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Facilitating the spread of knowledge and innovation in professional software development
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Kavya Joshi explores when and why locks affect performance, delves into Go's lock implementation as a case study, and discusses strategies one can use when locks are actually a problem.
Bernd Rücker talks to Wesley Reisz about Microservice Orchestration, CQRS and Event Sourcing
Petrica Voicu and Kenneth Kang talk about Hera (High Efficiency Reliable Access to data stores) – an open-source in the Go programming language – and how it helps PayPal to manage database access and deal with issues. Hera scales thousands of PayPal's applications with connection multiplexing, read-write split, and sharding.
Yes, online meetings should result in outcomes; they should follow agendas or meeting plans and should be run efficiently. But, there is an aspect of remote team meetings that often gets overlooked—the opportunity to strengthen relationships with our team members.
The book Continuous Delivery in Java by Daniel Bryant and Abraham Marin-Perez was released nearly ten years after the original Continuous Delivery book by Dave Farley and Jez Humble, and more than 20 years after Java's first release.
Q&A with the authors to better understand from their experience why a book on Continuous Delivery specifically for Java and the JVM ecosystem was needed.
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Record-Courier staff report
The 5th Annual Gene P. DeAngelis/Ronald O. Starks Memorial Fundraiser Basketball game has been scheduled for Nov. 23 at the Ravenna High School, with the game benefitting a pair of scholarships that will be awarded to at least two Ravenna High School senior student-athletes at the end of the 2013 school year.
Through the past four years of the basketball game fundraiser, scholarship money awarded has totaled $5,000 to deserving RHS students.
This year's event will begin at 5:30 p.m., when former alumni varsity basketball players hit the floor, then the night will feature a special appearance by the Brown Middle School boys seventh and eighth grade teams playing at 6:30 p.m.
The showcase game of the night will begin at 7:30 p.m. and will feature the returning Class of 2007 team playing against this year's edition of the Ravens boys varsity basketball team.
The game has turned into a thriller the previous four years and is a fun-filled evening that supports a great cause.
The night will include concessions, prizes, silent auction baskets, 50-50 raffle, along with performances by the high school's band and cheerleaders. Donation for this event for the evening is $2 for students and $4 for adult.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Why won't Disco die? Might it contain hidden depths? Politically correct revisionists are trying to recast disco as a misunderstood culture of protest. Through interviews with Gloria Gaynor, The Village People, Kool and the Gang and others, along with a goldmine of stock footage and speculative reenactments, The Secret Disco Revolution presents a comic-ironic investigation into disco and its mysterious longevity.


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My love affair with chicken adobo dates back to 2005. A friend who was born and raised in Guam had made dinner one night and served up a rustic-looking and extremely fragrant chicken dish. I had never eaten or even heard of chicken adobo before. But one bite of the juicy dark meat with all its tanginess, sweetness, and soy-sauce-savoriness and I was hooked.
I begged my friend teach it to me the following night. And then proceeded to make chicken adobo at least once a week for the next 2 years.
Over the years, I've made chicken adobo countless times, tweaking it along the way until I found a go-to version, changing it up with pork on a few occasions. But it wasn't until I went to Purple Yam, a Filipino restaurant in Brooklyn, a couple of months ago that I tried coconut chicken adobo. The sauce was darkened by soy sauce, very tangy and garlicky, a tiny bit spicy, with a faint coconut flavor. It was delicious, and it took a lot of restraint for my friends and I to not put in another order.
Now, there are countless ways to cook chicken adobo in the Philippines, and everyone who makes it has a strong opinion of how to cook it and what should go in it. Should there be coconut milk and/or soy sauce, and if so, how much? Should the meat become crispy via deep-frying, pan-searing, or broiling, or not even get crisp at all? And what about sugar? Even with vinegar, the one constant sauce ingredient, should it be coconut sap, rice, cider, or white distilled?
Of course, after the dinner at Purple Yam, I couldn't not try coconut chicken adobo at home. For the sauce, I decided to make it more coconut-ty by using almost a full can of coconut milk, which gave the braising liquid just enough sweetness for my tastes without needing to add sugar. I used fish sauce for its earthy flavor (though soy sauce can be a substitute) and opted for a light amount of garlic. I also added some paprika and cayenne for a subtle smokiness and color.
I 've always seared the chicken at the beginning of cooking, but this time I pan-seared it at the end. It requires a little more effort, as you need to dry the chicken well or else the oil will spit, but the extra crispy skin is well worth it. (You can also transfer the chicken to a roasting pan and crisp it up under a broiler.)
I love the coconut flavor from this dish, and will definitely use it in place of my regular chicken adobo recipe from time to time. Try this out, and let me know how you like it. And if you have your own way of making chicken adobo, especially if it's an old family recipe, please share in the comments!
Coconut Chicken Adobo
Serves 4
- 2 1/2 pounds (about 8 pieces) bone-in chicken thighs with skin
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce, or substitute soy sauce
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 bay leaf
- 3/4 cup thick coconut milk
- 1/2 teaspoon ground paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil.
- In a Dutch oven, pot, or deep sauté pan, combine the chicken with the vinegar, water, fish sauce, garlic and bay leaf. (The liquid should almost cover the chicken. If not, add a bit more water.) Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Allow the chicken to simmer, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes, until tender but not falling off the bone.
- With a slotted spoon, remove the chicken from the braising liquid and transfer to a plate. Blot very well with paper towels. Turn the heat up and reduce until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes more). Stir in the coconut milk, paprika, cayenne, and pepper.
- Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat the base. Add the chicken pieces and sear until golden brown and crispy, about 2 minutes on each side (carefully, if there is excess moisture from the chicken that may make the oil spit.) Return the chicken to the sauce to turn so they are coated all around. Transfer the chicken and sauce to a large serving platter or individual plates. Serve hot with a generous amount of rice on the side.


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Highlights of the World Orchestra for Peace concert in Krakow
On 1 September, 93 musicians from 74 orchestras spread over 33 countries around the world gathered together for two concerts in Krakow and Stockholm. Together, as the World Orchestra for Peace, they performed Mahler's Symphony No. 5 and the newly commissioned Prelude for Peace by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, under the baton of Russian conductor Valery Gergiev.
BBC Music Magazine travelled with the orchestra to both cities and a full feature will appear in the November issue. In the meantime, below is a three-minute extract from the Krakow concert on Tuesday held at the Church of St Peter and St Paul to mark exactly 70 years since the outbreak of the Second World War in Poland.
This concert was broadcast live both on Polish television and CNN.com
- Article Type: | News |


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San Francisco: Snapshots from the SOMA Streat Food Park
San Francisco is no stranger to street food. Ever since Off the Grid staked its claim every Friday evening in Fort Mason (and spread its pimped-out taco-trucked wings around the Bay), all a manner of mobile food vendor gatherings have sprung up in parking lots, alleyways, and shipping containers.
But the Soma Streat Food Park is aiming to be a more permanent kind of installation. Open daily for lunch (from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and dinner (5 to 10 p.m.), the Park features a rotating roster of food truck options, ample seating, and even flatscreen TVs tuned to the day or night's Giants game.
On weekends, there's beer available to drink with your street food feast, and apparently, they're working to make beer an every day thing (that's what I like to hear).
We stopped by on a recent evening and sampled as much as our bellies could hold, tasting everything from an Eritrean-style burrito to a chicken schnitzel-wich topped with honey and chicken liver shmear. Of course, the dessert options rotate as well, so you can satisfy your sweet tooth with ice cream, waffles, or even a vanilla bourbon bread pudding, depending on the day.
Check out some of the evening's hits (and some slight misses) in the slideshow >>
Follow Soma Streat Food on Twitter to see what they'll be serving up that day.
SOMA Streat Food Park
428 11th Street, San Francisco CA 94103 (map) 925-899-7979; somastreatfoodpark.com
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Russian New Year's Celebration 2014
The Russian New Year's Celebration was held on Friday, January 24, 2014 from 6:00pm-10:30pm at the Begich Middle School in Anchorage, Alaska. The Chugach Heritage Foundation sponsored the event this year with generous donations from: Chugach Alaska Corporation, Chugach Regional Resources Commission, and Kaladi Brothers Coffee. We want to thank all who contributed to the cause!
All proceeds raised by the silent auction went towards the CHF/Barney Uhart Endowment. A potluck and silent auction featuring Alaska Native artists was held before the main masking event. The Chugach region is honored again to present Alaskan Native New Year traditions. A good time was had by all and over 300 people attended.
CHF still has Russian New Year t-shirts for sale! They are all black shirts, the adult long sleeve ones are $15 each and children's short sleeve ones are $10 each. All proceeds go to CHF for scholarships. Please call Stephen Grantier at (907) 550-4535 to order one. CHF now takes credit cards!


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¡Qué vergüenza! (How embarrassing!) It's been more than two weeks since I've posted. I thought I'd have so much time to write and material to write about, but I've discovered that I'm not as disciplined about my free time as I would like to be. I've squandered my time on other things, and now I feel that inevitable end-of-summer-I-didn't-do-all-I-was-supposed-to-do blues creeping up on me. Luckily, I have a couple of weeks left of summer vacation and some time to catch up on my blog.
I've not been a total slacker. I've been devouring books and have my 12-yr old son doing the same. One of the books I had the pleasure of reading this summer was the classic To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It's been on my shelf forever and I hadn't read it in high school nor in college. (Not sure why.) At any rate, it was an excellent read, although I wish I had discovered it earlier in my life. My son and I spend many mornings talking about our books over breakfast – a new and very pleasant aspect of our relationship.
I've also spent a large part of my summer experimenting with Web 2.0 tools and networking. There is so much out there, I've often gone to bed with the sensation that my head was about to explode. Twitter has become an invaluable resource for me; I've found many great people there who I've embraced as part of my PLN (personal learning network.) In order to connect with more of mi gente, I've been a part of Twitteros.net, and recently, I joined LatinoEducators.com, a Ning dedicated to bilingual teachers and parents. These sites have provided me with much information, encouragement, and camaraderie.
Since I also like to feel like I've made something in my free time, I've been crocheting like crazy – I've got several projects underway that I work on every chance I get. On our way to and from vacation in North Carolina last week, you could find me in the passenger seat, with crochet hook and yarn in hand. There's something very soothing about crochet. I've self-prescribed it as therapy for hands that are beginning to see the effects of arthritis, and for the worries I'm feeling over a difficult time a loved-one is about to face.
Summer is a time for relaxing and reflecting, though, and I certainly did that. My down time was spent thinking about family, Wise Latinas (I aspire to be one), health, school, and what to do next. Sometimes, you've got to spend time doing nothing so you can see all the things you have yet to do, and all the ways you have yet to grow.
I did OK this summer – I did.


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X Factor recap: Ronan claims Redfoo, Natalie Bassingthwaighte aren't doing their job
Redfoo loses his first contestant as the judges go from bickering to full blown criticism of each other as two contestants prove they have gotten worse since they auditioned.
Tonight something truly radical has finally occurred on The X Factor. Someone has dared to suggest that the mentors might actually have a role in whether their contestants thrive, survive or struggle.
What's more is it's one of the mentors, Ronan "Mr Crankypants" Keating who has pointed at the elephant with a microphone in the room and said Redfoo and Natalie Bassingthwaighte aren't helping their contestants.
It's almost like he's looked at one contestant teetering around on high heels that diminish her confidence with every inch of height and another group of contestants who have not progressed at all since they arrived and decided enough is enough.
It seems Ronan's taking The X Factor very seriously this year and in his Network moment, he's mad as hell (well a little bit miffed) and he's not going to take it anymore.
First though, let's set up Ronan's moment of honesty.
The elimination night begins as ever with the remaining contestants coming together to massacre a popular song.
Tonight's victim is Pompeii, by Bastille and in a visual nod to their role as targets, the singers are all dressed like toy soldiers, or perhaps this is a well disguised Martika tribute? Either way, Jiordan starts with a solo. Dami waits a minute before showing everyone else on stage what singing looks, sounds and feels like. And the rest of the ensemble make no discernible effort to even demonstrate they are qualified to be back up singers.
Luke Jacobz then takes the trademark three and a half hours to announce who is safe, and the bottom two consists of Ellie Lovegrove and JTR.
Ellie Lovegrove - I Feel Good, James Brown
This is a really weird song choice. Frankly Ellie sounds she is twelve years old. Yes, younger even than Jai. To listen to, you'd swear Mr Brown's iconic hit was about a the sensation that comes from eating a really juicy apple.
Walking in a decidedly funny manner in her way-too-high heels, Ellie seems physically uncomfortable and it is mirrored in her performance. She seems to be walking between pre-determined marks and singing melodiously, not strutting her stuff while blasting out her tonsils to save herself.
It ends with neither a bang nor a whimper but a perfectly nice note.
If that was giving her all she seems oddly relaxed and undrained at the end.
JTR - Waiting for the World to Change, John Mayer
JTR walk on stage to a wall of Big Girlie Screaming (TM) from the crowd.
As they start, the oldest of the three brothers still seems decidedly uncomfortable on stage.
There is also a significant amount of mouthing along being done by the brothers that aren't singing. Stop that, it looks like you're a lonely guy dancing by himself in a night club.
The boys have way more energy than Ellie though and this is a good performance.
There are some really nice harmonies and this is a much better song selection as they are putting more in than expected from a Mayer melody, rather than Ellie who was chasing the shadow of James Brown.
Foo: Luke goes to Foo first who is unlikely to have trouble deciding. He commends the boys for giving what we expected while he feels Ellie gave her best performance yet. He sells her hard saying she sang "perfectly, like an angel."
Dannii: Dannii saw two great pop acts tonight, which is true, they were the guests on the show. She recalls that Ellie couldn't walk in heels when she first arrived without actually saying she can walk in them now. She says nothing about her singing. She says JTR gave what was expected (which is a bad thing) but their vocals were hot. Ellie gets the vote for the reasons unspoken.
Nat: It's all about reading between the lines. Nat is happy to say Ellie showed she is a fighter before referring to her in the past tense. Again no reference to singing. Nat says JTR gave her favourite performance yet because its been rehearsed more than the week to week songs. She votes to save her own team of course. Foo moans in the background.
Ronan: The Crankypants judge says the mentors haven't been doing their jobs in this competition if both acts gave their best efforts in these performances.
"What's interesting is that both mentors said it was the best they had seen their acts perform," he begins.
"I think that, whoever goes home, the opposite mentor needs to take heed, maybe they haven't been mentoring them right.
"That shouldn't be happening."
A good point really, as you'd think the songs they work on with their mentors should be better than the ones they presumably prepare themselves. In fact at the final six Guy Sebastian said of JTR that they were a bit old school and needed to be updated to current boy band trends - where is that? Meanwhile Ellie Lovegrove knocked some serious competition out when she progressed from the final six, yet so far she's gained a new hair colour and an inability to move out of Foo's tuition.
Back to the elimination. Ronan felt JTR were predictable with the bit best their vocals. Ellie however was not hot in the vocals but dynamic. Ronan must have been watching a different performance. He throws it to deadlock because he can't decide.
That's probably fair given JTR gave the better performance but have been here before.
Australia: The act with the lowest number of votes and therefore going home is Ellie.
The people have spoken and much Like the ALP Ellie can't argue with that.
Redfoo starts tonight with his song Let's Get Ridiculous on top of the iTunes and ARIA charts, and he comments that he had to dodge Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball to do so, well by the end of tonight he may wish that his girls, any of his girls, would give him a little more Miley Cyrus a little less wrecking ball.
I never thought I'd say it, but this X Factor may just need a littte twerking.
Nonetheless, to the show. Australia's attention disorder has reached the point where we need five minutes of recap at the top of the show that reminds us who the teams are this year, what X Factor is and how we need to breathe in and breathe out in a regular fashion.
Yes, it's the X Factor where no audience member is too dumb to be coddled and soon we learn from the X Voice that we should all be worried that "it" might be getting too much for Jai who is probably upset that Today Tonight haven't devoted an entire episode to him yet.
Luke Jacobz comes out to give what has to be the most ironic rock'n'roll pointer-finger-and-pinkie-finger-extension gesture ever, before telling us that this week is all about the "latest and greatest" which means any song on the radio at the moment. Given radio ranges from ABC Classic FM to SBS Portuguese Radio via Smooth FM ballads, ballads and more ballads that really means that once again the theme is "sing anything".
Dannii tells us that Twitter and Instagram got behind Barry last week after he was kicked off the show, which is to say people took pictures of him failing and shared them. What amazing support.
Ellie Lovegrove - Wings, Little Mix
Little Mix won the X Factor UK in 2012 we are reminded (read: informed) in the traditional pre-song video, oh and Nat is concerned that this is yet another new direction for Ellie.
Ellie is performing tonight with the doors. Not The Doors, rather a set of pink doors making up a mock hallway full of men. Frankly tonight the doors have more personality than she does. She's smiling, she's strutting, but it all feels very, well, staged.
As for the singing, well this is an ensemble song and the unseen backing singers are as loud in the mix as Ellie. She's hitting all the notes but she's not shining at all.
Rating: 7/10 – Ellie just became a very talented backing singer.
Ronan rates this Ellie's best performance as she was smiling (a low standard surely) while both he and Nat say the pitch was out. Nat says Ellie can be whoever she wants, which is another way of saying there's no distinct personality exhibited yet. Dannii didn't like the outfit which basically looks like five metres of silver shimmer cloth draped over her. Foo says he's proud because Ellie was fierce.
JTR – I Want You Back, Cher Lloyd
JTR - and this will shock you - were relieved when they weren't eliminated from the bottom two last week. As a reward they got five seconds to spend with their mother, at least that's all we see.
Nat wants more connection with the camera this week. She also makes a shameless plug for the fact that their song was recorded by another British X Factor contestant.
The trio appear on stage in a video game arcade set up which is very retro and very cool. The combination of the machines with some towering LED displays on either side of the stage and the lights within the floor work really, really well.
The boys try to look at the camera, but as if to sabotage the brothers the director has decided to go with as many long distance shots as possible with the crane on overdrive in an effort to really capture the great set.
Nonetheless, the boys work well with their dancers and own the stage in the middle of a big spectacle.
They are dropping lyrics. Their singing is good. The rapping is good. The lyrics all over the shop.
Rating: 7/10 – Would be an 8 but I forgot the digit like a forgotten lyric
Dannii loved it, saying it compares well to Cher Lloyd who she judged on the original X Factor (in case you missed that reference). Foo noticed the dropped lyrics but didn't care. Ronan's having none of it as he feels it is his role as "Mr Crankypants" to say it's unacceptable to forget the words, but otherwise it was amazing. Nat is proud that they've bounced back so well.
Taylor – Let Her Go, Passenger
Ronan says this song could have been written for Taylor, instead of being written for someone else, and Nat and Taylor both tell us that he's got his guitar back.
It seems Taylor found his guitar in a room full of lamps, or at least that's where we find him as the stage looks like a 1950s lighting store - any lampshade you like as long as it's beige.
The song begins incredibly intimately and for once the director has refrained from excessive use of the sweeping crane shot ... for thirty seconds.
There's a jilt as the band kick in behind him and not only does it sound like Taylor dropped a line really badly but it seemingly rocks his confidence as well.
His pitching goes a bit flat and he really looks like he feels like he'd rather play guitar and blend in with the band. He picks it up after a while though and perhaps unsurprisingly really recovers right at the end to be his best as it returns to just him and the guitar.
Rating: 7/10 – Recovered well from a stutter
The response in the room is massive. All four judges standing and the crowd cheering for an age.
Nat rates Taylor's performance as being as good as some of the show's guests and at this point Taylor mentions he couldn't hear himself for the first part of the performance which presumably explains the stutter. Dannii calls the guitar his teddy bear and asks Taylor to look up at the audience (not at Teddy). Foo feels this showed the fighting spirit in Taylor pointing to the thing that went wrong at the beginning and how well he recovered. Ronan points out that Taylor fluffed the lines at the start but is so good no one noticed (not true, it was just two of the professionals who missed it).
Joelle - True Love, P!nk
Foo overspent his phone credit last week having a good talk with Joelle and at the end of all that he gave her a song that plays into her vocal strength and style. Joelle's response to finding out is to be truly whelmed. It's just possible Joelle is never happy with a song, which makes this an odd career choice really.
It's Joelle's turn to sing from on top of a box this week, in a faux pop art styled stage that includes a glitter mid-riff top that literally screams "Pop!" The overall result is to seemingly restrain Joelle in the middle of excessive colour and visual noise.
In turn, whilst Joelle gets all the notes she seems quite disconnected from the song and the crowd. P!nk is big. The song is big. The set is big. Joelle is the smallest thing in the equation.
The crowd during the song stand in silent appreciation and honestly its what the performance deserves.
Rating: 6/10 – The singing was fine but, well, bland.
Ronan is struggling to find good things to say. Foo looks flabbergasted. Ronan said that song coasted even though he loved the tone in her voice. Nat points out that P!nk soars when she sings which is a tough contrast, but she thinks its important to give Joelle a break (which is all well and good if this weren't a competition). Dannii thought Joelle sounded good but noted the audience didn't engage. She asks, as did Ronan, if this is the "real Joelle." She then goes into a rather bizarre tangent, noting that this performance was different to her social media presence. Foo says he is "steaming" but has to smile, he thinks she was better than P!nk. The judges faux bicker for a while, and Foo goes to a high pitched voice place to demonstrate how upset he is.
Jai Waetford – It Will Rain, Bruno Mars
Cue the beat-up. We've had hints all night that Jai felt his comments were critical last week and promoting tears from a fourteen year old under extreme pressure as though that is a shocking turn of events.
That would be a dramatic turn of events except that the show has tried to make hay from this particular field a few too many times in only a month and a bit. Yes he cries. No it probably isn't the "worst moment of his life" as we were meant to think tonight, and last time, and the time before.
Jai is given an intimate staircase performance to work his magic and it works his little Year 8 P.E. socks off.
His voice is perfectly suited to this, putting just enough individual mark on the tune without turning it into a 14 year old's song recital. It builds in intensity too and when he gets to the big note he nails it.
Jai is calm and suave in the delivery and this is genuinely terrific.
Rating: 9/10 – Finally Jai proves to be worth his spot
Ronan runs up to hug Jai as the entire room stands and cheers. The judges all gush. Nuff said.
Jiordan Tolli – Burn, Ellie Goulding
Ellie gets a staircase too. A spiral staircase. And a rapidly spinning clock. And five dancers auditioning for the rhythmic gymnastics competition.
Yeah, it's a bit weird.
Her presence is enough to eclipse all that though, she's performing out of her skin.
Which is lucky, because her singing is all over the place, very pitchy on the high notes and dischordant with the backing singers.
Rating: 7/10 – Great show almost made up for barrels of bum notes
She gets a decent shout from the crowd. Ronan and Nat are both impressed with the new look and edgy feel for Jiordan. Both also mention the problematic high notes. Dannii defines the vital quality that Jiordan brought as presence – which is true – before once more noting her social media credibility. Dannii is clearly either under instruction to relentlessly refer to social media this week or just on a one woman mission to get Australia to join her on Instagram.
THIRD D3GREE – I Like The Way It Hurts, Eminem and Rihanna
Jordan is talking all about family before the song and yet starts on stage alone. Meanwhile Kelebek, the wisened old 19 year old in the group, is worried the performance will bring up memories of a bad relationship she had once long ... a short while ago. It's many layers of dark.
It is all kinds of pitchy as we start, which is starkly obvious as it's just Jordan singing with first one then the other of his "big sisters." Particularly obvious is the fact that Kelebek is very pitchy.
Once the song shifts a gear into more of a rap focus the energy changes completely as you would expect. Kelebek's rapping not only lifts the performance significantly, but oddly the pitching gets a lot better too with Kelebek and Jacinta having a lovely harmony at one point while Jordan beatboxes.
There's a lot of emotion in the song and that seems to push them to either very good or very bad in equal measure.
Rating: 7/10 – The more energy they poured into it the better it got, thank goodness
Dannii says the song was good, and bad, with the emotion getting in the way. Foo thinks the singing parts exposed the group and blames the song choice for the problems. Ronan says they should play to their strengths, he doesn't want Kelebek to sing because she's a rapper and should focus on that. Nat is very happy with having exposed the trio as she'd want variety in a concert. One wonders if Nat gets the whole competition element.
Omar Dean – Skyscraper, Demi Lovato
Ronan has made a curious decision this week to give Omar a song he is actually incapable of singing with high notes he can't hit in rehearsals. At least that's the message of the video.
The song starts with Omar standing upon a tower made of lights and his first action as the intro ends is to pull out his in-ear foldback from one ear. Technical problems all round tonight.
This is a very high pitched song and not every note is perfect but ... hot damn Omar is doing a good job of this!
As the song builds so does his confidence and unbelievably it goes even higher. Omar's in his head voice a lot here but it works.
Rating: 8/10 – A really tough song choice but he got it
Nat says the best thing about the song was watching Ronan which seems a bit of an empty compliment but she aslo says there were technical problems. Dannii notes just how hard the song choice was but thinks Omar got it. Foo loves Omar's jacket, also notes the technical problems but loves that he thought Omar was going to cry. Ronan couldn't hear the technical faults and tries to insult the other judges but instead just highlights the fact that they did not stand at the end of the performance.
Dami Im – Roar, Katy Perry
The producers know their stuff. They took Dami away from the end slot of the show once, and now she's back.
We learn from the video that last week Dami took the advice "break a leg" a little too seriously as she tried to fall off stage after the performance, this week it's her anniversary so she's dedicating her first ever fierce action to her husband. Lucky boy, but back to the song.
Dami starts out marching on the spot with shoulder pads about a foot high, enough eye make up to paint a house and a massive Cleopatra wig, the grand result of which seems to be to weigh her down.
To begin with it is frankly Dami's worst performance yet - though that's not much of a statement given how good she's been. It's a bit sedate and withdrawn.
Once she steps forward and smiles enough to smear lipstick all over her teeth though this starts to rock. Then she starts to move, she starts to get into it and once she gives the big "roooooooooar" of course it takes off.
Rating: 8/10 – Not her best, but still one of the best on the night
The crowd loved it. Foo loved it and particularly loved the roar. Ronan thanks her for being gracious enough to join them this week and hopes she enjoys her international tour which he hopes means she won't be here next week. Nat is obsessed with Ronan tonight and loves that Dami means he might not win, which Ronan in turn find amusing as it means Nat's pretty much given up already. Sorry groups! Dannii tells us that Dami had never been to a pop concert before. Dannii wants people to vote and surprisingly misses an opportunity to plug social media.
Sorry Foo but it could be any of your three, and quite possibly a battle of the J girls this week with Joelle and Jiordan candidates for the bottom two, while Ellie is far from a certainty to be safe. THIRD D3GREE should get by on popularity.
Giles Hardie is a film critic and entertainment reporter for Fairfax.


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1. Deep Impact
With a screaming roar, a giant ball of flame roars overhead to smash into the ground about a mile from the PCs. They are soon showered with debris, sand, shattered wood and the like. There is a minor chance of being injured, easily negated by taking shelter. A meteorite has fallen and blasted a 100 foot wide hole in the earth. There is nothing magical about the impact or event.
2. Blue Crush
The water seems to recede, as if something was drawing it away from the shore. A few turns later, a wall of water 12 feet high rolls over the beach causing a great deal of damage, washing anything not bolted down away and toppling any structure made of anything weaker than stone. PCs are jostled, take minor to moderate damage and can lose items in the surge of water.
3. Close Encounters of the Planar Kind
A large object appears in the sky, moves in a strange fashion and vanishes after abducting a lone PC. The PC is later returned unharmed, but has several traits changed on his character sheet, no memory of the event and continually has strange dreams about goblins in space wearing lab coats and holding glowing wands.
4. Ground Zero
As the PCs approach a major city, the city is destroyed by a massive explosion that knocks the PCs off of their feet. A cloud of smoke and fire rises into the air to blow away normal clouds. Rain falls black as pitch and strange mutations occur in surviving people and animals. Those mages and their experiments…
5. Wyrmfang Spill
A wagon ahead of the PCs has an accident (breaks a wheel, horses spook, orcs attack and kill the driver) and it's contents are spilled. a strange green cloud spills from the damaged wagon, plants quickly wither and die and animals in the area of the cloud sicken and also die in a few agonizing minutes.
6. Footloose
The master Golemist in town has gone off the deep end and is now certifiably insane. This insanity has trickled down into his creations, but thankfully he suffers from a peaceful dementia and now instead of rampaging and killing, his golemic creations wander about looking for dance partners. No music and a 1200 pound dance partner made of glass make for an interesting match…and flattened feet. Defying the golems makes them sullen and weepy.
7. I, Golem
The youngest member of the PC party gains a new henchman, a 12 foot golem made of granite, carved to look like a monsterous and formidable man of war. The golem, now masterless heard of a prophecy about a young hero and by it's limited logic, said PC is the hero and the golem must protect him. Rather than becoming a deadly and brutal engine of war, the PC gains a two ton nanny with all the grace and composure of a 4000 pound slab of stone. Certainly handy when the orcs show up looking for blood, but a real pain with said PC decides to go about on private matters.
8. Hang Ten!
It starts as a rumble, then a deafening roar as the entire side of a mountain falls in a deadly shower of boulders and clouds of debris. Thankfully the PCs are not caught in the fall, but it just happens that the mountain pass is possibly closed…forever. For more adventure, the path beneath the PCs feet collapses, and they are left to ride what debris they can find on a break-neck race to the bottom.
9. Earthquake!
The ground heaves and shudders, startling animals, waking sleepers, sending birds screaming from the trees. Devastation is more visible in town as the local tower has fallen, several homes and destroyed and there is a chance of a fire, almost 100% if the quake hits in the evening time when everyone has their lanterns and candles lit. No noxious vapors steam out of the earth, no demons emerge, no strange magic effects start happening.
10. Red Skies
The PC on night watch notices a red glow, and in a matter of minutes, the PCs are being threatened by a raging wildfire. Trees explode into flame, the heat sucks breathable air away and water quickly evaporates in the inferno. You wake up, the forest is on fire.
11. Neptune's Revenge
As the PCs are walking/riding along side the river, they notice it is rising visibly. A combination of massive rainfall upstream and a dam rupture will fill the river's floodplain with water 15 feet deep in a matter of a few minutes. While it wouldn't be the wall of water from a tsunami, once the water arrives, it will be many hours if not days or weeks before it subsides.
12. Twister
The bad storm takes a really bad twist, winds kick up to incredible speed, ripping thatch houses apart and flining debris around pell-mell. Then, the rain, hail, wind and lightning all stop. A muted roar announces the presence of the tornado as it marches relentlessly across the earth for a few miles of sheer destruction. Well mage…can you counterspell that thing?
13. Time Runs Out
In the distance, a mountain bulges and explodes in silent fury, creating a pillar of fire and ash that blots out the sun. A moment later, the pressure wave arrives, shaking trees and making ears pop. The volcano, long thought dead, has blown itself apart, creating a cloud of superheated ash, glass and poisonous vapors, rivers of water ash slurry called lahars, and ashfall measured in feet. In a few years, local plant harvests will be double the yield, but until rain comes, it is a no-man's land of fluffy ash and death.
14. Operation Black
While strolling through the market of a major city, the PCs are knocked off of their feet and caught in a stampede of panicked people. A group of local radicals have set off an explosive weapon (keg of gunpowder, a vial of dragon's bile, jar of demonic-nether-gas) in protest of the current ruling power. Guards take anyone not local into custody, there is looting and violence aplenty. The point of contention between the parties should in no real way involve the PCs, something like the cost of grain for millers outside the city, hunting rights of the commoners, or something equally inane and bizarre.
15. Three Hour Tour
The PCs, whilst traveling a short distance by ship, wreck and are marooned on a deserted island. Rather than being in the middle of the ocean, they are about 5 or 6 miles from the coast and in a few days or weeks they will be rescued if they haven't found a way to get off of the island themselves.
16. Snakes on a Frigate
Whilst traveling on a long voyage, the PCs discover that a large number of (insert dangerous animal) have been released on the ship for the purpose of killing a certain passenger despite being protected by soldiers and mercenaries.
17. I Hate Monkeys!
Hoots and hollers fill the forest air around the PCs and a band of large primates charge out of the foliage armed with branches, boat paddles, and even a real weapon or two. After battling the berzerker gorillas (should be a good challenge) the PCs discover the corpse of a druid, the monkey's master. The cause of death is accidental, the man choked on a piece of food and then his monkeys were left to fend for themselves and protect his body.
18. Calamari
While on an ocean crossing or other suitable deep water crossing, the PCs ship is attacked by a large kraken. Crewmen perish, the ship is damaged, but the monste is driven away after valiant combat and calamari is on the menu in the galley.
A wizard's giant growth potion has been lost, it was spilled by the drunken mage on night. A sack of spider eggs absorbed the potion and as the spiders hatched they grew to frighteningly large size. Currently the size of a large housecat or dog, each generation will increase in size until the arachnids overrun the area and eat all of the humans. Time to get to squishing some bugs, though in the PCs favor, the spiders are not dangerously poisonous.
20. The Zombie Strain
A necromancer made a big big big mistake, creating a highly contagious version of the animate dead spell. Rather than creating a self replenishing army of dead under his control, the zombies spread their affliction to the living by fluid exchange. While not majorly dangerous themselves, the PCs will be infected and only have a few days at the most before succumbing to the infection and becoming a zombie themselves…unless there is a cure!
21. The Body Filchers
The PCs discover a village where all of the locals act very strange, almost wooden in their movements. A quick round of 'sleuthing' and they can discover that a potent spirit of the local forest has been abducting the locals and growing plant replicas of them to protect the forest and eliminate the danger of humans. The filched bleed amber treesap and are terrified of fire, axes, and leaf eating insects.
22. The Tower Inferno
Gala and fetes are things of courtly grace and splendor, events of decorum and etiquette. The stately tedium is interrupted by a fire spreading quickly through the palace, and the PCs are involved to help put out the flames and rescue important or self-important people from the blazing wreckage.
23. Svengali
The PCs encounter a village where there are no women, only men and boys working in the fields, they take no notice of the fact that there are no women. The women of the village no reside in the grand palatial estate of the Hypnotist, though none of the locals know him as anything other than the Good Father at the church. The Hypnotist (stroke oiled mustache) will try to enthrall the PCs to become his hounds of war and fight his un-enchanted foes hidding in the Wherever Hills.
24. Village of the Werewolves
The PCs are besieged by wolves under the light of the full moon, the next village they come too some days later is wary of the PCs and seems to know them despite it being their first trip to said village. The entire village is afflicted with lycanthropy and several villagers were slain by the PCs or severly injured by them. Attempts to 'cure' them will be met with derision and potential violence.
25. Out of the Storm
A bolt of lighting falls during a heavy downpour, flashroasting one of the PC's mounts, fusing it's metal barding together and instantly killing the poor creature.
26. France! To Arms!
A night by the river turns strange as the ground is quickly covered by a thick carpet of frogs and toads of all different sizes. Anything edible the amphibians eat, including each other, travel is done on a slick of frog blood and gore, and the smell after a few hours is quickly nauseating.
27. Who turned off the lights?
One morning the sun doesnt rise. No reason is to be given, other than a faint smile or a fiendish chuckle.
28. Dead in the Pasture
The PC's mounts perish during the night for no apparent reason. The next village has been hit with the same affliction some days before and there is not a horse, ox, cow, or any toher critter over 1000 pounds in wieght to be found for miles. After a week or so, the effect ends and animals can enter the area again and not perish.
29. Fly Hollow
Traveling, the PCs find the ruins of a town, complete with macabre skeletons and dried out corpses. A steady drone fills the air and the sky is darkened by the wings of millions of black biting flies. This town has been forever cursed.
30. What's that Smell
more fun with fire, instead of a forest or palace, the city itself has been caught up in a firestorm. Leaping from roof to roof, the flames will devour half of the city by morning, if only the PCs can make it to the river before the heat and smoke overcome them.


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Who doesn't love having that perfect, well-worn, great fitting tee as their go to shirt? Make your own while learning to sew knits! This class will lead you through a fitted knit tee shirt using your zigzag sewing machine. You don't need a serger to sew a well fitting professional looking tee shirt!
This class will also include a demo of serger techniques, but the knit tee shirt construction can all be done on your home sewing machine.
Cost: $120 (includes commercially printed pattern: Grainline Lark Tee, Cashmerette Concord Tee, or Jalie 2918 for men/boys.)
Class Time: Saturday, Sept. 9 3:30-6:00 & Sunday, Sept. 10 9:00-11:30
Skill Level: Novice* and above (*comfortable using a machine and can sew straight lines)
**NOTE: You MUST have taken Garment Construction 100 or have experience with commercially printed patterns as you will be required to cut your pattern and fabric before class.**
Skills learned:
- Different stitches used for knit fabrics
- Selecting the best needle for your project
- Sewing a V neck
- Cutting knit binding
- Alternate knit binding not included in the pattern
- Basic fit adjustments
- Understand knit fabrics
Materials Needed:
- Knit fabric (we recommenda fantastic speckled Robert Kaufman in white or grey, both in shop)
- Thread
**All materials are available in the shop! We offer a 10% discount for all class materials. Come grab them anytime after registering so that you can have them prepped and ready to go for class!**
Tools: Tools (scissors, cutting mat, needles, seam rippers, sewing machines) will be available for use in the shop, though supplies are limited so you are welcome to bring your own as well. The shop will be open for purchases (fabric, thread, etc.) if you'd like to restock.
**You are registering for BOTH weeks when you register.**
PLEASE NOTE: All classes require registration and prepayment. No refunds are offered for classes. You may redistribute your fees to another class with at least 72 hours notice. There is no guarantee that the same class will be available for a reschedule. Cancellations or no shows within the 72 hour window will forfeit their fees entirely. Please email email@example.com if you need to cancel and we will help you as best we can!
Please show up 15 minutes early to get set up. If you arrive more than 15 minutes late you could be considered a no-show and forfeit your class fees.
Classes may be cancelled due to low attendance. In this situation, a refund will be offered.
As everyone works at different speeds, there is no guarantee that you will finish a project within the class period. Homework might be given between classes as well. If you are not able to finish within the class period, we will gladly let you use the studio space another day to wrap up your project.


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First Annual Katy, Texas Crawfish Festival
Go to South of I-10 and Katy Ft. Bend Road next to Katy Mills Mall from March 30 – April 1, 2012 for a great time! The theme of the festival is "Lagniappe" which means a little something extra.
There will be live entertainment, boiled crawfish, gumbo, jambalaya, étouffée, fried alligator, carnival rides, and over 100 arts and crafts vendors and commercial exhibitors!
The sponsor of this event is the Acadiana Group, a non-profit that donates 100% of its profits to local charities. To purchase tickets go to www.katycrawfishfestival.com!


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Do you need a simple and versatile RFID solution? If so, you should check out the pcProx USB RFID reader module from RF IDeas. Requiring no programming and no software, it's the quickest way to implement the security and convenience of RFID technology into your project. It acts as a "keyboard wedge," inserting an RFID tag's unique serial number into any selected text field automatically when a tag is swiped near the reader.
Instead of typing in a password, you can use the pcProx reader to log into your computer. Use it to streamline data entry and inventory tracking. It also works great as a drop-in replacement for many barcode scanners. Using the intuitive configuration utility, you can also format the output; omitting digits from the tag ID or adding characters such as Tab and Enter.
Check out the pcProx RFID reader module in our store for more information!
We also offer this reader in a kit, which includes an assortment of 125kHz (EM4102) RFID tags. If you're not sure which tag will be best for your application, why not get the kit and test them all out?


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WASHINGTON — The spectacular pardon or reprieve has become a reliable end-of-presidency event. As he was about to leave office in 1992, George H.W. Bush pardoned former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and other officials convicted in the Iran-contra affair.
Six years ago, during his final hours in the White House, Bill Clinton pardoned fugitive financier Marc Rich, whose ex-wife Denise had given generously to Clinton's campaigns and to his presidential library.
The most famous case, President Ford's pardon of former President Nixon, was a presidency-ending event in another sense — it led directly to Ford's defeat in the 1976 election.
President Bush's commutation of the 30-month prison sentence of former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby fit the pattern set by his predecessors.
Other political news of note
Animated Boehner: 'There's nothing complex about the Keystone Pipeline!'
House Speaker John Boehner became animated Tuesday over the proposed Keystone Pipeline, castigating the Obama administration for not having approved the project yet.
- Budget deficits shrinking but set to grow after 2015
- Senate readies another volley on unemployment aid
- Obama faces Syria standstill
- Fluke files to run in California
- Animated Boehner: 'There's nothing complex about the Keystone Pipeline!'
And the reaction to these acts of clemency had a familiar ring.
Compare "the arrogance of this administration's disdain for the law and its belief it operates with impunity are breathtaking" to the statement that the president "will never live down the arrogance of his final departure."Video: Bush commutes Libby's sentence
'Arrogance' then and now
The first "arrogance" quote came Monday from Democratic presidential contender Bill Richardson. The second quote came from Jim Webb, now the Democratic senator from Virginia, criticizing Clinton's pardon of Rich in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal in 2001.
On Monday, Democratic presidential contender Sen. Joe Biden called on "all Americans to flood the White House with phone calls tomorrow expressing their outrage over this blatant disregard for the rule of law."
Flooding the switchboards with outrage did seem to work last week in persuading senators to kill the immigration bill that Bush supported.
But in the Libby case, the deed, now done, can not be undone. The Constitution allows Congress no remedy, no repeal of a presidential pardon or commutation.
After Ford pardoned Nixon, then-Sen. Walter Mondale, D-Minn., proposed an amendment to the Constitution that would have allowed a pardon to be over-ridden by a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate.
Some in Congress revived that idea in 2001 after Clinton's pardon of Rich and others. But in a week or two the fury subsided and the idea was forgotten.
Not a pardon
For those members of Congress who voiced shock or disappointment Monday, it was no solace that Bush only commuted Libby's sentence.
Bush did not pardon Libby, thus making him innocent in the eyes of the law. Instead he acknowledged his offense and erased his prison sentence as excessive.
Impeachment remains a possibility, but impeachment of whom?
The impeachment movement is a house divided against itself, with some, such as Democratic presidential contender Rep. Dennis Kucinich pushing for impeachment of Vice President Cheney, while others such as Tom Hughes, head of Democracy for America, the group founded by Howard Dean, calling for impeachment of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "majority makers" — the two dozen freshman Democrats from Republican-leaning districts — have shown no interest in the impeachment of Cheney or anyone else.
Three freshman Democrats have signed on to Kucinich's impeachment resolution, but they come from the Democratic bastions of Minneapolis, Minn., Brooklyn, N.Y., and DeKalb County, Ga.
Cheney under greater scrutiny?
Left-of-center blogger Jane Hamsher called the commutation "nothing less than obstruction of justice and the latest chapter in the criminal conspiracy that has sought to cover up the administration's tracks."
She said "the impeach Cheney impetus may be energized in the long run. During the Libby trial, (special prosecutor) Patrick Fitzgerald said there was a cloud over the Vice President that would not go away because Scooter Libby was obstructing the investigation."
She added, "Since George Bush has now ensured that Scooter Libby will not need to be forthright with the Special Counsel to avoid jail time, congressional investigation is the only recourse available to hold Dick Cheney accountable. I think that is something that the public wants and a responsibility that members of Congress should take very seriously."
Most of the reaction from Democratic congressional leaders was milder than Hamsher's, with House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer simply calling Bush's action "very disappointing."
Democratic presidential contender John Edwards concluded in his statement Monday Bush was "clinically incapable of understanding that mistakes have consequences."
Whether or not the act of clemency was a mistake, it seems unlikely to have consequences for Bush himself.
© 2013 msnbc.com Reprints


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David J. Lange MD, FACS
About the Practice
Practice Philosophy
Dr. Lange's feeling toward plastic surgery are best conveyed in the following quote: "We restore, repair or conceal those parts of the face and body that nature has given but fortune has taken away, not so much that we delight the eye, but that we buoy up the spirit and restore the mind of the afflicted," by Dr. Gaspare Tagliacozzi, University of Bologna, Italy, 1597.
Practice Specialization
Dr. Lange's areas of expertise include facelift, brow lift, neck lift, and rejuvenation of the eyelids through eyelid surgery, permanent lip, and cheek and chin enhancement and facial contouring.
Dr. Lange's most requested cosmetic procedures for the body are breast augmentation, liposuction, breast lift and breast reduction and abdominoplasty or "tummy tuck". Time and attention is taken during all consultations so that individual questions and concerns can be appropriately addressed. Dr. Lange reveals potential results to clients by reviewing before and after plastic surgery photographs and utilizing hi-tech computer imaging.
Additional Information
Dr. Lange is very active in humanitarian and charitable organizations here in northern New Jersey and abroad, giving children with birth defects a chance for normal lives. One of his passions is helping infants and children born with facial birth defects such as cleft lip and cleft palate, ear deformities and other facial abnormalities, leading or participating in plastic surgery procedures to provide the child with a life-changing transformation. Dr. Lange has been on the team of physicians at the St. Barnabas Regional Craniofacial Center in Livingston, New Jersey since he began his practice with The Peer Group. He has also participated in many trips to foreign countries to help children and families in need of cosmetic plastic surgery. El Salvador was the first and most memorable of his trips. His team was able to help 136 patients over a week's time. He has also traveled to Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Bosnia and Thailand.
Outside of his busy plastic surgery practice, Dr. Lange enjoys the outdoors, most notably hiking, mountain climbing, camping and skiing (which is his favorite). Exercise and fitness are an important part of Dr. Lange's daily routine, and as an active lifestyle proponent, he has shared this interest with many of his patients, incorporating its benefits into their post surgery regimen to help them transform not only their bodies but also their lives.
Patient Photo GallerySee all cases submitted by David J. Lange MD, FACS
Background & Certification
Board Certification
American Board of Plastic Surgery
Professional Background
A graduate of New York University and the UAG Medical School, Dr. Lange has distinguished himself with five years of training in general surgery at St. Barnabas Medical Center followed by a plastic surgery residency at St. Louis University. He then completed his cosmetic training with renowned plastic surgeon, Dr. Robby Meijer.
Dr. Lange was drawn to plastic surgery during his general surgery training, where he was introduced to reconstructive surgery. He feels that reconstructive surgery impacts peoples' lives, alleviating their suffering and making their life worth living. Dr. Lange wanted to have a positive impact in his professional work and knew then that the artistic side of plastic and reconstructive surgery would provide that rewarding opportunity.
Teaching Appointments
Dr. Lange has served as the chairman of the Department of Plastic Surgery at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey.
Awards & Honors
Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., New York Metro Area Top Doctors 2007 -2010
NJSavvy Living, "New Jersey Best Beauty Doctor," 2006 – 2011
Castle Connolly Medical, Ltd., Inside Jersey, A Star Ledger Magazine, "Top Doctors" Issue, 2010 & 2011
Best Doctors, Inc., Best Doctors in America 2003 – 2012
Consumers' Research Council of America, Guide to Americas Top Plastic Surgeons, 2010 & 2011
The Daily Record Readers' Choice, Best Cosmetic Surgeon, 2009 & 2010
Affiliations & Memberships
Society Memberships
American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
New Jersey Society of Plastic Surgeons
American Medical Association
Fellow of the American College of Surgeons
Staff & Facilities
Surgical Facility
The Peer Group Plastic Surgery Center located in Florham Park, in northern New Jersey is a state-of-the-art plastic surgery facility, a modern environment where patients receive a safe, private, and comfortable surgical experience from our plastic surgeons. We are accredited by the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF) and are committed to excellence and safety in all aspects of our patients' care.
Our extensively trained operating room staff cares exclusively for plastic surgery patients, understands their unique needs, and is committed to their comfort not only during, but before and after plastic surgery. Our nurses and scrub techs maintain advanced certification to help ensure that our patients receive the highest level of care. Feedback from our patients has provided glowing reviews of our operating and nursing staff members, particularly the level of professionalism and compassion of the entire Peer Group staff.
When you choose The Peer Group Surgery Center, you are selecting a team of experienced plastic surgeons, nurses, surgical technicians and anesthesiologists who are trained in the latest plastic surgical procedures and techniques and who provide individualized plastic surgical care in the safety and comfort of our modern facility. The plastic surgeons of The Peer Group are on staff at both Morristown Medical Center in Morristown, New Jersey and at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey, but most of our cosmetic plastic surgery patients prefer to have their surgery in the privacy of our own state-of-the-art surgical facility.
David J. Lange MD, FACS
124 Columbia Turnpike,
Florham Park, NJ,
Request More Information
- View Website
View phone number
Phone: 973-822-3000


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Pork salad! If these two words make you perk up at your desk, please read on.
[But before I begin, an apology first to anyone who has used the "Contact Me" form in the past couple of months. It had been broken for a while before a vigilant reader got a hold of me through Facebook and I realized this error. (And I've always wondered, when using contact forms myself on other websites over the years, if messages just disappeared into a black hole because of coding errors.) So I got rid of the form, but still want to hear from you guys! From now on, just email me at appetiteforchina (at) gmail (dot) com with any questions or comments.]
Now on to the salad. I first learned how to make larb mu (also spelled laap mu, larb moo, laap moo, etc.) from my friend Sandra, who taught cooking classes with me at the Hutong in Beijing. When we met, she already had already built an impressive globetrotting life, having lived and worked (mostly for NGOs) in Haiti, Vietnam, Taiwan, and mainland China, with Afghanistan soon to follow. In her spare time she made a habit of sniffing out the best local restaurants and street food wherever she was, and developed a ravenous curiosity for ingredients and techniques. Lucky for me, she had also spent a good amount of time traveling in Thailand and Laos, where this salad comes from (it originated in Laos and spread to Northern Thailand). After Sandra taught her Thai cooking class at the Hutong and made 4 pounds' worth of larb mu, I couldn't stop talking about the salad for weeks.
Over the years it's become an standby for whenever I crave Northern Thai food and want it fast.
Larb mu, though eaten as an appetizer at room temperature, isn't the type of salad that is dominated by leafy greens. It's actually mostly ground pork, sautéed until done and tossed with fish sauce, chili sauce, sugar, and fresh lime juice. (Is your mouth watering already?) The only green things present are herbs - mint and cilantro. But really, you have to taste this to become a believer. I would take this over a Caesar salad any time.
One important component to larb mu that many recipes leave out is toasted rice powder. It doesn't look or sound all that significant, but adds a really lovely nuttiness to your salad. The lucky few of us who live near a Thai grocery store can just buy it, but, as I discovered this week, you can also easily make it at home. What you do is take a handful of uncooked jasmine, long grain, or sticky rice and toast it in a dry skillet for about 3 minutes, stirring often. When your rice turns golden brown, just remove it from the pan and grind it up with a mortar and pestle or in a spice or coffee grinder.
The recipe I've included below includes my proportions of the seasonings and herbs; feel free to play around. If you're not too into pork, try this same recipe with chicken to make larb gai, Thai ground chicken salad. The traditional way to eat this is wrapped in cabbage or lettuce. But for lazy weeknight meals, I love reheating the leftovers, still heavily infused with chili and fish sauce and lime, and spooning it over rice. If you happen to have a Singha or Beerlao or just about any lager lying around, by all means pop it open.
Thai Ground Pork Salad (Larb Mu)
Serves 4
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 tablespoon peanut or vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons uncooked jasmine, long-grain, or sticky rice, (or 3 tablespoons store-bought toasted rice powder)
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 to 2 teaspoons chili sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- Juice from 1 small lime
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 or 2 scallions, chopped
- 1 small handful cilantro
- 1 small handful mint
- 3 or 4 dried red chilis for garnish (optional)
- 1/2 head Chinese cabbage or green lettuce for serving, separated into leaves
- Heat the cooking oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Cook the pork for 3 to 4 minutes, breaking up larger clumps with a spatula, until no trace of pink remains. Set aside to cool.
- If you're making the toasted rice powder at home, heat another skillet over medium heat. Toast the uncooked rice in the dry skillet, stirring every few seconds to avoid burning, until the rice is golden brown and has a nutty fragrance. Remove from the heat and pound the rice with a mortar until it turns into a powder (or use a spice grinder or coffee grinder.)
- Once the pork has cooled for at least 5 minutes, stir in the toasted rice powder, fish sauce, chili sauce, sugar and lime juice. Add freshly ground pepper to taste. You can also add a bit of salt if you'd like but I find the fish sauce already adds just the right amount of saltiness. Toss the pork with shallots, scallions, cilantro and mint.
- Transfer to a large plate and garnish with optional dried red chilis. For an appetizer, serve with cabbage or lettuce leaves and wrap up a leaping spoonful of the pork salad into the leaves. For an entree, serve with white rice or sticky rice. Either way, extra lime wedges for squeezing over the salad is highly encouraged.


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Students preparing to leave high school are faring no better in reading or math than their peers four decades ago, the government said Thursday. Officials attributed the bleak finding on more lower-performing students staying in school rather than dropping out.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Students preparing to leave high school are faring no better in reading or math than their peers four decades ago, the government said Thursday. Officials attributed the bleak finding on more lower-performing students staying in school rather than dropping out.
The news was brighter for younger students and for blacks and Hispanics, who had the greatest gain in reading and math scores since the 1970s, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, commonly referred to as the Nation's Report Card.
"In some ways, the findings are full of hope. Today's children ages 9 and 13 are scoring better overall than students at those ages in the early '70s," said Brent Houston, principal of the Shawnee Middle School in Oklahoma and a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which administers the tests.
But he also noted challenges for older students.
"There is a disturbing lack of improvement among 17-year-olds. Since the early 1970s, the average scores of 17-year-olds in both reading and mathematics have remained stagnant," he said.
The report says that in reading, today's 9- and 13-year-olds are outperforming students tested in 1971, when that skill was first tracked. They also did better in math, compared with students in 1973, the initial measurement.
Officials suggest the results for 17-year-old students reflect fewer low-performing students dropping out.
For instance, Hispanic students had a 32 percent dropout rate in 1990 and that number fell to 15 percent in 2010, said Peggy Carr, an associate commissioner with the National Center for Education Statistics.
"These students are generally scoring at the lower end of the distribution but it's a good thing that they're staying in schools," Carr said.
Even so, they're still not learning more despite increased education spending.
"Today's results are the nation's education electrocardiogram and show positive results for the early grades and increased performance by students of color, but the nation's high school students are in desperate need of serious attention," said Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former governor of West Virginia.
"Today's economic trends show the rapidly growing need for college- and career-ready students. These results show that most of the nation's 17-year-olds are career ready, but only if you're talking about jobs from the 1970s," he added.
Black and Hispanic students at all ages narrowed the performance gap with white students, according to the report.
Among 17-year-old students, the gaps between black and white students and between Hispanic and white students were cut by half.
In math, 9-year-old black and Hispanic students today are performing at a level where black and Hispanic 13-year-olds were in the early 1970s.
"Black and Hispanic children have racked up some of the biggest gains of all," said Kati Haycock, president of the Education Trust, an advocacy organization. "These results very clearly put to rest any notion our schools are getting worse. In fact, our schools are getting better for every group of students that they serve."
The overall composition of classrooms is changing as well.
Among 13-year-old students, 80 percent were white in 1978. By 2012, that number fell to 56 percent. The number of Hispanics roughly tripled from 6 percent in 1978 to 21 percent in 2012.
"Over a 40-year period, an awful lot changes in our education system," said Jack Buckley, the chief of the National Center for Education Statistics.
While most groups of students saw their scores climb since 1971, the same cannot be said when comparing 2008 results with 2012. The 9-year-old and 17-year-old students saw no changes and only Hispanic and female 13-year-olds showed improvement in reading and math.
The 2012 results were based on 26,000 students in public and private schools. The tests took roughly one hour and were not significantly different than when they were first administered in the early 1970s.
Unlike high-stakes tests that are included in some teachers' evaluations, these tests are a more accurate measurement because "these are not exams that teachers are not teaching to," Haycock said.
"Nobody teaches to the NAEP exam, which is why it's such as useful measure to what our kids can actually do," she said.


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Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr, who has been out of the lineup since Game 1 of the second round of the playoffs against Anaheim, said he was hoping to resume skating on Thursday.
That would be the next step in Regehr's recovery from an undisclosed lower-body injury. The physical veteran defenseman told The Times on Wednesday that he would consult with the doctors later in the day here. If Regehr receives medical clearance, he could hit the ice on Thursday when the Kings return to their practice facility in El Segundo.
Regehr was knocked out of the lineup via a hard hit behind the Kings' net from Ducks star Teemu Selanne in the first period of Game 1 in Anaheim. With Regehr and Willie Mitchell out in the Anaheim series, that meant an opportunity for defenseman Jeff Schultz, who had not played for the Kings all season, and the return of defenseman Matt Greene, who had played sparingly after the Olympic break.
Mitchell returned for Game 1 here on Sunday and Greene was out again. It was unclear if Greene would be in the lineup for Game 2 on Wednesday. He said he did not know, and Schultz said the same thing about himself, not surprising because that information is closely held during the playoffs.
After Game 2 at United Center there is another two-day break before Game 3 at Staples Center on Saturday.
Kings Coach Darryl Sutter, for his part, was not embracing the extra time off.
"It's not really regrouping," Sutter said after Wednesday's morning skate. "We would have preferred to have played yesterday. Once playoffs start, you want to go every other day, if you can."


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Dec. 14, 2010 -- Forget Facebook, it's the thousands of close encounters within real, live social networks at high schools that could prove dangerous to students' health.
A new study shows that on a typical day high school students engage in thousands of social interactions that put them at risk for spreading disease and could spur a pandemic flu outbreak.
Researchers say any interaction between two people within 10 feet of each other has the potential to spread infections, such as influenza, common colds, and whooping cough, via droplets transmitted by sneezing, coughing, or direct contact.
The Spread of Flu
They recorded more than 762,000 such close encounters with the potential to spread disease on an average school day at a U.S. high school. Most of the interactions occurred within small social networks of students, and there were frequent repeated contacts within each group.
"Schools are particularly vulnerable to infectious disease spread because of the high frequency of close proximity interactions (CPIs) that most infectious disease transmission depends on," write researcher Marcel Salathe, of Stanford University, and colleagues in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Droplets from an infected person can reach a susceptible person in close proximity, typically a distance of less than 3 meters [about 10 feet], making CPIs highly relevant for disease spread."
In the study, researchers used wireless sensors on 788 people at the school, including students, teachers, and staff, to track their movement and contacts during a typical day in January. They then used a computer model to simulate the spread of a flu-like illness throughout the school.
Researchers say the results of the simulated flu pandemic fit well with the absentee records from the most recent flu season and suggest that social networks may be used to create more effective immunization strategies and prevent future flu pandemics.


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Late rally comes up short for Magic against Bobcats
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Charlotte Bobcats finally have a happy locker room, the result of winning games and contending for a berth in the NBA playoffs.
The Bobcats took a step closer to a postseason spot Friday, holding off a fourth-quarter rally to beat the Orlando Magic 91-80 for their third straight win.
"It shows how hard they've really worked, and how they've fought to get back to this point," Charlotte coach Steve Clifford said. "Now we'd like to get over .500, which would be a nice thing for our team."
Al Jefferson had 29 points and 16 rebounds, and Kemba Walker added 13 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Bobcats, who at 38-38 are back at .500 for the first time since Nov. 23, when they were 7-7.
Now Charlotte has a shot at its first winning record since Nov. 15, when the Bobcats were 5-4 despite not having Jefferson in the lineup because of an ankle injury.
"We're heading in the right direction," Jefferson said. "We're a team that's playing well right now. We've just got to continue to get better, and get ready for the playoffs.
"We're right there, but we've got to take it one game at a time."
Victor Oladipo scored 21 points and three others finished in double figures for the Magic, who despite having the league's third-worst record (21-55) had beaten Charlotte twice in three previous meetings.
But on Friday, Orlando faced the Bobcats without 7-foot center Nikola Vucevic, who was a game-time scratch after he complained of soreness in his left Achilles tendon.
"I went through my pregame routine, and it started to become more and more sore," Vucevic said. "I talked to the trainer, and we decided it was best for me not to go."
Without Vucevic — who had 24 points and 20 rebounds in the Magic's 110-105 overtime victory over Charlotte on March 28 — in the lineup, Jefferson broke loose for 21 points and 11 rebounds in the first half.
Still, it took a big run in the second quarter for the Bobcats to take command, leading by as many as 19 points before taking a 53-36 halftime lead.
Charlotte extended that lead to 21 points midway through the third quarter, going up 68-47 on Jefferson's jumper with 5:08 remaining, before Orlando began making a comeback.
Despite shooting just 35.6 percent from the field, the Magic cut the Bobcats' lead to 72-60 by the end of the third quarter, and pulled within 76-69 on Oladipo's 3-pointer with 8:58 remaining in the fourth. But Gary Neal (12 points) had a three-point play 26 seconds later to push Charlotte's lead back into double figures.
"It was really the effort up and down the floor," Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said. "Just being in the right place and being committed to it. It's just that simple. Overall, the energy in the second half was how we have to be."
Orlando had that energy in the first half, twice taking brief leads in the opening minutes of the second quarter. The Magic went up 21-20 on E'Twaun Moore's jumper with 11:43 left, and were ahead 25-24 after Oladipo's layup with 9:02 remaining.
But Anthony Tolliver (13 points) hit his second 3-pointer of the quarter with 8:44 left to put the Bobcats ahead to stay and kick off a 27-6 run. Jefferson's dunk with 3:36 left gave Charlotte its first double-digit lead, at 41-30, and Walker hit a pair of free throws with 1:50 left to put the Bobcats ahead 51-30, their biggest lead of the half.
The seventh-place Bobcats begin a three-game road trip Saturday at Cleveland, with stops in Washington on April 9 and Boston on April 11, as the near their first playoff appearance since 2010.
"It's been a long time coming," Walker said. "It's very satisfying. We've been through a lot of ups and downs this season, but we've stuck with things as a team. It's exciting, especially to get to this point."
Notes: Bobcats F Josh McRoberts sat out his second straight game recuperating from a sprained left ankle. Clifford said that McRoberts would take the next two days off, and may resume practice Monday. … Charlotte got a scare late in the first quarter when Michael Kidd-Gilchrist went down hard after having his layup blocked. Kidd-Gilchrist, who missed seven games with ankle problems earlier this season, was listed as "questionable" by team officials for the rest of the game with a bruised back, but he returned to play the second half. … The Bobcats have created a website — www.bigalspaint.com — to promote Jefferson as an All-NBA candidate. The website went public Thursday, and features quotes from opposing players and coaches, stats and stories by local and national media.


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3 Common Time Wasters at Work
Do you feel like your employees are slacking? The 3 Common Time Wasters at Work infographic from Biz 3.0 points out the time wasting problems so that you can target them and create a more efficient work day.
No business can afford to have wasted time at work, especially when growth and profitability is directly tied to how productive your employees are. So check out our new infographic that identifies the top three reasons why people waste their time at work, so that you can find possible solutions to eliminating them.
Great data with fun illustrations that engage the audience. Great topic for a productivity software company. The design is informative and will appeal to a broad audience, while being directly related to their product.
However, with all of the number values shown in circles, very few of them are visualized. For the percentages, the circles could at least have been doughnut charts coloring only the appropriate portion of the circumference. A good infographic design is supposed to make the data meaningful and relevant to the audience. This helps them better understand the data, and you have to visualize the information to make that work.
Thanks to John for sending in the link!


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Big 12 Campus Correspondent
Being one of five children, it's no surprise that junior Kathy "Kat" Shelton is all about family. In fact, if it weren't for her father's influence, she might not be where she is today.
"Kathy is a great player first of all because of talent," Baylor Softball head coach Glenn Moore said. "Then, I have to believe the fact that her dad has prepared her for life first and then athletics - it's typically the other way around."
Shelton's family is from McKinney, Texas, where her father runs one of the most successful softball club teams, Texas Glory. It all started when Shelton was just eight years old and her father started the team for Shelton and her two older sisters.
"He's just been really involved and is the reason I played softball in college," Shelton said. "He's been the most influential person in my softball career. He learned about the sport with us even though he never played baseball; he just wanted to support me and my sisters."
Since family is such a big influence in Shelton's life, the community atmosphere Baylor offered was one of the biggest factors for Shelton's decision to play here, although both her parents attended Texas A&M.
"Having camaraderie is extremely important to me because you can definitely play better and be yourself when you are really close with the people around you," Shelton said. "So when I came to Baylor, the coaches were really funny, they were like a family joking with each other, and I was talkative and laughing and even went to eat with some of the girls on the team. I ended up talking to the girls like I had known them forever so I knew I really fit in here. We liked the school, the atmosphere and it just felt right."
Shelton loves that the girls have a very tight knight bond outside of athletics and after her freshman year, she stepped up and became the leader the team needed.
"Most natural leaders are leaders early," Moore said. "First you must lead by example, have good people skills and be trustworthy. Kat's freshman year she had all of that - from that point on, her teammates were willing to follow."
"I attribute my leadership on the team to my personality," Shelton said. "Sometimes I wish I was a quiet player that was good and just led by example but I've tried to do that and it doesn't work for me. If I realize there's something that needs to be said, I'll say it. I'm a good teammate and encouraging, but at the same time, I'm not afraid to be that tough teammate that needs to keep people accountable in a respectable way."
Not only is she a vocal leader both on and off the field, Shelton currently leads in nearly every offensive category this season including batting average, runs, hits, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and steals.
"I came back from a high after last season and was kind of on a mission this year of just wanting to get back to the World Series," Shelton said. "Every time I step on the field, I want to try to be the best player on both teams. Every game is a challenge for myself; me versus the pitcher."
Last season brought the team to their first World Series appearance since 2007, which Shelton says is her most memorable experience in her softball career thus far.
"Last season and the road to the World Series was exciting," Shelton said. "Going to Maryland and winning, but mostly going to Georgia and winning in their house after they had been to the World Series about four of five years in a row, really brought us together."
Building on the momentum of last season's success, including Shelton being named a unanimous All-Big 12 first team selection, an Academic All-Big 12 first team member and a second team all-region, Shelton has high hopes for the current season, both for her and for the team.
"Personal goals include me wanting to lead the Big 12 in hits and steals again," Shelton said. "I think if I can do the little things like that, it will lead to the big stuff like being named an All-American or being first-team All-Big 12 again. As a team, we've started out rougher this season and it's been tougher to win games, so I think we need to push to get the little wins so we can make it to post season and hopefully fight our way back to the World Series."
After her collegiate softball career, Shelton hopes to attend graduate school to continue studying speech pathology and use her degree to work with children.
"When I first got to Baylor I didn't know what I wanted to do and thought maybe I'd wanted to coach softball," Shelton said. "I was drawn to speech pathology because I like to talk and I'd like to be able to help other people with their speech. I'm going to apply to graduate school and would love the opportunity to work with kids as a career."
Although family and teammates have been key to her accomplishments, Shelton says the biggest reason for her successes comes from within.
"It can really come down to me being such a passionate person," Shelton said. "Even if I didn't like something but I was going to have to do it anyway, I'm going to do it to the best of my ability. My mentality is that if I'm going to do something, I'm going to be the best at it."
The team has faced some uncontrollable circumstances this season and Shelton has proven herself to be a valuable asset.
"The reason we will rebound is Kathy Shelton," Moore said. "I expect her to be consistent and continue to meet challenges. The records and accolades will come her way. Kathy Shelton motivates me."


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Dow Ends Up More Than 200 Points
The Dow Jones Industrial Average staged a triple-digit advance as investors looked for signs of a compromise in Washington on the impending "fiscal cliff." Brendan Conway has details on The News Hub. Photo: Reuters.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
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