text:
The definition of a salad seems to have evolved; this glorious, warm, spiced and zesty salad is full of wonderful surprise. The barley adds silky and nutty depth, the sweet tomatoes and spices mingle well with the spongy paneer and the channa dal adds a bite. I like it with a bit of heat, so I went for the green chilies but you can moderate this if you wish.
I used Savera paneer for this dish and it works really well because unlike some brands of paneer, Savera paneer is moist and spongy (not hard and rubbery) so takes on the flavours and juices of the salad so well and is soft enough to add to the party of ingredients. Keep the paneer moist warm so that it retains a bit of that chewy glory.
Serves 4-6
Prep time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
225g paneer, cubed
75g channa dal, washed
100g pearl barley, washed
220g baby plum tomatoes, quartered
One medium red onion
100g cashew nuts
¾ tbsp. vegetable oil
For the dressing;
3 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
Salt to taste
3½ tbsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
15g coriander, finely chopped
½ tsp. turmeric powder
2 green chillies finely chopped (use one if you prefer less heat)
6-8 curry leaves
- Boil the barley on a vigorous simmer for ten minutes and then on a medium flame for a further 30minutes. Drain it and allow it to cool
- Boil the channa dal for 15-20 minutes. It should retain a bite but be cooked. Wash the channa dal in cool water and drain it when it is cooked.
- Put the channa dal, tomatoes, onion and barley into a large shallow bowl.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a non-stick pan and stir fry the paneer until it catches a golden colour. Remove it from the heat and add it to the other salad ingredients.
- To make the dressing, heat the sesame oil in a non-stick pan add then chillies, curry leaves, turmeric and cumin seeds. Allow the seeds to sizzle before turning off the heat.
- Drizzle the dressing onto the salad and mix it well. Pour in the rice wine vinegar and then sprinkle in the salt and chopped coriander and toss the salad.
- Toast the cashew nuts on a non-stick pan until they are lightly golden and then allow then allow them to cool before tossing them into the salad.
This is a sponsored post but any views expressed are my own


text:
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text:
3D. *Hearty repast : SQUARE MEAL. T-Square. My woodshop teacher walloped me with one of these when I was about 13, so I remember this carpentry tool well. I deserved it too, so no complaints.
9D. *"Politically Incorrect" host : BILL MAHER. T-Bill. Well-known to solvers, but I realized I'd never actually seen one, so here we are. In the words of Dr. Evil - One MILLION Dollars!
31D. *Sensitivity to cashews, say : NUT ALLERGY. T-Nut. I've never used one. I wonder if there are T-nuts in a T-top?
35D. *Fine porcelain : BONE CHINA. T-Bone. Food! Unlike the T-Nuts, I've cuddled up to one or two T-Bone steaks in my time. You get a twofer - tenderloin and strip, so you get the best of both worlds
The reveal:
29D. Sporty car roofs, and, literally, what the first words of the answers to starred clues can have : T-TOPS. Largely defunct now that engineering advances mean that you don't need the structural roof elements to keep the car from flexing like a Muscle Beach exhibitionist.
Salut, amigos and amigas. Steve here with a fun Gareth Bain offering which shows a 90-degree shift in the usual theme entry orientation. I enjoy the times I have to figuratively turn my head sideways to see what's going on. I loved that the theme required not just the "T", but also the "-" to make sense of the new nouns.
Let's see what else we've got:
1. Bygone U.S. station name : ESSO. Standard Oil (of Texas). What's the word for the verbalizing of an acronym and the resultant spelling of that to make a word? If there isn't one, we should come up with it.
5. Subsides : EBBS. Moons wax and wane, tides flood and ebb.
9. Parade group : BAND
13. Chef's hat : TOQUE. A great word. No French chef worth his sel would be caught without one. It all got a little silly when the height of your toque was meant to represent your superior standing in the culinary world
15. Rich topsoil : LOAM
16. Java Freeze brand : ICEE
17. Lies next to : ABUTS
18. In __: actually : ESSE
19. Cry out for : LACK
20. Plays first, in some card games : LEADS
21. Innocent : CHILD-LIKE
23. Comedy Central send-up : ROAST
25. Chowder morsel : CLAM
26. Pre-A.D. : BCE. Hmmm .. why the "E"?
28. Portable Asian dwellings : YURTS
30. Horses' tresses : MANES
34. Gyro meat : LAMB. Food! I love lamb, and gyros. If you are ever on the I-15 driving though Baker, CA (usually on your way to or from Las Vegas) then stop at "The Mad Greek" for the best gyro you'll ever.
36. Portable bed : COT
37. Without even a scratch : UNHURT
38. McFlurry option : OREO
39. Rounded hill : KNOLL
41. Italian hot spot : ETNA. The most famous volcano in the world of cruciverbalists.
42. Sounds echoing through the castle : CLANGS. Usually accompanied by the cries of those unfortunates consigned to the dungeons with all kinds of unpleasantness to follow.
44. Quill, perhaps : PEN
45. Commuter's option : RAIL
46. Clark Kent, at birth : KALEL. Crosses all the way. Must ... remember ... this ... for ... future ... crosswords .... Nope, it's already forgotten.
47. Son of Sarah : ISAAC
49. Gettysburg Campaign VIP : LEE. Why am I thinking "desserts" here? Oh wait, it's "Sarah" in 47A, not "Sara".
50. Use profanity : CUSS
52. East Asian capital : SEOUL
54. Where it'll all come out? : IN THE WASH. Not always, I've got some white shorts that never recovered from the person next to me on a flight dumping a cup of coffee in my lap and then my own self-abasement when I dropped my in-flight pasta on top of the original sin. My bad. We both blamed the excellent wine selection in the United lounge pre-flight.
58. Oldest of the Stooges : SHEMP. Completely, never, ever heard of him (?). Is this the "Iggy" Stooges or the "triple" incarnation? I await your wisdom.
61. Amos at the piano : TORI
62. Early Genesis brother : ABEL
63. Stooges count : THREE. Ah, apropos of 58A above, I believe that Iggy Pop had more than three sidemen, so I'm guessing this is the "Curly" cohort count.
64. All tied up : EVEN
65. Anti-leather gp. : PETA
66. Sweetie : SUGAR
67. Chichén Itzá builder : MAYA. Great clue for an old staple. I learned something today - that's why I love the crosswords!
68. KFC side : SLAW
69. London's __ Park : HYDE. I saw Queen play a free concert in Hyde Park in 1976 - the first free gig since the Rolling Stones in the 60's.
1. And others, in citations: Abbr. : ET AL.
2. Maker of Lifewater beverages : SOBE
4. Surpass : OUT-DO. I'm not sure if the hyphen is required, but it looks better to me.
5. It can't help being negative : ELECTRON. Favorite clue/answer combo of the day.
6. "Poppycock!" : BOSH
7. ABCs : BASICS
8. Detect, in a way : SMELL. Usually "in a bad way"! Smells seem to be bad, aromas are good. English is a tremendously confusing language. I've no idea how C.C. et al manage.
10. Berry sold in health food shops : ACAI. Messed up with "GOJI" first,
11. Giraffe's trademark : NECK. Does it come with a ™ symbol?
12. Fake in the rink : DEKE
14. Test type you can't really guess on : ESSAY
22. Rhett's last word : DAMN
24. Lures (in) : SUCKS. Nice, polite clue
26. Inhibit : BLOCK.
27. "Cheers" waitress Tortelli : CARLA
32. Bert's roommate : ERNIE
33. Old : STALE
37. Radii neighbors : ULNAE. Latin "ii" in the clue suggests Latin "ae" in the answer.
40. Legislation pertaining to dogs : LEASH LAW
43. Stuff to stick with? : GLUE
47. "Eva Luna" author Allende : ISABEL. It seems all proper names are "Help! Crosses!" for me, particularly today.
48. Goes for : COSTS
51. Scoreless Words With Friends turns : SWAPS. I know the app, but I don't have it and have never played it. Good to know that you can swap. Is it like Scrabble when you've got a rack of Q's, W's and K's and you burn a turn dumping all seven tiles and drawing a new set but miss a turn? Always sounded like a bad idea to me.
53. "That's correct" : UH HUH
54. Couple in the news : ITEM
55. Old Chevy : NOVA. Plenty to choose from, but the "V" was there so it was a fill-in.
56. "South Park" co-creator Parker : TREY. Middle name "Genius" IMHO.
57. __ good example : SET A
59. Ancient drink making a comeback : MEAD. Comeback? Really? Tinbeni - have you tried this stuff? I'm sure it can't be pleasant - the whole reason wine was sweetened with honey was because the wine was too nasty to drink.
60. Paris pop : PÉRE. Because "Orangina" doesn't fit. Neither does "Le Coke".
That's about it! Enjoy your Wednesday!
P.S. I just want to take two seconds to give an enormous shout-out to C.C. for her amazing generosity with her time, encouragement, help and advice to an originally clueless constructor!
Oh wait - I need to upload the grid - I always forget about that!
2) Happy Birthday to Charlotte's grandpa Lemonade, who has been our Friday Sherpa since March 2010. Lemonade sees beauty in every crossword and is attentive to both newbies and regulars. I'm so pleased with his two LAT puzzles and looking forward to his solo. Please click here for more pictures. Love his purple shirt here.


text: Although a new member, my reading the extensive posting by audiophile members has impressed me about the quality of jbl products. I would like to add to my existing speakers( l100, l112) some of the best jbl speakers. Please feel free to make all suggestions , and also why you would choose them. I realize you could spend thousands and reasonable cost is an issue. I would already like to thank the audiophiles for the vast info provided for all to read.


text:
Same-Sex Couples Sue Tenn. Over Gay Marriage Ban in State Constitution
Four same-sex married couples have opted to sue Tennessee over the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, the couples argue that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional in that it allegedly violates the equal protection and due process clauses.
All four married couples moved to Tennessee after being married in other states that had legalized gay marriage.
The couples are being represented by the California-based organization National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Shannon Minter, legal director for NCLR and one of the attorneys for the couples, told The Christian Post that the amendment was "outdated."
"We believe this law is outdated and no longer reflects the views of most Tennessee residents, who generally support treating people equally," said Minter.
"The couples in the lawsuit have been welcomed to Tennessee by their neighbors, employers and communities. But the law still treats them unequally and denies them the ability to take care of one another and their families."
In November 2006 Tennessee voters considered Amendment 1, a ballot proposal that defined marriage as being only a contract between one man and one woman.
Tennesseans overwhelmingly passed the measure, with Amendment 1 garnering 81 percent of the vote. Tennessee had been one of seven states to pass such measures via referendum in 2006.
The NCLR lawsuit on behalf of the four couples is not the first legal trouble that Amendment 1 has weathered.
In 2005 the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union attempted to remove proposed amendment from the ballot.
Sharon Curtis-Flair, director of communications for the Tennessee Attorney General's Office, told The Christian Post that as of Tuesday afternoon the state has not been officially served the lawsuit. As a result, no official statement could be made on the matter by press time.
"Meanwhile, we did receive a 'courtesy copy' which means we have not yet been officially served," said Curtis-Flair, adding that last summer's Supreme Court decision on DOMA has not affected the state laws.


text:
Lind, Esaias Arentsz de (d. ca. 1602)
Esaias Arentsz de Lind (Lint) was the son of Arent de Lind of Brielle and his wife Anneken Jans, the well-known martyr, who was drowned at Rotterdam, Netherlands, on 24 January 1539. After the sentence was passed, Anneken in prison wrote a "Testament" (farewell letter) to her little son Esaias, then nearly six years old. This testament is found in Offer des Heeren, 70-75. The Martyrs' Mirror relates that Anneken, on the way to the place of execution with the little boy on her arm, asked the bystanders to take pity on the child; thereupon Lenert Jansz, a baker of Rotterdam, took up the boy (see the Martyrs Mirror engraving with this article). Esaias de Lind, who later belonged to the Reformed Church, became a wealthy man, who occupied high offices; he was burgomaster of Rotterdam 1580-1581 and 1589-1590. He was a good friend of the Dutch statesman Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. In later years his business failed and de Lind was reduced to poverty. He died in 1602 or shortly after. Esaias' son Michiel (died 1645) also went into the magistracy at Rotterdam; another son Pieter Esaiasz, who apparently died before 1618, went into the navy. It was Esaias, the son of Michiel de Lind, who gave the information on Anneken and Esaias Arentsz to van Braght, which is found in the Martyrs' Mirror.
Braght, Thieleman J. van. Het Bloedigh Tooneel of Martelaers Spiegel der Doopsgesinde of Weereloose Christenen, Die om 't getuygenis van Jesus haren Salighmaker geleden hebben ende gedood zijn van Christi tijd of tot desen tijd toe. Den Tweeden Druk. Amsterdam: Hieronymus Sweerts, 1685: II, 143; the English edition omits pp. 143-145 of the Dutch.
Doopsgezinde Bijdragen (1905): 170.
Molhuysen, P. C. and P. J. Blok. Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek. Leiden, 1911-1937: II, 823.
|Nanne van der Zijpp
|Date Published
Cite This Article
MLA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. "Lind, Esaias Arentsz de (d. ca. 1602)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1957. Web. 20 Sep 2020. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Lind,_Esaias_Arentsz_de_(d._ca._1602)&oldid=141349.
APA style
Zijpp, Nanne van der. (1957). Lind, Esaias Arentsz de (d. ca. 1602). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 20 September 2020, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Lind,_Esaias_Arentsz_de_(d._ca._1602)&oldid=141349.
Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, p. 348. All rights reserved.
©1996-2020 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.


text:
My Parents' Experiences as Polish Slave Laborers in Nazi Germany and Displaced Persons after the War
Saturday, January 14, 2012
The Day My Mother Died
My mother died six years ago, January 27, 2006. She died in a hospice in Sun City, Arizona. It was a beautiful place, out in the desert, cactus and sage and rocks and reddish sand all around. She would have liked it. Before she got too sick, she used to like sitting outside and enjoying the little bit of desert that she had in her own back yard.
She had come a long way to die.
She was born in a forest outside a small village west of Lvov, Poland in 1922. She loved that forest and probably would have stayed there her whole life except for the Germans. They came to her house and killed her mother and her sister and her sister's baby. My mother fled into the woods, but the soldiers caught her and put her on a train that took her to a slave labor camp in Germany. Once I asked my mother to tell me what happened on that train. She said that even though I was a grown man and a professor, she saw things she couldn't tell me about.
For a long time, she also wouldn't tell me much about the slave labor camps in Germany. She would wave her hand at me and just say, "If they give you bread, you eat it. If they beat you, you run away." When she did start telling me about the things that happened in the camp, some times I had to ask her not to tell me.
At the end of the war, my mother met my father, another Pole who had been in the slave labor camps. When my mom saw my dad, he was a scarecrow in rags. He weighed about 70 pounds and had only one eye. He had lost the other when a guard clubbed him for begging for food.
She was 23, he was 25. She had been a slave for 2 years, he had been one for 4.
They married and waited in the refugee camps in Germany until someone in America would agree to sponsor them so that they could come here. They waited for 6 years. During that time, they had two kids, my sister Danusha and me.
In June of 1951, we came to America. For a while my mom and dad worked on a farm to pay off their passage here. Then, we moved to Chicago, and my mom worked in a factory.
The way I remember it my Mom was always working, working in one factory or another and working around the houses she and my Dad bought. She would plaster walls, paint, sand floors, and varnish them too. There was no work that she wouldn't do.
When my parents retired, they finally moved out to Sun City, Arizona, a long way from the village in Poland my mom grew up in. After he died out there in 1997, she lived there alone, taking care of her house and the garden, making friends and thinking about her grandchildren.
I've written a lot of poems about her over the years, and since the day she died, I've been trying to write a poem about her dying. Let me tell you, it's not coming. I've got pages of notes and half starts for the poem, but for some reason none of the words and lines say what I want them to say about my mom and how I feel about her and how her death touched me. Maybe I'll be able to write the poem someday, but I can't do it right now.
So I want to end this with two of my favorite poems about my mom from my book Lightning and Ashes. The first one is called "What the War Taught Her," and the second is called "My Mother's Optimism."
What the War Taught Her
My mother learned that sex is bad,
Men are worthless, it is always cold
And there is never enough to eat.
She learned that if you are stupid
With your hands you will not survive
The winter even if you survive the fall.
She learned that only the young survive
The camps. The old are left in piles
Like worthless paper, and babies
Are scarce like chickens and bread.
She learned that the world is a broken place
Where no birds sing, and even angels
Cannot bear the sorrows God gives them.
She learned that you don't pray
Your enemies will not torment you.
You only pray that they will not kill you.
My Mother's Optimism
When she was seventy-eight years old
And the angel of death called to her
and told her the vaginal bleeding
that had been starting and stopping
like a crazy menopausal period
was ovarian cancer, she said to him,
"Listen Doctor, I don't have to tell you
your job. If it's cancer it's cancer.
If you got to cut it out, you got to."
After surgery, in the convalescent home
Among the old men crying for their mothers,
And the silent roommates waiting for death
she called me over to see her wound,
stapled and stitched, fourteen raw inches
from below her breasts to below her navel.
And when I said, "Mom, I don't want to see it,"
She said, "Johnny, don't be such a baby."
Six months later, at the end of her chemo,
my mother knows why the old men cry.
A few wiry strands of hair on head,
Her hands so weak she couldn't hold a cup,
Her legs swollen and blotched with blue lesions,
She says, "I'll get better. After his chemo,
Pauline's second husband had ten more years.
He was playing golf and breaking down doors
When he died of a heart attack at ninety."
Then my mom's eyes lock on mine, and she says,
"You know, optimism is a crazy man's mother."
And she laughs.
The first photo is my mom, my sister, and me in Riverview Amusement Park in Chicago, around 1957.
The second photo is of my mom and my daughter Lillian, around 1982.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Photographs by German Soldiers
Recently, I came across a site that features thousands of photographs taken by German Soldiers as they invaded Poland and spread across the country. The site is called Bagnowka. You can click here to enter it.
The photos are mundane and touching, directed and random, unexpected and expected. There are no captions, no explanations, so that I find myself wondering about them, about who took them and what happened to the person who took them and what happened to the people who appear in the photos. Finally, I realized I'll never know, and I just kept looking through the photos.
What I do know, however, is that the photos show me something of what life was like for the German invaders and the Poles who suffered the invasion.
You can look at the photos individually, and they are arranged in fourteen different groups: Sept. 1939, Children of War, Life in Wartime, Warsaw and other towns, Holocaust, Expulsion, Damages, Russia, War Prisoners, War Victims, Horses, Communism, Collaboration, and War Cemeteries.
Also, a number of the photos have been gathered together as youtube videos under themes or topics accompanied by music. Here's one of them, called Butchers of Warsaw.
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text:
General Motors' trouble with an ignition switch recall is affecting an Oakland County supplier.
Crain's Detroit Business reports Auburn Hills-based Continental Automotive Systems is accused of supplying defective airbags for GM in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in California.
The defective parts were allegedly used in millions of vehicles recently recalled for ignition switch failures.
According to Fox Business, Continental produced airbag systems for the recalled cars, including sensors that determine if and when the airbags deploy in the event of an accident.
The airbags were reportedly disabled when the ignition system switched positions, a problem the suit alleges the company was aware of as early as 2005.
The company told Crain's it had not yet been served with the lawsuit when contacted Friday for comment.


text:
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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (Sept. 9, 2007) - The ETSU women's soccer team rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the Youngstown State Penguins, 3-2 at the Gamecock Soccer Classic hosted by Jacksonville State. The Bucs are now 2-1-1 on the season while the Penguins fall to 0-3.
In the first period the Bucs and Penguins traded shots back and forth when newcomer Kelly Brinkman (
The Penguins fought back as they tied the match five minutes into the second half when Jenna Fink scored on a free kick and took the 2-1 advantage when Lauren Brennan scored on a pass from Nina Pannoni in the 59th minute.
ETSU continued to battle as junior Rachel Layer (Bel Air,
With 13 minutes remaining in the match freshman Terri Miller (
ETSU outshot
"We jumped out to an early lead but then we found ourselves in a predicament and I think that the team did a great job of bouncing back. Anytime a team can find a way to bounce back and get goals from your juniors to your freshman it's a good thing," said head coach Heather Henson. "Anytime a team can go on the road and come back with two wins it is a positive thing."
Following the last match of the day, the Gamecock Soccer Classic All-Tournament team was named. Katie Green and Terri Miller were both named to the All-Tournament team, while sophomore Jordan Monty (
The Bucs were also crowned the Gamecock Soccer Classic Champion as their two wins earned them six points in the championship formula. The Citadel and
The ETSU women's soccer team will return home to host the ETSU Fall Invitational sponsored by Citizens Bank. ETSU will take on in-state rival Tennessee Tech on Friday, Sept. 14 at 4 p.m. For all ETSU women's soccer action, visit www.ETSUBucs.com.


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How on earth do you take outfit pictures when the sun isn't up before you leave for work and sets before you get home? I've been trying to catch daily instagaram #ootd (outfit of the day) snapshots of my outfits. Definitely not as profesh looking as a DSLR with perfect lighting and photographer, but a nice little collection of my day to day looks.
As you can see my style is totally different from day to day. Basically not a day goes by that I'm not rocking some sort of print or statement piece from a sparkly sequin shirt, bold colored pants to wrist full of bracelets or chukny sweater. I like to keep it all grounded with denim jackets, chambray shirts, or rugged duck boots.
My friend, Laura @ Beauty & the Beard does it best, she's great at posting her super cute daily outfits!
Send me your instagram username so I can follow all your #OOTD's. mine is @lapetitefashionista!
xoxo, lauren


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Bullet shoots through vehicle on Pennsylvania Turnpike
Bullet hits headrest, just misses woman
A local couple said their Pennsylvania Turnpike ride ended in terror on Oct. 17 after a bullet shot through their vehicle.
Billy Waggett said he and his girlfriend were driving on the Turnpike, near New Stanton, heading east, when a bullet hit the back passenger window, went through the headrest and continued inches past Waggett's face before going out the other side.
Waggett's girlfriend could have been killed. She had leaned forward, off of that headrest, to grab the GPS off the dashboard, just as the bullet hit.
"It sounded like an M80 went off in my backseat," Waggett said. "And I looked at my driver's side window and it had a hole you could stick a fist through. And Cheryl (my girlfriend) was like, 'What was that?' And I was like, 'I don't know, my window just exploded.' And we pulled over, and when I turned my lights on, I saw I was bleeding."
Waggett had minor cuts from the glass. He said he doesn't know who shot the bullet or from where the shot was fired.
State police Trooper Albert Rizzo confirmed that he is investigating the shooting.
Waggett said that although no one is charged, he is grateful for the investigation and that he and his girlfriend are alright.
"We had quite a few angels with us that day," Waggett said.


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|Rumah :: Hotels :: My Account :: Lihat Bakul Pembelian
Villa Clara Province is the second largest producer of sugar in Cuba, with other crops, particularly tobacco, playing an important part in the local economy. In the south, the mountain resort of Hanabanilla in the Escambray Mountains is being primed for tourism. It is this area's natural beauty which holds most appeal to the visitor.
Historically, Villa Clara, one of the country's central provinces, has been regarded as one of the most strategically important areas of Cuba. Although the area has yet to be recognised as one of Cuba's premier tourist destinations, the coast of Villa Clara is dotted with numerous cays and coral reefs; and there are some good sandy beaches in the north.
The capital of the province, Santa Clara, home to one of the country's four universities, is interesting enough to warrant a visit.
Around Santa Clara, the land rises into the Alturas de Santa Clara. The highest point in the province is in the Alturas, at 464m above sea level. Villa Clara also has numerous lakes, which are used for both water sports and fishing. The largest Cuban river to drain into the Atlantic, Río Sagua la Grande, is also in Villa Clara province.
Banos de Elguea
Elguea is 90 minutes drive from Varadero and 10 minutes away from the beaches of Salto and Ganuza.
Cayo Ensenachos
Cayo Ensenachos
Cayo Las Brujas
The most beautiful and unspoiled Cuban beach is located in central Cuba, about hour drive north of Santa Clara at "Cayo Las Brujas". Beaches, fauna, flora and an pure environment in this isolated nook protected from the hectic world. Endemic tropical nature close to the Bahamas Channel, Cayo Las Brujas owns wonderful coral reefs is a perfect place for scuba diving and wind surfing. Kilometers of coral reefs with a large submarine fauna, it's the world second widest after the Australian reefs. This site is practically unmatched in the world, large shoals of tarpon, jacks spadefish, groupers and barracudas provide a special attraction for divers, also iguanas live there.
Cayo Santa Maria
Cayo Santa Maria lies at the western end of the Archipielago de Sabana-Camaguey, 25 km west of Cayo Guillermo, in the Bahia de Buenavista ecosystem, declared by UNESCO as a "Biosphere Reserve"; in a setting rich with endemic species protected by a beach of incomparable beauty, with more than ten kilometers of fine white sand and a sea of varying shades of blue.
The key (cayo) is united to the mainland by an impressive causeway called "El Pedraplen" constructed across the Bahia Buena Vista from the port of Caibarien at a cost of 100 million pesos. This engineering marvel built between 1989 and 1999, is over 48 km long and has 46 bridges, and is worthy of its Puente Alcantara Award. The bridges allow an exchange of tidal waters, an improvement over the earlier Cayo Coco causeway. Paving was completed in 1999, just as Las Brujas Airport was being built on Cayo Las Brujas, 45km northwest of Caibarien.
Travelers from Remedios, a colonial town with its parrish church and to Santa Clara, seat of the Ernesto Che Guevara Memorial, cross crystalline and tranquil waters and keys, and can observe hawks, pelicans and the amazing pink flamingo.
Manicaragua & Escambray Mountains
The coffee plantatoins on the Manicaragua slopes of the Escambray mountains produce coffee beans that are considered to have an "unparalled aroma". The tobacco grown on the lower planes, El Hoyo de Manicaragua, is used by the cigar factory of Manicaragua City.
The earliest inhabitants, Siboneyes tribesmen, called their home, rather immodestly, Manicaragua, the Arawak language for "The Land of the Brave".
Playa Caibarien
Playa Caibarien is famous for its crabs and its intense maritime life on the northern coast of Villa Clara province.
This town is a typical, but beautiful, example of Spanish colonial architecture. The intrusion of the sugar and cattle industries have not detracted from its laid-back atmosphere. The centre is marked by the Plaza Marti and, as with all Spanish cities, the streets span out from the Plaza with well thought out symmetry. The Plaza Marti is similar in style to the Plaza Mayor in Trinidad.
Other interesting things to see are The Museum of the Remedion Parrandas and The Church of San Juan Batista de Remedios.
Sagua La Grande
Sagua La Grande is located on the north coast of the province of Villa Clara in central Cuba.
Santa Clara
A buzzing provincial town, with a pleasant Parque Central, Santa Clara is most famous for its connection with Che Guevara, whose attack on a Batista troop train in the city in December 1958 helped persuade the dictator that his days were numbered.
This provincial capital is well worth visiting, beyond the suburbs you'll find a buzzing place with streets lively with people going about their daily lives, and the city benefits from having a large student population. The centre seems well looked after and relatively litter-free. A startling sight to anyone arriving from Havana.
There are some interesting museums worth taking in and the small brick red-tiled houses lend themselves to an atmosphere of calm and discretion. For most people the area Parque Vidal is the most eventful place in the city, as well as being the geographical heart of the city, it is also its social centre and there is usually some sort of entertainment going on at weekends. A monument marks the spot where revolutionary hero Leoncio Vidal was killed , and benches line the promenades that cross and circle the park. On the plaza's north.
Jualan UK :: Audrey :: +44 20 7498 8555 atau 0800 298 9555
USA & Jualan Kanada :: Jeffery atau Bastien :: Tol Bebas 888 361 9555
Pusat Pelancong Havana :: Idelsis :: +53 7 863 9555
(kurang dari 10 hari)


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Fast 50 company BayFirst Solutions overcame early obstacles to build successful business
2010 Fast 50 50 flourishing small businesses you need to know How FedStore became the fastest-growing small business in the federal market Infrastructure investments fuel MicroTech's success Former No. 1 keeps up winning ways Guident rides small wins to big growth First try is the charm for Ellumen 6 small-business issues too important to ignore
One of the biggest challenges that BayFirst Solutions has had to overcome since its inception in June 2002 is the fact that its founder is deaf and only communicates through sign language and writing.
Since then, colleagues and customers have learned to not call Robert Rice, president and managing partner of BayFirst. He handles all communications through e-mail messages, including the interview for this story.
"My deafness is now inconsequential because our culture is one that strongly promotes people diversity, professionalism and mutual respect," Rice wrote in an e-mail. "Everyone has also quickly learned that the telephone isn't my forte and that they're better off using e-mail instead of voice mail."
The management and strategy consulting firm, based in Washington, D.C., now has a long roster of government clients, including the Education, Commerce, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs departments. It posted $9.1 million in revenue last year and expects to see $11 million by the end of this year. The company's compound annual growth rate over five years hit 66.29 percent, good for the No. 46 spot on the 2010 Fast 50 list.
Rice attributes the success of the 52-person company to hiring the right people who have backgrounds in government contracting and military service. He also has focused much of the company's strategy on making strategic partnerships with larger businesses, such as ABS Consulting, BAE Systems and Booz Allen Hamilton.
"We recognize the important need to team and develop relationships with large businesses who understand what it is like to be small," Rice wrote. "Successful teaming requires the ability to present viable business and value propositions."
BayFirst's relationship with ABS Consulting was beneficial when it won a subcontractor role on the new SeaPort-e contracting vehicle, the Navy's platform for acquiring support services, including engineering, financial management and program management.
The company's Deaf Access Solutions division, which focuses on communication accessibility to deaf and hard-of-hearing people, won the firm a DHS contract this summer to provide sign-language interpretation services.
One of the company's most significant contract wins was a hybrid risk analysis and software development contract with the Transportation Security Administration, Rice wrote.
Although the company has had some successful contract wins, it has customers that might do more work in-house.
"Government insourcing is becoming the more popular option, and while outsourcing will continue, there will be more contractual oversight and scrutiny," Rice wrote.
With that in mind, Rice is positioning the company to become a bigger player in risk and security management through partnerships with large and small businesses. Rice wrote that the company also prepared for further growth by getting ISO 9001 certified, which ensures that it meets certain standards for management systems.
"This quality certification will ensure that BayFirst has its act together and that internal processes and procedures are as buttoned down as they can and need to be," Rice wrote. "Our ISO 9001 certification will also give prospective customers and employees the confidence they need to work with or join us as a small business."
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Nazzic Keene has led SAIC for just over one year and she shares how her early priorities continue to drive the company forward, plus how COVID-19 is complicating everything.
Read More
In this episode of the Project 38 podcast, Senior Staff Writer Ross Wilkers talks with executives from the big 3 of government telecom about how they have kept agencies and people connected during the coronavirus pandemic.
Read More


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The Steampunk Victorian bar Way Station in Prospect Heights, NY has opened its doors to everyone who wants fancy cocktails, live jazz and blues music — and for those who want to brag that they've relieved themselves inside the TARDIS.
Way Station, located at 683 Washington Ave., Prospect Heights, turned its bathroom into the Doctor's time traveling blue box. And according to the owners, "Doctor Who fans will be excited to find out that it is bigger on the inside." Delightful.
So, next io9 meet up? Anyone?
Via Grub Street


text: The Hyades are a star cluster located in Taurus constellation and the nearest open cluster of stars to the solar system. Also catalogued as Collinder 50 or Melotte 25, the cluster has an apparent magnitude of 0.5 and lies at a distance of 153 light years, or 47 parsecs, from Earth. The brightest stars in the … [Read more…]


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Columnist laments fact tragedy not hijacked for gun control
Paul Joseph Watson
Monday, July 23, 2012
Time Magazine's Alex Altman writes that Barack Obama has 'missed an opportunity' in failing to exploit the tragic 'Batman' massacre to push for gun control, insinuating that Obama should have spent less time mourning and more time hijacking the shooting for political purposes.
In an article entitled 'President Obama Mourns Aurora — and Misses an Opportunity', Altman laments the fact that Obama concerned himself only with offering, "gentle clichés and pat expressions of sympathy," instead of honing in on the fact that killer James Holmes was able to purchase his arsenal of firearms and ammunition legally on the Internet.
Altman even questions why Mitt Romney didn't also hijack the tragedy for political points scoring, noting that the former Governor of Massachusetts "had signed a ban on the kind of semiautomatic weapon the Aurora gunman used to murder 12 people. Neither leader mentioned gun laws at all."
Altman is upset that instead of allowing families to grieve, the nation isn't "especially interested in having a debate at all" about the establishment's talking point of hijacking massacres to disarm the general public.
"We expect our leaders to grieve after a tragedy like Aurora. We no longer expect them to change anything," bemoans Altman, throwing his toys out of the pram at the fact that the Obama administration didn't hype the tragedy enough to grease the skids for a legislative assault on the second amendment.
Notable by its absence is the fact that innumerable potentially deadly and violent crimes are prevented every year by law-abiding citizens using firearms, most recently in the case of two gunmen who entered an Internet Cafe in Florida but were chased away by a senior citizen with a concealed carry weapon.
Despite the fact that numerous public figures, the likes of Mayor Bloomberg, Rupert Murdoch and Piers Morgan, wasted no time in feeding upon the massacre to push for gun control, the consensus seems to be that regulating firearms does not stop massacres and indeed only serves to disarm their victims.
For example, Norway has some of the strictest gun control laws in the developed world but that didn't stop Anders Breivik from slaughtering 77 people. Had just one of the young victims on Utoya Island had the right to a concealed carry permit, that number could have been far lower.
Despite the lack of momentum within Congress or between the two presidential candidates to take a fresh bite out of the second amendment, such a move could come on a global stage with the Obama administration set to agree to a UN arms treaty that experts have warned could be used as an end run around gun rights in America.
In the meantime, the establishment media will continue to blame the 'Batman' massacre, despite the fact that it had zero political motivation behind it whatsoever, on the Tea Party, talk radio, and any vocal critic of the Obama administration, as the NRA itself warns that Obama's potential 'lame duck' second term will be used to literally "outlaw guns" for good.
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today!


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I had a rough day at work today but got a lot of help from the people in the back of the house, and I'm going to a birthday party soon, so I decided to make cookies to give everyone. I thought about it all day, then decided on peanut butter cookies. I tried two recipes. They were both awesome. One had no flour mix, and was Shauna's, and the other was more based off the old family recipe from the old Joy of Cooking. Shauna's recipe was super easy, and came out flat and crisper than the other ones (the cookies stacked in the back in the picture).The flour-mix ones were lighter and fluffier and more traditional. Both had great cookie doughs, if you're into that kind of thing, which I am.
Also, Alex made me this great dinner on Tuesday, because I didn't want to cook anything since it was almost Thanksgiving (and there was no room in the fridge) of tuna tataki. He used to work in a Japanese restaurant and makes me Japanese food sometimes, he's the best. It was so good. We tried to save some for Dana (who was on her way) but weren't able to.
Shauna's flour-free peanut butter cookie recipe
I was so skeptical of this recipe. I had seen peanut butter cookie recipes with no flour before but really didn't trust them. I didn't know what I was missing! Check out the link for her recipe.
Traditional peanut butter cookies, gluten-free
1/2 c shortening (or butter, maybe)
1 c brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 c peanut butter (I'm going to use at least 3/4 next time)
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 c rice flour mix
Cream shortening and sugar. Add egg and peanut butter. In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda and flour mix. Add in two parts, stirring thoroughly after each addition. Roll into balls, press a fork into the top of each, place on a Silpat-ed cookie sheet and bake in a preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, at 375. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from cookie sheet.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
peanut butter cookies, two ways
3 comments:
mmmmmmmmm delicious.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous11:08 AM
Well, I didn't read the part about the 375° and baked them at 350°, so they needed to be baked about 15 minutes. I used 1/4 C Earth Balance margarine, 1/4 C coconut oil and a gluten free mix with buckwheat and sorghum. I did use 3/4 PB and would recommend that much. Kids liked them. They made 3 1/2 dozen 2-inch cookies.ReplyDelete
rice flour mix? what is in the mix? I would love to try to make these todayReplyDelete
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The possible revivial of Toonami continues with Adult Swim addressing the issue on their Sunday block.
Continuing from their Twitter response a few days ago, Adult Swim reaffirmed their quote, via broadcast during their Sunday block tonight. Besides the response, they also showed some replies to their earlier tweet of the possibility of bringing the Toonami block back, and how well it trended on Twitter itself.
Additionally, though unconfirmed fully, it's been rumored if Toonami does return, it will reair during Saturday night and will start again April 21st. However, I repeat again this should only looked on as a rumor until fully confirmed. As the voice of Tom the robot, Steve Blum put it best:
Patience, my friends. I have no info for you, but these things take time. Keep the faith. I will too.
This reporter will continue to update this story as it continues to develop.
Written or Contributed by: Zechs


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- acrylic (Germany)
- titanium (Russia)
- practical and stylish case
- one pack of cleaners
- one pack of 9 mm charcoal filters
- themed gift bag
- certificate for the cigarette holder
- discount on your next order
- free worldwide shipping
Cigarette holder is the most popular and stylish accessory for smokers already for many years. But cigarette holder - is not just beautiful and fashionable thing, it helps to actually reduce the harm from smoking for your health. Consider the main benefits from the use of a cigarette holder:
Passing through the smoke channel, tobacco smoke is cooled and has less thermal effect on the mucous membranes of the mouth and lungs. You never burn hot smoke!
Part tobacco tar deposited on the inner walls of the smoke channel of cigarette holder and does not get into your lungs!
Your fingers and fingernails will never turn yellow and will not smell of tobacco!
The cooled smoke has a less harmful impact on the enamel of your teeth!
The taste of tobacco smoke gets richness and softness!
If you smoke hand-rolled cigarettes or cigarettes without filter (for example, Camel or Lucky Strike), then when smoking through the cigarette holder You will forget about getting into particles of tobacco in his mouth!
Cigarette holder fully complements your smoker style!


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(02) 9287 1514Send an Email
|Video 5
Scroll down to watch Debbie speak in the Diocese of Cairns last year.
Several CCSP Parent Reps met Debbie when she was last in Australia. After hearing her speak, one wrote:
The MasterClass will be held at the Broken Bay Catholic Schools Office
Level 8
Caroline Chisholm Centre,
423 Pennant Hills Road,
Pennant Hills
Entry via: City View Road
Parking available under the building


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New Hampshire Events, Coupons, Reviews!
Subscribe to KidsScoop! The monthly family event and savings newsletter.
Disclosure: I received tickets in exchange for a post. The opinions are all 100% my own.
I'm not the biggest fan of winter, but there are some activities that I love that can only be done in winter. One of those is being able to go sledding with my kids. That is always a blast. You can't do that without snow either, so I brave the cold so that I can slide with them every year during winter. Another thing that I love, is being able to go to the Ice Castles. I think this is a must see if you haven't been to one yet. There are not many built around yet, but if you do get a chance, I'd highly recommend it.
They recently build an Ice Castle in Stillwater, MN, so I was able to take my family to that one. We've been to the Ice Castles before, just not the one in Stillwater. It's nice to be able to check different ones out. Even though they may all look the same, there are some things that are different from each of these Ice Castles.
One of the things we saw there that we thought was neat, was the Ice Maze. It was a maze that had areas to walk through and even some tunnels you'd have to crawl through. It was a lot of fun going around the maze.
We even saw Olaf there! My girls were excited to see him there. They wanted to take a photo by him so I made sure to do that. I think it's great when they make these because my girls really enjoy them. There were a couple other snowmen I saw around before you entered the Ice Castles too. I think it makes it more special for the kids to be able to see them.
What's really neat, is that they have colors when it's dark enough outside. You'll be able to see it lit up really colorful. That was really neat to be able to see. That was actually the first time I have been to an Ice Castle towards night-time. I was glad I waited so I was able to see all those beautiful colors. I personally would recommend going towards night-time so that you can experience this as well.
My daughters had so much fun going down the slides that were build. You had to crawl through a tunnel to get to the top of the area where you could slide down. Then they were able to take these slides all the way down the ice. They loved that part a lot!
They also had these three smaller slides. Those were very enjoyable for my girls as well.
They even had a fountain. They had the ice all around it with the water coming out. My daughters really loved to see this part. I thought it was a great touch to the Ice Castles too. It's always nice to be able to see a fountain.
They even made a bench with ice. That was certainly awesome! My girls were able to sit on the bench and get a nice photo take. I thought that was wonderful that they made this bench.
The photo above is one of my favorites. You can see a bit of how it's starting to get lit up with blue. You'd really be able to see that if it were darker out. I also love the way the icicles were hanging on this piece. I thought it was very beautiful.
You can see one of the tunnels we went through. There was plenty of room to be able to get through those tunnels. It's also a ton of fun to be able to crawl through them. My girls were having a blast with that.
We had such an amazing time there. It's always a nice site to see when you go to the Ice Castles. The workers did such an amazing job at making this a great Ice Castle.
Meet the enchanted ice princesses and take a photo with them as you enter their frozen home. Princesses will be greeting guests outside the Ice Castles during the following times:
Saturdays: 12-5pmSundays: 12-5pm
Princess will take breaks throughout the scheduled time, so please be patient andunderstanding with this need.
*Appearances are weather dependent. On very cold days appearance times may be shortened or canceled.
Fire Performances:
Fridays and SaturdaysTime: 6-9 pm
Enjoy a high-energy fire show before entering the Ice Castle! They will amaze you with a versatile and unique show using many different manipulation props including fire-breathing, spinning, hula, and more.
Have you ever been to the Ice Castles before? If so, what did you think of it?


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Sources for Reputable Software Market Research on Strategic Growth Options/Future?
TheFunded.com Discussion
Posted by Anonymous on 2009-02-04
Tags: Operations Market Research
Feedback: Members Only - Sign-up
TheFunded.com is an online community of over 20,000 CEOs, Founders and entrepreneurs to discuss fundraising, rate and review angel investors and venture capitalists, and discuss strategies to grow a startup business. Enjoy the site, and be sure to join us at our Founder Showcase events to meet the community.Sign-up for Membership


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Tagged: Josh Reddick
So the Angels Season…er…The Angels vs. A's Game…er…Hey, Look. Pretty Photos!
While there were certainly enjoyable moments in the Angels' 2013, overall there's no denying that it was a miserable season, a statement would still be true even if the Angels had won this afternoon's final Angels game of the season – and, ugh. Final game. Don't think it doesn't hurt to type that in September. Again. While the outcome of this last game would not have altered the Angels season outcome in the slightest — heck, even reaching .500 became a pipe dream a week or so ago – a win sure would have felt better, damn it. And when you're at the end of a terrible season that's really all there is left to root for, isn't it? Enjoyment in the moment.
Sadly this description is also apt for the Angels vs. A's game Seth and I attended on Monday, our last live game of the season – except at that point achieving .500 was an extremely remote possibility. *sigh* It was a blast seeing so many of the Angels youngsters like Kole Calhoun and Collin Cowgill – ok, he's more of a new player than a true youngster but you get the general idea – play hard and make bold statements for continuing to be on the roster next season – hint, hint, hint Angels! But at the same time, seeing the "kids" contribute so significantly only highlights what the veterans were unable to accomplish this season. Yes, Josh Hamilton has been hitting much better in the last month or so, even going two for four the game in question, but it's so much too little, too late and he was far from the only problem besides.
The outfield, as usual, was a veritable fount of joy amidst the misery. Even Cowgill – who is only an "even" because he hasn't received anywhere near the understandable fanfare of Trout and some of the others – was making dynamite play after dynamite play.
Of course, the general awesomeness of the Angels outfield only serves as a counterpoint to the general sketchy state of Angels pitching – yet another whole season parallel. Garrett Richards, whom I still would have preferred to see start in lieu of Joe Blanton, has great stuff by shaky location and while he looked just fine for some batters, he managed to locate big fat meatballs for others…and then things got really bad on the mound and then the bullpen took over and things got worse.
Ah the offense, where to begin? Like so much of the season the offense was an upside/downside unto itself. What there was of it – which this game would be primarily Howie Kendrick – looked just fantastic! Sadly, having Kendrick, Mike Trout, Erick Aybar and Hamilton hitting, and Trumbo with an RBI sac and a walk – does not exactly equal a real offense. And if you rotate all of the names on the 25-man roster in and out of those sentences, you pretty much have the story of the Angels' offensive season – take that meaning however you will and I can assure you it was completely intentional. 😉
Of course, even with decidedly less than the full lineup participating, five runs should be enough to win a game…you know, with halfway decent pitching. Aaaaaand see previous rant, we've now come full circle. Hmmmm…looking at this game wrap-up, I think it's safe to say Monday's game functions pretty well as a microcosm for the Angels' season.
But here's the thing, through it all, we hardcore fans all kept rooting for our Angels. As disappointed and angry and absolutely beyond frustrated as we all were, we kept watching. We may not have gone to the games in droves – life caused even Seth and I to severely curtail our usual 20+ games this season – but if Twitter, FaceBook and the other forums are any indication, I am far, far from the only fan who still managed to catch at least 145 of 162. And this is why I got so livid, though I refrained from posting at the time, with Dodger Nick Punto and his outrageously ignorant: "I live I Orange County and you can feel the buzz. Those Angel fans are turning into Dodger fans. It's great." comment. Yes Nick, the same group of casual bandwagon fans who have both jerseys in their closets and have switched their fan allegiance from red to blue and back again with the standings for as long as there have been two teams along the I-5 corridor, are rooting blue again this season. And we're all shocked – heck, you know most of these folks probably have Red Sox and Yankees caps in their closets as well. 😉 But as frustrating as the last several seasons have been, the rest of the fans have and will stay bleeding red. It's not like we haven't been through it before.
And on that note, 2013 is over for the Angels and I can't exactly say I'm sorry to see it go. I'd prefer to end on a happier note though, so I'm toasting to a hopefully better 2014 for the Angels with a few humorous photos:


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We have a unique mission at the Indian Health Service: to raise the physical, mental, social and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska Natives to the highest level. We are part of the US Department of Health and Human Services, serving nearly two million American Indians and Alaska Natives through a network of 45 state-of-the-art hospitals and more than 293 clinics throughout 35 states.
American Indians and Alaska Natives suffer from many illnesses and diseases at rates several times higher than the overall US population. When you practice with IHS, you will be providing a much-needed service for a highly appreciative community. You'll also be working in an integrated health care system on a multidisciplinary team while earning a competitive salary and exceptional benefits.
If professional fulfillment, quality of life and service to an in-need community are important to your career plans, then consider joining the dedicated public health professionals in the federal, tribal, and urban Indian Health Programs.


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This year, I've heard a whole lot of people tell me that I inspire them, that they're impressed by my drive or dedication, or that somehow or another, they look up to me.
While the ego boost is nice (I appreciate the kind words, don't get me wrong), I really have to proxy the sentiments and give credit where due.
Where I come from:
I have an inner car fanatic. I am a mechanical tinkerer, and honestly a bit of a go-fast freak. I am also an optimizer that appreciates simple, streamlined and efficient devices and processes. Some people drive for transportation and ride for recreation. I'm the other way around most of the time.
As you may know (or may not, since there are well over 1,000 posts here now), I started bike commuting because my car broke. I knew how to fix it myself, and I eventually did fix it, but the part I needed was back-ordered by a month. I started bike commuting before I knew there was even a term for bike commuting. I just knew that the bus stop I'd been driving my car to was only 2 and a half miles away from home, and that even as fat as I was (near 250 pounds), I could probably ride a bicycle there.
When I pulled my tattered Wal-Mart bike into Bike America, Kevin (the General Manager) and Libby (one of the wrenches at the time, she's gone now) mentioned bike commuting. "You're a bike commuter, huh? Let's see what we've got for you..." This phrase, "Bike commuting" would stick in my head for a few days. Some Internet searches later, I was paying attention to (if not slightly idolizing) Warren and cDude locally, and Fritz, Warren (again) & Tim, RL, Moe & Friends. I'd also found the Commuting forum at BikeForums.net, where I'd mostly lurk, but post occasionally. I'd found people kind of like me. People with more experience. People with sometimes drasically different and sometimes flat-out opposing opinions on stuff. From the crew at my local bike shop to the Internet-dwelling denizens of bike commuting: they were my inspiration.
Winter set in quickly, and I found Doug, Jill and IceBike. If these cyclists could do it, so could I. Sounds like fun!
I've since found many more friends. In fact, many of you who have said I inspire you, inspire me back with your own perspectives as you chronicle your own adventures in blogs and forums.
I'm genuinely standing on the shoulders of giants who paved the way for those of us who have just recently embraced the bicycle as more than a toy, a piece of competitive sports equipment, or fitness gadget.
Since this has basically turned into a count-to-5,000-miles... I took The Twelve this morning since temps stayed above freezing and the roads are mostly clear again. Without glancing at my spreadsheet, I think I've got about 16 miles to go. I saw the same commuter I saw on 0°F Monday last week, and JR was also out and about today. Other than that, no other cyclists in sight.
I stopped to snap this shot of the historic Midland Theater, which was recently refurbished by AMC.
Random Tunage:
Five Finger Death Punch - White Knuckles
Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life
(Yes, really. My tunage is actually that random this morning)
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Standing on the shoulders of giants
This year, I've heard a whole lot of people tell me that I inspire them, that they're impressed by my drive or dedication, or that somehow or another, they look up to me.
5 comments:
- Darius said...
You've inspired me to blog, take pictures and ride more. Thanks.
- December 30, 2008 10:09 AM
- amidnightrider said...
I remember like yesterday my first post to you. Your title was "I Feel Like a Democrat", or something very close to that. I was a couple of years ago now.
I though it was really neat reading about commuting and getting an idea how other parts of the country go about their day.
- December 30, 2008 10:20 AM
- Jason said...
Oh no worries we are out in force!! :) I think its great you're going to hit 5k !! I was going to make you ride a midnight ride tonight if you were just out of reach. :) Way to go!
I enjoyed the few rides we had this past year and hope next year we get to enjoy even more! Keep posting so I can keep learning.
- December 30, 2008 1:36 PM
- Ben said...
Ride on, Noah. Enjoy reading your blog.
p.s. I too am guilty of a octane addiction. I was secretly happy when my snorty V8 powered pickup didn't sell despite my best efforts, and will be even happier when I finagle trading my base model terrorist Taurus off on a SHO.
- December 30, 2008 2:10 PM
- Antennaguy said...
Noah, Keep on riding! You and Doug, Jill and Fatty have inspired me to start a blog (Nebraska Trails) and also ride more during the winter months, including commuting 9 miles round trip to work.
- December 30, 2008 7:00 PM
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Commemorations for Tout 5
On this day, St. Sophia, was martyred. She used to go to church with her Christian neighbors, so she became a believer in the Lord Christ. Longing to become Christian, she went to the Bishop of Manf. He baptized her in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Thereupon an accusation of becoming a Christian was brought against her before Claudianus, the Governor. The governor brought her, and questioned her. She confessed and did not deny her faith. He tortured her with many tortures. He whipped her, then burned her joints; however, she went on crying out, saying, "I am a Christian." The governor commanded to have her tongue cut off and then returned her to prison.
He sent his wife to her to dissuade her, and promise her with many rewards. When she would not be dissuaded, he commanded to have her head cut off. She prayed a long prayer and asked God to forgive the governor and his soldiers for what they had done to her. Then she bowed her head down and the executioner cut off her neck.
A Christian woman paid much money to the soldiers, took her pure body, and wrapped it with costly shrouds. She placed the body in her house and many signs were manifested through it. On her feast day, very bright lights and incense came out of her holy and pure body.
When the righteous Emperor Constantine heard the story of Saint Sophia, he carried her holy body to the city of Constantinople. He built a great cathedral and placed the body in.
Her blessing and prayers be with us all, and Glory be to our God forever. Amen.
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International space station over Santiago de Compostela
I went out at 10 this evening to find a reasonably secluded spot, set up my camera, and waited till 22.10. I'd not seen the International Space Station before, knowlingly, but as the final set of solar panels have been installed, making it the second brightest object in the night sky after the moon, and tonight looking like a particularly good chance, I thought it was worth a look. As it came into view, the image of a satellite 100 meters across, 350km above the Earth, racing along at 27000 kilometers an hour with six humans on board was really quite a stunning sight.
At magnitude -2.3, it was easily brighter than any of the other stars in the vicinity, and I presume anyone who didn't know better would have thought it a fast moving plane, slightly yellow in colour.
I took a few 20 second exposures and rather like the last one, where you see the space station moving into the Earth's shadow, slowing fading to black. Anyway, check out on Heavens Above for when will be the next good chance to see it from your neck of the woods.


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Friday, February 10, 2012
We're Baaaaaaaack...
It's been a LLLLLLLOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGGGGG time since The Springs' have made an appearance at their "spot," but we're officially back! (Hey, how 'bout that Epcot pic, huh? Huh? Awesome trip! We had a blast and baby Ethan (4 mos.) was every mommy's dream come true...not a bit of trouble, even on the plane!)
With Ethan's birth and the swirl of whooshing time that I was actually off of work and Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's Day and all of that now in the past, it's time to pick up where we left off. T-ball season is looming in the very near future for Garrett, and Eric has decided to coach a team for St. Paul again this year. Braden is LOVING Cub Scouts still, and is psyched to try and defend his pinewood derby racecar title again this year. Ethan is HUGE, now 21.5 pounds at seven months, and he is currently sick as a dog, so to speak. Poor dear has double ear infection and is on his third (yes, THIRD) type of antibiotic to kick the ear and respiratory infections in the tail! Let's hope this one works. Add to that the regimen of steroids and bronchial dialator...well...he's all doped up all the time! But, in a good way!
Working for a living stinks, let's just face it. Going back this time was extremely difficult, to say the very least. I really like my students this year, but leaving Ethan and the super cool routine we had going back in the late summer/early fall was terrible! Eric told me last week that I have a way with words and should write a book of vignettes about our life at home with three boys, and maybe throw in some stuff about school. Not sure anyone would go for that, but it was tempting...anything to be able to work from home!
With Ethan not sleeping much at night, time is a precious commodity around here right now, so I'm cuttin' it short for now. I'm super excited, though, to be back into this blogging thingy!
Sam Springs out...PEACE!
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Anyone who reads my blog knows what I believe about God and salvation. You really only need to read my Apostles' Creed page to get a nutshell version. But what I believe doesn't really matter because it doesn't change what is true.
God did not create the earth and all life on it because I believe that He did. By the same token, life did not spontaneously begin without the help of God because atheists believe that it did.
There are certain truths in this life that are determined solely by what I believe or what someone else believes. For example, I believe that I do not like mushrooms. In fact, I hate them. They taste like dirt and the smell of them cooking makes me nauseous. Other people love mushrooms; some of these people have tried to convince me that they are good, and I don't argue with the truth that they like them, but their belief that mushrooms are good does not change the fact that I hate them.
Opinions about favorite colors, whether movies are good or bad, whether it is better to live in the country or the city, and a host of other things are dependent on what each person believes. The truth of a particular opinion is subjective.
There are other truths, however, that are not determined by what I or someone else believe. These truths are objective in nature. Truths that fall into this category include:
- Whether there is a God.
- Whether life was created by a God or spontaneously occurred billions of years ago.
- Whether, if God exists, He is loving and compassionate, vengeful and hateful, or indifferent and disconnected from His creation.
- Whether human beings cease to exist when they die or enter into the realm of heaven or hell.
What I believe about any of these things doesn't change the truth, but it can change me. What you believe doesn't change the truth, but it can change you.


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SUNY Canton Assistant Professor's Research Featured in Academic JournalFriday, September 14th, 2012
A SUNY Canton faculty member has published new research that can help high school educators better prepare students for higher education.
Assistant Professor Eunjyu Yu's study, titled "Ready for College? What College Students Have to Say about Their High School English Experiences," was published in the August issue of English Leadership Quarterly.
"In Assistant Professor Yu's publication, she addresses the growing national phenomenon of helping students better prepare for their transition from high school to college," said Interim SUNY Canton President Carli C. Schiffner. "Her work fits well within SUNY's overall "Cradle to Career" views and will assist in our college's retention efforts."
She surveyed first-year student volunteers about their high-school experiences within the English language arts classes for her research. She found that students liked being challenged by their teachers, exploring multiple writing techniques and reading a variety of literature, using video and multimedia-materials among other information.
"Since an educational system is ecologically linked from primary education up to higher education, I needed to understand the effectiveness of high school literacy programs from the perspective of high school graduates to develop effective literacy pedagogy for my own students," Yu said.
She pointed out that little research exists that addresses how effectively a high school English language arts class prepares students for academic reading and writing expectations at the college level.
"With respect to writing, in addition to learning grammar and language usage, the participants I surveyed would like to have more opportunities for hands-on practice with their writing skills," the assistant professor noted.
Yu offers possible solutions to better prepare young adults, including establishing a stronger link between classroom learning and "real life," by allowing students the ability to apply what they learn to their careers or personal lives.
English Leadership Quarterly is published by the National Council of Teachers of English. It helps department chairs, K-12 supervisors and other leaders in their role of improving the quality of English instruction.
Media inquiries should be directed to Gregory Kie, Media Relations Manager, or call 315/386-7527.


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A woman who says she dated Tucson shooting suspect Jared Loughner for a year told a British newspaper that he started to go "off the rails" after she broke up with him.
Kelsey Hawkes, 21, told the Daily Mail newspaper that Loughner, who is accused of killing six people and wounding 13, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was a normal person during their relationship in 2005.
She claimed that Loughner appeared as if he had "nothing to live for," the newspaper said, when she broke up with him.
Hawkes said he then began cutting himself off from mutual friends and taking drugs and alcohol.
"My breaking up with him was not the cause of him going off the rails but it was definitely the start of it," she told the Mail.
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"Something changed in him, he was not the same person when I told him it was over," she added. "I remember his face clearly — he just looked like he had nothing to live for. It was my first relationship and it was his first relationship."
Suspect was 'normal person'
Hawkes told the paper he was "definitely" in love with her, but added "I'm not sure I could say I was in love with him."
"Jared used to care about everything, his grades, school, his friends. That was when Jared was a normal person. It all stopped when we broke up," she told the paper.
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Hawkes added she saw no signs of what was to come later, saying "I would not have dated a weirdo."
Their relationship began, she told the Mail, when they met at a college football game while studying at Mountain View High School in Tucson. She was 15 and he was 16.
"We clicked and we hung out, we did our homework together, we went to the movies. Typical teenage romance stuff," she said.
Hawkes said she cried all day when she learned Loughner had been arrested over the shooting spree in Tuscon Saturday. She said the thought of him doing something like that "just blows my mind."Video: Childhood friends recall a less troubled Loughner (on this page)
Elements of Loughner's decline are detailed in records held by Pima Community College's campus police.
They show the difficulty faced by campus police in finding a context in which to intervene, despite Loughner's increasingly erratic behavior.
According to the records, in February 2010, Loughner talked about strapping guns to babies, disrupting a poetry class.
In June, he disturbed a math class with incoherent arguments that the instructor was using the wrong number. The next day, he denied he had been disruptive in a conversation with a counselor.
"My instructor said he called a number 6 and I said I call it 18," he told the counselor. He had asked the instructor, "How can you deny math instead of accept it?"
Incomprehensible, eyes jittery
In a Sept. 23 campus police report, days before his suspension, an officer called to quiet another one of Loughner's outbursts described him as incomprehensible, his eyes jittery, his head awkwardly tilted.
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"He very slowly began telling me in a low and mumbled voice that under the Constitution, which had been written on the wall for all to see, he had the right to his 'freedom of thought' and whatever he thought in his head he could also put on paper. ... His teacher 'must be required to accept it' as a passing grade," the officer wrote.
"It was clear he was unable to fully understand his actions."
The school reports provide the most detailed accounts so far of Loughner's troubles at the college, and he is depicted at times as "creepy," "very hostile" and "having difficulty understanding what he had done wrong in the classroom." School officials have not said if the reports were shared with any authorities beyond campus.
On Nov. 30, the same day he bought the Glock allegedly used in the shooting spree, Loughner posted a YouTube video, seething about campus police and the college.
"If the police remove you from the educational facility for talking then removing you from the educational facility for talking is unconstitutional," he said on the video. "The situation is fraud because the police are unconstitutional. ... Every Pima Community College class is always a scam!"
School officials told Loughner and his parents that to return to classes he would need to undergo a mental health exam to show he was not a danger. He never returned.
Msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — As President Barack Obama was feted in India, his message to neighboring Pakistan — do more to shut down terrorist safe havens — was sure to irk the Islamabad government, which insists it's doing more than ever to help the U.S. battle against the Taliban.
"We will continue to insist to Pakistan's leaders that terrorist safe havens within their borders are unacceptable," Obama said in a speech to India's parliament .
India is the first stop of a 4-nation Asia tour by the U.S. president. Not only is his longest stop in India, but Obama has noticeably skipped a visit to Pakistan.Story: Obama backs India for U.N. Security Council seat
It's all salt in the wounds for Pakistan, which feels its sacrifices in an unpopular war remain unappreciated.
With 150,000 troops hunting down the Taliban in the virtually ungovernable tribal regions, Pakistan's causality figures are rising – over 2,000 soldiers have been killed and more than 6,000 wounded in the 9-year "war on terror." That doesn't count civilian casualties, estimated at around 21,000 slain and injured.
Yet, discussions with military leaders suggest that the gains that may have been made may not be enough, that it may be an "unwinnable" war for Pakistan.
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Way out of unpopular war
In public, Pakistan's generals claim they have broken the back of the local militants, that their leaders are in hiding and the groups are in disarray.
The latest success is in Orakzai, where Taliban leader, Hakimullah Mehsud had established complete control and set up headquarters for the Pakistani Taliban.
"Orakzai was the center of gravity from where they would move and that free movement is no longer there," said Major General Nadir Zeb, commander of the paramilitary Frontier Corps, during a recent visit to Kalaya in lower Orakzai. A full 90 percent of Orakzai has been cleared of insurgents, he added.
Surrounded by mountains, some reaching as high as 7,000 feet, Orakzai is the only one of the seven semi-autonomous tribal agencies or regions that does not border Afghanistan. Before being ousted by the Pakistani army, militants planned attacks on the Pakistani state from Orakzai, and moved freely into neighboring Peshawar and other main cities.
The Taliban often bragged that Orakzai was far away, and therefore safe, from the U.S. predator drones and NATO forces in Afghanistan. It was relatively easy for them to move southwest into the Khyber and Kurram agencies and use Bilandkhel, a tiny village that links Orakzai with North Waziristan, the heart of the insurgency, and sneak across the border to fight coalition forces.
The easy movement of insurgents largely came to an end when the army sealed off routes connecting in November, 2009, to try and prevent the militants fleeing the offensive in South Waziristan from seeking a safe haven in Orakzai.
But that wasn't the success that it seemed – officials now acknowledge that Taliban leaders like Hakimullah Mehsud are still alive because they rarely stay and fight and instead leave at the beginning of an operation. In this way, they are able to organize new recruits and drift back into areas after the army withdraws.
Indeed, even though the army launched its first offensive in Orakzai three years ago, the fighting is ongoing and thousands of people have fled their homes and villages.
Social worker Rahat Orakzai left the area in 2008 during an army offensive around his village, along with other members of his family and tribe. Months later, after the army had declared his area cleared of militants, he returned home only to find the Taliban still in control.
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"We had to leave our homes twice due to the bombings and the brutality of the Taliban," he said from a makeshift home in the town of Hangu, across the border from Orakzai in Pakistan proper. "Now we will stay put and not go back until we are absolutely sure the Taliban can never come back."
'Unwinnable war'
The military has announced that combat operations in Orakzai were over on several occasions. Last June, generals again declared victory only to find themselves engaged in fierce battle the very next day.
"This is an unwinnable war for (the Pakistan army)," said retired General Talat Masood, a military analyst. "You cannot win by killing and shooting people without going for the reasons that have given rise to this militancy."
The government must address the lack of education, infrastructure and security for the people living in the tribal areas, as well as integrate the frontier into Pakistan proper, he said. And it also needs to abolish archaic land laws left over from the British Raj by which the tribal areas are governed, Masood added.
Also weighing heavily on the minds of Pakistan's senior commanders and government officials are the 400,000 displaced people who were forced to flee their homes during the army's offensive in South Waziristan last year. Military officials are anxious to move them back to their homes but had to delay the repatriation because the army was tied up in the rescue and rehabilitation operations of last summer's flood victims.
Privately, some security officials say that the majority of the displaced families are too frightened of the Taliban to return back to their villages. An imminent operation in North Waziristan would create another torrent of hundreds of thousands of refugees and a backlash that the country can neither cope with nor afford, many believe.
'How can the army claim victory?'
The military commanders freely admit that they are stretched.
The army is still bogged down in areas where they've wrapped up combat operations, like Swat, Bajaur, South Waziristan and Mohmand. The generals are only too well aware that if they withdraw too soon, the Taliban will move right back in.
When asked how long it would take before Orakzai is completely secured, Zeb said he needed more time.
"It could be months," he said.
For Israr Mahmud, a retired schoolteacher living in Orakzai, the Taliban are still very much around.
"They continue to kidnap people, run their own prisons and distribute their own harsh justice," he told NBC News angrily. "They blow up army vehicles and kill soldiers almost every day, so how can the army claim victory?"
Still, the U.S. wants Pakistan to do more and is pushing hard for an offensive to clean up North Waziristan right next to Orakzai.
Branded the epicenter of terrorism, U.S. officials believe North Waziristan is the logistical headquarters for al-Qaida and a witches brew of terrorists planning attacks not only across the border in Afghanistan but also on the U.S. and Europe.
'Follow the tribal ways'
Pakistani security insiders are resisting U.S. demands for an aggressive and immediate push in the area, however, saying its national priorities must come first and now is not the right time.
"We cannot just go (for a full-blown operation) into North Waziristan," said a senior Pakistani security official who requested anonymity when speaking of the military's strategy. "We have to follow the tribal ways and work with the tribes or else it won't work."
And that probably means doing deals with the elders who can convince the rest of the tribes to expel the foreigners in their area, usually in return for some financial reward. After elders agree to a deal, according to the tribal code of honor, anyone who breaks it will bring collective punishment on the entire tribe.
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Lt. General Asif Yasin Malik, the main military commander in Pakistan's northwest, echoed that sentiment when he said that it would still take months before ongoing operations and talks in other tribal areas completely cleared out the militants.
"What we have to do, we have to stabilize the whole area. I have a very large area in my command so I must stabilize the other areas and then maybe look at North Waziristan," Malik said.
Such talk is likely to upset U.S. officials. Equally alarming for the American government is Pakistan's assertion that it will not go after the al-Qaida linked Haqqani network in North Waziristan. Washington has pointed to eliminating the group as key to stabilizing Afghanistan.
Pakistani doubts expressed both privately and publicly haven't stopped the rumors in North Waziristan that the army will strike simply because the U.S. is demanding they do. Hafiz Gul Bahadur, a prominent Taliban commander in North Waziristan, recently offered to raise two billion dollars for the army so the government could be strong enough to refuse U.S. money and not attack the tribes of North Waziristan.
Masood, the military analyst, described the current state of U.S.- Pakistan relations as unfortunate.
"Pakistan is in a trap," he said. "The U.S. is so hard on Pakistan and pushes Pakistan so much that we have lost our ability to find our own solutions."
© 2013 NBCNews.com Reprints


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I love it
I love it
Probably one of the most reasonable walls of text I've ever seen. That, and one of the smallest. Actually, I'm actually not sure a short list of griefs counts as wall of text at all.
Regardless, good points were made. Keep up that common sense!
I agree with your meme. <3 Love it!
She who must not be named


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If we got off our shift on the frozen wastes of Alberta's oil sands, we'd want to get the hell away as fast as possible, but we'd be cautious before hitting 173 mph on the one road leading south, the "death highway."
James Whitney, 33, was arrested immediately after weaving in and out of traffic at 173 mph (279 kph) in a 62 mph (100 kph) zone last Thursday night. Shifts change in the open pit mines north of Fort McMurray on Thursday and Sunday nights, and residents usually stay off the road, which they call the 'McMurray 500.'
Over the last five years, 46 people died on Alberta's Highway 63, the lone, undivided, two-lane stretch of asphalt leading up to the area's oilsands. Tankers, logging trucks, and trucks carrying massive mining equipment bog down the road and can take up two lanes on their own. Seven died there just last month, and the province's twinning project won't be completed for years.
There's no way we'd top 100 on that highway, but then we're not exhausted after working for days in some remote sub-arctic pit mine.
(Hat tip to WhisperingBomb!)
Photo Credit: Darren Kirby


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So I teased you all with a post that would make you feel 10,000 times better about yourself when reading a magazine right? We all know that models are photoshopped in magazines and most advertisements are fake. If this is news to you, well surprise! You'd be pretty shocked at what they can do with a little 'touching up'
Well a while back I decided to help out a friend, now this was back in late May. He is working on getting his portfolio together and wanted to take some pictures of me, and had seen some of the pictures taken by Kymberli of Webbed Foot Photography. I told him for sure I would help him out. It was different than the pictures I took with Kymberli because it was done in a studio. Now, believe me, I had NO idea what I was doing. Being a model is hard work! I did my make up and hair pretty regular if I was going 'out' and smiled and posed. At the end, we took some head shots. This is basically when he was in my face taking pictures that I thought were WAY too close. He told me he would photoshop them and work on them on illustrator to make them look better.
So, to show you how crazy stuff can be done, I give you the only picture I've ever shared on here with me without make up.
Now, this was me running one morning. I'm not wearing any make up. Something you may not know about me is that in high school I had horrible acne. I had gone on just about every drug out there and was not very confident in my looks because of my acne. I seriously wish I had a picture to show you guys, it was horrible. I finally went on and off accutane for 3 years. I had to get my blood work done every two weeks to make sure that I was okay but it did clear up most of my acne. My face also has a reddish tone to it without makeup, especially my nose.
I wear makeup mostly everywhere, and now I've learned not to pop zits. EVER. They leave the worst scars. So, onto the photo shoot, where I had makeup on and my hair was done. This was the proof of the photo without touching up.Don't worry I was wearing a black tube top, but you just can't see it. I made this photo bigger so you can really see the difference.
So yea, I look like myself, just all 'done up' if you will. You can see some of my little scars from my acne if you look closely, and there are some of my regular 'bags' under my eyes, my teeth look white and you can see how I always get sun poisoning on my lips with the little black dots if you are really looking closely. I know this isn't going to be appearing in a magazine anytime soon, but I'm happy with the way I look, I look like myself, this is me. Well, the other week the photographer got back in contact with me and said that he had finished photoshopping the picture and this one was his favorite.
WHAT THE HECK!?! Okay, obviously I look pretty freaking good right here, but THAT ISN'T ME! That is a rendition of me. First of all the tone of my face is completely different. My cheeks, yup, different. Then we have my lips. I am pretty sure he somehow applied lip gloss to my lips for me via photo shop, which is pretty sweet but it's also very strange. Those little brown dots on my lips are gone. My face is COMPLETELY smooth, which is not how it is in real life, at all. Then, my hair is way sharpened to make it look way better and much softer. He was nice and softened the bags under my eyes and also made my eyebrows a little darker and more defined. He brightened up the green parts of my eyes, whitened the whites of my eyes and whitened my teeth. He made the skin on my neck and chest all one color and smoothed out the collarbones. He also deleted two of the freckles on my left shoulder area. He changed my skin tone so that it was consistent throughout the picture, and my freckles on my nose, missing.
Now, I'm not mad about what he did at all, he made me look like the 'perfect Danica' if there was such a thing, according to magazines and the 'standards' in a very materialistic world. My skin is simply flawless, and this is the picture that would show up in a magazine (figuratively speaking), not the untouched one. I don't show it to you so that you will comment how pretty I look or anything like that, but for me, when I saw this picture, I was blown away by what they could do on photo shop. I thought it was a good example that many of the role models that girls look up to, fashion and movie star wise and in advertisements are TOTALLY airbrushed. A LOT. I mean, look at me! I do NOT look like that, but some how, with some magic, wha-la! I figured if they can do that to me, imagine what they can do to the rest of the world, and what airbrushing does! It seriously blew my mind.
Guess what, I'd take the untouched top photo any day. That's ME. It's nice to look like the middle photo, and even the bottom photo, but in all honesty, that's not me at all! I know that this post is kind of weird, and random and I don't want you guys to think that I have really low self confidence or something, but I just wanted to show you how fake advertisements are and what people can do to change the look of a person. If you haven't seen the Dove Campaign video on Youtube, I advise you to check it out.
I'm just a normal person, and they could make me look like that, imagine what they can do to models. It's crazy because guess what, we are all different and we are all pretty in our own right! It's not about comparing yourself to models, because that's so unrealistic and this just reminded me that looking through magazines, 99% of everything is rendered. Remember that next time you see some ridiculously thin girl, someone with extra long lashes, or someone strutting around in a bathing suit in an advertisement.
We are all different and unique and that in itself makes us all beautiful. That was really cheesy but I really believe that. I hope that you guys realize how much they can change things and it does make you feel better about yourself. Stop comparing yourself against unrealistic opinions! :)