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SOCHI, Russia – For the brief snapshot in time that is the Winter Olympics, figure skaters are among the most-watched athletes on the planet. They are the focus of the attention, and sometimes adulation, of a global audience. But for many male figure skaters, there is a price to be paid for pursuing their profession. And it cannot be measured ... Read More »
Category Archives: News From Around The World
Female soldiers bullied, harassed
More than one in 10 female soldiers in the New Zealand Defence Force say they have been harassed, a new report has found. The Ministry of Defence report released today also showed that while substantial progress has been made in the past 15 years, gender inequity was still widespread. Women had high rates of attrition and low rates of career ... Read More »
STOP THE CYCLE OF BULLYING!! A Victim's Perspective
Prior to the 17th century the term 'bully' was a term of endearment. It was a term to mean 'brother' and 'lover'. The term's meaning deteriorated through the centuries into what we now call a 'bully.' A bully is defined as a person who initiates and carries on the 'activity of repeated, aggressive behavior intended to hurt another person, physically ... Read More »
USA – Costs of Domestic Violence – Lives, Expenses, Losses
A woman comes to the doctor with depression, fatigue and insomnia. A co-worker stays late in the office even when there is not much to do. A sales associate appears tired and distracted. For each of these individuals, domestic violence – physical, sexual, verbal, emotional or psychological abuse against an intimate partner – could be the underlying cause of distress. ... Read More »
When Milena Clarke heard about the Miami Dolphins' bullying controversy, she instantly felt that familiar sick sensation. "It brought back a lot of the pain and reminded me of my situation," said the 14-year-old high school freshman basketball player from Ashland, Ky. "It made me feel kind of better that I was not the only one, but also worse that ... Read More »
Child abuse scandals at the heart of the Catholic Church
The UN denounced the Vatican on Wednesday for failing to stamp out child abuse, and called on the Church to remove all clergy suspected of raping or molesting children. The following are paedophilia scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church in recent years: - Canada: The Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's, Newfoundland was closed in 1990 after it ... Read More »
Child trapped in prison of abuse
People who study child abuse distinguish physical abuse from emotional abuse. Physical abuse is the hitting, biting and burning that leaves physical scars. Emotional abuse is the belittling, threatening, humiliating and terrorizing that leaves scars buried inside a child. Researchers have found that rates of physical child abuse have dropped in this country while rates of emotional child abuse have ... Read More »
Shocking rise in domestic violence in Dorset
DORSET Police are dealing with a case of domestic violence every hour of the day. Officers receive on average 700 reports of domestic abuse per month across the county and have dealt with more than 36,000 incidents of domestic violence in the last five years. Figures obtained by the Dorset Echo under the Freedom of Information Act revealed the shocking ... Read More »
Lebanon: Some Women Slip Through Cracks of Domestic Violence Law
Domestic violence has found itself in the past year regularly in Lebanese headlines, as the tragic stories of Roula Yacoub and, more recently, Fatima al-Nashar, have stirred public opinion in support of a draft law which would criminalize domestic violence. But while the bill is hailed by many women's rights activists as a decisive step, some of the most vulnerable women in the ... Read More »
Of domestic violence
Abdul Majeed is still searching for his runaway wife, Hanifa, who fled to escape the being torment and tortured she received at his hand. Abdul Majid is looking for her not to apologize for his atrocious behavior but rather, as he privately avers, to teach her a lesson she will never forget and never again even think of leaving him. ... Read More »


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Use the headings below to click through and comment on each individual event.
ABO/HLA incompatible blood
Death or serious injury arising from the inadvertent administration of ABO/HLA incompatible blood or blood products or transplant of ABO/HLA incompatible organs
Death or serious disability associated with entrapment in bedrails whilst being cared for in a healthcare facility
Insulin overdose
Death or serious injury as a result of a healthcare professional's prescribing, preparing or administration of insulin in overdose, or his or her failure to prescribe or administer insulin when clinically indicated in a healthcare setting
Oxygen saturation levels
Death or serious injury arising from failure to recognise and act on critical oxygen saturation levels in a patient undergoing general anaesthesia.
Wrongly prepared high risk medication
Death or serious injury associated with the use of wrongly prepared high risk injectable medication, including dose, when the error occurs in the healthcare facility preparing and administering the medication
Intravascular air embolism
Death or serious injury associated with intravascular air embolism that occurs while being cared for in a healthcare facility
Death or occurrence of kernicterus associated with failure to identify and treat hyperbilirubinemia in neonates
Gas Administration
Death or severe injury as a result of the administration of the wrong gas or failure to administer the correct gas at all through a line designated for oxygen in a healthcare facility
Oral methotrexate
Daily administration of oral methotrexate for non-cancer treatment or provision of oral methotrexate for non-cancer treatment with the instruction to take daily
Opioid overdose
Death or serious injury arising from overdose with opioid medicines where the dose of opioid given was inappropriate to the patient's condition and needs
Midazolam overdose
Death or serious injury arising from overdose of midazolam injection.
Physical restraint
Death or serious disability while being physically restrained in any mental healthcare setting including mental healthcare settings within prisons.
Falls from unrestricted windows
Death or serious injury resulting from falls from unrestricted windows.
Administration of oral/enteral medication
Death or serious injury caused by administration of oral/enteral medication, feed or flush intravenously or intrathecally; or caused by intravenous medication administered intrathecally or vice versa

subset: commoncrawl


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You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'holidays' category.
This summer, Donn's mother broke her hip. They live in the Southern California desert, and she went outside barefoot in the blazing sun to get the mail, and fell. We rearranged our lives and spent nearly a month total with her after she got out of rehab, and she was stubborn and determined and did really well. Then, in November, her heart stopped. Happily she happened to be at a concert held at a retirement center, and a nurse stepped in. But that fire and determination were lacking the second time around. She just wasn't fighting as hard. And so we put our heads together and decided to drive down the 1200 miles and surprise her for Christmas.
Every year, we hold a Christmas party for our Iraqi refugee friends, and every year, it just gets bigger and bigger. It's always held the Friday before Christmas, which was of course the 22nd. This year, we had about 250 guests, mostly from Iraq, with a good representation from Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Iran as well. It was a huge success. The food was fantastic! We had it catered by a local Iraqi restaurant which does great dishes, and we went all out…kabobs, chicken skewers, falafel, hummus, bread. For dessert we had baklava and then a friend made hundreds of orange-fig shortbread cookies and coconut lime shortbread cookies that were amazing. We had an awesome program for the kids, run by talented people who run our church's all-day summer camps, fantastic live music, and SnapBar donated their services!
We had tons of help but it was still exhausting. And so, it was with no great joy that we dragged ourselves out of bed the following morning, loaded the car, and headed south. Abel, who is still youthful and energetic, was the only one excited at that point. Donn and I were just trying to make sure we'd packed everything–the air mattresses, the presents, the snacks, the plates of food that Iraqi friends had made up for us to bring. Because yes, that was a feature. We had a plate of leftover kabobs, plus an ENORMOUS platter of fresh falafel and 2 plates of hummus from another friend, and a plate of quba from someone else. It was, frankly, a bit much. We drove to Eugene and Elliot's house, where we ate lunch and left some falafel and hummus for his roommates to enjoy.
We drove down through the forests of Oregon, which don't seem like much until you leave them behind. Of course it was dark shortly after 4. We wound our way through the foothills of Mt Shasta, then hurtled down I-5 to Sacramento, where Ilsa lives.
We picked up Ilsa and saw her new apartment and met her puppy, who wiggled out of her arms with joy at meeting new people. We went for pizza, crowding round a small table in a noisy bar because the restaurant end of things was already closed at 10 p.m. on a Saturday. One thing I did not expect to find in Sacramento was the best Starbucks I've ever been to, serving juniper lattes and affragatos and all done in cool blonde wood and stainless steel, huge and beautiful and open till midnight.
After that, we settled into the dreary part of the trip. Because we hadn't been able to leave till December 23rd and because we needed to get to Hemet in time for me to do some shopping on Christmas Eve before the shops closed and because we were now 5 and that meant 2 hotel rooms, we'd decided to drive the night through. We'd rented a car–our Volvo sedans don't really have room for 5 adults, 4 air mattresses, presents, luggage, etc–but the kids were still too young to be able to drive. Donn and I spelled each other, the passenger trying desperately to sleep while the driver played music to stay awake. Amazingly enough, no one got grumpy. We were all too happy to be together again, excited to surprise Grandma, tearing through the night which stayed dry and bright.
We stopped in a rest area for a while, where Elliot and Donn made fun of my desire for an eyeshade to help me sleep under the glare of the street lamps. "Something to cover your eyes? What about eyelids?" they quipped while I glared at them. Then we drove on again, into a terribly bright sunrise where all was certainly bright, and mostly calm too.
We stopped at Starbucks time and time again. I know all the arguments against this store but I don't care. You can get decent coffee all the way to the inlaws now, and that's always a good thing. We stopped for breakfast at one point, playing for time as we were in danger of arriving before my mother in law was up.
Finally we arrived. Abel knocked on the door. "Come in!" we heard her yell. We all trooped in, holding our phones like shields in front of our faces as we filmed her. "Merry Christmas!" we yelled! She just sat there, in shock. My father in law appeared with tears in his eyes. We'd made it, we'd surprised her, and, as they've told me approximately 1000 times a day, we were the best Christmas present ever! All together now, "Awww…." Also, I am, as always, their favorite (and only) daughter-in-law. So there's that.
Happy New Year to you all! Any plans for 2018?
In 2017, I didn't leave the USA at all. (yes I know I still have 2 weeks, but I have no plans to do so) I went neither to Canada nor to Mexico. More notably, I didn't go to Mauritania, or Morocco, or France. No Spain. No Thailand. I didn't even go to Florida, as I did in August 2016. I didn't leave the West Coast of the United States.
This blog came by its name honestly. I get itchy feet. Our family moved internationally 6 times in 9 years, and we lost count of all our temporary housing along the way. Then we kind of washed up in the suburbs of Portland, and we've had the same house, and almost the same neighbors, for 7 years now, which is mind-boggling to me. But even though we haven't packed all our belongings into boxes and inexplicably lost things along the way, we have still traveled. We went to North Africa 3 times, once to France, once to Thailand, and once to Korea.
This year, I didn't go to Marseille. Or Arles. I didn't wander the dusty streets of Oudane, an ancient village in the Sahara, or sip coffee in the uptown shopping district of Rabat, Morocco. And I feel fine about that.
Because somewhere along the way, dealing with jet lag and exhaustion while still trying to maintain an everyday schedule of full time work, I got really tired. I was ready to stay for a whole autumn in Oregon, to pass out candy on Halloween and take a language class at PSU and not be as tired.
We still did some scary things this year. For a start, we remodeled our kitchen. Elliot, now 22, was very stressed when I told him this. "So this means you're never leaving?" he asked. He's innocent, poor lad. We explained that the element caught fire in the oven so we needed a new stove, which meant we needed a new floor, and if we were going to do that we should repaint the cabinets, right? This should probably have its own post. We managed to choose a new cabinet color without even mentioning the words "divorce," "over my dead body," or "of course your mother would have loved this color; she had no taste either!" Success! We didn't even scare the salesman at the paint place, as we rapidly went from our first choices (wildly divergent) through our second, third and fourth (question: how have we stayed married 27 years?) until we landed with a thud on our fifth choices, a lovely spring green we could both live with, although it gets mixed reviews from our friends. The most common reaction is, "That's bold!" which of course means, "You're crazy."
It was very strange to remodel a kitchen. I felt like a real grown-up at last! We've never remodeled anything in our lives. In Morocco, we lived with a kitchen designed for Wile E Coyote after he falls off a cliff and turns into an accordion; there was no other person it could possibly have been designed for. I'm 5'2″, and the counters were too short for me while I had to stand on tiptoes to reach even the lowest shelf of the cabinets. But we didn't change a thing.
Overall, I'm okay with my lack of travel for a year. But every so often…
…Donn's sister just moved to Amsterdam.
…Elliot might move to Iceland.
…We just had coffee with a friend who is moving to Jordan, a place I've wanted to go for years.
In the meantime, it's snowing on the blog, there's a fire in the fireplace and Christmas jazz on the free-trial of Pandora Prime. Life's good in Oregon.
For now.
Sigh. See post title for where I'm at with this.
Last time we saw our intrepid heroine, she was celebrating her 25th wedding anniversary a mere 2 1/2 months after the fact in Thailand (!!!). In fact, she was in a lovely boutique hotel, with the Queen of Concierges bringing her dry toast and jasmine tea, lying in a very comfortable bed having a very uncomfortable time. Was it food poisoning? A virus? No one knows. There was a fever involved, and if someone is going to get gastrointestinal distress it's usually Donn, but still. The fact remains that out of 8 precious days, she lost an entire 2…and then spent the 3rd wanting things like crackers and yogurt instead of super-cheap-and-delicious Thai food. Sigh. Obviously she needs to go back.
We had scheduled me to take a Thai Cookery class on the Monday, but when I got sick on Sunday (the day we rode elephants; I was running a slight fever and actually slept in the van both ways), Donn spent ages moving my appointment to Tuesday. Then on Tuesday he had to move it to Wednesday. By Wednesday I was determined to go. They picked me up from the hotel in a little pick-up with benches down the back, and I climbed in and met my fellow students–one from Brazil and a couple from New Zealand.
The school slogan was "Our food is guaranteed to make you look pregnant," which I found of dubious desirability.
The cooking school was great. I learned to make 6 items, many of which I have actually made here in Oregon. First they took us to the school where they served us tea and pastries, then they took us to the market where they showed us what to shop for. I took a million photos, roughly, but I'll only make you look at a few close ups of dragon fruit, bananas, and mushrooms.
Then back to the school. I made (you know you care!) chicken coconut soup, green curry paste (which I will never make here. Let's be serious. It has about 20 obscure ingredients and you pound it in an enormous mortar and pestle), green curry itself, Pad Thai because Abel loves it so, green papaya salad, and mango with sticky rice.
I made this Pad Thai and green curry. You could choose from a variety of dishes, but I picked these because my family loves them. I have made Pad Thai in America now but it wasn't as good. I was missing an ingredient or two though; I need to try again.
I ate everything I made! Actually, I took a lot of it back to the hotel with me, because my stomach wasn't up to 5 meals in the space of a few hours, but really I did great. It was so much fun. I loved the people who ran the school, and my fellow learners. We all promised to keep in touch and send each other photos and everyone else did but me because I have good intentions but lousy follow-through.
I didn't make this particular sticky rice with mango, but I ate it! I did learn to make it and mine tasted great but wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as this dish from a restaurant. I felt you needed more beauty in your lives so went with this photo. And yes, I have successfully made this in Oregon. The mango was the least successful part.
Chiang Mai really was fantastic. The old city has an ancient, 700-year-old wall and moat around it, which is now filled with fountains and lined with flowers and crossed by charming bridges. There are masses of temples and many many markets filled with fun, cheap things to cram into your luggage. Our time was far, far too short and we hope to go back some day.
So once again I've proved that I really don't have time to maintain a blog, at least not the way I write. Maybe if I was doing short accounts of my day. But I think you'd be bored with that. My life isn't all that blog-worthy.
December is once again winding down. What happened this year? We traveled for a month, which is really too long when you have high school seniors, I have to say. The kids did great, even fantastic, but they really needed their mum for things like college apps and planning larger homework assignments and talking to teachers and things like that. It also took a tremendously long time to recover from. I don't just mean jet-lag; that was normal. Donn and I returned bone-tired from traveling for a month. It took us probably 3 weeks to get over it, and even then I maintained a sort of vagueness, or numbness, that endured into the Christmas season. I just couldn't get into doing things, and as a result was the most disorganized I've ever been. I started Christmas shopping on December 20th. The nice thing about doing that is it enlarges the holiday, as presents arrive in the days following. "On the second day of Christmas my mother gave to me, yet another thing from Amazon." All together now! "On the third day…"
In retrospect, December seems like a nice month. Elliot came home. We got a large cheap tree which is actually really ugly, with several huge holes, but it's a 10 foot noble that cost $10 so there.
See? Magical, I tell you. Or at least real. One or the other.
We had our annual party for our Iraqi refugee friends, about 200 of them, and that was crazy but good. I realized that I kind of know how to plan a party for 200 people, a talent that is outside of the rest of my skill set, which mostly involves reading novels really fast and making good pies, not to mention the ability to drink astonishing amounts of coffee.
I tried to gain weight and succeeded! Yaay! I'm not a loser! Of course most people would think I should be, but I decided to enjoy the mince pies guilt-free this time round. January with its cold hard reality of scales and dutifully-eaten veggies will come soon enough, and if I eat enough shortbread I might actually look forward to some austerity.
On December 23rd, Donn and I went downtown. I had to stop by Powell's to get Ilsa a book she really really wanted, and so we braved the holiday traffic and found parking a mere 7 blocks away. The queue was the longest I've ever seen, stretching to the back of the store. I put Donn in line and rushed away to get the book and look for a Dr Who travel mug for Abel (they had nothing!), and by the time I got back he was at the front of the fast-moving, super-organized line. That's teamwork! Afterwards we walked around, had a slice and a cold IPA, and wonder of wonders, saw the Unipiper in person!
The Unipiper is a Portland institution, a young man who spreads joy throughout our world by riding a unicycle and playing the bagpipes while wearing a kilt and a Darth Vader costume. (He also sometimes dresses as Gandalf. Truly he is a delight) He kind of makes you wonder what you've accomplished with your life. We heard the whine of the pipes from a block away and we came with haste to see him. We found him signing an autograph for a young man, and he wrote, "May your side always be dark." And we put it on Instagram and Facebook.
Christmas Day was quiet, not to mention filled with envelopes of printed pictures to be opened (of the things that had been ordered and not yet been shipped). We ate a lot and lazed around a lot, which is how it should be if at all possible. We are having a LOTR themed Christmas, in which we attempted to see the Hobbit: Bloated Beyond by Peter's Fan-Fic or whatever it's called, only to find the cheap seats sold out. (A local chain does $5 Tuesdays, and if we miss we tend to wait for the following week) So we watched the first 2 parts, and then segued into watching the LOTR trilogy. Since I haven't sat down and watched them in about 10 years, I'm really enjoying them.
And there you are. Caught up. Bored. Whatever. How was your December? What did you do this year?
First of all, you should know that in Portland, OR, snow is a rare and wondrous thing. We are not quite Atlanta, we do have snow plows, but it really doesn't happen very often. Snow days are precious, rare things. We used to get one good snow a year but it's years and years and years since it's properly snowed. Admittedly I was off living in NW Africa for a large chunk of those years, but we've been back since summer 2010. That means this is our 4th winter, and in all these years we haven't had a proper snowstorm. My poor deprived children had never had a snow day in their entire lives.
I saw a meme on FB, during the "Polar Vortex" that swept the entire countryside EXCEPT for Portland, OR, which had temps like those in Florida. There was a meme on FB with Oprah giving everyone a snow day except for "Portland, OR; you get cold rain."
But on Thursday we got a real live winter storm. It was the best we've had in absolutely ages. Snow started around 11 a.m. and it snowed constantly for over 24 hours. We had tiny flakes, huge ones, blizzard ones with wind, soft gentle dreamy ones. We were very happy.
Isn't that so pretty? Don't you think that should happen more often?
I sent Donn to the store, about a mile away, to get firewood. Took him an hour and a half, and he's a good driver. This was due to 2 conditions. One, there were icy hills. Anyone without chains or snow tires will have trouble on icy hills. The second condition was something that happens to Portland drivers when that first flake is spotted actually sticking to a blade of grass. (We get plenty of snow every year, but it never sticks. It just snows for an hour or two and then stops, breaking your heart every time)
Portland drivers morph into one of two types when those first flakes start sticking. The first lot turn into 15 year old boys, the kind with access to whiskey and car keys, the kind whose goal is to turn doughnuts in the ice. The second lot become 90 year old grandmothers, the kind who drive 5 miles an hour while peering over the steering wheel. There is no one left in between. You can imagine the driving, with only teens and grannies out there.
Note: I didn't take this picture. It's from a local news channel, and is an intersection near our house.
So it was basically awesome. We put chains on the Volvo and conquered the streets but mostly we stayed home, built fires, cooked and ate rather too much (it was cold! I needed the calories!). We went for lots of walks, to the mis-named Summer Lake.
Yes, that's Summer Lake (behind the tree) in winter. Why do people name lakes such stupid names? The park is about a mile or less from our house, and then the hike around through the woods and over the bridges and around the lake is about another mile. It made a lovely walk, and put me right in the mood for more hot chocolate!
Donn looked very dashing. We realized we are sorely lacking in wintery gear. We have very few hats and warm scarves and mittens and gloves, and we are seriously lacking boots. Ilsa and I had to share a pair, which would have been all right except that her feet are a little smaller than mine. They kept my feet warm and dry and slightly cramped, but it was okay. Donn had to just wear his regular shoes.
When we came back from "Summer" Lake, the freezing rain was starting. The entire house was covered in a sheath of ice. Here's what it looked like through the windows:
Sometimes ice storms send tree limbs crashing, downing power lines and cutting electricity. So I was very happy that things stayed warm inside the house. We built another fire, ate muffins, drank hot drinks, and were pretty happy to have another 2 days to sleep in. It was fun to have time to watch the Olympics, although apparently I am the only person in the house who wants to watch them. Luckily I can pull rank.
Aside: anyone else totally sick of Olympic commercials? I am! My "favorite" is the one that compares winning a gold medal and being a top athlete, fearless, with biting into a chicken mcnugget (go bold with habarnero ranch!). Uh yeah. They are totally connected.
I do love ice storms, especially if no one dies and the electricity stays on. Thanks to the layer of ice on top of the snow, which made for some really fun crunchy walks, everything was still cancelled for Sunday and Monday. By Monday night, the rain had returned and the roads were slushy but passable.
And now it's all gone and the temp is about 50 degrees F today. Warm (relatively) and rainy. Everything is back to the greens and browns that typify winter round here. But we basically had 4 days off and I got absolutely nothing done. Just wanted to gloat a little bit. How was your weekend?
When you live in a place for 6 years, you come to think of it as home, even as you still refer to your country of origin as "home." This is a conundrum familiar to travelers and expatriates alike. The result, naturally enough, is that you never feel completely at home in any single place again. There's always something you miss.
We lived in Mauritania long enough for a bit of the desert to enter our souls. But we have been gone for as long as we'd lived there, and Morocco was very different. What would it be like to return after 6 years?
In a word, it was disorienting. As we drove from the airport into the dust-filled midnight, Donn said, "It hasn't changed at all." But it had. In the morning, we saw the water. Everyone had been telling us that the city had grown and grown and grown, but it took us several days to see all the ways that it had.
This is an example, an enormous fountain (?) being put in at the carrefour nearest our old house. Presumably they'll unwrap the dolphins at some point. Can't wait to see how long this monstrosity is used. How long before it's left to publicly crumble, like the palm trees they used to plant for visiting dignitaries and then didn't water once the dignitaries had left?
That first afternoon, Donn and I wandered out to begin to look for old friends. Since leaving in 2007, we'd lost track of almost everybody, and we were anxious to find again these people who live so annoyingly without facebook, email, and skype. (Aside: I am not describing everyone here, just some. But a high proportion of Mauritanians live without internet in their homes.) We decided to walk. Donn stopped to take a picture of the edge of one of the puddles, where trash floated suspended in murkiness. Some kids driving by mocked us at first, and then turned it into mocking themselves for coming from a country with trash everywhere. It was a little sad, especially as they spoke English, which means they are upper-class and educated.
We stopped by the home of the guy who was probably Donn's closest friend when we lived there. Mohammed is someone we have kept in touch with. He occasionally will call Donn on his vonage phone. But we didn't have a phone in Mauritania. We went to his parents' house, which we found after only one wrong turn. A group of boys playing outside approached up, avid curiosity mingled with suspicion on their faces. "Who are you looking for?" asked one. We gave the name. "He is my grandfather," said the boy with great dignity in spite of torn knees and dust-covered jeans. I realized he must be my friend H's son, the one who was born during Ramadan, the one they rubbed henna all over when he was 3 days old so that he was a curious orange colour when I first saw him. Since Mohammed and his father have the same name, we knew we were in the right place.
Mohammed wasn't there but one of his older sisters was, and she called him and handed us the phone. He no longer lives there but has his own place now, even though he's still not married. We arranged a time to meet the following day, and walked on. I needed conditioner so we went to one of the bigger stores where we used to shop. We walked in. "How are you? How are the kids?" one of the young men shouted, running over to shake Donn's hand and hug him. I couldn't believe it. He remembered us.
Look how pink Donn looks! I don't know why. In real life he is not raspberry coloured.
We asked him where a cyber-cafe was and he told us of a new place. Nouakchott's main drag is wider now and there are sidewalks, at least at this end, and street lights that worked, and even a new traffic light. It was a bit disorientating. We found the cafe, and there were actual tables and chairs set out on the sidewalk, something we'd never seen before. It felt a little bit like Morocco, except for all the dust in the air, fogging the orange light cast by the streetlights, stirring in little eddies as the men in their long white robes walked past. We ordered coffee and pulled out our iPad (Donn) and smart phone (me) to check mail. We sat there, in full view of the city, obviously foreign and by extension obviously rich, oblivious. When we'd finished, we went over to visit Oasis Books, our old project. (When we lived there, Donn was the administrator and I was a teacher there. It was the first English bookstore and library in the country and also taught English classes). There, the people that run it now told us about how smart phones and iPads are the most desirable things to steal in the country, and told us of a woman who'd been killed for her smart phone by a taxi driver.
That made me feel vulnerable. I don't know if I can describe how visible I always felt in Mauritania, where I look different from almost everyone else and I stand out. On the one hand, I value this experience. I, a white middle-class American woman, know very well how it is to be the minority. On the other hand, I am at essence a shy person and all the attention is wearing. Hearing that I had sat, my face and hair shining like the sun in its splendor, using a much-desired smart phone in a very public place made me feel a little strange.
As a result, our friends told us, the government had kicked out all non-native taxi drivers. This meant that taxis were scarce and the drivers felt they could charge you more than 100 times the going rate, which friends told us technically hadn't changed. So instead of 80 cents, we were quoted $12 to go short distances. When we protested, the driver would simply drive off. It was frustrating.
In the 6 years since we left, Mauritania has changed so much. Yes the city has grown–it must be twice the size. But Al-Queda has also come to the area. Aid workers have been kidnapped; a friend of ours was gunned down in the streets. There was a suicide bomber outside the kids' old school who, like a bad joke, killed only himself. All these things have taken a toll. Peace Corps left, most of the French families left along with European businesses and many of our American and European friends, and the Paris-Dakar rally has relocated to South America. Donn was talking to a man who sold souvenirs–bracelets made of wood and metal, leatherwork, picture frames and occasional tables."We are all paying the devil's bill," he told Donn mournfully, "Not just us, but the tour guides in the desert and everyone at all connected to tourism."
It's true I felt more unsafe there, although I want to stress that nothing happened. In part, it was stories people told us, including Mauritanian friends. In part, it was probably in my head. I do know that we stood out like we did in 2001 and like we didn't by 2007, when oil had been discovered and Europeans, Americans and Australians were flooding in. (Flooding is a relative term. Perhaps seeping would be more accurate) And being in such a noticeable and noticed minority makes one feel vulnerable, no matter the reality of the situation.
Mauritania can be an infuriating place but before you know it, the people have crept into your heart. Like the kids who started out mocking us and then turned their wit on themselves, the nation as a whole suffers from an inferiority complex that is often masked in an annoying superiority. I still remember a student I had who picked his nose with his pen. I'd look over and his pen would be half up his nose, and I'd have to look away quickly. He said to me one day, "I think Mauritanians are cleaner than Americans." I flashed on people living in the dirt without running water, on trash-choked streets and on the unpaved roads. I asked him why he thought that, and he said, "Because we are Muslim and we wash our hands 5 times a day before we pray." Meanwhile, in America, kids are developing asthma because their environments are too sterile and there are wipes available at the grocery store for your carts and toilet seat covers for public toilets. I thought of trying to describe it, but it was too much. I just said, "Americans wash their hands a lot too," and left it at that.
I remember trying to teach a writing class to use specific descriptions. I wrote on the board, "The mountain is beautiful" and showed them two pictures, one of a flat mesa in the Mauritanian desert in shades of ochre, and one of snow-capped Mt Hood rising above deep green forests. I asked which picture the sentence described, wanting them to tell me it could be either, and they needed more picturesque and expressive words, but instead they cast their eyes down and said, "You are right. Mauritania is not beautiful."
See? They just crept into your heart a little bit, didn't they? Even now, thinking of those earnest students who tried so hard and who had so few chances to succeed makes me sad and angry and proud.
And so I have to say that in the ways that count most, Mauritania has not changed. It's grown a lot. It felt more unsafe. But that curious, fascinating blend of people pushing you away and reaching out to you at the same time is still there. People stared at me on the street, but that didn't mean they meant me harm–just that I was unusual, like seeing your TV come to life. My friend Aicha's guard said to her, when I went for lunch, "Can I come in and just watch her eat? I've seen people eating with knives and forks on TV but never in real life." "NO you can't come watch her eat!" said Aicha, and she laughed when she told me, but I sensed she also felt shy, insecure, that she comes from a place where people can reach adulthood without ever being exposed to silverware.
I know I keep using the word "strange," but it was strange to be there, in a world half-remembered and yet never forgotten. Our time in Mauritania changed our family, forever shaped how we view the world and our place in it, even though we were only there six years, a portion of my life that grows smaller and smaller as the years pile on. Life has an intensity there, a preciousness perhaps born of the fact that life isn't all that precious, as babies run out behind your SUV and people die for the lack of something as basic as water. Perhaps it's because everything you thought you knew has been stood on its head—fat is beautiful, the utility companies will cheat you and rob you blind, the cute puppy will be a skinny rabid dog in about 6 weeks. But once you've lived there, you will forever more be impatient with certain values the developed world holds dear. Life is precious because it is precarious, and there's a solidity to that fact that is blurred and blunted in more affluent countries. And in a certain sense, returning to the desert did feel like coming home.
Waking up that first morning back in Nouakchott was strange. I had slept surprisingly well on my solid-as-a-rock mattress. But I was unprepared for the sight that met my eyes, as I rubbed sleep from them and stared out the front window.
Puddles and puddles and puddles! What was up? I well remember, in fact it is seared into my memory, how hot and dry Nouakchott was. Located where the sands of the Sahara meet the Atlantic Ocean, built on some salt flats by the French who decided on a relatively-neutral spot to build a new capital city for a new country in 1960, Nouakchott was the exact opposite of Portland. It rained 4-6 times a year, always harsh and sudden and preceded by a wind that whipped the reddish sand straight up into a wall that was then slammed down hard by the rain, rendering anything outside, like clean clothes on your washline, covered with reddish mud. Rainstorms lasted anywhere from 10-30 minutes, then they were over. They left lots of puddles, that disappeared within a day or so as the hot thirsty air drank all moisture available and the sand eventually absorbed what was left. It only rained between July and September. I remember one year in which it really didn't rain at all.
This was different. Since we left in 2007, the sea has risen, so that now there are actually permanent ponds, almost lakes, in this desert city. There are rushes, and ducks and egrets. I can not emphasize strongly enough to you how strange this is. It would be like leaving Portland for 6 years and returning to find a barren wasteland that no one had thought to mention to me.
We arrived very late on a Wed. night, around midnight. Thursday was normal weather-wise, but the Friday and Saturday of that week it rained all day. It was bizarre. In spite of huge changes in the amount of paved roads, most of Nouakchott remains sand instead of pavement, and the sand turned instantly to mud. I was wearing very long skirts (well, long skirts on a short person) that dragged in the mud.
After 2 days of rain, the place was truly flooded. Several large intersections were impassable. When I went to visit Aicha, we had to park a long ways away and walk to her house over a trail made of sandbags, cement blocks and other debris. We heard stories of people in the poorer sections of town who lost everything, of children drowned in houses. Tim and Debbie's old house was unreachable without wading through deep water.
(sorry this is blurry. I was trying to be subtle with my camera. Also this was taken from a moving car using telephoto)
It rained for 2 days and was pleasant, temperature-wise, although unpleasant to walk around in. But then the weather cleared. The sky was actually blue! (In Nouakchott, it's usually white with dust and haze) And it was hot. It was around 100 degrees for the rest of the time we were there. The heat slowly shrank the puddles and the wind whipped up the drying sand. It achieved a state I would previously have thought impossible–it managed to be muddy and dusty at the same time.
I wrote the kids long emails that I would send when we had internet access, which wasn't very often. (Ilsa: "Your letters are so long. You're not going to have anything left to tell us." It's like she doesn't even know me. She complained often about the length of my emails, which made me feel great about her interest level in me, but she did read them.) I told them over and over about all the water. Donn did too. And yet, when we were back and Abel was looking at my phone pics while in a doctor's waiting room, he shouted, "WHAT??? WHAT IS ALL THAT WATER???" Everyone looked. I tried to explain, sort of. It was awkward.
Seeing all that green was nice. Donn and I are hoping that the city learns to deal with its new water, and that it ends up being a good thing. In the meantime, the water is brackish and not really anything you'd want to get too near.
I really wanted to post more in December, because I love how wordpress makes the blog snow the entire month and I wanted to have readers come see it. But the problem with December is that it's busy. I don't have a lot of concerts and parties, which is too bad since I like concerts and parties. (Except for small shrill children. I can skip those) We did go to two white elephant parties, both of which we won. What? Of course someone wins. Whoever brings the present that causes the entire room to erupt into gales of laughter, that makes that one woman with the great sense of humour and the really loud laugh actually cry with joy and hold her head, is the winner.
I probably need to be careful here. Let's just say that part of what made our gifts so great is caused by a difference between cultures in what is considered beautiful and what is considered seriously over the top. We have been gifted throughout the year with some things that were seriously over the top–a large shiny gold plastic crucifix (a. we're protestants b. where would you ever find something like that?), a clock/lamp shaped like a galleon in full sail, complete with sea gulls and frolicking dolphins, also of impressive size, a 3-D picture of Jesus that was actually 3 pictures, which you could spot as you moved it. See? Don't you wish you could go to white elephant parties with us?
In other party news, we reprised our party for our Iraqi friends. Last year, we had a party to which the entire community was invited, which meant 250 in our church's foyer and a lot of chaos. We broke the record for largest gathering of Iraqis in Oregon and also the largest amount of cigarettes ever smoked at our church. (Our church let us hold it there because they are nice and they like us. They also provided high school boys to help clean up, which is terrific when you need to vacuum an enormous floor or stack chairs.) But it was too loud and chaotic. So this year, we invited a much smaller number of people (i.e. 100)and it was great fun, although still an awful lot of work.
In family news, Elliot is home for the holidays, which is making me grateful that he's at a state school only a few hours away. He got his summer job back and has had only 2 days off so far, the day of the Iraqi party, and Christmas Day. Poor kid. They really really like him, because he's a good worker, and he really really hates this job, because they don't treat him with respect and instead keep a skeleton staff on even at the busiest times, so everyone's overworked. Oh well. It's a starter job for a college student and it's fine for that, although a. I would hate to work it as an adult, and am thankful I don't have to, and b. there's no excuse not to treat employees with respect, even if they are 18 and only there for 3 weeks. Ok. Done ranting now.
We had a lovely quiet Christmas en famille. We kept it mellow this year, and had lots of really good food and some time with good friends. And it's not over yet! I've rehung the stockings because they look so pretty, there's lots of leftovers still to eat, and I have a stack of books to read. We finally got our hot little hands on Season 7 of Dr. Who (the one season not on Netflix; borrowed from friends) when the DVD player went out but that's okay–Amazon was late with a Christmas delivery and sent us a $20 gift card as an apology, which was awesome of them, so we're getting a new one. Hope this Christmas season was as delightful for you and yours. Merry Christmas!
As I was saying when I was so rudely interrupted by my own stupidity, I adore the Rabat medina. Each of the ancient Moroccan cities has its own medina–the old part of the city, usually a warren of winding tiny alleyways punctuated by closed doors and cats that weave their way in and out, along with a colourful marketplace selling traditional hand-crafted items to tourists. And if some of these items have been added to the repertoire more recently than others, who really cares? It's cool stuff.
This isn't exactly what I'm talking about, but I was amused to see they're now making beautiful lanterns out of old olive and tomato paste tins, and managing to make treasure out of trash.
There are medinas–old cities, marketplaces–in all of Morocco's major cities. Many are bigger, better-known than Rabat's, which is relatively small and straight-forward. Fez's medina, for example, is the largest pedestrian-only city in the world and a guide is requisite to get through it. It's fascinating, but enormous. Meknes is built over a huge prison that housed European slaves, and people told us you used to be able to explore it but too many tourists got lost and died so they closed it. Marrakesh is world-famous and has huge variety. But Rabat is nice. It's big enough to have plenty of variety, but small enough that you don't get overwhelmed.
We went to the shop where we bought our leather pouffs, over 3 years ago now. This guy has beautiful leather-work. Donn asked him the price of one of the pouffs, and he said, "Same as last time." We did a bit of a double-take. "It's been, what, about two years?" he asked us. "Three," we said.
We couldn't believe it. This guy's shop is popular; he has a workshop in the back and uses really high quality leather, and his shop is constantly busy. How could he remember us from 3 years ago? But he had. This cemented the beginnings of a real friendship. We ended up sitting and chatting; we drank tea with him, and discussed our pasts and futures, and told him to come stay with us sometime if he ever comes to the US.
(I had a photo for you of him sitting in his shop, but when I uploaded it off my phone the quality was so bad I can't share it with you. Unless you like feeling slightly queasy and motion sick from blurriness.)
Random shot of fountain and one of the doors into the medina, or ancient walled city.
The medina is more than the marketplace. It is also home to a lot of people. Medinas are where you find the old riads, those houses built round courtyards that are so often turned into stunning hotels by foreigners these days. But more often, normal Moroccans live there, climbing uneven tiled staircases daily where grandmas and toddlers come to grief,
walking past shops,
doing their laundry,
and going about their daily lives.
(and yes, that is a total hip shot, because I knew he wouldn't want me taking his photo!)
Donn and I spent a fair amount of time just wandering the back streets, getting away from the touristy end of things and more into just the regular part. He got great photos. Me, not so much.
This is near the wool market, and also near, or possibly a part of, the old slave market, where the Barbary pirates used to sell European slaves captured on raids.
Motorcycles are great for these tiny alleyways, especially if you are comfortable swerving around small children, cats, elderly people with canes, and the occasional somewhat clueless tourist.
I couldn't figure out what was going on until we walked by, and I saw that everyone was gathered round a giant plate of couscous.
I never get bored of these alleys. At least I haven't yet.
The markets we came across in the residential area (for lack of a better term) sold fruit and olives, or pots and pans, or soap.
Soap with ground olive pits in it
When you go to a Moroccan hammam (the local kind, not the tourist kind. I went to a tourist kind on this trip and it was fantastic! We'll get to it at some point, possibly in February at the rate I'm going), you take this dark soap that has ground olive pits in it. You smear it on your body and let it sit a bit, presumably loosening up all that dead skin. Here's my description of going to a local hammam.
Donn and I wandered through the alleys, turning at random, hoping not to get lost. Eventually we always found our way out, although I was sometimes surprised at where.
A shrine near the wool market
also near wool market
Anyone who read this blog during our years in Morocco knows how much I love the Rabat medina.
When we lived there, I was always posting pictures about it. Nothing's changed.
I just accidentally hit "publish" instead of "preview." Augh! Oh well. Enjoy these pictures, and come back tomorrow for more pics and a teeny bit more text.


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Class Scheduling
If you need to schedule a class for academic purposes, fill out the Academic Class Schedule Form below:
Academic purposes are defined as credit-bearing courses and convocations.
**Submit completed forms as an attachment to [email protected]
If you need to schedule an academic event such as testing, study groups, or extra classrooms, please fill out the .
Academic Schedule Submission Deadlines
|Summer 2019
|Fall 2019
|Spring 2019
|Submission DEADLINE
|Nov 15
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|Schedule Viewable Online
|Feb 1
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|Registration Begins
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Contact Breanna Bradshaw
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For all other events, contact Centralized Scheduling


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A.J. McInerney of Henderson finished off a 1-under-par 70 Saturday to make the cut by two strokes in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin.
Tournament officials had reached out to McInerney with a sponsor's exemption after they learned the former UNLV golfer survived the Oct. 1 shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival. He delivered with rounds of 71-70 in his first PGA Tour event and was tied for 33rd heading into the third round.
McInerney needed to finish four holes from his second round Saturday morning along with 28 other players after Friday's play was called due to darkness.
He started at 1 under par — two strokes above the projected cutline — and birdied No. 15. McInerney made par at No. 16, but followed that with bogey at the par-3 17th after hitting his tee shot into a greenside bunker, before making par at No. 18.
McInerney, 23, plays on the Web.com Tour and next week plans to compete in the second stage of PGA Tour qualifying school.
Contact Tom Spousta at firstname.lastname@example.com or 702-387-5205. Follow @TheRealTSpou on Twitter.


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Cameron using his Dead son's disability to argue DLA Policy, "Cameron claimed DLA" isn't the bastard rich enough"
"I really do get angry when this man uses the disability his dear son had to try to gain a political position on one of his policies,a policy mind you that is forcing more poverty onto people in our society who can ill afford to suffer more, Cameron really is a nasty piece of work, a real scum bag."
Scientific study reveals up to 95% of Tory DNA is Neanderthal
"However, scientists have yet to explain the mystery of why modern-day Liberal Democrats are so keen to mate with their Neanderthal Tory counterparts, despite the inevitability of it leading to their almost certain extinction."
"March 21st, just two weeks away, holds the most important event in the political calendar: the day the man in charge of Britain's sinking economy, George Osborne, presents his government's third austerity budget."
Life as we know it: Dysfunction Junction: The ANS and CFS
""Autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction is a common feature of CFS, and can cause symptoms in virtually every organ system. Circulatory symptoms include lightheadedness, cold hands and feet and palpitations or "anxiety." In the digestive system, autonomic dysfunction can cause nausea, cramps, constipation, diarrhea and bloating. Autonomic dysfunction can also cause abnormal breathing and urinary patterns, and problems with balance and even vision." "
Suicide training in Job Centres? Cancer patients scrubbing floors? Welcome to Cameron's Brave New World
"David Cameron. He will be remembered as the Prime Minister – without a mandate, remember – who attacked the sick and disabled of our country with a vehemence beyond human comprehension. And when you think that he had a disabled son who tragically passed two years ago, well, then, it beggars belief even more so."
The ESA Saga: Consultation my arse
"It appears that 'consultation' means agreeing with what the Government says or buggering off."
Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Ability Disabled
"So, if you are disabled - and make no mistake, I mean disabled in any way at all - deaf, blind, paralysed, mentally ill, or if you have a "fluctuating condition" like mine - if you can leave the house, care for yourself in the most basic ways and stumble through a semblance of "life" you will not qualify for PIP. If you give up, stop trying, stop fighting for every minute of every day, you might."
Sickening indignity: Terminally ill patients face repeat fit-to-work tests « ATOS REGISTER OF SHAME
""Thousands of people, often with conditions they will never recover from, are being subjected to a process that causes huge anxiety. "If even a fraction of them are being put though the ordeal of face-to-face interrogation then this is callous in the extreme.""
Campaigners set for legal action as welfare bill clears final hurdle
"Following the failure of peers and MPs to reverse the most damaging aspects of the bill, disabled people's organisations are now likely to take legal action against parts of the legislation, once it becomes law."
Thursday, 8 March 2012
Links of the day 03/08/2012
at 22:31:00
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Apple's iTunes U is featuring the Frontiers of Science video collections from the Columbia University iTunes U channel. These videos present lectures from Columbia's innovative core course, Frontiers of Science, and cover topics in neuroscience, astronomy, biodiversity, and earth science.
The videos were produced as part of the Frontiers of Science Public Repository, a resource that makes lectures, additional media, activities, problem sets, seminar guides, and other educational materials available to instructors for free. Columbia professors Darcy Kelley and David Helfand spearheaded the effort to create the repository, and CCNMTL developed the website.


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Price: £99.99
* Limited time Discount, Buy it now!
Pump Specs:
Pump Size : 7.5cm x 4cm x 5.5cm
Flow Rate : 450 - 1200 litres per hour
Input : DC 6V-24V
Cable length : 3M
Solar panel features:
All weather proof
6 frame holes for mounting
Fitted with blocking diode to prevent reverse current
Solar Panel Specs:
Watts Peak (W): Pmax 20W +/_ 5%
Short Circuit Current (A): (Isc) 1.32A
Open Circuit Voltage (V): (Voc) 21.4V
Optimum Operating Current (A): (Imp) 1.18
Optimum Power Voltage (V): (Vmp) 16.94
Manufactured in accordance with IEC 61215
It is very easy to set up. Connect the nozzle and extension tubes to the pump. Connect the solar panel to the pump with the supplied cable.
Place the solar fountain pump fully underwater
For best fountain effects, leave the solar fountain pump head/nozzle 5-10cm above water surface.
Box contents:
Fountain pump with 3m cable
6 piece nozzle kit
20w solar panel
Fountain float pad
Main adaptor to power the pump in winter
4 metres of clear flexible tubing
For trouble free operation we recommend to operate the pump in clear water. Regular cleaning of the pump is essential.
DO NOT alter or change the product itself or its components
DO NOT connect the pump to any other power supply other than the solar panel and mains adaptor provided
Operate pump in freshwater or saltwater only,never above 50 degrees
Keep away from flammable liquids
Warning: Protect the pump against frost and do not use in winter
The 10W solar panel charges the battery, which in turn powers the pump. The battery allows you to enjoy your fountain in the evening or even when it's cloudy!
In the box we also include a mains adaptor, so you can power the pump directly from the mains, or charge the battery indoors from the mains when the Sun's not out.
In optimum conditions, the powerful brushless pump can produce a water fountain up to 2 metres in height (tube head height).
Fountain pump
- Maximum fountain height: 2m (tube head height)
- Maximum flow rate: 760 Litres/hour at 24V
- Maintenance-free brushless DC motor with built-in dry run protection
- Flow regulator dial to control fountain height
- Float pad for easy installation in deeper water
- Clear flexible tubing to easily set up water features and waterfalls
- Rapid 3 minute setup
- 12V lead acid rechargeable battery with 5m cable
- Can charge battery with solar panel (included) or mains adaptor (included)
- Built-in timer: when timer is on, pump works for 15 minutes every hour to save battery charge. Perfect in winter when there is not much sunlight to charge the battery
What you get
- Fountain pump with nozzle accessories, 6 LED ring, float pad and 5m cable
- 10W solar panel
- Backup battery
- Mains AC/DC adaptor
- 2 metres of clear flexible tubing
- 1 year warranty (pump and panel), 6 month warranty (battery)
Note: DO NOT connect the pump or battery to ANY AC voltage power (it is DC ONLY).
Solar Fountain Products
Couple of things to bear in mind when purchasing a solar fountain or water feature-
1) Carefully read what the manufacturer says about the fountain height. Example- For this 2m fountain kit, I realised that 2m fountain meant pump can lift water upto 2m height using a thin clear plastic tube on full power. This (called fountain head / tube head height) is important to consider when installing a water feature. When I am using this 2m fountain kit as a fountain I get about 130 to 140cm water jet with the supplied nozzle. This is expected as water pressure drops when it is coming out through multiple holes in the nozzle.
2) Don't expect specified fountain height all throughout the day as it greatly varies with the sunny conditions especially looking at the weather so far this summer. I suggest to buy a bigger capacity pump and panel than you need. One can reduce the fountain height with the control knob to suit your need.
3) To enjoy the fountain in the evenings, switch off / disconnect the fountain during day time; let the battery charge fully. Switch on the fountain when you need. This battery lasts for 4-5 hours on medium setting. I have been using this kit for 3 months now. So far no problems. I clean the pump every 2 weeks.
Day it arrived started off sunny, but not overly hot, but now have some cloud so will see how it goes but so far I am absolutely delighted with my purchase and would strongly recommend anyone to choose this model with the flexible functionality over cheaper versions on the market. Good value at the £99 price I paid.


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The Nebraska Well Drillers Association Archives
NWDA Archives Support
The Nebraska Well Drillers Association (NWDA) Archives administrative and logistical support, including web site services, are provided by the School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL).
Summary of this Web Site
Since 1929, NWDA has hosted an annual convention. This web site contains the convention minutes, convention group photographs, convention programs, convention banquet (fun fest / Dutch lunch) programs, and the annual January short course programs. In addition, several other items of general interest are included under the miscellaneous and newspaper clippings buttons. We hope you find this information useful.
CSD/SNR and NWDA - A History of Cooperation Since 1929
In January, 1929, Dr. George E. Condra, dean and director of the Conservation and Survey Division (CSD), now part of the School of Natural Resources (SNR), UNL, invited twelve well drillers to campus. From this meeting, they organized a state-wide association of well drillers. Since that time, NWDA has become one of the largest and most successful state water well drillers associations in the United States. Since the beginning, NWDA and CSD/SNR have worked closely together, and that relationship remains strong today. One primary role of CSD/SNR is to manage and house the archives of the NWDA. As such, we present here many of the important and interesting documents, and other items, of NWDA.
2008 Convention Participants (lists in pdf)


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We're getting ourselves situated here for Panasonic's CES keynote, which we're expecting to include an unveiling of Panasonic's 150-inch plasma TV. We're in the same ballroom that hosted last night's Gates extravaganza, but it's cut down to half the size for this morning's event -- all the same, we don't expect to be disappointed. Stand by for the proceedings to begin at 8:30AM PST (11:30 EST).
8:21AM - Panasonic AVC President Toshihiro Sakamoto will be joined on stage by Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of the CEA, who kicked things off last night.
8:32AM - "The show will begin in five minutes." Apparently when you've got a 150-incher in the wings, there's no need to be punctual.
8:36AM - And here we go. Oh, it's just the video intro from last night. Strong start, folks. As a side note, it turns out we're sitting behind some sort of ambassador. Sadly, she's not liveblogging.
8:39AM - Here's Gary Shapiro. He's pretty intense, plugging the number of exhibitors and particular partners (hey NBC). "In 2007 technology exploded as never before as the free market drove adoption..." Video downloads took up where MP3 downloads left off "Just look at YouTube."
8:42AM - "Our industry's growth remains strong, and the trend will continue in 2008." Despite economic concerns, they expect the industry to grow to $171 billion next year.


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Saturday, August 9, 2008
Peach and Blackberry Cobbler
yield: 8 servings
1/4 cup butter, melted and divided
3 cups sliced fresh peaches
2 cups blackberries
1 cup plus 1 Tbsp flour
1 cup sugar, divided
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup 1% milk
1. Preheat oven to 350° .
2. Pour 2 Tbsp of the melted butter into the bottom of a 2 quart baking dish coated with cooking spray.
3. Combine peaches, blackberries, and 1 Tbsp flour in a medium bowl; toss gently. Add 1/4 cup sugar and ginger; toss gently to combine. Pour peach mixture into prepared dish. In a separate bowl combine 1 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Add remaining 2 Tbsp butter and milk, stirring with a whisk. Pour batter evenly over fruit mixture.
4. Bake at 350° for 1 hour, 10 minutes or until golden brown.
Posted by Michelle Scarbrough
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Largo Announces Shipment of its 1000th Lot of Vanadium Pentoxide
August 24, 2017 (Source) – Largo Resources Ltd. ("Largo" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it recently surpassed its 1000th lot shipment of vanadium, representing approximately 44 million pounds of vanadium pentoxide (V2O5).
Mark Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer for Largo, stated: "We are extremely pleased to have passed this milestone in production and are very proud of the production results and low operating costs being achieved by our operational team. The price range of V2O5 for the week ended August 18, 2017 was US$9.00/lb to US$10.00/lb (Source: Metal Bulletin), which represents an approximate 64% increase over the US$5.81 average price for fiscal Q2. We anticipate that the vanadium price environment created by the recent price increases which represent a 5-year high combined with our operational performance and our low cost production will drive strong financial results for the remainder of fiscal 2017."
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About Largo
Largo Resources Ltd. is a growing strategic mineral company focused on the production of vanadium pentoxide at its Vanadio de Maracás Menchen Mine. Vanadium is primarily used as an alloy to strengthen steel and reduce its weight. Vanadium enhanced steels are used in a vast and growing range of products that are used and encountered every day; including, rebar, automobiles, transport infrastructure etc. As trends in the steel industry now demand increasingly stronger and lighter products for advanced applications, the use of vanadium is expected to grow over the medium and long term. Largo also has interests in a portfolio of other projects, including: a 100% interest in the Currais Novos Tungsten Tailings Project in Brazil; a 100% interest in the Campo Alegre de Lourdes Iron-Vanadium Project in Brazil; and a 100% interest in the Northern Dancer Tungsten-Molybdenum property in the Yukon Territory, Canada. For more information, please visit www.largoresources.com.
Cautionary Notes:
This press release contains forward-looking information under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements with respect to completion of a listing on a U.S. stock exchange. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". All information contained in this news release, other than statements of current and historical fact, is forward looking information. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Largo to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to those risks described in the annual information form of Largo and in its public documents filed on SEDAR from time to time. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made. Although management of Largo has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Largo does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Largo undertakes no obligation to update any vanadium pricing information contained in this press release. Largo's Readers should also review the risks and uncertainties sections of Largo's annual and interim MD&As.
Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange (nor its regulatory service provider) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
InvestorIntel is a trusted source of reliable information at the forefront of emerging markets that brings investment opportunities to discerning investors.


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"'Likes Lead to Nothing' And Other Hard-Learned Lessons Of Social Media Marketing"
This article talks about how marketers have increased spending on social media marketing by 200% over the past eight years, and that spending will only to continue to increase. Before reading this, I had never thought about the ROI in social media marketing. I found it interesting that almost half of the CMO-survey respondents reported that they were unable to show the impact of social media marketing.
I think that this article is both relevant to our class and important to read for anyone who is interested in social media marketing because it highlights both common failures in social media marketing and ways to market on social media successfully. In my opinion, the most important thing to take away from this article is that it is important to be authentic when social media marketing and stay on target with your brand and audience, rather than simply trying to rack up likes/views.


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James Guy bagged his first World medal, and GB's first swimming medal of the Kazan 2015 World Championships, with 400m Free silver on the opening night in Russia.
The 20-year-old set a British record 3:43.75, touching 1.17 seconds behind China's Olympic and defending World champion Sun Yang.
"Everyone wants to win obviously but I can't be happier to win a medal at the World Championships – I'm over the moon with that one," said Guy.
In the women's race Jazz Carlin missed out on a second medal for GB by just 0.4 seconds.


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SL ruling party rebels ask Chandrika to lead them
Ruling party rebels urge the former party leader to lead them in their struggle against Rajapaksa, reports PK Balachandran.world Updated: Jun 20, 2007 18:10 IST
Rebels in Sri Lanka's ruling party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) have asked former party leader and Sri Lankan President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, to lead them in their struggle against Mahinda Rajapaksa who now heads the party and the government.
Dissident leader, former minister Mangala Samaraweera, on Wednesday appealed to Kumaratunga to "guide" his struggle against the "dictatorial, extremist and fascist policies" of Rajapaksa.
Speaking in parliament after forming his own group, the SLFP (Mahajana Wing), Samaraweera asked Kumaratunga to come out of political retirement and "guide the party in the right direction."
Kumaratunga is currently in the UK, and is expected to come back to Sri Lankan soon. She is alienated from Rajapaksa, and could well take over the leadership of the rebel SLFP (MW).
Samaraweera said that the other leaders of the SLFP, its rank and file, and its sympathisers in the general population, should also join the planned mass struggle to restore the SLFP's traditional character, which he said, was "centrist and democratic."
He recalled that the SLFP's founder, SWRD Bandaranaike, had broken away from the United National Party (UNP) in September 1951 on the issue of one-man rule or rule by a coterie. That issue now plagues the SLFP (under Mahinda Rajapaksa), he said.
Samaraweera made a special mention of the "marginalised and disillusioned" members of the SLFP – leaders of stature who were being ignored and sidelined by the Rajapaksa Brothers.
He charged that the four Rajapaksa brothers had been taking all the decisions pertaining to the party and the country, arrogating to themselves "70%" of the budgeted funds, and using them in arbitrary manner.
On the Rajapaksa "quartet" he further said: " They are an entity with executive powers, that is extremely vindictive, spiteful and petty. This is a group which is drunk with power and has no qualms about abusing and exploiting their executive and state powers."
Samaraweera said that he was not afraid of imprisonment or bullets and that he would not "retreat" from his mission. He said he was planning a mass movement.
Samaraweera, who had earlier been relieved of the Foreign, Ports and Aviation Ministries, said that the Rajapaksa government had brought rural development to a "standstill"; encouraged kidnappings for ransom; suppressed the media and hounded outspoken MPs. It treated the Tamil and Muslim minorities in a such a way that it showed the world that racism had become "official policy".
"Today we are fast becoming an internationally isolated and cornered pariah nation.World opinion of Sri Lanka is that we are on the verge of becoming a failed state that abuses human rights and suppresses the media," Samaraweera said.
It is not clear as to how successful the SLFP rebels will be in their mission to oust or correct Rajapaksa. Right now, the group consists only of two members, namely, Samaraweera and his former ministerial colleague, Sripathi Sooriyarachchi. But it is certain that the rebels pose a serious challenge.
Samaraweera has been a fighter and a hard worker with excellent organisational abilities. He is a liberal in the Western sense, though he could play the regional, caste and the Buddhist card also to gain power.
Right now he has the support of the opposition UNP, and perhaps even the grudging support of the Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna(JVP) .The JVP has been at odds with its old ally Rajapaksa for some time. The 22 member Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has welcomed his defection.
Above all, the SLFP (MW) gives disgruntled SLFP leaders, MPs and the rank and file, an acceptable rallying point. Previously, they did not have any. They could not countenance opting out of politics or joining the UNP or JVP.Now they have a legitimate political refuge and a political bridgehead, in case they need one.
Rising prices, bad governance and a stalemate in the war, are alienating the Rajapaksa regime from the masses, even in the Sinhala-Buddhist south Sri Lanka. In this context, the SLFP(MW) has the potential to grow as an alternative group for the traditional SLFP supporter.
First Published: Jun 20, 2007 17:54 IST


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Department of Athletics and Recreation Presents
Saturday, February 10, 2018
Men's and Women's Basketball Doubleheader
Stevenson Athletic Center, Main GymThe men's and women's basketball teams host Hobart and William Smith in Liberty League games - the final home game for the men's team. The women's game vs. William Smith is at 2; the men's game vs. Hobart follows at 4. Come out and cheer!
2:00 pm
2:00 pm
For more information, call 845-752-4929, e-mail email@example.com,
or visit http://www.bardathletics.com.
Time: 2:00 pm
Location: Stevenson Athletic Center, Main Gym


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Winter Weather Procedures
This is to inform all parents of our procedures in snowy or very inclement weather.
Mrs Daniel, our Head Teacher has a 4-wheel drive vehicle and is confident that she will be able to get into school in all but the most severe conditions. As a result, we suggest that parents should always assume that school will be open and that the decision about whether individual families should travel will be entirely up to the parents of that family. It may be worth suggesting that in poor conditions, parents delay setting out until road conditions improve and early morning traffic has cleared.
We will organise resources in school so that appropriate work is made available to all pupils who attend whether their own teacher is able to access school or not.
In the very unlikely event that Mrs Daniel is unable to get into school during adverse weather conditions and it is necessary to close the school, the following procedures will apply in the order specified below:
- Mrs Daniel will contact Northumberland County Council who will post the closure on their website. NCC will also publicise any closure on Facebook and Twitter.
- Mrs Daniel will also contact Radio Newcastle (95.4FM) and inform them of the closure.
- We will also update the school website with closure information.
If snowy conditions persist through the day, we will take advantage of them and playtimes may offer an opportunity for sledging. Please send appropriate outerwear for your children and spare clothes – especially extra socks and gloves in a named bag. Named sledges may be left in the playground.
Bad weather during the day
During inclement weather, we will monitor the Met Office website during the day, so that any severe weather warnings or alerts can be responded to.
If we wish to advise parents of deteriorating weather conditions during the day, we will use parentmail/email as our 'emergency alert scheme'. Any parents not on parentmail/email will be contacted by telephone. We will also endeavour to place an alert on the school website.


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If you have missing teeth, then perhaps you've been looking into your options for tooth replacement. While there are several choices, including dentures, partial dentures or a crown and bridge, none are quite as lifelike and functional as dental implants. As a prosthodontist with extensive professional experience and training, Dr. Barry Franzen is Milwaukee's Dental Implant Expert. With his expertise, you'll once again have a complete smile and renewed oral health.
What Is A Dental Implant?
A dental implant is a small titanium post that Dr. Franzen will carefully embed in the jaw through a minor surgery. Unlike other tooth replacement options that only provide a substitute for the crown of the tooth, an implant replaces the lost tooth root as well.
This titanium post performs two important functions. First, it becomes the sturdy anchor upon which Milwaukee dentist Dr. Franzen secures the new tooth restoration, which can be a porcelain crown, bridge, partial denture or even a full denture.
Second, as this biocompatible titanium post bonds with the jaw bone, it spurs new bone tissue growth. This prevents bone deterioration that often occurs when teeth have been missing for a long period of time. This bone deterioration can cause the sagging facial appearance commonly seen among people with missing teeth and even those with tooth replacements that only rest on top of gum tissue.
What Can I Expect After I Get Dental Implants?
After the mouth is fully healed from this surgery—usually between three to six months—patients return to our Milwaukee dental practice so Dr. Franzen can prepare the implant for a tooth restoration. He will expose the implant beneath the gum tissue and place a small abutment on top to hold the restoration in place. In a short couple of weeks, the permanent restoration is attached and a smile is whole again. With a new implant and restoration, patients are able to eat and speak with confidence again.
What Technology Is Used To Place Dental Implants?
Because the precise placement of implants is so important to the success of the procedure, Dr. Franzen uses Astra Tech's computer-guided implant technology. This system creates a 3D model of the jaw that allows us to place dental implants with pinpoint accuracy, so our patients have the greatest level of support and comfort. Using Astra technology, Dr. Franzen expertly places single tooth restorations, partials and full-mouth implant supported dentures.
Call Our Office Today
If you'd like to learn more about how Milwaukee implant dentist Dr. Franzen can expertly restore your smile and oral health with dental implants, schedule a consultation today. We see patients from the surrounding areas, including West Allis, New Berlin, Wauwatosa, Brookfield and beyond.


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Get Well Flowers
Hospitals and Health Care Providers in Our Delivery Area:
Sunshine Perfection
Floral Arrangement
Talk about a ray of sunshine! This bunch of yellow roses, alstroemeria and gerbera flowers in a simple vase is a burst of happiness. Let this flower arrangement spread some sunshine to the perfect people in your life.
Shown at $55.00More Info
Shown at $55.00 More Info
Floral Arrangement
Shown at $45.00Shown at $45.00 More Info
Natural Touch
Dish Garden of Plants
Shown at $50.00Shown at $50.00 More Info
|Springfield Health & Rehab Ctr
|105 Chester Rd Springfield, VT. 05156
|(802) 885-5741
|Springfield Hospital
|Po Box 2003 Springfield, VT. 05156
|(802) 885-2151
|Whitcomb Apartments
|1 Mineral St Springfield, VT. 05156
|(802) 885-4905
|630 Old Claremont Rd Charlestown, NH. 03603
|(603) 826-4045
|Home Healthcare Hospice
|33 Arbor Way Charlestown, NH. 03603
|(603) 826-3322
|Peaceful Harvest Home
|Po Box 1289 Charlestown, NH. 03603
|(603) 826-4770
|Independent Order-Odd Fellows
|Po Box K Ludlow, VT. 05149
|(802) 228-4571
|Urgent Care Ludlow
|8 Main St Ludlow, VT. 05149
|(802) 228-4362
|Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice
|226 Main Street Ludlow, VT. 05149
|(802) 228-7100
|Po Box 383 North Springfield, VT. 05150
|(802) 886-2464
Let WOODBURY FLORIST of Springfield, VT help you send get well wishes to your friend or loved one. Show them how much you care with a get well gift basket filled with a floral arrangement or customized get well gifts. A basket filled with snacks, bath products, unique jewelry and accessories, or a favorite stuffed animal is a great and easy way to cheer up a loved one. Top off your personalized gift with a fun balloon bouquet. Wanting something a little more traditional? There is no better or simpler way to remind someone that you're thinking of them than with get well flowers from WOODBURY FLORIST. Scroll down to browse and order online from our sample selection of get well flowers and plants or call to customize a gift for that special someone. Let WOODBURY FLORIST of Springfield, VT help you wish a loved one a "Get well soon".


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A Star Home Technologies
"How can we help YOU?"
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This is the last of our nature photography series. The other sessions are scheduled for April 7 and May 5. During this session, we will learn the challenges and rewards of macro photography and looking for the small details in nature.
Bring your own camera and tripod/monopod, if you have one. Meet at the BFEC Resource Center. Must register by July 16.
July program only:
Students - $10
Members - $20
Non-members - $30
Saturday, July 21, 2018 at 8:00am to 12:00pm
Brown Family Environmental Center
9781 Laymon Road, Gambier, Ohio 43022
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Pineapple House Interior Design
Pineapple House Interior Design – Pineapple residence indoors layout was presented the 2016 maximum innovative Designers inside the u.s. by the British worldwide production enterprise mag build. The Atlanta-based totally interior architecture and design firm became showcased in construct's February 2017 difficulty. Pineapple residence these days celebrated 35 years as a global-elegance leader in indoors layout, furnishings, décor, architectural specification and production management. Co-owners Amber Gizzi, Zach Azpeitia and Stephen Pararo head the suppose-tank of designers recognised for mixing crisp interiors, refined structure and southern appeal. particular solutions have earned the firm 40 design Excellence awards from the professional enterprise, American Society of interior Designers (ASID.) Pineapple house is the most effective firm in US records that has obtained ASID design Excellence awards annually for 15 consecutive years.
Pineapple house manages layout and production tasks each nationally and the world over. govt vice chairman Amber Gizzi, Allied ASID, states, "we've got worked from the Caribbean to Canada, and realize that regardless of where a venture is placed, we will gracefully orchestrate every aspect. Pineapple house's emblems are aesthetic excellence and advanced carrier."construct mag prides itself as being a source of technical statistics, need-to-recognize content material and updates from throughout the worldwide layout, production, structure and assets industries. The mag has featured contributions from some of the sector's essential production specialists plus news, capabilities and remark about the brand new merchandise and techniques, design tendencies and regulations. Pineapple House Interior Design


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Handy article detailing how to use mod_rewrite…
Monthly Archives: May 2007
Running a MacBook with the laptop display off
In a nutshell, here's how to run a MacBook with just an external display:
- With your MacBook on and running, plug in your external monitor and turn it on
- Make sure the MacBook display is in mirror mode.
- Close your MacBook. The whole system (including external display will go to sleep).
- Plug a USB device into the MacBook (e.g. your mouse) to bring it out of sleep
- Open up your MacBook. The display will be off.
Remove Automator actions from Finder contextual menu
Two ways:
1. Via a Terminal
Go to ~/Library/Workflow/Applications/Finder/ and delete the workflows from there.
2. From Finder:
Click on the 'House' icon in the sidebar to get to your user account.
Then click on:
- Library
- Workflow
- Applications
- Finder
Delete the workflows from there


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The White House has never seen a President work as hard as President Trump.
Trump is all work and business and continues to put the people first before his personal needs. Now he expects congress and other politicians to do the same.
As told by Newsmax: President Donald Trump pressed Congress on Monday to get health care done before leaving for its long August recess, even as Republican senators say the GOP effort so far to repeal and replace the nation's health law is probably dead.
On Monday, as senators were returning to Washington after the July Fourth recess, the president tweeted, "" cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!"
I cannot imagine that Congress would dare to leave Washington without a beautiful new HealthCare bill fully approved and ready to go!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2017
But prospects for the Republican effort in the Senate have been fading, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been scrambling to salvage the faltering legislation. Support for the initial measure eroded during the weeklong July 4 break as many senators heard from constituents angry about the GOP bill and the prospect of rising premiums.
"We don't know what the plan is," said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., on Sunday. "Clearly, the draft plan is dead. Is the serious rewrite plan dead? I don't know."
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said it may now be time for Republicans to come up with a new proposal with support from Democrats.
"I think my view is it's probably going to be dead," McCain said of the GOP bill. If Democrats are included, he said, it doesn't mean "they control it. It means they can have amendments considered. And even when they lose, then they're part of the process. That's what democracy is supposed to be all about."
Trending Now>>> Loretta Lynch BROKE SILENCE to Speak About Allegations