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This story first appeared on the ProPublica website.
The NYPD is regularly held up as one of the most sophisticated and significant counterterrorism operations in the country. As evidence of the NYPD's excellence, the department, its allies, and the media have repeatedly said the department has thwarted or helped thwart 14 terrorist plots against New York City since September 11.
In a glowing profile of Commissioner Ray Kelly published in Newsweek last month, for example, journalist Christopher Dickey wrote of the commissioner's tenure since taking office in 2002: The record "is hard to argue with: at least 14 full-blown terrorist attacks have been prevented or failed on Kelly's watch."
The figure has been cited repeatedly in the media, by New York congressmen, and by Kelly himself. The NYPD itself has published the full list, saying terrorists have "attempted to kill New Yorkers in 14 different plots."
As Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in March: "We have the best police department in the world, and I think they show that every single day and we have stopped 14 attacks since 9/11 fortunately without anybody dying."
Is it true?
In a word, no.
A review of the list shows a much more complicated reality—that the 14 figure overstates both the number of serious, developed terrorist plots against New York City and exaggerates the NYPD's role in stopping attacks.
The list includes two and perhaps three clear-cut terrorist plots, including a failed attempt to bomb Times Square by a Pakistani American in 2010 that the NYPD did not stop.
Of the 11 other cases, there are 3 in which government informants played a significant or dominant role (by, for example, providing money and fake bombs to future defendants); 4 cases whose credibility or seriousness has been questioned by law enforcement officials, including episodes in which skeptical federal officials declined to bring charges; and another 4 cases in which an idea for a plot was abandoned or not pursued beyond discussion.
In addition, the NYPD itself does not appear to have played a major role in breaking up most of the alleged plots on the list. In several cases, it played no role at all.
The NYPD did not respond to requests for comment on the list of 14 alleged plots and how it was assembled. Update (7/10): Bloomberg countered our story Tuesday afternoon, saying "we'll never know" how many plots the NYPD has truly thwarted.
The following is a breakdown of the plots on the NYPD's list.
Substantially developed or executed plots:
The failed 2010 attempt by Faisal Shahzad to set off a crude car bomb in an SUV in Times Square. Shahzad was in contact with the Pakistani Taliban before and after the attempt, according to the government, and he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his role in the attempt.
The plot was widely seen as a law enforcement failure, as Shahzad was able to plant the rigged car in Times Square without being on the radar of the NYPD and other agencies.
The thwarted 2009 plot by three former high school classmates from Queens to set off bombs in the subway system. One of the plotters, an Afghan immigrant named Najibullah Zazi, testified in court this year that he and the others had received training from "Al Qaeda leaders" in Pakistan. He also admitted bringing bomb-making materials into New York. All three men have pleaded guilty or been convicted of terrorism charges. According to the AP, the plot was uncovered not by the NYPD, but rather by an email intercepted by US intelligence.
Transatlantic plot: In August 2006, British authorities arrested a group of men who were later charged with plotting to blow up planes bound for North America from London with liquid explosives. (This is the plot that led to restrictions on carrying liquids aboard planes.)
The plot is included on the NYPD's list of 14 because, according to British authorities, one of the men had a memory stick that had information on flights bound for several Canadian and American cities, including, in one case, New York. The plan was to blow up the planes over the ocean.
During the trial, there were questions about whether the men were going to act on the plan imminently. Three consecutive trials in the case ultimately resulted in eight convictions. The NYPD was not involved in thwarting the plot.
Cases with significant or dominant role by government informants:
The case of the Newburgh Four, in which four men from upstate New York planted what they thought were real bombs outside synagogues in the Bronx. The men were found guilty in the case in 2010 after the jury rejected an entrapment defense. The bombs were fakes supplied by the government.
An informant posing as a Pakistani terrorist recruited Walmart employee and Muslim convert James Cromitie over nearly a year, giving him gifts, including rent money and a trip to an Islamic conference. The informant plied Cromitie with offers of $250,000, a luxury car, and a barbershop. An FBI agent on the case acknowledged under cross-examination during the trial that the government was essentially in control of what the four were doing while they were with the informant. The government maintained that Cromitie was an anti-Semite who talked about committing acts of violence and posed a real threat.
A judge who rejected an appeal last year nevertheless called the government's conduct in the case "decidedly troubling."
Herald Square: Pakistani immigrant Shahawar Matin Siraj was arrested in 2004 and convicted in 2006 at the age of 23 of conspiracy to bomb the Herald Square subway station in Manhattan. The jury rejected an entrapment defense.
An informant for the NYPD's Intelligence Division played a key role in the case and was paid $100,000 by the government over a roughly three-year period. He told Siraj he was a member of a (made-up) group called "the Brotherhood" that would support a bomb plot. Siraj was recorded talking to the informant about blowing up bridges and other places in New York City, including the Herald Square subway station. The informant later told Siraj that the Brotherhood had approved the plot and that a leader of the group was "very happy, very, very impressed" with the idea. The informant told Siraj the group wanted him to put backpack bombs in the station, and he drove Siraj and another man to the station to do surveillance.
At his sentencing, Siraj apologized to the judge but maintained he had been "manipulated" by the NYPD informant. Siraj did not obtain explosives, there was no timetable for the plot, and there was no link to any foreign terrorist group, according to the New York Times.
JFK Airport: Russell Defreitas, a naturalized American citizen from Guyana and former airport cargo handler, and Abdul Kadir, of Guyana, were arrested in 2007 and convicted in 2010 of conspiring to blow up fuel tanks at JFK airport.
At the press conference announcing the charges, a federal prosecutor said the public was never at risk. A law enforcement official described Defreitas, 63 at the time of his arrest, to the Times as "a sad sack" and "not a Grade A terrorist." Pipeline experts told the paper that the men's plan to blow up a wide area was not feasible.
Defreitas was recorded making odd comments talking to the informant, saying he wanted the attack to be "ninja-style" and that the airport was a good target because "[t]hey love JFK — he's like the man. If you hit that, the whole country will be in mourning."
An informant on the case was a convicted drug dealer paid by the government and worked in exchange for a lighter sentence in a pending drug case. He drove Defreitas to the airport several times to do surveillance with a camera that the informant had purchased for Defreitas. The informant also provided plane tickets to South America and, with the help of the FBI, secured a New York City Housing Authority apartment for Defreitas (that was under surveillance).
US officials (often anonymous) question credibility or seriousness of cases:
The case of Jose Pimentel, a Manhattan Muslim convert who was arrested in November 2011 on "rarely used state-level terrorism charges" after federal authorities took a pass on the case.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. alleged that Pimentel had been "building pipe bombs to be used against our citizens." City authorities said Pimentel had no contacts with foreign terrorist groups and called him a "lone wolf."
In a series of leaks, federal authorities expressed skepticism that Pimentel was a threat. A federal source told the New York Post that Pimentel was a "'stoner' who wasn't a real danger to anybody other than himself." Another source cited by the Post questioned his mental faculties, saying he had once tried to circumcise himself. A federal source told DNAinfo criminal justice editor Murray Weiss: "Let's just say there were issues whether [Pimentel] had the ability to do this without the intercession of the confidential informant." Weiss also noted that the informant went shopping with Pimentel at Home Depot to buy pipe bomb materials, and the bomb was constructed at the informant's apartment. Pimentel, who reportedly could not afford to even pay his cellphone bill, has pleaded not guilty.
The case of Ahmed Ferhani and Mohamed Mamdouh, alleged "Islamic extremists" and "lone wolves" who lived in Queens and were arrested in May 2011 after buying guns, ammo, and an inert grenade from an undercover police agent. The authorities alleged that the two men were planning to attack a New York synagogue because they were upset with how Muslims were being treated around the world.
But the case was another example of an alleged plot that the FBI took a pass on. Citing federal law enforcement sources, WNYC reported that the FBI passed on the case because the bureau found the undercover operation "problematic" and the allegations "overhyped." And the website NYPD Confidential reported that Ferhani has a history of mental illness.
The AP noted the case faltered early on when a grand jury declined to indict the two men on a high-level terrorism conspiracy charge. Both have pleaded not guilty to lesser terrorism charges.
Brooklyn Bridge: Ohio truck driver Iyman Faris pleaded guilty in 2003 to providing material support to Al Qaeda; he met with senior Al Qaeda leaders abroad and researched how to attack the Brooklyn Bridge. Terrorism analyst Peter Bergen has called Faris "an actual Al Qaeda foot soldier living in the United States who had the serious intention to wreak havoc in America" but "not much of a competent terrorist." Bergen wrote the plan Faris researched to sever the bridge's cables with a blowtorch as "akin to demolishing the Empire State Building with a firecracker."
The plot never got off the ground. According to the Justice Department, Faris sent messages to Pakistan "indicating he had been unsuccessful in his attempts to obtain the necessary equipment." According to the DOJ, Faris also concluded after a trip to New York that the idea "was very unlikely to succeed because of the bridge's security and structure."
PATH Train: In 2006, 31-year-old Assem Hammoud was arrested in Lebanon. FBI officials announced that he and others—who had never met but communicated on the internet—had been plotting a suicide attack on subway tubes under the Hudson River.
The Washington Post quoted US counterterrorism officials questioning the credibility of the plot, reporting that they "discounted the ability of the conspirators to carry out an attack." One official described the matter as "jihadi bravado," adding, "somebody talks about tunnels, it lights people up." A counterterrorism official told the Times, "[t]hese are bad guys in Canada and a bad guy in Lebanon talking, but it never advanced beyond that."
Hammoud never visited the United States, and there were no charges brought against him here. In 2012, Hammoud was sentenced to two years in prison in Lebanon, which he had already served.
Cases in which an alleged idea for an attack was not pursued:
"Subway cyanide": This alleged plot, first detailed by journalist Ron Suskind in 2006, was reportedly for a chemical attack on the New York subway system. Suskind reported that a US intelligence source had said that Al Qaeda was considering such an attack in 2003 but ultimately abandoned the idea. There is no evidence that the NYPD or any other law enforcement agency played any role in Al Qaeda's decision to abandon the idea. There were also reported doubts about the quality of the intelligence and the credibility of the alleged plot.
"None of it has been confirmed in three years," a US official told the Times, "who these guys were, whether they in fact had a weapon, or whether they were able to put together a weapon, whether that weapon has been defined and what it would cause or whether they were even in New York."
"NYSE/ Citi HQ": A British citizen named Dhiren Barot or Issa al-Hindi was arrested in the United Kingdom in 2004 and pleaded guilty two years later to conspiracy to murder. He had attended terrorist training camps and had contacts with September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, according to the government. He had taken video and photos of landmark sites in New York City in 2000 and 2001 including the New York Stock Exchange and the headquarters of Citigroup.
An appeals court later reduced his sentence from 40 to 30 years, citing the "uncertainty" as to whether Barot's conspiracy would ever have amounted to an actual attempted attack, and the court's conclusion that one of the ideas for an attack in the United Kingdom was "amateurish." The appeals ruling also noted that after September 11, Barot's plans for any attack in the United States "may have been 'shelved'" to focus on the UK. The court also noted that there was no evidence that Al Qaeda leadership had endorsed any of the ideas. Prosecutors also accepted that there was no money or equipment lined up for any of the ideas.
There is no evidence the NYPD had any role in the investigation that led to Barot's capture.
Garment District: Uzair Paracha, a young Pakistani living in the United States, was convicted in 2005 of providing material support to Al Qaeda. Prosecutors said that Paracha had tried to help a Pakistani Al Qaeda member named Majid Khan gain entrance to the US, including a scheme to fool immigration authorities into letting Khan into the country.
The NYPD list says that "Paracha is reported to have discussed with top al Qaeda leaders the prospect of smuggling weapons and explosives—possibly even a nuclear device—into Manhattan's Garment District through his father's import-export business." But the indictment against him makes no mention of any such plot.
Instead the NYPD appears to be referencing a claim by Khalid Sheik Mohammed to American interrogators that Paracha's father, who is currently a Guantanamo detainee, discussed a plan with KSM to smuggle explosives into the United States through an import business he co-owned in Manhattan's Garment District.
KSM said he wasn't sure of the son's involvement and neither the father nor son has been charged with anything related to it.
According to the government's detainee assessment on the father, Saifullah Paracha, KSM said he wanted to use the explosives "against US economic targets" but New York is not mentioned. KSM told interrogators that another man was to "rent a storage space in whatever part of the US he chose" to hide the explosives. There is no claim in the detainee assessment that the idea ever got beyond discussion. Saifullah Paracha has denied the accusation. Mohammed also later told the Red Cross that in the period when he made the claims about the Paracha, shortly after his capture in March 2003 when he was apparently being subject to torture, he gave "a lot of false information" to interrogators.
Long Island Railroad: Bryant Neal Vinas, an American Muslim convert from Long Island, was arrested in 2008 in Pakistan by authorities there. In 2009, then 26, he pleaded guilty to providing material support to and receiving training from Al Qaeda. He told the court he "consulted with a senior Al Qaeda leader and provided detailed information" about the Long Island Railroad in a discussion of a possible attack.
But in a trial in 2012 in an unrelated terrorism case, Vinas testified that to his knowledge the railroad idea was not pursued beyond discussion. Published reports do not mention any NYPD role in the case.


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If the location of the business address of the Client, or other business on whose website these Terms appear, is in Canada, arbitration will be administered by the International Centre for Dispute Resolution Canada ("ICDR Canada") in accordance with the Canadian Arbitration Rules (the "ICDR Canada Arbitration Rules") then in effect, except as modified by this Section. (The ICDR Canada Arbitration Rules are available at ICDR.org or by calling the ICDR Canada at 1-844-859-0845.) The seat of arbitration shall be Toronto, Ontario. Unless you and we mutually agree otherwise, any in-person arbitration hearings between you and us will take place in the applicable jurisdiction listed in the table in Section 15 below.
Except as provided herein, the arbitrator will have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to arbitrability and/or enforceability of this arbitration provision, including any unconscionability challenge or any other challenge that the arbitration provision or the Terms are void, voidable or otherwise invalid. The arbitrator will be empowered to grant whatever relief would be available in court under law or in equity. Any award of the arbitrator(s) will be final and binding on each of the parties and may be entered as a judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction. You and we agree that neither party shall appeal any award of the arbitrator, including any appeal on a question of law, question of fact or question of mixed fact and law.
We will be responsible for paying any individual consumer's arbitration/arbitrator fees. If an individual consumer prevails on any claim that affords the prevailing party attorneys' fees, the arbitrator may award reasonable fees to you under the standards for fee shifting provided by law. For the avoidance of doubt, this Section 14(E) shall only apply to individual consumers.
You agree to an arbitration on an individual basis. In any dispute, NEITHER YOU NOR CFS WILL BE ENTITLED TO JOIN OR CONSOLIDATE CLAIMS BY OR AGAINST OTHER CUSTOMERS IN COURT OR IN ARBITRATION OR OTHERWISE PARTICIPATE IN ANY CLAIM AS A CLASS REPRESENTATIVE, CLASS MEMBER OR IN A PRIVATE ATTORNEY GENERAL CAPACITY. The arbitral tribunal shall not consolidate more than one person's claims and shall not otherwise preside over any form of a representative or class proceeding. The arbitral tribunal has no power to consider the enforceability of this class arbitration waiver and any challenge to the class arbitration waiver may only be raised in a court of competent jurisdiction located in the jurisdiction set forth in Section 15 below.
If any provision of this Section is found unenforceable, the unenforceable provision will be severed and the remaining arbitration terms will be enforced; provided, that in the event subsection (F) is found to be unenforceable, all of this Section 14 shall be deemed null and void and of no effect.
Contracting Entity; Governing Law. CFS is a premier partner brand of Tribute Technology. All references to "Consolidated Funeral Services," "CFS," "we," "us" or "our" in the Terms refer to the applicable entity specified in the table below, which is based on the location of the business address of the Client or other business on whose website these Terms appear, as posted on such website. Additionally, these Terms are governed by the laws of the state or province identified in the table below, again based on the location of the business address of the Client or other business on whose website these Terms appear, and without regard to conflict of law principles. To the extent that any lawsuit or court proceeding is permitted hereunder, you and CFS agree to submit to the exclusive personal jurisdiction of the courts located in and for the "Exclusive Jurisdiction" identified in the table below, for the purpose of litigating all such disputes. Any cause of action or claim with respect to the Sites or our Products or Services must be commenced within two (2) years after the action or claim arises or is discovered.
Service Detail Texting Program - SMS Terms and Conditions. If you are using the Services in connection with a Client website, Client offers the option for you to receive a one-time automated mobile text message containing service-related directions and a marketing communication, sent by Consolidated Funeral Services, also known as CFS, on behalf the Client. Message and data rates may apply. For help you may contact CFS support at email@example.com or text "HELP" to 201-701-6799. You may reply "STOP" to cancel. Carriers are not liable for any delays or undelivered messages.
Modification of the Sites and Services. CFS reserves the right to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, some or all of the Sites and Services at any time without any notice or further obligation to you. You agree that CFS will not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of any of the Sites or Services.
Entire Agreement. Unless otherwise expressly stated herein or another written agreement between you and CFS, these Terms constitute the entire and exclusive understanding and agreement between you and CFS regarding your use of and access to the Sites and Services, and except as expressly permitted above may only be amended by a written agreement signed by authorized representatives of the parties.
No Waiver. The failure to require performance of any provision shall not affect our right to require performance at any time thereafter, nor shall a waiver of any breach or default of the Terms constitute a waiver of any subsequent breach or default or a waiver of the provision itself.
Paragraph Headers. Use of paragraph headers in the Terms is for convenience only and shall not have any impact on the interpretation of particular provisions.
Severability. In the event that any part of the Terms is held to be invalid or unenforceable, the unenforceable part shall be given effect to the greatest extent possible and the remaining parts will remain in full force and effect.
Notice to California Residents. Under California Civil Code Section 1789.3, you may contact the Complaint Assistance Unit of the Division of Consumer Services of the California Department of Consumer Affairs in writing at 1625 N. Market Blvd., Suite N-112, Sacramento, California 95834, or by telephone at (800) 952-5210 in order to resolve a complaint regarding the service or to receive further information regarding use of the service.
Copyright © 2024 Ronnie L. Stewart Funeral Service. All Rights Reserved. | Website by CFS |

subset: commoncrawl


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The housing crisis of the last decade was partially caused by unhealthy levels of mortgage debt. Homeowners were using their homes as ATMs by refinancing and swapping their equity for cash.
When prices started to fall, many homeowners found themselves in a negative equity situation (where their mortgage was higher than the value of their home). As a result, they walked away. This caused prices to fall even further.
Headlines are again talking about record levels of mortgage debt, making the comparison to the challenges that preceded the housing crash. However, cumulative debt is not an important data point. If we look at the debt as a percentage of disposable personal income, we are at an all-time low.
Here's a visual representation of mortgage debt as a percent of income:Furthermore, according to a new report from ATTOM Data Solutions, more than 1-in-4 homes with a mortgage have at least 50% equity. The report explains:
"[O]ver 14.5 million U.S. properties were equity rich — where the combined estimated amount of loans secured by the property was 50 percent or less of the property's estimated market value — up by more than 834,000 from a year ago to a new high as far back as data is available, Q4 2013."
Bottom Line
Unlike 2008, homeowners have a comfortable level of mortgage debt and are sitting on massive amounts of home equity. They will not be walking away from their homes if the housing market begins to soften.


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When I'm having a seriously bad day in the kitchen the best thing for me to do is to put my feet up and try again another day. But my stubbornness prevailed and I pushed on, falling back to my foolproof cupcake recipe, which is so easy and never lets me down. At the last minute I decided to throw in 2 punnets of blueberries instead of 1, which ended up being wayyyy too much fruit for the batter. But it still tasted pretty good. Simple, but classic.
I made the macarons in a bright teal shade, I love teal. In a random spasm of sprinkle-loving insanity, I grabbed some white heart-shaped sprinkles and dotted them over the surface of the macarons. I wish I had the regular round confetti sprinkles but the heart ones were kinda adorable too. It's probably an unnecessary embellishment, but it's damn cute. It was comforting that my macarons turned out well, considering all the issues I had with my over-complicated cupcakes. Obviously it's just better to keep things simple sometimes so I went with a old-faithful icing flavour; vanilla bean.
I whipped up the icing with a ton of vanilla bean, I just love the way the little black dots are speckled throughout the fluffy icing. I also added some natural pink food colouring to the icing to give it a light pink tinge as I was inspired by the pink & teal colour combination of this beautiful cake by Sweetapolita. I'm a little bit in love with how dainty and girly the whole thing looks. These cupcakes and macarons are nothing particularly original or different but it looks and tastes fantastic.
Heart Polka Dot Macarons & Vanilla Bean Blueberry Cupcakes
(makes 12 cupcakes, plus a few extra macarons)
For the macarons: (if you are a beginner with macarons, read up and practice plain macarons first. BraveTart has lots of useful advice and info on the subject)
100g aged egg whites (you can use fresh eggs too, just make sure they are room temperature. I always use fresh these days, and zap it in the microwave on defrost for 10 seconds)
110g almond meal, at room temperature and well sifted
200g icing/confectioner's sugar
50g caster/superfine sugar
Optional: 1 tsp powdered egg whites (available from The Essential Ingredient), helps to stabilise egg whites but is not necessary
To decorate: blue/green food colouring (powdered or gel), white sprinkles
For the cupcakes:
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange or mandarin juice
2 eggs
125g (1 stick plus about 1 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
155g (3/4 cup) sugar
225g (about 1 + 3/4 cups) self-raising flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 punnet (150g) fresh or frozen blueberries
For the vanilla bean icing:
250g unsalted butter
575g (about 4.5 cups) icing sugar , sifted
1/4 cup milk
1 vanilla bean pod, seeds scraped and pod discarded (or 1 tsp vanilla bean paste/vanilla extract)
(I also added a few drops of natural pink food colouring for decoration)
Prepare the macarons first; line two baking sheets with baking paper. Place icing sugar in food processor and pulse for a minute to remove any lumps. Stir in almond meal and pulse for about 30 seconds to combine. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and egg white powder in a medium mixing bowl until the egg white powder dissolves and it reaches soft peaks. With the mixer on high speed, gradually add sugar and beat until it reaches stiff peaks. (You can add the blue/green food colouring to the meringue as you are beating it to stiff peaks, it makes it easier to adjust how much colouring to add. Otherwise add it in the next step.)
Add meringue to your dry mixture and mix, quickly at first to break down the bubbles in the egg white (you really want to beat all the large bubbles out of the mixture, be rough!), then mix carefully as the dry mixture becomes incorporated and it starts to become shiny again. Take care not to overmix, the mixture should flow like lava and a streak of mixture spread over the surface of the rest of the mixture should disappear after about 30 seconds. Place mixture in a piping bag with a 1cm round piping tip. Pipe heart shapes using a 1cm piping tip and piping fat 'V' shapes (see end of this post for a video example). Tap baking sheets carefully and firmly on the benchtop a couple times to remove any large bubbles. If you wish, you can decorate the shells with sprinkles to create a polka dot effect, I used the softer (not nonpareils) heart-shaped sprinkles.
Leave to dry for about an hour, so that when you press the surface of one gently it does not break. This will help prevent any cracking and help the feet to form on the macs. These macarons seem to need a longer drying time than regular round ones as they are prone to cracking. Preheat your oven to 140-150°C (285-300°F), depending on your oven. Place on top of an overturned roasting tray or another baking sheet if your sheets are not professional grade, for better heat distribution. Bake for 20-25 minutes, depending on the size of your shells. Carefully test if the base of the shell is ready by gently lifting one and if it's still soft and sticking to the baking paper, then it needs to bake for a few minutes longer. Remove from the oven and cool on the tray for a few minutes, then gently remove from the sheet and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the cupcakes; Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Place sugar and butter in a food processor and pulse until smooth, then add juice, eggs, flour and vanilla and pulse until just smooth. (If you don't have a processor, cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer at high speed, beat in eggs one at a time and then fold juice, flour and blueberries into the mixture until smooth.) Fold in blueberries with a spatula and then spoon into a 12-hole cupcake tray lined with papers. Bake for about 20 minutes or until cupcakes are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean (ignoring blueberry juice). Remove from the oven and cool in tin for 5 minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.
Prepare the icing; remove the butter from the fridge 30 minutes before starting. Place in a large mixing bowl and beat at high speed, gradually adding icing sugar (and adding the milk and vanilla about halfway through) and beating until light and fluffy. Place in a piping bag, pipe on top of cupcakes and sandwich between macarons. Place macarons on top of cupcakes and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight in an airtight container. Remove from the fridge and allow to come back to room temperature before serving. Can be stored in the fridge for several days.


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Ormond Window Cleaning
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Don't wait, give us a call today on 0422 910 153


text:
NASA Publishes 30-Minute HD Video of Sun's Surface
I am a scientific journalist and enthusiast, especially in the realm of biomedicine. I am passionate about conveying the truth in scientific phenomena and subsequently improving health and public awareness. Sometimes scientific research needs a translator to effectively communicate the scientific jargon present in significant findings. I plan to be that translating communicator, and I hope to decrease the spread of misrepresented scientific phenomena! Check out my science blog: ScienceKara.com.


text:
July 28, 2024
12:00 am
in 3 days
Hello Chenzhou,
Welcome to the City of Verses, where every street is a stanza and each chapter a poetic journey.
Let the ink-stained cobblestones guide you through the Literary District, where words weave tales and verses tell stories.
Let's Enjoy the literature and Poetry.
Chenzhou , China - Online


text: Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. Londoners may be crabbing about tourists and traffic of Olympic proportions, but they were already the most stressed out bunch in the country. That's according to a new government survey on life satisfaction. Statistically the most joyful Brit would be a married professional, healthy, 65 and residing in the Scottish Isles, prompting one unhappy opposition leader to call the survey, quote, "a waste of taxpayer money on the bleeding obvious." It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


text:
Do you have a deep and abiding passion for diving? Or, do you merely love it with all of your heart? If so, you should consider doing what you love for a living; that's right, be paid to do what you love by becoming a PADI Divemaster. When you Join the Tribe™, you align yourself with the largest and most respected dive tribe in the world—that of PADI Professionals. These are PADI Divemasters and Instructors sharing a passion for diving and an active concern for the health of the world's underwater habitats.
Looking for the first step in working with scuba as a career? Your adventure into the professional levels of recreational scuba diving begins with the PADI Divemaster program. Working closely with a PADI Instructor, in this program you expand your dive knowledge and hone your skills to the professional level. PADI Divemaster training develops your leadership abilities, qualifying you to supervise dive activities and assist instructors with student divers. PADI Divemaster is the prerequisite certification for both the PADI Assistant Instructor and PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor certifications.
During the PADI Divemaster program, you learn dive leadership skills through both classroom and independent study. You complete water skills and stamina exercises, as well as training exercises that stretch your ability to organize and solve problems as well as help others improve their scuba. You put this knowledge into action through a structured internship or series of practical training exercises.
As you progress through your Divemaster course, you will expand your diving knowledge, hone you skills and increase your confidence. Then, as a PADI Divemaster, you'll use these attributes to lead, mentor and motivate other divers and experience the joy of seeing them transformed by the majesty of the the acquatic realm.
After becoming certified as a PADI Divemaster you will be authorised to:
At a glance, compare what you can teach when you continue your professional diver education.
The Learning Materials You Need
The PADI Divemaster crewpak includes:
There are other required materials that a Divemaster Candidate will need but may have received them during other PADI programs so they have not been included in the Divemaster Crew-Pak. Please ask your PADI Instructor for the full list of required materials that you will need for the program.
You also have the option to take Divemaster Online.
For all your learning materials and equipment, contact TORPEDO RAYS. Otherwise, you can sign up today online.
To take this course, you must be:
Here are some suggestions for other PADI courses that will help make you more successful as a PADI Divemaster:
For more information about this or other PADI courses have a chat with one of the TORPEDO RAYS Team members.