense of atmosphere and quick pacing. Set in the early medieval period, it follows the fate of a band of Norsemen as they battle for power, raid the coast of England, and contend with the will of their gods. Season 1 centers on Ragnar Lodbrok, a warrior who is weary of raids to the East and the staid, conservative rule of his earl. When he discovers a way to sail to the lands of the West, he challenges his earl and goes questing, ravaging the north coast of England and setting into motion events that will eventually lead him to becoming a ruler in his own right.
While this series is not as political or as complexly plotted as Game of Thrones, fans of that show who are interested in its military, adventure, and religious aspects will find much to enjoy here as well.
The Tudors: The Complete Series. 15 discs. color. 34 hrs. Showtime Entertainment. 2010. DVD UPC 097360733044. $99.98.
Fans who enjoy the lushness, political maneuvering, and detail of Game of Thrones might also enjoy Showtime's series about the reign of King Henry VIII. It also features a large cast spanning kings, cardinals, courtiers, mistresses, and wives, all of whom have agendas set at cross purposes with one another. While Henry's throne is never in real danger—the game at the heart of the series is not for his crown but to conceive his heir and to gain his favor—the plots and counterplots are just as complicated and compelling as those powering the HBO series. One by one, individuals, such as Cromwell, and whole families, such as the Boleyns, scheme to hold power within Henry's domain. And one by one they fall to his anger and the executioner's sword. While the picture isn't necessarily accurate historically, the sense of place always rings true. With grand landscapes, careful attention to detail—especially costuming—and a heavy, dangerous, and expectant tone, this historical soap opera, which lasted four seasons, makes for addictive viewing. Fans looking for more in the same vein might keep an eye out for the "Cousins' War" series premiering on Starz this August.
House of Cards. 4 discs. color. 675 min. Sony. 2013. DVD UPC 043396424708. $55.99.
For viewers who most enjoy the scheming and the sheer ruthless exercise of power in Game of Thrones, suggest Netflix's recent production starring the ever-brilliant Kevin Spacey. Lacking dragons, swords, and shape-shifters, House of Cards moves Game of Thrones into a contemporary setting—the halls of Congress, where the slippery sports of deceit, manipulation, and power unfold. Spacey plays Frank Underwood, the House majority whip who has been disappointed in his ambitions to serve as secretary of state, a post promised to him by the president. The 13-episode series tracks Underwood's revenge and new ambitions, as well as his expedient use of other players and would-be players in the ongoing game of power at the heart of the show. Fast-paced, acidly smart, and slickly produced, House of Cards is a lush and nihilistic meditation on the way power is amassed and exercised: so ruthlessly, it turns out, that even the Lannisters could take notes. Fans might also like to consider the 1990 BBC version as well.
I, Claudius. 5 discs. color. 668 min. Acorn Media. 2012. DVD UPC 054961875092. $59.99.
While not as fantastical, opulent, or sprawling as Game of Thrones, this BBC production, based on two novels by Robert Graves, ably goes toe-to-toe with that series for its political machinations and complexity of plots (and for its time, the sex and violence). The story is told in flashbacks from the point of view of Claudius, the fourth emperor of Rome, who, despite his image as a stammering fool, survived decades of double crosses and murder. As part of the family that included Caligula and Nero, Claudius lived in the company of schemers. The way he navigated their plans and stayed alive, as well as the way he tells his own story as an old man looking back, is enthralling. For fans who enjoy the psychological motivations of Game of Thrones and are willing to forgo its fantasy elements, this 13 episode series, recently released in a special 35th-anniversary edition, may be just the thing to fill in time before HBO runs the next season of Game of Thrones.
Martin, George R.R. A Game of Thrones. Spectra: Bantam. (Song of Ice & Fire, Bk. 1). 1996. 704p. ISBN 9780553103540. $35.
The first stop for fans of the HBO program is to read the books by Martin if they have not already done so. Season one adapted A Game of Thrones, season two covered A Clash of Kings, and season three concluded halfway through A Storm of Swords. Viewers who don't want to read ahead at least have two books to tide them over until season four begins, but Martin is up to book five in the series, so those who don't mind getting a jump and perhaps want to be better prepared for scenes like the Red Wedding have a great deal to read while waiting for the next season. Viewers should note, however, that Martin's books differ from the HBO episodes: the show is faster paced; many of the key characters are older; plotlines and some events have been condensed, changed, added, or cut; and some characters are presented in different ways. The exquisite world building, the emotional power of the stories, the strong characterizations, and the multiple points of view are shared between print and screen, however, as are the dark tone, moral ambiguity, and the mix of political treachery, family saga, and history and fantasy elements.
Durham, David Anthony. Acacia. Anchor: Doubleday. 2008. 768p. ISBN 9780385722520. pap. $7.99.
Durham's sprawling trilogy (which also includes The Other Lands and The Sacred Band) makes a good suggestion for next reading. While the pacing is closer to Martin's novels than to the HBO series, the vivid world building, the multiple plots, the historically informed setting, and the rich characterizations are all present. So, too, are plenty of intrigue, treachery, action, and moral ambiguity. A saga of an overthrown king, hidden heirs, and schemes, Durham's story launches with an assassination plot hatched by northern rebels of the Mein. As the Akaran empire falls and as the war of the Mein is launched, the fate of the four royal children—two boys and two girls—becomes central. Their plight, survival, and quest to once again rule their kingdom, as well as the plans and plots of others, propel this epic and grand-scale trilogy.
Ruckley, Brian. Winterbirth. Orbit. (Godless World). 2008. 688p. ISBN 9780316068062. pap. $7.99.
Readers who want more political fantasy novels, as well as a medieval setting, a dark and brutal tone, a hazy veil of moral uncertainty, and large-scale world building might enjoy Ruckley's "Godless World" trilogy. It pairs well with the HBO series as Ruckley offers an emotionally involving narrative, with well-developed characters placed in a fully realized world, and plenty of plots and treachery to track. In a world abandoned by the gods, several races are caught in a violent war. The armies of the Black Road (a group of humans exiled in the north who adhere to a religion focused on predestination) advance southward, set on a relentless course to reclaim what was once theirs. Their quest sets a number of characters in opposition to one another—key among them are those who see the conflict as a chance to rule. Infused with Scottish history and hints of magic, Ruckley's meaty and vivid saga spins out in Bloodheir and concludes in Fall of Thanes.
Cornwell, Bernard. The Winter King. Griffin: Saint Martin's. 1997. 448p. ISBN 9780312156961. pap. $16.99.
HBO's series, for all its political scheming and treachery, has just enough of an adventure edge that it matches well with titles that have an action focus as well, an element Cornwell ably supplies in his retelling of the Arthurian tales. Cornwell also offers Game of Thrones' legion of fans large helpings of many of its most addictive aspects, including a vividly realized historical setting; a dark, gritty, and engrossing sensibility; a strong background of folklore and myth; and story lines that intertwine war, betrayal, greed, and duty. The three-book series begins with The Winter King, in which the complex figure of Arthur is introduced, along with the scheming and manipulative Guinevere, the ambitious and dishonest Lancelot, and the powerful and crafty Merlin. As the trilogy unfolds in Enemy of God and Excalibur, even those who know the legends well will be enthralled by the deeply textured world building; the layers of conflict among characters, cultures, and religions; and the battles and complex political intrigue.
Martin, George R.R. A Game of Thrones. 28 CDs. unabridged. Books on Tape. (Song of Ice & Fire, Bk. 1). 2004. ISBN 9781415901502. $75.
To gain an experience of Martin's books beyond the visual, suggest the audiobooks read by Roy Dotrice. In a gruff, gravelly voice, Dotrice crafts highly immersive experiences that grab hold of listeners and never let go, owing largely to his ability to create the pitch-perfect tone for each scene. Dotrice also creates lively characterizations with wonderful inflection and accents, each flavored to account for regional differences. He is a master at pacing Martin's sprawling novel so that it becomes a rich and fevered experience that is a joy to listen to and that moves at a clip that heightens the tensions of the various plots. Watching the HBO series benefits newbies to Martin's world as it supplies visual cues as to who's who and manages the complexities of the various plotlines. Dotrice, who must read every word, does the same thing through his voice alone and offers listeners an experience that is every bit as transformative and masterly as Jim Dale's reading of the Harry Potter books.
Abercrombie, Joe. The Blade Itself. unabridged. 22 hrs. Audible. (First Law, Bk. 1). 2010. $19.64.
Grim, dark, adventuresome, and set within a medieval infused world, Abercrombie's "First Law" series is rife with gritty and grim battles; schemes, plots, and opportunism; and political tensions and intrigues. Like that of Martin and the HBO series, Abercrombie's world is peopled with a large cast of characters and multiple, intertwining plots. This opening title sets up the Union empire and introduces, among others, Logen Ninefingers, a fighter who might have run out of luck, and Glokta, a Union inquisitor. Narrator Steven Pacey brilliantly performs this and several other titles in the series with great gusto and immediacy. He shares with Dotrice the ability to create a superb range of voices and a quick, engaging pace and to infuse the lines with perfect intonation—which is particularly important to pick up Abercrombie's darkly ironic humor. With performances both immersive and addictive, both Pacey and Abercrombie will make listeners want to move on to the next title in the series, Before They Are Hanged.
For more recommendations, see Pop Culture Advisory: Game of Thrones.


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The transition team of NYC Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio took the unusual step today of releasing a video featuring his 19-year-old daughter, Chiara de Blasio, in which she describes her battle with depression and drug and alcohol abuse.
"Every kid who grows up in New York grows up pretty fast; it's astonishing," she says, before describing a struggle with clinical depression that lasted throughout her adolescence.
"It made it easier, like, the more I drank and did drugs, to share some common ground with people that I wouldn't have," Chiara continues. "It didn't start out as a huge thing for me, but then it became a really huge thing for me."
The teenager says she thought that going away to California for college (at Santa Clara University, where she is an environmental studies major) would help her leave her troubles behind, but instead, her use of alcohol and marijuana only intensified.
Chiara says she received support from her parents, especially incoming First Lady Chirlane McCray, who did "every little thing she could." She eventually got treatment from a therapist and at what she describes as an "outpatient" facility in New York City.
"Removing substances from my life opened so many doors for me. I was able to participate in my dad's campaign, and that was the greatest thing ever," Chiara says.
"…Getting sober is a positive thing. And it's not easy, by no means is it easy. It's the hardest thing I've ever done. But it's so worth it."
The video, released on Christmas Eve day, came in an email from Bill and Chirlane de Blasio with the subject line "Chaira's story."
"As parents, our instinct has been to protect our daughter and privately help her through a deeply personal struggle," the couple wrote.
"But not only has Chiara committed to her own health, she is also committed to helping young people everywhere who face similar challenges."
"Her courage to speak out demonstrates a wisdom and maturity far beyond her 19 years, and we are grateful every day for her commitment to lifting up those who need to know that they are not alone."
At the end of the video, words appear across the screen urging anyone watching who believes they have a substance abuse problem to seek help, and also offering a website: "ok2talk.org."
UPDATE: The NYT notes that during the campaign, de Blasio aides repeatedly refused to answer questions about Chiara's rumored drug abuse or answer questions about whether she was receiving treatment.


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If the agent is installed and configured to operate in the URL_POLICY mode or ALL mode, the appropriate URL policies must be created. For instance, if IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.0 is available on port 8080 using HTTP protocol, at least a policy must be created to allow access to the following resource:
where sampleApp is the context URI for the sample application.
If no policies are defined and the agent is configured to operate in the URL_POLICY mode or ALL mode, then no user is allowed access to IBM WebSphere Application Server 6.0 resources. See Sun Java System Access Manager 7 2005Q4 Administration Guide to learn how to create these policies using the Access Manager Console or command-line utilities.


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Left 4 Dead 2 coming to Mac on Tuesday
October 4th 2010
By Mike Flaminio
Valve announced that Left 4 Dead 2 will hit the Mac OS on Tuesday. The game will be released through the company's Steam. The franchise has been popular on the console and PC, essentially a zombie genre where players must fend off a world infected with a sort of rage virus.
Left 4 Dead 2 was originally released last November on Windows and Xbox. The plot of the game is to play as one of four players trying to reach rescue. The game is a bit unique with a dynamic story that adjusts the outcome throughout the game.
Valve also updated the progress of the original Left 4 Dead that is slated to be released for the Mac. The company said they've run into some delays but hope to have it released in time for Halloween.
Valve Steam
Via MacRumors


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Review: Samsung Glyde
I can't even begin to tell you how long I've been waiting for this particular phone to reach the US. I was completely enamored with it, the F700, when I first saw the press release more than a year ago. This was back in February and then I finally got a chance to play with it in October when I was in Korea. I knew right then and there that I had to have it, but I wasn't… Read More
Accessories for Samsung Glyde show up on Verizon's site, launch imminent
Well, look at that. Everyone remembers the Glyde, right? Maybe you remember it as the u940 or the CDMA variant of the F700 that we broke last year? Anyway, it looks like the Glyde is getting closer and closer to launch on Verizon as evidence of its existence has shown up on Verizon's site. There's a slew of accessories available for it and most of them are generic, but the photo… Read More
Told you so: CDMA version of F700 hitting Verizon
Told you so, again. The SCH-U940 is the F700's CDMA clone, but downgrades the 3-megapixel camera to two. Samsung U940 is the Verizon's variant of the F700 [Phone Arena] Read More
CG Exclusive: Samsung F700-variant coming to Verizon
Don't ask us when or where or how we know this, but Samsung's much-drooled-after F700 will be hitting Verizon (so, yes, a CDMA version, which is smaller we've been told), probably by year's end. As Peter Ha said so eloquently, I WANT THIS PHONE! It has a fullscreen touchscreen and fold-out QWERTY keyboard. Read More
Hands on with the Samsung F700, me likey
I WANT THIS PHONE! Read More


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And then there were eight. That is the TSSAA mantra this week in all three size-classifications, as the high school basketball tournaments move from the sectional games to the state championship level.
Tonight, the statewide Division I boys' sectional games will feature the eight region champions in each classification, hosting the eight runner-ups from another region. The eight winners from these 7:30 p.m. games will convene March 14-17 in Murfreesboro


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In a few days, enrollment will close for my class at the SmART School. In order to encourage you to have a closer look, I've shared a portion of the document I send to my new students before class begins, to get them off to a rolling start. It's over on the Muddy Colors Art Blog. Just click the image below to learn more.
Posted by Todd in Uncategorized at 8:10 PM PST


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UCLA cityLAB announced the winners of its WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture competition, which claims "whoever rules the sewers, rules the city." "Carbon T.A.P.// Tunnel Algae Park" by PORT architects won the professional competition, and "R_Ignite" and "Aquaculture Canal_New Orleans" jointly won the student competition. UCLA Architecture and Urban Design Chair Hitoshi Abe announced the winners at the end of day-long symposium at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Sponsors of WPA 2.0 include: The Graham Foundation, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, LLC, Buro Happold, UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture, The Architect's Newspaper, The National Building Museum, The Ziman Center for Real Estate Development, Sarah Jane Lind, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
According to the WPA 2.0 competition site, the winning project, Carbon T.A.P.// Tunnel Algae Park, would grow algae pontoons with car C02 emissions captured from New York City's underground transportation tunnels. The algae would then be harvested for bio-fuel production. The pontoons would also provide the foundation for a sea level structure that would include an urban park with structured wetlands, aquatic and avian habitat, recreation amenities, as well as high speed bike lanes and public promenades. The proposal included a look at how algae pontoons could also provide a bridge between Brooklyn, Governor's Island, and Manhattan in New York City.
"R_Ignite" was designed by Peter Millar, Jamie Potter, Andy Wilde and Stuart Wheeler, four graduate students of the Manchester School of Architecture. Their proposal would revitalize port cities and green the shipwrecking industry through the addition of recycling and social programs. "Aquaculture Canal_New Orleans" was created by Fadi Masoud, a Master of Landscape Architecture student at the University of Toronto, John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. Masoud's proposal re-envisions the New Orleans' Industrial Canal, which is set to be closed by the Army Corps of Engineers, as productive infrastructure that can provide flood control and and enable aquaculture. More than 140 student teams from around the world submitted entries.
WPA 2.0: Working Public Architecture was inspired by the 1930's U.S. WPA program. The organizers also see an enormous opportunity in the $150 billion of 2009 Recovery Act infrastructure funds. They hope policy makers and design professionals will use these funds to create a new, more positive role for infrastructure in urban design. Instead of creating more single-use infrastructure, the WPA competition organizers think the infrastructure of the future should be multi-functional, flexible, and play a key role in revitalizing urban areas. "For WPA 2.0, approximately 200 groups of designers envisioned a new legacy of federally supported infrastructure hybrids, projects that explore the value of infrastructure not only as an engineering endeavor, but as a robust design opportunity that can revitalize cities."
The symposium's keynote speaker, Ron Sims, Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), framed the event in the context of the new federal partnership on livable communities (see earlier post). "What you design and build defines us as a people." Sims argued that architecture, in part, defines who we are and "societies that husband their resources effectively last the longest." New infrastructure ideas are desperately needed so the U.S. can "strike in a different direction and change the built environment so it serves the public good." Sims thought the U.S. was at a "singular moment" in terms of rethinking its infrastructure, and "either we do this really well, or we will be mocked as a generation."
High Point, a sustainable mixed-use, mixed-income affordable housing community in Seattle, Washington, was highlighted by Sims as a model. "Housing can be a platform for other services." High Point, through its "Breath-Easy" homes and allergen-free landscapes, has dramatically reduced its residents health issues (and therefore health costs). The community has improved energy efficiency, reduced C02 emissions, and offers a new direction for housing.
Sims said "homes are the building blocks" of neighborhoods and "porches, sidewalks are part of the fabric of the surrounding neighborhood. They shape the way we live our lives." In many cases, zip codes are key determinants of morbidity rates and provide clues to where the "undevelopable populations" are in the U.S. "Zip codes should be a place where you get your mail, not a life determinant." To combat unequal distribution of education, healthcare, green space, and other social benefits, Sims called for expanded municipal programs, including Hope 6 programs, to abolish "superblocks."
"We need communities that are safe from cars with clear sight lines, and backyards, porches, and safe places for kids to play." Schools that are farther than 0.5 miles away are too far for kids to walk to and help create "obese children." "We need to find recreational activities for children in inner-city areas other than basketball." Many communities also lack access to fresh food. "17 million don't have access to fresh food because they don't live 1-1.5 miles away from a supermarket." In a powerful statement, Sims argued that "your community and buildings in which you live and work define your life."
The federal livable communities partnership has $150 million available in funding: $100 million will be used for municipal sustainable planning; $40 million will be alloted for zoning and land use to encourage increased density in localities; and $10 million is reserved for joint HUD – Department of Transportation research on the linkages between housing and transportation.
WPA 2.0 Professional Design Finalists
Through its selection of finalists, the WPA 2.0 design competition wanted to highlight "the infrastructure at the heart of the next generation." The organizers described next generation infrastructure as multi-functional, sustainable (in all senses of the word), and public. New infrastructure should also give back to the community. Furthermore, the WPA organizers thought policy makers needed to systemically rethink infrastructure.
Local Code: Real Estates, Nicholas de Monchaux & Collaborators (Berkeley, California): In this proposal, unused urban public land can be turned into common ecological infrastructure. The proposal targets "unaccepted areas" that can't be sold by the government. In many inner-city areas of San Francisco, in the zip codes Sims mentioned, streets aren't heavily used and provide an opportunity to create "locally optimized landscapes," sort of mini-street parks. De Monchaux saw a new role for ecological infrastructure as a "network logic of health" and "distributed immune system" for cities. In reference to big cities with big parks, he said "we should move away from the model of cities with central lungs."
There are a range of environmental and social benefits: creating green spaces out of unused streets and other urban public lands can help reduce load on existing infrastructure through stormwater mitigation, reduce the urban heat island effect, and help spur "open source community engagement." "Trees and bioswales can be the foundation for social ecology." Furthermore, these local street parks could produce fresh produce for inner-city communities.
There are opportunities across the U.S. — In New York City, the unused public lands, if aggregated, are larger than Central Park and Prospect Park combined.
Coupling Infrastructures: Water Economies / Ecologies, Lateral Office and Infranet Lab (Toronto, Canada): Mason White said the Salton Sea in California is now a "terminal lake" and is creating salt flats that will lead to toxic dust storms. To address the rising salinity, increasingly large algae blooms, decline in fishing related tourism revenue, and falling water levels (caused by agricultural use), White proposed "floating pools" or "water pods" on top of the Salton Sea. The pools offer a flexible system, which could function in a modular way, and could be used in variety of ways. For example, pods within the sea could become recreational areas, aquaculture centers, wildlife habitat, salt harvesting systems.
White presented the idea of new water-based infrastructure as a natural system. "Infrastructure can be adaptative, responsive, soft, flexible, instead of hard, fixed, mono-functional." He also thinks increased population growth in the southwest, one of the driest regions of the U.S., will only lead to further pressure on existing water systems as the agricultural use of water expands. "Farming is a multi-billion dollar industry in the region, and water must be artifically sustained." New thinking is needed on how to restore the sea and make it functional again.
Mason White and Lola Sheppard write more on this project in the "Water" issue of MIT Press' Alphabet City journal.
Hydro-Genic City 2020, Aershop / Darina Zlateva and Takuma Ono, (Los Angeles, California): Aershop proposed decentralized urban water treatment systems that could also function as community hubs. The team saw "water as a binding mechanism" for social interactions. This hasn't been done before because older technologies were high cost; new technologies enable these types of systems, says Darina Zlateva. The water treatment system would mimic's natural processes, but would also incorporate renewable energy systems. The waste water would pass through treatment tanks, constructed wetlands, and processing centers, and then return into the water supply. "Recycled water extends supply. It's not if, but how, are we going to recycle water?"
Throughout the process, decomposing waste water material would be harvested for methane. Fuel cells would help power the system for harnessing the decomposing gas. Solar panels, wrapped around tanks, would also help fuel the water treatment system, and cut down space used by the usual solar arrays.
The team also thought the decentralized, local systems would have a lower overall environmental footprint than massive water treatment plants now in use. "The cost of piping and pumping water from distant large-scale water treatment plants is huge."
If coupled with public transportation systems, the natural water treatment systems serve as catalysts for smart growth. Both presenters highlighted that water loss is increasing with climate change. A sustainable water treatment system would focus on reducing waste and energy usage, reusing valuable water resources, and mitigating and adaptating to climate change at the same time.
Border Wall as Infrastructure, Rael San Fratello Architects (Oakland, California): The U.S. government will create 700 miles of border fence separating the U.S. from Mexico at a cost of $4 million per mile. The success of the fence is measured in part by the number of people captured trying to cross. While $2.9 billion has been spent so far, there have been more than 3,000 fence breaches to date. Over the next 25 years, an additional $49 billion will be spent to construct and maintain the fence. To ameliorate the adverse social and environmental effects of the fence, Rael San Fratello architects think "security should be put to work" through a variety of landscape architecture and architectural projects adjacent to the fence. "Around the fence, the land has gone fallow."
In El Paso, a community facing water shortages, the fence could serve as a water catchement basin. Additionally, fence-based water treatment facilities can be used to capture methane energy, and provide irrigation water. "Why not locate these along the fence?" There are also renewable energy opportunities. The team saw large-scale solar farms (which would provide higher security) along the fence route. The solar farms could power communities along the fence and also create green jobs on both sides of the border. Lastly, water dispersers could aid immigrants crossing the dessert, and could help cut down the number of annual immigrant deaths from dehydration.
Free Water Districts, Urban Lab (Chicago): "Water will be the next oil, the most valuable resource." In the U.S., the Great Lakes region provides 21 percent of the world's fresh water and 84 percent of the U.S.'s fresh water. However, much of the major agricultural farms in the U.S. are found in the country's driest regions. The team proposed providing incentives for water-intensive industries to move to the Great Lakes region through the use "free water districts," which would also help revive the rust belt economy. "Water-based infrastructure" in the Great Lakes could be used to attract apparel, food processing, agricultural, beverage, high-technology, automotive and other water-intensive industries to the region.
"We have grey infrastructure, but no blue / green infrastructure." While Iceland provides free geothermal energy to attract firms, and Vancouver has created a free labor program to attract the movie industry, free water could also serve as an economic catalyst. The team envisioned constructed water districts along the Great Lakes that would provide bioremediation through wetlands, cleansing landscapes, and infrastructural "bio-streets." Indoor / outdoor bio-machines and outdoor, constructed wetlands can both be used in a modular fashion by water-intensive industries.
The team would target post-industrial landscapes, which they said are plentiful in the region, instead of unspoiled lakefront. Community and educational facilities could also be built into the water districts.
Lastly, the project would address the cost implications of existing water infrastructure in dry areas. "Moving around water is hugely energy intensive. Water infrastructure accounts for the largest carbon footprint of any system in a city."
Carbon T.A.P. // Tunnel Algae Park: Mining Existing Infrastructure for Lost Efficiencies, Chris Marcinkoski and Andrew Moddrell, PORT Architects (Chicago and NYC): Marcinkoski and Moddrell, the competition's winners, outlined a plan described in further detail above which would harvest car-produced C02 emissions from underground transportation tunnels for use in surface-level algae farms. The algae farms would form "piers" jutting out in the water, which could also function as parks.
The team argued that car-related C02 emissions account for 10 percent of U.S. total emissions. Carbon capture and storage is hugely expensive, and the side-effects of pumping liquid C02 back into the earth aren't known. Furthermore, many firms are exploring adding algae farms to power plants that produce C02 emissions. Firms are exploring how to efficiently harvest algae for biofuels. The new idea in this proposal: creating multi-use infrastructure out of these combined C02 emission / algae farms.
The "vegetal terraces" in the algae pontoons would sit on top of "C02 bladders." The pontoons would provide the foundation for structured wetlands, wildlife habitat, bike lanes, promenades — "public prongs." The project seeks to reuse C02 and convert it into ecological and environmental value. They view the idea as applicable to almost 20 tunnel systems in the U.S. and other cities worldwide.
According to cityLAB, its organizers will present these proposals and other design ideas to government leaders on Capitol Hill.
Now read about how the impressive professional jury, which includes Stan Allen, Cecil Belmond, Elizabeth Diller, Walter Hood, ASLA, Thom Mayne, and Marilyn Taylor, responded to the design ideas offered by the finalists, and discussed the future of green infrastructure. Read part two.
Image credit: Carbon T.A.P.// Tunnel Algae Park by PORT architects


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The gravity of history and the absurdity of the timing intersected Monday night in Chicago. New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez made his season debut on the same night that he was suspended for 211 games, the longest non-gambling related discipline in history. Rodriguez remained defiant, saying he will appeal his suspension on a day when 12 other players were banned 50 games each for their connection to the shuttered Miami Biogenesis anti-aging clinic accused of distributing performance-enhancing drugs.
"I am fighting for my life," said Rodriguez in a news conference before facing the White Sox.
Not since the Black Sox scandal in 1919 has baseball meted out such sweeping punishment.
"Baseball must do everything it can to maintain integrity, fairness and a level playing field," baseball commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement Monday.
Rodriguez, 38, received stiffer penalties because the league cited his "use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited, performance-enhancing substances" over several years. Nearly two weeks ago, former National League MVP Ryan Braun accepted a 65-game suspension.
Rodriguez, a three-time MVP and baseball's highest-paid star, said he will appeal his suspension by Thursday's deadline. And because arbitrator Fredric Horowitz isn't expected to rule until November or December at the earliest because of all the evidence and lawyers involved, Rodriguez is clear to play pending a hearing. Rodriguez did not deny using performance-enhancing drugs when asked directly on Monday, saying, "When the time is right, there will be an opportunity to do all of that. I don't think that time is right now."
Rodriguez's return was not embraced by his peers. Baseball players have been vocal in wanting tougher punishment for cheats.
"The reason is because the vast majority of players are clean," Rockies all-star outfielder Michael Cuddyer said. "You don't want cheaters around. You don't want guys that don't do it right. Also, every time you turn on the TV, it's something about that (Biogenesis case) rather than highlights of a good game. Anything we can do to move past this and move forward is better."
Fellow Rockies all-star outfielder Carlos Gonzalez agreed, saying players are tired of the game's image being marred. "The game has changed. When I was in the minors, it was hard to imagine the sport without Barry Bonds. But there are great young players who are doing it the right way. It's just a really bad distraction when all you see is talk about steroids. It's not what you want when we have so many good stories in the game."
Rodriguez bore the brunt of the attention, and criticism, because of his accomplishments. He would have been a first-ballot Hall of Famer. His 647 home runs are fifth-best all time. His chance at gaining entrance now is slim, given the lack of support shown to all-time greats Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who appeared on the ballot for the first time last winter. Both are tied to performance-enhancing drugs through federal investigations.
Rodriguez said four years ago that he used PEDs while with Texas from 2001-03. He has repeatedly denied using them since.
The suspensions are the most at once for off-field conduct since 1921, when Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned eight Chicago White Sox players for life for throwing the 1919 World Series against Cincinnati.
As for the modern-day all-stars, Nelson Cruz leads Texas in RBIs and Jhonny Peralta has been among the best players for Detroit, teams in the midst of pennant races. They will be eligible to return for the postseason. Agreeing to the 50-game suspension, in addition to Cruz and Peralta, were Phillies pitcher Antonio Bastardo, Padres shortstop Everth Cabrera, Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli and free-agent pitcher Jordan Norberto in addition to six players now in the minor leagues.
"The accepted suspensions announced today are consistent with the punishments set forth in the Joint Drug Agreement, and were arrived at only after hours of intense negotiations between the bargaining parties, the players and their representatives," union head Michael Weiner said in a conference call with reporters. "For the player appealing, Alex Rodriguez, we agree with his decision to fight his suspension. We believe that the commissioner has not acted appropriately."
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1294, renck@denverpost .com or witter.com/troyrenck
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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Just as drought in some regions of the United States and excessive moisture in others have wreaked havoc with some grain crops, many fruit and vegetable crops also have been adversely affected by cool, wet spring and early summer weather. The weather issues will translate to higher prices, especially when coupled with higher energy costs and reduced acreage in some cases as growers opted to plant higher-value grain or oilseed crops.
But it will be a mixed bag overall for fruits and vegetables as some are coming off high prices a year ago while others are rebounding from heavy supplies.
"Higher prices for energy, fertilizer and seed have pushed average prices paid for production inputs used by U.S. vegetable and melon growers up 7% during January-March of 2011, with an 11% increase expected during April-June," the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its June 23 Vegetables and Melons Outlook. Input prices rose 1% in 2010.
The department expects prices for processed vegetables to increase in 2011 due to smaller crops, reduced stocks, higher contract prices and higher processing costs, compared with 2010 when heavy stocks pressured prices.
Processing tomato production was forecast at 12.2 million tons, about even with 2010, but wholesale tomato product prices are expected to rise due to a 5% increase in grower contract prices and a 3% drop in
world tomato production.
In the Upper Midwest, where much of the nation's processing vegetables are grown (except tomatoes), a cold, wet spring resulted in delayed planting, slow emergence and sluggish early growth, according to the U.S.D.A. Processors began raising list prices for many canned and frozen vegetables in April and May "in reaction to increased contract prices (due to competition with field crops), reduced stocks and weather delayed planting," the U.S.D.A. said.
The cool, wet weather in the Pacific Northwest and northern Plains states also delayed dry bean planting and crop growth. The U.S.D.A. said the "season average dry bean price could equal or exceed $35 per cwt — well above that of 2010-11."
In its June 30 annual Acreage report, the U.S.D.A. pegged 2011 dry bean area at 1,258,000 acres, down 34% from 2010. Not only did weather delay planting and slow development, but the crop also faced competition from strong prices for corn, soybeans and wheat, most of which were the highest since 2008 when planting
decisions were being made.
Some sweet corn processors in the Pacific Northwest contracted with growers at prices as much as 25% above year-ago levels, but still fell about 10% short of desired acreage as farmers opted to plant field corn or wheat, which were at the highest prices since 2008 around planting time, according to reports in the Capital Press, a newspaper that covers the region.
Additionally, cool, wet weather slowed crop development in the region and will limit double cropping corn after green peas, the reports said.
The new crop concerns come at a time when frozen vegetable stocks are down from what were seen as heavy supplies a year ago. May 31 stocks of all types of frozen vegetables (except potatoes), totaled 1,487 million lbs, down 8% from a year earlier, including sweet corn down 14%, carrots down 4%, green beans down 12% and green peas down 16%.
While not impacted as much by competing crops, fruit crops also have been affected by weather and higher input costs.
In its annual Cherry Production report last week, the U.S.D.A. estimated sweet cherry production in California, the nation's second largest producer behind Washington, at 85,000 tons, down 12% from 2010, although later reports suggested a much smaller crop due to heavy rains during harvest. Despite smaller crops also in New York, Oregon and Utah, the U.S.D.A. forecast total U.S. 2011 cherry production at 324,830 tons, up 4% from a year ago.
Sweet cherry prices in the Pacific Northwest averaged about $78 per 20-lb box, up from $40.85 a year ago, according to the Capital Press. The cool spring also slowed cherry development, which means there will be limited volume for the key July 4 retail sales period.
Peach production in the three key states of California, Georgia and South Carolina was forecast down 3% from 2010 as a result of cool, wet weather in California and dry conditions in South Carolina and Georgia.
As with vegetables, supplies of all types of frozen fruit on May 31, estimated at 763 million lbs, were down 15% from a year ago, the U.S.D.A. said in its Cold Storage report. Supplies of the top five frozen fruits, which make up about 60% of the total, showed strawberries down 8%, apples down 15%, blueberries down 17%, cherries (sweet and tart) down 48% and peaches down 23% from a year earlier.
Despite weather's effect on development and harvest timing of many fruits, the U.S.D.A. indicated supplies of most fruits, especially fresh market, would be adequate in 2011. But at the same time, prices paid to growers and paid at retail have been on the increase, due to seasonal shifts and delayed availability due to weather conditions.
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Not long ago I downloaded a movie onto my husband's iPod (2012) so he could watch it on a long plane ride for a business trip. Recently, we began to long for a future where you could just dock your iPod and watch a movie on the big screen. As you know, kids can easily destroy DVDs and VCR tapes. So in our Saturday slothfulness, I said "Hey honey, you know that docking station in the kitchen that I bought last year? I think it allows you to hook up to a TV and play your movies." I did actually read the description when I purchased it, kind of.
So my sweet husband gets it and messes with the TV and speakers a bit... and TADA we can now watch our iPod movies on a large flat screen (2012 was awesome). The picture is great and the sound, which he hooked up to the speakers, is perfect. Now I am probably behind on the whole technology TV viewing thing, but just in case you have not tried this, it is totally cool. Imagine the space you can save in your house without all the DVDs and VCR tapes floating around.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Playing Movies on My TV from My iPod!
1 comment:
- KT said...
didn't know you could do that.
can you put your dvd movies onto your ipod?
- April 22, 2010 at 8:45 PM
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