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by Pilar Portela, Media Relations Supervisor, Business Wire/Florida
Latino votes increased nearly 25 percent from the 2004 presidential election to the 2008 election, and it is estimated almost 10 percent of voters this November will be Hispanic — a 26 percent increase from 2008 figures.
The numbers raise the question — will Latinos have an even greater impact on the upcoming election than they did in 2008?
This summer Business Wire's LatinoWire sponsored two expert webinars on:
- How the Hispanic Media Will Be Covering the National Elections
- The Influence of Hispanic Voters on This Year's National Elections
If you missed them, the first webinar featured top political journalists who cover the Latino vote and the second featured two nationally recognized authorities on Hispanic affairs and politics and the Latino media.
Both webinars covered the upcoming elections and what the issues of interest are to Latinos. Here are some highlights:
- Pilar Marrero, senior political reporter and columnist for La Opinión and Impre.com, and Maria Elena Salinas of Univision said Spanish-language media like theirs must cover all aspects of the elections, ranging from the simple – such as the voter registration process – to the hot topics and issues that affect not only the national but local elections.
- "I've been with La Opinión since the late 80s and ever since then I've covered most elections, be it the federal level, state level and local elections, and [La Opinión] always has had a dual set of plans around the elections. One is the general elections coverage, and second is civic engagement," Marrero said.
- Dr. Federico Subervi, Professor and Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Media & Markets at Texas State University- San Marcos, said Latino representation is very scarce in the general market English-language media. He said one can see this with the absence of Latinos from the morning TV programs and contributing to the community newspapers. Overall the general market network news minimally covers issues related to Latinos, which plays into lack of connection to the election process and candidates.
Aside from the obvious issue of immigration, Salinas pointed there are other issues Latinos are interested in.
- "Most polls show that jobs, the economy, education and housing are the top issues for Latinos," Salinas said. "However, the immigration issue is the issue that moves their votes.
- Dr. Gabriel Sanchez, who works in the Department of Political Science at the University of New Mexico, shared a Latino vote map — www.latinovotemap.org — by Latino Decisions that allows visitors to simulate Latino turnout and vote choice in the 2012 Presidential election. He said while there are differences between Latinos regarding language, religion, language and origin — there is a shared cultural heritage and sociopolitical status leads to political cohesiveness among Latinos.
It is that cohesiveness which could play a large role in this Fall's election.
- "We have said for years if not for decades that the Latino vote is the `sleeping giant' that has finally awakened. I think that was so in the last election and it could be so in this election. Except we have a very big problem and I think the biggest challenge we have right now is to motivate Latinos to go out and vote," Salinas added.
If you missed the LatinoWire expert webinar series, a recording and PowerPoint presentations are available. For more information on future LatinoWire expert webinars go to www.businesswire.com.


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Submission + - Chemists are Winning the War on Synthetic Drugs
Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Brandon Keim reports that the war on drugs has a new front with chemists fabricating synthetic mimics of marijuana, dissociative drugs and stimulants, and so far lawmakers appear to be a losing the war as every time a new compound is banned, overseas chemists synthesize a new version tweaked just enough to evade the letter of the law in a giant game of chemical Whack-a-Mole. "Manufacturers turn these things around so quickly. One week you'll have a product with compound X, the next week it's compound Y," says forensic toxicologist Kevin Shanks. "It's fascinating how fast it can occur, and it's fascinating to see the minute changes in chemical structure they'll come up with. It's similar, but it's different." During the last several years, the market for legal highs has exploded in North America and Europe and while people raised on Reefer Madness-style exaggerations may be wary of claims that "legal high" drugs are dangerous, researchers say they're far more potent than the originals. "The results are toxic and very dangerous, especially for vulnerable people — people with previous psychotic episodes — and the young," says chemist Liana Fattore. Reports of psychotic episodes following synthetic drug use are common and have led to a variety of laws but so far the bans aren't working as the drugs can be subtly tweaked so as to possess a different, legal molecular form while performing the same psychopharmaceutical role. One obvious alternative approach is to ban entire classes of similar compounds rather than focusing on individual forms., however this is easier said than done. "The problem with that is, what does 'chemically similar' really mean? Change the structure in a small way — move a molecule here, move something to the other side of the molecule — and while I might think it's an analogue, another chemist might disagree," says Shanks. That's the crux of the entire problem. The scientific community does not agree on what 'analogue' essentially means.""

subset: commoncrawl


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Baker remains convinced the war was the right thing to do. He's a First Sergeant and was in Bahrain when the fighting broke out one year ago. "Obviously we were nervous, but once the bullets started flying, we knew what we were doing was right. We knew the mission we had was just."
Baker says conditions were tough in those first few months. But, the Iraqi civilians were generally friendly to the soldiers. He and some of his unit even got to swim in a pool at one of Saddam Hussein's palaces.
Still, the weeks and months away from his wife and baby boy dragged by. "Normally a year goes by and you think, boy, what happened to that year, it went so quick. But when you spend a year away from your family, every day is painfully long."
More than five thousand Florida National Guard soldiers were called to active duty during the war. More than two thousand of those soldiers would serve in Iraq. Four were killed in action and a hundred more wounded.
But even with the debate now over the lack of weapons of mass destruction being found, Baker is convinced the US was right to take out Saddam. "While we were there, they discovered many mass graves. We heard personal stories of torture and mistreatment under the Saddam regime. Just by being there, it really opened my eyes as to what a tyrannical evil dictator the man was."
Baker received a hero's welcome upon his return to the state capitol. He says hopes Americans will continue to support the troops, even if many don't support the war. Six hundred Florida National Guard soldiers are still serving in Iraq and another 200 in Kuwait.
A spokesman for the Guard says there has been no drop-off in enlistment since the war effort began. Florida has a total of 10 thousand soldiers in the army national guard and another two thousand in the air national guard.


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DALLAS MAVERICKS v. TORONTO RAPTORS
NBA Game Overview
ESPN Preview
Date: November 7th 2012
Time: 8:30 PM
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX
Key Match UP
DeMar DeRozan v. OJ Mayo
After getting destroyed in OKC, the Raptors will travel to Dallas to take on the Dirkless Mavs. This is yet another back to back game for the Raps in this young season and their 4th game in 5 nights. Legs must be getting tired and bodies starting to break down after that kind of a schedule to begin the year. The Raps will have to face Dallas tonight without the services of their stud PG Kyle Lowry who was injured in the game last night (ankle). In his place we are likely to see Jose Calderon get the start at PG. The question becomes who will step up in Lowry's absence? The defensive intensity is sure to fall off with the loss of Lowry and Coach Casey will need some of his other guys to step up their play. Guys like Fields, Bargnani and DeRozan need to be play with more consistency than they have showed this season. Tonight's featured match up is between the two former USC Trojan Shooting Guards; OJ Mayo and DeMar DeRozan. Mayo is coming off a a huge game against the Blazers where he dropped 32 points including 6 three pointers. DeRozan will need to attack Mayo early and try to wear out the Mavs best scorer. Dallas should not be taken lightly as they have managed to go 3 and 1 to to start the season without the services of their start forward Dirk Nowitzki. In some other news, Shawn Marion will also be out in this one as he nurses a bad ankle and Elton Brand will miss the game due to the birth of his child.
Lets go RAPTORS!!


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Thread: Have you had this- Hashish?
An Ebay find it was naturally tempting. It smells close to E Lauder Youth Dew but deeper, almost smoky. A little bit like an overlay of burning autumn leaves on Youth Dew.
N Tesla-hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Ever tried Reminiscence Jammin? Opens like fresh marijuana, and dries down like burning marijuana
Comme l'amour, le parfum doit captiver la femme dès le premier contact---André Fraysse
Alex Lee was asking about exactly this note in his blog musiciendesodeurs.com!
Hope he spots this thread.
Amusingly, you can now find out exactly who in your aquaintance is/was/ever has been a pothead pixie.
Lovely story from a friend: back in her late teens/early 20s she and her sister were on a family holiday to Morrocco and smelled the inevitable while walking in the souk with their parents. The girls sneakily nudged each other and exchanged knowing looks. Marching happily ahead of them, their Venerable Father inhaled the scents deeply and loudly exclaimed 'Mmmm! That hash smells exceptional!' before continuing on. Naturally, the girls were gobsmacked and their Dad got monster cool points.
Last edited by Wordbird; 4th July 2009 at 12:05 AM.
"A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future." Coco Chanel
I'm streamlining my collection http://community.basenotes.net/showt...29#post1219729
Kumquat, What the brand of this parfum - Hashish?
I'm searched for this but I don't find it!....
I will try to find this bottle. I'm sorry you can't really read it. As I recall there wasn't any real brand information there. I can just make out 'San Francisco'. This is some wacky off brand stuff, I don't think it's made anymore. Find it on Ebay, if there's anymore out there.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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There's a reason why young members of the Rock Falls girls track team don't forget their gear, or a baton for a relay, or anything else needed to perform at a meet.
The "Mother Hen" is watching.
That's the nickname head coach Chris Lacy has bestowed upon senior sprinter Shasta Day, a 4-year mainstay for the Rockets. At meets, when the public address announcer says an event is coming up, she makes sure her teammates, especially some wide-eyed freshmen, report on time and ready to rock.
"I'm so focused on just me, so it's a new atmosphere, taking care of the other kids," Day said. "Actually, I kind of like it."
Lacy noted he's had many nicknames for Day over the years, but likes this one the best because it's one she grew into.
"We joke with her, 'How old are you now, 23?'" Lacy said, "because she's been on the scene for so long now."
Relays are always stressed at Rock Falls, and Day has been a fixture in the sprint relays all 4 years. She won NCIC championships in the 400 and 800 relays as a freshman and a sophomore, as well as a 100-meter title individually as a sophomore.
A year ago, when the Rockets were new members of the Big Northern Conference, she doubled up in the 100 and 200 dashes. She came up empty at the sectional meet, however, and decided to step up her training.
At the beginning of her junior year, she ran cross country for the first time, to build up her endurance. She admitted she was severely lacking in that department.
"I had little endurance," Day said, "and the 200 seemed impossible to me."
Last summer, she received permission from Rock Falls boys track coach Eric Bontz to go through summer workouts with boys track team members. She ran 100-meter sprints while carrying weights. She endured endless pushups, chinups and weightlifting sessions.
She ran cross country again this past fall, and added an abs workout under the guidance of Rock Falls cross country coach Mark Truesdell to strengthen her core.
"I stuck with it," Day said, "and I think that helped me out a lot. I can feel that I'm a lot stronger."
That led Lacy to expand her boundaries a bit this season. He had has top sprinter run a few legs on the 1,600 relay in some meets, just to see how she'd do.
"I didn't like it," Day said with a smirk. "That was mean."
"She's incredibly talented," Lacy said, "but every year there's a ton of talented kids. How many of them want to work and get better their sophomore year, and better their junior year? Shasta's done a great job in the weight room, and she shows up every day to work. Her work ethic is unrivaled."
The work is paying dividends. She repeated as Big Northern champ in the 100 and 200 dashes at Genoa on Monday, and now has her sights set on the Class 2A Burlington Central Sectional on Friday. She ran poorly and was overwhelmed as a junior competing at the sectional, but isn't planning on a repeat performance.
"I think I just got a little bit ahead of myself last year," Day said. "This year, I'm confident because I've put in 10 times more work than I did in the past."
One thing Lacy hasn't done is sit down with Day for pep talks. They both know what happened last year, but that's in the past, and each is focused on what lies ahead in the next 10 days.
"It all revolves around strength," Lacy said, "and what she's done mentally to prepare herself to not accept being second, and not accept ending the way she doesn't want this to end."
Day file
School: Rock Falls
Class: Senior
FYI: Won 100 and 200 dashes at Big Northern Conference track meet as junior and senior. ... Member of NCIC sprint relay champions as underclassman. ...


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Finally figured out why the auto-avatar sizing wasn't working and have set it up to work. This means all avatars are kept below a certain width. This keeps the margins on the left consistent so that the right side, with the text of posts, doesn't get squished down -- and means people don't need to worry about getting the exact size themselves if their file is a little bit large.
Right now it will automatically resize avatars to 120 pixels wide (the board default was only 90, so I made it a bit larger). It doesn't affect the size of your original, wherever you are linking from! It just resizes the image on the fly.


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DeSmith besieged, UNH falls in OTBy ALLEN LESSELS
New Hampshire Union Leader
November 02. 2012 10:56PM
AMHERST, Mass. - Goaltender Casey DeSmith and the No. 9-ranked University New Hampshire hockey team came up just short of a second straight low-scoring tie on the road.
Instead, they lost their first game of the year when Massachusetts defenseman Darren Rowe sneaked in from the right point and took a pass from Conor Sheary from the behind the net to beat DeSmith for a power play goal with 1:52 left in overtime, giving his team a 2-1 win at the Mullins Center.
The Minutemen took control of the game from the midway point of the third period. DeSmith, who had 34 saves, nearly held them off.
"The only reason we had a chance to win the game was because of our goalie," said UNH coach Dick Umile. "I told my team that at the end of the game. We didn't deserve to win."
UNH fell to 4-1-1 overall and 2-1-1 in Hockey East. The Wildcats move on to a game at Maine on Sunday at 4. The Black Bears lost to Boston College at home on Friday night, 4-2, and are 1-7-0 overall and 0-3-0 in Hockey East.
UMass, which had played Boston College and Boston University tough, picked up its first league win for first-year coach John Micheletto and improved to 2-3-0 and 1-3-0.
The Minutemen poured it on in the third period, but could not beat DeSmith.
UMass outshot UNH 13-8 in the period and had a handful of excellent scoring chances in the second half of the period especially.
"We were a little back on our heels," said forward Greg Burke, a senior from Lee. "They play an up-tempo game and there were stretches where we didn't match that and that can't happen. It kind of builds on itself. They put together a few good shifts and all of a sudden momentum's in their favor."
DeSmith got it into overtime and the Minutemen kept coming.
With 2:51 left in OT, UNH forward Kevin Goumas was penalized for interference and UMass went on the power play.
With 1:59 left, the Minutemen earned a face-off to DeSmith's left and Micheletto called a timeout.
Seven seconds later, it was over.
"Just a nice play, a good pass back door," DeSmith said.
"They executed the face-off play," Umile said. "We didn't cover very well, but you've got to give them credit. They won the game. They deserved to win."
The teams traded goals in the first two periods.
Burke opened the scoring with his second goal of the season with 34 seconds left in the first period. Kevin Goumas intercepted a UMass clearing pass on the left boards and took a shot that UMass goalie Kevin Boyle stopped. The puck deflected to Burke on the right side and he fired it into the net.
Sheary got that one back for the Minutemen at 12:21 of the second period, Sheary stole the puck from UNH defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk and charged down the right side and beat DeSmith to the far side.
The goal ended DeSmith's shutout streak at 147 minutes and 36 seconds.
After giving up three goals in the first period against Northeastern a week ago, DeSmith had blanked the Huskies the rest of that game while the Wildcats came back from 3-0 down for a 4-3 win. He had 34 saves the next night in a 0-0 tie in the rematch.
Now the Wildcats will try to put their first loss behind them and bounce back from a rough third period and OT.
"I think we got outworked, to be honest with you," Umile said. "The shots they got in the first two periods were from the outside and we were comfortable with that."
UMass made things uncomfortable from there.


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Item Description
Photograph, Charles A. Foster
Author: Skinner, photographer
Charles A. Foster was a delegate to the Leavenworth Constitutional Convention. He came to Kansas from Massachusetts.
Location of Original: KSHS Call Number: B Foster, Charles A. #1
Item Number: 101318 Number of images: 1
Keywords: Card photographs; Foster, Charles A.; Leavenworth Constitution; Photographs and Illustrations; Skinner, photographer
pg. 1


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Stream 'Just Seen It' - Film Criticism circa 2013
On September 4, 1975, two Chicago film critics - the late Gene Siskel and the late Roger Ebert - began a movie review show on PBS called "Opening Soon at a Theater Near You." It was only on locally in Chicago and aired once a month. In 1977 it was renamed as "Sneak Previews" and began airing biweekly. By 1979 it was on every week on over 180 PBS stations around the country and, at the time, was the highest rated weekly entertainment series in the history of public broadcasting. The show changed names and formats over the years and ran until 1995. "Sneak Previews" made household names of Siskel and Ebert and their trademark "thumbs up/thumbs down" rating system entered the public consciousness as "the" way to give a film a good or bad overall rating.
Over the years, other movie review shows (with Siskel & Ebert and without) ran on a variety of different networks. But with the advent of the internet, movie reviews could be given by anyone at any time, regardless of his or her background or schooling. Suddenly, everyone could have his own forum for giving an opinion on film. Which is pretty great. But as a result, the weekly television review show seemed to be headed toward extinction.
That is, until David Freedman (co-creator of "Moviefone") had the bright idea to enter the marketplace again. "I was sitting at a USC café," Freedman explained, "listening to three film students who had just seen a movie (for the life of me I cannot remember it), but they were very passionate in their arguments about it and that sparked the idea for "Just Seen It."
The little show that could
The show started as a small web-series filmed entirely in Freedman's Baldwin Hills, California home and populated by USC Film Students. Week after week the reviewers would go to the movies and then come back to discuss them in what became six to seven minute segments where three reviewers gave their opinion on the film. But in 2012 it all changed. By creating a thirty-minute show, Freedman pitched the series to local public broadcasting station PBS SoCal who agreed to air the show in the Southern California market. The show was a hit; so much so that a mere four months later the show went nationwide. It started small, but as of today, it airs on 200 PBS channels across the country in 92 markets and in 35 states. In essence, "Just Seen It" has become the little show that could. And nostalgically seems to be mimicking the success of the legendary Siskel and Ebert show.
I met one of the reviewers - Liz Manashil, a USC Directing graduate - at a screening of the Russell Brand animated comedy "Hop." Bright and funny, she quickly befriended me and told me about the show. Shortly after, she asked if I wanted to be a guest reviewer on the show. I was thrilled, but giving one's opinion on camera and without a script is a bit daunting. Written reviews -- which are what I do here for EDGE -- are a different animal. You have time to figure out how to formulate your opinion and word it in the best possible way to get your point across. Live on camera is a different story. You have to battle with two other people for sound-bite time, and sometimes your opinions get knocked down right on the spot. Also, conversations can last anywhere from ten to twenty minutes, but in editing they get cut down to six or seven minutes which means some of your points can be left on the cutting room floor. But honestly, that's the fun of it.
'See It,' 'Stream It,' or 'Skip It'
About nine months later and after a few guest spots, Freedman asked me to join the already diverse cast. Cast members come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, ages, and fields of study. The one thing we all have in common is that they all love film. The cast and crew of "Just Seen It" -- a fantastic bunch of people -- make coming onto the set every week an enormously fun time.
Conversations off-set rarely go to anything else but what movies people have seen, what they love or hate, and there's generally someone somewhere off quoting a favorite line of dialogue. "The best thing about [the show] is hanging out with my fellow reviewers and crew members," said Reviewer Aaron Fink, a USC Sound Design graduate. "They are some of the brightest and most hilarious people I know."
But as much as it can be fun and games on the set, we are serious about what we do. The "Just Seen It" rating system is a "See It / Stream it/ Skip It." Manashil explained the philosophy behind the gimmick. "Often I look at 'See It,' 'Stream It,' or 'Skip It' as reflections of Thumbs Up, Thumbs in the Middle, and Thumbs down," she explained. "I don't often think of the medium in terms of how I'm rating a film. If a film is a high quality film, support it by going to see it in the theaters. It has nothing to do with seeing it on a big screen. It has nothing to do with big budget spectacle or CGI or giant robots that need to be projected at a larger than life size. In the end it comes down to money. Do you want to give full price to something? Half price to something? Or avoid it altogether?"
Film students forever?
The cast of the show consists of about nine regular cast members with guest critics from various local media outlets such as Scott Mantz from "Access Hollywood" and Zorianna Kitt from "The Huffington Post. " Films are reviewed with a three-person cast and are constantly rotated and mixed up.
Initially, Freedman sought out his cast by putting out a broadcast message to film students at USC to see who wanted to audition for the show. "I knew we would not be film students forever and would start working in the industry," stated Freedman. "I believed that having industry professionals as reviewers would bring a fresh perspective to the reviews which has proven, two and a half years later, to be the case."
In fact, most of the cast has worked or does work in the industry in some way. Twenty-two-year-old Brenna Smith is an actress who recently appeared in the film "21 and Over." Manashil just completed directed her first independent film, and yours truly sold a screenplay a few years back and has been navigating that world ever since. Everyone has his goals and dreams, but in the meantime we are all happy relishing in the fact that we get to see amazing movies and talk about it in a public forum, something we do on a regular basis anyway.
Is film criticism relevant?
But the question remains: Is film criticism even relevant anymore in a day when a simple Google search can come up with hundreds of YouTube videos of people offering their thoughts on the latest releases?
"When a million laymen are all shouting their opinions into the internet ether," offers Smith, "it's difficult to decide who to listen to or why their opinion is anymore valid then the next shouting madman. With the right credentials, professional reviews take out the guess work of 'why should I listen to you?'"
Leah Aldridge, who has a BA in English Lit and Creative Writing, an MFA in Screenwriting, and is a PhD Candidate in Cinematic Arts Critical Studies, proposes that film critics try to present an informed (based on research and/or education) and objective approach to analyzing film that shouldn't shy away from including personal opinion. "On the contrary," Aldridge points out, "this should provide the professional critic with a curiosity about what sparked [their personal] reactions. Then those emotional responses should be appropriately integrated. For example, politically for me, "The Help" is a highly problematic film both thematically and formally (it's just visually boring). But the fact that so many folks loved it and that I shed a tear at one point doesn't mean that the filmmakers weren't effective in their storytelling. So I can't just dismiss the film outright without acknowledging that the filmmakers are emotionally effective at making moving melodrama."
Vitriol on full display
The problem with including personal opinion is that, well, everyone has one, critic or non-critic. So, the vitriol of the internet can be on full display when a "Just Seen It" reviewer doesn't have a popular opinion. For example, a recent "Skip It" verdict by reviewer Sean Wright, a USC Directing graduate, inflamed the ire of fan-boys all over the net when he didn't like the Sci-Fi actioner "Pacific Rim." Even though the film hadn't even come out yet. It certainly can have an effect on the reviewer, but that's not always a bad thing. "It depends on the criticism that they give," posited Fink. "If a comment has a constructive point, I will absolutely listen to it and do my best to incorporate it into the way I analyze and talk about films. If the comments are negative and unhelpful, it's best to just ignore them." Wright, however, tends to ignore it. "You don't know who they are or why they are saying things. It's likely most of them are 12 or 13 year-old boys who haven't developed any sort of educated opinion."
So what is the role of a professional critic? For me, I use my background within the industry and my skills as a screenwriter to judge a film by how successfully it engaged me or told a story. Let's face it, we all have opinions and I try to make sure - even if I'm regarded as a professional reviewer - to keep in mind that I have my own personal taste. I can look at a film that I dislike and see that some people will enjoy it. Smith agrees. "There have been times when it's difficult to stick to the 'Just Seen It' rubric, particularly when I have to review a film of a genre I'm not particularly fond of. Sometimes I have to say 'this film is not my thing, but it has merits and fans of this type of film will enjoy it, so see it.'"
Aldridge adds: "Films and TV shows are a product that is consumed by the public like any other product. My role as a critic is to wade through what's out there and communicate to the consumer whether it's worth their time and money by offering a reasoned analysis based on a criteria that is as objective as possible."
Being a critic, being objective, having a responsibility to a loyal viewing audience... these are all factors a critic needs to take into consideration when watching film. For many of us, film is an obsession. It is what we live and breathe, and it comes from a place that began when we were young; when that one movie changed our lives and made us forever a slave to the medium. So has that changed the way we look at movies now that we see them as part of a career? "I judge films in a much stricter way than I used to," reflected Fink.
Smith adds, "The biggest effect is how friends and family interact with me about films. Now, they come to me for a private review of a film just for them when they're trying to choose a film, or conversely they ask me about a film after they've seen it in an attempt to evaluate their personal critiques in relation to a 'professional's.'"
Clearly there is still a desire from the general public to seek out the opinions of the well-informed and well-regarded film reviewer. It is what starts the buzz and gets people talking. And whether you watch on the internet or on television, the excitement about movies, the fun of "knowing what people think first" and the lively debate it engenders is what film criticism is all about. With "Just Seen It," Freedman and company have brought back a gem of the past, added a dose of modern technology, and look ahead to a hopeful long future. If Siskel and Ebert can run for twenty years on one network, why can't they? For that, I'd give it a strong "SEE IT!"
"Just Seen It" has just started its third season and airs weekly on PBS stations nationwide. Check your local listings for days and times. You can also see them on the web at www.JustSeenIt.com or www.YouTube.com/JustSeenItReviews


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Rehydrating dried starter after traveling
This was going to be a blow-by-blow account of reviving a starter that had been dried for travel. Yeah, my eyes are starting to glaze already, too. So this will get more of a Readers Digest treatment. And I'll try to stay awake until the end. What you do is up to you.
Here's the back story: Man lives in Pretoria, South Africa. Man has sourdough starter. Man will repatriate to his home in Kansas City. Man does not wish to lose his starter or begin a new one after his return.
Still with me? Good.
Having read two different methods right here on TFL for preparing a starter for travel, I chose to do (drumroll, please) both! And knowing that some or all of my luggage would be subjected to the tender mercies of either the TSA or U.S. Customs, I wanted to make sure that I had enough with me that at least one packet got through. Or so I hoped.
Technique #1 involves adding enough flour (if your starter is runny) or enough water (if your starter is more like a dough) to some of said starter to achieve a thick batter consistency that is still smearable. I don't know if smearable is a word but it is the key. The traveler (your faithful reporter in this instance) needs to smear a thin layer of the suitably hydrated starter on a sheet of parchment paper and wait a day or two for the smear to dry to until it is roughly as crisp as potato chips. Or potato crisps, for those of you who are still in South Africa. The dried smears / chips / crisps can be broken into smaller pieces and placed in plastic bags for eventual placement in your baggage or on your person. Note that thinner smears = shorter drying times.
Technique #2 involves adding flour to your starter until it is so dry that it is reduced to crumbs. Some mechanical intervention will be necessary; perhaps the edge of a spoon or maybe a pastry blender or even a food processor. I can say that a mezzalune is effective. The more flour you try to force into the dough, the less cooperative it becomes; hence the need for mechanical assistance to cut it into ever smaller bits while force-feeding it yet more flour. As with the flakes, the crumbs can be bagged for travel.
I strongly recommend that you clearly label each bag so that there is no leeway for interpretation by the various uniformed officials who may have their hands in your luggage at some point. We all know what happens when we assume, right?
Thus prepared, your faithful reporter placed a baggie of dried starter in every piece of luggage. And, for reasons yet unclear, every bag and every baggie made it all the way to the proper destination. On the same day.
Being somewhat surprised to find myself the proud possessor of a surfeit of dried starter, I did what any American male worth his salt would do: I set up a competition. Keeping one baggie in reserve as insurance, I combined 10g of flaked starter and 25g of water in one container and 10g of crumbed starter and 25g of water in another container. Here's how they looked at the start of the competition, flakes to the left and granules to the right:
Pretty exciting, huh? Other than some fogging of the inside of each jar, they looked about the same 24 hours later so I added 15g of flour of each. At the end of the second 24-hour period, they were still pretty flat. There was a whiff of...something...from the granules jar but the flakes jar smelled mostly of wet flour. By the end of Day 3, there was evidence of bubbles in the granules jar and a hint of expansion. The flakes jar was still pretty quiet; just a stray bubble or two.
Yep, that's right, the excitement continues to build!
At the end of Day 3, I discarded half of each sample and added water and flour in a 1:2:3 ratio. I also moved them to some smaller plastic containers. Here's how they looked after dinner and settling into their new digs:
Just to keep you on your toes, I've switched the granules container to the left and the flakes container to the right.
Some 12 hours later, there was some genuine growth going on:
And from a different perspective:
The crumbs sample has expanded noticeably and is riddled with bubbles. The flakes sample has expanded just slightly and has fewer bubbles.
And that's pretty much how it went for the next few days. The crumbs sample consistently out-performed the flakes sample. Even on a 12-hour feeding schedule, the crumbs sample smelled consistently of acetone which suggests that it was burning through its food between feedings. The flakes sample never developed a notable yeasty / fruity / sour odor in the week's time that I ran the comparison, although it did get past the wet flour odor.
If your eyes are still open at this point, you can hang on for the wrap-up.
For short-term storage, such as for travel, I would choose the granules approach to drying starter over the flaked approach. I've done the flakes technique twice now and it required a full week to get back to a sluggish level of activity in both cases. For longer storage, I'd use the flakes. Why? Because it seems to be a more stable form that is less susceptible environmental upsets.
I have some notions about the difference in behavior of the two. First, the granules weren't as dry as the flakes. That seems to have allowed the yeasts and bacteria of the starter to get back to work faster, possibly because they were less stressed and did not shut down entirely. Second, although the organisms were tightly bound in a relatively dry environment, they were also surrounded by food even if they could not exploit it easily. The down side for the granules is that their higher moisture content would make them more susceptible to attack by molds and other organisms, which militates against using them as a long-term storage option.
The good news is that there are options for the traveler, as well as for disaster recovery. The easiest way to travel with a starter, of course, is to tuck a small blob in a plastic bag or other container. That's probably the easiest way to lose it to a zealous inspector, too.
And the reward for any of you who have stayed awake through this entire dissertation? Pictures of the pain au levain baked with the reconstituted starter, which now smells the way a healthy and happy starter should. Note that the bread was made at about Day 7 or Day 8; not because of the starter's readiness but because of the baker's schedule. The starter could probably have been used on Day 4 or Day 5. First, the loaf:
And then the crumb:
Happy travels!


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Council also considers avenues to help finance Labor Day fireworks
Colchester will soon go to bid for a sanitary sewer clean and point repair as decided at the city council's committee of the whole on Monday.
Doug Erickson of Benton and Associates said the work will be funded through a small $25,000 grant received by the city.
"What the base bid is, is there's East Roberts between Coal and East Street," Erickson said, "we're going to go out to bid and we're going to have a firm to clean and (closed circuit television) that sanitary sewer line, and we think there might be a problem there."
If there is need for a point repair, the point repair line item is taken care of through the grant, he said. Should there be no repairs needed there is an alternate on south street that will be inspected.
Engineering and approval to go out to bid will be up for approval at next week's meeting on Monday, Aug. 4.
In other business, methods were discussed to raise funds including the solicitation of donations from businesses to help offset the cost of the annual Labor Day fireworks expense. Alderman Frances Welch showed a drafted letter that would be sent asking for funds.
"We'll let them know we understand if they can't do it," Welch said. "That's perfectly alright, but we need to get approval Monday night."
Those that would wish to donate can do so by sending funds to city hall at P.O. Box 259, Colchester, Ill. 62326.
A request by Robert Cagle to hold a bags and softball tournament to raise funds for the fireworks was considered by the committee, but insurance concerns held up the approval until next week's meeting.
Welch said she would talk to the city's insurance company to see what is advised for holding the tournament. Mayor Danny Bice said that it would be best to work with the community and not against them and also noted that the city must make sure they're covered should something happen.
Reach Nick Draper via email at firstname.lastname@example.com, or follow him on Twitter @nick_draper.


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User talk:KingAragorn/2013
Welcome to KingAragorn/2013's talk page.
Artworks by Ivanneth
Hello! You have changed description of artworks by Ivanneth attributing them to me (I am Karolina Węgrzyn), but that's misunderstanding. All works by Ivanneth I have uploaded do belong to her. You can always verify it at her website: Ivanneth's portfolio. I am moving back the changes, Regards! Sirielle 00:52, 30 January 2013 (UTC)
- Many thanks!-- KingAragorn talk contribs edits email 10:44, 9 February 2013 (UTC)
Shouldn't the Portal:Languages be available from the main page?--Morgan 08:46, 11 February 2013 (UTC)
- I would like that.-- KingAragorn talk contribs edits email 09:30, 11 February 2013 (UTC)
English grammar
I need help on adding an English gloss to the wordlist. Tolkien writes that the meaing of T can- is "to summons or name a person" (PM:362). To my non-native ears, the verb "to summons" sounds strange -- I would write "to summon ...a person". Do you have an explanation? --Morgan 19:26, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
- Yes, it does sound odd. The only use of "summons" that I can think of is in relation to a court summons, but that wouldn't really explain it because that would still be a noun. Given that "to summons" appears twice in that footnote it seems intentional. There must be an explanation, but I can't think of one.-- KingAragorn talk contribs edits email 22:44, 13 February 2013 (UTC)
- Thanks. Hm, perhaps it's an archaic or obsolete usage ... I'll leave it at just "summons" in the wordlist.--Morgan 17:07, 14 February 2013 (UTC)
References template
Hello KA! I've noticed you write {{references}} with all lower-case letters; is there any technical reason why I shouldn't use {{References}}? --Morgan 21:18, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
- It doesn't really matter. It's just a consistency thing.-- KingAragorn talk contribs edits email 21:21, 27 February 2013 (UTC)
Spiders profile image
Could we maybe change the profile and race image for the spiders?? I mean no offence by the artist's work or anything, but Ted Nasmith's spiders are far too frightening for me. Could we please maybe change the images to one that is not quite as nightmare inducing as the current one? —Unsigned comment by Jakegothicsnake (talk • contribs).
- Sure, we could change it. Do you have an alternative image in mind?-- KingAragorn talk contribs edits email 09:41, 18 March 2013 (UTC)
Perhaps the Spider image by John Howe?
Morte Arthure
Thanks for the correction -- mea culpa! --Morgan 18:15, 20 July 2013 (UTC)
Current Events
Passing thru-- what's going on these days here? Is the Green Old Party still in business? Theoden1 talk contribs edits
- Things are pretty quiet here, but they're trudging along nicely. The GOP is still in business but is close to complete inactivity. How are you doing? -- KingAragorn talk contribs edits email 21:11, 2 September 2013 (UTC)
- Doing pretty well. The wife and two step-daughters are doing just fine, the youngest is on her 5th year of a 5-year college program. I'm now in the life insurance biz, and doing well. I plan on becoming active here again, picking up where I left off on some of these battles. Theoden1 talk contribs edits -- Theoden1 talk contribs edits 00:32, 8 September 2013 (UTC)


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To personalise this product, simply enter your text into the line boxes above
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Delivery: 3-5 days from date of order.
Each slate piece will be unique as the item is cut by hand. Due to the nature of slate there will be some differences in the stone, such as texture, cut and smoothness.This may result in natural faults in the surface and edges of the product including flaking and uneven corners.
How long will my order take to arrive? Your order will be received within 3-5 days from date of order. We deliver all orders via Royal Mail.
What if I do not like my product when it arrives? Each personalised gift is a bespoke made item. For any supply of goods made to the consumer's specifications or clearly personalised it cannot be returned or refunded unless faulty.


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Hi there, first post here...
My name is Augusto de Ornellas Abreu and I am a new member from Brazil. I've been working with Pharr for a couple of weeks now and I'm loving it. I'm also a member in the Pharr-A mailing list (although, not in an active way - I'm still catching up to them).
I have a question, though. Can anyone describe to me in detail the differences between the original Pharr book and the newly released revised edition? I ask this because I only have access to the old one (5th ed., 1925)... Am I missing out on something by not having the revised one?


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WFP school meals offered to children at Stara school in Nairobi's slums, give them the incentive to go to school and concentrate on their studies. WFP's Marcus Prior talks to Lorna Likhanga, a WFP relief worker who ensures hungry schoolchildren receive food.
WFP school meals offered to children at Stara school in Nairobi's slums, give them the incentive to go to school and concentrate on their studies. WFP's Marcus Prior talks to Lorna Likhanga, a WFP relief worker who ensures hungry schoolchildren receive food.
What was your impression when you first started working in the slums?
I was very shocked. When I worked in Kakuma refugee camp in northern Kenya, I thought it was bad, terribly bad. But when I came to the slums of Nairobi I thought it was worse!
The poverty levels are so high – when we were doing assessments, we'd find people who had not eaten for three days and were so weak they were sleeping, so someone would have to speak on their behalf.
Some people we had to buy food for, just so we could revive them and interview them. At least in the refugee camps they had decent toilets, but in the slums, the sewage is terrible.
If the parents had not been eating for three days, the children coming to school must have been very hungry too?
Before we started give school meals in Stara school in Kibera, the teachers told us that many times children were fainting at the morning assemblies, not because of illness but because of hunger.
And as soon as they had some bread and milk they were up and about again. Even at one point when there was a delay in
The teachers have said that during the school holidays they see some children loitering around the school with empty plates
the delivery of food, teachers reported that children were fainting again and others were not coming to school.
The Stara school in Kibera only had 230 pupils when we started our programme. Now they have 530. So the food has really brought the children to school because they know they will get a meal there.
How has the food impacted the performance of the children in the classroom?
A child who was getting 50 percent in a test is now getting 70 or even 80 percent because of the food.
Of course we know that the teachers have a lot to do with it, but if you teach a hungry child you get nothing – if you teach a child who is satisfied they will be able to concentrate and understand and answer questions.
I hear some of these children take food back home with them in the evening.
Yes, you find that the children often will not eat all of their food at school so they can take it home for their brothers and sisters who don't go to school. The mid-morning snack, they do eat because it is often their first food of the day.
But when it comes to lunch, try to look in their bags and you will often find food there. Some even put it in their pockets.
Initially we were very strict and we told the teachers this was not allowed – we tried to control it, but the children were crying, saying they had a sibling back home who had nothing to eat at all. And if a child says they have eaten enough, what can you do?
Have you been able to talk to the students themselves to understand just how important the school meals are for them?
They tell me 'Madam, you know this programme has really been a great help to me'.
Some of them are orphaned by HIV/AIDS, and some of the orphans have seen their guardians killed in the post-election violence. So they solely depend on this food.
It is all they have to eat. At least they get this nutritious meal to keep them healthy and strong. They say they like the quality of the food as well – we are giving them what they like.
What happens during the school holidays?
You see some very sad faces when you talk to the children at the end of term. They ask you "Will you be giving us food during the school holidays?"
The teachers have said that during the school holidays they see some children loitering around the school with empty plates – just praying that by some miracle they will be supplied with some food. In some schools they try to do some holiday feeding with some private donations, but otherwise there is nothing for them.


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This is for all our international users out there!
Research In Motion is set to release their app catalog "App World" to more users in ten countries later this month.
The countries included are: Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Austria, Luxembourg, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Also set for this release, RIM plans on adding new software categories making applications easier to find and will be adding support for URLs.
This will take you to that applications page in App World from your BlackBerry browser.
This is very interesting news as we can expect great things coming from RIM and their still fresh App World.
I for one am very excited to see these new features implemented into App World.


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Kendra Wilkinson thinks Jessica Simpson's first priority should be raising her child and not losing weight.
Kendra Wilkinson thinks Jessica Simpson's first priority should be her child and not losing weight.
The former Playboy Playmate - who is mother to Hank Baskett Jr. hit out at critics of Jessica's post-baby body.
She said: ''That just breaks my heart. I feel for her. I was in the same boat. People just need to mind their own business. That's a woman who just gave birth.''
The 32-year-old 'Fashion Star' mentor signed a $4 million contract with Weight Watchers in an attempt to lose weight after giving birth to daughter Maxwell Drew on May 1.
Kendra told website Yahoo! OMG: ''Her first priority right now is her child. Her first priority is not losing the weight. You should be proud of her for that.
''A lot of people just dump their kids off at nannies and lose the weight overnight. We should all be proud of her for being real and taking control and making priorities.''
Jessica recently said: ''The cool thing about the [Weight Watchers] program is that it focuses on healthy habits for the long-term (and I can still indulge in my guilty pleasures every now and then, too). I have actually gotten a group of friends together who are going to be doing it with me.''
The company said in a statement: ''Her talent, resilience and positive outlook already make her a great role model, and by deciding to trade in Yo-Yo dieting for a healthier lifestyle, we know she will inspire many women to join her.''


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The seeds of the Arts Across the Curriculum initiative were planted in February 2011, when Hunter College President Jennifer J. Raab held a forum to gauge faculty interest in creating a cross-curricula arts program. Many prominent American universities and colleges, including MIT and Whittier College, have similar arts initiatives, and Hunter's location and achievements in the arts positioned it well to launch a similar initiative.
The President's forum attracted an overflow, standing-room only crowd. Many of the College's distinguished professors -- not only in arts disciplines, but also in the fields of philosophy, history, anthropology, Asian studies and the sciences -- attended, expressing excitement about interdisciplinary collaborations through the arts.
In April, Hunter College applied for - and in June received - a $100,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support a year-long planning period with the following goals:
- To form a committee comprised of faculty and administrators who would devise a workable plan and budget for an Arts Across the Curriculum initiative
- To set up a few interdisciplinary pilot programs, college-wide events, and courses to test new approaches to infusing the arts at Hunter
- To send members of the faculty committee to meet with their peers at institutions that have already successfully integrated the arts across their curricula
"I am confident that this initiative will flourish at Hunter College, which is not only situated in the arts capital of the world but is also the site of so many world-class arts programs," said Vita C. Rabinowitz, Hunter College's provost and vice president for academic affairs, who is leading the planning effort for the Arts Across the Curriculum initiative.
Also spearheading the initiative is Project Director Dara Meyers-Kingsley, who teaches "The Arts of NYC" seminar in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter and directs the Muse Scholars program.
"I am delighted to be tasked with increasing the visibility of the arts at Hunter through the Arts Across the Curriculum initiative, a Mellon Foundation-funded initiative begun in 2011," Meyers-Kingsley said. "We are perfectly positioned to expand the school's boundaries at this point in Hunter's history with a President and Provost who have championed and built strong arts programs, distinguished faculty who embrace the arts through so many disciplines, and committed Trustees and donors who support the initiative.
"We recognize how perfectly positioned we are, in the heart of the City's cultural landscape, to enjoy an incredibly rich array of world-class institutions all in the school's immediate radius. Hunter students are fortunate to have an opportunity to experience an academic community that embraces the arts across all disciplines at a time of unparalleled emphasis on the creative impetus behind success in every field."


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People who take certain brands of fish oil supplements, seeking benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids are also exposing themselves to unnecessarily high levels of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) compounds, newly released test results show.
Brands were tested in private laboratories by environmental lawyers as part of a labelling lawsuit in California. The results show a major discrepancy in the level of PCB contamination, attorney David Roe told reporters Monday.
"Consumers who want the health benefits of fish oil shouldn't also have to take the health risks of an extremely toxic man-made chemical. And they don't have to, since preliminary test results show that some fish oil brands have only 1/70th as much PCB contamination in them as others," said Roe.
That's the good news for consumers, he added.
"Some companies do a lot better job than others, and we think this is something people should know."
The group tested 10 brands of the more than 100 fish oil supplement products on the market.
Eight of the 10 makers and sellers of fish oil, shark oil, fish liver oil and shark liver oil supplements have PCB contamination above the so-called "safe harbour" limits set for human PCB consumption under California's Proposition 65, the results show.
The state law requires consumers to be warned about such exposures on product labels. None of the products contains such a warning, but some brands highlight how their supplements are treated to remove or reduce PCBs.
That's why consumers beyond California should care, said environmental researcher Chris Manthey, one of the plaintiffs in the case.
"But since they don't say how much PCB contamination is still left, even consumers who choose "treated" supplements don't know what PCB levels they're swallowing along with their daily Omega-3."
When tested for total daily exposures to PCBs, Now Foods Salmon Oil, available in Canada, had the highest levels, according to the test results. When weighed for toxicity, Nature Made Cod Liver Oil, available to Canadians through online stores, had the highest levels, the results, posted at fishoilsafety.com, show.
In the initial tests of 10 products, those with the lowest overall levels of PCBs at the recommended daily dose were, in order, Solgar Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, TwinLab Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, GNC Liquid Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, and TwinLab Emulsified Norwegian Cod Liver Oil.
After weighting to determine how toxic some of the contaminants are, the products that ranked the lowest for toxicity were, in order, TwinLab Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, TwinLab Emulsified Norwegian Cod Liver Oil, Solar 100 per cent Pure Norwegian Shark Liver Oil Complex, and Nature Made Odorless Fish Oil.
"Without more testing, we can't know whether this group includes the worst in the market — or the best," the plaintiffs wrote in backgrounder of the 10 brands.
Although banned many years ago, PCB compounds are extremely persistent in the environment because they don't break down quickly. That means they accumulate in the food chain, including in fish. PCBs been officially recognized for 20 years as causing cancer and reproductive toxicity.
"We know for sure that more is worse than less, and our tests show that some fish oil supplements have many times as much PCBs as others. California has set a daily intake that represents 'no significant risk' of PCBs causing cancer, which some of these products exceed by up to a factor of 10. But there is no official safety level for PCBs causing reproductive toxicity. So the only guideline consumers can follow is that less is safer," the plaintiffs wrote in the backgrounder.
California-based Pharmavite LLC, manufacturer of Nature Made dietary supplements, immediately challenged the results, saying the company complies with California's Proposition 65 and meets or exceeds "the most exacting standards" known to the supplement industry.
In addition, Nature Made's fish oil products have been awarded the United States Pharmacopeia Verification Program mark for omega-3 fish oil purity, potency and quality, and the Nature Made Fish Oil received a "Best Choice" rating based on a survey conducted by Environmental Defense when the group evaluated fish oil supplements for environmental contaminants, the company said in a statement.
The appetite for Omega-3 supplements continues to grow as the health benefits of fatty acids become cemented in the minds of consumers. Studies show they may help lower risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and arthritis.
Since 2006, the U.S. market for Omega-3 supplements has doubled, to an estimated $1 billion. Meanwhile, market research firm Packaged Facts estimates global retail sales for Omega-3 enhanced food and beverage products will rise from $4.6 billion in 2007 to $8.2 billion by 2012.


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Results 1 to 10 of 27
#1 U.N. to Seek Control of the Internet?12-01-2012, 09:47 PMNext week the United Nations' International Telecommunications Union will meet in Dubai to figure out how to control the Internet. Representatives from 193 nations will attend the nearly two week long meeting, according to news reports.
MoreIt's not how old you are, it's how you got here.
It's been a long road and not all of it was paved.
A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes. Gandhi
Will Rice blame the out of control Internet on Al Gore and then apologize that an American invented it?Be Not Afraid.
One week we (0bama) hand(s) control of our military over to the UN and make them answerable to a world court. Another week we let the UN destroy the 2nd amendment. And another week, American citizens will be required to pay a tax to the UN. Still anther week 0bama asserts the authority to turn over private industry and the internet to this international agency. Where is any of this in the constitution? And how long should we expect before the cattle cars start arriving... hmm?
Liberalism is just communism sold by the drink.
He's just trying to transform the Office of the President of the United States from the hardest job in the world, to the easiest!
When the UN is finally 'the boss', he and all the other heads of state can organize into a union, and start striking for higher wages, longer vaca, etc.
It'll be a worker's utopian paradise, worldwide and top to bottom!
"Father of the internet" Vint Cerf claims the "free and open net is under threat"
UN internet regulation treaty talks begin in Dubai
Government regulators from 193 countries are in Dubai to revise a wide-ranging communications treaty.
Google has warned the event threatened the "open internet", while the EU said the current system worked, adding: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
But the agency said action was needed to ensure investment in infrastructure to help more people access the net.
"The brutal truth is that the internet remains largely [the] rich world's privilege, " said Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary-general of the UN's International Telecommunications Union, ahead of the meeting.
"ITU wants to change that." >>>
The EU's digital agenda commissioner, Neelie Kroes, has called into question why the treaty needs to refer to the net.
"The internet works, it doesn't need to be regulated by ITR treaty," she tweeted.
Vint Cerf - the computer scientist who co-designed some of the internet's core underlying protocols and who now acts as Google's chief internet evangelist - has been even more vocal, penning a series of op-ed columns.
"A state-controlled system of regulation is not only unnecessary, it would almost invariably raise costs and prices and interfere with the rapid and organic growth of the internet we have seen since its commercial emergence in the 1990s," he wrote for CNN.
Google itself has also run an "open internet" petition alongside the claim: "Only governments have a voice at the ITU... engineers, companies, and people that build and use the web have no vote."
Liberalism is just communism sold by the drink.
People should also be worried about our own government trying to get its hands into this. There are bills introduced every year right here that try to get the last vestige of pure freedom taken away.Gun Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound - Unknown
The problem is Empty People, Not Loaded Guns - Linda Schrock Taylor
Global Governance Begins on December 14
Knowing who controls the UN, it is not hard to see that a primary aim of the updated "treaty" will be to give credence to the regulation and monitoring of online activity in ways that are desirable to the (authoritarian) majority of member states. >>>
This quiet UN takeover of the internet is the important first step in a new kind of occupation. The globalists, with the help of the re-elected Obama administration, are going to move forward quickly with their plans for what Al Gore and Herman van Rompuy call "global governance." A key part of this process is the reduction of the world's last defense against authoritarianism -- the United States of America -- to the status of just another mild-mannered vote at the UN. Enter Barack Obama, with his hyper-conciliation to the Muslim Brotherhood, his promise to Vladimir Putin to finish dismantling America's defenses after his re-election, and his remaking of a prosperous constitutional republic as an economically doomed leftist regulatory state.
Just as hyper-regulation within a nation subverts representative government, by creating a panoply of bureaucratic directives that supervene upon changing electoral tides, so international hyper-regulation will have the effect of nullifying any transnational voice of unified dissent -- specifically, any voice speaking on behalf of the free exchange of ideas.
The range of speech, both with regard to content and dissemination, will be curtailed by the ITU's proposed regulations. That will be the point of these regulations. They will help authoritarians preserve their power, prevent the oppressed from organizing from a distance, and restrict the much needed influx of moral support from abroad.
Now, Mr. Obama, if you will just sign one more executive order, Agenda 21 in its entirety will become "the law of the land," and the forced migration may proceed -- gently at first, as we don't want to startle anyone. But don't worry, if the objections get too boisterous, we can always assert the national security provisions of the International Telecommunications Regulations to tamp things down a little. Those ITRs are proving very effective for normalizing conditions in China, Russia, and Iran. And your Department of Homeland Security has already anticipated this eventuality by introducing into its guidelines on domestic terrorism language identifying people who revere liberty as potential security threats.
In any case, as November 6 proved, at least 140 million American adults can be effectively subdued by repeatedly chanting, "Don't run, we are your friends."
We are rapidly approaching freedom's point of no return.
Liberalism is just communism sold by the drink.
The country has been on a downhill slide since 1861. The only change in the slant of the slope.It's not how old you are, it's how you got here.
It's been a long road and not all of it was paved.
A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes. Gandhi
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Control the Internet?
No. That's not what they want at all. They're playing games with your head. Listen:
One idea is to apply the ITU's long-distance telephone rules to the Internet by creating a 'sender-party-pays' rule. International phone calls include a fee from the originating country........authoritarians are pushing the tax,.........
The taxes are just the icing on the cake. They get to control what we read, and tax us for the privilege.--Odysseus
Sic Hacer Pace, Para Bellum.
Before you can do things for people, you must be the kind of man who can get things done. But to get things done, you must love the doing, not the people!
|« Previous Thread | Next Thread »


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Physician gets fresh start at local clinic
Shaw: Area ties drew him to Gothenburg.
A change of scenery is what interested Dr. Garret Shaw to become a family care physician at Gothenburg's Medical Clinic.Along with that change it was a bonus and somewhat of a draw to the area because of family, friends and nice people here and in Brady, Shaw said.
Located in Blair, Shaw worked at a satellite clinic before starting at GMC Jan. 1.
"I got tired of things there, which happens," Shaw said. "I grew weary of it over time."
He added that when he came out to visit Gothenburg he recognized how much the town has going for it, the kind residents and its overall feel.
"I was impressed," he said. "The people are friendly, of course, and it feels more like home."
So, after traveling over 250 miles, Shaw is in Gothenburg to serve the duties of a family physician.
He will help in the emergency room with procedures, deliver new-born babies and is responsible for colonoscopies and esophagogastroduodenoscopies, or EGDs.
Shaw said those responsibilities are what he enjoys about his job. It's give him the opportunity to work with a spectrum of people.
"I'm able to care for people over their entire life," Shaw said. "I can deliver a baby and then walk over and see some seniors. It puts life into perspective."
While being able to influence the lives of many people, Shaw said the biggest challenge of being a physician is the use of medicine.
"Most people believe medicine is a science, they'll take it and be fixed, but it's more of an art," Shaw said.
While medical duties take priority, he said it's possible he'll also do health talks at the senior center.
"They seem to enjoy those, and I do, too, of course," he said.
Shaw works Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Outside of his profession, Shaw is married to the former Rhonda Sites, a Gothenburg native, and they have three children—Trevor who is 19 years old; Kiah, 16; and Lauryn, 12.
Rhonda has ties to the American Lutheran Church in Gothenburg where her father Dave was the pastor 20 years ago.
Latest Headlines
- Gothenburg native releases first novel
- We all need help from a friend
- Monsanto hosts 6th annual Safety Day program
- Brady places champ and runner-up at State FCCLA
- Swedes continue conference domination
- Dancing With The Stars changes venues
- Middle-of-the-Pack Finishes For Swede Boys and Girls
- Girls Show Support for Teacher's Cancer Fight


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Zope Bible 94
|The Zope Bible
|Michael R. Bernstein, Scott Robertson & the CodeIT Development Team
|Hungry Minds
|An in depth look at extending Zope with Python.
Part One is the basics, which anyone familiar with Zope can skip over if they so choose. For a newcomers it may seem a little overwhelming, but for readers unfamiliar with web development it may seem a light on details at times. It opens with the obligatory "History of Zope" which is mercifully brief and includes a single paragraph on the history of the Internet that publishers still insist on including. It does mention some great high-profile organizations that are using Zope (Red Hat, NASA, Bell Atlantic Mobile, CBS, and the U.S. Navy). The Features section could be used to great effect in selling the use of Zope to management, as it is brief and to the point and focuses on things that businesses actually care about. Next up is Architecture, and the Bible does a fine job of describing the Zope architecture and highlights the primary advantages in nice bullet points (Cost of ownership, RAD, reliability, scalability).
Installation is covered with proper dispatch and goes into great detail about the ZServer (the preferred web server) as well as how to install new products and troubleshoot bad installations. The basics of the Zope Management Interface and the Control Panel are covered in chapter three.
Chapter Four is where the meat starts. This is a fairly in-depth presentation of DTML, Zope's built-in markup language. It includes a nice reference to Python modules natively available in Zope, and examples of all standard tags in action. Closing out Part One is a chapter about Object Oriented Programming in Python. It is less detailed than the documentation and tutorial that come stock with Python, and anyone who plans on getting that down and dirty will want to get a real Python book. Those 50 pages would have been better used in providing a case study or two of developing an end-to-end web app in Zope. Even given the focus on writing things in Python, this section isn't actually helpful.
Part Two begins with an example of writing your own Zope product in Python (though not one that actually does anything useful), rapidly followed by the process of creating a real product in Python. Given the detail and scope of the AddressBook products, there is no need for the first "create a product" example. Chapter 8 continues with adding functionality to the AddressBook product.
Chapter 9 is Zope Product Security. This chapter explains both what Zope will and won't do for you, and how to determine security requirements and policies. Chapter 10 finishes up the AddressBook application and explains the use security concepts to control levels of access. The order is slightly awkward: it would have made more sense to introduce security concepts before going down the entire create-a-product path, rather than take a side trip in the middle.
Part Three: Management. Not PHBs, but application management. This starts off with Content Management. If you remove the specific Zope examples, you have what amounts to a best-practices guide to web development regardless of language. This is a Good Thing(tm). Database Management assumes zero familiarity with databases and provides a nice basic intro to databases and specifically how to connect assorted DBs to Zope as well as how to integrate SQL with DTML. The last part of the triumvirate is User Management and Security. This section covers the basics (users/roles) and a very light taste of addons, but really could stand a bit more breadth.
Part Four is called Advanced Zope Concept, or "everything that doesn't really fit anywhere else." ZClasses can hardly be considered an advanced concept, especially when compared to rolling your own product in Python. Zope Core components is a compilation of basic OO concepts (acquisition, persistence), the ZODB, ZPublisher, and Document Templates. This is another section that could have been better served by more detail. DocumentTemplates is breezed through with no detail whatsoever.
Scripting Zope demonstrates once again how to extend Zope using Python and covers scripting with Perl in just under two pages.
ZClasses, which have in the past been the most common method of writing Zope products, are discussed in fair detail, including a nice comparison of ZClasses -vs- PythonProducts.
Chapter 17 covers searching, describing how the ZCatalog works and how to leverage it. Zope Page Templates warrant their own (very brief) chapter which explains the shortcomings of DTML (HTML-editor unfriendly, not renderable, mixes presentation and logic) and gives a decent overview of the new PageTemplates that are meant to replace DTML in many instances.
Debugging is another light chapter, though it does cover the essentials fairly well. Finally comes Alternative Methods of Running Zope. This, as you might expect, explains how to use Zope with Apache/IIS and also addresses scalability, with a focus on Zope Enterprise Objects.
The appendices consist of What's On the CD-ROM and Installing Zope from the Red Hat RPMS or Souce Code.
What's Bad?
Zope Bible is a misnomer. There is a lot of great information here, but many sections are to shallow to be of any use. A more appropriate title would be "Python for Zope" or "Advanced Zope Development with Python." The book claims to be aimed at beginning to advanced users, but it is not organized in a manner that will be useful to Zope newbies and the things a beginner needs to know most often are missing or covered in such little detail as to be as good as missing. They could have dropped the first three chapters, and used that space to flesh out some of the later chapters and perhaps do a second case study.
What's Good?
The sections that are good are very good. The authors obviously have a deep understanding of Zope, and I didn't catch any technical errors. The writing is clear and effective. If you're already familiar with Zope and already have The Zope Book and The Book of Zope, then this would be a great next book for getting more into the Python parts of Zope. I particularly liked that they built an actual useful product from end to end in the course of several chapters explaining how different features of Zope can be used. The reference sections on CM and DBM are great. It's nice to see some aspects of Zope that are woefully underdocumented get addressed (Templates, DB integration, Security, Searching) even if some of them aren't in as much detail as I'd like.
You can purchase the Zope Bible from bn.com. Want to see your own review here? Just read the book review guidelines, then use Slashdot's handy submission form.


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Hi guys, I'm keeping on witht the wherlock's latin...
I just wanted to ask you to check these phrases from chap 3.
to see if I didn't make any mistake....
7. without a few friends life is not strong.
vita sine paucis amicis non valet.
8. O great Virgil, you have great fame in you country.
O magne Vergili, in patria tua famam magnam habes.
9. we do not see great fortune in your sons' lives.
in vitis filiorum tuorum fortunam magnam non videmus.
10. he always gives money to my son.
puero meo pecuniam semper dat.
thanx very much in advance for your help


text:
Only got back on line just now, haven't seen in the PPs and, if I had, I probably wouldn't post--unfair to those who wouldn't have an opportunity to either read or play at this point.
This is the second time in nearly six years we failed to make deadline, illness notwithstanding.
My apologies; FRA returns tomorrow, per usual.
Number of Selections: 1265
Number of Win-Place-Show Finishers: 388-242-193
Amount Wagered: $2,530 [to win only]
Total Dollar Return on Investment: $2,643.80
Profit to Date: $113.80


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CountryWide Saturday 12 July 2014
People, events and happenings around the country, presented by Damien O'Reilly.
Eddie Downey, president of the Irish Farmers Association joined Damien in studio this morning. Eddie discusses the topic of Deer Culling, reaction to the change of the agriculture portfolio in government.
It's peak season for soft fruit production and all over the country, Most of the soft fruit that's produced in Ireland is grown in County Wexford and Frances Shanahan has been to that country to meet a farmer who is growing a wide variety of fruits including, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries.
Michael Ellis, Managing director of Gerry Ellis an sons, a County Cavan based fruit and vegetables wholesaler and retailer spoke to Damien & IFA president Eddie Downey about the low cost selling of fruit & vegetables.
Vintage & classic bicycles have surged in popularity over the past few years, and it's part in thanks to a number of High Nelly Associations which have popped up across Ireland. One such company is High Nelly in Limerick.
Tomorrow (Sunday 13th of July), in BallyJamesDuff, Country Cavan, a group of them are coming together to hopefully break the world record for the most High Nellys gathered in one place.
It's all in aid of the charity Attracta Doherty Pink n Gold Fund, founded by Kevin Doherty. Our reporter Louise Denvir went down to investigate.
Speech Broadcaster of the Year Damien O'Reilly and the CountryWide team feature the events, people and happenings that bring colour and life to communities, towns and villages across the country.
All That Jazz
Echo & The Bunnymen
Sassy Stomp
Audio Network
Presenter: Damien O'Reilly
Producer: Ian Wilson


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Are you in junior or senior high school?
Would you like to go to Sonlight Christian Camp in Pagosa for a week?
If so, get your pen and paper ready for the Micah 6:8 Group. Send us an essay on "Why I want to go to Sonlight Camp!"
Keep your essay between 300 and 500 words, and mail it to "Camp Essay" at P.O. Box 1102, Pagosa Springs, CO 81147, by April 30.
You could be one of two people chosen to spend a fun-filled week at Sonlight. One essay will be chosen from the junior high group and one from the senior high group for a free week of Sonlight Camp.
Collection jars will be placed at various stores around town for anyone wishing to contribute to a scholarship fund for our lucky winners.
Camp dates available for high school camp: June 24-30.
Camp dates available for Junior High Adventure: June 3-9 and July 8-14.


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I've been a very interested reader of all the opinions that have been floating around. I too had been questioning all the same issues, more than three months ago when I talked to a fellow food blogger about my concerns. I then spoke to yet another food blogger about it via some very extended email exchanges. None of us could form a firm stance on all the issues, as there are a multitude of factors. What the three of us did agree on was that it was up to each individual to form their own opinions, generally through experience.
It's been three months since and I have had quite a few experiences and have decided to write it all down. This post will present some arguments that have been asserted in the blogosphere, and my views on them. This post obviously contains my opinions on the topic, but is also discussive as I am still trying to work my way through some of the topics. No issue is ever black and white. It's always a shade of grey, with each person acting in the manner in which they deem suitable for themselves.
Let me first declare that I do take free products/meals and attend free events, happily. I've never tried to hide this and all my friends and work mates know about it, and encourage me to accept them. I do not tell them in an egotistical way, but when I mention that I ate at such and such place, I alert them if I dined there for free, as I think it's one of the contributing factors to my overall view of a restaurant. I can already hear a lot of you thinking "sell-out", but to be honest, it doesn't bother me. I'll address that later.
Let's get started or you'll probably fall asleep after reading more than three paragraphs and not seeing a photo. Scientific research has shown that to be true. Try not to get distracted and continue reading this post before clicking all the links. In the mean time, YAKAWOW.
So now that you are alert again and hopefully have a smile on your face after seeing the picture, let's start.
ISSUE: Accepting freebies is unethical.
MY VIEW: I do not see anything unethical about accepting freebies. No one is breaking any legal laws, or even offending anyone. If the freebies are not disclosed, you may question the moral ethics of the blogger, but in most cases I know, bloggers do disclose the freebies. However, should a blogger not disclose a freebie, does that necessarily make it unethical?
The answer is maybe, I think. Everyday, we are saturated with marketing in all forms. The approach that is taken with marketing is evolving with technology and maybe that is where the problem lies with some people. Whereas you clearly know an ad on TV is a form of paid advertising, it is now unclear where other forms of advertising start and finish. Celebrities endorse products and may drop product names during interviews. Products are placed within movies, music clips, TV show and web videos, and people are getting confused as to which part is paid advertising. Maybe this is what is causing some of the disgruntlement towards bloggers accepting free products. Legally, to not disclose a freebie is not a crime. Bloggers are not in the same situation as a doctor or policeman who not only have a legal obligation to serve the community, but are also morally obliged just due to the position that have chosen to accept. Morally, if a blogger does not disclose a freebie, I do think it is slightly unethical, but again, where do we draw the line? Do we expect celebrities to say disclaimers before talking about anything as they might be secretly endorsing a paid sponsorship? These are all a lot of questions that I do not have answers for. But one thing that I am certain about is if a freebie is disclosed, I see no problem whatsoever.
ISSUE: A freebie will bias a bloggers opinion and review.
MY VIEW: I think this is definitely the case. A freebie will always carry with it implied pressure by the PR company that is spruiking the product. There is the thought of "if I don't write something nice, I won't get any more freebies". But the pressure does not necessarily translate to a blogger writing a misleading review. It is merely another issue to assess and each blogger will make up their own mind on how to deal with the situation. It iss no worse pressure than if a blogger knew the chef or if their friend worked at a certain restaurant. It all provides pressure to write a more favourable review. But that does not equate to writing a false review. It's merely another hurdle to deal with.
I can say for myself that initially I did feel the pressure and that my first few reviews did gloss over a few negatives. But, those events were still extremely fun and I did like them. That is true for most freebies/events that I get. They are highly enjoyable and hence the reviews are favourable. There may be elements that aren't as good and I am now writing about those now. Events that are fairly bad may not get a mention, not necessarily because they might be viewed negatively by the PR company, but generally most bloggers do not blog their paid bad experiences. Why waste time and effort writing up bad reviews unless it was truly awful and you felt a strong desire to inform everyone.
ISSUE: Bloggers who take freebies are "sell-outs".
MY VIEW: Firstly, I am unsure who myself, and other bloggers, are selling out to? If selling out is in reference to receiving money for providing a service, I think that I sold out many years ago when I first started working. I happily take money from my employer to do what they ask of me, with actions that I sometimes do not agree with. I am not talking about harming people, but for example, the company is based in a strategic overseas location to reduce tax. I do not agree with this but I am not exactly doing anything about it. I would guess that most other people do not agree with everything that they have been paid to do previously, so does that make everyone a "sell-out"?
To me, we are all merely prostitutes who sell our services for monetary gain. Why should it only refer to bloggers who take freebies, especially when it is clearly disclosed that they are freebies. And what makes me laugh the hardest are bloggers who "pick and choose which freebies to take" or "don't blog every freebie". If you're a prostitute, it doesn't matter which clients you choose, you are still a prostitute. I do not understand how picking which freebies to take makes any difference to if I took every freebie (which I do not, if that makes you respect me any more)? Surely, some freebies will still turn out different to expected, so does so called blogger then write those or not? If they do not, is it any different to if I took every freebie and did not write some? Is not writing up an awful freebie just as bad a sin, as it is deceiving the audience by omission, because if you had paid good money for such an awful product, you would definitely want to alert others?
ISSUE: That freebie is totally unrelated to this food blog.
MY VIEW: This view has me totally perplexed. Someone must have forgot to tell me that my blog has been labelled a food blog and that I cannot write about anything else. So hence I cannot accept other types of freebies as they don't "fit with my blog". I have many diverse interests and just because I choose to mainly write about food on this blog does not exclude me from writing about other things. If I label my own blog a personal blog, can I then write about food, tv shows, novels, philosophy, psychology, technology, music and photography, as those are all interests of mine as well, and then accept any type of freebies I want?
Whether a product "fits" with a food blog is up to the discretion of the food blogger anyway. I'm sure a trip to Bali at a five star resort will miraculously "fit" with everyone's blog, whereas a block of chocolate may not. I am happy to be sent offers on all freebies, as ultimately the decision is still up to me. I appreciate every offer, big or small, as I know that they are not an entitlement to me and will not be available all the time. I do pass up some offers as I really have no interest in the offer or believe it will be more work than it is worth. Let us not try to hide from the fact that we live in a commercialised world, and whether we like it or not, the reward to effort question crosses everyone's mind when they make a decision that involves some monetary gain.
ISSUE: Bloggers are being taken advantage of by PR companies and also losing credibility with their readers.
MY VIEW: I think that bloggers who view other freebie taking bloggers as ignorant, are the ones who are truly ignorant. I can only speak for myself, but with every freebie that I accept, I make an assessment of how much work is expected of me. I consider myself to be a fairly smart person who has two university degrees and was without a single dollar when my family immigrated here from Vietnam. I know the value of every dollar and what effort is needed to acquire them. It is just a business transaction where I assess whether my effort is equal to the payback, as we all do with every situation in life. I am no one's fool, and for another person to think that I would waste my valuable time and effort for a block of chocolate only makes me disgusted and pitiful for them. Both emotions are linked to the same thought, that another human being believes they are so much more clever and better than everyone else to think so lowly of me.
The same emotions are again what I would use for bloggers who think blog readers are so easily deceived. The perception that a reader, upon seeing a clearly stated sponsored post, would then buy a product or visit a restaurant without doing further research or understanding the implications of that post, is again a very naiive or egotistical thought. I choose to believe that people are much smarter than that and will be able to make up their minds weighing up all variables. Should a reader really buy a bad product after reading a sponsored post, and feel so strongly about it, I am sure they will let people know. With social media so prominent, that one reader can tell their friends via Twitter, Facebook, email or face to face, who could then pass it on to yet more people. They can even post a comment on the blog from which they read about the product. If that happens more and more, readers will know not to trust that blogger.
The good thing about the web is that with so many contributors, it is in a way self regulating. The community will decide what is acceptable and what is not. If a blogger starts to write more and more sponsored posts such that they lose readers, they will not be offered any more sponsored posts, and will need to change their way. There is no need for other bloggers to assume what readers will or will not accept, as the readers will ultimately vote with their clicks and it will naturally happen.
In this whole discussions, many of the comments on this topic are by blog writers themselves. Not many comments are actually from readers. My ad-hoc non-scientific study of ten of my work mates and friends showed that none of them cared about advertising on blogs. They are all so used to advertising everywhere that they just ignore it if they do not like that ad. Regarding freebies and sponsored posts, again, all were of the opinion that as long as it was disclosed, it was not a problem. Maybe my friends are smarter than the average bears but they all said they would seek multiple information sources if it was really important.
ISSUE: It is all same same.
MY VIEW: Food blogging can be a bit repetitive, but there are only so many products and restaurants in Melbourne. This topic was brought up previously already, and again it is not without merit. If a group of food bloggers are invited to an event, obviously there is a lot of repetition in the descriptions of the items and also of the photos. But, this is where the key is for me, each blogger still is an individual who has a different opinion and a different style of writing. Each post will still be completely different and individual. If you get bored after reading two posts about that event, then stop there. Do not read anymore. It really is no different to if all the food bloggers had gone to that event separately, you would still get similar posts.
To claim that due to these free events, there is no original content being generated is incorrect I believe. All the content by each blogger is still uniquely theirs. What is true is that going to the events may mean that the food blogger does not go elsewhere. But that is up to the food blogger as to where they wish to spend their time. There is no obligation to go eat at a particular place just for the reader. A blog is there to catalog a food bloggers experiences.
I can say that an advantage of the events is that food bloggers meet each other, often resulting in catch ups at other restaurants, events and cook ups. It results in different content that is often interesting and not something a food blogger may normally participate in.
ISSUE: I don't like reading food blogs anymore.
MY VIEW: You are free to do as you wish, but to stop reading food blogs would be a shame. I have found that accepting freebies has not muted my independence or creativity at all. In fact it has been the total opposite. I have attended so many great events and have had access to food industry professionals that I would never have had. I have been able to conduct in-depth interviews with chefs and learnt about their passion, attended learning events and discover facts about food I never even thought of, seen behind the scenes of restaurants/events to appreciate the hard work behind seamless food, and discover new product and places that I would not necessarily have chosen myself. In fact, I know buy many of the products in which I have sampled, and go back to restaurants in which I visited for free the first time.
As with anything in life, you need to use your own judgment and seek multiple sources to ensure you get a full picture of anything. After all, a food blog is just one person's (or a few at most) opinion. Even if a food blogger paid for something with their own money, it is still only one opinion, and their opinion on it may still be different to yours.
So, if you've managed to make you way through all my grammatically incorrect sentences, thank you for reading my views. Obviously I am neither a well versed lawyer or arts literature graduate who is able to use words to their full effect, so please do not bother wasting your time and picking up on single words and trying to use that to prove that I am incorrect. I do not claim to have definitive answers, merely stating some views. The overall message of the sentences are what I intended to project. I value your views and am happy to discuss any topic. Just remember that it is only my opinion about a small food discussion and there is no need to get nasty. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and to express it. That is what I love about this country, so feel free to drop a comment and express your thoughts.
Lastly, just remember that we are only talking about food here, so just take it all with a grain of salt and continue happily eating. I know that I have been quite philosophical and talked about life quite a few times. I feel it is justified despite my own words of how this topic is only about food. The topic is only about food, but other food bloggers have felt the need to implicitly suggest that those who take freebies are greedy, ignorant and without integrity. That, to me, is not acceptable and where I strongly take offence. I am happy to agree that taking freebie will obviously add another factor that may bias my views, but to equate that to a lack of integrity only shows how high a pedestal the accusers believe they are on.
To answer the initial title question of "Are Freebies The Root Of All Evil (In Food Blogging)", my answer is no. It merely adds another level of complexity to an already very tasty soup. So I encourage everyone to go out and eat, write what you want and continue enjoying Melbourne's very rich food scene. I will, even if it is free.
This post has been sponsored by Thanh Do from I Eat Therefore I Am. Thanh has blogged for free, and freely as a semi-intelligent human being who happens to write a semi-informed food blog in Melbourne.
Here are some more views on this discussion from other food bloggers in chronological order:
Confessions of a Food Nazi
Confessions of a Food Nazi
Last Appetite
The New Epicurean
Melbourne Gastronome
Syrup and Tang


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text: 01/01/2009 (10:00PM - 10:59PM) (Thursday) : IT'S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE--SPECIAL ONE HOUR SEASON FINALE-OSCAR NOMINEE AMY RYAN("Gone Baby Gone")GUEST STARS--It's Toby's (Paul Lieberstein) goodbye party at Dunder Mifflin and Michael (Golden Globe winner Steve Carell)demands a huge celebration that matches the joy in his heart. Angela (Angela Kinsey), sick of Michael's unreasonable last minute demands, refuses, and Michael turns to Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) to take over the party planning committee. Meanwhile, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) and Meredith (Kate Flannery) haze the new HR woman, Holly (Oscar Nominee Amy Ryan). John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer, B.J. Novak, Melora Hardin, Ed Helms, Leslie David Baker, Brian Baumgartner, Oscar Nunez, Mindy Kaling, Creed Bratton, and Craig Robinson also star.


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'Heavy' Traffic Hits Home
The Southeast Region of the North Dakota Highway Patrol is keeping up with troopers in the oil patch when comparing overloaded truck citations issued this year compared to last year.
The agency said it had handed out more overload fees from January, 2012, through September than it had in all of 2011. While many of those citations were written in the bustling Bakken Oil Field, the rest of the state as seen some "heavy traffic" as well.
"It appears we are right on track to match or just exceed our 2011 overload total," said Captain Bryan Niewind, regional commander of the Southeast Region, East Division.
The Southeast Region includes the counties of Richland, Cass, Traill, Steele, Barnes, Ransom, Sargent, Dickey, Lamoure, Stutsman, Griggs, Foster, Eddy, Logan and McIntosh. As of Sept. 24, the region has issued 180 overloads.
Four of those counties, Barnes, Stutsman, Dickey and LaMoure are also patrolled by truck regulatory officer Tim Gillespie. Gillespie, who was deputized by the sheriff's departments in all four counties, said lately he has seen an increase in overloaded trucks in the past four weeks as harvest season began.
"It was slow this summer but now its starting to pick up," Gillespie said. "For the most part, farmers are trying to keep it down as much as they can but there's a few people that just don't care. They're starting to relax and now my overloads are coming pretty regular again."
Gillespie began enforcing weight restrictions on March 28, 2011. He said the number of enforcements for the first nine months of 2012 is on par with the nine months he worked in 2011.
"We're getting more truck traffic in this area just like all areas of the state," he said.
"It's not the bulk of my truck stops, but a few of them are oil-related."
Niewind said there are currently two NDHP motor carrier troopers stationed in the Southeast Region, with the majority of their daily duties focused on size and weight enforcement.
"In addition, our traffic troopers are trained to recognize overloaded vehicles and to take enforcement action when they encounter one," Niewind said.
Statewide, the NDHP had issued 1,295 overload violations by Sept. 18, which racked up $2.1 million in fees. In 2011 the agency brought in $1.9 million in overload fees. Overloaded trucks are a concern due to the damage they cause to the roads they travel on. According to the Barnes County Highway Department, it can cost up to $200,000 to fix one mile of road.