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1. She's a grieving cop's widow, prone to nymphomania, locked away in a shed behind her parents' home, profoundly damaged—not broken, but close. He's a bipolar basket case who nearly beat a man half to death for showering with his wife, the same wife with whom he obsessively wants to reconcile, even as he rocks back and forth in a mental institutions, whispering self-help mantras to himself while punching the wall. (This is a guy who has to psych himself down to go to a football game: "I won't get in a fight today, I won't, I won't.) It's tough to come up with more unlikely centers of a romantic comedy than Pat and Tiffany, played by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook, a film as unmoored and manic and big-hearted as its lead characters. I'm not sure I've seen a romance so imbued with this much danger since Punch-Drunk Love. This movie doesn't reach that film's cathartic highs, but it's based in the same world: This is about lost people finding each other.
2. The film begins with Pat being released from a mental hospital in Baltimore to his parents' home in Philadelphia. Dad (Robert De Niro) is an obsessive compulsive Eagles fan and gambling addict, Mom an enabling mother hen who wears a Kevin Kolb jersey most of the time just because she thinks it might help. Pat thinks he's doing better, but you'd probably argue otherwise. He's set off into fits of violence over nothing more than a particular song playing at the doctor's office. By accident, he gets set up with Tiffany, who immediately pegs him as someone crazier than she is, inspiring both sympathy and real intrigue. The rest of the film features them circling each other, warily, confused, yet undeniably drawn toward each other.
3. The film is gloriously messy, sometimes to its detriment. Writer-director David O. Russell specializes in the borderline insane, particularly men, attempting to make sense of their lives and the world around them, usually through the context of their equally eccentric extended family. Russell gives Silver Linings Playbook a jittery, jumpy, almost skittish quality that is both disorienting and riveting; like its central couple, it's a movie that has no idea where it's going, in a good way. It's the sort of film that bounces off the walls, and Russell's technique gets you inside these characters' heads; there are a couple times you think either Pat or the camera is gonna just jump out the window. But even though Russell may occasionally lose control—there's a oddly plot-heavy scene toward the end that makes no sense except to set up the ending—he never loses focus: This is a movie about Pat and Tiffany, and how much help they have to give each other.
4. The supporting cast ultimately is a bit of a distraction; Pat's parents' story is more conventional and therefore more familiar, and Chris Tucker pops up a couple times as an utterly superfluous fellow patient. But Silver Linings Playbook belongs to Cooper and Lawrence, both of whom are at their best. Cooper is an actor who didn't break through until his mid-30s, and you can see him relish such a strong part, the sort any actor would dream of. Pat is nervy, scared, and dangerous, but Cooper never overplays it. He has a deft way of making you never forget to cheer for him. (The movie's set in Cooper's native Philadelphia, and you sense his inherent comfort.) But the film belongs to Lawrence, who's basically a house afire. She's sexy, smart, and almost overwhelmingly sad, and in her grief she's basically ripping apart the rest of the world. When she realizes that Pat thinks she's crazier than he is, the scene is volcanic and a little terrifying. Lawrence is a huge star now because of The Hunger Games, but she is as natural an actress as anyone working right now. I'm pretty sure she's going to be this generation's next great, massive star, more Streep than Julia Roberts. This is the best she's been, and she's only going to get better.
5. At its core this is a romantic comedy, albeit one filtered through Russell's cracked sensibility, but it never follows any of the rhythms of a romantic comedy, and you probably won't recognize it as one until the end. It's a neat bit of misdirection: You find yourself so worried that Pat and Tiffany are going to lose their shit entirely that you don't notice just how intricately they're wrapped up in each other's lives. Whether the movie—which is often busy jumping up and galloping after every shiny object, like an overeager, inbred puppy—earns its big last half-hour is sort of beside the point. Pat and Tiffany definitely have. It's impossible not to pull for them, even when you'd run screaming away in real life. Silver Linings Playbook is a wild mess, but what a mess it is.
Grade: B+.
Grierson & Leitch is a regular column about the movies. Follow us on Twitter, @griersonleitch.


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Battle for Interpretational Jurisdiction
In the 1970s, Egypt's President Anwar al-Sadat conducted a policy of rapprochement with Islamist movements in a bid to weaken the leftwing Nasserist movements that did not accept his claim to power.
Egypt's Islamist character as a whole was also accentuated. For example, Article 2 of the Egyptian constitution of 1971 declares that "the principles of Sharia (…) are one major source of legislation". The Article was amended in 1980. Henceforth, the "principles of Sharia" were no longer just one, but the major source of legislation.
The expression "principles of Sharia" is included neither in the Koran nor the Sunnah. The Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court ultimately injected meaning into the phrase. "Principles of Sharia", according to the constitutional court under Mubarak, are to be understood as the completely unambiguous and reliably established precepts of Islamic law, which have been accepted by the vast majority of Islamic lawyers over a long period of time.
But the precepts that fall into this category are merely a fraction of all those that appear in the Koran and Sunnah, and are mostly kept very general. In parallel to this, the constitutional court interpreted "principles" as (ethical) goals of Sharia limited to general and abstract norms such as the protection of assets, life, religion, the safeguarding of justice etc. On this basis it was possible to harmonise the "principles of Sharia" with international conventions on human rights.
No planned renunciation of Sharia as main source
The toppling of Mubarak in February 2011 has paved the way for a new constitution. The Egyptian parliament, now dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist "Hizb al-Nour" ("Party of Light") which together make up 65 percent of the vote, has delegated this task to a constituent assembly also mostly made of up Islamists.
While the Tunisian-Islamist "En-Nahda" party, under pressure from liberal forces, refrained from referring to Sharia as a source of legislation in Tunisia's new constitution, in Egypt the picture is somewhat different.
Because Egyptian society is altogether more conservative, no political force can afford to call for a renunciation of Sharia as the main source of legislation. Well-known liberal opposition figures such as Nobel peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, Hamdeen Sabahi and also the former foreign minister under Mubarak and Chairman of the Arab League Amr Moussa have all spoken out in favour of leaving Article 2 in its 1980 form.
Even the Patriarch of the Coptic Church Shenouda III. of Alexandria, who died earlier this year, argued in favour of retaining Sharia as the main source of legislation and sacked the Church's spokesman Anba Morcos after he publicly called for the deletion of Article 2.
What Egyptian faith communities did however insist upon, was that the constitution should be extended with an Article enshrining the right of Christians and Jews to manage personal and religious affairs according to their own religious laws. The constituent assembly complied with this wish with Article 3.
Which interpretation, which understanding?
In Egypt this is not about the question "Sharia yes or no?". It is much more a case of the various movements on the political spectrum arguing over how much Sharia and what interpretation of the legal system should apply in the new constitution.
The Salafist "Hizb al-Nour" protested vehemently against Article 2 of the constitution and has even threatened to brand it un-Islamic if the "principles" formulation is not dropped.
The party rejects the interpretation of the Supreme Constitutional Court, which had limited the "principles of Sharia" to the "(ethical) goals and the very few, unambiguous and reliably established precepts of Islam, because, it says, this interpretation incorrectly excludes all the precepts of the Koran and Sunnah that do not fall into this category as the basis for legislation. As a result, the party says, the constitutional court decision means that the majority of Sharia laws are not implemented, neither in economic and political sectors nor in penal law.
Calls from "Hizb al-Nour" to cut the reference to "principles" and make the entire Sharia code the basis for legislation led to a hefty exchange of blows between the party and the Al Azhar University, regarded as an authority in the Sunni-Arab world.
The university, which had spoken out in favour of the formulation "principles of Sharia", accused "Hizb al-Nour" of demonstrating a poor understanding of Sharia. Younis Makhyoun, one of the hardliners within "Hizb al-Nour", hit back at Al Azhar accusing the university of not being seriously interested in the implementation of Sharia.
Pressure from radical Islamists
Leading members of the radical Islamist "Gama'a al-Islamiyya", which has officially renounced armed conflict and is, following the ousting of Mubarak, represented in parliament with the "Construction and Development Party", are even calling for Sharia to be made the sole legislative source thereby excluding all other non-Islamic influence. The group's leader Mohammed Salah has even threatened "to fight for the application of Sharia, even if this requires bloodshed".
However, the Muslim Brotherhood and the "Freedom and Justice Party" it founded have always expressed their approval of the formulation of Article 2 since the debate began. The general tenor of their view is that the current situation is not conducive to any amendment of the Article in question. Although Sheikh Abd al-Khaliq Sharif, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, has said that he would understand the "principles of Sharia" to include (all) precepts of the Sharia code.
In addition to this Mohammad Gab-Allah, who is President Mursi's top legal adviser, called for the "principles of Sharia" to be more precisely defined and specified in the constitution, so that these would also include the broad treatises of the Sunni schools of law ("Fiqh").
The same demand had previously been issued by "Hizb al-Nour", which said it would be ready to accept the "principles of Sharia" formulation as long as those "principles" are also defined as the treatises of the four Sunni schools of law in the constitution. This reference to the law school treatises had been rejected by moderate legal scholars such as Abd al-Ma'ti Biyoumi and certain personnel at Al Azhar University. Biyoumi warned that such a plan would result in intellectual torpor, as well as impose unnecessary limitations on legislation.
The constitution draft, the fate of which is currently being decided in a referendum, contains under pressure from fundamental groups, alongside Article 2 a new Article that defines the "principles of Sharia" more closely. Article 219 states that the word "principles" also applies to, as well as fundamental norms, the foundations of Islamic jurisprudence as well as the generally recognised legal sources of Sunni orthodoxy.
Blurred boundaries
However, this definition of the "principles of Sharia" no longer corresponds to that of the constitutional court. The new interpretation blurs the boundary between the adoption of an integral Islamic core element as set down by the constitutional court, and the adoption of Sharia as set out by "Hizb al-Nour".
As long as the "foundations of Islamic jurisprudence" and the "legal sources" as set down by the Muslim Brotherhood and "Hizb al-Nour" are also to be understood as the (detailed) interpretations of the schools of law, which were essentially finalised around the 11th to 12th century of the Christian era, the new constitution lays the foundation stone for a considerably more formalistic and traditional administration of justice. And it remains questionable whether this is still reconcilable with international conventions on human rights.
The new constitution cites Al Azhar University as the primary reference source in all questions concerning the Sharia code. This measure depreciates the role of the constitutional court. It is however problematic that senior figures at Al Azhar do not enjoy democratic legitimisation.
This predetermined understanding of Sharia, as agreed by the Islamist majority in the constituent assembly and its overall approach to the matter has been met with stiff resistance from the liberal opposition. Amr Moussa, the Wafd Party, the press and farmers' unions as well as representatives of the Orthodox, Anglican and Catholic churches – which amounts to almost all moderate forces, have withdrawn from the constituent assembly.
The Coptic Patriarch described Article 219 as a "catastrophe" and warned that this heralds Egypt's renunciation of a civilian, modern state. Other sections of the opposition fear Egypt will be transformed into an Islamist state à la Saudi Arabia.
Niklas Hünseler
© Qantara.de 2012
Niklas Hünseler is a political scientist and scholar of Islam. He is currently on a doctorate programme at the University of Cologne and the "International Graduate School of Oriental and Asian Studies (BIGS-OAS)" at the University of Bonn studying Islamic-based democracy using the example of Islamic parties in Egypt in the context of specific concepts of Sharia.
Editor: Lewis Gropp/Qantara.de

subset: commoncrawl


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Analyst: It's Time for the iPhone to Shine
The holiday quarter and the one after that will see a dramatic improvement in the iPhone's market share, Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt wrote in a research note on Tuesday, though longer-term prospects of the Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) smartphone are a little more complicated. McCourt said his assessment came from an analysis of regional sales data that suggested Apple may corner more than half of smartphone unit sales this quarter in North America and continue to grow in the coming year.
Apple had a 14 percent of global smartphone unit sales in the third quarter of the year, while Samsung brought in a 33 percent share. "We do expect Apple to close the gap significantly in the fourth quarter and the first quarter of next year, but it is unlikely to overtake Samsung in pure volume, as Samsung continues to broaden its product line into lower price points," McCourt wrote, according to Barron's.
Our 20-page proprietary analysis of Apple's stock is ready. Click here and to get your Cheat Sheet report now!
However, the price point is also the reason why McCourt said he felt that in the longer term, the iPhone may end up more like Mac products than the "ubiquitous iPod" product line. Regional data show that emerging markets are driving smartphone growth — there was a 46 percent unit sales growth in the third quarter globally, but emerging markets grew 63 percent.
"It is clear that iPhone is very much just a high-end smartphone on a global basis, and it will be increasingly unrealistic to expect it to outgrow the smartphone market when most of the growth in the smartphone market is coming from emerging markets and prepaid markets within the developed world," the analyst wrote. "However, with global smartphone of roughly 30 percent growth in 2013, we believe that 15-20 percent year-on-year growth is likely for the next several quarters, which is what we have baked into our financial forecast," the analyst wrote.
The Apple phone will continue to hold its own where ecosystems matter, McCourt added. "It is important to recognize that, for many, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android phones are using custom user interfaces and, often times, do not even have any Google content on the phone," McCourt wrote. "Although the unit stats are staggeringly in Android's favor, we believe app monetization and app developer resources continue to favor Apple."
Raymond James has a Buy rating on Apple and an $800 price target.
Don't Miss: Apple's App Kingdom is Booming.


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Science & Technology Conference Room
The Science and Technology Conference Room is located on the lower level of ASEC, Room 25. The room is equipped with a white board. The Pico Pocket Projector is available at the circulation desk to be checked out. Telecommunications connectivity equipment is available upon request. The room may be reserved in advance for groups up to 16 [reserve here].


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I moved to the Pacific Northwest a few months ago and to say I've been struck by how stunning the scenery is would be an understatement. Sophie Epton captured it in full force with this engagement shoot and the only thing more eye catching are these two cuties. See all their smiles, splashes - and the beautiful views - right this way!
From Sophie Epton Photography... Sarah and Aaron could not be a cuter couple, or more in love! After dating for over seven years, Aaron popped the question on a romantic trip to Stockholm, Sweden. Although their wedding will be in St. Louis next summer, this beautiful couple resides in Seattle, and so we decided there couldn't be a better place to photograph their engagement! On the morning of the shoot this past August, the forecast was showing sunny skies all throughout the Seattle area, but as we drove closer to Rattlesnake Lake, the weather changed - it was windy, cold, foggy, and there was even a little rain! But Sarah and Aaron took it in stride and braved the chilly weather, even climbing up on tree stumps and wading through water. To me, the shoot turned out even more special and completely dreamy because the weather is so representative of the Pacific Northwest. It was such a magical experience that I won't forget with this amazing couple, and I can't wait to return to the PNW to photograph even more beauty in the future!


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Inaugural Year: 1961
Stadium: Angel Stadium of Anaheim (45,050 Capacity)
Dress well for the next Los Angeles Angels game with the help of Fanzz! Fanzz is the best place for you to find high quality Los Angeles Angels apparel and gear, so that you can show everyone your support for your favorite baseball team. Check out our Anaheim Angels hats section, where we have plenty of different color and style options to fit your tastes. The ultimate Angels fan will want to be sure to get one of our Los Angeles Angels uniforms with the best player's name on the back. Choose from names like Mike Trout, Mark Trumbo, and many others! After you have picked out your favorite Anaheim Angels clothing, then be sure to head over to our drink ware section. Choose from awesome drink ware items like an Anaheim Angels coffee mug or shot glass set. Fanzz also has a great Home & Office section, where you can find some great Anaheim Angels memorabilia and gear to fill your home with. Women can also find plenty of Angels apparel options to fit them in any style. Don't forget our Anaheim Angels gifts section, where you can find some great gift ideas in any price range to fit your budget. Stock up on all the best Anaheim Angels merchandise with Fanzz!
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Extra Points: Pats win with style, lose their substance
Philadelphia, PA – In a week where most of the NFL heavyweights struggled before surviving, New England was the one team which actually earned a few style points, walloping Andrew Luck and the up-and- coming Indianapolis Colts 59-24.
Winning the battle against the Colts, however, made the war only tougher when All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski suffered a broken forearm while blocking on a PAT attempt, the Patriots' 59th point of the day, matching the franchise record for most scored in a game.
Tom Brady threw two of his three touchdown passes to Gronkowski, who finished with seven receptions and 137 yards overall, as New England cooled off Indy.
New England and Indianapolis, of course, had one of the NFL's greatest rivalries when Brady was dueling against Peyton Manning. That animosity was expected to be rekindled when Luck and his version of the Colts took aim at Brady and the Patriots for the first time.
After all Luck had guided the Colts to four consecutive wins coming in and had won six of his first nine career starts, the best winning percentage ever for a No. 1 overall pick through nine contests.
The Colts even drew first blood, albeit with the help of a big pass interference penalty, before Gronkowski and Brady tempered things by quickly hooking up on a 4-yard touchdown pass.
In the end Luck showed signs and did amass 334 passing yards along with two touchdowns to T.Y. Hilton but the Stanford product also threw three interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns, and lost a fumble that led to another score.
"(I'm) disappointed in myself for committing four turnovers on my part and two of those went for immediate touchdowns. They did a good job," said Luck, who surpassed Manning with his fifth 300-yard passing game, the most by a rookie in NFL history.
Brady, on the other hand, was as clean as it gets, connecting on 24-of-35 passes for 331 yards, while Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen each rushed for fourth-quarter scores in the lopsided win, the fourth in a row for the 7-3 Patriots.
Julian Edelman also contributed with a well-rounded performance, scoring on a a punt return, catching five passes for 58 yards with another TD and adding a 47-yard run.
"We got great contributions from all three phases of our team," said Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who picked up career coaching win No. 199. "The players really stepped up and delivered some big plays throughout the game."
New England's shaky pass defense also received a big boost from talented but troubled cornerback Aqib Talib, who was acquired by the Pats from Tampa Bay on Nov. 1. Talib made his presence felt in the second quarter, picking off an overthrown pass by Luck and zig-zagging across the field for a 59-yard touchdown in his Pats debut.
All the feel good stuff went out the window, however, when Stephen Gostkowski lined up for the afterthought with less than four minutes remaining and Gronk busted his left forearm while blocking.
"He left the game with an arm injury," Patriots spokesman Stacey James said about 2 1/2 hours after the game. "There was no update to that."
Perhaps the Patriots were hoping against hope but reality set in and Gronkowski is scheduled undergo surgery Monday morning and will likely miss anywhere between four and six weeks.
The latter of those numbers would mean Gronkowski would miss the rest of the regular season, something New England can likely overcome at least as far as the AFC East goes since the rest of that division hardly looks playoff worthy.
But challenging Houston for the top spot in the conference or earning a first round bye in the postseason just became far more daunting.
The Patriots have already been without their other first-string tight end, Aaron Hernandez for the last three games -- and a total of six this season -- with a lingering right ankle injury first suffered in Week 2.
Hernandez is getting closer and went from being listed as "out" on the injury report to "questionable" after the Nov. 4 bye week and keeping that designation for each of the last three games. The Florida product had limited participation in practice in each of the last three weeks and the timetable for a possible return probably just got pushed up.
But as good as Hernandez is -- he had 79 receptions for 910 yards and seven TDs in 2011 -- he's not Gronkowski.
Gronk is one of the toughest matchups in the NFL. Linebackers are far too slow to deal with the Arizona product and defensive backs can't deal with his massive 6-foot-6, 270-pound frame.
"I think (double-teaming is ) definitely something they try," Brady said when asked how team's deal with Gronkowski. "It's just hard because do you want to blitz? When you're a tight end, you're really in the inside part of the field and you can run basically anywhere you want. It's not like you're an outside receiver where your route has to complement other people's routes.
"As a tight end, you can go to the right, left, deep, short; you can really do whatever you want. And the more guys you put on (Gronkowski), the less there are on Wes (Welker), the less guys you have rushing, the less on Brandon (Lloyd), Julian (Edelman)."
It's also why Gronkowski had 10 touchdown catches as a rookie in 2010 and then set an NFL record for tight ends with 17 touchdowns last season, when he caught 90 passes for 1,327 yards.
Gronk's two TDs on Sunday gave him 10 again as he became the first tight end in NFL history with at least 10 receiving touchdowns in three consecutive seasons. Meanwhile his 37 career touchdowns are the third-most by a player in his first three NFL seasons, trailing only superstar outside the number threats Randy Moss and Jerry Rice.
This is not your average tight end.
Remember what happened when Gronkowski severely sprained his left ankle in last season's AFC Championship Game -- the Pats' offense sputtered badly in the Super Bowl and the New York Giants pulled off the upset.
The sequel is about to start on Thanksgiving night against the New York Jets.
"I don't think we're anywhere [near] where we need to be at this point," Brady said. "We've got a lot of football left and this Thursday is going to be a big game."
Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie said before the season that in order to keep his job Andy Reid needed "substantial improvement" on the team's 8-8 record from 2011.
That's a statistical impossibility now after Philadelphia fell to 3-7 with an embarrassing 31-6 loss at Washington on Sunday.
The Eagles looked dazed and confused trying to deal with Redskins star rookie Robert Griffin III, who threw for 200 yards and a career-high four touchdowns on 14-of-15 efficiency while rushing for 84 more, as Washington sent Philadelphia to a sixth straight setback, the longest losing streak in the 14- year Reid era.
Starting in place of the concussed Michael Vick, Philly's own freshman signal- caller, Nick Foles, was a dismal 21-of-46 for 204 yards and two interceptions for the Eagles, who have lost six in a row for the first time since dropping seven straight to end the 1994 campaign.
"Early turnovers, penalties, drops, giving up the big plays, those are all problems with this game," Reid said.
Reid is now basically a 20-pound turkey which has been roasting for about five hours. The timer on his career in the City of Brotherly Love is just about up.
The Philadelphia Daily News, citing a high-ranking team official, reported that Reid will indeed be on the sidelines of next Monday night's home game against the Carolina Panthers, a scene which could get ugly quickly for the unpopular Reid.
That said, making a coaching change with six games remaining on the schedule simply doesn't make sense and Reid isn't going to walk away from nearly $7 million dollars left on his contact.
But the situation in Philadelphia for Reid is no longer tenable. Management simply can't sell a coach who is perhaps the most unpopular figure in the entire city.
"I know it. I know it," one anonymous defensive player told The Philadelphia Inquirer when asked if Reid is gone after the season. "And the only reason I'm here is because of Andy. Some vets have been talking about how the next [coach] may want his own guy."
National observers, who aren't around Reid on a daily basis, often wonder why Philadelphia turned on a coach who has been so successful. But, the veteran mentor has always struggled with the public relations aspect of his job, upsetting the Philly faithful time and time again with his arrogance and trademarked "I've got to do a better job" shtick.
It was on display again Sunday when Reid refused to admit his mistake of leaving LeSean McCoy in the game late. Perhaps the Eagles' best player, McCoy suffered a concussion when he was drilled by Washington safety Madieu Williams with just 1:45 remaining in what was already a settled game.
Why was McCoy still in the contest with the Eagles trailing by 25 points?
"Because we're trying to catch up and win the game," Reid grumbled.
Pressed further Reid repeated, "We were trying to catch up and win the game."
The assembled media then turned it up a notch by asking the coach if he regretted getting a Pro Bowl-level player's brain scrambled for no good reason.
"No," the embattled and soon to be unemployed coach said while flashing his now legendary hubris.
Reid is too good a coach and too well-respected around the league to be out of a job long. Here's hoping he understands what got him in trouble in Philadelphia, learns from it and finally puts a period on what is a very impressive resume.
In fact, here's hoping Andy finally does a better job.
The winning points in four games on Sunday were scored in the final two minutes or overtime, bringing the season total of such games to a heart- stopping 36.
The Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers all won in overtime in Week 11 while the Green Bay Packers scored their winning points with 1:55 remaining in the fourth quarter on a 22-yard TD toss pass from Aaron Rodgers to Randall Cobb.
"We just had to have this win," said Rodgers. "We knew it was a struggle and we didn't play our best on offense. But when we needed it, everyone came through and this is a big one."
In Dallas, Dan Bailey's 38-yard field goal with 6:13 left in overtime capped a furious comeback that lifted the Cowboys to a hard-earned -- and much-needed -- 23-20 triumph over the Cleveland Browns.
"It was a good win for our team," Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett remarked. "It was by no means pretty, but we just kept battling, kept fighting through and kept picking each other up. I thought we fought through a lot of different adversity and our team played with a lot of poise at the end."
Down in South Texas Andre Johnson went 48 yards with a screen pass for the winning touchdown late in overtime, as the Texans avoided a major scare and came away with a 43-37 win over Jacksonville in a thriller at Reliant Stadium.
"Obviously, we struggled today," Texans coach Gary Kubiak said. "We gave up a lot of big plays defensively, we turned the ball over offensively, but we kept battling and we found a way to win the game another way."
Finally Josh Freeman found Dallas Clark down the left sideline for the deciding touchdown to lift the Buccaneers to a 27-21 overtime in Carolina.
"All wins are satisfying, but this one was fun," said Tampa Bay coach Greg Schiano. "It is rewarding to those guys. It is so hard to win in the National Football League, every win is great."
- Houston quarterback Matt Schaub threw for 527 yards in the Texans' win, matching Warren Moon's performance on Dec. 16, 1990 for the second-most passing yards during a game in NFL history. Norm Van Brocklin remains the all- time leader with 554 passing yards back on Sept, 28, 1951.
-In that same game, the Texans' Johnson had 14 catches for 273 yards with one touchdown and rookie wide receiver Justin Blackmon of Jacksonville had seven catches for 236 yards with one touchdown, marking the first time in NFL history two players had 235-plus receiving yards in the same game.
-RG3's 93.3 completion percentage against the Eagles is the highest by a quarterback with at least four touchdown passes since Steve Young back on Oct. 16, 1994. Griffin also had a 61-yard touchdown pass to Santana Moss, his third touchdown pass of at least 60 yards this season. The Baylor product is the first player in NFL history with at least three 60-plus yard touchdown passes and a 60-yard rushing touchdown in a season.
-Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning threw three touchdown passes in the Broncos' 30-23 win over San Diego, passing Dan Marino for second place in NFL history with 423 total. Manning also overtook Marino (147) and tied his boss, John Elway, for the second-most regular-season wins as a starting quarterback in NFL history with 148.
-Cincinnati wide receiver A.J. Green had six catches for 91 yards and a touchdown in the Bengals' 28-6 win over Kansas City. It was the ninth consecutive game Green has had a TD reception, tying Lance Alworth (1963) for the third-longest streak in a single season in NFL history. The only longer single-season streaks belong to Jerry Rice (12 games, 1987) and Elroy Hirsch (10 games, 1951).


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NHL, Union Resume Talks to Try to End Lockout
NEW YORK (AP) - The NHL and the players' association have resumed meetings to try to end the monthlong lockout.
Representatives of the NHL Players' Association arrived Thursday morning at league headquarters, where the sides met for about five hours Wednesday in an effort to work out a deal.
Although it has been a week since the NHL called off the first two weeks of the regular season, that sting will be felt full force Thursday when what should have been opening day passes without a puck hitting the ice.
The sides met twice Wednesday. If talks go well Thursday, or if the scheduled work can't be completed, there could be another day of discussions Friday.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Material may not be redistributed.


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Enter Our Photo Contest »
It's time to show off your garden filled with American Meadows products!
Show meShowing plants & seeds that grow in my area:
Growing Bearded Irises These majestic flowers are surprisingly easy to grow, and actually require less attention than almost any other garden flowers. Your iris roots will arrive with the foliage "trimmed" from this spring's growth. You'll find the "root" is not really a bulb, but what is called a "rhizome"--an irregularly shaped bulbous root that grows at a right angle from the foliage. Leave the trimmed foliage as it is, and simply bury the rhizome with the top of it showing through the soil surface. Bearded irises grow best with the tops of their rhizomes exposed.
Next spring, new foliage and the flower spikes will sprout strongly from the rhizome. What's more, next summer, you'll notice the rhizome multiplying for even more flowers as years go by.
|Common Name
|Bearded Iris
|Botanical Name
|Iris germanica
|3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
|Light Requirements
|Full Sun
|Flower Color
|Mature Height
|36-40" tall
|Estimated Mature Spread
|12-18" wide
|Bloom Time
|Late Spring to Early Summer
|Planting Depth
|Iris should be planted so the tops of the rhizomes are exposed and the roots are spread out facing downwards in the soil. Make sure not to plant the rhizomes too deep.
|Ships As
|Potted Plant
|Planting Time
|Spring / Summer
|Soil Type
|Clay Soil, Sandy Soil, Loamy Soil
|Soil Moisture
|Average, Well Draining
|Deer Resistant, Easy to Grow
|Ships to Hawaii, Alaska & Canada
Shipping begins in late March based on ground temperatures, warmest zones first.
As soon as your order is placed you will receive an order confirmation email that will include your shipping information. We ship perennials and spring-planted bulbs at the proper planting time for your hardiness zone. Perennials and spring-planted bulb orders will arrive separately from seeds. If your order requires more than one shipment, there is no additional shipping charge. See our shipping information page for approximate ship dates and more detailed information. If you need express shipping or have any questions, please call Customer Service toll-free at (877) 309-7333 or contact us by email.
You will receive a second email the day your order ships telling you how it has been sent. Your order is scheduled to arrive at your door, fresh and ready to plant, usually within 3-5 days of leaving our warehouse, depending on your shipping address. We pack our plants to withstand up to 10 days in transit, in the event transit is delayed. We cannot guarantee arrival on a specific day. Please make sure to open your package upon receipt and follow the instructions included.
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The plants arrived with many roots and very healthy. They adapted quickly and established themselves quickly with little attention. The foliage filled in and grew vigorously all summer. I can't wait til spring to see the blooms! They look so promising!
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text:
Jessica graduated from Arlington High School in Dutchess County,
New York, and continued her education at The College of Saint Rose.
In 2005, Jessica earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public
Communications. and in 2012 earned a Master in Business
Administration degree from Mount Saint Mary College.
Jessica began a career in fundraising at ALSAC / St. Jude
Children's Research Hospital in Albany, New York. In
2009, she joined the Mount Saint Mary College admissions
staff. Jessica works with prospective transfer students
and is responsible for coordinating on-campus recruitment
Jessica and her family reside in Dutchess County.
Email: email@example.com Phone: 845-569-3374


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Armed stand-off in Melbourne ends
A 43-hour siege in Melbourne's north ended on Sunday with the death of fugitive Antonio Loguancio.
Loguancio, wanted for breaching a supervision order several days ago and for allegedly assaulting his partner, had been holed up in a bungalow at the rear of a Justin Avenue property at Glenroy since Friday night.
Police believed the 40-year-old, nicknamed Mad Dog, had been armed.
The situation escalated on Sunday afternoon when police said several shots were fired from the bungalow at 1:00pm (AEDT) and an hour later the fire brigade was called in to put out a fire that had engulfed it.
Loguancio had repeatedly threatened to burn down the bungalow he had taken refuge in.
In a media conference shortly after the siege's conclusion, police said: "Unfortunately we have now located the body of a man in the bungalow at the rear of the premises.
"At about 1:00pm this afternoon, the siege escalated with a series of shots being fired from the bungalow.
"As has been normally in the last two days, our members tried to negotiate with Antonio [but] his behaviour continued to escalate.
"At about 2:00pm this afternoon, the bungalow was seen to be on fire, the fire brigade eventually attended those premises but when we were eventually able to control the fire, the body of a man was found inside the premises.
"This is a tragedy as you know our aim is always to resolve these situations with the minimal of injury and without loss of life.
"This is not what we would hope for in an outcome. The matter is now with the coroner and that is all I can say at this stage."
'It's going to be over'
He told me it was going to end today. He knew something was happening because he said to me 'the blind's gone up in the house next door'. He said, 'Mick, it's going to be over'.Mick Collett, friend of Loguancio
Mick Collett, a friend of the Loguancio, says the fugitive knew the drawn-out siege in Melbourne's north would end on Sunday.
"He told me it was going to end today. He knew something was happening because he said to me 'the blind's gone up in the house next door'. He said, 'Mick, it's going to be over'," Mr Collett said.
He says he asked police permission to enter the property to bring him out safely.
"They didn't listen a bit. But I can understand their point too, he was armed," Mr Collett said.
It has been reported Loguancio, one of Victoria's most wanted fugitives, has a criminal record that includes six counts of rape, five of intentionally causing injury, four of making threats to kill and 12 of common assault.
Topics: police-sieges, sexual-offences, assault, law-crime-and-justice, glenroy-3046
First posted


text: I have a new two story home of approx. 2800 sq.ft in South Jersey under construction. We have a choice of two hvac systems one for each floor with separate supply and return trunks in the basement. One is 60,000 BTU and the other is 80,000. The other choice is a single 100,000 BTU with split supply zones and one return truck to which all return ducts are attached with a bypass damper. One zone is the 2nd floor and other is the first floor with electronically controlled dampers operated by the thermostat on each floor. Which system is a better quality for control, comfort, efficiency and maintenance? Thank you


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Im at a point where I have opportunities and I gotta make a decision. Im looking which is better job security and paywise long term.
Im a licenced HVAC Tech right now working commercially for ok money with little upside where I am and Im not really learning much new.
I heard controls jobs pay more long term and that there are more of them so you have more job security.
Im wondering after a little school what you start out at and how long to get to about 20 an hour.
is there job security or more of it in that than as a service tech?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all.


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Ladies and gentlemen, Jeff Mathis' reign of terror is almost over. Jerry Dipoto looks to have pulled off his first move as Angels GM by getting the team a new slugging catcher:
@Ken_Rosenthal Ken Rosenthal Source:
#Rockies close to signing R. Hernandez to two-year deal, sending Iannetta to the Angels. Teams checking medicals. #MLB
So there it is. Chris Iannetta is now the primary Angel catcher and Jeff Mathis should soon be getting his non-tender papers. Hooray! On that upgrade alone, this deal is a winner.
Ironically, Iannetta is a catcher with very good power who draws a lot of walks. Remind you of someone? Yeah, I know, the Napoli jokes are tired but they are unavoidable right now. At least Dipoto had the foresight to remedy the problem that his predecessor created by dumping Napoli. However, that doesn't mean Iannetta is the next Mike Napoli. For starters, Iannetta has a career .235 average and has struggled with consistency. More to the point though is that Iannetta has been less than impressive away from the thin air of Coors Field as exemplified by his Mathisian .587 road OPS last season. That means there is a risk that he won't be the offensive savior some are already painting him to be. Still, even in his worst season in which he hit .197, Iannetta still posted a .310 OBP and .383 SLG. Meaning even when he sucks, he still gets on base and hits homers. So there is some risk, but not too much.
What Iannetta doesn't have much of a risk of is falling into Scioscia's doghouse because of his defense the way Napoli did. Iannetta may not inspire an over-the-top lovefest from Lyle Spencer with his defense, but Iannetta grades out as no worse than average behind the plate and possibly even pretty good. His arm is mediocre, but he gets good marks for all the other stuff (blocking pitchers, framing, etc.).
Now for the somewhat controversial part of the deal, giving up Tyler Chatwood. Opinions are already all over the place on him being traded for Iannetta (who appears to only be under team control for one year at about $3.6 million, though he has a team option for 2013 that may or may not void because of this trade). Prior to the 2011 season, Chatwood was the Angels top pitching prospect, but then he got rushed to the majors and stunk the joint up, really killing his perceived potential. Yes, he is very young and still possesses good stuff, but his performance has never been anything special aside from one season in Advanced-A ball. As a result, some Angel fans are bemoaning his loss since he could be pretty good someday, but several outsider opinions are grading this trade as a steal for the Angels because they think Chatwood will never amount to anything.
Best case scenario for the Angels is that Iannetta flourishes in a new environment, as he had been under a lot of pressure in Colorado to live up to his potential so a change of scenery could really help, and Chatwood never amounts to anything. Worst case scenario, Iannetta ends up not hitting in Anaheim and gets dumped after a year while Chatwood goes on to be a mid-rotation staple for the Rockies.
My money is this will be a lot closer to best case scenario for the Angels, though there is still one mitigating circumstance we haven't discussed yet: Hank Conger. Does this mean the Angels are giving up on him? It very well could. Iannetta is good enough to catch 115+ games in a season, so Conger may not have a role in the majors this year. That means they could send Hank packing or just send him back to Triple-A to work on his defense and then challenge Iannetta in 2013. Or, since Iannetta mashes lefty but is more ordinary against righties, the switch-hitting Conger could platoon with Iannetta, though I find it hard to believe they gave up a prospect like Chatwood for a part-time player. We won't know the answer to this part of the trade for awhile yet, but don't be at all surprised if Conger's name starts being prominently mentioned in trade rumors at the Winter Meetings.
In summary, this seems like a good deal for the Angels that will help them contend this season, but carries a small chance of making them look bad five years from now. Sounds like a risk worth taking to me, especially if it finally puts to an end all the Mathis and/or Napoli jokes.
CORRECTION: I remember incorrectly about Iannetta's framing, he actually graded out poorly, so maybe his defense could become a bit of an issue for Scioscia.


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From the days of the PS one, this downloadable game allows you to play the classic original on your PSP handheld system or PS3 home console.
After his predictions of the world's demise fall flat, Dr. Dex Zeng tries to destroy the world himself. Fortunately, the Fighting Force is here to save the day! You take of the role of Hawk Manson, Ben "Smasher" Jackson, Mace Daniels, or Alana McKendrick, and battle through seven expansive levels (some with branching paths) with each character's unique moves and combinations. You will need every move too, since up to five enemies may attack at once. To keep the destruction moving at a furious pace, pick up pipes, guns, knives, soda machines, and anything else that might be lying around and get creative. For maximum carnage, tell a friend to use the other controller and double-team Zeng's minions. Can the Fighting Force stop Zeng's evil plot in time?
Release Region: United States
Release Date: November 24, 2009
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Release Region: United Kingdom
Release Date: TBA
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Also available on: Saturn, PlayStation, PC, Nintendo 64, PlayStation Portable


text:
Crimes in progress or emergencies, call 911
Anonymous Tips, call
Follow up, click here
Download Free Mobile Tip App
Tips Received
Arrests Made
Property Recovered
Drugs Seized
Rewards Paid
If you have information about this burglary or any felony crime, call Crime Stoppers at 267-2111. You can also submit a tip online at www.WichitaCrimeStoppers.com or from your mobile phone by texting TIP217 then your message to CRIMES (274637). All ways are secure and anonymous. If your tip leads to an arrest you may be eligible for a cash reward up to $2,500, and Crime Stoppers will never ask your name. Crime Stoppers of Wichita/Sedgwick County is a non-profit organization of citizens against crime.


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Explosions And Gunfire Erupt As Kenyans Battle To End Hostage Crisis At MallPosted: Updated:
NBCNEWS.COM - Extended gunfire and at least seven large explosions resounded Monday at an upscale shopping mall in Kenya where heavily armed militants were still believed to be holding hostages on the third day of a standoff that has left at least 62 people dead.
A column of thick, black smoke rose from the mall. Kenyan authorities, who vowed the night before to end the siege, said that they had the gunmen and hostages confined to one section of the shopping center.
David Kimaiyo, the inspector general of the Kenyan police, said on Twitter early Monday that more hostages had been rescued and that authorities were "increasingly gaining advantage of the attackers."
Details were hard to come by, but there were believed to be 10 to 15 militants still in the mall, and 10 to 15 hostages.
A Kenyan security source told NBC News that a military operation had blown an opening in the back of the mall, partly as a diversionary tactic. At least some of the gunfire was believed intended to scatter crowds around the mall.
The explosions and a burst of gunfire were heard at about 1 p.m. local time, or 6 a.m. ET. Three hours later came another, extended volley of gunfire. Its nature was unclear.
Ole Lenku, the Kenyan secretary of the interior, told reporters Monday that two terrorists had been killed earlier in the day. He said that some of the attackers who seized the mall were dressed as women.
The militants launched their siege of the facility, Westgate Shopping Mall, on Saturday afternoon. Al Shabaab, a Somali terrorist organization linked to al Qaeda, said that it was behind the assault and that it was retribution for a 2011 push by Kenya into Somalia.
The Kenyan Red Cross had put the number of dead at 69 but reduced the toll Monday to 62. It said that the earlier figure was the result of double counting as bodies were moved from morgue to morgue.
Amateur video from the attack on Saturday showed shoppers ducking for cover around aisles of merchandise as loud volleys of gunfire echoed in the background.
"It seemed like anywhere you looked there would be another body," said Tyler Hicks, a photographer for The New York Times who lives nearby and raced to the scene. "Terrified people were crying, screaming, just running for their lives."
The FBI said that it was investigating whether as many as five Americans were among the team of terrorists who captured the mall. But a senior FBI official said there was no hard evidence of American involvement yet.
The attackers hurled grenades and sprayed automatic fire, and witnesses said that they used AK-47 rifles and wore belts of ammunition. In addition to the dead, at least 175 people, including children, were hurt.
"They were shooting from the exit ramp, shooting everywhere," a woman who gave her name as Cecilia told Reuters after emerging from the mall Sunday. "I saw people being shot all around me, some with blood pouring from bad wounds."
"I was just praying, praying, 'God, keep me alive,' and that my day hadn't come," she said.
Five Americans were reported injured in the mall attack, including a San Diego woman. Among the dead were four Britons and a Canadian diplomat, and British Prime Minister David Cameron said: "We should prepare ourselves for further bad news."
Kenyan security forces were being helped by Israeli and Western experts. The complex has several Israeli-owned shops.
British newspapers suggested that a woman known as the White Widow, a British Islamic convert whose husband was one of the attackers in the 2005 terror assault on the London transit system, was behind the attack in Kenya.
The woman, Samantha Lewthwaite, is known to have spent time in Kenya. The British Foreign Office said that it was unwilling to speculate on her involvement.
The mall siege is the largest attack in Kenya since an East African cell of al Qaeda bombed the United States Embassy in Nairobi in 1998, killing more than 200 people.
The last major attack by al Shabaab outside Somalia was a double bombing in Uganda targeting people watching the 2010 World Cup soccer final. Those bombings killed 77 people.
Kenyan television reported that more than 34 million Kenyan shillings, or about $400,000 had been raised through text message donations for victims of the attack.


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Top Reasons to Live in Austin, Texas
- Celebrate rising home values! If you own a home, or are doing a rent to own house buyer program, you have a lot to celebrate, thanks to the rising appreciation rates in Austin. The real estate appreciation rate in the city has hit 80.85 percent over the last decade. Such an increase on a real estate investment is cause for anyone to celebrate, and the city presents plenty of venues for the occasion. Why not grab some old fashioned barbecue at Lambert's Downtown Barbecue as a way to celebrate the city's southern roots? If you are in the mood for fine dining, the upscale Carillon restaurant is known for its diverse American entrees and regal atmosphere.


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Sorry, but specific product you requested is not currently available. Hopefully you can find another option below.
Compact and convenient, it is the perfect traveling companion for purse, suitcase, backpack, and knitting bag. This skin moisturizer has 100% Natural Ingredients, is Antioxidant & Vitamin-Rich, Cruelty Free, Deeply Hydrating, Gluten Free, and has Natural SPF. TO USE: Remove from can and apply a light layer across your skin to moisturize: hands, feet, elbows, knees, hair ~ everywhere! A little goes a long way! Double the benefits and apply to slightly damp skin, like right after taking a shower or bath. Lo-Lo To-Go, used daily, will moisturize your hands for approximately three months. 1 oz.
Soak Flatter - 3 oz - Celebration and Soak Minimaid - Handmaid - Lacey are both similar accessories: soaps and handcreams.
We provide endless possibilities for you including yarn, knitting gifts, needles, kits, sale yarn, free knitting patterns, and more!Jimmy Beans Wool is Your Local Yarn Store... Online!


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The Editors
New YorkUSA[Send a message]
[View entire profile]
Bare Ruined Choir: Brideshead Revisited
Damien HIrst Exhibitions
Frieze Art Fair: Super-rich to cast economic crisis aside
Image Journal
Does Biden Have a Catholic Problem?
Interview with David Foster Wallace
Center for Faith & Culture in Oxford
Bush Welcomes Pope to White House
Crossroads Cultural Center
Life After Sunday
The Weakerthans
Finding the Straight Path, by David Morrison
Gay Marriage and the Collective Lie, by Harold Fickett
InnerChange Freedom Initiative
Prison Fellowship Ministries
The Cry of Suffering, by Lorenzo Albacete
Lorenzo Albacete on Pope Benedict XVI and the future of the church
Americans Change Faiths at Rising Rate, Report Finds
Sarkozy's Passion Play
Alan Wolfe on Bush, Sarkozy and Secularism
Feminists for Life
Helpers of God's Precious Infants
Leisure, the Basis of Culture, by Josef Pieper
By Way of Grace, by Paula Huston
Archbishop's Lecture - Civil and Religious Law in England: a Religious Perspective
Dialogue between Christians and Muslims is a "vital necessity", says Pope
Church-Islam dialogue: the path starts from Regensburg's Pope
Reflections of a British Muslim Extremist
BBC Interview with the Archbishop Responding to the Sharia Flap
Path to Peace Foundation
Casa Juan Diego
Institute for the Psychological Sciences
Joan B. Kroc Institute for Int'l Peace Studies
Aid to the Church in Need
Catholic Relief Services
National Catholic Bioethics Center
Center for Catholic Studies
Holy See
Holy Bible
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Regnum Christi
Community of Sant'Egidio
Taize Community
Opus Dei
Focolare Movement
Early Church Fathers
Communion & Liberation
US Conf of Catholic Bishops
St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology
Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture
Man Who Helped Start Stem Cell War May End It
The Bruderhof
The Sleep-Industrial Complex
Michelangelo Antonioni, Director, Dies at 94
RE: GodSpy 2.0: Engaging Secular Culture
CMR5001, to get to the old site, just click on "Archive" in the top nav bar, on the right. We're maintaining all the articles from the original site as is. Eventually, they'll be incorporated into the new site. Also, as often happens with new sites, we're seeing areas where we can improve the layout, especially on the home page, and we'll…
RE: GodSpy 2.0: Engaging Secular Culture
JillianMK-- At the bottom of the page, there is a link to the RSS page. Right now we have one feed for all content. Shortly, you'll be able to subscribe to different parts of the site.
Copyright © 2008 GODSPY.com | Published by Transmodern Media LLC, 1360 Park Lane, Pelham Manor, NY 10803


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Soft-Maps by Emily Fischer
Watch Emily explain her design here
• Designer: Emily Fischer
• Your Link: HapticLab.com and info @ hapticlab dot com
• Location: Brooklyn, NY
• Title: Soft-Maps
• Materials: Dupioni silk and organic cotton
• Price Point: See Below
Description: Soft-Maps are quilted maps of cities and neighborhoods that represent someone's unique place in the world. These quilts are meant to be used: wrap your children in them, have a picnic, pull them close during the next Nor'easter. Not only beautiful, these blankets can be used as a mnemonic tool. As your child grows up with a Soft Map, they learn to read their neighborhood and its landmarks in a tactile, easily remembered way.
After months of development, Soft-Maps are now offered as affordable, digitally-fabricated "a la carte" maps. These machine-made maps are made of high quality, user-friendly cotton and can withstand everyday use. Though currently available for only Brooklyn neighborhoods, Manhattan neighborhoods will follow shortly. And by 2010, Haptic Lab will have the production capacity to begin taking wholesale orders of Soft-Maps for anywhere in the world.
Crib Quilt (36" x 45") = $190
Twin (45" x 60") = $300
Queen (80" x 90") = $585
Soft-Maps are still offered as one-of-a-kind handmade quilts which are designed on commission. These quilts are heirloom-quality art pieces and are meant to last for generations.
$600 (crib quilt) to $3200 (queen-sized quilt)
Pic 1: My studio is in a warehouse positioned exactly UNDER the F train in Brooklyn: the view is the structure that holds up the tracks. Every 5 minutes the entire building shakes with the passing trains overhead.
Pic 2: This is my Amish quilting frame I use to make handsewn Soft-Maps; currently on the frame is a map of South Philly. The three fabric layers of the quilt are tensioned to poles at the back and are rolled up together at the bottom as I stitch.
Pic 3: I spend a lot of time designing on the computer, especially now that I'm digitizing the production of Soft-Maps. I'm also constantly grooming over GIS data, USGS resources, and the NYPL map archives for new mapping information. Sometimes I email people.
• Favorite Designer: I'm obsessed with Petra Blaisse, a Dutch textile designer who works at an architectural (and sometimes urban) scale. Her office 'Inside Outside' uses unbelievable combinations of colors, textures, and transparencies to produce curtains and carpets that animate spaces by making them tactile. Her projects are like clothing a room gets to wear.
• Favorite Design: I once got to see what was described to me as a traditional Amish mourning quilt (I drew you a picture of it). It almost moved me to tears. The Amish are extremely reserved and never openly express feelings (my own cultural legacy is Mennonite); that quilt was saturated with all all the private emotions of loss and suffering felt by widow who made it... Good design can be beautiful, functional- but rarely is it sublime. Quilts are hard to place on the spectrum of 'art vs. design'... they're functional, yet they sometimes take years to produce. I think people's aversion to the immense cost of owning a handmade quilt reflects our consumer penchant for buying disposable design.
• View Original Entry with Comments
• Go To 2009 Contest Main Page
posted originally from: AT:New York


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Despite anecdotal reports of glitches with the launch this week of health insurance marketplaces under the Affordable Care Act, most of the sites did well, according to one performance index.
Federal: www.healthcare.gov
Washington, D.C.
New York
Rhode Island
"For the most part, the websites performed fairly well and were fairly reliable," said Aaron Rudger, marketing manager for Keynote Systems, which measures performance of websites. Most of the 17 state exchanges as well as the federal exchange were under the three-second benchmark considered the industry standard for loading an initial Web page.
Two of the sites had significant issues, with Vermont's – the slowest – taking more than eight seconds do load. Studies have shown that 40 percent of users will abandon a page if it takes more than three seconds to load. Rhode Island's site returned error messages for two hours during the 45-hour period monitored, Rudger said. This apparently was caused by a piece of third-party content that was not properly integrated into the site.
The top performing exchanges were Connecticut's, with an average loading time of 1.6 seconds, and the federal site, Healthcare.gov, which loaded in just over 1.9 seconds, Rudger said.
The exchanges are online shopping sites for health care insurance established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Seventeen states are operating their own sites, and the federal site provides services for the rest. The subject of intense partisan wrangling, the sites came under scrutiny when they went into operation Oct. 1, the same day a partial shutdown of the federal government began.
In the opening hours, several sites, including those in New York, Maryland and Kentucky, were overwhelmed by high volumes of traffic. But by the time Keynote began its monitoring at 6 p.m. EDT Oct. 1, most problems seemed to have been worked out. Keynote benchmarks the performance of home pages from 10 major U.S. metro areas over several major ISP backbones. The company monitored performance for the exchanges through 3 p.m. EDT Oct. 3.
Rudger said the federal shutdown did not appear to have an impact on the sites.
The Keynote figures offer an admittedly limited assessment of performance, measuring only the time required to load the home page of each site, "the front door experience." It did not measure back-end functionality of searching for, comparing and applying for health insurance policies.
Response time on websites typically varies with usage patterns over the course of a day, slowing some during the business day, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. A number of state exchange sites apparently were taken down for maintenance and to address problems during the early morning hours of Oct. 2 and 3, Rudger said.
Differences in performance were due in part to the "baggage" each site had to deal with, he said. The New York Health Benefit Exchange site, for instance, is also the old N.Y. State of Health site and comes with all the legacy issues of an old site. The federal Healthcare.gov site, on the other hand, is all new and "very nicely designed," Rudger said. It uses responsive-design techniques to provide optimized display on phones and tablets as well as desktops and laptops. "You're publishing just one site, but it renders nicely on a mobile screen."
Problems are to be expected on any significant online roll-out, Rudger said. "It's difficult for any agency to pull together a large, complex Web application like this, and at the end of the day you have to test it."
Ideally, testing will be done in a production environment as well as a testbed to validate that the sites, which often incorporate third-party services, are ready for business.
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Millions are signing up? That's funny. Do they get a free phone too?
I'm glad to see that the exchanges are doing well. All the talk about them crashing in the early hours is just something that happens with every product rollout, be it a video game or a concert going on sale, even a fashion show. Any time millions of people are trying to get to the same thing at the same time online, things tend to break until capacity is added. No big deal, and not a reason to say Obamacare does not work. By all accounts, all the sites are working fine now and millions are signing up to finally get insurance.
I love the bagger trolls on-site. Must suck to come out of the bubble to see that everything their midgets have been saying is untrue. Too funny!
Obama-care exchanges performed well? Does anyone really believe this?
What an outrageously deceptive and erroneous "headline". The measure by which this judgement was made may be an industry standard, but it certainly does NOT capture the functional disaster that this whole "system" really is. They have had THREE years to do this . and it is nop way ready, period.
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|Zing a Little Zong (From "Just For You")
|In the Cool Cool Cool of the Evening (From "Here Comes the Groom")
|In The Cool, Cool, Cool Of The Evening
Bing Crosby was, without doubt, the most popular and influential media star of the first half of the 20th century. The undisputed best-selling artist until well into the rock era (with over half a billion records in circulation), the most popular radio star of all time, and the biggest box-office draw of the 1940s, Crosby dominated the entertainment world from the Depression until the mid-'50s, and proved just as influential as he was popular. Unlike the many vocal artists befor... Read more


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We live in a time of powerful forces seeking to separate people into demographic boxes. These forces want to define us as strictly this or that "kind" of person; and these forces want us to start defining ourselves according to these strictly defined categories as well. More and more, we see categorizing, labeling and dividing people as Male vs. Female, or White vs. Black vs. Brown, or Heterosexual vs. Homosexual, or whatever else you can think of. (more…)
Posts Tagged 'Jew or Greek'
Posted in Devotional, Lutheran Church, Public Sphere, tagged Advent, ALCU, Baptism, Baptized into Christ, Belonging, Children of God, Christmas, Christmastime, Democrat, Gay or Straight, Happy Christmas, Heterosexual and Homosexual, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Identity, Image of God, Incarnate Word of God, Jesus Christ, Jew or Greek, Lord and Savior, Male and Female, Merry Christmas, Nativity, NRA, One in Christ Jesus, Only Begotten Son, Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, racial bigotry, racial division, racism, Republican, Right to Life, Slave or Free, United in Christ, Yeshua on December 3, 2016|


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The racetrack is a treasure trove of stories, and many writers, insiders and fans relate to this world in literary fashion. Short stories cross the editorial desk at HRI from time to time, and so it is our intention to share the most entertaining of them with you.
Do you have a take on the state of the game, a favorite race horse, trainer or jockey? Share your ideas. Show the racing industry and media the folly of their ways. The HRI Readers Blog: "When you lose it, Use it." Submit your blog to HRI Webmaster.
Note: HRI holds the right to edit any material or not post a submission due to its content.


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Pictured: Thomas directing a mobile app commercial
CHAPEL HILL – UNC alum Nicholas Thomas is the owner and creator of Filmlab, a video production company operating out of the 1789 business incubator in Chapel Hill. He's this week's featured young entrepreneur as part of our weekly summer series on the ventures of 1789 and LaUNCh Chapel Hill.
Thomas has produced content for many organizations on UNC's campus. He's working on a project currently for The CUBE, a program that's a part of Innovate@Carolina.
The 1789 business incubator, which launched in May, is already generating local buzz, not only because of the innovative young entrepreneurs setting up shop there, but also because of it's unique office design.
"The space is really cool. The view is the best on Franklin Street, and it helps you get work done because it's hard to be cooped up," he said. "When you have a space with arcade games and a ping-pong table, all that helps to build community because people can rally around that."
And that community is one that Thomas says has helped him to thrive. He's able to share ideas with other venturists coming from a diverse range of backgrounds.
"Just for an example yesterday, somebody who is doing a totally different venture—she had a question about Adobe Illustrator. She was like, 'Hey Nick, how do you do this?" And I was able to just come over and help her for a few seconds."
The former junior varsity basketball player majored in Management and Society with a business minor, but he always knew his passion was for telling other people's stories. He has also produced the promotional video for company, Tripstr, a website where travelers can place to share travel experiences and recommendations.
"I'm passionate about working with start-ups, other entrepreneurs, and tech companies which in RTP, it's become a huge trend for a lot of these companies to grow here."
1789 participants hope to move on to the LaUNCh Chapel Hill incubator, which is geared toward the more developed businesses.
Before venturists can move to the next level, though, they have to complete the Joe Start Up initiative, an educational program which helps them to formulate a business plan and also network with other entrepreneurs. It was created by Chris Mumford, who also co-founded LaUNCh with Jim Kitchen.
Thomas says Mumford has helped him realize what he can achieve if he works hard.
"He said to us, 'I hope that you guys are so successful that you skip LaUNCh and you go get your own office space. I think that would be really cool to get my own office space—not as big as this one [1789] obviously,'" Thomas said, laughing.


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|December 14, 2012, 07:15 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: February 21, 2009
Location: Georgia
Posts: 1,424
What can be done to make schools safer from deranged shooters?
Today another tragedy where one deranged shooter killed 26 innocent people in Connecticut.
Some will call for bans of firearms and restrictions of civil rights to make people feel safer.
I don't want people to "feel safer" I want to do something that actually makes people safer.
I submit that banning some firearms and restricting magazine capacities would not have prevented today's shooting or reduced the number of innocent deaths.
If the goal is to make schools safer for the students, then:
1) Would a law requiring that a certain percentage (perhaps 50% or 100%) of teachers be trained (to local law enforcement level training) and armed while they are teaching to protect the children and themselves? Now schools are "predator feeding zones" as they are designated "gun free zones".
I am not concerned with liberal opposition to my politically incorrect path; or union opposition to changing the job description of a teacher. If the problem is to be addressed then we have to look at solutions to reach the goal.
2) How about designing school so that someone who seeks to gain access to the school while armed is detected and prevented from gaining access? Limited access should be easy to design and all the technology exists. Cameras, metal detectors, remote control doors, intercoms . . . .
Harden the classrooms with security doors which can withstand rifle fire and resist being opened with tools. Make the windows high enough to prevent outside viewing, and other things which I have not thought about; to make it more difficult for a predator to get access to the people in schools.
Am I thinking about impossible responsibilities here?
NRA Life Member - Orange Gunsite Member - NRA Certified Pistol Instructor
"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society,
they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that justifies it." Frederic Bastiat
|December 14, 2012, 07:22 PM
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Join Date: October 9, 1998
Location: Ohio USA
Posts: 8,105
Mods have requested the topic to not be discussed until all the facts are known.
|December 14, 2012, 07:34 PM
Senior Member
Join Date: June 16, 2009
Posts: 201
We aren't discussing this particular shooting, but the topic of school shootings in general.
In my opinion, we don't don't do much of anything. We can't innoculate ourselves from every kind of nut job.
By the same token, I also don't believe we begin coating our trees with tectured, non-splintering plastic and safety steps so that children don't die from falling from trees.
Schools are slammed with burdens.... we have all kinds of aggressive, diva, thug-like kids that you never hear about (because they are protected by HiPPA) and they go to school with your kids. Teachers and admin are dancing on eggshells to keep those bad boys happy, too... it is horrible.
It is politically incorrect to segregate the bad kids from the good, so we are stuck.
Schools are broke. Not sure if every single school can be outfitted with special security features.
|December 14, 2012, 08:15 PM
Join Date: June 29, 2000
Location: Rupert, Idaho
Posts: 9,621
How to protect our schools from rampaging or deranged individuals, is not about guns. Can't move this to GD, as all topics must be about guns.
How to protect our schools, is not in anyway related to civil rights. How to protect our schools, could possibly be a legal discussion, but it would be tenuous at best.
I can't in good conscience allow this to remain open. It is off topic for TFL.
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Expedia-Verified Reviews
Don't miss out on a lower price on this hotel
Get an overview of this hotelHistoric Phoenix area resort with golf, spa, tennis, and dining
Popular property highlights
Near Litchfield Park
Built in 1918, this luxury resort is surrounded by gardens and citrus trees, 2 blocks from Litchfield Park, 5 miles from Wildlife World Zoo, and 18 miles from downtown Phoenix and Phoenix Convention Center. The resort is also in close proximity to the University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals.
Golf, tennis, spa
This 440-acre Phoenix area resort features 3 championship golf courses, 3 pools including a new 25-foot tower with water slides, full-service spa, and several dining options.
Adobe casitas
Rooms offer plush beds with imported Italian linens, oversized bathrooms with private vanities, high-speed Internet access and expansive private patios with views
Languages Spoken
- English
Hotel Amenities
Hotel Amenities
The Wigwam is 2 blocks from Litchfield Park, 18 miles from downtown Phoenix, and 25 miles from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
A romantic retreat with a style all its own. Treasure across the generations, this piece of Arizona's history combines historic charm with a modern sense for adventure. Relieve yourself in the comfort of one of our 331 casitas and suites, but be sure to make time to experience 54 holes of beautiful golf course, 3 pools, a superb spa, a 25ft twisting water slide.The resort has a spa, a fitness center, a tennis center with 9 courts and stadium seating for 350, hot-air ballooning on the grounds, bocce ball, and private poolside cabanas.
All dining options at the resort feature farm-to-table cuisine, with fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables, as well as locally produced meats, cheeses, and wines. Many menu ingredients are hand-selected from the weekly on-site Farmer's Market or the organic garden.
Guests can enjoy a wide variety of entertainment options during their stay, including a monthly concert series, Native American Storytelling, art festivals, garden walks, and pool parties. Live entertainment is available in the Main Lodge Thursday through Saturday evenings.
- Picnic area
- Waterslide
- Coffee/tea in common areas
- Number of outdoor pools - 3
- Number of bars/lounges - 2
- Number of poolside bars - 2
- Full-service spa
- 24-hour front desk
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Business center
- Conference space
- Porter/bellhop
- Express check-out
- Year Built 1918
- Meeting rooms 25
- Pool cabanas (surcharge)
- Steam room
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- Free WiFi
- Self parking (surcharge)
- Pool sun loungers
- Sauna
- Health club
- Valet parking (surcharge)
- Computer station
- Conference space size (meters) - 9290
- Spa services on site
- Luggage storage
- Hair salon
- Breakfast available (surcharge)
- ATM/banking
- Number of restaurants - 3
- Concierge services
- Conference space size (feet) - 100000
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Conference center
- Shopping on site
- Pool umbrellas
- Outdoor tennis courts - 9
- Spa tub
- Total number of rooms - 331
- Wedding services
- Golf course on site
- Garden
- Multilingual staff
- Fireplace in lobby
- Free newspapers in lobby
Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
Available in some public areas: Free WiFi
Languages Spoken
- English
- Spanish
Self parking (surcharge), Valet parking (surcharge)
Room Amenities
- Pay movies
- Premium bedding
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- Patio
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Air conditioning
- Free newspaper
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Phone
- Refrigerator
- Coffee/tea maker
- Microwave (on request)
- Daily housekeeping
- Turndown service
- Designer toiletries
- Private bathroom
- Bathrobes
- Hair dryer
- Shower/tub combination
- Iron/ironing board
- Desk
- Number of bathrooms -
- Cable TV service
- Free WiFi
- Room service (limited hours)
- Rollaway/extra beds (surcharge)
- Free cribs/infant beds
- Connecting/adjoining rooms available
Where to Eat
Litchfield's - At the resort's signature restaurant, guests can choose from intimate tables, a communal farm table, or interactive counter seating overlooking the kitchen. Menu favorites include wood-fired pork chops and free-range chicken. Open for dinner.
Red's Bar & Grill- Named after the resort's former golf pro of 42 years, Red's Bar & Grill overlooks the historic Gold and Patriot golf courses. Menu offers soups, sandwiches, burgers, and Wagyu Kobe Meatloaf. Patio seating available. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Wigwam Bar - This sunny, open-air bar offers morning lattés and pastries, evening tapas and cocktails, and live entertainment.
The Tower Pool Bar & Grill - Relaxed poolside bar serving light fare, Arizona wines, tequilas, and classic cocktails. Adjacent to the Lodge Pool.
Oasis Pool Bar - Open seasonally Memorial Day through Labor Day Weekend, Friday through Sunday. On those days, our newly refreshed pool bar will be serving an array of refreshing beverages, light appetizers, salads and wraps. Enjoy a margarita or mojito at the bar, or try a Lounge Chair Lizard and more while soaking in the sun on one of our new chaise lounger, or from the comfort of one of the new cabanas.
Nearby Things to Do
The resort has 3 18-hole championship courses, 2 designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and 1 by Robert "Red" Lawrence. Jones' Gold Course is on Golf Digest's list of Arizona's best courses.
The Wigwam has 9 tennis courts and a 350-seat tennis stadium for tournament viewing. 2 outdoor pools; one a "quiet" pool Friday-Sunday, intended for adults. Croquet, badminton, bicycle rentals, volleyball, and shuffleboard are available, along with a health club offering the latest equipment. Horseback riding and hiking are available in the mountains, about 20 minutes from the Wigwam.
The recreational activities listed below are available either on-site or near the hotel; fees may apply.
- Rafting nearby
- Bicycle rentals nearby
- Golf driving range on site
- Golfing on site
- Fitness classes on site
- Mountain biking nearby
- Tennis lessons on site
- Hiking/biking trails nearby
- Volleyball on site
Spa Services
The Red Door Salon & Spa is the best place to be for relaxation and health with massages, facial and body treatments. This 4.0-star resort in Phoenix offers a full-service salon and expansive fitness center.
- Number of treatment rooms 15
- Outdoor treatment areas
- Couples treatment rooms
- Manicures and pedicures
- Body wraps
- Body treatments
- Body scrubs
- Facial treatments
- Hot stone massage
- Deep tissue massage
- Swedish massage
- Prenatal massage
- Sauna in spa
- Spa tub in spa
- Minimum age to access spa is 16
- Reflexology
- Sports massage
- Massages
If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please note them at check-out when you book your room.
- Accessible bathroom
- Roll-in shower
- In-room accessibility
Hotel Policies
Check-in time starts at 4 PM
Minimum check-in age is 21
Check-out time is 11 AM
Payment types
Children and extra beds
- Children are welcome.
- Kids stay free! Up to 2 children 17 years old and younger stay free when using existing bedding.
- Rollaway/extra beds are available for USD 25.00 per day.
- Free cribs (infant beds)!
- Pets allowed for an extra charge of USD 50 per accommodation, per day
- 2 per room
- Specific rooms only, restrictions apply
- Pet-friendly rooms can be requested by contacting the property at the number on the booking confirmation
You need to know
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.
- Resort fee: USD 33.32 per accommodation, per night
- Fitness center access
- Fitness/yoga classes
- Shuttle service
- Business center/computer access
- Internet access
- Newspaper
- Phone calls
- Faxes
- Self parking
- Valet parking
- Parking
- Additional inclusions
Optional extras
- Breakfast fee: between USD 15.00 and USD 20.00 for adults, USD 12.00 and USD 17.00 for children (approximately)
- Pet fee: USD 50 per accommodation, per day
- In-room microwave fee: USD 27.77 per night
- Rollaway bed fee: USD 25.00 per day
Hotel Name
- Wigwam Hotel Litchfield Park
- Wigwam Litchfield Park
- The Wigwam Arizona/Litchfield Park
- The Wigwam Golf Hotel Litchfield Park
- The Wigwam Golf Resort And Spa
- The Wigwam Hotel
We should mention
Reservations are required for golf tee times. Reservations can be made by contacting the resort prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation. Up to 2 children 17 years old and younger stay free when occupying the parent or guardian's room, using existing bedding. The property has connecting/adjoining rooms, which are subject to availability and can be requested by contacting the property using the number on the booking confirmation. The property allows pets in specific rooms only and has other pet restrictions (surcharges apply and can be found in the Fees section). Guests can arrange to bring pets by contacting the property directly, using the contact information on the booking confirmation.
Awards & Affiliations
- The property is a member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts.


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This is Bell Let's Talk Day.
Multiple Olympic medallist Clara Hughes, lead spokesperson for the campaign, was on CTV News in Toronto today. From among the calls she fielded came this articulate gem, "To kill the pain too often means to kill oneself."
However, and this was Clara's message, help and hope are available to those who reach out.
Citing Bell's initiative today, St. Paul's (Toronto) MP Dr. Carolyn Bennett, in a Member's Statement in the House of Commons, called on the federal government to move forward with an anti-stigma campaign. I won't hold my breath.
To kill the pain too often means to kill oneself.
Something else important to point out is that mental illness is on a spectrum. Major depression, bipolar or schizophrenia are examples of the most serious forms of mental illness but there are plenty of gray areas, too – usually the first signs of something more serious.
My first meeting with a mental health professional came around the time that I was diagnosed HIV-positive, nearly twenty-two years ago. I was put on the lowest dose of a common anti-depressant and it was only when I took myself off it a few years later (unsupervised, such as I did it, is never a good idea) that I realized how much it had been helping.
Then, years later, what I identified as a distinct lack of depression led me down a path of behaviour quite out of character. Only at the bottom of the deep hole of my own digging did I again seek help at which time I was diagnosed, over time, with bipolar-II – a variant of the more extreme bipolar or manic-depressive.
Listening to a description of the condition and its symptoms I recognized myself and felt much relief. It explained much about recent feelings and behaviour but also put historic episodes into better perspective.
A change in medication once or twice, trying to minimize effects on my lipids, has resulted in a recent period of stability.
I cannot take my moods for granted, certainly not the good ones. Yet I feel that, so long as I take my medications ("head meds" or those for HIV/AIDS), I have hope.
Social contact cannot be over-emphasized either.


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William Irving Rider
FERRISBURGH — William Irving Rider, 81, died unexpectedly Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008, at his home in Ferrisburgh. He was born Jan. 27, 1927, in Ferrisburgh, the son of John Philip and Ellen Porter Rider.
He is survived by his sister, Marjorie Bushey of Middlebury; several nieces and nephews; and dear friends.
He was predeceased by six sisters and a brother.
There will be no public calling hours.
A graveside service will be held 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 8, at Gage Cemetery in Ferrisburgh.
Memorial contributions may be made to Vergennes Area Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 11, Vergennes, VT 05491.
Claire Theresa Mullaney
BRANDON — Claire Theresa Mullaney, 80, died Sept. 22, 2008, at her home in Brandon. She was born in Arlington, Mass., on Sept. 1, 1928, the daughter of Emile and Alice (Comeau) Saulnier.
She graduated from Arlington (Mass.) High School, class of 1946. She furthered her education in dress design in the Boston area. She later worked in a bridal shop in Burlington, Mass., for several years. She relocated to Leicester Junction in 1977 moving from Burlington, Mass. She afterwards moved to Brandon.
She volunteered at the Brandon Senior Citizens, cooking and serving meals. She also worked at Camp Thorpe in Goshen, doing laundry for the disabled children. According to family, she enjoyed traveling, sewing, and crafts and was a wonderful baker. She was proud of her gardening skills and lugged her own firewood.
She is survived by two daughters, Charlene Ingram of Madison, N.H., and Cheryl Gallagher of Stoneham, Mass.; three sons, Robert Dejoie of the Marshall Islands, Marty Dejoie of Florida, and Jody Mullaney of Goffstown, N.H.; a sister, May Balog of Cape Cod; her companion, Kenneth LaPorte of Leicester; nine grandchildren; three great-grandchildren, two nephews and several cousins.
Friends may call at the Miller and Ketcham Funeral Home in Brandon on Thursday, Oct 2, from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m., where a vigil service will be held at 7:45 p.m.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, Oct. 3, at 10 a.m. at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Brandon. The Rev. Albert "Skip" Baltz, pastor, will be the celebrant. The graveside committal service and burial will follow in St. Mary's Cemetery.
Following the service the family will receive friends at the church parish hall for a time of fellowship and remembrance.
Carol Waldorf Lohr
SARATOGA, Calif. — A woman of timeless grace and warmth, Carol Waldorf Lohr, 71, passed away peacefully in her sleep the morning of Aug. 19, 2008, due to acute complications from metastatic cancer. Jerry Lohr, Carol's husband of nearly 49 years, was with her at their home in Saratoga, Calif.
Carol Wilhelmina Waldorf was the only daughter and eldest of five children born to Helmuth Waldorf and Miriam Tracy Waldorf, who resided in East Hampton, N.Y., prior to their deaths. Always ladylike yet with an inquisitive mind, Carol reflected the acumen and drive of parents whose values centered on family, education, hard work and excellence.
Helmuth Waldorf, a tool and die maker's apprentice who created and then sold one of America's leading instrument testing companies, emigrated from Westphalia, Germany, at age 19 to study at Columbia University. There, he met and later married the learned Miriam Tracy, a teacher of history at a time when women with advanced credentials were few.
Carol spent her youth absorbed in history, science, and her German and English heritage. She delighted in her younger brothers, cousins, and paternal grandmother Ummy, and enjoyed summer trips to upstate New York and the Hamptons.
A graduate of Manhasset High School Class of 1954, Carol's love of language landed her at Middlebury College in Vermont, where she excelled in French and biology. After graduation in 1958, Carol traveled west to Stanford University, where she pursued her masters in French, dabbled in Russian, and met her husband, Jerome Julian (Jerry) Lohr.
Carol's beauty, charm and lilting laugh quickly caught the eye of the serious engineering student, and in 1959, they married and settled in Menlo Park. A South Dakota native and also the eldest of five children, Jerry pursued his master's and then Ph.D. in civil engineering at Stanford, later serving in the Air Force as a research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center.
In 1961, first son Steven Waldorf Lohr was born, and in 1964, they birthed both a daughter — Cynthia Caroline Lohr — and Jerry's first building and development business, Saratoga Foothills Development Corp.
Carol thrived in parenthood, and in the summer of 1969, Lawrence Tracy Lohr was born. Carol doted on her family and cultivated in her children a deep love and respect for travel and the arts and sciences, which they in turn have nurtured well into adulthood.
Carol was also the nexus around which the family evolved while Jerry built two additional, successful enterprises — J. Lohr Properties and J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines. Exemplifying deep pride in the accomplishments and interests of her children and husband, Carol was quick to engage extended family, friends and industry acquaintances with a sweetly delivered story, anecdote or photo.
Carol was laid to rest in Saratoga on Sept. 12, 2008, in a private gathering of close friends and family who honored and celebrated her life with splendor befitting her, notably, on the day that would have marked Jerry and Carol's 49th wedding anniversary.
Carol is preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Berthold Waldorf, and remains forever loved and in the hearts and minds of husband Jerry, sons Steve and Lawrence and their respective partners Sylvia Michiels and fiancée Emily Baker, and daughter Cynthia and husband Sam Lucente, and their daughters, Emily and Annabella.
Carol will be remembered as an elegant, generous, extremely kind and gentle woman, whose refined aesthetic sense is reflected as much in the coastal home she and Jerry created as it is in the delicate tone and timbre of their chosen wedding song, "Fascination Waltz."
To further honor her memory, family and friends have established a permanent scholarship fund at her alma mater, Middlebury College. The Carol Waldorf Lohr '58 Scholarship Fund will be awarded each year in perpetuity to a student with demonstrated financial need.
Checks may be sent to Meghan Foley '77, College Advancement, Munford House, Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, 05753, or contributions may be made online at middlebury.edu/supporting.
William Astor
BURLINGTON — William Astor, 73, of Burlington died on Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008. He was born July 19, 1935 in New York City, the son of John Astor and Ellen Tuck French.
He grew up in New York City and spent his summers as a child in Newport, R.I. He graduated from Saint Paul's School in New Hampshire and Rollins College in Florida. Following college, he and his family moved to New Vernon, N.J., where he worked at the New Vernon Fire Department, serving as president from 1972 to 1974.
He moved with his family to Cornwall, where he owned and managed a family farm. In his later years, he moved to Burlington to be closer to his children and grandchildren and also to receive the medical attention he needed.
According to family, he remained a stoic and independent person in spite of his illness, always maintaining a great sense of humor and the ability to make people smile and laugh in even the most difficult of circumstances.
He is survived by his two sons, William Astor and G. Todd Astor of Essex Junction; his wife, Robin; three grandchildren; a sister, Jacqueline Astor Drexel of New York, and a nephew.
Out of respect for his wishes, there will be no service to celebrate his life.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Burlington Firefighters Donation Fund, 136 South Winooski Avenue, Burlington VT 05401.


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E-commerce tools
You always wanted to create your own online shop but never dared to face the technical or financial challenges that such a web creation might involve? Starting from the Professional pack you have the possibility of creating an online store where you can sell your products or services. The Professional pack lets you sell up to 10 products, and the Business pack lets you sell an unlimited number of them.
Advanced e-commerce functionality
On a par with any online shopping site, Gandi Site allows you to create galleries for your products, manage prices in your interface, add shipping costs, and include display buttons for immediate purchase, add to cart, etc.
You can then choose PayPal or Stripe (accepts 9 currencies, including $, €, and £) to receive orders and payments for your account.
A complete site for your clients
Put your potential customers at ease by offering the best online shopping features, including a display of the current basket, complete records, and full management.
Making customers feel comfortable and confident is the key to successful selling, and your site will achieve this and more, creating a familiar, no hassle environment.