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Help us help a worthy cause. After visiting a Help for Heroes recovery centre and meeting a recovering soldier named Josh Boggi (triple amputee), we were determined to help!
As a British company we are proud to be supporting our troops. We want to say THANK YOU to all those sacrificing their lives for us. There will never be enough words or actions to express our gratitude. With our sponsorship of Help for Heroes you will be contributing a donation from each product purchased online and in stores which will help the charity support our wounded service personnel and their families.
This collection makes an ideal gift for any chilli-lover or stock up your own store cupboard for any time of the year. Help us help our Heroes and be spoiled for choice while doing what The Singh Family loves best, having fun whilst "Bringing People Together".


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I created this website in 1999 to provide western people insight to the recent phenomenon of "Russian brides" from the Russian woman's point of view. (It's my picture at the top left corner.) I am a Russian woman who 10 years ago married a western man. You can ring the office and chat to me to confirm that, or if you are in the area, drop by and say, "Hello".If you wonder what is in the heads of those pretty Russian, Ukrainian and Eastern European girls that you see on various websites advertising themselves as available for marriage with western men, you are at the right place to find it out!
I designed it to specifically answer the most important questions and clear up myths and cultural misunderstandings.Russian Brides Cyber Guide's motto is: "Tell it as it is".I want to tell you that your site is the first one that I have seen that actually tells it like it is.It's very refreshing after reading all of the propaganda from many of the other agencies.I've traveled through Russia several times, and have learned many of the truths you list on your site first hand.
I would like to thank Elena Petrova and her web-site for the truth about Russian women.I learned more from her web-site in 1 hour than I could in a lifetime.In the USA, my only exposure to these women was from movies and magazines.My experience has left me with a new impression about Russian women and maybe someday I can find one the right way.You have done some great things for single men, Elena.The Blacklist, your websites, John's websites and most importantly, your honesty.

subset: commoncrawl


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I hope you guys are having as great of weather as we are! It's amazing - windows open, ate on the deck and nice breeze, too! Back to summer weather tomorrow, though!
Here are some more ideas to Frost your July 4th BBQ next week! Don't forget about this older, but still fresh!, Frosting for July 4th here (link).
Source and tutorial


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[Watch] Arcade Fire - "The Suburbs" (Video)
Check out the brand new video for Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs," the opening track for their critically acclaimed album The Suburbs. The video is directed by Spike Jonze, known for his work on movies such as Being John Malkovich and Where The Wild Things Are as well as music videos for dozens of artists since the early 90s. Check out the video above.


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Product Information
The MS14 160 single reduction hypoid solo drive axle is designed for on-highway operation for Haulage and Vocational trucks applications. With a load rating of up to 14 Tonnes the axle supports vehicles with GVW/GCW of up to 21 Tonnes. Available in wide number of ratios varying from 4.63-6.83 & with a ring gear PCD of 457 mm. The axle is ideal for tractor & heavy duty tipper application.


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Attorneys See Need to Self-Promote
Dallas, TX, April 23, 2014 --(
)-- Some attorneys are true rainmakers and have little or no problem building a book of business. For others it doesn't come as easy. How can an attorney be a successful advocate for their client and at the same time such an ineffective advocate for themselves?
Tim Pugliese, 30 year legal marketing veteran and principal in the Dallas, Texas based communications firm, Commercial Ideas, has spent years exploring that question. He offered, "As a general observation it's not unusual to see an attorney falling short of billable hours because they haven't been able to build, or rebuild, a book of business. In those cases it can be a real problem for both the individual attorney and the firm they work for. Even litigators that are very persuasive in the courtroom can struggle with self-promotion and the effective mining of new clients or keeping business in the pipeline."
Education and experience doesn't prepare an attorney for the cold, hard facts of selling legal services. Pugliese continued, "There is no magic, and my experience is that you can't just 'become' a natural born sales person…even for your own practice. Regardless of practice area, if you are not a general counsel, you will at some time most likely be faced with creating a business development strategy for yourself. I'm not talking about an advertising campaign, I am referring specifically to how individual attorneys do, or don't, take personal ownership in getting business for themselves."
Networking, the internet, direct marketing, following up on referrals from associates and friends, are all initiatives that could be considered "grass roots" self-promotion.
Robert Weigand, Vice President and Executive Committee Co-Chair of the litigation and appellate firm Godwin Lewis PC in Dallas commented, "We are constantly encouraging our attorneys to participate in the promotion of their individual practice. At Godwin Lewis we have always felt that our greatest assets are our attorney's and it's important for each of them to take an active role in building their own client base."
Pugliese continues, "For the average 'non-sales oriented' lawyer looking to get more clients, I believe it's really about having the right process in place. What they lack in innate skill they can make up for by following a plan."
There needs to be an agenda that includes key action items to be developed and used by any attorney who sincerely wants to improve the way they generate new clients.
Pugliese stresses several points that, in his experience, yield good results in an interactive training program. "Attorneys can't afford to invest a lot of time sitting in a class to learn how to promote themselves. They don't need a lecture. I've seen great success using a workshop environment focused around an intense, swiftly paced, interactive session that concentrates base line marketing concepts into a few, vital, take-aways. "
Pugliese's recommendations include:
· Committing to a calendar of networking events, both personal and professional
· Making a "Hit List" of potential referral sources from friends, colleagues, family and social contacts
· Understanding the value of consistency
· Understanding that closing a new client is heavily based on their
trust in you as a person and not just a lawyer
· Take the time to get out of your comfort zone and do some video role playing and analyze how you look and come across to other people
· Don't forget personal packaging, i.e. wardrobe, make-up and grooming
Pugliese concluded with, "It's a combination of addressing the details and making personal marketing a priority, even when you are currently busy. The pipeline may not always be full by itself. I encourage all attorneys to remember that if you eat what you kill, you better know how to hunt."
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The Big Day - Bana and Brian's Edmonton Wedding!
We first ran into Bana while shooting Natalia and Stephens wedding in July. She got to see first hand how we shoot a wedding day and she must have liked what she saw because just a few weeks later, on a hot sunny Friday we shot her wedding as well! Brian and Bana had recently returned from the East Coast where they celebrated wedding ceremony #1 with mostly Brian's side of the family. Now it was time for Bana's culture's and traditions to take centre stage and we were more than happy to photograph it all! Have a look:
Friends and Family of Bana and Brian can click HERE to be notified when all the wedding photos are ready to view and order.
This is a shot from inside the Queen Elizabeth suite at The Fairmont Hotel MacDonald. Totally stunning. It's 2 levels and over 2400 sqft....
I had to get this shot just to try and show how huge this place was.
Strike a pose! Bana was awesome.
We turned the high level bridge into a runway!
This was taken inside the Shaw Conference Centre.
This was our first time photographing a Buddhist wedding ceremony. It was really great to experience it!
Yup, that's a Taj Mahal Cake!
I talked with the lady who built this incredible cake and she said it took 60 hours to complete.....I believe her.
So if you frequent this site regularly, you've probably started to notice that we just about always have some food photos from the reception. This is because well...we're food nerds. The menu was outstanding so we HAD to post some fancy food highlights :-)
This pre-main-course palate cleanser was really cool, and definitely the most creative way we've been served sorbet! The surrounding sphere (orb? I dunno what to call it) was made from ice! You can see it slightly melting onto the spoon.
Our entertainment throughout supper was this incredible thunderstorm! The reception hall was all glass on one side so we had an awesome view.
Thanks for having us Bana and Brian. Congratulations!


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The Vancouver International Jazz festival. One of the venues is in the huge, old Canadian Pacific Railway Roundhouse in Yaletown, Vancouver BC Canada.. Dark, big wood beams overhead, cool.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Sunday, June 15, 2014
Vancouver Draw Down
Monday, June 2, 2014
Point Roberts
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Love them or loathe them, free-to-play mobile games are big business that continue to attract players in their thousands on a daily basis. Done right, these games can regularly extract a serious amount of cash from their most dedicated players, and Japanese RPG Granblue Fantasy is no exception.
Developed by Cygames and counting Final Fantasy character artist Hideo Minaba on its staff, the iOS and Android RPG involves turn-based gameplay and is focused on leveling your characters and improving their abilities. You can unlock items and characters through quests, or by purchasing crystals costing $2.67 each.
Combine a dedicated player base, a very rare female character unlock, and a week long New Year celebration promotion that doubled the chance of unlocking her, and you have a recipe for massive profits and player debt. And that's exactly what happened to a Granblue Fantasy player going by the name of Taste.
Taste decided he must have the rare character, who is called Anchira, so the week of the promotion he started buying crystals. Not one or two, but thousands of them. Six hours later, he finally did it, but his total crystal spend reached $6,065. His unlock attempt was recorded, with onlookers both mocking and pitying him as the hours rolled on. In the video below, the Anchira unlock happens at the 58 minute mark. You'll know it happened from the sudden influx of comments filling the screen.
Spending $6,065 trying to unlock a character in a game is ridiculous, but Taste wasn't the only player to spend a serious amount of money during the promotion. Cygames made thousands from other players, too, and it has caused outrage resulting in a petition to stop such manipulation.
Cygames has responded and apologized. Some players who spent thousands have received a refund, but only in virtual funds so they won't get any real cash back. The rules in Granblue Fantasy have also changed to limit expenditure. From now on, if you don't successfully unlock the character or item you want after 300 attempts, it gets unlocked anyway. However, that still means a player can spend as much as $800 and such a rule may encourage more players to keep spending knowing that limit is in place.
Unfortunately, this isn't a problem that's going to disappear anytime soon. Developers and publishers have little incentive to not develop free-to-play games that generate massive profits through manipulative mechanics. More regulation has been suggested, but it's less than clear how that would stop players racking up huge credit card bills, especially over multiple games.
In the meantime, Granblue Fantasy has proved so popular it is getting its own anime series created.


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WHY Well guided Honing Devices Are Very Effective
A blade that could be nicely fitted to myEdgePro.
The equipment can make the humankind bayou classic 5011 stainless steel injector lack of ability to accurately grind precious metal on edges within the blade and variety and side that suits properly on the Apex of your blade go away completely. The wonder on the Advantage Guru is precisely this, nevertheless there is undoubtedly a finding out contour, the roll-out of muscular remembrance is known as a moot factor, the equipment makes yourself to reproduce picked perspectives while you develop for both aspects and my expertise, it constructed the kitchen knives I sharpened sharper than any bayou classic 800-908 blade I needed experienced. We have to imagine that the operator from the Side Master has implemented the instructions delivered by the producer and it is transferring at the decent cost within the mastering bend.
Yet it will not last part on this website although customersAndhellip;We have been speaking of man command versus a instructed strategy and in spite of the outstanding convenience the unit offers, we humankind are decent and adapting and knowing and muscle development reminiscence.
Just what approximately a year or so after or couple of years subsequently with lots of kitchen knives bayou classic 7441 sharpened by both the solutions, freehand and advised?
THE SHARPENERS Challenge
Freehand honing happens to be an art work.
This is just what occurred with me if came about in my opinion, it could actually affect virtually anyone:
Do not be concerned, I am going to give my personal opinion of what exactly is the greatest blade sharpenerfor you respond to some after.
As my honing online business begun to blossom about half a dozen in the past, I discovered by myself immediately bayou classic 7-gallon jambalaya kit sketched to honing by freehand. I became but still do hone kitchen knives each day, varying from 5 cutlery to 40 cutlery, and 40 was my excessive (I couldnt do ever again afterward).
I recently came across the Side Expert had not been offering me a similar number of pleasure which i was reaching my free of charge passing. Ahead of I purchased the advantage Guru, I presently was particularly confident with no cost hands honing on the other hand had not been ready for the influx of cutlery I became getting and begun to ignore the Zen like bayou classic 5 gallon sense connected to free of charge hands honing.
Its not just for the very last ultimate result. This really is big to me, an agreement circuit breaker the reality is, to help me to generate the sharpest cutlery I probably could, I needed to absolutely love some tips i was undertaking. I have got reported a number of timesin earlier articlesthat personally, there will be far more to honing kitchen knives compared to the actual physical approach to pulling the advantage associated with a blade on the waters rock.
I changed to freehand honing. With apprehension, I set aside the advantage Seasoned bayou classic 800-770 brew thermometer professional and going obtaining a lot more Japanese Waters Gemstones and having what looked right at that moment an infinite flow of dreary cutlery, I focused my time for you to end up being the top freehand sharpener I could possibly. In the mean time planning, I simply need to purchase them as clear once i can within the Advantage Master.
Muscle Development Remembrance Provides Terrific Ultimate result
Try to remember, we human beings are beautiful great occasionally. I came across that my muscles recollection was giving you me with the chance to make corners that ultimately compelled me to match together with the ends from the bayou classic 7475 Side Professional. It got to me how the Side Professional previously had taught me to a good freehand sharpener, My assurance point ended up being enhanced and having kitchen knives to develop day-to-day, I found myself acquiring at ease with honing bayou classic 5011 freehand on a regular basis, I became boosting. Which was four years back, have you thought about at this time.
Sure, Now i assume that we can easily make cutlery as distinct and actually sharper by honing freehand than we will only using the advantage Seasoned professional. This does not necessarily mean that many of us can throw out our programs and easily follow freehand honing. Recollect, this failed to come about over night, it was included with 100s and a huge selection of honing lessons as well as, Normally i realized that Benefit Guru was there Should I essential it. Also, recall, I am just enthusiastic about blade honing, this is certainly all I do believe about to make certain that potentially has experienced a positive change on my own capacity bayou classic 800-144 to improve kitchen knives.
BUT Exactly How Do You Make Muscle mass Mind?
We can easily put together muscle tissue recollection for an remarkable level.And together with other expertise and individual functions like tolerance, endurance, and more importantly: eagerness.we could acquire bayou classic 500-428 campfire griddle a shocking amount of preciseness whenever we improve a blade. By natural means you will have defects, our company is not units but the ones modest flaws may possibly the fact is generate sides that exceed our goals. As our knowledge will grow as well as we develop numerous cutlery, we conform to and operate the slope and strain a minuscule figure to realize what are often very surprising outcome.
I could truthfully claim that the sharpest cutlery i have experienced at my existence ended up sharpened freehand. Kitchen knives above bayou classic 700-725 fryer 2.5-gallon razor crisp and clean, corners put together by become an expert in sharpeners in China that contain mastered any impediment that inhibits him from accomplishing around flawlessness in blade honing. I am just not discussing the beginner sharpener on this page. I am just dealing with someonewho does his/her investigation, make the bayou classic 9195 a long time of training appropriate.
Wherever Will This Leave behind The Advantage Seasoned professional?
This shot is of the blade which is hard to hone freehand. The Advantage Guru constructed this painless.
Around my instance it foliage it ranking with pride at my honing station good to go to the office as soon as i get yourself a blade that merely generally seems to weep out for the purpose the flexibility of this Side Guru presents. There are specific kitchen knives that can be tricky to improve freehand. There are actually people that would like a vanity mirror surface finish with their shopping or strategic cutlery. Although one can possibly accomplish that in any event, the reliability delivered by the unit is capable of doing generating looking glass coatings on bevels which can be rather stunning. Can You Imagine If i would like to develop a Cure Direction, I could just do this by milling at 15 diplomas as an illustration and improving that bayou classic 64 quart Help Viewpoint nearly as much as I would like to. I Then can improve it at 20 qualifications every end i produce an remarkably razor-sharp blade that could conduct well in any home.
SO What is The Ideal Solution, FREEHAND OR Advised?
I do not are convinced I could say just what considerably better procedure for honing cutlery, at the least not by having an help answer that insures many of the bases. Personally, I favor to improve freehand, actually 95Percent of my honing is performed that way. It possesses a more fulfilling practical experience, the undeniable fact that the kitchen knives are bayou classic 60 qt stock pot crisp and clean is often as I actually have duplicated often times, is an item of accomplishing this only. The substance of honing contains a mix of your own perks this really is very different and bayou classic 4 gallon fryer cart they only result from honing by freehand i believe. They really are as vital with me as building remarkably distinct ends, without the presence of enjoyment we practical knowledge honing every single blade manually, I question I might continue to keep develop kitchen knives expertly. So personally, an individual who develop day-to-day and soaks up in all of the gains the ability of honing delivers,it truly is definitely a freehand community.But can you imagine if youdont improve cutlery day-to-day?
Then your Side bayou classic 700-725 Seasoned professional is totally wonderful. Now, considering that many people that develop kitchen knives develop their particular cutlery typically but some relatives and friends, the EdgePro is the ideal solution.You will definately get sharper cutlery than you could have truly made use of and you will probably get sharper kitchen knives while your competence using the product grows. You can find the exact same pleasure by using being We do from honing freehand.
WHY NOT Opting for Equally Honing Solutions?
The conclusion, the best thing about this is usually that the two strategies of honing accentuate the other. I think a fantastic sharpener need to have a handful of techniques up their own sleeve, some of those bayou classic 7488 tactics could incorporate competence by having a carefully guided product, with freehand honing and possibly using a buckle sander for individuals key heal careers. Just at this time I needed a blade that could have been very difficult to develop freehanddue to your cutting blades page. When using the Side Master I surely could make a marvelous side without having any problem by any means, a lot of sharper than new bayou classic 800-416 the fact is.
I do not believe we ought to even speculate exactly what is significantly better for honing kitchen knives.The Advantage Expert or freehand honing, both of these are powerful. It merely depends upon what procedure but not only provides you with pointed cutlery but enables you to be feel better about you if you are completed. Often times there are folks who are utterly to protect against utilizing any variety of Jig and that i have that. I did so not select the bayou classic 800-410 Benefit Professional as I couldnt improve cutlery without this, I purchased it considering that I am just captivated with blade honing we assumed this becoming a top quality product which sharpened kitchen knives effectively, I had hardly ever regretted the acquisition.


text: Be ready to enjoy beautiful sunrises and sparkling sunsets in this move-in ready 4 BR, 4BA home overlooking San Diego Bay. Views from almost every room. Lots of light pour into the LR, FR, kitchen and dining room showing off the hardwood floors. The open kitchen and all new appliances make this home ready for entertaining. Wait till you see the upstairs! Close to beaches, downtown, harbor and the airport. See supplement . .


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Basic information for friction disc
6 kgs
One pc in a box
Made in china
Used for
Higer bus
More kinds of models for clutch plate
If you need other kinds of clutch lining, such as sachs brand .
Or other models of Clutch Driven Disc, welcome to contact with us .
Company profile :
Zhengzhou Zhize Trading Co., Ltd was established in 2005, located in Zhengzhou city, Henan Province, near to the Yutong bus company . now we have more than 20 professional staffs and 2000 square meters for warehouse .
Our main business scopes are China bus spare parts , such as for bus of YUTONG, HIGER, KINGLONG, ZHONGTONG, JAC, GODLEN DRAGON, YOUNGMAN , SUNLONG ...... Now we are the agency of bus parts for YUTONG, KINGLONG, HIGER AND ZHONGTONG , also the agency of QIJIANG TRANSMISSION PARTS .
Our products have exported to Africa, Middle east, South east Asia, Latin America and have won a good reputation in customers' market. Sincerely hope to cooperate with you and achieve mutual benefit .


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Jordon McClain is the Founder and CEO of a small indie game company called Steel Cyclone Studios. While working full-time to support himself, Jordon is a self-taught Game Artist, Designer and Developer in his spare time. Jordon is creating several video games built upon his in-house engine known as the Cyclone Game Engine. The Cyclone Game Engine is a 2D/ 3D game engine built upon MonoGame and the XNA Framework to help make it easier and save time creating games. The game engine is not perfect by any means. The game engine is still in its infancy stages of development which is why its not available yet to the community. The Cyclone Game Engine is primarily built to serve the needs of Steel Cyclone Studios' game projects. Once it is further developed, Jordon plans on releasing it. Jordon's ultimate aim is to make it into the video game industry and join the greats of game designers. In the meantime, Jordon is trying to hone his skills and learn as much as possible.
Only registered members can share their thoughts. So come on! Join the community today (totally free - or sign in with your social account on the right) and join in the conversation.
This is a work-in-progress screenshots of my F1 Hot Rod 3D model. I drew inspiration from the Beck Kustoms F132 hot rod. This model I made has my own touch to it. The spoiler is mounted to twin mini-jet engines in the back. The tires came from one of my 3D monster truck models.


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This document is the third report from the SPACES (Sex, Power, Agency, Consent, Environment and Safety) study. Based on discussion of the SPACES study findings with industry experts and a diverse group of stakeholders (e.g., sex workers, community organizations and members, researchers, policy makers) this report presents evidence-informed recommendations to address the complexities of the environment and circumstances in which off-street sex work occurs. The recommendations presented within this report reflect the evidence indicating the need for social, institutional and structural changes necessary to acknowledge the rights and promote occupational health and safety of people engaged in the sex industry.
Included as appendices in this document are the SPACES study's two previous reports. These are: SPACES: Report One, which was developed as a means to formally share study findings with project participants, allies, partners, and the community at large. It presents information on the project's background and details the study's methods, participant sample, and key points of interest within the context of Vancouver's off-street sex industry; and, Making Spaces: Advancing Recommendations from the Off-Street Sex Industry in Vancouver, a discussion document utilized to facilitate dialogue between a diverse group of stakeholders on dominant themes within the SPACES data and issues concerning Vancouver's off-street sex industry prioritized by project participants and off-street sex work communities . This second report facilitated and guided the conversations that informed Recommendations from the Off-Street Sex Industry in Vancouver.


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The International MoveCube® is a shipping container designed for moving overseas that we put inside a trailer and park outside your home. We leave the trailer with you, you load up the MoveCube® with your belongings and we'll turn up to collect it for shipping to your chosen destination. It really is the easiest and most secure approach to moving abroad.
For more details on this and other services, please get in touch via the Contacts page.
* Our secure MoveCube service is only available in the areas around our local depots in the major cities. However, in order to assist those people much further outside the city we also offer the opportunity to pack a MoveCube at the Seven Seas Worldwide depot nearest to you. Here are your options:
For more information about the MoveCube, advice about decluttering, plus a range of our other services, call us now on 0333 733 7337 or get an instant online quote via our freight calculator and see much you could save.
Toby Martin, August 2017
Re-located without a hitch
"Not a problem at all with this company. Everything was easy from start to finish. Rather than hire a part container, we wanted to purchase for a space and then fit as much stuff as possible in it, so the large move cube was perfect. the predicted time for shipping from the UK to Sydney was 3 months although it came in 2.5 months and it was great fun for the kids checking in on the tracker to see where our ship was. stuff arrived undamaged and we would definitely recommend them again."


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The Challenge of Our Times
A political philosopher's reflections on politics, philosophy, science, medicine and law. "Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity" (Immanuel Kant, 1784).
Growing old seems intimately linked with decline. Ageing, the accumulation of damage to molecules, cells and tissues over a lifetime, often leads to frailty and malfunction. Old age is the biggest risk factor for many diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.
The realization that time does not have to take its toll came with the discovery of mutant nematodes that far outlived their normal fellow worms. Not only did they live substantially longer, but they seemed to stay younger for longer too. And, remarkably, a single mutation in a single gene was all it took to slow down the wheels of time.
It is now clear that by tinkering with particular signalling pathways and by balancing nutrition, the lifespan of many organisms, including yeast, worms, flies and mice, can be extended. Crucially, the same tweaks often bring about substantial health benefits and seem to delay the onset of age-related diseases. Most of the pathways involved are evolutionarily conserved, so it is likely that some of this research will eventually benefit human health.
The number of people aged 60 years and older is growing rapidly worldwide. So keeping the elderly healthy has to be high on the list of priorities. Ageing research is clearly gaining momentum, as the reviews in this Insight testify, bringing hope that at some time in the future we will be able to keep age-related diseases at bay by suppressing ageing itself. As ageing will affect us all sooner or later, we hope that you will find this collection informative and stimulating.
Is the happy life characterized by shallow, happy-go-lucky moments and trivial small talk, or by reflection and profound social encounters? Both notions—the happy ignoramus and the fulfilled deep thinker—exist, but little is known about which interaction style is actually associated with greater happiness (King & Napa, 1998). In this article, we report findings from a naturalistic observation study that investigated whether happy and unhappy people differ in the amount of small talk and substantive conversations they have.
....Together, the present findings demonstrate that the happy life is social rather than solitary, and conversationally deep rather than superficial. What makes these findings especially compelling is the lack of method overlap between the well-being measures (self- and informant reports) and the interaction measures (direct observation). Also, the replication of findings across measures of well-being and across weekday and weekend behavior is encouraging.
Naturally, our correlational findings are causally ambiguous. On the one hand, well-being may be causally antecedent to having substantive interactions; happy people may be "social attractors" who facilitate deep social encounters (Lucas & Dyrenforth, 2006). On the other hand, deep conversations may actually make people happier. Just as self-disclosure can instill a sense of intimacy in a relationship, deep conversations may instill a sense of meaning in the interaction partners. Therefore, our results raise the interesting possibility that happiness can be increased by facilitating substantive conversations (Sheldon & Lyubomirsky, 2006). Future research should examine this possibility experimentally.
Remarking on Socrates' dictum that "the unexamined life is not worth living," Dennett (1984) wrote, "The overly examined life is nothing to write home about either" (p. 87). Although we hesitate to enter such delicate philosophical disputes, our findings suggest that people find their lives more worth living when examined―at least when examined together.
Perhaps it is best to view some patterned principles of distributive justice as rough rules of thumb meant to approximate the general results of applying the principle of rectification of injustice. For example, lacking much historical information, and assuming (1) that victims of injustice generally do worse than they otherwise would and (2) that those from the least well-off group in the society have the highest probabilities of being the (descendants of) victims of the most serious injustice who are owed compensation by those who benefited from the injustices (assumed to be those better off, though sometimes the perpetrators will be others in the worst-off group), then a rough rule of thumb for rectifying injustices might seem to be the following: organize society so as to maximize the position of whatever group ends up least well-off in society. (Nozick, 1974, p. 231)
The provision of adequate health care is one of the major challenges for modern societies. It is an especially tough task in developing countries with limited resources and insufficient capacity. Obstacles are even encountered at the conceptual level: For example, a traditional misconception is that spending on health is a social burden, instead of being a strategic investment essential for each nation's socioeconomic development. According to economic analyses, health system innovations will not only improve livelihoods but also boost internal consumption and job opportunities. But these innovations cannot succeed without the strong support of science.
Both the biomedical and social sciences will be critical for developing sound policies that reshape health care systems. In China, with its fast-aging populace and a disease burden increase associated with urbanization and industrialization, science must drive an evidence-based analysis of the cost-effectiveness of drugs and medical technologies to enable effective and affordable prevention, diagnoses, and treatments. Science also facilitates the evaluation of the performance of health care institutions to ensure quality services. And science can drive a national innovation strategy. Thus, the education of medical professionals, training of regulatory teams, and fostering of biotechnology talents can be leveraged through Internet-based platforms that reach remote areas.
....To fulfill these missions, visionary policies are needed to support capacity-building in science and encourage translational research in multidisciplinary clinical studies, health system innovation, and health industry growth.
In Massachusetts, a state law passed prior to the 1996 presidential elections mandated longer hours for polling stations. Implementing this tiny amendment to the law cost Massachusetts taxpayers $800,000. In California, where a study of electoral expenses was commissioned by the state government, the cost of any statewide election (whether presidential, senatorial, gubernatorial, etc.) runs around $45–50 million. This is also true for any referendum requiring a separate ballot. Printing and mailing costs for voter guides alone, including those printed in Spanish as well as English, can range from $3 million to $12 million. In California, the cost per voter is estimated to run from $2 to $5, depending on each municipality's voting system (Holmes and Sunstein, 1999, p. 114).
To understand human behavior, it is important to know under what conditions people deviate from selfish rationality. This study explores the interaction of natural survival instincts and internalized social norms using data on the sinking of the Titanic and the Lusitania. We show that time pressure appears to be crucial when explaining behavior under extreme conditions of life and death. Even though the two vessels and the composition of their passengers were quite similar, the behavior of the individuals on board was dramatically different. On the Lusitania, selfish behavior dominated (which corresponds to the classical homo economicus); on the Titanic, social norms and social status (class) dominated, which contradicts standard economics. This difference could be attributed to the fact that the Lusitania sank in 18 min, creating a situation in which the short-run flight impulse dominated behavior. On the slowly sinking Titanic (2 h, 40 min), there was time for socially determined behavioral patterns to reemerge. Maritime disasters are traditionally not analyzed in a comparative manner with advanced statistical (econometric) techniques using individual data of the passengers and crew. Knowing human behavior under extreme conditions provides insight into how widely human behavior can vary, depending on differing external conditions.


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Attorney general candidate Buck Newton pushed for HB2, lower power rates
As a longtime champion of conservative social issues, Buck Newton was at the center of the furor surrounding House Bill 2 this year.
And as a candidate for attorney general, the Republican state senator from Wilson has been a vocal defender of the law, despite economic and sports losses stemming from strong opposition. His opponent, Democrat Josh Stein, has called for the repeal of HB2 and refers to it as "Buck's Bill."
"I think it was the right decision," Newton said. "The breadth and the depth of the pushback was not something that I fully expected."
He says the legislature needed to protect bathroom safety after a Charlotte ordinance that would have allowed transgender people to use the bathroom matching their gender identity, but he acknowledges that "there may have been a better way to go about it."
As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Newton served as the sponsor of HB2 as it moved through the Senate in March. He'd previously led successful efforts to pass an exemption for magistrates who wanted to opt out of performing same-sex marriages.
In addition to the bathroom provision, Newton defended HB2's creation of a statewide nondiscrimination law that doesn't list sexual orientation and gender identity among its protected categories. HB2 prohibits local nondiscrimination measures that go further.
"Federal law doesn't provide special protections for somebody who says they're homosexual," he said. "You can categorize people a million different ways. We don't have special protections for conservative Republicans. I've had pretty poor service because people knew who I was, and that's not right, but that's part of life."
But while Newton might be best known for his role in HB2, it's not the legislation he's most proud of in his three terms representing Nash, Wilson and Johnston counties in the Senate.
He said his "biggest accomplishment" was a bill that paved the way for Duke Energy Progress to buy back power plant ownership from 32 Eastern North Carolina towns that operate expensive, debt-riddled electric systems.
"I'm very proud that we were able to work out a market-driven arrangement," Newton said. "For example in Wilson, residential power rates have been cut almost 20 percent. That's real money to a lot of people."
Newton has also been involved in bills that toughened penalties for sex crimes and reduced regulations on gun ownership. This year, Newton sponsored a bill that restored parts of a 2008 law prohibiting sex offenders from being near children, revising the law to comply with a federal court ruling.
Outside of the legislature, Newton has run a small law firm in Wilson for the past 16 years, handling a wide variety of criminal and civil trial matters.
"My experience as an attorney is much deeper than my opponent's," he said. "He's always had government jobs. I represent real people and always have."
Stein counters that he's the only candidate with extensive experience in the attorney general's office. Newton, he notes, "hasn't worked a day as a criminal prosecutor."
If he's elected, Newton says he wants to address police tensions that recently resulted in sometimes violent protests in Charlotte.
"The attorney general has a role to play in trying to heal community relations," he said, adding that more training for police officers could be helpful. "The vast majority of police, the vast majority of the time are doing it right."
Newton's campaign is benefiting from $3.8 million in ads from the Republican Attorneys General Association, which has been criticizing Stein. The Democrat said he questions the motivations behind the oil, pharmaceutical and other corporations who fund the national group.
"They have matters before the office where they want to have influence," Stein said. "They are desperately trying to elect Buck Newton as their attorney general because they want him to do their bidding for him."
Newton says Stein's major donors are worth considering in a race that has involved millions of dollars in fundraising on both sides.
"Stein is getting a lot of money from unions, he's getting a lot of money from the Human Rights Campaign crowd," Newton said, referring to the LGBT advocacy group that opposes HB2. "There's a couple million being spent by the Democrat (attorneys general) group on his behalf, and they get money from sometimes the same companies. Is he beholden to them, too?"
Republican state Sen. Ronald Rabin, who served with Newton, says his colleague will focus on upholding the law if elected.
"He is a conservative, and he believes in the Constitution the way it's written," Rabin said. "He would endorse it very well regardless of who you are."
Colin Campbell: 919-829-4698, @RaleighReporter
Buck Newton
Age: 48
Education: Law degree, Campbell University; bachelor in political science, Appalachian State University
Professional experience: Attorney with Newton and Lee in Wilson, handling a wide range of criminal and civil cases
Political resume: N.C. senator for Wilson, Johnston and Nash counties since 2011; chairman of Senate judiciary committees
Family: Married to Hope Newton with three children
Website: bucknewton.com


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The clock is ticking for small-screen serial killer Dexter Morgan, and if you missed out on the first hour of his final bloodbath, all you have to do is look right here.
Showtime has posted online the entire eighth and final season premiere of Dexter for your viewing pleasure. Whether you're a casual fan who tuned out after a handful of lackluster seasons (to be fair, topping the Trinity Killer was no easy feat), or if you simply forgot to tune in on Sunday night, then catching up is as easy as a click of a button and finding a 53 minute hole in your day.
Dexter tells the story of Dexter Morgan, a Miami Metro Police Department blood-spatter analyst by day, and a serial killer of serial killers by night. Over the course of the series, Dexter's kept his secret life hidden from virtually everyone around him — but last season, his sister and police lieutenant Debra learned the truth about Dexter's bloodletting ways. The new season picks up months after Deb killed a fellow police officer in order to protect Dexter, leaving an irreparable rift in their relationship, just as a newcomer with secrets about Dexter's past surfaces in Miami.
Dexter airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime.


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The recent Islam-inspired murder in London allowed us to glimpse the mind of a jihadi. One thing that I noticed was how he proudly said that this is "an eye for an eye" for the people killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Even the non-religious amongst us, I believe, rarely question this Biblical concept of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth". However, once you do think about it, you realise how barbaric such a legal system would be. We do not dole out identical punishments to fit crimes, nor would this be desirable or even possible. What is to be done with rape? What about mass murder? What if, as happened recently in Saudi Arabia, one person inadvertently paralyzes another while fighting?
Of course it would be barbaric or impossible to try to impose an identical punishment for each of these crimes.
The only crime that some developed societies do impose an eye for an eye for is quite controversial: the death penalty for murder. This too, is considered barbaric by many people.
So, let's stop just accepting silly old concepts because they've been around for so long.
This London murderer was deluded not just by his religion, but also by his understanding of what justice truly is.
Category: atheism
The recent Islam-inspired murder in London allowed us to glimpse the mind of a jihadi. One thing that I noticed was how he proudly said that this is "an eye for an eye" for the people killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
For all Muslims living in Western countries who think that they are being persecuted because their brethren are carrying out terrorist attacks, you clearly don't understand what it means to be persecuted. Actually, the reverse is much more true. Christians (and obviously Jews) are genuinely persecuted in Muslim countries Although I am not a Christian or a Jew, I sympathize with any group which is persecuted.
Meeting a random American who snubs you because you are Muslim (especially immediately after an Islamic terrorist attack) is not persecution. Sorry. You don't get to elevate that experience to persecution or else you diminish the meaning of the word "persecute".
Now, where's my evidence? I will make way for Ayaan Hirsi Ali and let you read for yourself. Ironically, Muslims often complain about how their plight is not discussed in the media enough. Yet, the plight of Christians in Muslim countries is little known to the vast majority of people. Here is the article:
Related articles
- Muslim Persecution Of Christians Escalating In Pakistan, 'The Situtaion Is Becoming Alarming' (midnightwatcher.wordpress.com)
- Christians Are Now World's Most Persecuted Religion (powerlineblog.com)
- Persecution Is Rising In East Africa After the Murder of Christian Pastors (blackchristiannews.com)
- Criticism of Islam Is Not 'Islamophobia' (patheos.com)
- #MyJihad in Egypt: Muslims Set Christians on Fire with Molotov cocktails (atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali at her best!
I find something repulsive in the idea of vicarious redemption. I would not throw my numberless sins onto a scapegoat and expect them to pass from me; we rightly sneer at the barbaric societies that practice this unpleasantness in its literal form. There's no moral value in the vicarious gesture anyway. As Thomas Pain pointed out, you may if you wish take on another man's debt, or even offer to take his place in prison. That would be self-sacrificing. But you may not assume his actual crimes as if they were your own; for one thing you did not commit them and might have died rather than do so; for another this impossible action would rob him of individual responsibility. So the whole apparatus of absolution and forgiveness strikes me as positively immoral, while the concept of revealed truth degrades the whole concept of the free intelligence by purportedly relieving us of the hard task of working out ethical principles ourselves.
– Christopher Hitchens, Letters to a Young Contrarian, p34
It seems to me there are a number of problems with the concept of omniscience.
The most glaring problem is that God has an enemy (how anthropomorphic is that?): the Devil. If God possessed omniscience, this would render any opponent impotent, wouldn't it?
If God knows everything, he would know every possible way to avoid any attack by the Devil. He would also know every counterattack against and vulnerability of the Devil. Moreover, he would also know every plan the Devil would or could conceive of. Just thinking about how to destroy God would be a fruitless and incriminating task. This doesn't seem like a fair fight.
So, either God is not omniscient or the Devil doesn't exist. Or of course, it's all nonsense.
I always thought that the idea of evidence was pretty simple. I also thought that belief in God was not based on evidence, but on faith, since there is no evidence for God. However, in recent conversations with believers, it seems that they have a different view on what constitutes evidence. Without stating specifically what "evidence" is, so as to not stifle any possible comments by believers, I'm curious what evidence believers have for their belief in God.
And, by the way, I'm getting a little tired of people quoting wikipedia or a dictionary when I discuss a topic like this. Yes, I am tech-savvy enough to log on to dictionary.com or wikipedia.org and surf the web (as the youngsters say). I don't care about dictionary definitions here, I'm interested in what believers naturally believe is evidence for God.
Often during an argument about the validity of evolution, one who doesn't believe in evolution will assert something along the lines of: "If evolution is true, then how could something as perfect as the human eye be created? The answer, of course, is that were were created perfectly in God's image; we did not evolve from animals."
Here, I will admit, is a clever piece of rhetoric, though wrong nonetheless. The reason that it is clever is that it plays to our pride. Who would argue that we humans aren't perfect? Well, I would.
Consider the human body carefully. Every individual part can not only break down, but can cause the death of the individual! If you can't imagine how this is possible, let me remind you of the six-letter word "cancer." Even the most unimportant parts of your body, let's say a toe, can be stricken by cancer, and you can die. If you don't believe this, look up the reason for Bob Marley's death. If you don't want to spend the time opening this, in short, his religious beliefs dictated that his body must be one, and amputation is not an option. Mr. Marley contracted cancer on a toe, and refused to amputate. The rest is biology.
So, any part of our body can have a problem — one of the manifold problems possible — and that problem can cause a termination of our whole life, not just a problem with that part in particular.
Let's consider an unarguably intelligently designed device as a comparison: a car. If you were going to buy a car and the dealer told you that if you get a tiny bit of rust on any part of this car, the whole car would eventually be destroyed by this bit of rust, would you want to buy this car? On a car, if you get some rust on your bumper, and you don't treat the rust, the worst that will happen is that the bumper will eventually rust off — the rest of the car will be fine.
So, a machine that is intelligently designed by a mere human is superior in this fundamental way to a human who was designed by an omnipotent being. Wow, we humans are smarter than God then. That's nice to know.
Also, you should consider the frequency of problems or injuries among humans. Evolution explains that our ancestors have only been walking upright for a relatively short time, on the evolutionary scale. Accordingly, this drastic shift in positioning of the anatomy should, considering evolution's short adaptation time, cause numerous problems, probably for at least a few million years. As we might expect, humans have notoriously problematic spines. Spines that had many, many, many millions of years to evolve for horizontal usage are known to cause aches, pain, and even excruciating pain due to disc herniation from normal wear and tear. I know from personal experience how terrible this can be, I've had an artificial disc placed in between two cervical vertebrae to solve a disc herniation. If you're wondering about the pain, it can be almost immobilizing and the pain can occur anywhere the impacted nerve leads to (in my case, down my left arm). Many also lose sensation in their extremities and possibly power. I lost sensation however, I never lost arm strength.
I have heard different percentages, however, it seems that by the time people reach 80, almost everyone will have a mild to severe herniated disc. Considering how debilitating this common injury is, I have no idea how a Creationist would explain this fundamental design problem. Maybe God likes it when we are in intense pain.
So, unless our "Intelligent Designer" is far less intelligent than us humans, it seems that the concept of Intelligent Design should at least be rechristened "A Little Dumb Design".
Previously, I wrote a blog entry about an unfair "out" that believers have when they explain how something happened: "God did it."
However, that is not the only trick up the believer's sleeve. There is also the situation in which something does happen, but which an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God would not want to happen. Polio, floods, wars, drug wars, genocides, rapes, slavery, psychopathy, psychopathic killers, torture, child molestation, other religions existing, atheism, errors or contradictions in the Bible/Koran/Torah/etc., animal cruelty: the list goes on.
Why would God allow these things to exist? They do not help the case for religion in the slightest. However, a quick rejoinder solves all this: "God works in mysterious ways."
Ah, yes! The "get out of jail free card" of religion. It works for anything that conflicts with one's particular religious beliefs.
This is, however, not as great a solution as one might think. Why? Consider this.
After 9/11, many people might have said, "How could Osama Bin Laden have planned such a terrible act?"
Well, the answer would be simple, wouldn't it? "Osama Bin Laden works in mysterious ways!"
"Oh, no! No, no, no! This cannot be applied to anything other than God, that's not fair!" one might say.
Well, that's partially correct, at least. It isn't fair because it isn't a fair argument.
It is an unfalsifiable statement. Although unfalsifiable sounds great (as in, "Wow! It can't be falsified! It must be true!); unfalsifiability is not a measure of a statement's strength, it's actually a demonstration of it's weakness, for precisely the same reason why it can be used to legitimize Bin Laden, or any other terrible act, for that matter. It can be applied to anything and still work. If something is true, it needs to have a method for testing it's truth — an unfalsifiable statement cannot be tested and is therefore not a fair statement, logically.
If religious people can use "God works in mysterious ways," then everyone can use "x works in mysterious ways" to prove anything. This is obviously not an effective way at getting to the truth in any matter, so the only other option is for nobody to use this manner of arguing. God does not work in mysterious ways: unfalsifiable statements work in mysterious ways.
Related articles
- Atheist Meme of the Day: Unfalsifiability (gretachristina.typepad.com)
- God Wins (wordpress.com)
- Theodicy (wordpress.com)
- Why We Don't Really Want an Answer to the Question "Why God?" (wordpress.com)
- Theodicy (wordpress.com)
I wrote a blog post about this a while back here.
I didn't know Hitchens debated Tariq Ramadan on this subject before I wrote this post. The real irony is that one poster, musingsaudi, who I debated back and forth with on this subject, suggested I read Tariq Ramadan in order to understand this subject better.
What a perfect surprise to see Hitchens spank the same guy on the same subject!
I'm not going to analyze the video for you, but it starts with a great intro by Hitchens, after which Tariq Ramadan immediately denies the claim that Islam is a religion of peace! I'm not kidding. He hedges and says it depends on the reader and it therefore can be a religion of peace or violence! This is in his INTRO! I don't think I need to dig any deeper into this guy's analysis of Islam after seeing this video.


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Proposed Canon
Portals are magic teleportation devices that allow a user to leave one hex and enter another instantly. They may be an example of Hat Magic, though they are considered Titanic in nature, likely beyond the power of even an ordinary caster link. Portals take the form of glowing doorways, and vary in color.LIAB_57:12
The only known portals connect to the Magic Kingdom. One exists in each capital city with an associated endpoint in the Portal Park of Magic Kingdom. It's always located near the bottom of the city's tower.
The specific portals in the Magic Kingdom correspond to cities rather than sides, so they will shut down, if the city ceases to be a capital (either being conquered by another side or having the side's ruler change the capital to a different city). The portal's colour, however, is tied to the side. For example, once Gobwin Knob's capital was moved from Gobwin Knob (city) to Spacerock, it's Portal Park green endpoint appeared on the "Spacerock" location, where the Jetstone's blue portal used to be, and disappeared from the previous location.Erf-b3-p138 Casters that belong to a side can always naturally find their way to their side's portal in the Portal Park by what feels like a gravitational pull.WB2014 Digdoug - Episode 8, IPTSF Text 21
It's not known whether there is an active portal in Portal Park not leading to a capital of some side.
Known colours of sides' portals:
- Gobwin Knob (green)
- Jetstone (blue)
- Unaroyal (magenta)
- Homekey (purple)
- Charlescomm (orange)
- Transylvito (chartreuse yellow)
- Faq (red)
- Goodminton (pink)
Passing through a portal does not follow the known Movement rules. It apparently does not require movement points, as proven when Parson was able to use a portal despite being a garrison unit with zero move. Further, units may pass through the portal when it is not their turn, because Parson and his casters leave Gobwin Knob during the Royal Crown Coalition's turn, and return during the night (between turns). Erf-b1-p136
Portals will not normally allow projectile weapons and trap effects to go through in the same way as hex boundaries. The area close to the portal blocks even a fire's heat.
The backside of a portal looks identical to the front end, but unlike the front cannot be passed through.
Hvs.tCF 208 states that it is possible for a portal to be 'sealed'. They are by no means impenetrable, but offer warning before any possible attack.
Active portals are a limitless supply of Shockmancy. Most Erfworlders do not have the skill to take advantage of this, but Charlie was able to invent wires, which Ivan Poe then hooked up to power the city of Charlescomm.
Portal Columns
Portals are projected by columns that extend into the bedrock underground. The columns appear to be constructs of Titanic Dirtamancy. Portal Park has one portal column for each capital site, including those that are currently inactive.WB2014 Digdoug - Episode 19
Portal columns have what Dirtamancer Ivan Poe describes as a dampener or lens. If the lens is broken with high level magic, the column will project portals all over the bedrock.
A non-caster unit that attempts to walk through a portal to the Magic Kingdom will be disbanded, and vanish. This is how Queen Bea of Unaroyal committed suicide. However, objects, notably including bodies (which can be uncroaked/decrypted on the other side), can pass throughLIAB 112.
And while they cannot enter portals to Magic Kingdom, it is possible for non-casters to exit from Magic Kingdom and that is common knowledge. That makes it possible for casters to sell magic units like golems to sides, while never leaving Magic Kingdom themselves (but not rent, since the return of the unit through the same route isn't possible).Hvs.tCF 267
Carnymancy can be used to bypass this. Janis speculates that Parson is able to enter the Magic Kingdom because of the natural Carnymancy created by his prediction, and Ivan Poe was able to remove the effect from Charlescomm's portal with the Wonky Wrench, a tool created by a Carnymancy/Dirtamancy caster link. He described it as a Carnymancy trick of having a trick card with two backs or a two-headed coin.Hvs.tCF 267
It is possible that the disbandment is a high level Shockmancy effect.


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The mbira is a traditional African instrument that has been played in Zimbabwe for more than 800 years.
For years, it was mainly played at religious rituals, weddings and social gatherings.
Now there is a pilot programme that aims to teach children in schools how to play the instrument.
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Meeting Feb. 8, 2019
OMSC Coalition Meeting
Meeting October 9, 2015
OMSC Meeting Announcement
Bethel International United Methodist Church
1220 Bethel Road
Columbus, OH 43221
Please join us for this important meeting. In addition to the usual updates on state-level education activity, Greg Young, Superintendent of Ross School District, will present "Standards Based Instruction Instruction in a Personalized Setting." Ross is a district that is having success in implementing standards and on state assessments. The information in this presentation will provide background for small group work.
We will ask participants to work in one of four small groups to develop products designed to advance mathematics and science teaching and learning in Ohio. The working groups are:
The Ohio Mathematics and Science Coalition has recently developed and disseminated a position statement that has been endorsed by several mathematics and science groups in the state, including the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics and the Science Education Council of Ohio. This paper is part of a larger agenda that focuses on helping policy makers and others understand the need to delineate the purposes for assessment and is the first example of our efforts to coalesce the mathematics and science education communities to speak in one voice to our policy makers about important issues.
It is intended that the working group efforts will result in concrete products, either position statements or communication materials.
OMSC Principles from Finding the Solution
Meeting May 15, 2015
May 15, 2015 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Bethel International United Methodist Church, 1220 Bethel Road, Columbus, OH
Meeting Theme: Mathematics and Science in Ohio: Sturm und Drang (Storm & Stress)
Whether or not the phrase "May you live in interesting times" is actually an old Chinese curse, it is the case that those of us in Ohio who are interested in mathematics and science education live in interesting times—times of storm and stress. Both Senate Bill 3 and House Bill 74 have important implications for mathematics and science education—are you aware of them? It is essential that during times such as these we keep abreast of what is happening and work together to try to assure positive outcomes. We hope that you will be able to attend this meeting.
As always, we will try to arrange for sharing of the latest news from the field. We hope to have representatives from the mathematics and science curriculum and assessment legislative review committees, the senate assessment committee, the Ohio Standards Coalition, the Standards Taskforce of OCTM, and those working on higher education issues.
We will share progress on dissemination of the OMSC position statement on Uses of Large-Scale Assessment, and consider the endorsement and development of other position statements.
Janet Herrelko will provide the primary presentation, drawing upon her recent international experiences: Is U.S. Educational Technology and Professional Development Keeping Up with the Bongiornos, Bhargavas, and Quirozes? Her thought provoking presentation will be but one catalyst for the always useful small group discussions that will help OMSC formulate action steps focused on providing information to policy makers. The small groups will be focused on professional development, parental communication, and formative assessment.
The meeting will be from 10:00 to 3:00. As usual, there will be a $10.00 charge for lunch. We ask that you let us know if you will be attending so that we have an accurate lunch count.
RSVP to Peggy Kasten as soon as possible at email@example.com.
Please join us.
Meeting February 6, 2015
Please join us at Bethel International United Methodist Church, 1220 Bethel Road, Columbus, OH 43220 from 10:00am to 3:00pm for this important meeting. The group will vote on the final position statement on Uses of Large-Scale Assessments in Mathematics and Science. The recent release of the Ohio Department's recommendations on the reduction of testing makes the timing on the approval and distribution of this document important. Assessment continues to be an important issue. OMSC must contribute to the dialogue and advocate for educationally sound assessments.
We will hear from Annika Moore from the Ohio Department of Education about the work of the Regional Network Leaders and from Carl Jones and Karen Irving who are members of the Ohio Senate Curriculum Review Committees.
Much is happening in Mathematics and Science Education in Ohio, and there are indications that there will be more impactful legislation introduced in the new legislature. It is crucial that those interested in and knowledgeable about mathematics and science be heard by policy makers. OMSC is working to make that happen.
OMSC is an advocacy group. It is important that as a group we dialogue about the advocacy positions that should be taken in order to support and advance mathematics and science education in Ohio. Please Join Us.
Agenda Highlights:
In order that we might have the correct number of lunches please RSVP to Peggy Kasten at email@example.com by February 1. There will be a $10.00 charge for lunch. When you RSVP that you are planning on attending I will forward the draft of the position statement so that you may become familiar with the statement before discussion and voting.
Assessment continues to be controversial-
"I had never imagined that the test would someday be turned into a blunt instrument to close schools — or to say whether teachers are good teachers or not — because I always knew children's test scores are far more complicated than the way they're being received today. ~Diane Ravitch
Arne Duncan on PISA Exam: We're Seeing a "Picture of Educational Stagnation"
The 45th PDK/Gallup Poll reports:
Why should you come? One of the single most important issues in education today is assessment. It is not only discussed and debated in professional journals and newsletters, faculty lounges, and in on-campus seminars—it is a big topic in the popular media. What is the truth? What tests are given? What do we learn from them? Who thinks they are necessary?
OMSC is an advocacy group dedicated to the continuous improvement of mathematics and science education in Ohio. Should OMSC take an advocacy position about assessment in Ohio? What should that position be? As professionals interested in and knowledgeable about assessment, what information can we provide to policy makers?
At the May 30, 2014 meeting, presenters will look closely at some of the most important tests, PISA, TIMSS, NAEP, PARCC, SAT/ACT, ACCUPLACER/COMPASS, that some Ohio students take—or could take.
For each test they will explain what is tested, who is tested, examine the results of the tests and most importantly, talk about what the results mean. Many of us are generally familiar with tests but may not understand fully all of the details.
There will be opportunities for questions and discussion – and these will help OMSC develop an advocacy position to be shared with policy makers.


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The congklak, or dakon board game was brought to Indonesia by Indian or Arab traders centuries ago. Made from plastic or wood, or highly carved by court artisans, this game has been played in Indonesia for centuries. Dakon is two-row multiple lap version of the Mancala family that is played in Java. It is usually played on a wooden board with holes carved in it. The counters may be seeds, stones or cowrie shells. The rules of Dakon are very similar to those of Congkak played in Malaysia, and Sungka played in the Philippines.
Figure 1: Dakon board
Dakon is played by two players on a 2 x 7 board with seven seeds in each hole at the start of play as shown in Figure 1. Each player has a store hole at the right-side of the board.
The players take turns. A player begins a turn by picking up the contents of any hole from the row on his side of the board and then placing one seed at a time in each hole in a counter-clockwise direction from the start hole in the manner of sowing seeds. The player also sows a seed into his own store but not into his opponent's store.
If the last seed is placed in an occupied hole, the player takes its contents, including the last dropped seed, and begins another lap by continuing to distribute the seeds in a counter-clockwise direction.
If the last seed is placed into his store, the player begins another lap from any occupied hole on his side of the board.
If the last seed is placed into a vacant hole on the opponent's side, the player's turn ends and no capture is made.
If the last seed is placed into a vacant hole on the player's side, and the opponent's hole directly opposite is occupied, the player captures the contents of his opponent's hole as well as the single seed just placed in the capturing hole and puts all these seeds into his store. The player's turn ends.
If the last seed is placed into a vacant hole on the player's side, and the opponent's hole directly opposite is vacant, the player's turn ends.
If it is a player's turn to move and he has no seeds on his side of the board, he forfeits his turn.
Figure 2: Dakon at start of a subsequent round
The round is over when all seeds are in the two stores. The next round now starts. Each player using the seeds captured in the previous round fills as many holes as possible with seven seeds from his store beginning from his right-hand side. The player having the more seeds, having filled his seven holes, puts the remainder of his seeds back in his store. The player having the fewer seeds puts any extra seeds that do not make seven seeds in a hole back into his store. For example, if after the first round one player had 68 seeds and the other 30 seeds the board would appear as shown in Figure 2.
The unfilled holes are marked with a piece of paper to indicate that these holes are out of play for the next round. The player who made the last move of the preceding round sows first in the new round. The second and following rounds are played with the same rules as the first round except that only the holes occupied at the start of the round are used. In later rounds it is possible that the player with fewer seeds may capture sufficient to reopen some previously closed holes.
The game is over when one player has less than seven seeds and is unable to fill at least one hole for the new round.


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Here is the headline in the front page of Al Ahram today
|Soliman : Egypt between two choices : Dialogue or coup !!
The king is dead , long live the king.
|Soliman : Egypt between two choices : Dialogue or coup !!
lol :-) as I saw mona tahawy mentioning it: Suleiman is but Mubarak 2.0ReplyDelete
Mistake in the translation: "Soliman: Egypt between two choices: Dialogue or coup !! "
I dont really think he's dead,he's still holding the strings,manipulating people somehow,and Omar Suliman isn't any good either,when the US wanted a DNA sample from a prisoner to compare with a dead body they thought it was to Ayman Al-Zawahry he offered to chop the prisoner's (Ayman's brother) arm off and send it,CIA officer was astounded and said a blood sample is good enough.ReplyDelete
it is not over, until it is actually over. Soliman, if he continues till summer, he has the potential of being Eidi Amin 2.0ReplyDelete
Mubarak and Soliman are opposite faces of the same fake coin.ReplyDelete
Fuad II of Egypt Can he be returned???ReplyDelete
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It's wild how often we fail to empathize with persons we should so readily be able to identify with. In the world of coaching youth sports, we adults often forget what it's like to be a kid. Even though, like our students, adults spend most of our day locked in a prison like facility, being barked at by our superiors while we follow directives that may make little sense.
Kids come to practice wound up after being held captive for hours – aren't we adults wound up after being mind numbingly sedentary in our work environment?
We show up at practice and the kids are out of control, is it because –
A) These kids just don't comprehend the value of the skills you are imparting to them?
B) These kids have terrible parents who have no discipline and therefore have low thresholds for paying attention or valuing your unpaid investment in their futures?
C) The education system is failing these kids because…Obama or Bush or whomever you like to blame for our nations current conditions?
D) Your practice is boring…
Coaching kids is no easy assignment. But if you passed the rigorous requirements of being the only one brave enough to volunteer, you have committed yourself to doing your best with what you have to help these kids learn and enjoy the sport.
For every youth sport team there are 1) the kids that want to be there, 2) the kids that have a mild interest, and 3) the kids that their parents just signed him up for something to get them out of the house. Regardless of where they are coming from it's your job as the coach to find creative ways to engage them to commit in some level to the team. Unfortunately the same approach won't work for all kids.
A few tips we have learned through years of experience coaching youth of all ages and skills:
1) Get as much help as you can.
Draft other parents to assist with practice or even components in practice. Enlist their help and give them assignments, especially if they are vocal at games about what is going wrong. "Thank you for your passion and input, since you know so much about this sport why don't you come and assist."
Empower your stars to assist in teaching their teammates core skills.
Often kids that are the most challenging need to be challenged, give them opportunities to assist you with the team.
As you solicit assistants, keep control by giving helpers specific assignments or areas of oversight.
The kid has a mild interest your goal here is primarily to make it fun especially at the younger ages then they can fall in love with the sport or activity and see the value in what you are trying to do. These kids for the most part if you can show them how to win or score they will engage more fully in the process. Often you can make a challenge to get them engaged.
2) Have a plan.
Reading accounts from successful coaches they all come to practice prepared to maximize the time and efforts of all involved. We like to break our practices into 10 minute segments so that practice is structured and keeps a tempo.
When you have a plan as a coach you are mentally organized, you can enable people to assist you and the kids will better respond to the structure (See more on constructing a practice plan in our Dyojo Article – Yes, Practice).
An important aspect of the plan is to mix the fun of tea sport with the skills of the sport. As a youth coach your goal is to make the memory of your sport a good one, to progressively teach your team core skills (they won't get them all at once) and to be a physical outlet for kids. If the kids are having fun and learning something, you are doing your job right.
3) Remember to have fun.
In most sports kids need to be fit enough to play, which usually involves running, find creative ways to get their lungs burning. For basketball and soccer, a simple running drill is to have two players on the line, throw a ball as far as you can and have them scrimmage 1 v 1 back to the starting point. Running + skills + competition = good drill.
For those kids that mom and dad just dropped them off and they want nothing to do with your activity, you are fighting an uphill battle. Find a means to challenge them to engage – for example some kids respond to pointing out that another kid is better than them and you want them to see if they can beat the one who is excelling. Some kids respond to challenges related to certain benchmarks, determine if you can help them set achievable goals that will boost their confidence in the sport. At some point if the kid is just relentless and will not listen you need to engage the support of the parents and or your activities supervisor because having them in that environment isn't fair to you as a volunteer to the other kids who are working hard. This should be a last resort, not your first option.
Coaching, like many things in life, can be fun or frustrating. Much of your experience has to do with your perspective and how you approach the challenge. Start by setting aside some time to prepare yourself, get your bearings and stick to the plan. Get yourself some help and try to have fun. Remember that these kids, much like you, have been penned in for most of the day, your time at practice is an opportunity to get some of those physical and mental frustrations worked out in through a positive medium.
At the end of the season if each kid had fun and made some progress in their skills, your efforts were successful. Good job coach.
If you are an adult looking to burn off some steam from work or coaching, check out our article on adding competition to your fitness routine.
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About Us
We are a family run business based in Lancaster, Lancashire in the north of England on the edge of the beautiful Lake District. We supply quality branded luxury bedding sets to the retail and hospitality sectors and we hope, whether this is for your home or you are running a Bed & Breakfast, Holiday Cottage or Hotel, you will find something a little bit different on our website. A change from the norm. Something which will help you put your own stamp on the design of your rooms, rather than the traditional designs of years gone by.
Bedrooms are a sanctuary, a place to relax, that is why we have brought together this superb collection of luxurious bedspreads and bed linens to create that comfortable haven that can be enjoyed. Obvously our website is available 24/7, but we realise you may want to discuss an item prior to purchasing, we are available to take your calls Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm, an answer phone is available if no one is able to take your call, if you leave a message we will get back to you as soon as we can.
Free UK Delivery For Designer Range
Please note that we offer free postage from our Lancashire depot to the UK for all our designer range of bedding including our Kylie bedding and curtain collection.


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Young girls face a number of challenges in today's society, from staying in school to grappling with a negative body image and the media's hyper sexualized portrayal of women. The Girls Inc. Experience summer camp helps girls explore and celebrate their strengths, their voices, and their dreams. It serves as a safe place where girls' interests, opinions, and concerns are valued by adults and other girls. Mentorship and education through fun, interactive activities prepares girls to achieve academically, lead healthy and physically active lives, manage money, navigate media messages, and discover an interest in STEM subjects. Girls Inc. believes in girls' rights and abilities, and wants to ensure that girls grow up strong, smart, and bold.
Project Leaders: Girls Inc. of Chattanooga
Crowdfunded: $1,100


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For her first Mother's Day Alison wanted to have a family photo session. Such a great way to document this beautiful family and not to mention the crazy love they all have for the first baby and first grandchild on each side. Those eyes those cheeks, such a sweet little guy!
Happy Belated Mother's Day out there! Thanks for stopping by!


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Michael Kors to Launch Beauty and Fragrance Lines
Sporty, sexy, glam! It's always pleasant to see brands expanding and developing, especially if they are our favorites. Michael Kors can join the long list of famous designer brands that have launched a beauty line, as the famous designer has decided it's high time to launch color cosmetics and fragrance lines for women, who love the luxurious Michael Kors style and who need new beauty pampering products! As the promo photo of the Michael Kors beauty line reveals, the Michael Kors woman is sporty, she's sexy and glam!
According to Vogue, Michael Kors' new venture is inspired by the designer's own family, his grandmother, trying to imitate the glamorous Sophie Loren, and his mother " more natural, relaxed and very athletic. As for the sexuality, they both had it together with self-confidence and femininity. Hence, the new Michael Kors color cosmetics and fragrance collection brings three sentiments – Sporty, Sexy, Glam, which are reflected in the color palette of the makeup products and the flavor of the perfumes.
The designer tried to explain more about his beauty line to WWD, saying: "What defines what sexy is?' I thought about someone that was really full of confidence 'Äö√Ñ√∂'àö√ë'àö√Ü if her skirt unwrapped when she sat? Not a problem. So, I think those three things 'Äö√Ñ√∂'àö√ë'àö√Ü sexy, sporty and glam 'Äö√Ñ√∂'àö√ë'àö√Ü have always been the DNA of Michael Kors, and in a strange way, the Michael Kors woman really is all three of those things 'Äö√Ñ√∂'àö√ë'àö√Ü it's just that she feels more strongly about one of them at certain given times. So I asked myself, how can we express that both with color and with fragrance?'
The Sexy line of the Michael Kors 2013 makeup collection brings pink and red tones, the Sporty line features natural beige, while plum and dark violet are the characteristic hues of the Glam line. The collection will also bring three different bronzers ($50) " Glow, Flush and Beam, body products (Liquid Self Tanner ($32), After Sun Gelee ($32), After Sun Lip Balm ($28), Indulgent Cr'Äö√†√∂¬¨√Üme ($60), Liquid Shimmer Dry Oil ($60) and Shimmer Bath Beads ($45)), Lip Lacquers and Lip Luster tones that will retail for $24. For easier makeup application, the collection will also include a Bronze Powder Brush ($45).
When it comes to the Michael Kors fragrances, prepare to be overwhelmed by three fresh and sexy scents. The Michael Kors Sporty Citrus fragrance opens with orange and tangerine notes, complemented with orange flower and moss.
As the name hints, the Michael Kors Sexy Amber fragrance is a floral scent, using notes of amber and sandalwood.
Last but not least, the Michael Kors Glam Jasmine fragrance comes to be a mixsture of jasmine, sandalwood and cassius. The three Michael Kors perfumes will be available as 1.7 oz. ($75) and 3.4 oz. ($95).
The new Michael Kors Color Cosmetics and Fragrances will be available for purchase exclusively at Macy's starting with August, 2013. Stunning model Karmen Pedaru will be the face of the beauty campaign, which will be released in September.
Photos courtesy of Vogue


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Stubbington Councillor, Christopher Wood, resigned from UKIP on Monday 10 October and has joined the Conservative Group with immediate effect.
The political balance of the Council is now as follows:
Conservative 25 80.6%
Liberal Democrat 4 12.9%
(Independent) 1 3.25%
Whilst there is a UKIP councillor a group cannot be formed by a single member and so for the purposes of the calculations of political proportionality for committee allocations, the UKIP councillor will be treated as an independent member.
The Council will be asked to review the allocation of committee seats in accordance with the new calculations at its meeting on 13 October.
Councillor Wood's Terms of Office are from 27 May 2014 – 5 May 2018.
- Ends -
For Further Information Contact:
Jan Lasnon, PR & Marketing Manager, tel: 01329 824302
fax: 01329 821518, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan, 42, had a rough public roll out on Monday when protesters heckled him at the Iowa State Fair.
The new Republican vice presidential hopeful from Wisconsin wore a red check shirt with rolled up sleeves to the event popular with politicians who are keen to show their common touch.
Ryan's billowing shirt looked a little large for his frame but he bantered with the fairgoers until his debut campaign speech was interrupted by demonstrators.
Hecklers who had placed themselves front and center of the pro-Ryan crowd started shouting 'Stop the war on the common good' and 'Stop the war on the poor' prompting Republicans to shout back and swear at them.
'Are you going to cut Medicare?' one woman shouted at him. Another woman rushed the small stage where Ryan was speaking until she was quickly carried away by three state troopers.
Ryan had hardly taken the stage before press reports announced that President Barack Obama had accused him of blocking emergency aid to drought-hit farmers. Ryan, he said, is 'one of the leaders of Congress standing in the way' of passing a farm bill that would provide relief from the drought hit state.
Mitt Romney's surprise pick has reportedly given his campaign a jolt of drama after several difficult gaffe filled weeks that included his criticisms of the British Olympic preparations and persistent questions about his personal finances and tax records.
Polls taken since Saturday demonstrated the smallest boost to a political campaign in decades, according to a Reuters/Ipsos online survey. Gallup called the public reaction to the Ryan pick 'among the least positive' that the polling group has recorded in recent elections.
According to the Christian Science Monitor 51 percent of those surveyed said the decision did not change their opinion of Romney. 26 percent said they viewed Romney more favorably after he added Ryan to the ticket, while 23 percent said they regarded him less favorably.
Ryan has long been a polarizing figure in Washington, where he has led an unprecedented push to cut domestic spending, lower taxes and scale back the size of the federal government as chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee.
On the same day president Obama visited the State Fair but did not face hecklers. Instead he shook hands with cheering bystanders and reportedly turned down a smoothie and cinnamon rolls in favor of a beer and pork chops.
During his Iowa tour president Obama announced an emergency purchase of up to $170 million of meat and fish to help locals farmers who are watching their crops wither under searing heat.
The reception and announcement stood in sharp contrast from Ryan, who made no mention of the farmers current difficulties due to the ongoing heatwave.
Meanwhile Vice President Joe Biden has already been criticizing his Republican counterpart for targeting Medicare spending in his budget plan.
'What's gutsy about giving millionaires and billionaires tax breaks? What's gutsy about gutting Medicaid and Medicare?' Biden asked in Durham, North Carolina on Tuesday.


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Do fruits aggravate coughs?
Here's interesting question that landed in my inbox this morning - do fruits aggravate coughs?
As a general rule I would say no. Though if the cough is accompanied by a cold, the Ayurvedic recommendation is to get warm on all levels and that includes what we eat. So hot apple juice with cinnamon and cloves: see my apple winter warmer recipe here would be more beneficial than munching on a raw cold apple.
And here's a fruit that actually helps relieve coughs, and any chest congestion for that matter - including asthma... the humble banana.
Here's what to do to put the healing power of the bendy fruit to work on a cough:
method one - unpalatable but effective
peel a banana and poke 7 cloves into it, cover and leave overnight. Next morning eat the banana and the cloves
method two - almost yummy - and particularly good for dry tickly coughs
mash a ripe banana with some honey and a pinch or two of black pepper


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Check out this mind-blowing project. Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg is using DNA gathered from public places to create portraits of the owners.
..she gathers information about the person's ancestry, gender, eye color, propensity to be overweight and other traits related to facial morphology, such as the space between one's eyes. "I have a list of about 40 or 50 different traits that I have either successfully analyzed or I am in the process of working on right now," she says.
Dewey-Hagborg then enters these parameters into a computer program to create a 3D model of the person's face." Ancestry gives you most of the generic picture of what someone is going to tend to look like. Then, the other traits point towards modifications on that kind of generic portrait," she explains. The artist ultimately sends a file of the 3D model to a 3D printer on the campus of her alma mater, New York University, so that it can be transformed into sculpture.


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more from Maximum Fun
Brittani Nichols (@BisHilarious) writer and star of Suicide Kale talks nut milks, 90's kids drinks, Sunny D vs. Tang, a guy mansplains to Brandie about how to use her own jumper cables, and everyone vents about people who unsolicitedly help you to parallel park. Produced by Kailynn West, booker Marie Colette, theme song Zach Ames.
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Growing into Our Authentic Selves
Our deepest calling is to grow into our authentic selfhood,
whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be.
As we do, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks;
we will also find our path of authentic service in the world.
—Parker Palmer
This past Sunday, during our Board meeting, I sat around a table looking at the faces of the others in this group. Some were anxious, some were pensive, some were overwhelmed, but all were focused on doing the very important work that had been handed to them. We made reports on our activities and the year-end budget. We made sure that we were following our policies and procedures for hiring nursery staff so that we can ensure that our youngest children are safe and well cared for. We discussed how we will care for our buildings and grounds in the absence of a Board Member to oversee these concerns.
All of these are important fiduciary responsibilities of the Board; however, the Board has other very important responsibilities. We also have strategic and generative responsibilities. We have responsibilities to lead the congregation in developing strategic plans and articulating what matters most for the future. We also have responsibilities for thinking retrospectively and helping us all to understand the story of our congregation.
In the coming months, we will be reflecting honestly and developing strategic plans together. We will reflect on our vision and mission, led by our deepest values. We will determine our way to move forward as a congregation, many different people coming together in one body to find our path of authentic service in the world. This will involve lively and meaningful conversations, maybe even a few challenging ones, but it will allow us to grow into an authentic community and to find the joy we seek. So, as you are taking or preparing for your personal journeys this summer, take time to reflect on the new roads ahead here in Jackson that we will take together.
Joy, peace, and love,


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Sunday, August 22, 2010
minibar = BIG TASTE
Well I've been MIA for a while….and it's not due to a lack of eating or drinking! In fact, I've been doing more than my fair share – from Las Vegas to Cape Cod, not to mention minibar (http://cafeatlantico.com/miniBar/miniBar.htm) right here in DC. If you've never been, start saving your pennies (more like dollars) now, because believe me, it's worth every one you'll spend.
For those of you who aren't familiar, minibar is the 6 seat "restaurant" within Café Atlantico, one of Jose Andres' many DC restaurants. It's actually more of a sushi-bar where you and the 5 other guests sit in front of the chefs and watch as they prepare each dish. This is where chefs get to play with food. It's a meal of around 30 courses (the night we went it was exactly 30) each of which are about 1-2 bites. While you do leave full, you aren't disgustingly so. The chefs get super creative, using techniques such as chilling ingredients with liquid nitrogen so they practically disappear in your mouth rather than melt. They render ingredients down until they can be molded or shaped or piped onto a plate in any way shape or form they choose. They spin fresh cotton candy right in front of you then serve it with something like eel or spider shrimp – certainly not something you'll pick up on the boardwalk this summer!
Here are a few shots of the dishes….
A few things to know if you plan to go:
1) 1) You must call to reserve a table 30 days in advance – so exactly 30 days from when you would like to go.
2) 2) There are two seatings a night, one at 6:00 and one at 8:30.
3) 3) The cost is $120 per person and there are several wine pairing options available, or you can just order by the glass.
4) 4) They will alter their menu if you have any food restrictions (such as my allergy to shellfish). Don't worry, it doesn't affect what the other guests eat – everyone around me enjoyed plenty of shrimp, crab, oysters, etc.
5) 5) Be adventurous! Remember, you are sitting right in front of the people who prepared the food – if you're not willing to try new things, this may not be the place for you. I say BUCK UP, its quite the experience!