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Charleston Woos Visitors with Sultry Southern Charms
It's impossible to be immune to the allure of Charleston. The city oozes and drips charm, overwhelming your senses with its intoxicating ambiance, gracious Southern hospitality, colorful history and rich culture. I was prepared to like Charleston before my visit, based purely on the continuous travel pub awards it receives for "America's Prettiest Place," "America's Most Mannered City" and "#1 U.S. City." But I was taken aback at the school girl infatuation I felt once I got there. To say I was besotted and smitten with the place would be an understatement. My attraction to the atmosphere and environment was instant and magnetic.
Charleston woos visitors with the rustle of Palmetto fronds in the ocean air and the delicious fragrance of Magnolia trees. It's a city set in a garden full of cinnamon crepe myrtles and Lady Banks rose vines with stately antebellum homes that sit behind wrought iron gates and meticulously tended flower boxes. History seeps from the city's cobblestone streets and the nearly 4,000 pre-Civil War dwellings that are preserved and cherished by local residents.
The best way to get a handle on Charleston's past is to take Bulldog Tours' Charleston Stroll, an informative and entertaining walking tour, given from the point of view of a local who will make the town's history come alive. Your guide will regale you with stories dating from 1670 through the Civil War or the "War of Northern Aggression," as it is commonly referred to in the South, to the present day. It's an adventure into the past where you'll learn about the events that shaped this fascinating city.
Founded as a colony by eight Englishmen who were given the land by Charles II in appreciation for helping him get back on the throne, Charleston was initially dubbed Oyster Point due to being built on an oyster bank. In the early years, fear of Spanish invasion caused residents to build a wall around the city for protection. The medieval fortress-like structure lasted for one hundred years before it was finally taken down. Different groups of people were drawn to Charleston, such as the French and the British, and each brought their cultural traditions along with them when they arrived. There were also pirates and sailors who made their way to this coastal settlement, adding a rough and rogue element to the scene. And due to the slave trade, the Africans were part of this eclectic mix. Landowners at the time viewed the slaves as essential, due to the area's dependence on an agricultural economy – an economy that made Charleston the wealthiest city in the region. Over time, the town became the Sodom and Gomorrah of the South, with a reputation for being "party central." Today, Charlestonians will tell you that their city is still a lively place that needs no excuse for festivity.
For those who wish to get their dose of local lore via non-ambulatory means, there's the ever-popular, horse-drawn Palmetto Carriage Tour, where you'll clip clop along the main streets, taking in the sights of those "Gone with the Wind" times in bygone style. Among the many buildings of interest in this historical mecca are a number of homes available to tour, such as the Edmonston-Alston House, circa 1825, with incredible views of the Charleston Harbor. It was from this place that General P.T. Beauregard watched the bombardment of Fort Sumter, which signaled the start of the Civil War. An original print of the Ordinance of Secession is among the home's most notable antiques. Another stately residence, the Heyward-Washington House or "Charleston's Revolutionary War House," was owned by Thomas Heyward Jr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and features a lovely formal garden with plants popular in the late 18th century. One of America's most important neoclassical dwellings is the Nathanial Russell House. Built in 1808, the home is adorned with elaborate plaster ornamentation and has a stunning free-flying staircase, as well as a joggling board. This uniquely Charleston invention has been a part of Lowcountry life since the early 1800s and can still be seen on porches, piazzas and in gardens around the area. It's similar to a rocking chair, but in the shape of a bench, and was supposedly created for a woman suffering from rheumatism.
Additional historically significant buildings in town include the old Dock Street Theatre, America's First Theatre, the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon and the Powder Magazine. The latter is the oldest public edifice in the Carolinas and once stored the firepower crucial for defending Charleston. You'll also notice dozens of churches in the city, as well as hear their bells, which explains another one of Charleston's monikers: "The Holy City." On famed Meeting Street, there's St. Michael's Church, the oldest church in Charleston. The ground floor consists of private pews that must be bought by a family to sit within, complete with their own separate door. On the second floor, there are open pews for those of more modest means. St. Phillip's Episcopal Church, on Church Street, has had an active congregation since the founding of Charleston, and the French Huguenot Church, also with an active congregation, has an annual service conducted in French. At the historic Circular Congregation Church, visitors can experience the sounds that define Charleston, including gospel, Gershwin, jazz, Civil War camp songs and light classics in the crowd-pleasing production, "The Sound of Charleston."
If you're a museum-goer, you might want to pop into the Old Slave Mart Museum or the Postal Museum. Make City Hall another one of your stops if only to take a peek inside the council chambers where portraits of famous folks line the walls, including one of George Washington that will make you chuckle upon closer examination. Spend some time ambling along The Battery, where antique cannons line up and face out to sea, as if ready to defend Charleston at a moment's notice. Created as the first line of the city's defense, The Battery is now a popular riverfront park. Its seawall promenade offers great views of Fort Sumter, Castle Pinckney and Sullivan's Island Lighthouse, as well as some of the most lavish houses in the entire city. These architectural gems with their massive columns and spacious verandas were built by 18th century plantation owners as summer retreats from the oppressive inland heat. You'll note that a few of the historic houses have finials on their walls, which are actually the ends of earthquake bolts that run through the building. They were put in after the 1886 earthquake, which destroyed half of downtown Charleston. The bolts are there to keep the house together, ready for the next seismic eruption.
Other homes display the Charleston Single House style of architecture, distinctive for being one-room-wide with the narrow end of the building facing the street. Two-story verandas, called "piazzas" stretch down the long side. Such residences were well-suited to the hot, humid local climate, as they offered welcome cross-ventilation in the days before air conditioning. You'll probably also observe that some of the houses in Charleston are painted a specific shade of blue, called "Haint Blue," to confuse evil spirits or "haints' and keep them at bay. One of the most photographed streets in town is Rainbow Row, dubbed as such for the exterior pastel colors of the houses. The cotton candy hues are said to have represented the items sold in the ground floor stores and warehouses of the late 1800s style buildings. Pink was for pork, green was for veggies, yellow for grains and blue signified seafood. It's a virtual rainbow that elicits the well-deserved oohs and aahs from the many lookie-loos.
A popular attraction for visitors is the City Market, the oldest public market in the country. Originally a meat market, the mostly open-air venue is now home to an array of artisans selling unique Lowcountry crafts such as sweetgrass baskets made by the Gullah people, descendants of plantation slaves in South Carolina and Georgia. These beautifully crafted coiled baskets are an example of African cultural heritage transported across the Atlantic by enslaved Africans, who used them during the planting and harvesting of rice and cotton. The craft is handed down from generation to generation and is usually learned during childhood. It requires enormous patience and creativity, as there are no set patterns, requiring each artist to develop his/her own style. You can watch the Gullah women and men weave the baskets as you walk through the market.
When you've shopped till you dropped and your stomach reminds you that it needs nourishment, you'll be in for a treat. Food takes star billing in Charleston, a city with over 150 restaurants and numerous award-winning chefs. It can be overwhelming, however, when it comes to narrowing down this unrivaled selection. Just know that you really can't go wrong no matter where you go. Seafood reigns supreme in the Lowcountry, from steam 'em and eat 'em shrimp to Carolina crab prepared a dozen different ways. And if you're an oyster lover, you're in good company, as they are found on practically every menu in one form or another.
Dixie Supply Bakery & Café, a hole-in-the-wall eatery featured in Southern Living, is known for its tomato pie, creamy stone ground grits, bacon bourbon pecan pie and sweet potato cornbread. Charleston Crab House, another favorite dining establishment and watering hole, has been serving local seafood for twenty years. Its Lowcountry shrimp, collard greens, Carolina lump crab cakes, grits and melt-in-your-mouth hush puppies are just a few of the restaurant's popular dishes. Fleet Landing is another favorite. The building it's housed in used to be the home of the Cooper River Ferry before being taken over by the U.S. Navy. In 2003, it became a restaurant with prime waterfront location, serving shrimp and grits with Andouille sausage, fresh yellowfin tuna, okra fries, seafood gumbo, fried oysters with Southern Comfort BBQ sauce and crispy whole fried Southern flounder with apricot glaze. For your meal's finale, try the key lime pie or decadent white chocolate bread pudding. One of the best meals I had during my stay was at Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar, a casually hip place serving up such specialties as She Crab soup with sherry, pan roasted wreckfish, popcorn rice, shrimp corndogs and fried green tomatoes, along with an extensive selection of chilled seafood cocktails.
For an overview of Charleston's food scene, I'd recommend taking Bulldog Tours' Savor the Flavors Tour, which will introduce you to the area's varied culinary influences, from Gullah and Native American to French, African and British. You'll walk, talk and taste your way through the city, sampling tasty specialties from local restaurants, markets, bakeries and other culinary landmarks, as your guide explains the evolution of Charleston's cuisine over the past 300-plus years. No need for lunch if you take this tour, as you'll get plenty of goodies to sample along the way. And your sweet tooth will definitely be satisfied, too, with opportunities to try pralines, Charleston Benne wafers and, of course, the proverbial sweet tea that so many Southerners can't live without.
No trip to Charleston is complete without a visit to one of the area's fabled plantations: Middleton Place, Magnolia or Drayton Hall. It's a colonial era Lowcountry experience that gives you a glimpse into the lifestyle of the land barons and their belles. Middleton Place, for example, is home to America's oldest landscaped gardens. Known as one of South Carolina's most enduring icons, these enchanting and graceful gardens or garden "rooms" are laid out with precise symmetry and balance, leading to a climactic view of the well-known Butterfly Lakes and the winding Ashley River beyond. Owner Henry Middleton served as the second President of the First Continental Congress and his son Arthur was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The main house is a museum of rare family furniture and portraits, while the stable yards are full of craftspeople demonstrating the skills once performed by slaves.
Throughout your stay in this sultry gem of a city, you'll find yourself continually embraced by the hospitality of its residents. Charlestonians are genteel folks who are proud of their history and culture, and they are always more than happy to share it with visitors. And if you ask politely, you might just get them to tell you the secrets of their slow, congenial lifestyle.
If you go:
For all things Charleston, contact the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau at: 800-774-0006 or www.explorecharleston.com


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Due to beyond popular demand, BBQ Pro Shop is bringing back Elizabeth Karmel's Grill Friends Silicone-Coated Blending Fork! The fork will come in both black and red and will soon be available for purchase at BBQ Pro Shop! The silicone coated blending fork is indispensable in the kitchen! Whether you use it to mix to combine, blend until smooth or mix and blend and stir together this fork does the trick! Most recipes call for the cook or chef to add ingredients to a pot, pan, or bowl and mix them together. What do you reach for when you need to do this? Answer, a dinner fork! So Grill Friends Silicone Blending fork was created by Elizabeth Karmel to be the best replacement to that tool and allow you to do all sorts of things with it in the kitchen or on the grill.
One of the best uses we heard of was as use for pulled pork forks! We therefore started selling them in sets of two at a discount so that people could get some leverage over the dinner fork that most people use. The silicone coating is dishwasher safe and makes for easy cleaning and doesn't damage non-stick surfaces. People just love them and we are excited to have these coming home soon!
Melissa B. of Arlington VA on Amazon.com review titled, "Unorthodox and Useful" says, "I don't have a grill but use this fork to stir sauces and chili in my nonstick cookware; it blends ingredients more thoroughly and with less effort than a large spoon, but can flip sausages and tenderloin frying in the saute pan, too. The silicone/steel is high-quality, and it's comfortable to hold and clean. I didn't expect to like it as much as I do!"
[amazon_link asins='B000I1UP3S,B000JV5QPE' template='ProductCarousel' store='bps072-20′ marketplace='US' link_id='8efcacc5-bc0d-11e7-97f3-e3d09e104b4d']

subset: commoncrawl


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Actress Jada Pinkett Smith jetted to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday to testify before Congress about the need to combat human trafficking.
The star, accompanied by her movie icon husband Will and 11-year-old daughter Willow, met with officials on Capitol Hill during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting and appealed to legislators to step up their fight, arguing, "Slavery robs us of the thing we value most: our freedom."
The 40-year-old also announced plans to launch a new campaign to help victims, according to the Associated Press.
Willow Smith took to Twitter.com about her time in the U.S. capital, sharing a photo of herself seated behind one-time U.S. presidential nominee John Kerry's placard and tweeting, "I'm getting radical on human trafficking."
This isn't the first time Pinkett Smith has spoken out against the illegal trade of human beings – she recently teamed up with fellow actress Salma Hayek to make a new video for the Don't Sell Bodies campaign, which fights against the exploitation of women and children around the world. referenced


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Above you can see a chart of Gawker's traffic (in "U.S. people," the Quantcast statistic we use to calculate targets) over the last six months.
In June, at the time the site's third highest-trafficked month ever, just under 15.1 million "U.S. people"[1] visited the site. Through August—technically, over the last 30 days, so including the last three days of July—we beat that figure by over 150,000, putting us at about 30,000 people away from the site's second-biggest month of all time.
Between those two months, in July, about 10.8 million people ("people") read ("read") the site ("the site"). That's a sudden and unprecedented drop of about 25 percent—four million people. What happened?
(For one thing, July—MH17 and T.G.I. Friday's endless apps aside—was "cucumber season," the dead zone for news. And August has been horrifically news-intensive in areas in which we typically excel. But four million! Jesus!)
From January to May, around a third of our traffic came through Facebook each month (from a low of 30.65 percent of sessions in March to a high of 37.65 percent in April). But in July only 23.61 percent of sessions came from Facebook. Wuh-oh! *Tugs at collar* (Other sites in our peer group, and at Gawker Media, also saw drops, though not quite as dramatic as ours.)
One problem with the Facebook algorithm is that it's prone to feedback loops: It rewards few clicks with fewer opportunities for clicks, and so on. A bad month gets worse; a good month gets better.[2]
But with a dramatic drop the obvious inference is that the Facebook algorithm—the somewhat hidden notation from which the Facebook newsfeed takes its dancing steps—changed. Facebook doesn't like to go into very much detail about changes to its algorithm, but a dive into the analytics of our Facebook page comes up with this chart showing daily new likes:
It seems clear that sometime in mid-May, Facebook dramatically changed the way it recommended publisher's pages. This change is the most likely (or at least the only visible) culprit for our diminished inbound traffic. [3]
Facebook won't confirm or deny; when asked about specific changes, the company defaults to "continuous updates to the news feed" boilerplate. This is understandable. The most recent public word came a few days ago, when the company announced through its newsroom that it was "announcing some improvements to News Feed [...] to reduce click-baiting headlines." Click-bait, as the company defines it,
is when a publisher posts a link with a headline that encourages people to click to see more, without telling them much information about what they will see. Posts like these tend to get a lot of clicks, which means that these posts get shown to more people, and get shown higher up in News Feed.
This definition was widely understood to mean that Facebook would be seeking to kill "the curiosity gap"—"You Won't Believe What This Pregnant Grandmother Told an Abortion Protestor"-type headlines. (There are other definitions of "click bait." One particularly popular among Gawker media commenters is "posts that I don't like.") But reading a little further it's clear that the curiosity gap isn't going away:
One way is to look at how long people spend reading an article away from Facebook. If people click on an article and spend time reading it, it suggests they clicked through to something valuable. If they click through to a link and then come straight back to Facebook, it suggests that they didn't find something that they wanted. With this update we will start taking into account whether people tend to spend time away from Facebook after clicking a link, or whether they tend to come straight back to News Feed when we rank stories with links in them.
Upworthy, to name one prominent example, makes frequent use of headlines that fulfill Facebook's exact definition of "click-bait." But people spend an enormous amount of time on Upworthy pages (most of which are videos) once they've clicked through. The change seems mostly directed at spammy fly-by-night Facebook meme pages one step removed from "She Wore WHAT To School?!"—until you get here:
Another factor we will use to try and show fewer of these types of stories is to look at the ratio of people clicking on the content compared to people discussing and sharing it with their friends. If a lot of people click on the link, but relatively few people click Like, or comment on the story when they return to Facebook, this also suggests that people didn't click through to something that was valuable to them.
This runs counter to my own personal experience: I tend to encounter lots of stories on Facebook that I click through to (through to...which...I click?), find "valuable," but don't bother engaging with further on Facebook. But Facebook is the single most important website on the internet for putting Gawker in front of new readers. If we're not compelling our readers to "like" our stories on Facebook, we're missing out on traffic we've come to depend on.
Speaking of which, please "like" us on Facebook:
[1]We should stipulate very early on that these numbers bear at best a glancing relationship to the actual number of different people who read a website in a given month. Nevertheless they provide a generally agreed upon foundation for several industries.
[2]Ask our friends at Deadspin, who just turned in the best-ever month in Gawker Media history—
—thanks not just to their huge hit "A Compilation Of People Fucking Up The Ice Bucket Challenge" (at nearly 16,000,000 views, the third-largest post in Gawker Media history), but to the increased Facebook activity that the post generated.
[3]Why did it take until July for us to feel the change? Around the same time that our page stopped growing, Facebook was sending a four-year-old post about vajazzling to the top of our charts, and it wasn't until the dust had cleared that we realized our inbound traffic had been significantly cut.


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
ROTC cadets from Niagara University, and students at Lewiston-Porter Middle School teamed up with the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Peter's Church in Lewiston to help families in need of assistance at Thanksgiving.
Members of Lew-Port's Builders Club, under the guidance of the club's adviser, Tina Oddy, sponsored a competition among classes to see which grade could donate the most food. The effort produced hundreds of pounds of canned foods, which were used to supplement the turkeys and other foodstuffs purchased by the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
Boxes with all the necessary items for preparing Thanksgiving dinner were distributed to 45 families in Lewiston, on the Tuscarora Reservation, and in Niagara Falls.
Preparing to load the canned goods for transport from Lew-Port to St. Peter's are, from left, NU cadets Shawn Kiely, a sophomore from Ransomville; Christian Beaucage, a junior from Baldwinsville; Charles Streb, a junior from York; and Matthew Mulvihill, a senior from Middletown. Also Lew-Port eighth-graders Tom Marchese, Liam Mazierski and Andy Carrigan; and Ken Kenney and Alan Schug (in truck), members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.


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Full rainbow suncatcher, handcrafted in Bali, ethically sourced.
NB: Colour and finish can vary. Glass balls have natural marks on view.
A beautiful piece to hang on a window, door or space where light can shine through it!
Orders are processed in priority. Orders placed before 11am the same day will get shipped on the relevant chose delivery method. Orders received after this time will be processed and shipped in the following 24 hours.
Processing delays will be notified at the time of order.
Standard Shipping time is 7 days unless an alternative method is chosen.
Please note any special delivery instructions need to be notified in the notes section of the shopping basket at the time of order:


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The Department of Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center has earned a reputation for being the place where people with the most serious and complex health conditions come for their care. Some choose Columbia initially based on our exceptional outcomes in specialties such as heart transplantation or pancreatic surgery. Still others come – often from across the nation and from abroad – after reaching the limits of care at other centers, only to discover that Columbia offers wider options. This is the center where doctors from the region choose to seek care for themselves and their loved ones when it matters most.
The reasons are many, but here are just a few.
First, our divisions are directed by national leaders in their fields – physicians and researchers who pioneer life-saving therapies such as living donor liver transplantation, ECMO for respiratory failure, and incisionless surgeries for GERD and weight loss. Our services are comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, and exemplary in their quality of care and outcomes;
- Our exceptional Transplant Initiative is driving progress in both clinical and research aspects of transplantation;
- Our pediatric heart surgery program, treating children with the most complex heart conditions, has the highest volume of pediatric heart transplants in the nation;
- Specialized services such as Acute Care Surgery, providing 24/7 dedicated surgical expertise, set our center apart.
Second, our clinical programs are backed by a breadth and depth of research that is possible only at comprehensive, high-volume, academic medical centers such as NewYork-Presbyterian. Collaboration with medical and scientific experts at NewYork-Presbyterian and globally, as well as with the biotech industry, produce advances every year that directly improve our patients' lives:
- laparoscopic living donor liver donation is now standard protocol in the Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation, and the Center offers innovative options including partial liver transplants (to allow a patient's native liver to heal), intestinal and multivisceral transplantation, and highly complex ex vivo abdominal transplantation to remove tumors that other centers deem inoperable;
- expansion of the use of the surgical robot to improve complex gastric and pancreatic operations;
- protocols to detect and prevent lymphedema after breast surgery;
- a new protocol to expand the pool of available donor lungs for lung transplant;
Thirdly, in addition to being among the best-educated and talented surgeons in the nation, our doctors work tirelessly and compassionately to improve our patients' experience and quality of care. In the Division of Breast Surgery, for instance, patients can now enhance their care with complementary and alternative healing modalities such as Reiki that promote healing, reduce stress, and improve recovery. We now offer same-day and next-day appointments in many of our divisions, and we offer a Second Opinion consultation service to patients who want a Columbia expert to confirm a diagnosis or discuss recommended treatment options. Moreover, in order to help our patients more easily navigate appointments with multiple specialists in an efficient, coordinated manner, we have established numerous multidisciplinary clinics where patients can receive testing, diagnosis, and a plan of care in a single visit. Examples include the Pancreatic Cyst Surveillance Program and the recently established Thyroid Biopsy Clinic.
We understand that a serious health issue presents many challenges, and we are here to help in every way. I trust you will find your experience here exceeds your expectations.
Craig R. Smith, MD


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My husband's hero. He memorises Will's facial expressions. Like that part in Old School when Frank the Tanks hits off the beer funnel for the first time in years and it touches his mouth and he's all like – it's so good once it hits your lips.
For my husband, this is one of the greatest scenes in the history of movies. Apparently it's also a "dude test". Like if you're a new dude and you try to bond with the other dudes and you don't know this scene, they don't want to know you.
Have finally caught up on my PVR after Cannes. Saved Will Ferrell for last. He hosted the SNL season finale and brought along many old friends – Tom Hanks, Norm Macdonald, a healthier looking Artie Lange, Green Day, Anne Hathaway, Paul Rudd (squee!), Maya Rudolph, and yes… Amy Poehler!
F-cking amazing.
And the last skit…
So random and so…
Moving, right? Were you moved? My throat closed up a little. Did yours? Loved every minute. And the song, my dad used to play this song. Sigh. What a kick ass way to end the season.
Here's Will today in Australia beginning promotion for his Land of the Lost.
Photos from Splashnewsonline.com and Gettyimages.com


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On Monday, I found that, apparently over a long period of time, a large sum of money was taken from me. What I thought I had safely saved toward some of my future dreams was gone!
Have any of you ever been robbed? Do you remember how it felt to be violated in that way, to have someone take your valuables? Then you know how I felt.
But, wait, my week did not get better! On Tuesday, my partner told me the pension plan into which we had paid for years had been raided by other parts of the organization, and we are looking at much lower retirement benefits. And worst of all, it was legal!
Have any of you had your retirement savings diminished by corporate shenanigans?
But, wait, it got worse.
On the same day, we received an email from our child in college. Because of cutbacks in federal funding, tuition will be rising substantially, while Federal Pell Grants will be severely reduced. We will need to borrow more money!
I'll just bet that many of you have experienced something similar: rising costs for things you need because federal support has been cut.
On that same day we got a letter from our local police department, announcing a town-wide emergency drill in about a month—needed, the letter said, "because of increased tensions in the world and the likelihood of terrorist acts against citizens of our community."
Needing emergency drills to be prepared against terrorist attacks does not make me feel any safer. How about you?
I thought Wednesday would be a better day. Our class action suit against the abandoned munitions plant, to make it a superfund cleanup site, was scheduled for evidentiary hearings. But, at the last minute, the US Attorney for our district petitioned for dismissal, and was granted it, on the grounds of national security issues.
I wonder if our ground water will ever get cleaned up . . . and of what mysterious substances? Why is everything the government wants to avoid now a matter of national security?
On Thursday I had no time for my own trials and tribulations. I was over at the Santoses'. They received word that their daughter, Lucy, had been seriously wounded in the recent flare-up in Fallujah. I remember Lucy as the bright-eyed Coming-of-Ager who argued so forcefully with everyone about patriotism. All of those arguments seem distant as her family worries for her safe return. I know you join me in sending your healing energy their way, and I know many others, wounded or killed, are in our thoughts today.
On Friday, my office day, I was kept distracted from my own problems again. Two people, one from our congregation and one from the community, one old and one young, came in to discuss their need for assistance with dire medical expenses. I did what I could using your generously donated Minister's Discretionary Fund. But, as many of you know, needs keep growing while declines in domestic investments and the dollar internationally mean we don't have as much to contribute.
We all do what we can, but don't you wish the economic realities were different, and we could do more?
On Saturday, I drove downtown for an interfaith meeting—a drive which took way too long. I had planned to take the train, but with the most recent cut-backs in public transit funding, trains are now weekday rush-hour only.
Did you get caught in that monster traffic jam along with me?
But, somewhere along the way I saw a sign.
No, I mean it really was a sign, a billboard.
And it was also a sign, a piercing intrusion of the universe into my life.
Did you see it too?
If you had, you might have been stopped in your tracks like I was.
Suddenly, my week fell into focus.
It all came together for me and I realized that:
the robber who stealthily stole from me,
the thief who took the security out of our Social Security,
the force behind the cuts in federal education and grant funding,
the increase our fear levels,
the escalating acts of terrorism,
the government's denial of responsibility for its actions,
the injury and death of so many here and abroad,
the lack of medical and financial resources,
the decline of our economic position worldwide,
the erosion of the foundation of our developed nation,
the agent of all this personal, social, and national corrosion,
is war.
We are well aware of the usual consequences of war: lists of casualties, photos of destruction, debates of causes. But, what about less obvious consequences. What about the effects of living in a culture which is driven by war?
I have mourned the tremendous losses of life and promise in the conflicts which our country has either created or engaged, but when I saw that sign, it awakened a deeper mourning for all the collateral losses of a culture of conflict.
I grieve that war creates a climate of scarcity.
When more than $100 billion per year are siphoned from our collective resources to support war, those resources are not available for enhancing, visionary programs. In the name of patriotism and security, we are forced to sacrifice in other aspects of our lives. But, when we have already reached a bottom line in terms of health care, education, and public services, to sacrifice means to have our own pockets picked to fill the coffers of war.
It is as if, while you are in the kitchen preparing a snack for your guest, someone you trust quietly rifles through your drawers in search of valuables to pay for an expensive addiction. In a society which has not yet fulfilled its promise to all of its citizens of an equitable share of the American dream, war is like that thief who silently robs everyone but then labels our losses patriotic virtues.
Every dollar given to war is a dollar taken from somewhere else. Worse yet, it is more likely two or three dollars taken from somewhere else because the expenses of war are financed by the largest budget deficit in the history of our nation. By the time our war debt is repaid, we will have easily paid double or triple, robbing the pockets of our retirement dreams and the ability of our children to fulfill the promise of the future.
No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, unless you are among those few who benefit from the spoils of war, you are pushed toward scarcity living and thinking by the excessive economic demands of war. Scarcity thinking erodes our attitude towards everything else—sense of self, sense of family, meaning of community—until it threatens the vibrant heart of our liberal religious faith: the abundance of goodness, of potential in a world of promise.
Do you really want someone—anyone—to rob you of your future and then tell you the imposed scarcity is a virtue? I know I don't!
I grieve that war creates a climate of fear.
War cannot happen, nor can it be justified, without some threat. The psychology of conflict requires a perception of danger. It might be a threat to our homes, or a threat to our resources, or a threat to our self-image, or a threat to our principles. Threat is then made personal and real through fear. But fear is a double-edged sword.
Without fear, all of our fight-or-flight reflexes are relaxed, and our higher thought processes can function. But introduce fear, and the most primal responses rise to the surface—enlisting specialized hormones, enzymes, perceptual changes. A person in fear becomes attuned to threats. Filled with caution and terror, one perceives the whole world as a potential threat. Fear, once bred, reproduces itself rapidly, engendering a continuity of fears.
You know how long it takes to get your heartbeat down, to get your head clear, to get your eyes sharp after you have been frightened by something. You know how hard it is to return to your normal, trusting, hopeful self. Until you regain that sense of control, you waste your energies irrationally on what you want to avoid, not what you want to achieve. Those who promote a sense of fear are also like thieves: robbing you of your best self, stealing your deepest dreams, leaving only the empty whispers of anxiety.
Do you really want someone—anyone—to rob you of your capacity for higher thought and visionary action, and then tell you that fear is the norm? I know I don't!
I grieve that war creates a climate of division.
Conflict is about taking sides. In a time of war, the demand for taking sides against a perceived enemy becomes exaggerated. However, in a world of diverse thought, values, and opinions, we often take sides against friends as well.
Our Unitarian Universalist community should understand this, as we remember how the Viet Nam conflict spread its divisiveness until we Unitarian Universalists were at war with one another over the Draft, sanctuary, peace marches, and more.
In our current time of war, sharper lines of dualism are once again being drawn—often to the detriment of not only our community, but of the essential diversity which we cherish. Rather than weave a rich pattern of complexity and diversity, we are asked to see things one-dimensionally. In the process, we lose the potential for wisdom and insight offered by the radical openness which is our heritage. For example, if we consider all military personnel to be our antagonists, we will miss the wise counsel of people like General Anthony Zinni, whose first-hand knowledge of war led him to advocate peace. If we consider all who oppose war to be our allies, we may abet some who advocate violence against the system.
Whenever our world view becomes one of division, not unity, we sacrifice one of our greatest assets: our ability to perceive connections more than differences.
Do you really want someone—anyone—to rob you of your capacity to reach across divisions and make meaning, and then tell you those divisions are meaningful? I know I don't! But, if you don't want to be robbed, if you don't want to have your values and vision eroded, if you don't want to see your future clouded, what can you do?
You can find your voice.
You can say "Yes!"
You can say "Yes" to abundance, hope, and inclusion, rejecting visions of scarcity, fear, and division.
You can say "Yes" to the ways of peace, rejecting summons to war.
Your profound "Yes" can challenge scarcity thinking which claims that the wealthiest nation in the world cannot care for its people and their future because of the demands of war. Your "Yes" can express a domestic agenda of abundance—our nation appreciating its abundance would be our greatest peacemaking agenda, not only for us but also for the world.
Your "Yes" can stop the spread of fear which tries to make us think that terrorism defines our lives more than our hopes and dreams. Your "Yes" refuses to let the words, symbols, and institutions of fear become yours. You will speak of hope when others speak of fear.
And your "Yes" can deny all the divisions which try to separate people into "us" versus "them." You voice can helps us all resist the seduction of "either you are with us or you are against us" thinking. You can work to create dialogue, including true, non-defensive listening, with anyone and everyone, no matter how divergent they may seem . . . on any issue, be it war, abortion, economics, politics, or religion.
Find your voice!
And what did that billboard say, that sign which opened my eyes?
Modeled on that well-known MasterCard ad, it read:
"Afghanistan: $40 billion, 5,000 lives
Terrorism:: $45 billion, 25,000 lives
Iraq: $200 billion, 25,000 lives
Peace: priceless"


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PureDWTS Season 18, Week 9 – What's Left to Dance? UPDATE
So somebody requested that I do an update to my first "What's Left to Dance?" post, just to see what remaining dances the celebs have to do this season…or rather, which dances they might not get to at all 🙁 I can't recall another season where the celebs have had so many of the dances left to do with so little of the competition remaining – and I can't say I'm enjoying it. But before I get too far into it, here's my handy-dandy chart, updated with everyone's week 9 dances EXCEPT Amy & Derek (as they haven't revealed theirs yet):
So now to address some questions that are bound to pop up…
What dances are Amy & Derek doing next week??? I don't know. Haven't heard anything official. But there is a conspicuous gap in one section of the chart, so I would not be shocked to see Amy doing samba, since she's the only person left that hasn't already done it/will be doing it next week (in Charlie's case). Then again, maybe they think she'll struggle with samba, and so they'll give her paso doble instead…IDK. No clue about the other dance – I would guess that it's a ballroom dance, since she still has four she hasn't done yet, but then again, it could also be jazz. Who knows. I guess my official "prediction" is samba and foxtrot…but that's all it is, a prediction. What do you think?
How many dances are they doing during finale week? And what kind? Again, I know nothing official, but obviously there will be a freestyle, and if Len griping about Charlie's rumba in week 4 was any indicator, there will probably also be a redemption dance (a dance that the celeb didn't do so well on the first time around, and could improve upon). There's probably also going to be a relay dance of some sort (probably something everyone has done – I'm guessing cha-cha or samba) and maybe some sort of instant dance/24 hour challenge (for the three that advance after the first night – I'm guessing someone will get eliminated after the freestyles on night 1. Again, just educated guesses.
What about the trio dance??? AND THE PASO DOBLE???!!! I'm guessing the trio dance is kaput for this season, and I would be shocked if we saw another paso doble (unless Amy is doing it next week) since the finalists typically don't do an unlearned dance in finale week (besides the freestyle). Yes, it sucks. 🙁 I also doubt we'll see another standard waltz or swing routine – seems like those were only brought in to fulfill specific purposes (Amy's request to dance to a Cinderella song during Disney week, and Amy & Meryl saying they were most looking forward to doing swing in week 2). Basically, unless someone's doing it next week – we probably won't see it again this season. Sorry.
What do you think the couples will do as their redemption dance? I think it's kind of a given that Charlie will get rumba, as Len made a point of saying it back in week 4. I would say that they'd saddle Amy with *cringe* waltz again, but I don't see her being able to improve upon it that much – so I could see them letting her redo her cha-cha instead. Meryl will probably end up redoing rumba as well, which I'm sure will fit right into this Meryl vs. Charlie showdown they've been dancing towards all season. If Candace makes the finale – hehe, she's got a lot of dances that she could improve upon, but I think for the sake of variety, they'll pick quickstep for her…she's got both potential and room to improve on that one. If James makes the finale (and I'm leaning towards it being either Candace OR James that join the other three in the finale), I could see them giving him quickstep as well. That way, they ensure they get at least one ballroom redemption dance.
Will the freestyles be supersized? Given that they've been "supersizing" some of the regular dances this season, I don't think they'll suddenly opt for austerity and simplicity in the freestyle round…hell, I think the freestyles this time could be super-dupersized. Let's put it this way: it would not surprise me if the couples called in the entire cast of Game of Thrones, the entire roster of the Miami Heat (blech), and/or the entire Mormon Tabernacle Choir to help with their freestyles at this point…it's that out of control, kids.
Why are they leaving so many dances unlearned this season? 🙁 I don't know, but it kind of gives me a sad. If I had to speculate, I'd say they just got too wrapped up in theme nights and trying to accommodate other random aspects of this season ( i.e. Meryl & Charlie's travel schedule, Amy's prostheses', certain pros' weaknesses as a choreographer, etc.) that they had to tinker with the dances a bit – why they decided to basically scrap the paso doble, I really don't know, as that is one dance that it seems like almost anyone could do, regardless of their level of skill or physical abilities…it's all about selling the performance. So yeah…it's a head-scratcher for me, too.
So there's my thoughts on the remaining dances headed into the semifinals and finals. What are yours? What unanswered questions do you have about this season?


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The Department of Electronics & Instrumentation Engineering, KCT, feel happy to organize the Webinar on "Robotic Process Automation – An Industrial Perspective" on 25th July 2020 during 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM.
We feel that your presence and active participation will create a great impact and we thank you in anticipation.
Registration Link: https://forms.gle/bH9pYto23ZkgHfHJ6
Free Registration; E-Certificate will be provided for all the participants
Webinar Topic: "How to Read Scientific Literature?" and "Introduction to MANAV- The Human Atlas Initiative"
Date: June 30, 2020 (Tuesday)
Time: 10.30 am to 11.30 am
The webinar will be conducted over ZOOM.
We will send ZOOM link of the webinar to all registered participants on June 29 after 5 pm.
We, the Department of Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering, KCT, feel happy to organize this Webinar Series on "Technologies Shaping the future Automation" jointly with International Society of Automation (ISA), Bangalore Section during 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM every day from 15-June-2020 to 19-June-2020.
We expect a great deal of information exchange amongst the eminent professionals from automation product and application industries, academicians and administrators in the areas of Electronics, Instrumentation, Control & Automation, which we are sure will benefit all the participants.
We feel that your presence and active participation will create a great impact and we thank you in anticipation.
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Saturday 14 March 2020, Kumaraguru college of technology
This conference aims to explore the recent advancements and research trends in the fields of Bio, chemical and Food Technology. These are the interdisciplinary fields that bring suitable and economical solutions via innovative and cost-effective approaches.
This unique national conference will provide a platform for researchers to present their latest findings and learn about all the important developments in their field.
The conference themes are but not limited to
Dr. N. Selvaraju,
Bioscience and Bioengineering, IIT Guwahati
Dr. M. Matheswaran,
Chemical Engineering, NIT Trichy
Dr. S.Anita
Food Technology, KSR College of Technology
Dr. M. Thirumarimurugan,
Chemical Engineering, Coimbatore Institute of Technology
Dr. Swapnil A Dharaskar,
Chemical Engineering, Pandit Deendayal
Petroleum University
Dr. V. Sivakumar
Chemical Engineering, Anna University Chennai
Dr. M. Rajasimman,
Chemical Engineering, Annamalai University
Dr. K. Saravanan,
Chemical Engineering, Kongu Engineering College
Dr. Chenna Kesava Reddy Sangati,
Food Nutrition & Technology, Indian Institute of Plantation Management, Bangalore.
Dr. K. Ravi Shankar,
Biotechnology, Anna University Trichy
Dr. R. Kannan,
Biotechnology, Sri Shakthi Institute of Engineering and Technology
Dr. R. Baskar,
Food Technology, Kongu Engineering College
Dr. J. Prakashmaran,
Food Science and Nutrition, Periyar University
The abstract must be not more than 500 words. The length of full paper is limited 5 pages. Submit abstracts and full papers to email@example.com.
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Short papers will be considered for ISBN book chapters. Selected research papers will be published in the ICI indexed/UGC approved journal.
Abstract submission: 02.03.2020
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UG/PG Students, Research Scholars and Faculty members of Arts and Science, and Engineering colleges
Dates for registration extended to Feb. 6, 2020.
Enterprise and Entrepreneur Development has never been more important. Growing youth populations, coupled with rising youth unemployment, is putting greater emphasis on job creation and enterprising behavior within employment. Technological developments are reshaping our workplaces and changing how businesses are operated, while the global nature of business means more young people will have jobs crossing different continents and sectors. It is therefore important we equip future generations with the skills and mindsets they need to navigate a world of work we can't yet envisage.
The future employability of young people will depend heavily on how teaching and learning react to these changing needs. Learners will need to be innovative, adaptive, resilient and flexible to navigate an ever-evolving labour market.
In recent years there has been significant growth in enterprise education in our country as a result of shifts in the national education policy. Embedding entrepreneur development and education in technical and vocational education and training can be an important vehicle for ensuring learners are prepared for life beyond their educational institutions.
Enterprising mindsets coupled with the skills gained through Entrepreneurship Education could be the perfect recipe to support the future employability of learners. Entrepreneurship education will make young people more employable and more 'intrapreneurial' in their work within existing organisations, across the social, public and private sectors. Through entrepreneurship activities, learners can gain key entrepreneurial skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, risk-taking, and teamwork. Entrepreneurship can offer alternative pathways for young people, improving their skills, employability and life chances, while supporting wider economic and social development.
Effective entrepreneurship education relies on both teachers and the culture of teaching institutions. Teachers need a broad range of competencies to successfully embed entrepreneurial education within the curriculum, and this can be supported by a learning environment where risk is encouraged and where employment as an outcome of learning is a priority. Entrepreneurship teaching doesn't provide answers, but supports learners to identify the right questions. It should look to push boundaries, encourage learners to think creatively and be confident enough in their own ability to take the risks necessary to succeed. Creative environments must also support failure. Mistakes can often prove to be the greatest lessons.
The future is dependent on the next generation, and high-quality teaching that incorporates
entrepreneurship will be an essential part of their success. The active minds of tomorrow are reliant on the guidance and support of the teachers of today, who will open the world of possibilities up to them.
Resource Persons:
Experienced Entrepreneurs, Managerial Personnel from industry, Industry Associations, Financial Institutions, Government Organizations and Faculties from Academia
The training programme is conducted for 2 weeks from Feb. 10 – 22, 2020. The timings of the sessions will be from 10.00 am to 5.30 pm. The training will be interactive and experiential in nature with case studies, activities, Industrial visits, etc.
Faculty from Engineering, Arts & Science and B Schools, Polytechnic Colleges and Entrepreneurship Development Organizations.
The FDP including the industry visit is absolutely free for the participants. Transport arrangements from their home town to the venue and back need to be made by the participants. Certificates will be issued to participants who attend all the sessions.
Dr. Mary Cherian, Professor,
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Dr. Arun A P, Assistant Professor,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kumaraguru College of Technology,
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About the conference
PCMNEA 2020 focus on the properties and models in physics and chemistry of engineering materials for the potential applications in the various fields of engineering and science. Conference will provide a platform for experts from academia and industry to showcase their latest findings in the areas of expertise that include physics and chemistry of advanced materials in medical, engineering, nanotechnology, environmental technologies, biomaterials and green chemistry etc. Also it helps to bring together Researchers, Scientists, Doctors, Engineers, Scholars and Students in the areas of Science, Medical, Dental, Engineering and Technology, and provides a forum for the dissemination of original research results, new ideas, Research and development, practical experiments, which concentrate on both theory and practices. To promote scientific and educational activities towards the advancement of the theory and practice. To establish research and business relations with global partners for future collaborations.
International Conference on Physics and Chemistry of Materials in Novel Engineering applications (PCMNEA20) on 6th and 7th Feb 2020. – More Detail click here
The utilization of cost-effective material such as Geosynthetics is important to achieve the desired life of the pavement as well as to facilitate their faster construction. Geotextiles had a market share of more than a third in the Geosynthetics market in 2017 and this is predicted to rise to almost 40% by end 2027. The current knowledge level of the Engineering faculties handling these areas is at the basic level and they lack in knowledge about recent developments in the Geosynthetics applications in civil construction fields. In this context this the right time to enhance the knowledge and skills of the Textile Technology and Civil Engineering faculties who are to play a major role in imparting knowledge to the undergraduates so that the employability of the students will be improved in coming years. Apart from this the Research and Development is very much essential to catering the above potential market hence this STTP on Geosynthetics will provide 360° insights on Manufacturing, Designing, Testing and its Applications to the Teaching Faculties.
To impart knowledge on the recent developments in Geosynthetics. To familiarize and educate the skills on designing, testing and analysis of Geosynthetics. To eye open novel ideas towards research concepts such as soil erosion, landslides, stabilization of soils, Geosynthetics as construction materials in civil engineering projects etc. To educate the participants and give focus for improvement in current road structure so that safety levels and reduction of prone to hazards for beneficial to society. To elaborate concept of Geosynthetics, their manufacture and their behavior and their applications in different civil engineering designs.
Eminent faculty members from premier Institution/ Industry will be the resource person. Industrial visit will be organized.
The course is open to Faculty members working in the Institution approved by AICTE. Faculty members and Research scholars belonging to Engineering & Polytechnic colleges, Industry persons, R&D agencies and other Government Bodies are also eligible and are invited to apply for this programme. Admissions will be offered subject to the availability based on the AICTE guidelines. Selected participants are requested to pay a refundable deposit of Rs. 500/- by Demand Draft drawn in favour of "THE CORRESPONDENT, Kumaraguru College of Technology" payable at Coimbatore.
Last date for receiving application :
08th January 2020
Last date for confirmation of participation :
22nd January 2020
Commencement of the programme :
27th January 2020
End Semester Theory (Regular) Examinations Time Table(ONLINE) – Sept 2020 for the students of 2016 batch B.E/B.Tech and 2018 Batch M.E/M.Tech/MBA programme is attached for your reference
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GATE 2021 –https://gate.iitb.ac.in.The online registration with the regular fee for GATE 2021 in GOAPS portal closes on 30th Sept 2020.
An exciting Internship opportunity at Texas Instruments in AICTE-NPTEL- Texas Instruments Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Embedded System Design using MSP430 – Registration Link (https://swayam.gov.in/
Fee Notification circular for the conduct of Autonomous End Semester Examinations – SEP 2020 (APR / MAY 2020) for the 2017, 2018 and 2019 Batches of B.E / B.Tech, 2018 and 2019 Batches of MCA and 2019 Batch M.E/M.Tech/MBA- Degree programmes are enclosed herewith.Students are requested to complete the online exam fee payment (https://www.mycamu.co.in/ ) on or before 20th Sept 2020
Last Date for Payment of Exam fee is extended till 9th Sept 2020- Exam Fee Notification for 2016 BATCH -B.E / B.Tech, 2017 Batch MCA and 2018 Batch M.E/M.Tech/MBA- End Semester Examinations ( AUG / SEP 2020)
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PALO ALTO — After a disputed report that Lenovo had overtaken Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) in personal-computer sales in the third quarter, analytics firms are in agreement at the end of the year: HP is still the king of a dwindling market.
Gartner reported Monday that the Palo Alto tech giant shipped 56.5 million PCs in 2012, giving it 16 percent of the market, while second-place Lenovo, a Chinese firm, commanded 14.8 percent of the market. Numbers broken out for the fourth quarter showed HP shipped more than a quarter — 26.6 percent — of PCs worldwide in the holiday shopping season.
IDC issued a similar report last week, saying HP shipped 58.1 million units in 2012 for a 16.5 percent market share. The two firms famously disagreed when reporting third-quarter PC sales in October, with Gartner reporting that Lenovo had a higher share than HP, and IDC saying the opposite. It was the first time Gartner had tracked anyone but HP as the leader in PC shipments in six years.
Hewlett-Packard unsurprisingly sided with IDC in the third quarter, and did so again on fourth-quarter numbers before Gartner released its tally. In a news release Friday, the Palo Alto tech giant repeated its earlier assertion that IDC includes workstation sales, "and therefore represents the most comprehensive analysis of the entire PC market."
While the news that it still holds the throne for PC sales is good for HP, two main thrusts of the IDC and Gartner reports were not good news for the company: Windows 8 did not spark an immediate revival in PC sales, and Lenovo is gaining rapidly.
Both firms reported that PC sales in the holiday shopping season dropped dramatically, with Gartner tracking a 4.9 percent year-over-year decrease and IDC reporting a 6.4 percent dip. Those numbers are especially depressing for PC firms because they expected the new Microsoft operating system, which debuted near the end of October, to help push sales in the October-December quarter.
"The launch of Windows 8 had no impact on PC demand, especially as Ultramobile products were both limited in supply, as well as being priced too high," Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal said in his company's news release.
IDC's report faulted the hardware manufacturers, saying that the first wave of Windows 8 offerings did not take full advantage of the operating system's ability to offer both touchscreen and standard operability.
"Consumers expected all sorts of cool PCs with tablet and touch capabilities. Instead, they mostly saw traditional PCs that feature a new OS (Windows 8) optimized for touch and tablet with applications and hardware that are not yet able to fully utilize these capabilities," IDC senior research analyst Jay Chou said in his company's report.
Lenovo had the largest year-over-year growth in 2012 and finished just behind HP for both tracking companies. Gartner reported that Lenovo gained 14.2 percent with shipments of 52.1 million personal computers, while IDC recorded 19.2 percent growth to 52.5 million. Both companies said HP's shipments declined 6.7 percent from 2011 to 2012.
HP shares dropped 44.7 percent in 2012, as tablets took a large bite out of the PC market and CEO Meg Whitman attempted to turn around a company that has faced turmoil under previous leaders. The first two weeks of 2013 have been beneficial to the company's share price, however: The stock gained 4.9 percent Monday to close at $16.95, which represents a gain of 19 percent so far this year.
Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak.


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Clinical Schemes
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Kali Taupe Coffee Table
Extra Savings
Corrected Grain Leather
During the tanning and finishing process, the hide is dyed and the natural imperfections are covered or removed. Then, using a roller technique, the top grain pattern is embossed onto the leather, and the protective coatings are applied. These coatings give the leather excellent durability and high resistance to fading from the sun. This produces a leather with a uniform grain.
We use Softouch leather match on the lower sides and back of our sofas. This is polymer-based material and has an embossed grain very similar to leather. With huge innovations in this technology over the last couple of years, colour matching is virtually identical to the leather used.
Pocket Sprung
Pocket springs are manufactured from individual high tensile steel springs, wrapped in their own pocket of fabric. A fabric pocket is used to cover each spring so unlike other spring systems this allows them to slide up and down independently.
Every time you get up from a pocket sprung sofa the springs expand, maintaining the shape of the seat cushion.
A sofa using pocket springs will last longer than a sofa using a lower quality block foam interior. Block foam can break down with time and lose support. With a pocket spring system, you will receive consistent support throughout the life of the sofa.
Hardwood Frame
Our sofas are constructed using a Hardwood Frame. You'll notice this if you ever come to move the sofa! They are very heavy and each one is glued and screwed with dowelled joints that provide superb rigidity.
Five Year Structural Cover
All sofas come complete with a standard 5-year structural warranty for your peace of mind.
* Optional Premier Care Accidental Warranty
Premier Care is designed to make sure that your furniture's appearance is not spoiled by everyday accidents such as household spills, rips, tears or burns. Premier Care provides you with peace of mind that repair costs and stain removal are taken care of. Stains Cover - Covers you against accidental household spills resulting in a stain on your leather or fabric upholstery.
Accidental Damage Cover - Guards you against accidental resulting in a rip, tear or burn to your leather or fabric upholstery. Leather is also covered for scratches, punctures or scuffs. Structural Defects Cover - Covers the cost of materials and labour for any structural defects after the initial manufacturer's guarantee period has ended, offering you peace of mind for five years. Please contact our sales team to add this additional warranty.
* Optional Leather care Kit
The ultimate leather care product as used by professionals worldwide. Leather care provides powerful cleaning and protection for leather around your home. Our leather care kit includes the following products: Leather Protection Cream which will assist you in repelling stains and soiling. Leather Soft Cleaner will clean most stains from your leather sofa. It is water-based and penetrates into the surface to clean without harming the leather. Ink Away eliminates stains and pen marks, ink and lipstick from leather.
We offer a 7 day, and 14-21 delivery options. Please check your shopping cart for delivery pricing.
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Name, address, and SSN, see separate instructions.:
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Last namefield contains Woods
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Is Tom Cruise Dating Spanish Model Yolanda Pecoraro?
Katie Who? Has Tom Cruise Already Chosen This Sizzlin' Spanish Scientology Banger As His Next
Victim Wife??? [Photos]
On to the next one
In the wake of Katie Holmes' split from ex-hubby Tom Cruise, speculation is building as to who will be the next Mrs. Tom Cruise, and it just might be Spanish actress/model Yolanda Pecoraro.
Experts predict the 27-year-old Latin beauty will be the perfect match for the Mission: Impossible star because she's a devout Scientologist — and the two dated in the past!
"Tom's next marriage will be inside the church," Scientology expert Margery Wakefield told the National Enquirer.
A former member of the church told sources that Yolanda is a "Scientology princess, perfect for Tom," both her parents were members and that she's been taking Scientology courses since she was just 13 years old.
Yolanda lives in a modest Silver Lake, Calif. apartment and told the Enquirer, "Yes, I knew and still know Tom Cruise. And no, I'm not married or engaged."
One source goes so far as to tell the Enquirer that Tom has paid for Yolanda to attend expensive Scientology courses at the Celebrity Centre in Hollywood!
"With the embarrassment his divorce has caused the church, they want to stabilize the situation quickly," the source said.
"They also want to show that Tom has rebounded fast and that his new wife is beautiful and steeped in Scientology. If the church decides to make Yolanda Tom's next wife, they'd certainly want her to have a child soon. So she could quickly be going from her modest apartment to a mansion in Beverly Hills with a baby on the way. And there's little doubt she'd do what's best for the church."
Will this Spanish banger have Tom jumping on couches next? Peep more pictures of his supposed new bride next…
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Waking up early is never easy, but getting out of bed Friday morning was a little easier for us knowing that we'd be starting our day with Nina Dobrev.
Still, the experience was harrowing. When we arrived at the Origins store in the Flatiron District in New York City for the launch of their new GinZing Energy-boosting moisturizer, we realized just how unfair the world can be: The 24-year-old "Vampire Diaries" starlet looked ready to step on the red carpet for a primetime premiere, complete with Jimmy Choo shoes and a chic and trendy midriff-revealing ensemble by Thakoon.
Needless to say, we just had to know how she did that. Unlike Katherine and Elena on her show, she was nice enough to give us a few pointers.
Don't dilly-dally when the alarm goes off. It always helps to "wake up and start your day right away," Dobrev told omg!. "I sleep on my stomach so all the water goes into my face and I get really puffy in the mornings. I have to wake up early and let everything drain and do its thing naturally, then moisturize and let it soak in."
Protect yourself. "Sunscreen's really important. I was just away on a beachy vacation and you have to wear sunscreen. Otherwise it ages you. A lot."
A little kick doesn't hurt. "Early calls are definitely caffeinated. I definitely have to have some coffee, but also matcha green tea is amazing. I've been really into matcha green tea lattes with almond milk and also with regular milk."
Mental health matters too. "Just being happy. Happiness is the best thing [for looking fresh in the morning]."
In addition to wearing sunscreen and caffeine-enhanced moisturizer, Dobrev will be spending her summer hiatus shooting a film — buddy comedy "Let's Be Cops," also featuring "New Girl" star Jake Johnson — and just "resting and doing yoga and reading," she said. "I'm reading 'Reconstructing Amelia' right now. I've been reading scripts for so long, it's just refreshing to be reading a book."
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25 March 2011 by Dewayne Bevil-Theme Park Ranger
Walt Disney World is extending, enhancing and invigorating the Haunted Mansion queue at Magic Kingdom.
It's a work in progress, and if this were a full-blown attraction and not just the queue, we would say it's in the "soft opening" phase. For the past couple of weeks, theme-park guests have been allowed periodically to tour the new scene.
What the lucky ones have seen: Cranky crypts, transplanted tombstones, stylish statues that are instant photo ops and a handful of sight gags and other tricks.
When I visited last week, a cast member stood where the turnstiles used to be and gave guests the choice of taking the left side to go "through the graveyard" or the right side to go straight into the attraction.
The new area isn't large, but it's packed with intriguing elements that play off the Haunted Mansion motif. They might be so interesting that they will slow down the line.
So far, there's just a little bit of interactivity. If you touch the composer's crypt on the engraved musical instruments, you hear music from that instrument. There are whispers — from the Internet, not from grim grinning ghosts or Imagineers — that more is forthcoming.
The look is in keeping with characters within the classic Haunted Mansion, and there's dark humor involved. The crypt for Captain Culpepper Clyne sporadically gurgles because he drowned in a bathtub. It's spooky, but it won't wig your kids out any more than they already are about the attraction.
Disney says the queue's fine-tuning will continue through the end of March.
Wait times are a top gripe of theme-park customers, and I'm all for entertaining distraction in these situations. But I'm surprised Haunted Mansion's queue was so high on the to-do list. Its line moves pretty steadily thanks to the constantly loading Doom Buggies inside, and it has pre-show activities already, including the stretching portrait room. Plus, the attraction had a face-lift and enhancements just a couple of years ago.
Higher on my wish list is something — OK, anything — to relieve the pain of waiting in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, just across the pond from Haunted Mansion. It's horribly monotonous and isolated with dozens of those old-school switchbacks and few chances to spot the roller coaster in action.
Nearly as painful, but with no easy fix, are the rides that can't be reloaded while running, such as fellow Magic Kingdom staples Wild Tea Party, Astro Orbiter, Magic Carpets of Aladdin and Prince Charming Regal Carrousel. There could be hope as the Fantasyland expansion plan calls for interactive activities while waiting for either side of the doubled Dumbo the Elephant ride.
Time (in line) will tell.
4 queues to love
•Islands of Adventure raised the standard with the castle-encased queue for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which opened last year. Guests snake through what's essentially a museum of all things Potter with statuary, moving portraits and glimpses of key characters.
•There's a calm before the storm while waiting for the Manta roller coaster at SeaWorld Orlando. Riders first watch rays and other sea life drift along in an aquarium built beneath the thrill ride loading station.
•The scenes keep changing within IOA's The Amazing Adventure of Spider-Man queue. The setting is real — the Daily Bugle newsroom — and unreal (what's with that dusty-aqua paint color everywhere), but it gets your attention and starts the story long before the ride takes off.
•It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to theme it. The Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios definitely has a run-down, lived-in look, and the boiler-room section is Spartan but in an effective way.
3 Bedroom Pool House
*Villa Taina Closest Condo By The Pool & Tennis Courts*
Uniquely Fabulous South-West Facing, with Wooded Conservation View, Waterfall Spa, Game Room which


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Two objects identified in MH370 search
PM Tony Abbott announces two possible objects relating to the search of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane have been identified, and a RAAF Orion is on its way to locate them.
A NORWEGIAN car carrier, Hoegh St. Petersburg, has become the first ship to reach the area where possible debris from missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 was spotted
The ship arrived at the search zone in the Indian Ocean after it was diverted from its trip from Madagascar to Melbourne.
Hoegh Autolines spokesman Ben Stack said the car carrier arrived on the scene at 8pm AEST after a request from Australian authorities.
Mr Stack said he could not confirm whether those on board the ship had sighted the objects depicted in the satellite imagery.
"They want to help in any way they can and they're going to do as the Australian authorities ask them to," he said.
Four Australian aircraft covered a 23,000 square kilometre expanse of ocean about 2500km southwest of Perth before air searches were brought to a halt for the day. The search will resume this morning.
Authorities should know something definite on the possible discovery of the debris within "two or three days'', Defence Minister David Johnston said.
Australia's defence forces were doing everything they could in one of the most remote locations in the world, Senator Johnston told AAP in Jakarta where he was attending an international defence dialogue.
Earlier, Mr Johnston told Sky News that the operation to find debris will be a "logistical nightmare".
"This is a terribly complex logistical operation to identify what we have found via the satellite," he said.
"We are in a most isolated part of the world, in fact it probably doesn't get, if I can be so bold, more isolated.
"We are doing everything we can to try to solve this potentially tragic mystery."
The first search plane arrived back to Perth this evening, confirming it was not able to find debris. Limited visibility hampered the search for flight MH370.
Describing the "credible sightings" as the best lead investigators currently have, Australian Maritime Safety Authority general manager John Young said the objects were "relatively indistinct on imagery".
One was about 24-metres long, approximately double the length of a standard shipping container, while the other one was smaller, and about five metres in length.
A flight crew combing the southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 said they are getting radar hits of "significant size," indicating something lying below the water's surface, ABC News America also reports.
But it is not known if the objects are plane debris.
However, those who've analysed the objects say they are a "credible" lead.
"Those who are experts indicate they are credible sightings," Mr Young told a press conference in Canberra this afternoon. "The indication to me is of objects that are of reasonable size and awash with water, bobbing up and down on the surface."
This is one of the objects seen on satellite imagery.
This is the other object which was detected. It is 5m long.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says the discovery of as-yet unidentified debris 3000km off Australia appears to be the first "tangible breakthrough" in the hunt for missing Malaysia aircraft MH370.
Speaking after arriving in the Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby tonight, Mr Abbott said Australia would do whatever it could to try to identify the items.
"We had satellite imagery which indicated there were two large objects in the Southern Ocean. We are talking about an extraordinarily remote spot about 3000km southwest of Perth," he said.
"It is a remarkably isolated location in very deep and inaccessible ocean.
"Nevertheless we are throwing all the resources we can at it. We will have as much maritime searching as we can and we have got six aircraft available for the job. "
Mr Abbott said the items picked up on satellite could not be confirmed until a closer look was able to be carried out.
"But this is the first tangible breakthrough in what up until now has been an utterly baffling mystery," he said.
"We do have pretty strong satellite imagery and obviously this is a very serious lead in the way that nothing else so far really has been.
"It's very close to the predicted southern flight corridor and that I suppose reinforces our suspicion that just maybe this is the first tangible evidence we've got of what might have happened."
Malaysia's Defence and acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein says the satellite images of what appears to be debris is corroborated by more than one satellite.
He said this is why the latest sightings off Perth are more credible than previous sightings of debris.
Mr Hussein said the information from Australia was "corroborated to a certain extent from other satellites".
He said the search for MH370 would continue in both the northern and southern corridors but most assets have now been deployed in the south.
There are now 25 aircraft and 18 ships searching the southern corridor. A merchant ship is on the way to the last known location of the debris and was due to arrive late yesterday. A Royal Australian Navy vessel is also on the way.
"For the families around the world, the one piece of information that we want most, that they want most, is the information we just don't have, the location of MH370," Mr Hussein said.
"Our primary focus has always been to find the aircraft and with every passing day our efforts have intensified."
The priority is finding the plane and its black box if there is to be any chance of finding out what happened to the Boeing 777-200.
"We must never never give up hope," Mr Hussien said.
Asked what he would tell the families, Mr Hussein said: "I will tell them, whatever we find, my sympathies, my heart is with them all the time … I do feel for them and I say that on record and I say that to the world. We do care for them and we can understand, we can try to understand what they are going through."
Mr Hussein admitted regret at an incident at the media centre on Wednesday when an anguished Chinese mother was dragged away screaming from the media.
Authorities were due to brief all the next of kin of passengers and crew in Kuala Lumpur last night.
If the plane is found in the vast waters off Perth, authorities say they will make arrangements for family members to travel there.
And, 13 days into the search and investigation, authorities say that despite saying the plane's communications systems being turned off deliberately by someone on board, they had not ruled out a catastrophic event having occurred on the plane.
Ocean expert Robin Beaman said debris could have been carried hundreds of kilometres since the satellite images were captured on March 16.
"The currents are drifting at one or two nautical miles per hour so it certainly makes sense that it could have drifted several hundred miles by now," he said.
"There'd be parts of the plane that could float for some time but certainly not indefinitely. Eventually parts like that will become waterlogged and sink to the sea floor so it's time critical,'' he said.
"The wind is moving in an easterly direction which means anything floating on the surface will also drift in that direction but at some point it just becomes waterlogged and sinks."
Dr Beaman, from James Cook University, said it will be difficult to locate debris in such deep waters.
"It also depends on the weather. There would be waves breaking from the wind speed," he said.
"The higher the wind speed the harder it is to detect something floating on the sea surface when you start having clutter so they'd be using radar, heat sensors and all sorts of other technology to locate debris.
"It could be like your classic ship wreck site. Heavy items sink faster so they'd drop to the sea floor and lighter fragments could have been carried downstream by the current. Almost like a comet effect of debris on the sea floor."
A US Navy P8 Poseidon aircraft is already in the remote search area, which is about 2500km southwest of Perth, and a RAAF Orion aircraft was expected to arrive this afternoon.
Additional aircraft are also expected to follow for a more intensive search.
Mr Young cautioned that the objects would be difficult to locate and may not even be related to the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, which vanished en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 with 239 people on board.
"It's probably the best lead we have right now but we have to get there, find them, see them, assess them, to know whether it's really meaningful or not,'' he said.
Reacting to the news, Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the potential breakthrough gave reason for hope of a resolution to the crisis, but stressed the need to verify the claim.
"We have been very consistent. We want to verify, we want to corroborate,'' Mr Hussein said.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak also tweeted:
Meeting my Chief of Defence Force. After call from @TonyAbbottMHR, awaiting confirmation from Australia on the objects found. #PrayForMH370
— Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) March 20, 2014
Mr Young said higher resolution satellite images were being taken. "These will be provided in due course," he said.
He cautioned against any hasty expectations of an outcome because of unfavourable weather conditions.
"We may get a sighting, we may not. We may get it tomorrow, we may not,'' he said. "But we will continue to do this until we locate those objects or we are convinced that we cannot find them.''
When asked what advice he had for the families of those on the missing flight, he replied: "I would advise that AMSA is doing it's level best to find anyone that may have survived."
An Australian Hercules is expected to drop marker buoys in the area highlighted by the satellite imagery while a merchant ship that responded to a shipping broadcast issued by Rescue Coordination Australia on Monday is expected to arrive this evening.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott had earlier revealed the satellite discovery in federal parliament.
"The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has received information based on satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search," Mr Abbott said at the start of Question Time, wanting to provide an update on "new and credible" information.
Mr Abbott said he had spoken to his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak and informed him of the developments.
But the PM insisted the task of locating the objects will be very difficult and they might not turn out to be related to the missing plane.
"We must keep in mind the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight MH370," he said.
Malaysian authorities have asked Australia to take responsibility for the "southern vector'' of the operation to locate the Boeing 777.
They believe the jet was deliberately diverted and flew for several hours after leaving its scheduled flight path — either north towards Central Asia, or towards the southern Indian Ocean.
Australian, US and New Zealand long-range surveillance planes have been scouring a vast tract of the southern Indian Ocean since Tuesday with the search focused on an area of 305,000 square kilometres, some 2,600km southeast of Perth.
Assets involved in the search include a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P3 Orion, a US Navy P8 Poseidon aircraft and a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion.
In total, four RAAF AP-3C Orion aircraft have been assigned to the search task being coordinated by AMSA.
Four aircraft, including a Royal Australian Air Force Orion and a United States Navy P8 Poseidon, have been dispatched to what Australian Defence Minister David Johnston described as "a most isolated part of the world".
"It's a logistical nightmare. This is a terribly complex logistical operation to identify what we have found via the satellite," he said in a television interview.
The AP-3C Orion is an extremely versatile aircraft used to conduct long-range surveillance missions throughout the Indian and Pacific oceans.
The Orions are fitted with radar, infra-red and visual systems which allow crew to see objects at night and in the distance, as well as magnetic anomaly detectors which help in identifying metal.
The Poseidon is an even more advanced aircraft described by the US as a long-range anti-submarine warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance plane aircraft capable of broad-area maritime operations.
AMSA's Rescue Coordination Centre, which works around the clock and is responsible for the national coordination of both maritime and aviation search and rescues, has experience in difficult conditions.
In December, it led the rescue of dozens of passengers and scientists stranded on a Russian ship stuck in ice in blizzards off Antarctica, a crisis which sparked a global operation to pluck them from frozen seas.
In May 2013, it coordinated the rescue of Dutch adventurer Ralph Tuijn from the Indian Ocean after his attempt to row from Australia to Africa ended when his boat collided with a massive oil tanker.
It has also been instrumental in coordinating the rescue in recent years of hundreds of asylum-seekers whose boats sometimes sink as they try to reach Australia from Indonesia.
The Chinese authorities are preparing for the worst in Beijing.
Medical staff and police have arrived at a hotel where relatives of the passengers of the Beijing-bound flight have gathered.
Scores of police and at least five ambulances have been spotted at the hotel, the BBC reports.
The news comes as Malaysian and FBI authorities investigating the home flight simulator data from MH370 pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah will look first at the level of security he used to protect his files to determine whether he was trying to hide something.
Files containing records of flight simulations were deleted on February 3 from the device found in the home of Captain Shah, Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said late on Wednesday.
Experts say the level of security used to protect those deleted files will provide the first clue in the investigation.
While it is not clear whether investigators think that deleting the files was unusual, they might hold signs of unusual flight paths that could help explain where the missing plane went.
"Chances are that it will be very low level encryption and it will be easily recovered," said Deakin University cyber security expert Professor Matthew Warren.
"What would be interesting if they find high level encryption and data scrubbing systems in place. If these techniques or countermeasures are in place, it would raise a lot of questions."
Captain Shah, 53, an experienced pilot who joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981, had built a homemade flight simulator in his two-storey home outside Kuala Lumpur.
Experts from the FBI are working with Malaysian authorities to help recover the deleted data.
Australian National University security expert Professor Clive Williams said it would not take long for them to recover what they are looking for.
"I'm sure they can reconstruct it," he said.
"They can get information out of pretty much anything."
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorised to discuss the investigation by name, said it was important to remember that "the pilots, the passengers and the crew remain innocent until proven otherwise."
"For the sake of their families I ask that we refrain from any unnecessary speculation that may make an already difficult time even harder," he said.
In his first on camera comments on the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, US President Barack Obama said the search was a "top priority'' for the United States and offered every possible resource — including the FBI.
Obama offered thoughts and prayers to the relatives of the missing passengers.
"We have put every resource that we have available at the disposal of the search process,'' he said. "There has been close cooperation with the Malaysian government.''
Obama said the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board and any agency or official that deals with aviation was at the disposal of the investigation.
As the investigation into the missing flight continues, Malaysia Airlines has also come under scrutiny for apparently skimping on a computer application upgrade that could have helped track the missing Boeing 777 and its 239 passengers
The Washington Post is reporting that an upgrade to a system called Swift — which wholesales for around $10 per flight — would have enabled MH370 to transmit data about its trajectory and position even after the plane's transponder systems had been switched off.
A similar system enabled searchers to locate the Air France jet which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. Wreckage from that plane was found within five days.
A satellite industry official, who did not wish to be named, told the newspaper that many airlines use the upgraded Swift system, which he likened to a mobile phone app.
Its use is mandatory on planes flying in the North Atlantic corridor between the Europe and the US but not on other plane routes, the source said.
Theories as to what happened to the plane continue to be expounded and debunked.
Late last week Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told the world's media that the plane was purposely diverted from its course — leading to a flurry of hijacking theories — but a British aviation expert who was a key witness in the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing trial has now discredited those ideas.
The former head of the UK'S Federal Aviation Authority, Billie Vincent, told the Telegraph that he believed the plane suffered a "catastrophic event" over the Gulf of Thailand. The pilots would have been looking for a safe place to land as the cabin filled with smoke, he said.
"As opposed to being hijackers, the crew were heroically trying to save the aeroplane, save themselves and the passengers when this catastrophe hit," he told the paper.
Distraught relatives of MH370 passengers are at breaking point. Three heartbroken women came to the media centre in Kuala Lumpur carrying a protest banner demanding answers and were immediately dragged away by security in tears.
As the investigation continues to focus on the pilots, Minister of Defence and Acting Minister of Transport Hishammuddin Hussein said local and international experts have been recruited to examine the pilot's flight simulator.
The three women who were dragged away by security are believed to be relatives of some of the Chinese passengers missing.
As Mr Hishammuddin's press conference got underway the women, at least one who was in floods of tears, were whisked away to another part of the hotel, with a scrum of media desperately trying to follow them.
It has been nearly two weeks since the Boeing 777 carrying 239 passengers disappeared and the frustration at being left in the dark about its fate boiled over for the three women.