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Buffett's Heinz buy means nothing for marketFebruary 14, 2013: 12:42 PM ET
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks.
When Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) bought railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe in late 2009, he famously declared that it was an "all-in" wager on the U.S. economy.
And when Berkshire invested in Bank of America (BAC) in the summer of 2011, Buffett seemed to be signalling that the worst was over for it and other big banks stocks. He said in a press release that he was impressed with how BofA CEO Brian Moynihan and the rest of the management team was "acting aggressively to put their challenges behind them."
But the purchase of ketchup maker Heinz by Berkshire (BRKB) and private equity firm 3G Capital should not be considered anything remotely like the Burlington deal or BofA investment. It's not a bet on American ingenuity and industriousness. Nor is it a sign that Buffett felt a beat-up industry leader was now simply too cheap to ignore.
The Heinz deal is merely a $28 billion Valentine's Day card to a strong company that perfectly fits Buffett's investing wheelhouse.
Buffett said in Thursday's press release about the acquisition that Heinz (HNZ) has "strong, sustainable growth potential." He also saluted the company's "excellent management and great tasting products" and noted that the success of Heinz "is a testament to the power of investing behind strong brand equities."
The Oracle of Omaha may have 57 reasons why the Heinz deal makes sense ... one for each variety. But make no mistake. The health of the American economy is not one of them.
Related: Buffett pulls ahead in wager against hedge funds
Heinz is an obvious choice for Berkshire to buy. It is similar to other makers of brand name consumer products in his portfolio such as Benjamin Moore, Fruit of the Loom, and Dairy Queen. It's an easy to understand company. No high-tech here!
But Heinz is not a company that's growing rapidly. Earnings for the current fiscal year, which ends in April, are only expected to rise 5.7%. And sales are forecast to increase by less than 1%. The fact that Heinz is able to generate even mid-single-digit profit growth on virtually no revenue gain is a sign that the company is well-managed. It's disciplined and keeping costs down. Buffett loves that.
Heinz also is shareholder-friendly. The company pays a dividend that was yielding 3.4% before the deal was announced. The yield dipped to 2.8% on Thursday because Heinz shares surged 20% on the news of the buyout.
The deal got investors into a food frenzy. Several other makers of edible goods rallied Thursday. I think it's safe to suggest that their moves could be due to investor hopes that other companies will now want to follow Buffett's lead and look to the grocery shelves for merger opportunities. Cereal makers Kellogg (K) and General Mills (GIS) each rose Thursday even as the broader market fell slightly. So did shares of ConAgra (CAG), which owns Heinz competitor Hunt's. Campbell Soup (CPB) shot up more than 2%.
Yes, merger activity has been hot this year. And it may continue. But buying food companies blindly just because you think they might become a tasty takeover target could be a big mistake. One might say you'd soon find yourself in a bit of a pickle. (Hey. At least I didn't say you need to play catch-up to Buffett!)
Related: Buffett holding makes big solar purchase
In fact, if you believe that the U.S. economic recovery is for real and that the market will continue to move higher, boring consumer staples companies like food makers are the last place you'd want to invest right now. The momentum is likely to remain with riskier stocks that are more sensitive to economic cycles, such as banks, tech companies and retailers.
What's more, food stocks are no longer great bargains. Even before the deal was announced, shares of Heinz and other food companies were starting to look a little rich. ConAgra, Campbell Soup and General Mills all trade at price-to-earnings ratios in the mid-teens despite having long-term profit growth forecasts in the mid-to-high single digits.
Berkshire and 3G are paying a pretty price for Heinz. It's a bit shocking actually. At $72.50 a share, the deal is valued at more than 20 times fiscal 2013 earnings estimates. That's a lot to pay for a company only expected to post earnings growth of 7% a year on average for the next few years.
Buffett can afford to overpay for something he covets. Odds are you can't.


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By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Health News
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
Sept. 14, 2012 -- Hawaiians must be doing something right.
A new report shows residents of the tropical state live longer than those of any other state in the country.
The latest state-specific life expectancy tables from the CDC show Hawaiians' average life expectancy at birth in 1999-2001 was 80 years.
Residents of Mississippi and the District of Columbia didn't fare nearly as well.
Mississippi had the lowest life expectancy of any state at just under 74 years. Life expectancy in the District of Columbia was even lower at 73 years.
Life Expectancy by State
The life expectancy tables are released every 10 years. They're based on federal census and state death certificate data.
The results show that state-specific life expectancy at birth improved for all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1989-1991 to 1999-2001.
Although the District of Columbia had the lowest life expectancy at 73.1 years, it also experienced the biggest improvement since the last report: an increase of more than 5 years.
Wyoming had the smallest improvement from 1989-1991 to 1999-2001, with an increase of less than half a year.
The top five states with the longest life expectancy at birth in 1999-2001 were:
- Hawaii - 80.2 years
- Minnesota - 79.3 years
- North Dakota - 79.1 years
- Connecticut - 78.9 years
- Utah - 78.9 years
The bottom five states (excluding the District of Columbia) with the shortest life expectancy at birth were:
- 46. Kentucky - 75.2 years
- 47. South Carolina - 75 years
- 48. Alabama - 74.8 years
- 49. Louisiana - 74.3 years
- 50. Mississippi - 73.9 years
The full life expectancy tables by state are available at the CDC's web site.
Life Expectancy Improving
The results showed life expectancy at age 65 ranged from a high of 20.4 years in Hawaii to a low of 16.6 years in Kentucky.
The report showed average life expectancy at age 65 also improved in all states, except Kentucky.
The biggest improvement in life expectancy at age 65 was in Arizona (1.6 years). Louisiana had the smallest improvement (0.4 years), and Kentucky actually experienced a decline of half a year in average life expectancy at age 65.
Overall, women had a higher life expectancy in all states and the District of Columbia. The average difference between female and male life expectancy ranged from nine years in the District of Columbia to 3.7 years in Wyoming.
Healthy Aging Resources
Health Solutions From Our Sponsors
Health Solutions From Our Sponsors
©2012 WebMD, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
April 22, 1993
25 Birch Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
BITNET: aavso@cfa SPAN: cfa::aavso
INTERNET: firstname.lastname@example.com
Tel. 617-354-0484 FAX 617-354-0665
AAVSO ALERT NOTICE 170 (April 22, 1993)
1719-23 NOVA OPHIUCHI 1993 [V2295 Oph]
AAVSO ALERT NOTICE 155 (February 20, 1992)
March 11, 1994
June 3, 2011: As an update to AAVSO Special Notice #241 (http://www.aavso.org/aavso-special-notice-241), the supernova in M51 has been designated SN 2011dh. Discovery, classification, and observation information have been published in IAU CBET 2736 (Daniel W. E. Green, ed.).
Coordinates: 13:30:05.08 +47:10:11.2 (J2000.0)
Coordinates source is Silverman et al., ATEL 3398
Observations should be submitted to the AAVSO International Database using the name SN 2011dh.
Thank you and good observing!
March 31, 2015
Event: Supernova in NGC 2442: SN 2015F = PSN J07361576-6930230
Discovered by: Libert A. G. Monard, Calitzdorp, Western Cape, South Africa
Discovery magnitude: 16.8 unfiltered CCD using a 35-cm RCX400 telescope (+SBIG ST8-XME camera)
Discovery date: 2015 March 9.789 UT
Coordinates: R.A. 07 36 15.76 Dec. -69 30 23.0 (2000.0)
SN 2015F is located 40" west and 84" north of the center of NGC 2442.
December 11, 2014: In AAVSO Special Notice #392, the name of the supernova discovered in NGC 4666 was given as ASASSN-141p. It should have been ASASSN-14lp. That is to say, the text following the dash should
be "fourteen ell pee" and not "fourteen one pee".
Please create charts and submit observations using the name ASASSN-14lp.
Sincere apologies for the error!
This AAVSO Special Notice was compiled by Elizabeth O. Waagen.
December 11, 2014: T. W.-S. Holoien et al. announce in The Astronomer's Telegram (ATel) #6795 (http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=6795) the discovery of a transient in NGC 4666 at magnitude 14.3 V on 2014 December 9.61 UT. The discovery was made in the course of the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASASSN) search, and the object assigned the name ASASSN-14lp. ASASSN-14lp was not seen (<15.3 V) in poor-quality ASASSN images obtained on 2104 Dec. 08.35 UT.
October 29, 2014: The CBAT Transient Object Confirmation Page (follow-up page = http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/unconf/followups/J12215757+0428185.html) reports the discovery of a possible supernova in M61 (NGC 4303) [SN 2014dt] by Koichi Itagaki (Yamagata, Japan) on 2014 Oct. 29.8376 UT at magnitude 13.6 CCD unfiltered.
Coordinates: R.A. 12 21 57.57 Dec. +04 28 18.5 (2000.0)
October 11, 2006: Daniel W. E. Green, Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, reports (Central Bureau Electronic Telegram 666) that S. Nakano, Sumoto, Japan, reports the discovery of a possible supernova in UGC 4904 by K. Itagaki, Teppo-cho, Yamagata, Japan, at unfiltered CCD magnitude 13.8 on images taken around Oct. 9.752 UT using a 0.60-m f/5.7 reflector. Itagaki reported that nothing is visible at this location on the Digitized Sky Survey.
August 24, 2006: Daniel W. E. Green, Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, reports (Central Bureau Electronic Telegram 603) that R. Mostardi, H. Khandrika, and W. Li report the LOSS discovery of an apparent supernova on unfiltered KAIT images taken on Aug. 23.39 UT (at mag 16.4) and 24.38 UT (mag 14.7). A KAIT image taken on Aug. 14.40 UT showed nothing at this position down to limiting mag 19.3.
SN 2006ej, which is offset 6.2" west and 4.6" south of the nucleus of NGC 191A, is located at: R.A. 00:38:59.77 Decl. -09:00:56.6 (2000)


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Welcome to the Dockwalk.com Forum
In order to post a comment in one of the forum topics, you must log in or sign up. Your display name will appear next to your posts unless you check the Post Anonymously box. When writing a post, please follow our forum guidelines. If you come across a post that you would like us to review, use the Report Post button. Please note the opinions shared in the forums do not necessarily reflect the views of Dockwalk.
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I was recently approach by a mate re a position on a 40mtr Motor yacht. I gave him my c/v and references and HE seemed suitably impressed and said he would pass them on to the manager. 3 days later I went back down to be told that the manager was going to hang out for a younger person. Now I know I an 61 going on 40 but have been involved in the Marine industry for 30 years with a vast amount of experience. This would have paid off last weekend as we had a gregale warning ( this is in Malta by the way ) This is when the wind is in a particular direction you get almost tsami like surges into the Marinas. This came and all the spare ropes were in a container a quater of mile away and no contngency plans were in force. The result was the bow lines went and the boat swung around hiting the boats either side ending up beam on to the quay the damage only being limited by the crew frantically running around with fenders. So much for experience !!! Any Comments ?
Ian Walker (Malta )
Last anonymous poster: do you not see the irony in what you wrote? all sounded great until you wrote you don't hire stews over 30...seriously?
30-something year-olds who are fit have the same energy level as the 20-year-olds, and likely don't party as much - so would have more!
Why should we hire you then? I mean, wow...30....is.....the new elderly?? Idiot????
[Content edited by moderator for breaking forum guidelines]
Why people like you are born and bred into this world is beyond ME.
Whilst I value the knowledge and experience of the older crew member they sometimes feel that taking the towels out of the drier or filling an ice bucket is not their job!. Todays yacht with its thrusters/stabilisers/electronic chart equipment and modern machinery is a far safer/easier boat to run, this is so we can provide our guests with the best possible service. This creates an environment best suited to the 'younger' captain who understands the needs of the guests/owner and all of the technology onboard.
Ms 38,
I don't think I would hire you simply because based on what I've read, you seem both cocky and desperate. Not a good combo. Your age should not be that big of a deal (heaven forbid all us "elderly" folks compared to prepubescent folks all over the biz..ew), but even if you behaved more professionally, you might end up getting jobs that a lot of people would not want...that and agents (no matter how bad they look, Jesus) will pass you over for younger and "prettier" stewardesses depending on the yacht and size. [content removed by moderator]
The Slacker
PS: I'm kidding- I'm not the slacker. But I am slacking off right now.


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Last week's four-part Washington Post feature on Vice President Dick Cheney removed any doubt in my mind as to whether he and President George W. Bush have committed the kinds of high crimes and misdemeanors that warrant impeachment.
While President George W. Bush bears the ultimate responsibility, the nature of the evidence against Cheney and his closest associates is so specific and overwhelming that it makes sense to impeach and bring him to trial first.
Subpoenas from Capitol Hill are flying downtown into executive office buildings like paper airplanes, but the potential for obfuscation and delay is immense, and the danger to the Republic speaks for a more urgent, simpler approach.
As hundreds are killed each day in the misbegotten war in Iraq with no end in sight, the same officials who brought us Iraq—with the vice president in the lead— are salivating for war on Iran.
There is a blizzard of possible charges warranting impeachment, and that is part of the problem. It's not only outrage fatigue, it is knowing how to sort through what Thomas Jefferson called "a long train of abuses and usurpations" to select the most heinous, when it is difficult to discern which of them most offends our Constitution and the rule of law.
Suggestion: From the most heinous, select just one for which there is ready proof—one not susceptible of the kind of diddling that has been so prevalent in Washington these past several years.
Why not focus on a high crime that the Bush administration has already admitted to, with claims it is above the law and the Constitution: electronic eavesdropping on Americans without the required court warrant.
This charge has the additional advantage of precedent. It was included in the second (of three) Articles of Impeachment voted against President Richard Nixon by a 28 to 10 vote by the House Committee on the Judiciary on July 27, 1974.
That charge was "electronic surveillance of private citizens" in violation of the law and similar illegalities. Impeachment Article 2 stated that for these abuses:
"Richard M. Nixon has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as President and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore Richard M. Nixon, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial, and removal from office."
Similarly, as William Goodman, former legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, has suggested, pride of place among the various possible charges against those of the George W. Bush administration should be given to the crime of unlawful electronic surveillance; namely, failing to take care that the laws were faithfully executed, by directing or authorizing the National Security Agency and various other agencies within the intelligence community to conduct electronic surveillance outside the statutes Congress has prescribed as the exclusive means for such surveillance.
What makes this a no-brainer is that the administration has proudly admitted to sponsoring an electronic surveillance program that violates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978.
On Dec.17, 2005, a day after the New York Times front-paged an article on the administration practice of eavesdropping on Americans without the required court warrant, administration front man George W. Bush bragged about authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens without the court order required by FISA.
The president stated defiantly, "I have reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September 11th attacks, and I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al-Qaeda and related groups."
By what authority did the Bush administration ignore the FISA requirement for a court order for such eavesdropping? "The authority vested in me by Congress, including the Joint Authorization for Use of Military Force [and] constitutional authority vested in me as commander-in-chief."
That these arguments are quite a stretch is clear from the adjectives used by respected jurists to describe them. "Ludicrous" is the one most often applied. "The program appears on its face to violate existing law," wrote a group of distinguished lawyers, several of whom worked in senior positions in Republican as well as Democratic administrations.
Anatomy of a Crime
While the buck still stops in the Oval Office, it lingers for an inordinately long time with the vice president. And, clearly, that is the way Bush prefers it.
Sen. Bob Graham recalls that when he became chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, the president told him, "The vice president should be your point of contact in the White House [and] has the portfolio for intelligence activities."
And, sure enough, when the chairmen and ranking members were invited to the White House for their first briefing on electronic eavesdropping, they were ushered into the vice president's office where Cheney chaired the discussion.
One of the authors of the FISA law, longtime NSA director, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman (ret.), expressed serious reservations at the flouting of FISA during a New York Public Library panel discussion on May 8, 2006.
"There clearly was a line in the FISA statutes which says you couldn't do this," said Inman. He went on to call specific attention to an "extra sentence put in the bill that said, 'You can't do anything that is not authorized by this bill.'"
Inman spoke proudly of the earlier ethos at NSA, where "it was deeply ingrained that you operate within the law and you get the law changed if you need to." As for now, Inman insisted, "What you want is to get away from this idea that they can continue doing it."
He placed the blame squarely on Vice President Dick Cheney, whose attitude he said was: "We don't need law. The president has authorized these in the past and can authorize them now."
Inman added that this attitude explains why there was no attempt to change the law. Whether Bush eventually decides to change course and work with Congress on this issue will depend on "whether the president walks away from the vice president on this issue," said Inman.
John Dean, no stranger to White House intrigue, also sees Cheney's hand behind the defiance of inconvenient laws like FISA. Dean's sources tell him that there is serious doubt that the president and his staff is well informed as to what Cheney is doing, why he is doing it, or how he is doing it.
Bush may be the "decider," says Dean, "but by shaping the debate and controlling the paper flow, Cheney decides what the decider will decide."
Eminence Grise Behind Eminence Grise
Please welcome David Addington, Cheney's kemosabe, his main man, his legal adviser of many years, a strong advocate of the "unitary executive" concept invented by the Bush administration to amass power under, well, one executive.
Addington worked closely with Dick Cheney on the Iran-Contra Affair, and played a strong supporting role with those who set out to ensure that no one was held accountable. Addington came in with the vice president as his chief counsel and became his chief of staff as well, after Irv Lewis Libby left.
Addington is the author of the so-called "torture memo" of Jan. 25, 2002—the one signed by then-chief counsel to the president, Alberto Gonzales, calling provisions of the Geneva treaties on prisoners of war "quaint" and "obsolete."
Assigning a "new paradigm" to the post-9/11 world, that memo advised Bush that he could authorize torture by simply saying that the U.S. would treat prisoners "humanely, as appropriate, and as consistent with military necessity." This the president did in an executive memorandum on Feb. 7, 2002.
Addington's legal legerdemain was applied liberally to the issue of warrantless eavesdropping, as well. Most are unaware that Addington earned his spurs while working in the CIA's Office of General Counsel (OGC) under Director William Casey, certainly a kindred soul in terms of respect for the law—national or international.
The so-called "family jewels" released by the CIA last week provide insight into the corrosive effect of folks like Casey and Addington on the professionalism and integrity of those working in the Office of General Counsel.
To be sure, there were liberties taken with law and regulation before Casey, but before Casey and Addington there was also high sensitivity to observing the letter of the law regarding surveillance of Americans. One sees in the correspondence reflections of the ethos of the lawyers I encountered during my 27-year Agency career.
There were abuses like illegal wiretaps, despite admonitions from directors like William Colby against monitoring American citizens. But the correspondence is replete with examples of operations abruptly shut down after an OGC determination that they violated CIA statutory responsibilities.
The documents show, for example, OGC putting the kibosh on radio intercepts made from abroad, but with one terminal in the U.S. Well before the FISA law, Agency officials were particularly uncomfortable with widespread electronic surveillance of American citizens.
As national security blogger Noah Shachtman has noted, it is clear from the "family jewels" material that many in the leadership of the Nixon-era intelligence community were relatively successful in avoiding becoming drawn into the kind of comprehensive, intrusive electronic eavesdropping that would later become a hallmark of the George W. Bush-era intelligence community.
CIA Director Michael Hayden's timing in releasing the "family jewels" begs interpretation. Without any sense of irony, Hayden told CIA staffers that internal reforms and increased oversight have given the CIA "a far stronger place in our democratic system." Right.
The post-9/11 warrantless electronic surveillance program he devised as head of NSA, at the direction of Cheney and the president tears that claim to shreds.
Hayden's followed illegal orders to create an aggressive NSA program skirting strict 30-year old legal restrictions on eavesdropping on American citizens. As NSA director from 1999 to 2005, Hayden did the White House's bidding in devising and implementing that program without adequately informing Congress—as required by law.
When an unauthorized disclosure revealed the program to the press, Hayden agreed to play point man with smoke and mirrors. Small wonder that the White House later deemed him the perfect man to head the CIA.
Hayden, of course, evidences no outward embarrassment. A whiff of conscience showed through his nomination hearing, though, when he flubbed the answer to a soft-pitch from administration loyalist, Sen. Kit Bond, R-Missouri:
"Did you believe that your primary responsibility as director of NSA was to execute a program that your NSA lawyers, the Justice Department lawyers, and White House officials all told you was legal and that you were ordered to carry it out by the president of the United States?"
Instead of the simple "Yes" that was anticipated, Hayden paused and spoke rather poignantly—and revealingly:
"I had to make this personal decision in early October 2001, and it was a personal decision...I could not not do this."
Why should it be such an enormous personal decision whether or not to obey a White House order? No one asked Hayden, but it requires no particular acuity to figure it out.
This is a military officer who had indoctrinated NSA employees with what used to be known as NSA's "First Commandment"—Thou Shalt Not Eavesdrop on U.S. Citizens; an officer who, like the rest of us, had sworn to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; a military man well aware one must never obey an unlawful order.
That, it seems clear, is why Hayden found it a difficult personal decision. Did the new, post-9/11 "paradigm" — created by then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and David Addington — trump the Constitution?
President George W. Bush assured us on Jan. 23, 2006, "I had all kinds of lawyers review the process." Seems so. The same ones who were concurrently devising ways to "legalize" torture and indefinite detention without due process.
No American, save perhaps Admiral Inman who was present at the creation of FISA, knew the FISA law better than Hayden. Nonetheless, the general conceded that he did not even require a written legal opinion to satisfy himself that the new, post-9/11 comprehensive surveillance program, to be implemented without warrant and without adequate consultation in Congress, could pass the smell test.
If Addington and Cheney said it was okay, it must be okay. When one of his NSA director predecessors learned what Hayden had agreed to do, he said angrily, "He ought to be court-martialed." I agree.
Addington's tenure with CIA lawyers seems to have left a residue of malleability that the George W. Bush administration has found very helpful.
Intercepting Americans communications? Torture? Kidnapping? Extraordinary Rendition? You name it, we can justify it. All this makes things a lot easier for Cheney and Addington to work their will on the bureaucracy.
Another gift from Bill Casey. Not only did he corrupt analysis on the substantive side of the Agency; he also deprofessionalized the operational side, promoting yes-people, such that you end up with the bunch of amateurs caught kidnapping and "rendering" a suspected terrorist in Italy. And the corruption included the Office of General Counsel.
Who is Stepping Up to the Plate?
An African American judge, Anna Diggs Taylor of the U.S. District Court in Detroit ruled on Aug. 17, 2006, that the surveillance program was unconstitutional (against the Fourth Amendment prohibition on "unreasonable searches and seizures") as well as illegal (violating FISA).
She emphasized that "the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution."
The government appealed Judge Taylor's decision, and the surveillance program continues, since the Sixth Circuit Court has granted a stay.
In keeping with Thomas Jefferson's warning that the only remedy for the kind of situation in which we find ourselves is removal of those responsible, some courageous members of the House of Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of Dennis Kucinich's (D-Ohio) bill to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney.
I find it highly interesting that seven of the 11 co-sponsors are African-American, with black women leading the way. Seems they have a more highly developed sense of the implications of the oppression that comes of ignoring, breaking, or bending the law.
They have an excellent model in the late Barbara Jordan, D-Texas, an African-American legislator and educator who made such a valuable contribution while sitting on the House Committee on the Judiciary during the hearings on impeaching President Richard Nixon.
I will not soon forget her stirring words on July 25, 1974:
"Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States, 'We, the people.' It is a very eloquent beginning. But when the document was completed on the seventeenth of September 1787 I was not included in that 'We, the people.' I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation and court decision, I have finally been included in 'We, the people.'
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total. I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution.... [As was said at] the North Carolina ratification convention: 'No one need be afraid that officers who commit oppression will pass with immunity.'"
Jordan stressed James Madison's reminder at the constitutional convention that those who "subvert the Constitution" are "impeachable."
Congressman John Conyers, D-Michigan, also a member of the Committee on the Judiciary in 1974, heard those words. He is now chair of that key committee. Inexplicably, he is now hiding from those words.
Wake up, John. Show some courage.


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You can find Abreva Cold Sore Treatment over-the-counter at most any pharmacy aisle in any store. Abreva is approved by the FDA and says it will reduce the healing time for a cold sore or fever blister. The question is, does it work? We will take a look in a minute.
The Abreva product comes in a relatively tiny 2 gram tube. You can find it retailing for approximately $15 in all stores, or through the Internet.
In reading the directions, it states that you should put the medicine directly on the area where you feel the cold sore coming on. You're to do this 5 times throughout the day. Abreva says that the key is to begin treatment before the cold sore actually breaks out.
As someone who has cold sores a couple of times during the year, I know how tough they can be to deal with, especially after breaking out. So, I'm always looking for a cold sore medicine that works. With that said, here is my review of Abreva.
1. I found myself having some trouble getting the package open. There is no way to get it open without scissors. Then, when you do get to it, the tube is very tiny, leaving you to wonder if there is anything in it.
2. I found that Abreva took almost a week to take away my pain, not a few days that the product claims. I must say, prescription cold sore medicine is much faster working.
3. Abreva Cold Sore Treatment didn't eliminate my cold sore quickly. It did work, but not as well as other cold sore medications I've used in the past, and nowhere near as fast as a prescription.
4. I was out of Abreva after only 10 days of use. I used it exactly as the directions stated, but the tube didn't last long. I was a little disappointed to say the least.
I have talked with others who have had good luck with Abreva, but I'm not in that group. I can't give Abreva a high rating compared to other cold sore medicines available.
Copyright 2006 – Terry Edwards. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active and do not edit the article in any way.


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Please excuse me while I scream….
Okay… Now that that's done. I shall proceed to tell you the reason behind this outburst. The one thing that is guaranteed to have me running out of a room, ready to bawl my lungs out in happiness and run up and down my two storey building, is receiving this package - an original Imcha Imchen creation!!!!!
It was a little overwhelming, and I won't say I didn't cry some tears of joy. I wanted to have everyone I loved in the room with me right then, to hug them and somehow have them feel this way too. But right now I want to sincerely thank Imcha for being such an amazing friend no matter how busy and far away he is right now. 'Marky Marc, this really means more to me that you'll ever know.'
Saturday night had me attending Naga Night 2009; a night to showcase the rich cultural heritage of the people of Nagaland. At the venue I felt like I was back in Dimapur. Meeting people, learning names, throwing in for some pork.
The best part of the night was the performance by this band named 'Divine Connection'.
It was the huge setting, chill atmosphere and awesome music that made it unlike any other performance I've attended. The music was a fusion of modern rock, hint of jazz, funk and nu-metal. I was supposed to stay in Nagaland long enough to catch the Hornbill Festival but plans didn't go down that way. Divine Connection was the band that won at the Hornbill Music Festival and I was so excited that I had the chance to watch them last night.
They're striking and their clarity and quality of sound is extremely full and well rounded and that really brings up the energy. The vocalist, Obed Kath, was able to work the crowd up pretty well and was clearly confident with his singing, and this went hand-in-hand with the amazing range of sound that they've developed, from provoking and awakening to intense and heated. This is what makes them musicians and not just members of some band. The set they played was blood pumping, adrenaline rushing, great sounding music and I would have bought an album at the concert if I had seen it.
One thing's for sure though, I would definitely go to another Divine Connection concert if they ever came around again.
So far I haven't had the chance to feel guilty about not looking for another job, which is something that I'm finding hard to get motivated about.
Speaking of which, I spent the last week sending out résumés to various companies. I have a résumé that I'm pretty proud of right now, after spending a lot of time fixing it up. No phone calls so far.
If you're looking to hear Divine Connection's music you can check out their music here:
Naga Music Online
The video appearing here on Evuhleen's Corner is a very short Divine Connection's bootleg live track, not a studio recording, so be prepared for a little background noise. All that aside enjoy the music and the next time DC is in town get out and see their show.


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Doorway page generator - In today's Internet marketplace, submitting your site is simply not enough. To be successful online, you need to be able to access tools that will give your web site the extra edge that is required.
Doorway pages are Search engine designed pages created with "keywords" which are relative to the content on your site. These pages are designed to outperform any traditional web page. The doorway page generator is just one of the marketing tools you'll be able to utilize with your subscription. Generate 50 at a time and upload them to your web site from your member's area or download them to your local PC.


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
A community Christmas celebration was held in the Wilson High School auditorium on Sunday, Dec. 23. Several area churches came together for a fun, non-denominational celebration of Christmas that nearly filled the school auditorium with folks having a great time singing carols and hearing the story behind the holiday.
Pictured, residents stand as they sing carols with the band. (photo by Wayne Peters)


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My account
Use your EBT year round at the market.
Crop cash doubles your purchases up to $10 on fruits and vegetables.
Thanks to Wayne Fawbush for use of his wonderful market photographs at market and to Rob Fish and the Vermont Council on Rural Development Digital Economy Project for building us this new site.
We are having a corn roast! September 1st we are celebrating the upcoming Fall and raising money for … [Read More...]
Our annual youth vendor day returns on August 4th! Kids (ages 6-18) will be selling products that … [Read More...]
Capital City Farmers Market
PO Box 515
Montpelier, Vermont 05601


text: Farrell's Transformations Begin in Mankato, MN! 05/15/2018 Blog category: News On Saturday, May 12th, Farrell's eXtreme Bodyshaping's newest location in Mankato, Minnesota, opened its doors for their first 10-week challenge welcoming new members who are ready to transform their lives. Jeremy and Jacque Whiteford are co-owners of our new Farrell's Mankato location. As Jeremy and Jacque said, "Being able to introduce the Farrell's program in the Mankato market is important to us. This is a tight-knit, small community that is in need of a kickboxing, strength-training and nutrition-focused program that can reach all ages and all physical levels." In attendance to help with orientation was Farrell's member Melanie H., who began her Farrell's transformation in 2011. Melanie shared her story with us: "I met Jeremy and Jacque at the Farrell's Colorado Blvd location and we became fast friends and I wanted to be here today to support them and the program. "I first learned about Farrell's eXtreme Bodyshaping from a college friend who lived in Iowa and she had won the 10-Week $1,000 Challenge. I always thought if there was a program like that here in Denver, I could win too. As I was driving down Colorado Boulevard one day, I saw a sign for Farrell's and thought, 'I guess I have to own up to my word now!' And I ended up winning the $1,000! The changes I saw were physical changes, getting smaller, being stronger, being able to do more, and the friendships I made. It was a life-changing experience for me! "I've tried every program under the sun and never stuck with anything – and then I tried this program and here I am seven years later, it's the one thing that's worked." Hear Melanie's full story here! Congratulations Jeremy and Jacque on your newest Farrell's location! We know you will continue to succeed and change the lives of many members to come. Do you or someone you know someone in the Mankato area looking to transform? Farrell's Mankato's 10-week session enrollment is open until Saturday, May 26! Visit their website or call (218) 329-2266 to enroll today! Back to Blog


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1. Books don't have to be classics; songs don't have to be rock.
2. Books and authors cited in songs must be actual books and authors (so, Bruce Springsteen's reference to "trying to write this book" in "Dancing in the Dark" would not qualify, but "The Ghost of Tom Joad" would because of the link to The Grapes of Wrath).
3. Bands named for a book's title (e.g., Steppenwolf), a fictional character (e.g., Uriah Heep), an author (um, Gogol Bordello?), or some other aspect of a book (e.g., Steely Dan) do not qualify on that basis alone.
4. Songs from films, musicals, etc. that were adapted from books don't qualify (e.g., "Goldfinger," "Phantom of the Opera").
5. Songs that happen to share a title with a book but otherwise have no connection to it (e.g., Shivaree's "Goodnight Moon", Jackson Browne's "Tender is the Night," the Edgar Winter Group's "Frankenstein") do not qualify.
Don Henley/Drivin' With Your Eyes Closed - [image: image] [image: image] Drivin' With Your Eyes Closed, from Don Henley's 1984 album Building the Perfect Beast, mentions two 19th century French poet...
7 years ago


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They're not the longest parrot in the world, but they are (by far) the heaviest. Critically endangered too
"The Kakapo (Māori: kākāpō, meaning night parrot), Strigops habroptila (Gray, 1845), also called owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless nocturnal parrot endemic to New Zealand."
"The Kakapo is critically endangered; as of February 2010, only 122 living individuals are known, most of which have been given names.The common ancestor of the Kakapo and the genus Nestor became isolated from the remaining parrot species when New Zealand broke off from Gondwana, around 82 million years ago. Around 70 million years ago, the kakapo diverged from the genus Nestor. In the absence of mammalian predators, it lost the ability to fly."
"Because of Polynesian and European colonisation and the introduction of predators such as cats, rats, and stoats,the Kakapo was almost wiped out. Conservation efforts began in the 1890s, but they were not very successful until the implementation of the Kakapo Recovery Plan in the 1980s. As of January 2009, surviving Kakapo are kept on two predator-free islands, Codfish (Whenua Hou) and Anchor islands, where they are closely monitored."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakapo Good old wikipedia link if you'd like to have a read.


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Friends of East Rosebud Petition
Area to be designated Wild and Scenic
East Rosebud Creek in Winter
More info, pictures and comments on Friends of East Rosebud Facebook Page
Actively working to save East Rosebud Creek and other American Treasures
|Friends of East Rosebud Home Beartooth Climbing Wood & Iron Works
Petition to designate East Rosebud Creek Wild & Scenic. Vote pro Senate Bill S2393 - East Rosebud Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.Help to save East Rosebud Creek for Future Generations.
More than 1800 Signatures on petition including all large ranch owners in the area
Every voice counts. Please sign this petition and ask all your family, friends and friends of friends to sign too.
East Rosebud Creek drainage surrounded by designated wilderness is about as close to paradise as it gets. Forest Service found it eligible for Wild and Scenic River Designation for its outstanding geologic, recreational and scenic values. This pristine area was endangered by small output hydro dam projects several times in the past. A little bit of power for a lot of irreversible destruction. This site has been set up to provide information and tools for people who want to help save this paradise. If you are not familiar with the issue, you can find background information on our home page www.saveeastrosebud.org
Please fill in the template below to sign the petition to designate East Rosebud Creek Wild & Scenic and stop all future dam proposals that way. We need your e-mail, name and address for this purpose. If you want to add a comment that is even better. Your information will be kept confidential on our server. The only purpose of collecting your information is to send you updates about the ongoing project and to send a list of petition supporters to relevant decision makers with the goal of saving East Rosebud Creek in its current beautiful state. You will be able to remove your name from e-mail list and petition at any time.
Couples have two voices to oppose the dam project. Please get your significant other to sign too. You have to use a different e-mail. Otherwise the system is overriding your first entry. If you don't have a second e-mail, you can use the same name and then @woodandironworks.com (example: firstname.lastname@example.com becomes email@example.com for the spouses entry).


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Dr. Bruce Stewart of Shoreline Orthopaedics will present "Management of Elbow Injuries in Athletics" on Monday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. at the Maas Center at Hope College through the Distinguished Lecture Series in Sports Medicine.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
The address will consider both acute injuries most likely first seen in games or practice and chronic injuries more likely to be seen in the athletic training room or in the office. Conditions that Stewart will discuss will include elbow dislocations, sprains, nerve problems in and around the elbow, lateral and medial epicondylitis, radiocapitellar problems and ulnar collateral ligament tears. He will discuss the pathophysiology, physical exam findings, initial treatment, referral guidelines, surgical indications and procedures, and rehabilitation for each injury. He will give special attention to the throwing athlete, particularly baseball pitchers.
Stewart joined Shoreline Orthopaedics in August after completing a sports medicine fellowship at The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, during which his activities included providing team and game coverage for the Houston Astros, Houston Texans and Houston Dynamo, as well as the University of Houston football and basketball teams. He has conducted research and made a variety of presentations concerning orthopaedic medicine. He completed his residency and internship at NorthwesternUniversity's Feinberg School of Medicine, and his M.D. at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. He also holds an MBA from Georgetown University, and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan.
The Distinguished Lecture Series in Sports Medicine is designed for health care professionals with an interest in physically active patients, and is intended for students, educators and clinicians alike. It is co-sponsored by Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan, Shoreline Orthopaedics, Holland Hospital Rehabilitation Services and the college.
Stewart's address is the second of four lectures scheduled through the series for the 2009-10 school year. The series will continue during the spring semester with "Neuropathic Gait: 'What is it and what to do about it?,'" by Dr. James Richardson of the University of Michigan on Monday, Jan. 18; and "Patello-femoral Instability: Evaluation and Treatment," by Dr. Thomas Matelic of Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan on Monday, March 1.
Additional information about the series may be found online at https://hope.edu/academic/kinesiology/athtrain/ dlssm/index.html
The Maas Center is located at 264 Columbia Ave., on Columbia Avenue at 11th Street in Holland.


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Q AN0N: Latest New Posts – "Mistake or on purpose?"
Conversations and discussions are being held on the C-VINE News – Facebook Group Page. (Must be a member): C-VINE News Talk
I am an everyday citizen journalist Providing Q – Tips and searching out the most relevant analysis so you can clearly hear (and see) what the heck is really going on in the United States! I do the work so you don't have too. <3
Mother of five wonderful children, entrepreneur of four different businesses, and too many other interests to mention here!
"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can" ~ Danny Kaye
None of this information provided is created by me….. I am just the humble messenger. I will provide the appropriate credit whenever I am able and whenever it is known. If anyone knows who is the creator of the information above, and provides it to me, I will be more than happy to edit my information. (:
Email me: email@example.com


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I love the idea of carrying the overall design of a card to the inside of a card as well. Here is my take on the challenge...
Front of Card:
Now for the inside of my card...
The greeting on the inside of my card pops up when you open the card. I learned this fun technique from my sweet friend Jennifer McGuire in a great class over at Online Card Classes. It's called the Insider and if you're looking for more inspiration and ideas for the inside of your cards, you must check it out!
Here are the Neat and Tangled Stamps and Sequins I used on my card:
Be sure to head over to the Little Tangles Blog and submit your entry for the "inside of the card" challenge for your chance to win a stamp set of your choice.
Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!


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I am very pleased to be able to share an important update with the Sakai community regarding the ongoing efforts to create a flexible migration path from Sakai 2 to Sakai 3. I have been blogging recently [1] [2] about the development of a new Basic LTI widget for Sakai 3. This effort builds on the existing capabilities [3] of Sakai 3 which allows you to expose entire Sakai 2 sites within the Sakai 3 portal (i.e. with the addition of Sakai 3's social networking features). The next step in this hybrid evolution was to add the capability to expose individual Sakai 2 tools within Sakai 3 sites. Furthermore, since we were developing this new capability as a Sakai 3 widget, this means that an end user could place multiple Sakai 2 tools onto a single Sakai 3 page (i.e. something not currently possible in Sakai 2). This may sound like a subtle distinction, but as you will see in the embedded video it is an important distinction as it helps to break Sakai 2 tools out of their silos. Instructors can now author pages with custom workflows that may include both Sakai 2 tools and Sakai 3 widgets!
Skip to 12:30 into the video if you want to skip the summary and background…
So now we are beginning to see a migration path for existing Sakai 2 implementations that looks like:
- Sakai 2 for course sites and Sakai 3 for project sites.
- Reduced risk deployment as there is no hard dependency on Sakai 3 being available. For example, if Sakai 3 were to go down, users could easily be directed back to the Sakai 2 portal.
- Sakai 3 portal may or may not be the default portal (i.e. implementers choice).
- Placement of Sakai 2 tools alongside Sakai 3 pages within a Sakai 3 site.
- Maintains more of a Sakai 2 user experience while allowing access to Sakai 3 capabilities within a single site.
- Provides a nice transition between #1 and #3 for those that find it valuable.
- Increases risk as now users are dependent on Sakai 3 remaining available.
- Mixing and matching Sakai 2 and Sakai 3 tools all on the same Sakai 3 page within a Sakai 3 site.
- Provides the greatest flexibility for course and project site design.
- Provides the most "native" Sakai 3 user experience while maintaining access to Sakai 2 functionality.
- Custom workflows may be created with both Sakai 2 tools and Sakai 3 widgets (i.e. even if you are just exposing Sakai 2 tools, this capability does not exist in Sakai 2).
- Maintains same risk profile as #2.
- Implementer's selection…
- You do not need to think of the previous three deployment strategies as mutually exclusive or synchronous.
- You can make any or all of these solutions available to select user populations as you see fit at any time – all based on your local goals and comfort levels.
For example, one possible migration path may look like:
- Build confidence in Sakai 3 and keep risk at a minimal levels.
- Deploy Sakai 3 alongside Sakai 2 with hybrid mode enabled.
- Continue to use Sakai 2 for course sites.
- Begin to experiment with Sakai 3 portal and project sites.
- Make Sakai 3 portal available to select user populations to validate access to Sakai 3 social networking capabilities as well as access to Sakai 2 sites.
- Make Sakai 3 project sites available to select user populations.
- Make Sakai 3 portal the default portal for all users.
- Continue to use Sakai 2 for course sites.
- Expand use of Sakai 3 project sites.
- Develop fallback plan to mitigate dependency on Sakai 3 portal availability (i.e. you still have a fully functional Sakai 2 portal sitting there).
- Early adopters begin relying on Sakai 3 for course work.
- Full adoption of Sakai 3 for both course related and collaborative work.
There is a lot to consider here and to complicate matters further I predict not one migration will be identical to another. However, we hope that we have provided enough capabilities and flexibility to tailor each migration to fit the institution's needs. Furthermore, there is a lot experience in our community in this area as almost all of us have made a similar migration in the past. This time things are a little different… This time we have direct control over both systems and can make the migration smoother.
Let's continue the discussion in person at the annual conference. Christian Vuerings and I will be presenting on this topic in sessions titled "Integrating Sakai 2 and Sakai 3". There will be two regular conference sessions and a technical demonstration. See you there! L
[1] http://bit.ly/9Brbdl
[2] http://bit.ly/bXVPVI
[3] http://bit.ly/bQKjlm


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HPD: Driver flees after pinning man in nightclub lot
An SUV pinned a man against a parked car then drove away without rendering aid, said an official with Houston Police Department's traffic division.
A man was standing in the parking lot of the Principe Azul night club just before 3 a.m. in the 6400 block of Hillcroft when a tan GMC Yukon hit and pinned him against a parked car, according to an official statement.
The incident broke the victim's right leg and dislocated one of his knees.
The suspect drove away, and witnesses followed until HPD officers took the suspect into custody.
Charges were pending against the suspect, including failure to stop and render aid.


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Going into Thursday's opener against Hawaii, USC head coach Lane Kiffin declined to name a starter between a pair of sophomores, Max Wittek and Cody Kessler (pictured). Responding in kind, the quarterbacks declined to give Kiffin a reason coming out of it either.
Kessler started what turned out to be a 30-13 win for the No. 24 Trojans in the first game of the post-Matt Barkley era, giving way to Wittek after the first series of the third quarter. To say there was no separation between the two following a pair of uneven performances would be putting it mildly.
"Obviously, it's a big question," Kiffin said of the quarterback position. "There was not an obvious No. 1 out there today."
Kessler completed just 10-of-19 passes for 95 yards, one touchdown and an interception. Wittek completed half of his 10 passes for 77 yards with neither a touchdown nor an interception on the stat sheet. All told, USC signal callers combined to throw for a measely 172 yards, or what Barkley had called a good half over the past four years.
The offense managed just two touchdowns — one more than the defense scored — and three field goals against a defense that was ranked 107th in scoring at just under 36 points per game.
Kiffin, though, wasn't about to throw just his quarterbacks under the offensive bus, laying the blame for the offensive ineptness at the feet of, among others, himself.
"I didn't think we played real well there," Kiffin, who is USC's playcaller, said. "We didn't do real well around them, including myself."
As USC heads into the Pac-12 opener against Washington State next Saturday, it appears likely they'll take the same tack as this past week: play both quarterbacks, and pray that one turns into something more than they were in the opener.


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Beat Mass Effect 3. Such a glorious game and a fantastic conclusion to the series. I can now go back to defending Azeroth and Demacia.
Before you question my allegiance to the Alliance, know that it hasn't changed. I happened to be reminiscing about my experiences in Warcraft's 1, 2 and 3. Naturally, my mind drifted over to WoW and I started thinking to myself what awesome missions in the RTS games would translate as either instances or raids. Thinking about the ones presently in the game made me realize that that was a distinct lack of actual Horde storylines.
Culling of Stratholme? Original Alliance mission under Arthas dedicated to levelling the citizenry.
Escape from Durnholdee? You were playing as Alliance infiltrating Alliance camps in order to break Thrall out (I guess that's the closest one gets to Horde).
Opening the Dark Portal? Sort of independent, protecting Medivh.
Mount Hyjal? Mixed operation. Same with End Time and Hour of Twilight
Well of Eternity, I believe everyone had to play Elves.
There are so many crucial moments in the Warcraft RTS that I feel would make an awesome instance to explore. All of us players who are old enough to remember Warcraft 1 (I think I was like 6 or 7) and the subsequent releases can remember some of those chilling moments in the game where… it just got real. I think we could use some Horde representation in there too (as in, having our character models adjusted to reflect the story like how we tend to either be portrayed as humans or elves).
Lothar's Parlay
I believe this was one area of the game that received a retcon (Lore players can help me out). The original Warcraft 2 mission had Lothar get assassinated as he was on his way to negotiate with Doomhammer. But then it got changed to a death match style encounter with Doomhammer himself or that Doomhammer had help from Horde forces. If it's the latter, it would make a great instance.
Now we Alliance players know that there's no way that Doomhammer could've solo'd Lothar, right? It makes much more sense that Doomhammer wussed out and called up his cronies who just happened to be standing in the bushes nearby waiting to ambush him.
It makes sense!
Plus it gives players the chance to take on Lothar in a boss environment.
Strike at Karazhan
Lothar leads a strike team into Karazhan to kill Medivh. I think this would be a fantastic raid instance. Looking back on it, Karazhan was a pretty fun place. They can do the Stratholme treatment (take a destroyed instance and recreate it to what it looked like originally). Some of the rooms would probably have to be enlarged to accommodate 25 or so people.
Imagine fighting Moroes with 25 people.
Will pass on Chess though.
Assassination of King Llane
Oh man. I don't know if you'd plan this out as a raid or as a 5 man. Concept would your party assisting and clearing the way for Garona to infiltrate the throne room and help her take out King Llane. We can check out what Old Stormwind looked like without all the canals and stuff.
Breaking Illidan out of the Watchers prison – An escort instance similar to Durnholde. You'd need to infiltrate the Watchers prison and bust him out.
Andorhal – Memory's fuzzy here, but there was an Undead level in Warcraft 3 where Arthas killed Uther.
Theramore – The Horde mini-campaign in the Frozen Throne had the final level where Rexxar and the Horde assaulted Theramore to subdue Admiral Proudmoore.
I'm not as familiar with the universe in the books or in the comics, but I can't help but wonder if there's any moments that in any of them that might translate well into the game.
Whatever the case, here's to having more Caverns of Time stuff in Mists! They're starting to run out of room in there actually. I wonder when they're going to create another floor. It's about time the Bronze Dragonflight did some renovating.


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Show all results for Estimated Best Efforts for Runs
Show a list of all Estimated Best Efforts for run - 1st, 2nd and 3rd best. Currently, only the fastest Estimated Best Effort for each distance is displayed on the Profile Page.
Original post:
Is it possible to view all the personal performance records on one page, I assume so, but where to find this option escapes me? Under stats, it only lists 3 items at a time.
|Best 1k
|Best 1 mile
|Best 5k


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Quilt Cushion - Dark Grey - 40 x 25
In a mix of natural wool and polyamide known for its stretchy abilities, the Quilt Cushion presents the softest feeling. The material is complemented by a geometric pattern made by the 3D effect knitted fabric, giving your sofa, chair or bed an exclusive modern look. The brass zipper and rivet adds a final touch to this cushion. With a selection of 9 different colours in an inspiring palette ranging from grey tones to bolder hues, each one available in three different sizes, there are plenty of possible combination for you to handpick your favourites.
Colour: Dark Grey
Size: W: 40 x H: 25 cm
Material: Cover: 75% wool and 25% polyamide. Brass zipper Inside of cover: 100% polyester


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Bill Gates has a Project Syndicate piece up that, in the context of discussing Nina Munk's book The Idealist, argues in favor of Jeffrey Sachs' importance and relevance to contemporary development.
I'm going to leave aside the overarching argument of the piece. Instead, I want to focus on a small passage that, while perhaps a secondary point to Gates, strikes me as a very important lesson that he fails to apply to his own foundation (though to be fair, this is true of most people working in development).
Gates begins by noting that Sachs came to the Gates Foundation to ask for MVP funding, and lays out the fundamental MVP pitch for a "big push" of integrated interventions that crossed health, agriculture, and education sectors that Sachs was selling:
[Sachs'] hypothesis was that these interventions would be so synergistic that they would start a virtuous upward cycle and lift the villages out of poverty for good. He felt that if you focus just on fertilizer without also addressing health, or if you just go in and provide vaccinations without doing anything to help improve education, then progress won't be sustained without an endless supply of aid.
This is nothing more than integrated development, and it makes sense. But, as was predicted, and as some are now demonstrating, it did not work. In reviewing what happened in the Millennium Villages that led them to come up short of expectations, Gates notes
MVP leaders encouraged farmers to switch to a series of new crops that were in demand in richer countries – and experts on the ground did a good job of helping farmers to produce good crop yields by using fertilizer, irrigation, and better seeds. But the MVP didn't simultaneously invest in developing markets for these crops. According to Munk, "Pineapple couldn't be exported after all, because the cost of transport was far too high. There was no market for ginger, apparently. And despite some early interest from buyers in Japan, no one wanted banana flour." The farmers grew the crops, but the buyers didn't come.
But then Gates seems to glide over a really key question: how could a smart, well-intentioned man miss the mark like this? Worse, how could a leading economist's project blow market engagement so badly? Gates' throwaway argument is "Of course, Sachs knows that it's critical to understand market dynamics; he's one of the world's smartest economists. But in the villages Munk profiled, Sachs seems to be wearing blinders." This is not an explanation for what happened, as telling us Sachs suffered from blinders is simply restating the obvious. The real issue is the source of these blinders.
The answer is, to me, blindingly obvious. The MVP, like most development interventions, really never understood what was going on in the villages targeted for intervention. Sure, they catalogued behaviors, activities, and outcomes…but there was never any serious investigation into the logic of observed behaviors. Instead, the MVP, like most development interventions, was rife with assumptions about the motivations of those living in Millennium Villages that produced these observed activities and outcomes, assumptions that had little to do with the actual logic of behavior. The result was interventions that implicitly infantilized the Millennium villagers by providing interventions that implicitly assumed, for example, that the villagers had not considered the potential markets for new and different crops/products. Such interventions assume ignorance as the driver of observed behaviors, instead of the enormously complex decision-making that underlies everyday lives and livelihoods in even the smallest village.
To give you an idea of what I mean, take a look at the following illustrations of the complexity of livelihoods decision-making (these are from my forthcoming article on applying the Livelihoods as Intimate Government approach in Applied Geography – a preprint is here).
First, we have #1, which illustrates the causes behind observed decisions captured by most livelihoods frameworks. In short, this is what most contemporary development planning gets to, at best.
However, this is a very incomplete version of any individual's decision-making reality. #2 illustrates the wider range of factors shaping observed decisions that become visible through multiscalar analysis that nests particular places in wider networks of economic, environment, and politics. Relatively few applications of livelihoods frameworks approach this level of complexity, and those that do tend to consider the impacts of markets on particular livelihoods and places.
While this is better than the overly-simplistic framing of decisions in #1, it is still incomplete because motivations are not, themselves, discrete. #3 illustrates the complex web of factors, local and extralocal, and the ways in which these factors play off of one another at multiple scales, different times, and in different situations.
When we seek to understand why people do what they do (and do not do other things), this is the complexity with which we must engage.
This is important, because were Gates to realize that this was the relevant point of both Munk's book and his own op-ed, he might better understand why his own foundation has
many projects…that have come up short. It's hard to deliver effective solutions, even when you plan for every potential contingency and unintended consequence. There is a natural tendency in almost any kind of investment – business, philanthropic, or otherwise – to double down in the face of difficulty. I've done it, and I think most other people have too.
So, what do you do? Well, we have an answer: The Livelihoods as Intimate Government approach we use at HURDL (publications here and here, with guidance documents coming later in the summer) charts an analytic path through this level of complexity. Before the usual objections start.
1) We can train people to do it (we are doing so in Mali as I write this). You don't need a Ph.D. in anthropology to use our approach.
2) It does not take too much time. We can implement at least as fast as any survey process, and depending on spatial focus and resources, can move on a timeframe from weeks to two months.
3) It is not too expensive – qualitative researchers are not expensive, and we do not require high-end equipment to do our work.
The proof is in the reactions we are getting from our colleagues. Here in Mali, I now have colleagues from IER and agricultural extension getting fired up about our approach as they watch the data coming in during our pilot phase. They are stunned by how much data we can collect in a short period of time, and how relevant the data is to the questions at hand because we understand what people are already doing, and why they are doing it. By using this approach, and starting from the assumption that we must understand what people are doing and why before we move to interventions, we are going to lay the foundation for more productive interventions that minimize the sorts of "surprise" outcomes that Gates references as an explanation for project failure.
There are no more excuses for program and project design processes that employ the same limited methods and work from the same problematic assumptions – there are ways to do it differently. But until people like Gates and Sachs reframe their understanding of how development should work, development will continue to be plagued by surprises that aren't all that surprising.


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Romance appears to reign supreme in Kingston.
The eastern Ontario city takes the crown on the third annual list of the 20 most romantic cities in Canada.
For a second consecutive year, Guelph, Ont., landed in the runner-up spot in the rankings by Amazon.ca, while Kelowna, B.C., came in third place.
They're followed by Oakville, Ont., Victoria, Saskatoon, Regina, Calgary, Kamloops, B.C., and St. John's, N.L.
Rounding out the top 20 are: Richmond Hill, Ont., Red Deer, Alta., Langley, B.C., and Winnipeg, followed by five Ontario cities — Burlington, Thunder Bay, Barrie, Brantford and London — and Burnaby, B.C.
The online retailer bases its list by comparing sales data of romance novels, sex and relationship books, romantic comedy DVDs and CDs by Canadian crooner Michael Buble since Jan. 1 on a per capita basis in cities with more than 80,000 residents.


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BookMusings: (Re)Discovering Pagan Literature
A lively discussion of ancient and modern Pagan literature -- including children's books, graphic novels, science fiction, fantasy, and mysteries -- along with interviews, author highlights, and profiles of Pagan publishers.
Rant: On Witches, Fantasy, and Christian Cosmology
I don't often rant. I prefer to praise and celebrate and point people in the direction of excellent literature (or at least entertaining literature). But I feel the need to rant.
First, a bit of background. While I read almost every genre of fiction, I tend to read more fantasy and science fiction than any other type. There's nothing quite like escaping into an exciting, terrifying world of monsters and warriors and wild Gods. I especially enjoy a good witch story: powerful, kick-butt women are awesome. (Not that the witch has to be good, just the story. Ethically ambiguous characters often make the most interesting protagonists.)
Unfortunately -- here comes the rant -- the overwhelming majority of fantasy out there is based on a pseudo-Christian cosmology. One supreme, omnipresent, omniscient God; hosts of angels; hordes of demons; and (sometimes) Lucifer. And, in the middle of that mix is a witch or two or three, bolding fighting on the side of Good, occasionally falling into bed with a super-sexy angel or demon.
I'm tired of it. I want to read a good fantasy (epic, dark, urban, whatever) starring an awesome, amazing witch that is based on some mythology other than that of a pseudo-Christianity.* I want to read an epic fantasy about a nahualli set in a magical Aztec Empire. I want to read a dark fantasy starring a kitsune-tsuki in Occupied Japan. I want to read an urban fantasy about an inyanga in modern-day Johannesburg. Maybe a nice sword-and-sandal epic centered around a Roman lamia, or a good science-fantasy set on a world colonized by Wiccans.
In all fairness, there are some fantasy novels and series out there which deal with other-than-Christian mythologies. Keven Hearne's The Iron Druid Chronicles is a good example. Hearts of Chaos by Kira Brady includes Norse, Native American and Sumerian mythologies. Lily Ivory, the protagonist in Juliet Blackwell's Witchcraft Mystery series, is a hereditary witch of Aztec, Mexican and European descent. And the Cainsville books by Kelley Armstrong center in the fae lore of the British Isles. But they are too few.
Magic and those who use it are understood in different ways in cultures around the world. They might be benevolent or malevolent, selfish or altruistic, deeply devotional or agnostic, healers or diviners or warriors, and everything in between. I am tired of one kind of witch (and it's almost always that word) fighting the same good versus evil battle over and over again. I want variety! I want something new!
You hear that, all you Pagan and polytheist and Pagan-friendly writers out there? Gimme stories!
* For a Pagan twist on Christian cosmology, check out Joey W Hill's In the Company of Witches and Something About Witches; and Erzabet Bishop's Sigil Fire. Hill's duology is set in a universe maintained by God, Goddess and Lucifer. Bishop's book features angels and demons, but Lilith and Hekate also play important roles in the story.
Thursday, 03 July 2014
You may also enjoy the "Change Series" by S.M. Stirling. The first book is "Dies the Fire". http://www.amazon.com/Dies-Fire-A-Novel-Change/dp/0451460413/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404414828&sr=8-1&keywords=dies+the+fire· Heather McGuirk likes this comment.
Thursday, 03 July 2014
Dies the Fire is AWESOME. I hadn't even thought of that one. ^_^
Friday, 04 July 2014
Oddly, it's not a series I ever would have found on my own. A co-worker of mine lent me Dies the Fire because it features mounted archery and she knew I practice mounted archery (my wallpaper on my computer at work at that time was a photo of me shooting off horseback). The book sat on my desk for a couple of weeks before I actually picked it up and looked at it. I flipped it open and read the acknowledgements where the author thanks both Kassai Lajos and Lukas Novotny for their assistance with the mounted archery portions and I knew I had to read it at that point. In the photo that inspired her to lend me the book, I was riding Lukas's horse and shooting a bow made by Kassai. It felt like one of those moments where someone was trying to tell me something· Rebecca Buchanan likes this comment.
Friday, 04 July 2014
@Lisa: yeah, Stirling's series has been on my To Read list for a while. According to an interview by Cara Schulz that I recently read, the next book in the series ("The Golden Princess") is supposed to be a good jumping on point for people who have not read the other books. It even features a Hellenic Pagan. I may give that a shot.
Friday, 04 July 2014
Yes, I agree that would be a good "jumping on point" as it's really about the generation that was born after the Change and goes in a whole new direction. However, I would also strongly to encourage you to start with Dies the Fire. I think to really "know" the world he has created you need to start where "it" started and see how that world evolved.
Thursday, 03 July 2014
I agree with your sentiments over all. You may also like Juliet Marillier's work and Kate Forsyth's Witches of Eileanan series. Marillier is a member of The Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids. I'm not sure if Forsyth is a Pagan at all, but her series contains a lot of elements from Wicca.
Thursday, 03 July 2014
You should read my dark fantasy novels, Suffer the Witch Vol.1, Rise of the Raven Knights and Vol. 2, The Dragon-Wizard's Crystal Skull. The good guys are brother and sister witches that lead an order of undead knights and the bad guys are led by a wicked female witch with ambitions of world domination. And they all kick ass!
Friday, 04 July 2014
@Paul: found it. Thanks for the suggestion.
Thursday, 03 July 2014
Mmhmmm agree with this fully. I'd also be supremely happy with more non-romance paranormal/witchy/pagan/urban fantasy-fiction. Have you ever tried to google for that sort of thing, makes me want to scratch my eyes out. Best I have found so far are the witch-detective type ones, Rowan Gant series and Ophelia and Abby series. I've been too scared to try any of the other "suggestions" I get.
Friday, 04 July 2014
@Bekah: If you are looking for non-romance fantasy/urban fantasy/paranormal titles, I can recommend a few. There is "Deadly Curiosities" by Gail Z Martin (urban fantasy with platonic protagonists); "Clean Sweep" by Ilona Andrews (science-fantasy); "Dirty Magic" by Jaye Wells (urban fantasy); the "Emperor's Edge" series by Lindsey Buroker (epic fantasy); "Imaro" by Charles Saunders (African-based epic fantasy); "Trio of Sorcery" by Mercedes Lackey (good urban fantasy anthology); "Unquenchable Fire" by Rachel Pollack; and the "Young Wizards" series by Diane Duane (technically YA, but sill fun).
Friday, 04 July 2014
One shouldn't fear something new. My Suffer the Witch series is far from paranormal romance/urban fantasy fare. Its a R-rated thriller from the word go. It represents paganism and Wicca well, in a way only a pagan could. Writing it helped me grow in many ways, personally, as a writer, as a researcher and as a witch. My works are fiction, yes, but they are very dark, and contain no bs or stereotyping.
Friday, 04 July 2014
@Clark: adding de Lint to my To Read list. My ever-growing, never-shrinking To Read list .... Which is a good thing! Really!
Friday, 04 July 2014
@J'Karrah: found it! It's available through B&N, too. Thanks for the recommendation.
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Also - I managed to forget my memory card - so there are NO pictures of the majority of the holiday weekend. Ya. Fail. I did steal this one from my dad though...
BUT ANYWAY - Christmas morning dawn bright and early, and the boys had a great time ripping into their gifts.
this mower - for anyone interested). It was a great Christmas, albeit very different now that we live up here. It felt...weird.
We are currently in the doldrums of the post-holiday slump, the decorations are down, its freezing outside, and we are all sick. Bleh. I would fast-forward to April right now if I could. How about you? Are you still riding the holiday high? Or are you in the winter slump as well?


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By JEFF PICKELL
"They say there's no such thing as ghosts, Jeff," my father explained. "But ghosts are real."
I was about seven years old and we had just finished watching "2001: A Space Odyssey," which is a rather innocuous, if not thoroughly boring, movie for adult Jeff. But that weird bubble baby thing at the end of it creeped seven-year-old Jeff right out of the house.
"Is he a ghost now?" I asked of the astronaut dressed in red.
"No, he's fine. The astronaut was transported home, safe and sound, and that weird baby thing was completely unrelated," would have been the appropriate response from my father.
Instead, he undertook a windy diatribe, which I scarcely understood, about how scientists scoff at the paranormal, but there's good evidence that ghosts exist. He said the bubble thing was the soul of a new child traveling to Earth and explained at length the myriad evidence for the existence of the soul.
I trembled long into the night, convinced the dim ochre and magenta waves fluttering behind my closed eyes were the souls of babies on their way to their mothers' tummies.
Nowadays, I'm not so inclined to believe that ghosts are real, but that doesn't mean I'm impervious to the occasional creep out. As a matter of principle, I don't dare step into a graveyard at night, I try to avoid dark forests, and the basement of the Observer office is strictly off-limits after sunset—I defy you to find a creepier place than that dank old basement.
I know these frightened impulses are foolish. Zombies aren't going to come clawing their way out of burial plots, the most dangerous thing in the woods is probably a sick coyote, and the beast in the basement is easily bribed. Still, what is it about spooky things that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up?
The one time I could've actually encountered a real-life ghost wasn't spooky at all. My family was spending a weekend at Oxbow, an ancient hunting and fishing club my dad has a stake in. The main clubhouse is a creaking two-story cabin filled with photos of legendary dead fishermen holding the legendary dead fish they had caught. Sometimes the men are pictured smiling, but often their expressions suggest their bounty would still be alive if it weren't such a smart aleck.
All the men sleep in a room full of bunks on the clubhouse's second floor, and on the night in question, I was the last to bed. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and forgot to close the door, but it wasn't a big deal because we were the only family there that weekend and my dad and brothers were already snoring, shielded from the bathroom light by a row of lockers.
However, mid-brush, the light mysteriously went out. The light bulb died, right? Wrong. Someone—or some...thing—had physically moved the switch to the off position. I had no idea how it could've happened. My brothers—swift and nimble though theys may be—are not built for stealth. My dad's joints rattle more than a rusty truck.
I messed around with the switch for a good 20 minutes, but still couldn't recreate a situation in which it could go from "on" to "off" all on its own. It sounds nuts, but the only explanation for the light going out that I can imagine is the ghost of some grumpy fisherman got ticked off that I didn't close the door, climbed out of bed, stomped over to the bathroom, and angrily slapped the switch down.
"Dumb kid," I picture him muttering.
I know, it's not your typical ghost story—"real life" ghost yarns usually involve strange noises or flickering apparitions and they're spooky all around. I was more befuddled than spooked.
Lying in bed, it dawned on me. Ghosts don't have to be spooky. There's no reason why a ghost can't carry on a sensible existence—rising in the morning, moping around whichever edifice or area they've decided to inhabit, and going to bed at a decent hour.
And is it too much to ask to close the bathroom door when you go in there to brush your teeth?
If I'm ever a ghost, that's the kind I'd be. I like company, so I wouldn't mind sharing my living (deading?) space with the living and I'm too lazy to be mean-spirited.
I can't say the same for the beast in the basement. Anything that decides to haunt a place like that must have been a sourpuss when it was alive.– March 7, 2007


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Have you heard about the so-called skills gap?
That's the cute term for the notion that employers have jobs, but just can't find people with the right education or abilities to fill them. (We journalists love cute terms such as "skills gap." Like "fiscal cliff" and "mancession," it's catchy headline shorthand for a pretty serious issue).


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Karen Kasmauski/Science Faction/Corbis
HIV is finally revealing its weak spots to researchers, bringing an effective vaccine against AIDS closer to reality.
A paper published in Nature today1 sheds light on how a vaccine can turn the immune system against the invading virus and so offer protection from infection. The results are also being presented at the AIDS Vaccine 2012 conference in Boston, Massachusetts, this week.
The findings help to explain the results from a clinical trial of an AIDS vaccine that have puzzled researchers since they were published three years ago2. The trial, called RV144, was the first to score a success and see a reduction in HIV infections. But the vaccine's relatively low response rate of 31% left researchers scratching their heads.
A clue emerged last year with the revelation that those who responded to the vaccine and fended off HIV tended to produce antibodies against a specific part of the virus's protein shell called the V1/V2 loop3. The study published today goes a stage further, showing that the people who were vaccinated yet still contracted HIV had been infected by viruses that had mutations in the the V2 portion.
"This is a really good paper," says Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in Bethesda, Maryland. "It adds to the growing body of information indicating that an immune response against components of the V1/V2 loop is important in vaccine-induced protection against infection."
The team behind the study was led by Morgane Rolland and Jerome Kim at the US Military HIV Research Program in Silver Spring, Maryland. They examined 936 HIV sequences collected from 44 trial participants who received the vaccine and became infected, and 66 people who got the placebo. The trial was randomized, so any systematic differences in the viral DNA sequences between the two groups will be due to selective pressure by the vaccine in favour of viruses that do not match the vaccine, Rolland says.
The team identified two mutations that seemed to be linked to vaccination success. Both were located in the V2 region of the V1/V2 loop. Rolland and Kim's team compared the rates of infection with viruses whose sequence varied at these two sites between people who received the vaccine and those who got a placebo. People who received the vaccine were 80% less likely to be infected by viruses with these mutations, compared to people who got a placebo. The implication is that the vaccine triggered an immune response that prevented certain viruses from infecting them, and only viruses with different sequences at those two sites had a good chance of creating an infection.
Another study, led by researchers at NIAID, to be presented at the vaccine conference this week analysed the molecular structure of antibodies from the blood of vaccinated people and found that some of their antibodies recognized the same amino acids in the V2 region.
The question facing vaccine developers now is how to improve the response against V2. A vaccine similar to that used in RV144 is set to be tested in South Africa and among men who have sex with men in Thailand in two trials that will begin around 2014. Scientists hope that giving a booster within a year of the first jab and a new adjuvant will lead to a stronger and longer-lasting response against HIV and its V2 region, says Kim who is helping to design the trials.
Mounting a response against V2 "isn't the whole answer to vaccine protection", says Fauci, but "you can be darn sure people are going to figure out how to rev it up".
- Journal name:
- Nature
- doi:10.1038/nature.2012.11380


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Kate G: Yes, We Get It (You Need the $$, You Were Mean to Jon) But Please, We've Heard It So MANY Times Before!
The second portion of Kate's two-part interview aired this morning on the Today Show and Kate clearly felt that she had to defend herself — for the zillionth time — against Jon's accusations that she's an 'absentee' mom.
Kate Gosselin, you completely let your guard down this morning, Apr. 14 when you were talking to Today Show host Meredith Vieira about remaining in the world of reality TV and your divorce with your ex-husband Jon Gosselin.
Kate went on to defend herself again in regards to Jon's comments about her being an "absentee mom." Kate tells Meredith that filming reality shows and being on DWTS is the only way to support her kids. "I don't see another option — I have eight children to provide for," she says. "This is a great opportunity. It's certainly not going to cut the mustard working 12-hour shifts, six days a week, as a nurse." We completely understand — especially since Kate is the primary income earner in their household. Jon has been out of a job for months and as far as we know has nothing in the works.
Kate's been criticized for being too hard on her now ex-husband Jon Gosselin when the two of them were on TLC reality show Jon & Kate Plus Eight. But in the second portion of this interview she admitted she's hurt those around her. "I learned that in the heat of the moment I have a sharp tongue," says Kate. "And looking back there are probably a lot of people that I love that I probably spoke to inappropriately. Those are the people that are beside you to support you and love you (she says emotionally). I've really learned to watch what I say."
While Kate is out promoting her book I Just Want You To Know which hit bookstores Apr. 13 her brother Kevin Kreider testified against her in a legislative hearing citing Kate is damaging her eight children psychologically and that she's basically exploiting her kids for money.
But TLC spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg disagrees "These allegations are either completely inaccurate or a distorted representation for maximum attention."
Surprisingly, even Jon took to his Twitter page Apr. 14 to defend Kate! "Kate and I were doing what was best for our family," he tweets. "And it [Jon & Kate Plus 8] gave us an opportunity to spend quality family time together."
All eight children were given child-labor permits today and no legal action will be taken against Kate or TLC. It looks like the kids are in the clear to keep filming their upcoming shows Twist of Kate and Kate Plus 8.
– Chloe Melas
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Read More on Kate and Her Side of the Story:
- 'DWTS' Judge Bruno Calls Kate Gosselin's Dancing 'Crap'! It's His 2nd Attack in 2 Days!
- WATCH THIS! Jimmy Fallon Makes Fun of Kate Gosselin's Crappy Routine On 'Dancing With the Stars!'
- Shocker! Jon & Kate Gosselin– Back Together!
- SHOCKER! Kate's Putting the Gosselings Back on TVon 'Kate Plus 8′! How's Jon Going To Feel About This?


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Crème Bralée Launches "Pin It To Win It" Valentine's Day Contest
"Everyone will interpret #HaveYourCake differently. Is it Sweet? Erotic? Lustful? Passionate? Alluring? This contest gives entrants the opportunity to reveal their own personality and desires in interpreting this theme."
For the woman that wants it all, Crème Bralée Lingerie is giving away a lingerie set valued up to $65 through the brand's new "Pin it to Win It" Valentine's Day Pinterest Contest staring today and running through February 4, 2014. Fans of the sexy, full-busted brand have the opportunity to express their originality by creating a dedicated Pinterest board representing the theme #HaveYourCake.
On February 4th, the brand's designer, Liz Marrell, will select one winner to receive a Crème Bralée set (valued up to $65 USD.) The winner will receive her new lingerie set just in time for the hottest holiday of the year — Valentine's Day!
Everyone will interpret #HaveYourCake differently. Is it Sweet? Erotic? Lustful? Passionate? Alluring? Full of Fascination and Fantasy? Intriguing? This contest gives entrants the opportunity to reveal their own personality and desires in interpreting this theme. The brand itself offers imagery to inspire and motivate entrants to explore their own vision of having it all.
"Crème Bralée is available in those hard-to-find sizes of 32-46, C-G cup."
"Have Your Cake" can mean many things, sweet, erotic, lustful, passionate, fantasy, etc. To me, the well known phrase, 'Have your cake and eat it too', can be positively empowering- being able to do what you want when you want, especially on Valentine's Day," says Crème Bralée's Design and Creative Director, Liz Marrell. "Go on a romantic date or have a girls night out. Buy lingerie for someone else or wear it for yourself – you can be your own Valentine if you desire! Also, desserts and lingerie have always gone hand in hand on V-Day. I post a weekly 'Better Than Sex Dessert' photo every week on our social media and I'd love to see what everyone comes up with for Valentine's Day."
Crème Bralée was created by Q-T Intimates, makers of fine lingerie for over 68 years, to fill a void in plus sized market and offer a fashion-forward line of bras and panties available in an extensive size range, full-busted and full-figured women will have no problem filling their wardrobes with the lingerie they've been lusting over. Crème Bralée is available in those hard-to-find sizes of 32-46, C-G cup.
"Our Crème Bralée collection offers an amazing assortment – inspired by luxury and opulence. We concentrated on the details of styling and fit and had every woman's shape and need in mind when designing the fabulous new line," said Meryl Kutzin, VP of Merchandising. "Each piece celebrates a shapely and curvy figure."
Contest Rules
To enter Crème Bralée Pinterest contest, please follow these simple guidelines:
Log on to www.facebook.com/cremebralee and LIKE the Crème Bralée page.
Create your own Pinterest Board with the theme #HaveYourCake and title it Crème Bralée. Your Board must contain a minimum of 12 "Pins." Be as creative as you can!
Post the link to your Crème Bralée Pinterest Board on Crème Bralée's Facebook Page between today and February 4, 2014. (Feel free to tell us a bit about your vision and/or inspiration when posting your link.)
Where possible, use the hashtag #HaveYourCake.
Only ONE entry per person.
Please use wise discretion. Do not include pornographic or violent images in your Crème Bralée Pinterest Board. You can "push the envelope," but please don't go over the edge. Since this is subjective, if you need clarification, please contact us before posting your board.
Boards which are deemed pornographic or violent will be deleted from Crème Bralée Facebook page and the entrant will be disqualified from the contest.
Eligibility Requirements:
Must be age 18 or older
Must currently reside in the United States & U.S. territories, Canada, or the United Kingdom.
Must not currently be an employee of Crème Bralée, their immediate families, marketing / pr affiliates or third party suppliers.
The Prize:
The Crème Bralée team will judge the submissions and select the winner.
Winner will be selected on or about February 8, 2014.
Winner will be contacted via Facebook message.
Winner must respond to confirm acceptance of the Prize no later than February 9, 2014.
Winner selection is final.
There will be only 1 (one) winner.
Winner will be announced on Crème Bralée's Facebook Page no later than February 9, 2014.
Winner will receive a Crème Bralée lingerie set (valued up to $65).
Prize will be shipped via USPS, UPS or FEDEX and is expected to reach the winner no later than February 14, 2014.
Returns will not be accepted unless the product is damaged/defective.
About Crème Bralée
Launched in late 2013, Crème Bralée Lingerie is an intimates collection designed for the full-busted, curvy woman and offers retailers an extensive size range of fashion-forward bras and panties at competitive price points.


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It creeps up on you as you sit at your desk. You yawn, scan the web, check Facebook but still the ennui lingers. At some point almost every day we feel bored, at least for a little while. We've all experienced that feeling of listlessness, but what is boredom? Is it not having something exciting to do? Is it being unable to pay attention to what you're doing?
One team of Canadian researchers was apparently interested enough in boredom to find out.
"Intuitively, it is pretty clear that boredom is a common human experience and little research has been done to bear out that fact," says John Eastwood, an associate professor of psychology at York University in Toronto.
Eastwood and his colleagues observed that people believe boredom relates to their environment: We think if a lecture or a conversation is boring, we can simply change topics to avoid the dullness.
"We attribute [boredom] with problems in the environment rather than the problems with ourselves," explains co-researcher Mark Fenske, associate professor of neuroscience and applied cognitive science at the University of Guelph and co-author of the book, "The Winner's Brain."
But boredom might have more to do with us than uninspired surroundings.
Eastwood and Fenske reviewed descriptions of boredom from existentialist philosophy, psychology and literature and also conducted a study with subjects, where they described how they feel when experiencing ennui. The researchers then crafted a definition encompassing the overlapping ideas from the literature and study. Boredom occurs when we have trouble paying attention to internal and external stimuli needed to enjoy an activity, we realize we struggle to pay attention, and we blame the environment for our lack of enjoyment.
"Our approach is to link [boredom] to attention," says Fenske. "The fact that we're able to talk about boredom in terms of attention [means] we've already changed the focus."
Framing ennui in terms of attention is significant because psychologists know how treat attention problems, meaning experts can help people experiencing chronic boredom.
Fenske and Eastwood agree that most people think of boredom as trivial and commonplace, perhaps it's why researchers haven't studied it. But boredom can be a sign of more serious problems.
"Boredom can have some horrible effects and we see it associated with pathological states. [There's a] strong association with depression and boredom and traumatic brain injury and boredom," notes Fenske. He adds that drug and alcohol abuse counselors know that patients relapse when faced with boredom.
"I think that you can think about it in two ways … boredom is related to addiction, gambling, eating problems … or you can think of chronic, protracted boredom as a problem in its own right," Eastwood says.
While friends often tease the researchers about their boring research, the two believe their findings provide new areas of study.
"I have no data to support this, but I speculate that people might experience a lot of boredom in modern times because we are experiencing intense entertainment. We're used to being passively entertained and that constant stimulation puts us at risk for [more] boredom in the future," Eastwood says.
The paper, "The Unengaged Mind: Defining Boredom in Terms of Attention," appeared in Perspectives on Psychological Science.
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