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Explore The Exotic Locations of Triad Weyrs!
Despite the return of Threadfall and the frequent leadership changes it has caused, Dragonsfall has managed to survive. Their Weyrleader and Weyrwoman make quite a team and don't ask their riders to do anything they aren't willing to do or have done themselves. Being one of the first weyrholds in the South, the Weyr has a lot of history and a unique design. There are three levels of the cliff that house the dragonriders and the weyrfolk. The ground floor is facing a expansive plain, and the weyrlake and stables are atop the large plateau. There are plenty of things to do and see at the Weyr.
Amber Hills is situated in the perfect location - hot summers, cold winters, wide open spaces snuggled into the foothills of the Great Western Barrier range. It is a land full of potential for farmers and beastherders, woodsmiths and vintners. The only thing Amber Hills lacked was people. After the Plague that devastated the South, the Hold found itself with only half the population it once had. Now, a devastating earthquake has prompted the entire population of a neighboring Hold to descend on the valley, along with its two crafthalls. Maybe now, more than forty turns after the Plague, Amber Hills can live up to its potential and become the great Hold its Lords always dreamed it would be.
Beauty is being grown from the seeds of destruction at the Amber Hills Vintner Hall. Though they suffered a devastating earthquake that destroyed their Hall and the terrifying landslide that followed, the members of the Vintner Hall have not given up. Shifting just over the border into Amber Hills territory, the Vintners are hard at work cultivating new crops and expanding their list of brews now that they have access to the famous Amber Hills Hops.
Located in the lush tropics right on the shoreline, Dolphin Cove Weyr is well-known for its unique location and its fabulous weather - and it certainly makes this Weyr one of the most sought-after homes for many transferring dragonriders. After the hurricane destroyed Topaz Seahold, the Weyr reached out and pulled the Dolphin Hall under its protective wing. And when a fire destroyed what was once the Harper Hall, Dolphin Cove generously offered to house those who had survived until their Hall could be rebuilt. Now they're housing a group of technicians while the Weyr is upgraded.
Just a jaunt down the coastline from Dolphin Cove Weyr, the Dolphin Crafthall offers its services to the people of Southern Pern. As a northerly aligned Hall, all young people, male or female, are accepted into the craft, allowing for an atmosphere of diversity and mutual respect between the sexes. The calm waters of Dolphin Cove are filled with activity these days, with the local pod working on a number of projects with their dolphineer partners.
Built into the cliffs beside a powerful waterfall, the grandeur of this Hold is not easily forgotten by those who have seen it. The warm and hospitable climate is perfect for farming, and the river trade has brought wealth and prosperity to generations of inhabitants. However, Emerald Falls is a deeply conservative place and its young Lord Holder is notorious for his arrogance and hot temper. Frequent clashes with the Weyr and neighbouring Holds mean that tension is always in the air.
The Harper Hall has finally moved back to Emerald Falls. The Hall is fresh and new with plenty of room to grow. This is where the music that rouses spirits is written, educators of the next generation are molded, and keepers of Pern's history and culture are bred. Whether it is through music, art, verse, arbitration, education, or information, not a soul remains untouched by the craft of the Harper Hall. Nor of its sister discipline the Printers who are also housed within it's walls.
Barrier Lake Weyrhold is right on a cove of Barrier Lake just north of the Western Barrier Range. The location is temperate with mild winters and warm summers. The location was discovered late in the ninth turn of the tenth pass and developed as a replacement for the destroyed River Bluff Weyr. It is currently under construction with lots of opportunity in the nearby crafter town, and the minor hold nearby. Healer Hall has selected the location for a small clinic to serve the area.
Not long ago, this area was a rag-tag collection of fishing and mountain cots, disorganized, isolated, and slowly vanishing back into the beautifully diverse sub-tropical landscape. Now it has been amalgamated into one Major and prosperous Hold. Sunstone has become a land of opportunity and second chances, inviting settlers and crafters, honest men and the occasional well-behaved pirate - a true melting pot of Pern!
Not everything happens in Weyrs, Halls and Holds! What about bandits who prowl the forests? What about those who are Holdless? Where can you find boats at sea, mines, logging camps and trader caravans? Elsewhere on Pern, of course!
With a tropical setting and a gorgeous beach, many prefer the lush climate of River Bluff to the cold of Dragonsfall. Don't like the sea? Then try the river, it twists and turns like the lives of the Weyrfolk. River Bluff is not to everyone's taste, the heat can be oppressive, but it lacks the cold of the winters at places such as Dragonsfall, which many people enjoy. The Weyr itself is made up of many natural, and artificial caves, the most popular being those with views of the sea. Location Destroyed by Earthquake and Tsunami m12 t7.
Not far down the coast from Sunstone Seahold the newly established Seacraft Hall is taking shape. The naturally deep bay lends itself beautifully to the activities and needs of this active craft. This is where you'll find the salty sailors teaching their craft to a new generation. At any time you will see one or more ships being built in their dry docks. If you want to move cargo or passengers anywhere the waters of Pern reach or you need help salvaging a lost craft, Seacrafters trained by the Hall will be found in all major ports. Location Destroyed by Earthquake and Tsunami m12 t7.
Triad Weyrs is a post-AIVAS Tenth Pass Pern® club operating with the permission of Anne McCaffrey as an offline pbem ('play-by-email') club, founded in February 2000. AIVAS' plan did fail, but a 1200 turn Interval made the world nearly forget Thread existed. With technology levels similar to 1800's Earth, not everything taught by the ancient machine has been lost, even with the return of the old menace. In the South, women don't have the rights they do in the North, and only Thread's return has given them a chance at regaining them.
We operate as a stricter club canon-wise, and aren't the club for everyone, particularly if you like such alterations of Pern® as female blueriders and tattooed Lord Holders running amuck amidst their holders. We are PG-17. No, that doesn't mean the list revolves around those scenes other clubs 'fade-to-black'. It means that subject matter of a graphic nature can appear. Our scenario means that abuse and other strong-content storylines can be posted, so consider it a wee warning before you join. Use the buttons and links above and to the sides to learn more about us and we hope to have you join us!


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Traditional mincemeat
Try making your mincemeat well in advance of Christmas to give the flavours maximum time to mature
Nutrition and extra info
Nutrition: per tbsp
- kcal70
- fat3g
- saturates2g
- carbs10g
- sugars9g
- fibre0g
- protein0g
- salt0.01g
- 250g raisin
- 375g currant
- 100ml brandy
Brandy is a distilled spirit made from virtually any fermented fruit or starchy vegetable.…
- zest of 1 lemon, juice of ½
Oval in shape with a pronouced bulge on one end, lemons are one of the most versatile…
- 300g shredded suet
- 250g dark brown sugar
Honey and syrups made from concentrated fruit juice were the earliest known sweeteners. Today,…
- 85g chopped mixed peel
- ½ small nutmeg, grated
One of the most useful of spices for both sweet and savoury…
- 1 large Bramley apple, peeled and grated
Bramley applebram-lee app-el
A large, flattish cooking apple, green in appearance but sometimes with specks of red. The flesh…
Soak the raisins and currants in the brandy and lemon juice for 1 hr until plumped up, then drain and set the brandy aside. Mix all the ingredients together in the order given, then pour in the brandy when everything else is well mixed. Spoon and press into sterilised jars, to exclude any air (the easiest way to sterilise jars is to run them through a dishwasher on its hottest setting). Cover and leave for at least a fortnight. Will keep in the fridge for up to 6 months.

subset: commoncrawl


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How Chicago fared against Green Bay
Rushing offense: B
High average considering they only averaged 3.1 yards, but 45 carries is the important statistic.
Passing offense: A-
Considering the conditions, Kyle Orton couldn't have been more effective. He finished with a 103.6 passer rating (8-14, 101 yards, one TD).
Rushing defense: B
Take away two Ryan Grant runs (24, 66), and Chicago kept Green Bay in check. The Packers only had 35 yards on 19 other carries.
Passing defense: A+
When you hold Brett Favre to a passer rating of 40.2, no touchdowns and get two picks, you get the highest mark.
Special teams: A
Robbie Gould made both field goal attempts, and Chicago playing error-free compared to Green Bay was a huge plus.
Coaching: A
Where was this type of game plan all season -- or at least since the last Green Bay game?


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We're Sorry
Sold Out
We're Sorry
Sold Out
Shakespeare got it wrong. His most famous work, andhe completely missed the mark. You know the one I'm talking about. Star-crossed lovers. Ill-fated romance. Torn apart by family and circumstance. It's the perfect love story. To have someone who loves you so much they would actually die for you.
But the thing people never remember aboutRomeo and Julietis that it's not a love story; it's a drama. In fact,Romeo and Julietisn't even the original title of the play. It was calledThe Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Tragedy. Everyone dies for this love that, in my opinion, wasn't all that solid from the get-go. I mean, their families hated each other, so even if they did survive, every holiday and birthday until the end of time would be a royal pain. Not to mention that they had absolutely no friends in common, so forget double dates. No, it would be Romeo and Juliet all alone, forever. And maybe that seems romantic at fourteen, or whatever, but it's totally not realistic. I mean, I can't think of a less romantic ending to a story. And the truth is, it wasn't supposed to end that way.
If you read closely, you'll realize that there was someone before Juliet ever came into the picture. Someone who Romeo loved very much. Her name was Rosaline. And Romeo went to the party that first night, the night everything began, to see her. Everyone always thinks Romeo and Juliet were so helpless to fate, that they were at the mercy of their love for each other. Not true. Juliet wasn't some sweet, innocent girl torn apart by destiny. She knew exactly what she was doing. The problem was, Shakespeare didn't. Romeo didn't belong with Juliet; he belonged with me. It was supposed to be us together forever, and it would have been if she hadn't come along and stolen him away. Maybe then all of this could have been avoided. Maybe then they'd still be alive.
What if the greatest love story ever told was the wrong one?
Scene One
"This is sonothow it was supposed to go."
I crack one eye open and sneak the covers down over my head. Charlie is standing above my bed, arms crossed, a bag of Swedish Fish in one hand and a Starbucks cup in the other.
I blink and glance at the clock on my nightstand: 6:35.
"Jesus. It's the middle of the night."
Charlie lets out a dramatic sigh. "Please. I'm ten minutes early."
I rub my eyes and sit up. It's already light out, but that's not too surprising, given that it's August in Southern California. It's also hot, and the tank top I slept in is drenched. I don't understand why, after all these years, my parents still have not sprung for air-conditioning.
Charlie hands me the Starbucks cup, folding herself down next to me on the bed and stuffing another piece of candy into her mouth as she continues to lecture me. Charlie never drinks coffee—she thinks it stunts your growth—but she still picks me one up every morning. Grande vanilla latte. One sugar.
"Are you even listening?" she asks, irritated.
"Are you kidding me, Charlotte? I'msleeping."
"Not anymore," Charlie says, pulling the covers off. "It's the first day of school, and I'm not letting you drag me down with you. Time to rise and shine, Ms. Caplet."
I scowl at her, and she smiles. Charlie's beautiful. Not in the way any old blond girl is in high school, but actually spectacular-looking. She's got strawberry-red, curly hair and bright green eyes and impossibly white, translucent skin. Sometimes she's so stunning, it's shocking even to me. And I'm her best friend.
We met on the playground in the first grade. John Sussmann had taken my peanut butter and jelly sandwich and tossed it into the sandbox. Charlie knocked him over, fished it out, and even ate half just to prove he hadn't won. That's real friendship, right there.
"So anyway, listen," she says as I swing my legs over the side of the bed and head into the bathroom. "Ben and Olivia totally just got together. Ben told me."
"About time." I stick a toothbrush into my mouth and root around in the medicine cabinet for my deodorant. I can tell from Charlie's impatient prattle that there's no time to shower.
"This is, like, a big deal. He's mybrother." Ben is Charlie's twin, actually, but they're nothing alike. He's tall and blond and lanky and he likes English, a subject Charlie thinks is frivolous. She's a history buff: "Why read about stuff that didn't happen, when you can read about stuff that did? Real life is way more interesting, anyway."
Olivia is our other best friend. She's been with us since the eighth grade, when she transferred to San Bellaro.
"Look," I say, spitting, "they've been flirting for decades. It was bound to happen."
"But now she's going to, like, what? Come over after school?"
"Shealreadycomes over after school."
"I know why you're so calm about this," Charlie says.
"Because I am still unconscious?"
"No, because Rob got back last night and you're going to see him today." She pops another fish into her mouth, triumphant.
My stomach clenches and releases. It's been doing that all week. The thought of seeing Rob is, well, making me ill.
It's been eight weeks, which I guess is a long time, although I refuse to see it that way. In the general scheme of things, what's two months? Like, a millisecond. Okay, so it's the longest we've ever been apart and, yeah, I've missed him, but I've known Rob my whole life. It's really not a big deal seeing him again. It's been a busy summer, and it's not like Robert Monteg is my boyfriend or anything. God, even his name flashing through my mind like that makes me nauseous. I don't get it. Itshouldn't. We're friends. He's just the next-door neighbor.
"You guys are totally going to be the new senior couple," Charlie says. "I decided."
"Well, as long as you decided." I tug on a blue skirt and slip a white tank top over my head. Charlie looks like she just came from the salon, and I permit myself one glance in the mirror. Just as I suspected, total bed-head.
Charlie tosses me a bra, and it hits me in the face. "Thanks."
"Oh, come on," she says. "It'sRob. You guys finally kissed last year, and then he goes away to be a camp counselor the entire torturous summer and writes you all of these love letters saying how much he cares about you, and you think that now that he's back, you guys aren't going to get together? Please."
Of course this is how Charlie sees it. The problem is, that isn't exactly what happened. It's not even close. Let me explain.
The "kiss" she's talking about wasn't really a kiss at all. And the fact that Rob and I went to junior prom together has absolutely no significance. We're best friends, and neither of us had a date. Rob is handsome and smart, and I could easily list ten girls in our soon-to-be senior class who would have traded in their Gucci book bags to go to prom with Rob, but I think he's scared of the female species. Well, actually, Charlie thinks that. It's the only explanation, she says, for why he still doesn't have a girlfriend. The only explanation besides the fact that he's waiting for me (her words, not mine).
Anyway, we were on the dance floor and my hair got in my eyes, and Rob brushed it away and kissed my cheek. My hair is always getting in my eyes, and myfatherkisses my cheek, so I hardly think that counts as a make-out session. It just happened to be in public, to a slow song.
And those emails? Definitely not love notes. Example:
Hey Rosie,
Thanks for your letter. I'm glad to know Charlie is as crazy as ever, and thanks for the gum. I'm chewing it now.
Camp is good but I miss home. Sometimes I think it was a stupid idea coming back here this summer, especially after the end of school and everything. It's good, I guess. I'm back with Bunk 13. Remember when we were here together? It seems like so long ago. I guess it was. Anyway, I really miss you. I guess that's what I meant when I said I missed home. It's not the same without you here. Last night I went out to the docks, and I thought about that time we swam there after lights-out. Do you remember that? The water was freezing. It was that summer our parents had to send us more sweatshirts. Anyway, I'm thinking about you and hope you're doing well.
Charlie combed through that email and constructed a new one, which basically read:I love you and I'm so sorry I went to camp and my heart is breaking being away from you and let's spend eternity together when I get back. Heart, Rob.
It makes sense that she likes history, since she's constantly rewriting it.
Her fantasy is nice and all—it's just not accurate. It's the kind of thinking that gets girls into trouble all the time. And it's not just Charlie. For instance, last year when Olivia was dating Taylor Simsburg (and by "dating," I mean they made out twice and once was sort of in public at winter formal), he told her she looked nice in yellow, and she made him a playlist called "Here Comes the Sun." She also started carrying around sunflowers for no good reason.
It's not that most girls are delusional, per se. It's just that they have this subtle ability to warp actual circumstances into something different. And if there's one thing I'm really against, it is turning a blind eye to reality. What's the point? Things are the way they are, and the best thing for us to do is to just acknowledge that. No one ever died from having too much information. It's the misunderstandings that are the problem. And until Rob says or tells me otherwise, I have no reason to think he wants anything more than my friendship.
Except for this one thing that happened the night before he left. I haven't told Charlie or Olivia, because I'm not sure how I feel about it myself. But I keep going over it in my mind. I've been going over it for two months.
We were sitting on the floor in my bedroom watching an old DVD ofFriends. This part isn't particularly unusual. We do that all the time. Rob likes to escape the chaos of his house, where he has three little brothers. But there was something different about him that night. When Ross made a joke, Rob didn't laugh, which was crazy, because Ross is his favorite character and Rob always laughs. He has this deep baritone laugh. It reminds me of Santa Claus.
We were watching the episode where Rachel moves out of the apartment she shares with Monica, and there's this scene where Rachel tries to steal Monica's candlesticks. Anyway, Rachel is grabbing them out of the box, and all of a sudden the television is on pause and Rob is staring at me in this really intense way he sometimes looks before a big basketball game.
"What's up?" I asked. He didn't answer. He just kept looking at me. He has these gigantic brown eyes that look like little teacups of hot chocolate. Not that that's what I think about when I look at him. I don't even like hot chocolate. I'm just trying to describe him accurately, here.
He didn't say anything, he just sat there looking at me, and then he reached over and cupped my chin in his hand. He'd never done that to me before.Noboy had ever done that to me before. And then, with my chin still in his hand, he said, "God, you're beautiful." Just like that. "God, you're beautiful." Which is crazy because (a) it's not true. It's not that I'm unattractive; it's just that I don't look particularly different than anybody else. I mean, I have brown eyes and brown hair and what Charlie calls a button nose, so if someone were describing me, you'd probably think you knew me and at the same time never be able to pick me out of a crowd. Except for the fact that I blush like crazy when I'm embarrassed—but that doesn't exactly make me more desirable. So, (a) "beautiful" doesn't really fit, and (b) it's just so cheesy. So I laughed, because it was the only conceivable thing I could think to do, and then he dropped his hand and unpausedFriends, and when we said good night, he hugged me but not any differently than he usually does, and then the next morning he was gone. I've been turning that moment over in my mind ever since. For two months now.
"What time did he get in, anyway?" Charlie asks as we plod our way downstairs.
"Dunno. Late."
I want to say "Too late for me to see his light go on," but I don't. Charlie doesn't know that sometimes I angle myself out my bedroom window just to see if Rob's bedroom light is on. Our houses are separated by a barrier of trees, so you can't see much, but his bedroom is directly diagonal to mine, and I can tell if he's home because of the light. Most nights I wait for it to go on, to know he's next door, right here. I think that's one of the things I've missed most while he's been gone. Seeing that light go on.
"I'm surprised he didn't come over last night." She wiggles her hips and laughs.
I shrug. "He just texted me."
She spins on the stairs and grabs both my shoulders. "What exactly did he say?"
"'I'm back'?"
"I'm back," Charlie repeats, looking thoughtful. Then she gets this snarky grin on her face. "I'm back, and ready for action."
"Honestly," I say, "it'sRob. You're making something out of nothing."
"Maybe, maybe not." She links her arm through mine as we step into the kitchen. "But you know I always like to err on the side of caution."
"Drama," I correct her. "You like to err on the side of drama."
My mom and dad are in the kitchen dancing around with the orange juice, still in their bathrobes. She has it over her head, and he's tickling her.
"Sorry, girls," she says, her face flushed. "Didn't see you there." My dad just winks. Gross. Also, neither one of them is sorry. They do this sort of thing all the time. They are constantly making out in our living room and leaving each other love notes on the fridge—"Peas for my squeeze," that kind of thing. I guess it should make me happy, the fact that my parents are in love and still into each other after twenty years, but it sort of creeps me out.
"They definitely still have sex," Charlie says under her breath, like she's settling a debate. Trust me, it's not up for argument. Factual truth: They do.
I guess maybe it wouldn't be such a big deal if I had, you know, done it myself. It's not that I'm opposed to sex or anything. I mean, morally speaking. You want to know my problem, actually? It's that Idon'tfeel particularly moral about the whole thing. It's like this girl I used to know, Sarah, who never ate meat. Literally, in her entire life, she never had a hamburger. Her parents didn't eat meat, and she was just raised that way. Anyway, one day her dad started eating it again, and all of a sudden it was in their house and on the table, and I remember her telling me how weird that seemed, how unnatural. Like all of a sudden she was supposed to just start eating meat and it was supposed to seem normal. She was a vegetarian, for crying out loud. It seems weird to just start. Like changing something fundamental about who you are.
It also might have something to do with the fact that I've never really gotten close. There was Jason Grove, who I dated last year. We made out a few times, mostly in the back of his dad's Audi and in his basement. It was okay, I guess, but he couldn't figure out how to unhook my bra, and after a few tries we sorta gave up.
Charlie thinks this is tragic. Olivia's and my virginity are like an affront to her values, or something. Mind you, she's done it with two people already. The first was Matt Lester, her boyfriend sophomore year. They did it after homecoming, and she said it was awful and they never did it again. Now there's Jake, her on-again, off-again boyfriend—and, as Charlie says, "I've lost count." Which I guess is what's supposed to happen. It's not like you keep counting the number of times you have sex. At a certain point it just becomes sex, I think.
"This year is definitely your year," Charlie told me last week. "You are not losing your virginity in a dorm room. Not an option."
"What are my prospects?"
"Just one," Charlie said. "Rob. You two are totally meant to be."
Meant to be.I'd be lying if I said I've never thought about that phrase in relation to Rob and me. Ithasoccurred to me that something might happen between us. I haven't admitted too much of this to Charlie, though, mostly because I recognize the real possibility that these thoughts about Rob could have more to do with all those television shows she makes me watch than my actual feelings. I mean, yeah, I care about him. He's my best friend. Of course I love him. But do I want to kiss him? Do I want him to kiss me? And am I willing to risk our friendship on the off chance that a romance might really work out? Not to mention the fact that I don't even know what he's thinking. He probably regrets ever saying I was beautiful. He has probably already moved on. I mean, he's been halfway across the country for the entire summer, and just because I haven't managed to fall on anyone else's lips in two months doesn't mean he's hauling around the same track record.
My mom pries my father off of her and sets the juice down. "You girls ready for your first day?"
"Definitely," Charlie says, winking at me.
"Well, that's good," she says. She scoops some eggs onto a plate and hands it to my dad. "Rob back today?"
My mom would ask this. On top of everything else, my parents and his parents are also best friends. They've been neighbors for fifteen years. My parents moved to San Bellaro a few months before I was born. Rob's family moved here two years later. My mom actually used to be a movie star in LA. Not huge or anything, but I think she might have been headed that way before she met my dad. He was a community organizer with big plans for becoming a senator and got invited to one of her movie premieres. It was a screening ofThe Last Stranger, probably the biggest part my mom ever had, and my dad always says that he fell in love with her instantly, just by seeing her on-screen. That she washislast stranger. Six months later they were married, and a year after that they had me. My father never became a senator (he teaches history at our local college), but his brother did. I think it's still hard for my dad, the fact that his brother got to realize his dream when he didn't. They haven't spoken in years, and every time his name is in the paper, my dad takes the pages out to the recycling bin himself.
My mom is still looking at me, waiting for an answer about Rob, but I just shrug and stick a piece of toast into my mouth. Charlie immediately snatches it away.
"Bagel Wednesday," she says, dropping it down on the counter like it's radioactive. "Hello?"
My father smacks the back of his hand against his forehead dramatically, and my mother sighs.
"Well," she says, "have a great day."
"Oh, we will," Charlie says, slinging my book bag over her shoulder. "Don't wait up." She blows my mom a kiss and marches me outside.
Charlie has an old Jeep Cherokee we call Big Red. It's not as fancy as Olivia's car, but it doesn't matter. Charlie would look good on a tricycle. We climb inside, and the familiar smell of Charlie's perfume hits me. A combination of lilacs and plumeria she mixed for herself at the Body Shop last year. Her car is always stuffed to the brim, like she could take off at any minute and move somewhere else. There is a gigantic canvas tote in the backseat monogrammed with her initials, CAK, that contains absolutely anything you would possibly ever need. We were once at Olivia's beach house in Malibu, and I got a piece of corn stuck in between my teeth so hard that my gums started to bleed. Charlie marched me out to Big Red and performed minor dental surgery.
She starts the car and backs out of my driveway, applying lip gloss in the rearview at the same time. I risk a glance over to Rob's house, but it's hard to make out anything between the trees. Or see if there are any cars still parked in his driveway.
I pick up her iPod and put on Radiohead.
"Ew." She gives me a disgruntled look and yanks the iPod out of my hand. She puts on BeyoncÉ and turns to me. "What is wrong with you this morning? It's the first day of school. We need to be psyched up. Starting things on the right note is the only way to succeed."
This is one of her theories. Charlie is full of theories. She has a theory about everything. For instance, she believes firmly that you can only change your hair once over the course of high school. Olivia chopped all hers off when she broke up with Taylor, and Charlie told her she had used up her reinvention. "I hope he was worth it," I remember her saying.
"I'm psyched." I force my face into a smile and slip the lip gloss out from under her fingers.
Charlie sighs and turns onto the highway. "Come on. I'm serious. You should be psyched. Me and Jake, you and Rob, Olivia and Ben." She swallows after she says "Ben," like she has a bad taste in her mouth. "We're so ruling school this year."
Another one of Charlie's theories is that we live in a high school movie. Olivia seems to think this is true too. What I mean is that they can say things like "We're so ruling school" and not feel the need to add sarcasm. I guess we are popular. Charlie is formidable, attractive in a way that makes her feared and loved. Olivia, on the other hand, is basically the high school dream girl. Big boobs, blond hair, cute nose, and sweet tempered. There is literally no guy in school who isn't in love with her. Plus, her parents have more money than God. Her dad does something in the music industry. He's a producer or a record label owner. I think maybe both. To be honest, sometimes I'm not sure how I ended up in this mix. I shouldn't be popular. Conventional wisdom is completely stacked against me.
Which is why being friends with Rob has always felt so good. He's popular, sure—he's probably the most popular guy in our class—but he's also justRob. I don't have to pretend around him or think about what I'm going to say next. Not that I do with Charlie or Olivia, but sometimes it feels like we're all—all three of us—in some kind of play. Like we need to get our lines right. Like the whole performance is depending on it.
"Want to hear about Len Stephens?" Charlie asks. "He's already being kicked out of school."
Len Stephens is this guy in our class we don't hang out with. Charlie calls him "toxic," but most people just call him an ass. He's sarcastic, and his hair is too long and messy, like he cuts it himself or something.
"School hasn't even started."
"Apparently he pulled senior prank early."
"What did he do?"
"Reorganized the online system so that it deleted every student transcript."
"No way."
"Swear." Charlie puts her hand over her heart like she's pledging allegiance.
"How is that even possible?"
Charlie shrugs. "He hacked into the school's computer system."
The only thing I really know about Len is that he used to take piano lessons before me from this German woman named Famke. I think I stopped in the sixth grade or something, and I guess he probably did too. That was around the time most people got serious with sports or dance and dropped other hobbies. I thought he was pretty good, but then again I used to think tube tops were cute, so what did I know?
"Whatever," Charlie says, moving on. "Let's talk about Jake."
"So you guys are back together?" I look out the window at the passing trees. It's not that I don't care about Charlie's love life. I do, of course. It's just that no one moment in time is very indicative of their overall relationship. If she's with Jake today, it doesn't mean she will be tomorrow. Or even by the time we get to school, for that matter. They have this very strange relationship. Charlie likes to act like it's all heartbreaking and disturbed. Like theycan'tbe together even though they really want to. Honestly, I don't see the obstacles. Unless the fact that he wears baseball caps a lot and calls everyone "dude" is an obstacle. Which, maybe, it is. They broke up because he called her "bro" at prom last year, and then they didn't speak for a week. They've been casual all summer, but an official reunion doesn't surprise me. Mostly I think they hit so many speed bumps because Charlie likes injecting drama. And what is more dramatic, really, than heartbreak?
"Totally," she says. "He came over last night and said he wanted this year to be different." Jake has said he wants things to be different about forty-two times in the last year and a half, so I take this with a grain of salt.
"I'm serious, Rose. I think it's going to work out this time." I glance over at her, and her face looks set, determined. Celebratory, even. Which, if you know Charlie, makes a lot of sense. Deciding to do something and doing it are basically the same thing in her world.
"That's great," I chirp. "Super." I try to sound excited, but Charlie sees right through it.
"How am I supposed to work with you this year if you're going to be all mopey and dreary-eyed?" She passes me her makeup bag and flips down my visor mirror. "Apply, please. I need you looking your absolute best when we step into that auditorium."
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Starting April 11th 2014, all new and existing owners of FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn on the PS3 will be able to upgrade their copy to the PS4 version through the game account management system Mog Station. Find out more info about the upgrade process here:http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/pr/ps4/ps3_users/
FINAL FANTASY® XIV: A Realm Reborn™ is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that invites you to explore the realm of Eorzea with friends from around the world. Forge friendships, mount chocobos, and board airships as you and your companions create your unique stories. Set out alone or enlist the aid of friends as you undertake epic quests, battle familiar FINAL FANTASY monsters, and become the hero Eorzea needs.


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New York City FC MLS Black HANDLstick
The HANDLstick smartphone grip and stand attaches directly to the back of your existing smartphone case or phone. No need to switch cases.
- Officially licensed MLS product
- Effortless, secure grip allows you to scroll endlessly, take better photos, and text hands-free
- Multi-functional kickstand clips into portrait mode and easily flips into landscape mode
- Pairs with any device, strong adhesive attaches the base directly to the back of your device or case
- Compatible with most wireless chargers
- 30-day money-back guarantee
HANDL interfaces utilize a patented elastic brace attached to the back of your phone or case, allowing the user to slip fingers through and keep a tight grip on the phone – whether speaking, typing or taking selfies. It feels like the phone is floating in your hand. You can now use your smartphone more securely, in any situation, without the tight grip that causes hand and wrist tension. HANDL interfaces free one hand for multitasking.The sleek phone cases are also functional, offering kickstand positioning that works in both landscape mode and portrait mode. They provide protection against drops and are wireless charging compatible.
HANDL's unique patented design allow you to hold your smartphone with one hand in a variety of ways that are the most comfortable for your current situation.
HANDL Cases are the brainchild of world-renown New York City artist Allen Hirsch, who has had a fascination with the power of screens since his late teens. Whether it be television in the 1970s, computers in the 1980s or phones thereafter, Hirsch has documented our interconnectedness with screens in his art and this helped lead him to invent HANDL.
One day he was painting a picture while texting using a new large screen phone with the other hand and was immediately struck by the similarities of both actions. "In one hand, I was projecting my thoughts and feelings effortlessly on canvas with the brush and with the other, I was also projecting my thoughts and feelings into this little metal box- although with none of the flow and efficiency of the paint brush. I immediately felt this was a problem for me to solve." Hirsch spent the next 8 months attaching all sorts of homemade constructions on his phone until one day, with a bunch of popsicle sticks held together with thumbtacks, tape and a rubber band, he had an epiphany and HANDL was born. "With HANDL, we replace that stressful grip on our devices with a feeling that our phones are an organic extension of our hands and fingers."
Hirsch's art has been frequently featured on the covers of Time magazine, exhibited in the White House and Smithsonian. Hirsch has also been active as a real estate developer in Manhattan and is a founder of La Esquina restaurant in Soho, and co-founder of the Kaaterskill Inn in the Hudson Valley. A documentary produced by the New York Times about his art and monkey, called Long Live Benjamin, recently won an Emmy.
Some of Allen Hirsch's work can be seen below. For more information, please visit allenhirsch.com


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It will take me a few days to fill each and every order, so please be patient with me. I will be working around the clock to fill all orders as soon as humanly possible. THANK YOU so much for your love and support! I am humbled that you like my art :)
I have winners to announce - so let's do this!
Each winner will receive a $25. gift code to spend at our online store. Winners, please e-mail me at info(at)papersmoochesstamps(dot)com to claim your prize :)
1. from Teri's blog -
Great colors!! Love how you used the dies in different ways!
That first card is just so sweet! I love how delicate it is!
Such a cute little card, so unfussy, just love it.
Super beautiful – CAS and stunning! Like those triangles!
BIG congrats winners!
Thank you all for your lovely comments. I am thrilled that you love our newest stamps and dies :)
When he was 7, Vin Diesel and some friends broke into a New York theater with intentions to vandalize it. Instead of calling the police, the theater's artistic director handed them scripts and offered them parts in the upcoming show. This became Diesel's first acting role.
xoxo Kim


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Youth and experience at Met in Verdi's 'Trovatore'
Youth and experience both were well-served as the Metropolitan Opera revived Verdi's "Il Trovatore" for the first time this season: A young soprano made a promising debut, and a veteran mezzo twice her age stole the show.
Saturday's matinee featured the Chinese soprano Guanqun Yu as Leonora, a noblewoman in 15th-century Spain who loves a troubadour but is pursued by the implacable Count di Luna. Yu, who trained in Shanghai and was a winner of the 2012 Operalia competition, has a big, well-focused voice with a warm, gleaming top. She deservedly won an enthusiastic ovation for her opening aria "Tacea la notte placida" and the tricky cabaletta which follows. At this early point in her career, she lacks those melting high pianissimos Verdi often calls for, and her lower register is weak, but overall her singing left a favorable impression. Dramatically she was less successful, relying on stock gestures and expressions that never quite created a sense of character.
The other leading female role is the gypsy Azucena, who has raised the troubadour, Manrico, as her child - even though he is actually the brother of the Count. (It seems that years earlier, the Count's father had her mother burned as a witch; seeking revenge, Azucena tried to throw the Count's baby brother onto the flames, but in her derangement she mistakenly switched him with her own son.)
Mezzo Dolora Zajick has owned this role at the Met for nearly a quarter-century, performing it more than 40 times since her debut in 1988. On Saturday, she showed that at age 60 she has lost none of the visceral power that makes her portrayal so exciting, especially when she hurls out thunderbolts from her lower chest register or cuts through the orchestra with sizzling high notes. Her Azucena is a wild woman, yet sympathetic at the same time, as she struggles between devotion to Manrico and obsession with avenging her mother's murder.
The men in this performance were a variable lot. As the Count, baritone Franco Vasallo started off sounding dry and underpowered, but he rose to the challenge of his lovely serenade, "Il balen," singing with elegance and burnished tone. Tenor Gwyn Hughes-Jones pushed his modest voice to its limits, but his tone rarely rang out heroically, and the high note that ended his call to arms, "Di quella pira!" was shaky. In the supporting role of Ferrando, bass Morris Robinson sang with imposing power and beautiful, rounded tone.
Conductor Daniele Callegari kept things on track effectively, though one wished he had brought more consistent energy to this white-hot score.
David McVicar's production, with Charles Edwards' revolving turntable sets, still does a good job of making the tangled plot seem relatively clear. And the darkly evocative sets are a resourceful way of allowing for swift scene changes as the action - updated here to the early 19th century - moves from castle to gypsy camp to convent and to an array of other locales.


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Fiori Futuristi – Cactus 45
- Designer:Giacomo Balla
Year: 1918 – 1925
First production: Simongavina Paradisoterrestre 2004
Materials: mirror steel
Dimensions: cm W 21 D 21 H 45 | in W 8,2 D 8,2 H 17,7
Steel sculpture produced in a limited edition of 400; each piece is engraved with 'Dino Gavina, Centro Duchamp, Fiori Futuristi acciaio, Giacomo Balla' and the identification number.
It all began in 1968 with a letter sent to Dino Gavina by Luce and Elica, Giacomo Balla's daughters, where they asked the Bologna entrepreneur for reproducing the Fiori Futuristi drawn by their father.
The first wooden models by Centro Duchamp were reproduced with absolute precision thanks to the passion of Cesare Bellici and Elio Marchegiani, who brought the original drawings by Giacomo Balla to Bologna and here they followed with their utmost care the work of transposition into the technical drawing, essential element for their production.
Afterwards, thanks to the development of new technologies based on CNC machines, the metal sheets could be easily cut, thus producing materials in series at a speed which was unbelievable only a few years before.
This new element let Dino Gavina think to use steel to create the Flowers by Giacomo Balla and make even more Futurists those flowers which were previously made by hand in coloured wood.
This is confirmed by Balla's writing, found at the base of a draft cardboard of a Fiore Futurista: "To be rebuilt with the materials of your time."


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acid-test ratio(redirected from Asset Test)
Acid-Test Ratio
A measure of a company's ability to meet its short-term obligations using its most liquid assets. It is calculated by subtracting inventories from current assets and dividing the quantity by its current liabilities. A higher acid-test ratio indicates greater short-term financial health. The acid-test ratio is more conservative than the current ratio, which measures much the same thing, because the current ratio excludes the value of inventory. This is because inventory can be less liquid than other current assets. The acid-test ratio thus measures a company's ability to meet obligations in a worst-case scenario. It is also called the quick ratio.
acid-test ratio
See quick ratio.


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Scotty tells iHeartRadio, "I'm glad it's finally out there for the fans to hear and fans to hear more than just what's on the radio, they can hear all the songs. So, I'm pumped about it and hopefully the fans are all digging it."
Amidst putting together his album and performing, Scotty is enrolled in college too! How does the NC State student balance his career and education? He says, "College is hard for anybody, so you know, put that on top of a tour and recording artist - it makes it pretty tough!"
[Buy See You Tonight on iTunes]
Scotty teamed up with iHeartRadio when he was in New York City recently to Guest DJ a radio station that represents his personal taste. Check out his favorite tracks below!
1. "Long Black Train" by Josh Turner
Josh Turner is one of my favorite all time artists and "Long Black Train" is my favorite song of all time. It's just an inspirational song – you listen to it and you think about life, and everything going on. Josh has a way with putting his thoughts into a song and that's a pretty special song so, I dig it.
2. "Blue Suede Shoes" by Elvis
Growing up I was a die hard Elvis fan. I still am – like I didn't listen to much besides Elvis and old country. It's tough to choose a favorite Elvis song because there's so many of them but "Blue Suede Shoes" is probably up there on the top for me.
3. "Hello Darlin" by Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty – Yeah he is the man. Like I said, I listen to Elvis and old school country and Conway was definitely one of the guys I listened to. "Hello Darlin'" is just a cool song – it's one of those things as soon as he starts the lyric in the song you know exactly which one it is, so it's a cool one.
4. "Charlie, Last Name Wilson" by Charlie Wilson
This is one you wouldn't expect from me, but I heard this one the radio once traveling with another family. And this was before like Shazam or anything, so I wrote down the title real quick so I could find it on the computer when I got back. It's just a smooth song. It's not country, it's not rock – its R&B soul and I got a place for that on my iPod, so I love it.
5. "Letter To Me" by Brad Paisley
Yeah, this song – I had the chance to tour with Brad all last year and this song – I'd be standing by the soundboard and he'd come out there and sing it to the crowd in the back. And just the lyric in the song, I guess at my point in life I'm still pretty young, so the lyric kind of relates to me growing up and everything. It's just a really cool thought behind the song and a really cool message in there for sure.
6. "Choices" by George Jones
Yeah, George Jones – This is one of his older, or newer songs. He did it when he was older, but it's just a great song. George Jones, in my opinion, is one of the greatest country voices of all time. So, had to throw in a George Jones song for sure.
7. "Carolina" by Eric Church
This song reminds me of home and I'm from just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina and I think it's kind of one of those Carolina anthems. So everybody knows this song back where I'm from and it's just one of those songs that takes you back whenever you're gone for a long time.
8. "Mama Tried" by Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard, yeah this another song that I just – if you can't tell I love the old school country! Merle's definitely a legend, so "Mama Tried" was one of his biggest hits and it's one of my favorites, so had to include it on the list.
9. "If You're Reading This" by Tim McGraw
This song is powerful and I don't think he ever really recorded this song, but he did it a live performance at an awards show. It was a really – just a special, powerful message and song. You listen to the lyrics and kind of, it's a tear jerker a little bit, so it's just one of my all time favorites from him.
10. "Run" by George Strait
Had to include the King of Country Music on the list; George Strait - he has so many number ones, the most of any artist in any genre, so it's tough to choose just one. "Run" is one of my favorites. I've got plenty more but it's just a really cool song about the King.
Read more: http://news.iheart.com/articles/guest-dj-477408/guest-dj-scotty-mccreery-11952927/#ixzz2pw6fZxk3
Photo Credit Katherine Tyler for iHeartRadio


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Margarita recipes
A good margarita is rather simple to make. There is but one rule: Use quality ingredients.
Fresh juice is easy enough -- just grab a couple of limes and/or oranges from the grocery store -- but the question of which tequila to use is a bit more complicated. It is, of course, a matter of taste.
Patron is always a safe bet, both for the stomach and taste buds. That, of course, doesn't come cheaply -- a 750 ml bottle of silver is in the $45 range -- but a celebration may warrant it. A cheaper option such as Hornitos is plenty tasty, too.
Whatever you choose, here are some recipes to make that tequila do its job.
From Salvatore Calabrese's "Complete Home Bartender's Guide" (Sterling, 2002):
1 ounce silver tequila
1 ounce fresh lime juice, plus lime wedges
2/3-ounce Cointreau
Pour the liquid ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake. Rub a wedge of lime around the rim of a Margarita glass and dip the rim into a saucer of fine salt. Strain the drink into the glass. Garnish with a wedge of lime.
From "The PDT Cocktail Book" (Sterling Epicure, 2011) by Jim Meehan:
2 ounces El Tesoro Platinum tequila
3/4 ounce Cointreau
3/4 ounce lime juice, plus lime wedges
1/4 ounce agave syrup
Shake, with ice, all liquid ingredients, then strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with ice (and with an optional salted rim). Garnish with a lime wheel.
From Sauza tequila:
1 1/2 parts Sauza Reposado 100% Agave Tequila
1/2 part John DeKuyper & Sons O3 Premium Orange Liqueur
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
Orange wedges
Ice and orange for serving
In a shaker filled with ice, combine liquid ingredients. Shake vigorously. Strain into a glass filled with ice and rimmed with salt (optional). Garnish with an orange wedge.


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TeacherFolio for Learning Plans and Microteaching
TeacherFolio is a set of tools that can be used for teacher development in teacher and student programs. The tools are designed to allow teachers to document the work that they are doing so that it can be used for purposes beyond STARTALK. Individual teac ...
STELLA Modules
To provide further support to STARTALK programs, STARTALK Central collaborated with the Teacher Effectiveness for Language Learning (TELL) Project to develop a framework called the STARTALK TELL Alignment, or STELLA for short. Click the link below to acce ...
STARTALK Multimedia Teacher Workshop Collection
Welcome to the STARTALK Multimedia Teacher Workshop Collection. This collection of twelve on-line, multimedia workshops was developed by staff of STARTALK-funded teacher preparation programs to enable teachers who cannot participate in on site STARTALK pr ...
STARTALK Multimedia Workshop- Integrating Language, Culture and Content
Occidental College Integrating Language, Culture and Content is designed to support teachers in all phases of their careers, leaders of professional development and university faculty responsible for teacher education. The workshop showcases the standards ...
STARTALK Multimedia Workshop- Immersion Strategies and the Use of the Target Language in Chinese Classrooms
University of California, Berkeley This online workshop is based on an on-site workshop about the use of the target language in the Chinese language classroom. The content of the workshop will be focused on exploring the immersion strategies for the effec ...
STARTALK Multimedia Workshop- Teaching Heritage Languages
University of California, Los Angeles These two self-paced online tutorials are designed for teachers of world and heritage languages. As you complete the first module, you will gain a better understanding of important differences between heritage languag ...
Catalog for the STARTALK Multimedia Teacher Workshop Collection
Introduction: This menu is intended to help STARTALK Program Directors identify the workshops that are most relevant to the professional development needs of their instructors. The menu catalogs the workshops according to the key STARTALK themes that they ...
STARTALK Consent Forms
Consent forms are now online! All program directors are required to request and administer the completion of consent forms from participants. Both online and paper versions of these forms are available at the links below. Programs should request that all ...
2015 Spring Conference Presentations
May 8–9, 2016 • Denver, CO The contents of these presentations are the intellectual property of the respective authors. By reposting it here, the NFLC is neither claiming ownership of the content nor responsibility for the ideas expressed therein. Downlo ...
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Item Description
Photograph, Cyrus Kurtz Holliday
Author: No authors specified.
Cyrus Kurtz Holliday came to Kansas Territory from Meadville, Pennsylvania. He was the first president of the Topeka Town Association and was involved in founding and settling Topeka. He was an agent for the New England Emigrant Aid Company. He was very active in territorial political activities including the Topeka movement. He was a delegate to the Topeka Constitutional Convention.
Location of Original: KSHS Call Number: B Holliday, Cyrus Kurtz *3
Item Number: 102311 Number of images: 1
Keywords: Holliday, Cyrus Kurtz, 1826-1900; Photographs and Illustrations; Shawnee County, Kansas Territory; Topeka Association; Topeka Constitutional Convention, October 1855; Topeka Movement (see also Free state movement); Topeka, Kansas Territory
pg. 1


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View our latest Car Leasing deals by vehicle manufacturer.
Fleet Solutions Network t/a Simply-Leasing can quote on most manufactures, providing you with some of the best car leasing deals available.
All our vehicles come with a manufacturer's warranty, road tax included with free nationwide delivery.
Please select which manufacturer you are interested from the list below.


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Savoy House is enriched by our family-owned, Atlanta-born history and just keeps getting better more than 50 years after our founding.
The Bree collection by Savoy House includes Chandeliers, and Wall Sconces in a variety of finish and glass options. Contact our knowledgable sales team for additional options.
All Savoy House products (including Freight) ship for FREE within the contiguous United States on orders over $50.
All Savoy House products that ship via UPS or FedEx Ground within the contiguous United States are FREE to return.
We do not charge a restocking fee for any returnable Savoy House products.
If you find a Savoy House product on another site for less than us, we will match it PLUS 10% of the difference. Learn more


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Contact Us Today
Constantly changing regulatory demands. New ways to keep you one step ahead
Regulatory authorities are now increasing opportunities for you to provide real-world evidence of your products' safety and effectiveness. This changing environment can make your products more available to patients. And we are here to help.
Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of your safety studies. Our global scientific, RWE and operational experts are developing innovative methods for RWE study design and execution combining secondary and primary data directly from patients and physicians. Applications include
- Post-authorization safety studies (PASS)
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Our rich breadth and depth of global and local data assets expands your study options.
Our extensive scientific affiliations and commitment to research excellence - we are active partners and participants with OMOP, ENCePP, EUnetHTA, IMI, the Department of Health and Human Services, and others, and maintain numerous academic affiliations.
Learn More
Our Difference


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Justin Bieber On The Oscars
Justin Bieber On The Oscars, Justin Bieber Oscars Opening 2012, While Justin Bieber didn't make an appearance on the red carpet at the 2012 Oscars, he did appear on the show. The Biebs was featured in Billy Crystal's opening montage! In the clip, a send up of 'Midnight in Paris,' Bieber rolls up in a vintage ride and beckons Crystal over. "Justin Bieber!" Crystal sighs. The duo were very transparent about their intentions. "I'm here to get you the 18-24 demographic," Bieber explained to Crystal. "So how long do you want me to stay here for?"
"A couple of seconds would be good," Crystal said breathlessly. The duo sat, staring at each other in awkward silence, for a moment. Then Bieber got up. "We're going to hang out with Hemingway and Fitzgerald," he said.
Bieber was joined by Crystal (who played two roles in the clip) as Sammy Davis, Jr. Crystal's blackface and Hitler jokes likely won't hit with everyone — especially Bieber's coveted demographic, who may not even be familiar with Davis.
via: popcrush
via: popcrush


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The House Energy and Commerce Committee is continuing its bipartisan review of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman (D-CA) are leading the effort to review the law and its implementation and are soliciting input from interested stakeholders.
The Committee released a white paper to address the impacts of the RFS on U.S. agriculture. The impact of the RFS on the rural economy and agriculture has been debated as renewable fuel targets continue to rise. The RFS has strengthened demand for domestic corn and soybeans and these crop prices have risen, the Committee reports, adding, "Some argue that these price increases are directly attributable to the RFS, while others question the law's effect on crop and food prices."
The committee is requesting that interested stakeholders respond to the white paper by April 29, 2013, to email@example.com.


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While Bob Stoops won't be ready to publicly name a starting quarterback until Saturday, one report has decided to get ahead of signal-calling curve.
The Daily Oklahoman, citing a source close to the program, reported Wednesday that Trevor Knight will start for Oklahoma Saturday in its game against Kansas State. Blake Bell, who took over for Knight earlier this season, suffered a concussion early in the second quarter of last weekend's win over Iowa State and has not been medically cleared.
Knight was the surprise starter coming out of summer camp, but gave way to Bell due to what was called a bruised knee suffered in the Week 2 win over West Virginia. Stoops allowed after that game, however, that Knight's performance in the Mountaineers game — 10-of-20 for 119 yards and two interceptions — played as much of a role in the decision to go to Bell as did the injury.
Bell has started the past eight games, with the Sooners going 6-2 in that span.
The news of Bell being sidelined comes the same day it was reported that a pair of offensive starters — running back Damien Williams and wide receiver Lacoltan Bester — would not play against K-State. The speculation is that both have been suspended, although OU has yet to confirm either of the player's statuses for the game.


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With the newfound attention came ideas for how to make the process more inclusive and effective. This year, for the first time, the city is calling on the public to participate in the budget allocation process for CIP projects, including street and facility repairs and upgrades, libraries, park and recreation centers, utilities undergrounding, water and sewer facilities and pipelines, and other construction projects that enhance overall quality of life in San Diego.
For La Jollans, that means weighing in on the importance of large-scale projects — like the Torrey Pines Corridor improvements to relieve traffic congestion and increase pedestrian safety; the Coast Boulevard walkway project to improve coastline parks; or the Belvedere Dip project to create a pedestrian promenade at the confluence of Prospect and Girard streets — and smaller-scale projects like installing street lights, upgrading traffic signals or fixing sidewalks in the village.
"The projects are likely to be as diverse as the interests of La Jollans and will give us a taste of the difficult decisions that the mayor and the City Council make in balancing competing needs," said Joe LaCava, chairman of the Community Planners Committee. "La Jolla is fortunate to have community funding of projects that would otherwise be candidates such as library expansion, fire station upgrades, Kellogg Park restrooms and others."
Input for CIP projects will be gathered by the city's 42 community planning groups and submitted to the city's Public Works for ranking and assessment of possible funding sources. Factors like health and safety, shovel-ready projects, community consensus and matching funds from other sources are used by the city to prioritize the projects in its ranking system.
"This is an extraordinary change in the city's approach that the public needs to grab hold of. If the public wants the budget process to be inclusive and participatory, we need to show that we can provide meaningful input," said LaCava. "Going through the process this year will allow us to navigate the steep learning curve, as well as test our public outreach efforts. Next year, when we hope the city's finances will start improving, we will have the opportunity to start sooner and have an even better process."
The La Jolla Community Planning Association will gather input at its regularly scheduled meeting on Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. at the La Jolla Recreation Center. Further details about the process are available at www.lajollacpa.org/cip.html.
La Jolla Village News spoke with Joe LaCava, chair of the Community Planners Committee, about the public input process for Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects. To learn more about the history of CIP, the process for community input, funds available, and challenges, see our Q&A below:
LJVN: CIP only deals with construction/infrastructure projects, such as road upgrades, new facilities, etc. What are some of the things in La Jolla that fall in this category that people might be interested in prioritizing as a community?
LaCava: The projects are likely to be as diverse as the interests of La Jollans and will give us a taste of the difficult decisions that the mayor and the city council make in balancing competing needs. Projects can be as large as the Torrey Pines Road corridor improvements for congestion relief and pedestrian safety or improving our coastline parks, such as the Coast Boulevard walkway project. The Belvedere Project (plaza at the Prospect dip) or fixing the sidewalks in the Village are also candidates. Ten years ago, La Jollans supported a long list of projects (http://www.sandiego.gov/planning/facilitiesfinancing/plans/pdf/ljfacsummary.pdf), but many of those have never received any funding; perhaps, those are not important to us anymore. Projects don't have to be large; they can be as small as installing a streetlight or upgrading a traffic signal. La Jolla is fortunate to have community funding of projects that would otherwise be candidates such as library expansion, fire station upgrades, Kellogg Park restrooms and others.
LJVN: What is the history of CIP?
LaCava: During the last decade the city's finances were so troubled that there was little if any discussion about CIP budgets; only the bare minimum was funded. As the city emerged to more normal operations, attention turned to CIP projects again. The mayor's office and the city council found the CIP implementation and the CIP budget development processes lacking and sought to make improvements on both fronts. When a $100 million bond was sold, the city could not respond fast enough to implement that level of projects, so the city streamlined its project approval and implementation process. The city also realized there were inefficiencies because city departments were not talking to each other. The city formed Capital Improvement Project Review and Advisory Committee (CIPRAC) comprised of the directors of all of the city's departments and required them to meet monthly to coordinate their projects. The changes also increased the public's awareness of the budget process, and there were calls for a public participatory process. Traditionally, the mayor's office begins work in December on the next year's budget and releases the draft budget on or about April 15th. The release triggers the city council's and the public's opportunity to review the project and propose changes over the next two months. Everyone agreed that two months was not adequate. As a step towards a robust public participatory process, the mayor's office sought to gain public input before the budget work begins December. The city recommended the Community Planners Committee and the community planning groups take the lead as the only organized citywide structure that reflected true local input rather than creating a new public outreach campaign.
LJVN: What amount of money are we talking about in the CIP budget?
LaCava: To be candid, there is not a lot of money at play. Three-quarters of last year's $215 million CIP budget was sewer and water projects – projects that are funded through our water and sewer bills. The remainder comes from matching funds that target specific kinds of projects. Some communities have well-funded developer impact fee programs (aka facilities benefit assessments), but those don't offer much help to older built-out communities like La Jolla. For the FY2013 budget, the city was able to allocate only $3 million towards the CIP budget, not including a one-time "find" of $8.3 million. When you compare that against an estimated $900 million infrastructure deficit, you realize the city is only making a small dent. Until the city can increase net revenue by streamlining government, an improving economy, or financing through bonds, projects – and those who want them – will have to be creative in competing for grants or seeking public-private partnerships.
LJVN: You mentioned that this year is more about the process to build a long-range plan that works for the community. Why is it important for people to get involved this year if there's no money to really play with?
LaCava: This is an extraordinary change in the city's approach that the public needs to grab hold of. If the public wants the budget process to be inclusive and participatory, we need to show that we can provide meaningful input. Going through the process this year will allow us to navigate the steep learning curve as well as test our public outreach efforts. Next year, when we hope the city's finances will start improving, we will have the opportunity to start sooner and have an even better process. Building consensus on a list also helps La Jollans rally around our infrastructure needs and provides a basis for us to be an advocates at city hall. Some might suggest that the 2009 LJCPA effort was the spark to re-ignite the Torrey Pines Corridor Project.
LJVN: How does the LJCPA plan on gathering public input, organizing it in a meaningful way, and shipping it off to the city for review? Where does the input go from there, and when can they expect to see any results?
LaCava: The LJCPA will set aside time at its October meeting and perhaps hold a second hearing at its November meeting if needed. We have been advertising the October meeting at La Jolla's community organizations. We have prepared a webpage, www.lajollacpa.org/cip.html, to provide further details and links to city information. This process worked well when we tried something very similar in 2009 under a LJCPA initiative. Citywide input from the 42 community planning groups will be submitted to the City's Public Works for ranking and assessment of possible funding sources. Planning groups are encouraged to also submit their lists to their councilmember as well as directly to the mayor's office. The schedule will bump up against the incoming new mayor in December, so we will have to await if that changes the process. Traditionally, no information is released until the draft budget is published on or about April 15 of next year. Communities will have to stand ready to lobby for their lists if the city doesn't find funding for their project.
LJVN: How will the city prioritize input on projects from all 42 planning groups?
LaCava: The city uses a ranking system to prioritize projects based on various factors such as health and safety, ready for construction, community consensus, matching funds from other sources, etc. At this time the rankings are applied without regard to which community is making the request. In light of the city's constrained budget, projects that are funded are driven more by the availability of funding from other sources (sewer and water fees, state and federal funds, infrastructure bonds, transportation sales tax, etc.) than by their priority.
LJVN: Can people track projects they are interested in at the city level?
LaCava: The city has two web pages that are available to the public. That's the good news. These are works in progress as the city transforms the information from bureaucratic lingo and acronyms to the plain language that anyone can understand. Last year's budget can be viewed at http://www.sandiego.gov/fm/annual/fy13/fy13vol3.shtml, while mapping of all capital improvement projects, whether funded or not, can be viewed at http://www.sandiego.gov/cip/projectinfo/index.shtml.


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Strategic Parenting Shapes the Family Environment
Theme: It's the wife and not the mother that keeps a father in the home.
Whatever children learn well before puberty that makes them feel good about themselves, you can expect to last for life. If they learn and feel good acting as adults albeit immature, they are not nearly as vulnerable to teen peer pressure.
- Organize first. Arrange family thinking around dual roles for each adult. That is, four roles and with this rank structure: husband, wife, mother, father. Each 'reports' to the one next left. The most vital role is the wife. Her responsibility is home and family. She catches it from both sides and is the only one capable and therefore most responsible for coordinating family efforts and trying to orchestrate harmony.
- Start with good material. Good father-candidates are identified by their character and willingness to follow this model in the home: Husband bosses wife but mother bosses father. If husband has issues with the kids, he takes it up with his wife and not with the kids themselves. His leadership is most effective when he never imposes it directly except to back up his wife as she does her mothering thing. He stays above the fray of getting children to do what they're supposed to do and not do. (I know you don't like "bosses," but nothing else works in so few words. Two cooks spoil the pie. Two bosses ruin an organization. Wife-mother is in the middle, so let her direct the home orchestrations to achieve harmony. She reports to husband for her performance in raising children, and expects him as father to help and not interfere with her 'bossing' them. IOW, husband tells wife what he expects and then as father he enjoys what mother has produced.)
- Recruit a better-than-good man. One who has the patience to accept the reality that mom can't immediately change a child's excursions into what or where they shouldn't go just to please her husband's expectations. If he frustrates easily over small things, put him back in the parade. He likely will harangue his wife or their mother just because he's irritated or angry with himself. Red flag.
- Build the family attitude. Base and continually promote respect for each other first as person, then as male/female, then according to their respective roles and responsibilities within the family. Then, follow up the teaching and promoting with heapings of love spread evenly among all members. Without mutual respect first however, mutual love is seldom achieved.
- Moms shouldn't suffer. Mother has the hardest time earning mutual respect. She earns it easiest and best this way. a) She keeps the children advised that most importantly she's the wife of and responsible to her husband. It's easier to earn the respect of others when you live up to someone bigger than yourself. Such as wife up to husband and children up to parents. b) As mother, she's responsible for the upbringing of her children. c) She has the constant approval of husband as the kids see it. As much as husband displays lack of respect for his wife, it weakens respect of children for mother. (It happens most easily when father sides with the kids against mom. He elevates father over mother and it undercuts his wife, which displays lack of respect and reduces kids' respect of mother.)
- Disagreement stifles. Effective parents never let the kids see them disagree over decisions about them. Permission to do this or that, for example. The first parent to make a decision, the other backs them. Parents subsequently take it behind closed door to resolve differences. Otherwise, children learn to play one parent against the other, which makes parenting much more difficult.
- The right target beckons. Raise children to be good adults and they will turn out to be average or good children. Raise them aimed at becoming great children and they will turn out to be poor or less-than-average or poor adults.
- The future beckons. Always focused on the future, mothers predominantly shape behaviors by shaping childish thoughts into more mature thoughts. 'Stop that and learn this' type of leadership. Parents do best by helping rather than directing a child's aspirations and ambitions and aiming them toward adulthood instead of some earlier period in life such as adolescence.
- Self-developers emerge. Children develop best when they and peers organize playtime activities. Parental organizing for play interferes with self-development. It demonstrates with action that kids are not trusted even in their own domain of play.
- Guidance tops directness. Focus parental effort on guiding and encouraging kids and less on discipline and punishment. As self-developers, they develop aspirations and ambitions beyond the present. If well respected by parents and siblings, they dream about becoming adults. If not respected that way, they dream about earning self-respect through immature methods such as adolescent lures and behaviors, games and drugs for example. Respect compounded by parental love keeps their aims aligned as parents hope. Parental guidance is most productive by helping bring to fruition dreams for their adult lives.
- Kids make mistakes. They learn quickly from experience. Prevent their making mistakes and over supervise and it slows or discourages their development. Enhance their self-development and you raise good adult-minded kids. Teach and don't fight against their efforts to play-now-and-get-serious-later, or you raise poorly behaved children. Each child has ways of letting parents know when they over supervised. It's not over-supervision that is the culprit but the child's perception and growing conviction of it. Respecting each child as a person provides feedback for parents to determine when appropriate to guide or supervise.
- Don't become friends. Parents who would first be friends with their children abrogate leadership responsibility. They try to lead without authority they give away by making the child equal as friend, which the child sees as a huge competitive advantage and can't resist using. When it doesn't turn out as equal as expected and parent still governs the child's behavior, the child rebels internally but not so evidently to the parent. The crux is here: The parent is well intentioned, but the child seeks advantages that inspire disingenuousness and even hidden dishonesty. The end result promotes disrespect for the parent that is overlooked because of their good intentions and conviction they are doing right. The child's behavior out of parent's sight deteriorates to the opposite that the parent hopes for.
- Life ain't easy. Don't make it easy for kids. It teaches them to continually look for the easier way throughout life, and it later shows up harmfully as weak sense of family responsibility.
- Assign responsibility. Match their maturity. Even toddlers should have something to do routinely. Nothing teaches character better than having responsibility and being held accountable. Responsibility assigned to match maturity. Accountability imposed seriously but gently and forgivingly by mom enables kids to learn they like to please her. As they mature it turns into liking to do their duty. First they learn to please mom. Next, they learn that they like to please her. The long range effect is a stronger sense of family responsibility. Finally, boys learn that they please themselves by pleasing mom. Girls learn from being gently and forgivingly held accountable that it works later for raising their children and coaching the man they love.
- Worth repeating. Men thrive on responsibility, and so nothing raises boys into good men any better than an early-developed sense of duty. Don't expect or teach perfection. Teach stick-to-it-iveness, finish the job. Kids understand completion or finish much, much better than perfection or adult standards or expectations. Respect them enough to let them determine the quality they can produce. Boys start by trying to outfox mom. When they see that inadequate performance doesn't displease her, through repetition they teach themselves to do better. Think of keeping their room uncluttered or well organized. After awhile they do it well in order to please themselves for pleasing mom. It's the same process by which they will later love their wives.
- Mothers reward themselves. They routinely express their love and affection to a child they birthed or someone else. She feels better for just having expressed her love. Once the conscious mind opens and a child recognizes he or she is also a person, they can figure things out accurately as they sense it but immaturely for others. By mom showing trust as more important than her love, her child is more easily convinced of mom's love. IOW, without respect mostly in the form of trust, even showers of abundant love can be unimpressive and unconvincing.
Strategically, the home environment is a complicated place. It's run more by subconscious habits than conscious thought. Shaping and arranging personal habits to produce a harmonized setting for a good family is primarily the work of woman.
Men sense it to be true but low self-esteem, self-image, or both often cause husbands to interfere, which sends loud messages that wife is not respected, which means not truly loved. Also uninformed about making organizations function well, such men take literally the practice of submission and use dominance to interfere with woman's work of raising children to become good adults.
Wife responds by fighting back to defend, protect, or win her way of doing things. It triggers disrespect from husband, wife responds with her own version of disrespect, and the war begins.
As children view it, their future turns bleak. Even they can guess groundwork being laid for parental separation. Instinctively they sense but probably don't recognize that repeated disrespect foretells the likely death and prevention of restoring love.
Editorial comment is next at 2330 and Tactical Parenting: Guidance and Encouragement follows at 2331.


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Cyclone women suffer 2nd straight home loss
Linda Stepney scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and West Virginia used a 13-point first-half lead to knock off No. 13 Iowa State 73-59 Wednesday night - the second straight year the Mountaineers have beaten a ranked Cyclones squad at Ames.
West Virginia (15-2, 4-1 Big 12) hit seven 3-pointers in the first half and were 12 of 30 overall.
Iowa State (14-2, 3-2) cut the lead to six, 59-53 on a 3-pointer by Jadda Buckley with 6:57 left to play, but Stepney scored a layup and 3-pointer back-to-back to push the lead back to 11 points and was 4 of 4 from the free throw line in the final 1:28 to put the game away.
Bria Holmes and Christal Caldwell finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Mountaineers.
Hallie Christofferson had 21 points to lead the Cyclones, which lost its second straight game. Buckley added another 15.


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This post has been updated.
Curt Schilling is a hero to New England baseball fans, known for his performances in high pressure situations. But as a businessman, he's in big trouble, and not the kind he can pitch his way out of.
The former MLB all-star's start-up video game company, 38 Studios, missed a $1.1 million payment to the state of Rhode Island on May 1, and things have only gotten more complicated since.Rhode Island lured 38 Studios away from Massachusetts in 2010, in exchange for $75 million in guaranteed loans. At the time, then-Governor Donald Carcieri, a Republican, considered the company a chance to jump-start a new business sector in the state. The company promised to create 450 jobs in three years. Massachusetts officials declined to match Rhode Island's offer. Earlier this year, the company's first game, "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning," came out to positive reviews. "It sings with infectious, engaging excellence," raved The New York Times.
But the company missed a payment earlier this month, and Schilling was forced to ask for more public assistance this week, The Boston Globe reports. The company said it did not have enough money to make payroll for its nearly 300 employees. The Rhode Island official who oversaw the loan guarantee resigned on Wednesday. And the troubles reached an absurd high point on Thursday, when the company hand-delivered a check to the state for $1.1 million before warning that it didn't have the funds to cover it.
"38 Studios arrived at [Rhode Island's Economic Development Corporation] at 5 p.m. with a check. Upon learning from the CFO of 38 Studios that there were insufficient funds in the account to cover the check, EDC returned the check to 38 Studios," Christine Hunsinger, a spokesman for Governor Lincoln Chafee, told The Providence Journal on Thursday. "EDC remains willing to accept payment with readily available funds."
Late Thursday, Schilling took to his Facebook page to offer a few words on the situation.
"To all the prayers and well wishes to the team and families at 38, God Bless and thank you! We will find a way, and the strength, to endure," he wrote.
But some people aren't offering an well wishes.
"We got hoodwinked; we got played," Republican state Representative Robert Watson told the Globe. "How many millions of dollars does Curt Schilling have? He can't write a check? It's Rhode Island that is supposed to provide the money? I think not."
On Friday, Globe columnist Brian McGrory unloaded on Schilling, who over the years has made no secret of his conservative politics.
"Schilling spent no small amount of time in his career preaching the Republican mantra of smaller government and personal responsibility. He did this fresh off the historic Red Sox World Series win when he backed George W. Bush in the 2004 campaign. He did it on the stump on behalf of John McCain in 2008," McGrory wrote. "Smaller government? Call me crazy, but I'm betting that wasn't exactly what Schilling was extolling when he sat behind closed doors on Wednesday pleading with the members of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp. to put more public money behind his fantasy video game venture."
Update 4:10 p.m.: 38 Studios has paid the $1.1 million it owed the state after missing a payment May 1, Governor Lincoln Chafee said at a press conference Friday. According the Associated Press, Chafee said the company should now seek private money to stay in business.
"There's no more easy money," Chafee said.
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The controversial Safe Schools program introduces gender theory to schoolchildren as though it were fact. Tasmania and NSW have withdrawn Safe Schools and similar type programs but have had to exercise vigilance to ensure that gender theory is not included in the school curriculum under different names.
- Does your party have a policy on whether gender theory should be taught in schools and, if so, could you please state what that policy is?
- Does your party commit to withdrawing the controversial Safe Schools program and other similar programs already being taught?
The Federal Labor party has stated its intention, if elected to government, is to provide federal funding to the Safe Schools program. In this event, will your party:
- Refuse federal funding and maintain a commitment to keep gender theory programs out of the classroom?
2 - Abortion
The Law Reform Commission (LRC) is currently considering abortion laws in Queensland and is expected to report in the second half of 2018.
- Does your party propose to change current abortion laws in Queensland and, if so, how? Could you please outline your party's policy on abortion?
- Will you adhere to this policy for the entire 56th parliament?
- If your party forms government, will you allow Members of your party to pursue abortion law reforms through Private Member's Bills?
3 - Euthanasia
Various state governments have debated the introduction of laws to allow assisted suicide or euthanasia.
- Will your party commit to ensuring that euthanasia is not legalised in Queensland?
- If your party forms government, will you allow Members of your party to pursue Euthanasia law reforms through a Private Member's Bills?
4 - Outdoor advertising
Advertising standards are currently supervised under a system of self-regulation administered by the Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB), which relies on the voluntary compliance of advertisers. While it sounds admirable on paper, this system of self-regulation in practice fails to compel compliance from advertisers, whose commercial interests are better served through displaying sexual imagery. There are no penalties, no fines, no consequences for advertisers who consistently delight in flouting community standards and triumphing publicly over their critics.
- Will your party commit to a policy to ensure that outdoor advertising is 'G' rated?
- Will your party commit to introducing legislation to penalise advertisers who repeatedly breach the code?
5 - Prostitution
The University of Queensland has found that the legalisation of brothels in Queensland has failed to curb the growth of prostitution, with up to 90 per cent of Queensland's prostitution industry remaining unregulated and illegal. Sex trafficking continues to be a problem. Internationally, policies discouraging demand for sexual services are proving to be the most effective way of limiting both the size of and the harms resulting from prostitution. The policy approach known as the "Nordic model" comprises three essential elements:
buying sexual services becomes a criminal offence. The message that purchasing sexual services is socially unacceptable can be reinforced with public education campaigns.
selling sexual services is decriminalised
funding and support is provided for exit strategies to assist prostituted persons to leave this industry.
- Will your party commit to a meaningful examination of this successful policy approach to prostitution with a view to implementing a similar approach in Queensland?
6 - Human Rights Bill
In the event that a 'Yes' result is returned in the current national opinion survey on same-sex marriage, and same-sex marriage becomes law:
- There has been some discussion concerning the introduction of a Bill to protect human rights. What is your party's policy on this issue? How will your party ensure that such a bill gives equality to the rights of freedom of freedom of thought conscience and religion and freedom of expression so that they do not become subservient to the right of non-discrimination?
- Specifically how will your party protect the freedom of thought conscience and religion and freedom of expression of the substantial number of Queenslanders who will not want to use their professional and/or artistic skills to be involved in same-sex marriages?
Section 124A of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991, a so-called "hate speech" provision has been used recently to suppress freedom of speech. In a free and democratic society, commentators should have the freedom to argue points of view without the threat of coercive action against them if they cause offense. Will your party commit to an examination of the impact that s124A has had on free speech and consider amending or removing this section?
7 - Child safety – Foster system
There are currently 9000 children in foster care in Queensland. Recent figures show that there have been only 2 adoptions.
- What is your party's policy with regard to foster care? Will your party commit to reform the Queensland foster care system and adoption procedures to provide permanency and stability for children in foster care?
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