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Lignite sale advances / Secret iCar lab in Berlin
Der Tagesspiegel
"Czech investor wants to take over brown coal operations"
A year and a half after Sweden's Vattenfall said it would sell its German lignite operations, a decision on the future of eastern German brown coal is now in the works, writes Alexander Fröhlich in Der Tagesspiegel. Vattenfall's supervisory board debated the sale of its German lignite assets to Czech utility and mining company EPH on Sunday, ahead of its German subsidiary's board meeting on Monday in Berlin.
Read the article in German here.
Find a recent CLEW article on the sale here.
Find a CLEW factsheet on the sale here.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
"Apple hires German car experts for iCar laboratory in Berlin"
Apple is working on an electric "iCar" with help from German car industry experts at a "small, secret development laboratory" in Berlin, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Citing insiders, the paper says Apple has a 15-20 person team of "high-calibre experts from the German auto industry" planning the project and working on the technology. The iCar is targeted for release as a car-sharing compact car in 2019 or 2020, the newspaper writes. Apple did not comment.
Read the article in German here.
Find a CLEW dossier on the Energiewende in transport here.
pv magazine
Tight schedule for consultation on Renewable Energy Act
Business associations and German states have little time left to participate in consultations for the 2016 reform of the Renewable Energy Act (EEG), reports Sandra Enkhardt in pv magazine. The economics ministry will only accept written statements until 21 April. The cabinet is likely to vote on the proposal on 27 April, with parliament debating the law in May and June, the paper writes.
Read the article in German here.
Find a summary of first reactions to the proposal in Friday's News Digest here.
Find a CLEW factsheet on the reform proposals here.
Kieler Nachrichten
"Green ministers: Federal government blocks wind energy"
Energy ministers from German states where the Green Party is in government are criticising reform plans for the Renewable Energy Act (EEG), according to the Kieler Nachrichten. In a joint statement, they say limiting the share of renewables to 45 percent by 2025 lacks courage. Renewables could provide a much larger share of electricity consumption, making a greater contribution to climate protection and guaranteeing more future-proof jobs, they argue. "Obviously, the government doesn't care about the Paris Climate Agreement," said Robert Habeck, the Green energy minister from the state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Agence France Presse
Left Party says renewables expansion "handed over to large investors"
Planned government reforms will hand over future renewables expansion to large investors, sidelining citizens' projects, according to Left Party energy spokesperson Eva Bulling-Schröter. She also criticised that economics minister Sigmar Gabriel wants to retain the "rigid" lid on onshore wind expansion, according to an afp report.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
"6.5 billion euros for eco power in one quarter"
German power consumers paid 6.5 billion euros in the first quarter of 2016 to finance renewable energies, up by 400 million euros or seven percent from the same period last year, reports Andreas Mihm in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Feed-in tariffs paid to operators of wind, photovoltaic or biomass installations rose to 5.2 billion euros compared to 4.2 billion euros.
Find the CLEW factsheet on Germany's "green energy account" here.
Die Welt
"Against the 'dark, cold calm' with Siemens technology"
Siemens has plans to build the first large, 600-megawatt, gas-and-steam turbine power plant in Germany after four years of order stagnation, reports Gerhard Hegmann in Die Welt. The plant, to be built in Leipheim in Bavaria, could be used to ensure the security of the power supply to compensate for the unreliability of renewable sources, writes Hegmann. "According to industry experts, the project is a model case on how Siemens – aside from wind power facilities – could profit from the Energiewende in its conventional power plant segment after all." Siemens did not comment on the plans.
Read the article in German here.
Find the CLEW factsheet "Germany's new power market design" here.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
"A miracle made in Germany"
Scientists at a start-up with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) are developing the prototype of a free-piston linear generator (FPLG), expected by the end of the year, reports the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. This motor would be "cleaner, more efficient, lighter, smaller and cheaper than everything currently on the market," says investor Manfred Gröger. "The motor is the missing piece that makes the Energiewende affordable." The FPLG is essentially a hybrid motor that kicks in when the battery is empty, runs on many kinds of fuel from diesel to hydrogen to bio fuels and would function as a range extender for electric vehicles. The idea of an FPLG first surfaced more than half a century ago, but the level of development in electronics was not up to the task.
"Industry mourns the end of the uniform power price"
Despite record low wholesale market prices for electricity in Germany, energy-intensive industries are lamenting the days when the power price was higher but state levies and fees lower, write Klaus Stratmann and Martin Wocher in the Handelsblatt. For those companies that are not exempt from paying the renewables surcharge because they are energy intensive and competing internationally, the wholesale market price only makes up one quarter of their expenses for electricity, Christian Schimansky from foundry industry association BDGuss told the paper. Rising grid fees in some parts of the country were also posing a threat to industries competitiveness, the article says.
Read the article in German (behind paywall) here.
Read a CLEW factsheet about power prices for industry in Germany here.
"More companies to be exempt from renewable energy surcharge"
2,305 companies want exemption from the renewable energy surcharge this year, compared to 2,154 last year, reports Dagmar Dehmer in the Tagesspiegel. The government says 116 exempted companies' power consumption was so low they almost would have lost the exemption last year. The Green Party suspects many of those companies may be avoiding measures to increase efficiency so they can stay exempt from paying the surcharge, and says the government must resolve this conflict of goals.
Find the article in German here.
"Without a secure infrastructure, disaster looms"
The new bill on the digitalisation of the energy transition is full of holes and doesn't take into account a range of important technical details, writes Peter Welchering on Deutschlandfunk. This was the result of a parliamentary hearing on the law last week. The draft bill didn't clarify how data from customers who have installed smart meters are allowed to be used, the author says.
Read the article in German here.


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We have teamed up with Napa Valley's top instructors to provide residents and visitors with results-driven private training and high quality fitness classes such as yoga, kettlebell and boot camp.
Class Schedule
Introducing Heart Rate Classes
We are excited to announce we are officially a My Zone gym at Auberge du Soleil. Wearables are the number one trend in fitness and MYZONE is the current industry leader. Look for heart rate classes starting in February.

subset: commoncrawl


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KC-135E Tanker 1/100 Scale Model Aircraft
Click to enlarge
The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is a United States aerial refueling tanker aircraft. It has been in service with the United States Air Force since 1957.
Besides its primary role as an inflight aircraft refueler, the KC-135, designated NKC-135, has assisted in several research projects at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California. One such project occurred between 1979 and 1980 when special wingtip winglets, developed by Richard Whitcomb of the Langley Research Center, were tested at Dryden, using an NKC-135A tanker loaned to NASA by the Air Force. Winglets are small, nearly vertical fins installed on an aircraft's wing tips. The results of the research showed that drag was reduced and range could be increased by as much as 7 percent at cruise speeds. Winglets are now being incorporated into most new commercial and military transport jets, as well as business aviation jets.
NASA also has operated several KC-135 aircraft (without the tanker equipment installed) as their infamous Vomit Comet zero-gravity simulator aircraft. The longest-serving (1973 to 1995) version was KC-135A 59-1481, named Weightless Wonder IV registered N930NA.


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Hormone Replacement: Some People Think It Works
A recent meta-analysis of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) effect on mortality and morbidity painted a pessimistic picture. Certainly a lot of "science" blogs jumped on the story and instantly turned "thumbs down" on HGH replacement. Personally, I say "not so fast." Meta-analysis studies such as this cannot provide a definitive answer to a question. They can only suggest new approaches to experimental study.
While anecdotal evidence is not proof of any scientific principle, some may find it interesting to see examples of "successful" treatment with hormone replacement. These two videos are promotional videos by a hormone replacement clinic in Palm Springs, California. This clinic has been in business for over a decade now.
Total Hormone Therapy Vid. 1
Total Hormone Therapy Vid. 2
The concept of hormone replacement therapy is simple. HGH, DHEA, Thymosin, male and female sex hormones, and often Thyroxin will fall in concentration with age. To better approximate the physical condition of a younger person, you would theoretically want to replace hormones that tend to drop off in concentration dramatically with age. You would also want to see a drop in the pro-inflammatory and other harmful hormone levels that rise with age, at the same time.
It is not proven to work, other than anecdotally. But the idea deserves better experimental analysis than it has received so far, at least in the US.
Labels: hormone replacement


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Hi all,
As I dip my toe back into making QL spares again, I am applying the lessons learned from last time round:
1. Use a payment processor that doesn't hold on to payments randomly for 90+ days
2. Don't announce/pre-sell anything. Don't take money for anything that's not ready.
3. Don't spend money from a customer until you've shipped their parts
4. Have a CRM that works, so you know what needs to go where.
5. Don't have partners who bill you just for being involved
6. Communicate!
1. PayPal sucked. They often would just put random holds on international transfers for 30 or 90 days. More than half of them. I had just found Square towards the end of that whole process and they were reliable. They didn't make themselves a character in the transaction, and their fees were reasonable. They also had a really nice CRM system.
2. This hurt me. I often would be part way through testing and, because I tested thoroughly, I'd find some small technical issue that would require rework or similar. I'd then be stuck in a position where I had a dozen paid orders and an item I couldn't ship yet. So now I only announce things when testing is finished. If I need to redesign or make changes, what I have is already assembled and still ship-worthy. The revisions will make version 2. The way it hurt me was my dilemma of either holding up the entire order so I still only pay one shipping fee, or do I split the order and pay double shipping out of pocket? This happened more often than I'd like to admit.
3. Because half the income was tied up for one or three months, I found myself spending the other half of the income just to satisfy orders. No bueno. A customer's money needs to be isolated and not allocated until the items are shipped. I have decided the best way to approach this is to ONLY take money on items that are already packaged and ready to go. Money comes in, goods go out. Nobody waits.
4. The CRM was pushed onto me. It was clunky, and it was not editable. It didn't store basic information like what people ordered, and couldn't be made to do so. It simply had a check box for "completed".... What happened if someone placed a second order? It was pre-completed. Now, with Square, they provide a light stock and order summary. Per order.
5. Yeah, no. I'll just be me this time. I won't be paying myself, just rolling the money back into paying component/materials invoices and funding the next thing. She Who Must Be Obeyed has ruled that this hobby needs to be self-supporting and mustn't impact the household. So this isn't going to be a business. I'm just a hobbyist.
6. If things went wrong, I'd communicate badly or not at all. I guess I hoped to get it sorted more quickly. That was dumb. Instead,just avoid the need to communicate at all by just getting it right first time. Only sell what I have, only ship right away. Keep it simple. Don't over-think it.
So, I am waiting on slightly revised PCBs for two projects. I won't be making my Feb 14 planned date, so I'm pushing back to March 1st just so I have breathing room to test the new PCBs, assemble several, and make sure I have good stocks for launch.
I'm also reworking the Q68 dongle. It'll work on the QL and on any PC or any device with a standard PC serial port. Again, March 1st, maybe. I'm adding handshaking to it.
So, for simplicity, I'm pushing *everything* back to March 1st, even though much of it (Minerva, Q-Power 2, etc.) are ready now.
Things on my mind...
Tell us about your other hobbies & none QL related items here
3 posts • Page 1 of 1
- NormanDunbar
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Re: Things on my mind...
Sounds like you have it all worked out Dave. Should be fine with those "rules".
Good luck.
Good luck.
Why do they put lightning conductors on churches?
If at first you don't succeed, don't take up skydiving!
If you think your job is pointless, remember, there's someone in Germany who fits indicators to BMWs.
If at first you don't succeed, don't take up skydiving!
If you think your job is pointless, remember, there's someone in Germany who fits indicators to BMWs.
Re: Things on my mind...
One of the things that distresses me from the last go around is that my former partner deleted the CRM system with two outstanding orders. So I have two orders that were not fulfilled, I don't know who they were or what they ordered. I do though have a more recent order where it's on a "when it's ready" basis, and that guy's going to score like a bandit with some free cool stuff in their order!
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A tickle. Not a tissue./
Clara had been in her crib for about fifteen minutes when she began calling for Mommy. Elysha thought that she was asking for a tissue, so she went upstairs to give her one. It wasn't a tissue that she was requesting.
It was a tickle.
Much cuter but considerably less okay since it was well past her bedtime.


text: Brewery News Through it all…WHBC Beer flows – Posted February 13, 2014 Eddie That's right. Your Beer. Brewed Here. Sold Here – tonight no matter how deep the snow is. If you are willing to brave the elements (or deny the weather forecasters so prone to hyperbole) – we will be open from 5:00pm – 6:30pm this evening (Thursday Feb. 13th) We will also plan to be open at 5:00pm on Friday, February 14th for any and all who want their weekly dose of Wolf Hollow – and what better place to start your Valentines date then with the deep, rich Peaty Porter or some famed District 6 IPA in your growler? Stay safe – and see you soon!


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These invisible socks score points thanks to their all-over design which mixes chessboard squares with stripes. The elasticated band in the heel area provides a colour contrast. To stop these low-cut socks from disappearing inside your shoe, the inner heel is equipped with a silicone print. The Burlington logo is embroidered on the toe. Item No. 20639
made with love
I'm made of 60% Cotton, 38% Polyamide, 2% Elastane to give you a perfect fit.
- Combed cotton
- Geometric all-over pattern
- Burlington logo on toe
take care of me
what's your style
Show us your new style on Instagram at #burlingtonsocks!go to instagram


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Here's a cookie recipe for the health nut in you! Sugar free AND sweetener free, these gluten free, paleo cookies are neither sweet nor savoury making them the perfect healthy snack without indulgence. They are great for those used to a diet low in sugar :) and a great snack that's not overly sweet but instead provides your body with nourishing ingredients that will love your body back and ward off sugar cravings.
These soft little bites are made with just a handful of ingredients and go perfectly with a cuppa!


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Due to technological advancement and invention of new things, there are a lot of electrical items that are available in the market most of which help in making things easier for us. While most of these items have instruction manuals on both how to install and operate, it is always advisable to have a licensed electrician to install the items for you. Some companies, especially those providing paid television services provide installation services either using their own staff or a contracted company. This saves the buyer the hassle of looking for an electrician to do the job for them. Vision Electrical electrical contractors Gold Coast service has gained a lot of prominence with many ordinary Australians. With the Vision Electrical electrical contractors Gold Coast service, you can be assured of top notch electrical services whether you are planning to rewire, remodel or simply wiring your newly constructed homes.
The company has been operating on the Gold Coast with a full operating license for some time. In that time, the company has provided its services to many people both in commercial set-ups and domestic set-ups. Because of their quality services, the company is highly regarded and rated. This is due to the high emphasis they put on quality service and their commitment to customer satisfaction. The company promises to make and keep their customers happy throughout the process by providing regular updates and feedback on the work they are doing.
In order for the company to ensure that they continue to provide the best service, Vision Electrical has employed very highly qualified and experienced technicians. These technicians and tradesmen have years of experience and have provided their services to varied customers. The knowledge and experience are combined with their commitment to the company's service charter to ensure that the customer is kept happy. Besides their technical expertise, the technicians are very well trained on customer service and are able to provide regular and relevant feedback to the customers whenever needed.
For quality assurance, the company also ensures that all their technicians have the relevant professional licenses and that they belong to their respective professional bodies. This ensures that the professionals maintain the professional ethical standards in addition to the technical competence that is required of professionals of their stature.
The company aims to exceed the Australian quality standards in their work and this they do through rigorous quality checks ensuring all quality standards have been met. The company is aware of the risks involved when handling electrical appliances and ensures utmost care is observed when handling the electrical issues. This is both to prevent any damage to the electrical system resulting from poor installation as well as any damage resulting from mishandling the electricity.
The company provides services at highly competitive prices. Whether it is a small job or a big job, the company's pricing formula results in one of the best prices available. With Vision Electrical Electrical Contractors Gold Coast services, one can be assured that electrical needs are met in a professional and safe way and will not cost the customer an arm and a leg.


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We have learned lots of acronyms (serp), we have learned scrum.
Moreover, we have learned that Cucumber likes to be fed Gherkin.
We have uttered sentences like "Will Google allow that?" and "I think the button doesn't mind".
Google's constitution, a button's feelings, a cucumber's appetite – there's nothing you can't think of that you have to think of these days …


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Showing all 15 results
It's a Mumbai based eatery house, a fast food outlet that will provide a combination of lip-smacking menu of food at value pricing with fun packaging and a stomping ground with excellent atmosphere to different/various category of Clients.
Shop No. 02 / Park Paradise ,Opp. Green Park , Mahada Complex, Oshiwara , Andheri West Mumbai 400053


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I'm new to IcyPhoenix and have recently set it up on my Father's webserver hosted by JustHost.
I'm having the *infamous* white page / blank page issue. On initial install, I was able to make posts and browse forums. Then suddenly it started acting up! Basically, clicking on any of my forums/subforums (using any variation of the viewforum.php file) generates a blank page with no echo'd errors. The last thing done in the ACP was to modify user config (for an unknown purpose, my father did it, but I don't see how that would affect this...)
I have searched and crawled through the support forum and FAQ section and tried a dozen different remedies (one at a time), including the follow:
Clear Cache Data (ftp method)
Clear Cache (ACP Method, all)
Delete def_auth.php, test to no avail, and then restore with fresh copy.
Replace def_tree_def.tpl with fresh copy.
Emergency Recovery Console (tried just about all functions)
Chmod for the items listed in the FAQ section
My webprovider's PHP configuration has a 64mb max size.
My IcyPhoenix version is current, v18.104.22.168a.
I haven't tried reseting the config.php file because I made a lot of changes, but perhaps I can back it up and try that. But I don't really think it is a configuration problem? Please someone help if you can! I made a public viewable forum so people can see the issue:
Thank you in advance!
Edit: Also just want to note, that my error_log in the main community directory has nothing in it!


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NEW YORK -- The barricades may be gone, but the birthplace of the anti-bank movement is hardly re-occupied.
On Tuesday night, metal barricades that had ringed Zuccotti Park since police cleared it in an early-morning raid in mid-November were removed, and hundreds of occupiers flooded back in. But by Wednesday afternoon, the park was mostly empty, and the small group of occupiers gathered there seemed unsure if the barricades' removal was a victory. If it was, some said, it was a small one.
For one thing, the old barricades did not actually block access to the park; two gaps remained on either side of the plaza, although they were heavily monitored by New York City police and security guards employed by the park owner, Brookfield Properties. For another, all of the rules put in place on the night of the raid remained. Sleeping bags and tents were not allowed, and lying down or standing on the stone benches that once served as the foundation for a thriving tent city was strictly forbidden.
The barricades were taken down a day after a complaint was filed by civil rights groups, arguing that the barricades violated city zoning law because they restricted access to the park, which is required to be open 24 hours a day. Police spokesman Paul Browne told the Associated Press that the decision to remove the barricades was made before the complaint was filed, because officials no longer felt they were necessary.
Since the loss of the park, the Occupy movement in New York City has lost much of its momentum. While distinct events have captured national media interest -- like a promising recent campaign called Occupy Our Homes, aimed at the foreclosure crisis -- there has been more silence than action.
Some protesters say that in order for the Occupy movement to thrive again, another public space must be taken. Others say this is merely a moment of transition; when the movement reemerges, it will take a different form. On Wednesday, the 40 or so occupiers gathered in the bitter cold seemed uncertain about the future, but one thing seemed clear: Zuccotti Park is not likely to return to what it was, at least, not anytime soon.
"I think it's great that the barricades are down because it makes the park a more inviting cultural and political space," said Mark Bray, a 29 year-old PhD student at Rutgers University and self-appointed spokesman for the movement.
"But beyond that, I'm really not sure how much of a difference it makes," Bray paused, glancing at the pile of metal barricades that were stacked where the press tent once stood. "The rules haven't changed."
There were nearly as much security personnel in the park as protesters. Last night, three protesters were arrested on minor charges such as trespassing, The New York Times reported. Others were threatened with arrest for bringing in books and food.
The People's Library was back Wednesday, with two small boxes holding about 50 books -- a random selection taken from the 2,500 volumes that currently make up the full library, now stored in a space a few blocks from the park..
"It's hard for us to bring the books out, but we're trying," said Hristo Voynov, a librarian with the movement. Since the park was cleared, he's been spending less time protesting, but still thinks of his position as a full time job. He spends most days sorting books in the storage space.
Nearby, the Think Tank working group began to mic check, announcing a meeting to talk about how the barricades' removal will affect the Occupy movement. A woman in a bright red jacket named Michelle stood briefly on one of the stone benches, holding an Occupy Wall Street Think Tank sign overhead.
A security guard quickly approached. "You can't stand there," he told her. "And don't lie down or stretch out either," he added. She quickly stepped down, and the guard moved a few yards to deliver the same message on to a reporter standing on another bench, attempting to photograph the scene.
Some of those huddled with the Think Tank group seemed worried. "This could be some kind of trap to let us in and then swoop down and arrest us again," said an older man wearing a puffy jacket. Several others murmured agreement.
"I'm just really excited that the barricades are down," Michelle countered. "If they go back up, we'll just have another reason to fight."
She added that she hoped to see more developments soon, like nationwide general assemblies. "There are lots of ways we can connect," she said. The rest of the group, bundled under scarfs, hands in pockets, nodded.
A tall man wearing a parka with the hood pulled up over his head walked by with a large sign: "OUR VOICES NEED SPACE."


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It's safe to say that Guerlain's Midnight Star Collect'or Extraordinary Radiance Treatment is unlike any other primer I've ever tried. Or seen for that matter. In fact, it's not really even a primer, but rather a skincare treatment for the face. Tiny capsules are housed inside what appears to be a magic wand. And I actually believe these capsules may have some magical powers.
Inside the capsule is a pearlescent gel that is intended for use all over the face to revive skin, dispel signs of fatigue and stress that build up throughout the day. In other words, this is your holiday party face in a capsule. But, it can also be used during the day (perhaps the morning after a holiday soiree!) I tried this one morning that I felt tired and washed out, and honestly, I didn't know what to expect. But my face transformed before my eyes over the course of my makeup routine.
I applied about half the capsule over the face. It feels velvety smooth and mattifies the skin in a radiant way. I definitely had a glow and I only wore a light amount of face makeup that day, focusing on my under eyes and the redness around my nose. It was one of the better "face" days I've had in a long time. It's very hard to explain how this works, but it is like a jack of all trades in that capsule. For real!
But, there are some pros and cons to consider with this product.
- Pros: Magical, soothing, protecting, radiance-inducing
- Cons: Very expensive, fragrant
Despite the cons, I still think this is a cool product, but it is pricey. The saving grace for me (besides the magic) is that I can get a few uses out of each capsule.
Disclosure: We received a sample of this product.


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A friend of mine recently posted a link to this awesome recipe for banana break cupcakes PACKED with protein. I made a couple of minor modifications, reflected in the recipe below. Mine didn't turn out nearly so pretty as the picture from the original site (I'll explain why below), but they were certainly tasty. And if you make them in a mini-cupcake pan, they're perfect to pack in a baggie and take along as a mid-ride snack!Read More »
Home » Tag Archives: recipes


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Click here for my editorial on the same subject published in The Daily Beast
Despite being proud of my time in the military, I still cringe when someone thanks me for my service. The time I spent as a soldier in Iraq was easily the most consequential and defining part of my young life, but it's not something I can take credit for; I couldn't have accomplished anything without my brothers-in-arms and our Iraqi partners.
Today I cringe double because we are set to break a promise to those Iraqis who fought alongside us. Congress' inaction threatens to destroy the last lifeline many of our Iraqi allies have to reach safety in the United States, the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program for Iraqi refugees. If an extension of that program isn't added to the continuing resolution, the legislation needed to prevent a government shutdown, then on September 30 we will have officially abandoned tens of thousands of Iraqis who risked their lives for our country as interpreters and in other critical positions.
The Iraqi refugee visa program was plagued from the beginning by bureaucratic inaction and procedural delays. Some of the first Iraqi refugees to sign up in 2008 have waited up to five years for an answer; I am far from alone in suspecting that the government is attempting to frustrate the program by bureaucratic writ. Safer to grind the program to a halt than risk a future 'incident.' The great irony here is that the Iraqis we worked alongside helped us because they believed in what we were doing over there. Far from being a security threat, they have proven their loyalty by risking more for our mission than 99% of this country.
And yet less than a quarter of the 25,000 visas for Iraqis have been distributed in that program's five years, with similarly dismal performance for an Afghan counterpart program set to expire next year. Meanwhile, the human toll mounts each day as Iraqis and Afghans who are waiting for their visas are killed by sectarian militias or the Taliban.
While the State Department dodges responsibility with procedural excuses, Congress has tried to do the right thing. If the SIV champions in the House and Senate are stymied by those who would rather do nothing, and Congress does not extend the Iraqi SIV program by September 30, the program will shut down on October 1. The departments of State and Homeland Security have said that no applicant will receive a visa after that time. Personnel will be reassigned, cases put on hold, and the chances of thousands of Iraqis getting the visas they earned reduced to nearly zero.
Despite significant bipartisan and bicameral support, there are enough members of Congress who simply don't care, to the extent that this entirely avoidable nightmare may become a reality.
We have already forgotten about Iraq as we seek to forget Afghanistan. In our nation's history, however, defeat on the battlefield hasn't always meant a default on our obligations. Our hometown can be proud that President Ford urged passage of the Indochinese Migration and Refugee Assistance Act to save refugees in southeast Asia after the Fall of Saigon. The vibrant Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese communities across the United States are both a signal of the diversity of this inclusive Nation and of our commitment to honor those who risked their lives for it.
Veterans are sadly no stranger to government backlogs- we are all too familiar with the Veterans Administration's infamous processing delays. Perhaps that's why so many combat veterans such as Dakota Meyer, the first living Marine to receive the Medal of Honor since Vietnam, have taken up this cause. When someone volunteers to stand by your side in combat, it doesn't matter what language they speak or where they were born. Risking one's life in war earns entry into an enduring and exclusive fraternity, and we will not turn our backs on those who had ours in battle.
We stand on the edge of defaulting on yet another promise made to those who served our country, but it's not too late to do the right thing for our Iraqi allies. Let's get the Iraqi SIV added to the continuing resolution and honor those who risked their lives for our Nation.
Categories: Uncategorized


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The BOLDE (Broadening Outcomes for Long-term Dialysis in the Elderly) trial out of the UK looked at health-related quality of life measures in PD vs HD patients over 65. Results have not yet been published but were recently presented at the Annual Dialysis Conference in Seattle in March. Using a cross-sectional design, the study matched PD and HD patients (age, gender, time on dialysis) and compared health related quality of life via several validated assessment tools. Mean age was 73, most were men (70%), and ~25% lived alone in both groups. Patients in both groups were on dialysis for on average about 2.5 years. Education level was similar in both groups. Disease intrusiveness scores were lower in PD than in HD patients (22.0 in PD vs. 26.0 in HD) as assessed by the Illness and Intursiveness Rating Scale. The study also found that depressive symptoms were less common in the PD group, as were common dialysis-associated symptoms (headaches, dry mouth, taste changes, dizziness, and unsteadiness), with the exception of lower extremity edema, which was more common in patients with PD. For more details see the author's presentation data here and a review article here.
With the aging of the population, modality choice in the elderly will be a decision encountered more frequently, and at the very least this study should lead us to seriously entertain, if not encourage, PD in the elderly population. Further, as many of you know, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be implementing the bundle payment system in January 2011. In short, dialysis treatments in the US will be reimbursed with one lump some that will cover all the costs of the treatment, including labs, medications etc. Reimbursement for home dialysis will be comparable to in-center dialysis, providing some incentive to increase the use of home modalities which are generally cheaper. Taken in this context, PD enthusiasm in general should increase, both for quality of life and, for better or worse, financial, reasons.


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Disclaimer – I have a material and/or financial connection because I received a gift, sample of a product and/or compensation for consideration in preparing to write this content. All opinions stated within are my own.
Living in a rural community, the threat of deer and other animals running out into the middle of the road at night is a very real and highly probable danger for drivers. In the past month alone in our town we've experienced two serious car crashes – both involving young drivers – that happened at night on dark roads. While speed and distracted driving are always top concerns, visibility is another serious issue.
A study by Carnegie Mellon indicates that nearly half of all accidents occur at night despite 25 percent less traffic on the road due to limited visibility. And, according to the National Safety Council, traffic death rates on the road occur at a rate three times greater at night than during the day.
Recently, AAA conducted testing on headlights to assess capabilities and limitations. The study revealed the potential for significant headlight shortcomings when traveling on roadways that lack overhead lighting, typically America's rural roads, which account for 40 percent of vehicle miles traveled annually.
"AAA's test results reveal that headlights found in U.S. vehicles fall short on safety," said Megan McKernan, manager of the Automobile Club of Southern California's Automotive Research Center. "By failing to properly light roadways at moderate speeds, a pedestrian or animal may not become visible to a driver until it's too late to stop."
While high-beam settings on halogen headlights improved sight distances by 28 percent at the testing facility, in real-world conditions they may only provide enough light to safely stop at speeds of up to 48 mph, leaving drivers vulnerable at highway speeds. Despite the clear need for the additional visibility that high-beams offer, particularly on unlit roads, a recent AAA survey found that only a third of Americans admit to using these settings regularly.
Most concerning is the fact that halogen headlights, found in over 80 percent of vehicles on the road today, may fail to safely illuminate unlit roadways at speeds as low as 40 mph.
Sylvania Automotive Lighting wants drivers to know that if visibility is a concern, they have choices that can improve their vehicle's headlight performance.
- Restore your headlights. Based on AAA's study, this can double the maximum light intensity and reduce glare-producing light scatter by up to 60 percent. Sylvania's headlight restoration kit is unique in that it includes a UV Block Clear Coat, which helps protect lenses from future sun damage. At just $20, it's an affordable solution with a lifetime warranty that restores headlights to like-new condition.
- Change bulbs before burnout. Many people don't realize that headlights dim over time. If you can't remember the last time you replaced your bulbs, it is probably time to do so.
- Upgrade for additional clarity. Whiter, brighter headlight bulbs are available in the aftermarket and designed to provide additional down road and side road visibility compared to standard halogen headlight bulbs. They can help drivers identify and react more quickly to road hazards.


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Lucas Harris, music co-director, theorbo/lute/Baroque guitar
Borys Medicky, music co-director, harpsichord/chamber organ
Guillaume Bernardi, stage direction, text analysis, diction
Luke Arnason, French language coach, French theatre, staging and gesture
See biographies below:
Lucas Harris is pleased to have moved the base for his freelance lute activities to Toronto early in 2004.
Lucas began his musical life as a jazz guitarist in his hometown of Phoenix, AZ, and began to experiment with lutes during his liberal arts studies at Pomona College (Claremont, CA), where he graduated summa cum laude in 1996. He received his early music training during two years in Europe, first in Italy at the Civica Scuola di Musica di Milano as one of the first scholars of the Marco Fodella Foundation, then in Germany at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen. Since returning to North America in 1998, Lucas has quickly become one of the foremost continuo lutenists in the U.S. and Canada: he has been engaged for concerts and recordings by many ensembles such as The Harp Consort, Apollo's Fire, New York Collegium, The Toronto Consort, Seattle Baroque and the Smithsonian Chamber Players. Lucas is now a regular lutenist with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and many other ensembles in Toronto.
Lucas's passion for baroque theater has animated opera productions by the Juilliard Opera Center, the Utrecht and Connecticut Early Music Festivals, Monadnock Music, Opera Atelier, and the Boston Early Music Festival. He has also played in Baroque projects with several modern-instrument orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Metropolitan Opera, Orcheste Symphonique de Montréal, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Les violons du roi, and Via Salzburg (with whom he was a featured concerto soloist).
In addition to private teaching, Lucas is on faculty at Oberlin Conservatory's Baroque Performance Institute as well as the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. He has also taught for the New York Continuo Collective, the Amherst Early Music Festival and the Longy International Baroque Institute.
Beyond continuo work, other recent projects include a lute concerto program for CBC's 'Music Around Us,' a solo recital for the Minnesota Guitar Society (see newsletter interview here), and outreach tours of Nunavut and Western Ontario with soprano Ann Monoyios (with Piano Plus). In addition to his ongoing directing work with with the Toronto Continuo Collective, Lucas was an invited guest director with the Pacific Baroque Orchestra in 2008, and was also music director for a staged production of Cavalli's La Calisto at Ohio State University.
Lucas has released a solo Baroque lute CD as well as a duo CD with Wen Zhao, a virtuoso of the pipa (traditional Chinese lute). Other recent ensemble CD releases include French Baroque chamber music with Les Delices as well as the 3-volume Ariosti project with viola d'amore expert Thomas Georgi (and featuring Emma Kirkby). Soon-to-be-released recordings include an English lute song program with soprano Gabrielle McLaughlin and BWV 1025 (the 'Bach/Weiss' sonata) with violinist Geneviève Gilardeau, with whom he co-directs the Beaches Baroque chamber music series.
Upcoming projects include tours to Columbia (with Les Voix Baroques) and Malaysia/China (Tafelmusik), as well the debut performance of Vesuvius Ensemble, a new group dedicated to the performance of traditional music from southern Italy.
Borys Medicky has appeared as solo harpsichordist and continuo player in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Currently residing in Toronto, he is active as a freelance performer, having appeared with major ensembles in Toronto and beyond. From 2006-2014 he was the artistic director of Kitchener-based Nota Bene Baroque, with whom he still performs as a soloist and continuo player. He serves as organist of the Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist in Toronto.
Borys studied harpsichord with Michael Jarvis in Canada and with Arthur Haas at the Eastman School of Music and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, as well as Baroque performance practice with lutenist Paul O'Dette. Upon the completion of his doctoral degree at Stony Brook he was awarded the Samuel Baron Prize, given to an outstanding graduate. He is known for his strong interest in historical dance and its influence on instrumental music. In addition he carries out harpsichord maintenance duties for institutions and private owners in the Toronto area. Visit his web site for more information.
Guillaume Bernardi is a Toronto-based stage director and teacher. His directing work covers a wide range of genres, from theatre and opera to movement pieces. An artist of great depth and versatility, Bernardi has collaborated with many leading figures in the world of music, theatre and dance, including conductors René Jacobs; singers Suzie LeBlanc and Andreas Scholl; and choreographers Peter Chin, Heidi Strauss and New York-based Trisha Brown.
Recent directorial projects include productions of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro for Frankfurt Oper and for the Canadian Opera Company, Molière's George Dandin for Théâtre Français de Toronto; a commission from Marie-Josée Chartier to choreograph Bas-Reliefs, Caldara's staged oratorio La conversione di Clodoveo, (co-production by Montréal's Les Voix Baroques and Berlin's I Confidenti, performed at Montréal Baroque Festival and Vancouver Early Music Festival); Haydn's L'isola disabitata for Frankfurt Oper); Handel's Belshazzar for Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, Brussels; a semi-staged version of Handel's Saul with Andreas Scholl for Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels (both with conductor René Jacobs); and Dal Male il bene, a 17th-century "Commedia in Musica" at the Innsbruck Early Music Festival.
Since 2004, he teaches at Glendon College, the bilingual faculty of York University in Toronto, where he is the Coordinator of the Drama Studies Programme.
With a background as a professional chorister and harpsichordist, Luke Arnason now works as a professor of French and theatre studies and has taught in universities throughout Ontario (Ottawa, Trent, Guelph, York). He obtained his doctorate from the Université Paris-Sorbonne under the direction of Georges Forestier. His publications deal mostly with the literary and dramatic study of 17th and 18th century French opera, but also on performance practice of the conventional theatre during the same period, including the structure of the performance and the place of musical and poetic ornaments such as prologues and intermèdes.
His current research deals with the rifts between dramatic theory and practice in the early 17th century, and on the production and reception of early French drama (especially Moliere) in North America. He has also produced a critical edition of the libretto to Lully's opera Psyché (1678) and is working on an anthology and critical dramatic/literary history of French opera before C. W. Gluck's "reform" in the late 18th century.
For a full research profile and links to most publications, visit www.socar.ca/archives/47


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Capitalism is not perfect and is vulnerable to both human nature and major flaws that have flourished since the Presidency of Ronald Reagan. In order for true Capitalism to function correctly, the government has to counter the flaws of capitalism, without hindering the market place, and provide a level playing field to insure competition as it facilitates the necessary means of growth.
Capitalism ONLY works if greed and avarice are offset by laws and regulations to prevent fraudulent and deceptive practices.
Free Enterprise Market is a Myth
In a free enterprise environment, there is a persistent, natural flow of capital to the powerful, whether through design or sheer luck. This propensity for movement towards the concentration of wealth continually reduces both the number of businesses and an ample supply of individual consumers. Because of the cyclical nature of economies, this eventually begins to actually discourage commerce. All studies, computer models, research and statistics in the past and present validate this fact.
Concentrated wealth, promoted by this flaw of capitalism, creates a system of, "The Rich get Richer" for both individuals and businesses. This natural partiality to the already wealthy reduces competition and the number of adequate individual consumers.
This is why anti-trust laws were established. They are meant to counter this harmful monopolistic tendency that stifles competition, increases price-gouging and reduces the competitive drive of capitalism. The political/fiscal system of taxing the rich and redistribution back to the many was created to solve this problem on an individual basis and to perpetuate the economy as a whole. Only when the majority of the population has excess money to spend on what they want vs just what they need can capitalism thrive.
As it stands now, the GOP has made this necessary component of successful Capitalism into a boogey-man by framing it as less-American, or worse, a twisted and erroneous definition of Socialism. They know that it is not, but because of the continual need to re-stock campaign coffers, the GOP has made the conscious decision to propagandize this lie into a mantra…a very successful mantra.
Adam Smith stated: "capitalists left to their own devices would rather collude than compete." Doesn't the logical progression of this GOP mantra want you to forget that this means the natural goal of a commercial enterprise is to attain monopoly status, control or own all or most of their market? Of course it does with ample proof within the current generation; e.g. the healthcare industry, medical insurance and pharmaceutical companies as prime modern day examples.
- The healthcare industry(yes, for profit = industry) feels no compunction to stop continually raising prices despite tort reform that used to be the most often repeated excuse.
- Medical Insurance Companies have an explicit exemption for antitrust oversight and the GOP has fought adamantly to keep it in place. This essentially gives the industry monopolistic protection to raise premiums at will to cover exorbitant administrative and profit goals, as well as medical costs.
- Pharmaceutical Industry: The GOP has stymied each effort to allow Medicare to significantly lower its overall expenses by not allowing Medicare to NEGOTIATE drug prices in the same manner every other customer, from Wal-Mart to CVS, is allowed. Again, the GOP has chosen to side with the deep-pockets in order to maintain the symbiotic nature of both group's existence.
Throughout U.S. history, both Republicans and Democrats have recognized this flaw. In 1890, the Republican Party passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, which was enforced by Republican President, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt. Years later, the Democratic Party started the Keynes fiscal policy of redistribution of income and wealth under Franklin Roosevelt.
But today, in an effort to concentrate political and economic power, the GOP is ruthlessly, and to a large degree successfully, diverting public attention from the basic fairness that capitalism usually affords the populous as a whole, in order to enable the ultimate power-grab for the very few. If the current direction of the GOP is not curbed in this November's election cycle, it could very well have dire consequences for voices of reason, compassion and fairness for the foreseeable future.
As it stands today, the corporate take-over of major networks in the U.S. is complete; and it is still the primary source that the U.S. public depends on. As you can see from the list below, all major networks are now owned by corporate entities with entertainment and profit motives, not news as the common thread. As such, the entertainment industry has formed its own oligopoly and has taken objective television news with it.
ABC-Disney NBC-Comcast CBS-Viacom FOX-Murdoch CNN-Time/Warner (and probably merging with Comcast-NBC)
What Happened to Anti-Trust Laws?
At the beginning of the Reagan Administration, the U.S. stopped enforcing the majority of our antitrust laws because they subscribed to the system of belief known as laissez-faire economics. The laissez-faire-libertarians believe that the market place is perfect and self-adjusting. They have no problem with ever increasing mergers and acquisitions that create monopolies and oligopolies. And ever since Reagan declared war on unions, regulations, and antitrust laws, we have seen a massive consolidation of firms from investment banks to the pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors.
These monopolies and oligopolies smother capitalism under their oppressive weight by the following methods:
- They reduce competition, which produces many economic negatives
- They reduce employment
- They reduce innovation and the quality and free exchanges of goods and services
- They reduce oversight of human frailties and greed and regulation requirements
- They increase bankruptcies and inequality
All of the above have taken place in the last 30 years.
In an earlier article, "Stop the GOP Assault on the U.S. Economic Future", I detailed the protections enacted during the period following the Great Depression that have been eliminated one-by-one in the last 30 years essentially dismantling all defenses against a repeat of that terrible time in U.S. history.
The dramatic tilt away from enforcement of antitrust laws is yet another example of the road to ruin that the GOP has set for America and its system of capitalism that had served it well for over 150 years. There can be no denying why the GOP set this course.
The Power(and money) that monopolies and oligopolies bring to bear for those in charge. Why else would a billionaire such as Willard Mitt Romney spend the last quarter century on a quest to earn $400,000/yr?
Monopolies and oligopolies destroy property and liberties, which is why it is beyond me that the American public has so easily forgotten this lesson.
Adam Smith wrote that "monopolies raise prices, suppress wages, distort investment, unsettle international relations, pervert the functioning of markets and are enemies of good management. He also wrote that monopolists destroy men, governments, and nations".
The Free Market As We Know It Has Been Destroyed by De-Regulation and Monopolies via the GOP
As I said before, there is no such thing as "free markets." That is why I call them "competitive markets." Today,markets are political institutions in which some form of market regulators oversee economic competition among different groups within a society.
Unchecked, these unregulated so-called free markets are bringing global economies down at a staggering rate.
Just a few Major de-regulated industries and the results:
- Airline Deregulation: The first thorough dismantling of a government-regulated industry.
- Result: Failure of Eastern Airlines, Midway, and Pan American, and the bankruptcy of carriers such as Continental, America West, and TWA. Less competitive pricing, fewer carriers, fewer services for customers, additional charges for services that used to be part of the ticket price
- Agricultural Deregulation: In economic terms, farmers were asked to take on risks heretofore assumed by the government in exchange for deregulation and the promise of increased exports.
- Result: The Omnibus Farm Bill – and the export-led growth strategy upon which it was based – has been a massive failure. The U.S. farm trade balance declined by more than $13 billion between 1996 and 1998. Speculation by a few massive companies has been controlling prices since then.
- Electricity Deregulation: replaced 100 years of cost-of-service regulated rates with prices in many parts of the country set by market-based prices thereby treating an essential service—electricity-as a commodity
- Result: The Enron Scandal
In order to survive the onslaught of deregulatory influences by monopolistic and oligopolistic means, government needs to vastly expand its antitrust division, not de-rail what is left of it as Mitt Romney and the GOP proudly promote. It astounds me how so many Americans do not realize how thoroughly they've been sold on ideas against their interest and think they will somehow benefit ftom them.
This phenomenon has taken a particular hold on poor, southern whites who routinely vote for policies and politicians that may represent a social issue that appeals to them, but whose economic policies are keeping them poor. I also addressed this in an earlier article that traces the roots of this anomaly back to the Revolutionary War in "Revolutionary War-Republicans and the New Confederacy". Oddly enough, more Caucasians in the U.S. depend on food stamps than minorities.
And Of Course There are the Banks
If capitalism is to survive in the U.S., effective oversight must be applied to the current financial banking system's consolidation. The ability to raise and/or create money with a relationship or outright ownership of a commercial bank allows financiers to become absentee owners. The humongous institutions that gambled and lost or were sold a bill of goods by AIG in the housing bubble debacle of 2008 are even larger now. I discussed the recent evidence from JPMorgan previously; it is plain to see the situation has gotten worse, not better.
This is why it is essential to have an adequate antitrust policy and enforcement. The GOP used to stand for the mantra that the more competition the better! The GOP pretends to idolize Ronald Reagan. In reality, they simply pay lip service to these tired old slogans and routinely vote against antitrust measures in order to finance the smear campaigns and keep the network "news" conglomerates under their thumbs
The resistance to proven Keynesian fiscal philosophy of redistribution persists in the current conservative industrial and political leadership as they resist most types of government spending except military.
In doing so, they hinder the creation and improvement of effective economic recirculation programs. They clearly feel politically expedient in pretending to support certain types of these spending programs, of which Social Security and Medicare are the largest. But by continually pushing an agenda that lacks adequate oversight, they have put our capitalistic societies in danger from economic depression-recession or outright revolution.


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Primary school head teacher Christine Terrey is a founder member of the UK branch of a global community of education professionals passionate about transforming the learning experience with digital media.
Here she explains how the Discovery Education Community is working to connect teachers with their most valuable resource – each other…
The Discovery Education Community brings together education professionals from around the globe with a shared interest in using digital technology in the classroom to extend and enrich learning. It has been running in the US since 2005 but I first heard of it a few years ago when I was consulted to see whether a community would work in the UK. I could see its value immediately and have since been involved in helping shape and grow the community for the UK.
The Community is open to any teacher using Discovery Education services to who wants to learn and share ways of using technology in the classroom. All you need is enthusiasm for teaching and learning with technology, and a willingness and capacity to share that enthusiasm. You don't have to be an expert – the community includes teachers with many different talents and levels of experience.
While membership certainly helps teachers to make an impact on teaching and learning in their school, it's about so much more than technology – it's really about making an impact on learning.
I'm delighted to say that my school, Harbour Primary and Nursery School in East Sussex has a long tradition of using many different forms of technology to enrich learning across the curriculum and we have been nationally recognised for our use of digital technology and won several awards including the Quality Lead Award from Achievement for All 3As. We are also an ambassador school for Discovery Education (formerly Espresso Education).
Despite feeling that we came from a fairly strong start point, we have still found much to learn. Although much of the impact of the Discovery Education Community comes from sharing experiences of using technology, it is not all about tools. It's just as much about finding ways of teaching through those devices so that students will thrive and learn. A side effect of using technology is that it makes teachers more passionate about their teaching. By sharing, teachers feel better about their job. And the more teachers are engaged with their subject or lesson, the better their students do – so it's win win. A recent study on electronic learning found that teacher engagement was the strongest predictor of higher levels of student engagement.
Through the Community teachers build a professional learning network which opens up a whole new world of resources and experience and will increase passion for the integration of technology into the curriculum.
Although I could see the benefits of this type of network immediately, I was further convinced of its worth when I was lucky enough to experience it at first hand when Ijoined 149 other educators from across the UK, US and Canada at the 2014 DEN Summer Institute (DENSI) last July. This was a prestigious week-long professional development and networking event hosted by Discovery Education at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
During DENSI, I was able to participate in a number of seminars and hands-on workshops designed to support educators as they sharpened up their knowledge of the latest technologies to create authentic learning environments. In addition, we all had the chance to connect and share resources, ideas and strategies for integrating digital resources into classroom instruction.
I wasn't sure what to expect. How would teaching and learning strategies in the US and the UK compare for example? But I realised very quickly that teachers are teachers and we all have many similarities – not least the desire to do our very best for our pupils. Nor was it all 'top down' guidance – the seminar was run by teachers for teachers – of all ages – as is the whole Community. While 'in-person' events are sometimes possible, more often our interaction with fellow members – whether they are in our own school or across the world – is through social media or virtual conferences, but it's always peer to peer.
There is nothing better than hearing a teacher say; 'This is something I've had a go at with my children in my class – it has worked well in my school – would you like to find out about it?' The whole event was a great mix of inspirational speakers, practical advice and hands on practice. For example one of the seminars I attended was about Aurasma – the augmented reality app which we had looked at in my school, a teacher had done a presentation about it, but I knew I hadn't mastered it, so went along for another look. Then I attended a session about green screens, which we do use a lot, so I saw how to use a green screen app with an iPad and puppets, which included a very practical tip about the benefits of using green straws from Starbucks! It could have taken me ages to find that out for myself – assuming I would ever have done so.
I returned to my school with renewed enthusiasm for peer learning – not just enthusiasm for technology, but much more than that. It was more about the pedagogy around it, so I've come back convinced of the need to share more as a profession. We all invent things over and over again in our schools – you could go to any school and we are all trying to do the same things and we haven't really got the mechanisms, or very good mechanisms, for sharing in the UK. And I don't think we even had them within my own school; it's quite a large school of 500 children, where until now, we weren't even sharing the best practice that was going on in Y5 classrooms with Y2!
So back at school, I have been evangelical about the importance of networking and sharing ideas. Professional development sessions enable teachers to share ideas and resources and build their own learning networks. I'm very exciting about the possibilities for the Discovery Education Community in the UK. The power of a collaborative community here will allow us to do some inspiring things.
For further information about the Discovery Education Community please visit http://www.discoveryeducation.
Guest posts on Schools Improvement Net
If you have an opinion, observation or experience about schools and how to make things better, please read our guidelines and contact us using this form.
Please note that a guest post does not imply any endorsement from Schools Improvement Net – we will do our best to share things that look potentially interesting or helpful but always do your own research!


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Following today's decision by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to invalidate the 2006 Data Retention Directive, the S&D Group called on EU governments to adopt, without further delay, the new EU rules on data protection and law enforcement, as defined last March by the European Parliament.
According to the 2006 directive, EU countries had to store citizens' telecommunications data for 6-24 months. Moreover, police and security agencies were able to request access to details such as IP addresses and the times of every email, phone call and text message sent or received.
Today's ruling from the ECJ invalidates these provisions, right back to their entry into force.
S&D Group president Hannes Swoboda said:
"The European Court of Justice has done more for citizens' privacy today than the European Council – which has consistently blocked efficient data-protection legislation at European level – has done in years. It is high time for the Council to bring forward good legislation on data protection, as adopted by the European Parliament last month.
"Surveillance must always be the exception, not the rule. Mass collection of data, be it from governments, service providers or companies, cannot be accepted and police access to citizens' data must be targeted and authorised by a judge".
S&D vice-president Sylvie Guillaume said:
"This directive has a tremendous impact on fundamental rights.
"The European Parliament inquiry into the NSA spying scandal has clearly revealed how several countries had crossed the Rubicon into mass surveillance.
"More than ever, we need the data protection package to be adopted rapidly, with clear definitions on which authorities can access data and sufficient safeguards to ensure respect for privacy. We call on the Council to speed up its discussions and assume its responsibility on this crucial issue for European citizens."
Claude Moraes, the Parliament's lead investigator on the NSA scandal and S&D spokesperson on civil liberties, justice and home affairs, said:
"Today's ruling by the ECJ comes at an extremely timely moment given the ongoing debate, both in the US and in the EU, following Edward Snowden's revelations that many tech companies may have been actively or passively part of mass surveillance activities.
"The increase in the use of technology, including mobile devices, and the collection of data on user behavior by companies has offered police and intelligence agencies unique opportunities that did not exist before. Today's ruling aims at striking the correct balance between ensuring that intelligence agencies continue to do the vital job of protecting us against terrorist and cyber threats, and protecting EU citizens' data. It highlights that data retention must always remain proportional to the risks and in line with fundamental rights.
"The S&D Group has led the way on investigating the Edward Snowden revelations and has pushed for a European Digital Bill of Rights to protect EU citizens' fundamental rights and privacy. The ECJ ruling on data retention is another step towards achieving this aim and one which will be high on our political agenda in the next mandate of the European Parliament."


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Being in the ministry and working in Church, I have often struggled giving people TO DO's.
You know what I mean:
"You want to grow in your relationship with Christ?" DO THIS….
"You want to be a better Follower of Jesus?" DO THIS….
"You want to know how to Love more?" DO THIS…..
"You want serve better?" DO THIS….
I believe I struggle with that approach because its not really that easy… If it were then everyone would have a TO DO: List and our lives would radiate God's Love and we wouldn't see a lot of the brokeness and heart ache we see in the world, because we would have figured out the code. If we really want to have a growing relationship with Christ that will be lasting, what needs to happen?
I remember awhile back a pastor friend of mine told me that "We are most like Christ when we serve"… That is something I think about a lot… I believe the statement to be true…
I remember when I was in High School, I would get out of class and head strait to the church (actually there were times when a friend and I would literally race there, but dont tell my parents about that), I wanted to be PRESENT I wanted to be near the action of God because I knew my faith would grow there!
What did I do you might ask… Well, I talked and listened to the pastors, I would do some paperwork for them and just try to be present and wait for an opportunity to serve to arrive…
To some, that time of my life might be confusing, You might ask yourself. Didn't Tom have any friends, wouldn't he have wanted to go do something else?
Yes I had friends, but, I was doing something that gave me purpose… I wanted to do something that mattered, something eternal, even if it was as small as counting up receipts for the children's pastor.
I didn't have a to do list. I had a desire, a desire to do something for God and I was willing to be present and wait for opportunities to move… and because of that my faith did grow, I learned how to follow Jesus and I was taught how to love others… Because I made myself present and available for God.
So… If you want to grow in your relationship with God, Get around His people, Im not saying you just have to run to the church and hang out with pastors… But you need to be around people who are serving Jesus!
*Note: I do believe in TO DO Lists for productivity, but do not believe there is a to do list for growing closer to God. I don't have a TO DO List for my relationships… I also acknowledge that I am still a work in progress and have not arrived but rather am Growing every day closer to Jesus Through His AMAZING GRACE (Not just my wife).


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The 1X pouch is big enough to carry a serious fly box or two and all the assorted stuff you might need like tippet spools leaders, indicators etc. It has an attachment grommet under each flap on each side so you can attach retractors to hold hemos, nippers or a Cadillac hood ornament if you so desire. It has divider pockets inside and two pockets outside under the flap. The outside flap features slick magnetic closures, so no more fumbling with snaps, or velcro that gets old and funky. For the complete minimalists the 1x can worn by itself on a belt too.
Availability: In Stock - Usually ships next business day.
Size: 5″ Wide x 7″ Tall x 2″ Thick


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Biblio- or nearly and not quite biblio-blogs are proliferating. New on the scene is:
This is described as "Reflections on being a complex Christian: how to be traditional in a non-traditional world without being dead" and is by Doug Chaplin, who (among many other things, not least being a parish priest in Worcestershire) is a part-time PhD student here in Birmingham. Welcome to the blogosphere, Doug.
Next up is another blog with a Birmingham connection, by Zeth Green:
Thanks to Jim Davila on Paleojudaica for spotting this. It describes itself as "an aggregator for Biblical Studies" and picks up feeds from a variety of biblioblogs (including this one) in the manner of the AWMC Web Watch (although the latter seems to have been stalled on 10 December 2004; is it now out of commission?). With the Biblioblog, the entire content of the selected posts is generated, along with an icon linking you to that blog's main page and a link to the post in question. Could be useful, especially for those not using bloglines or Firefox's live bookmarks.
And alerted by Ed Cook on Ralph the Sacred River is Seth Sanders's new blog:
Serving the Word
Alerted by Jim West on Biblical Theology is Richard Anderson's blog focusing on Luke, and in particular Richard Anderson's own theories about Luke (can't say I'm keen on the transliterated Greek here, avoiding the overstroke on the "o" for omega):
dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos Theophilos
Welcome to all. All of these are added to my blogroll as also is the South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog.


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I want you all to take seriously the possibility that pretty much the whole world has been doing school fundamentally wrong for the past two hundred years. I take this possibility very seriously, and am going to be doing a lot of investigation into it (and talking about it on this blog). Let me explain what I mean.
I had a lot of formal education: public schools (in one of the best public school districts in the country) up through 9th grade, then three years of prep school. Private college (dropped out), community college, and an undergrad degree from a public university (go Huskies I guess). Now I'm working on a master's degree in education. I seldom questioned the value of all this education. I have several teachers in my family, and I've always valued their work.
Up until a few years ago, I figured that U.S. schools needed some serious reforms and probably a lot more money, but it never occurred to me to question the basic principles.
Then I read about a place called Sudbury Valley School, and doing so had a major-earthquake-size effect on my mental landscape of the subject.
Sudbury practices what they call free democratic education. (Free as in free speech, not as in free beer.) That is, the school is run entirely on a democratic principles, with each member of the community, faculty, staff, and students, having one and exactly one vote. A five year old student has the same amount of political power as any of the teachers. The school has no curriculum, gives no grades, and has no graduation requirements. They sometimes have classes, when the students organize them, but attendance is not mandatory. In essence, their idea is let the kids do whatever they want, and they'll learn the things they're most passionate about.
When I first heard about this, my thought was "Oh my god, that's the worst idea I've ever heard in my life. That would never work."
Then it turns out that it does work.
Sudbury has been around for almost 50 years, and they're not the only school to try this. They've been around long enough to see what happens to the kids, at least informally, and it turns out the kids have perfectly good life outcomes. About 80% go on to college, and those who don't find jobs, or start their own businesses, or become artists, or do the other things that people who went to traditional schools do.
Do you see the problem yet?
If kids can spend 13 years running around and playing, and working on projects and practicing music and never once be coerced into anything and still have good life outcomes, this is an existential threat to traditional education. We don't have to prove that these kids do better than traditionally schooled kids for this threat to be serious. If we can simply prove that 13 years of being forced to sit still in classes they don't want to attend and taking away the freedom of their childhood isn't necessary for kids to turn out okay, it's hard to imagine any justification that could possibly induce me to support continuing this system.
I don't know whether school is bullshit. In fact, I wanted to title this series "Is School Bullshit?" but this isn't clickhole, so I didn't. The statements above have a lot of assumptions, and a lot of areas yet unexplored. I'm going to be doing a lot of reading and thinking and talking on this subject to try and make things clearer.
But I hope you'll understand why, even with hugely incomplete information, I feel so urgently about this. We spend hundreds billions of dollars on education in the US alone each year. I think it's really possible that the entire fundamental structure of our educational system is wrong, and that hardly anyone has even bothered to check.


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Good Kitten is now up for pre-order: http://www.bookstrand.com/good-kitten
Blurb: To prevent open war between the two ruling crime families in Stocoma City, lioness shifter Ragan Vivaldi is placed in charge of security at her brother's wedding. Seeking some stress relief from her duties, Ragan visits the local BDSM club. The last thing she expects to find are her two mates. With so much at stake, Ragan can't afford to play submissive cat to two dominant wolves, but Ragan is sick of being the good girl. She agrees to do one scene with Rafe and Scott, provided they forget the night ever happened.
Duty demands Rafe Moon and Scott Haven, dominant werewolves and lovers, to keep the peace, but all bets are off when they find out Ragan is their missing third. Ragan's defiant, stubborn, and scared of her attraction, but Rafe and Scott intend to make her their kitten, regardless of the consequences.
Available from Siren Publishing on August 17th 2015!


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Anyway, here's the video. Enjoy, and happy moon day!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
What cats can teach us about Karandavasana
Anyway, here's the video. Enjoy, and happy moon day!
8 comments:
Hmmmmmmm.... My cat sometimes laughs at me when I fall over in a yoga pose - but otherwise she is quite unhelpful / uninterested. Perhaps Lexter can offer some mentoring sessions?ReplyDelete
That was a cute video, loved it!ReplyDelete
I wish my brother's maltese puppy was behaving like Lexter. But instead, when I practice home and he's there, he's all over me. Jumping at me, licking me and more I'd rather not mention here! Hahaha!Replies
My pet cocktatiels sometimes land on me when I am doing my practice too:Delete
Several people I have spoken with agree that animals are attracted to the energy that yoga practice brings up in us. Which explains why they often can't lay their paws/claws off us when we are practicing :-)
- AnonymousNovember 29, 2012 at 3:20 AM
Wonderful! I met Sarah Dee in Philadelphia last Winter and she gave me some great advice. I was very impressed with her dedication to David and Ashtanga yoga. The soundtrack is David as well, chanting.ReplyDelete
And not for nothing, but that's a pretty good duck with distractions!
Right on, thank you for posting, Nobel! Cheers to all of you...and look out for Lexter, he is one amazing cat!ReplyDelete


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Thursday, 28 March 2013
I've always loved natural, rustic things and Kraft papers and bags fall right into that category, so I've used them for years on and off.
I followed a link the other day which led to a really pretty card on Kraft, with a hint of turquoise, one of my favourite colours. I can't remember the link – sorry and hope I'm not offending anyone – but here's my version of what I saw and I love it!
The background (Darkroom Door) is stamped in Versamark and clear embossed.
Have a lovely Easter!
God Bless you
14 very kind comments from lovely people:
- Gery said...
I think this is a totally different approce to stamping for you, but you made a great card out of it.
Beautiful colours.
Groetjes Gery
- Thursday, March 28, 2013
- Bianca Kalksma said...
Great, the clear embossing on kraft! And with the combination turquoise, it's really beautiful!
- Thursday, March 28, 2013
- Anonymous said...
Its beautiful!
- Thursday, March 28, 2013
- Rosie said...
Oooh, wow, Cath, this card is gorgeous. Wonderful colours and image.
Happy Easter
- Thursday, March 28, 2013
- Sue said...
Hello Kath
I have to agree, that this looks gorgeous with the turquoise butterfly.
It relates wonderful texture, as well as a naturalness, I can see how you were inspired.
- Thursday, March 28, 2013
- Lynne K said...
Wow, that's beautiful, Cath! The colour combination is stunning. Love the butterfly.
- Thursday, March 28, 2013
- Von said...
Turquoise and craft a winning combination Cath :)
Happy Easter to you too
Von ♥
- Thursday, March 28, 2013
- froebelsternchen Susi said...
Gorgeous Cath ! Ilove the butterfly and the turquoise against the brown is fab!
Happy EASTER!
- Thursday, March 28, 2013
- Karin said...
gorgeous card, love how the color of the butterfly pops out! Happy Easter!
- Friday, March 29, 2013
- Paul Browning - The Artsider said...
Blimey this is a bit gorge isn't it!!!! No wonder you wanted to try it out. The turquoise butterfly is stunning against the Kraft background. Fabulous resulting card. Pxx
- Friday, March 29, 2013
- Alison said...
This is a beautiful card Cath, the colours of the butterfly look stunning against the kraft background!
Wishing you a very blessed Easter,
Alison x
- Friday, March 29, 2013
- Marja's Stamp Addiction en Marja's Creativity said...
Very great color combinaation Cath and wonderful butterfly and background.
Happy Easter and lovelly greet
- Friday, March 29, 2013
- sam21ski said...
Gorgeous Cath xxxx
That hint of turquoise really adds lots of colour!!!
Sam xxx
- Friday, March 29, 2013
- cockney blonde said...
Beautiful, x
- Saturday, March 30, 2013


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Whether you're a business owner or marketing manager, changing PPC agency is a liberating experience (especially if you've been waiting several months for your contract to run down). For whatever reason, your previous agency failed to meet your expectations and however nice their client lunches were, it's time to show them the door.
So what do you need to look for when changing PPC agency?
1) Performance, performance, performance
Quite simply, you wouldn't be changing PPC agency if your goals had been met. Whether you've got an ROI, CPA or traffic target, your new agency will need the creative flair, mathematical mindset and channel experience to reach it. At Ad Republic, we put great effort into understanding what drives our clients' goals, which ensures our resources are channelled correctly. For example, if you've got a clear CPA goal, we'll build intelligent bidding rules at keyword-level to make sure the target is always met.
2) Communication is key
Don't be afraid to ask your new agency to adhere to your communication methods. Our valued client Eco Market uses the messaging platform 'Hip Chat' for day-to-day communication. Of course it's no skin off our nose using a neat piece of software, but it also means they can easily contact us and we can interact with their whole team.
3) Agency methodology
When it comes to PPC, every account manager tends to do things a little bit differently. We all come from the same 'Google school', but our ingrained competitive nature to be number one drives us to test things others are yet to think of. Each agency sets off on their own path in the quest for delivering something a bit different. Ad Republic are no different; when a client is thinking of changing PPC agency we refer them to the quality of our ads. Whether it's today's PPC model or newspaper ads from the 1960's, clever creative always wins.
4) Who's actually doing the work?
The larger the agency, the more levels of hierarchy. The truth is, you pay higher management fees, for someone less qualified to do the work. Sure, you get to sip whiskey with the agency's top schmoozer on a Friday night, but is it really worth your company's profits or your credibility as Marketing Manager? At the very least you want to make sure anyone working on your account is Google Adwords Certified.
5) Contract flexibility
You'll never make the same mistake again. You're promised the world, locked into a long-term contract, only to be greeted by mediocre performance and amateur account management. Changing PPC agency becomes a messy legal issue that leaves a sour taste in your mouth. When vetting potential new agencies, ask about contract length upfront. If you decide they're the agency for you, be sure to include poor performance clauses as an exit route. At least then if you're promised the world, your new agency will be under far greater pressure to deliver. All of our clients are on 30 day contracts. We're not going to make someone stay who doesn't want to, and anyway, we let our performance do the talking!
Changing PPC agency becomes much easier when you know what to look for. Define your expectations now, then find the agency that's best equipped to deliver.


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After watching the Fitoor trailer, I'm tentatively on board the bandwagon. Although I admit that if it wasn't Katrina as the heroine, I probably wouldn't be as forgiving.
Here's the thing-- I like Abhishek Kapoor as a director. I loved Rock On and Kai Po Che and think he has a talent for wringing likable performances out of otherwise soggy actors. In other words, there's a good chance I might even find the notably soggy Aditya Roy Kapur tolerable. However. Charles Dickens's Great Expectations, on which the film is based, is a tricky work to get right. Much like Romeo & Juliet it is often misread as a modern romance, which it is not. This isn't poor boy meets rich girl, some troubles, happily ever after. Pip, the main character of Dickens's work, is a total dick... a fact that often gets left out of adaptations. He's the kind of guy who feels that the world OWES him things because he wants them, including the heart of a beautiful rich girl. Estella, the heroine, is often depicted as a cold-hearted bitch but how much of that is because we get given the story through that dick Pip's eyes? You know?
If Abhishek Kapoor understands the story this way, I'm going to be fine with this adaptation and with dickish Aditya Roy Kapur as the hero. Actually, as long as we're not supposed to sympathize with a dickish Pip, see Estella as cold-hearted bitch, and there's no "happy" ending, I'll probably be okay.
When I first read Great Expectations in high school, I did think it was a romance but coming back to it later, as a young woman with a little more experience in life, I understood that it wasn't. And over the years I have really grown to dislike stories of hearts "owed" to pining heroes or heroines, especially when they are "nice guys (tm)" like Pip, who is exactly the type of character to whine about getting friendzoned instead of respecting a woman's autonomy to chose whatever the hell life she wants for herself.
That said, over the weekend I re-watched one of my all time favorite films: The Cutting Edge. It's a film that's remembered fondly today by a large number of women but has gotten zero critical respect and I think that's a shame because it's a remarkable work. On the surface it's a romance. Kate, a cold-hearted figure skater, meets Doug, a hot-blooded hockey player. Shades of "Taming of the Shrew", right? WRONG. It's Doug, the prototypical American dude, who learns that "women's work" (aka figure skating) is not only really difficult but also worthwhile. It's Doug who learns to respect his partner as a human being, not just some babe for sleeping with, and it's Doug who falls in love first. Kate's growth has nothing to do with being "tamed" and everything to do with acknowledging her own emotions. It's an intoxicating fairytale of female empowerment and respect and one I return to again and again for that reason... as well as the fun of the figure skating, the humor in the writing, and the great performances.
What I'm saying is I don't dislike romances but I do dislike romances where the woman is an object to be won. Great Expectations is sometimes interpreted that way rather than how I see it: a cautionary tale about a dick who gets butthurt when he can't "have" a lady he wants. We'll see how Fitoor handles it. I like Katrina, Tabu, and Abhishek Kapoor enough to give it a chance.


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"The year was 1981. The US was entering a deep recession, Russia was our enemy, and John Hinckley, Jr.'s assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan shocked the nation. It was also the year author Andrea Kleine learned her close childhood friend hadbeen violently murdered by her socialite mother, Leslie DeVeau. Both events took place in Washington, DC. Hinckley and Deveau were both sent to St. Elizabeth's hospital, guilty by reason of insanity. It was there that they met, and later became lovers. These two real-life, and ultimately converging events inspired Klein's jaw-dropping, spine-tingling novel, CALF. Made up of dual narratives and told over the course of one year, Kleine's account follows a fictionalized John Hinkley in the lead-up to the assassination attempt, and Tammy, older sister to Steffi, the best friend of DeVeau's daughter, Kirin. Part Are You There God, It's Me Margaret and part Taxi Driver, this creepy, unsettling, and absolutely addictive novel shines a light on two terrible events, providing an unflinching depiction of violence, both intimate and sensational. "-
Log in op uw account of maak een eigen account aan.Inloggen
Geef uw mening en schrijf als eerste een review.


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If using facts to evaluate inside of a condition, you won't be able to access secondary elements if one isn't returned to the first element.
# If false, include rhel::resolv
unless $::facts['dhcp_servers']['system'] {
include rhel::resolv
If this systems interface was not configured via DHCP, a puppet run would result in:
Error: Could not retrieve catalog from remote server: Error 400 on SERVER: Evaluation Error: Error while evaluating a Resource Statement, Evaluation Error: Operator '[]' is not applicable to an Undef Value. at /etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/snd/modules/rhel/manifests/init.pp:25:10 on node mongodb
This means that the facts['dhcp_servers'] is empty, which results in an undef value, as documented by Puppet: "whenever no other value is applicable, the value is undef"
Thus, we cannot access the ['system'] element, just as the error suggests: Operator '[]' is not applicable to an Undef Value.
Since the dhcp_server fact will result in an undef value provided the servers interface was not setup via DHCP, we can simply rely on it to satisfy our conditional which aims whether or not to include rhel::resolv.


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Quite unlike the contemporary six-continent dominance of its progeny, Bahrain-based Gulf Air's fortunes have long been on a slow but steady decline. Operations as far-flung as Houston and Hong Kong, Johannesburg and Jakarta, Manchester and Melbourne are all long gone, as the multi-state alliance was pulled apart.
Today, there are no flights to North America, East Asia or Australia, and its once-comprehensive spread across Europe has been reduced to only London, Paris, Frankfurt, Istanbul and Moscow.
It was somewhat of a victorious move, therefore, to relaunch flights to a new Euro gateway, in this case, the somewhat-unlikely choice of Athens, which, despite the economic contraction that if anything exceeds in magnitude the retreat of Gulf Air itself, at least has the advantage of being within range of Gulf Air's narrow body fleet.


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Ipod Nano: Great Product, Bad Tech SupportReviewing: Ipod Nano | Rating:
I was delighted to get my iPod Nano for Christmas two years ago. It was brand new on the scene then, and I felt oh-so-cool with it. It was my first MP3 player, so I had a lot to learn. I caught on quickly and learned how to put all my CDs on it. I didn't even think I needed to have the CDs anymore, so once they were on the iPod I sold or gave them all away. I also learned to use iTunes, and downloaded all the songs I like as I heard them.
Things were going great. Until my computer crashed. Was it ever a nightmare dealing with their tech support to get my songs back!
First of all, they CHARGE you to talk to tech support! It's not enough that you buy the iPod itself for $200 and pay $1 per song on iTunes. You have to PAY to talk to tech support.
I think it should be a lot easier to recall and move around songs. You pay for them, you should be able to do what you want with them. I ran into another problem when I got a new computer. I could install my iTunes, but it there was no way that I could figure out to move songs I downloaded on the old computer to the new computer. And no way was I going to pay to talk to their tech support again.
I understand the need for Apple to have security, but they take it too far with the songs. Since they are charging for them, they need to give people more freedom to move them onto different computers. I realize I should have been backing them up, and that is my fault, but I never in a million years would have thought that Apple wouldn't have anticipated people getting new computers and wanting to move their songs. This process should be much easier than it is.
The positive aspects of this product do make it worth having. The sound quality is amazing, and the battery lasts a pretty good amount of time. Although my Nano is tiny, it still holds tons of songs! I've been putting songs on it for the past two years and I've only used half the space.
I also really like all the accessories you can get to dress it up and play it in different places.
If they could just improve their tech support and lighten up on song security the iPod Nano would be a phenomenal product!


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STARmeterSEE RANK
Down 1,840 this week
Ruth Jones (I)
Born in Bridgend, South Wales. Attended Porthcawl Comprehensive School. Trained at Warwick University (BA in Drama and Theatre Studies) then actor training at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Television includes Fat Friends (2000) series I, II,III,IV, Tales from Pleasure Beach (2001) for BBC1, Human Remains (2000) for BBC2. Nighty Night (... See full bio »
Born:in Bridgend, Wales, UK
More at IMDbPro » Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro


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25 Best iPhone Themes
Here are 25 more Best iPhone themes, which is a result of my another hours of hard work to select the best available themes on deviantart and other sources. These themes mostly of the them will work with for iPhone 3GS, ipod and iPhone 4.
Subscribe to our RSS and follow us on twitter for more interesting upcoming posts like this.
If you enjoy this post you may also want to check our other mobile related posts:
» 50 Best and Beautiful Apple iPad Wallpapers
» 30 Best iPhone Wallpaper Packs
» 25 Android Wallpapers For Your Desktop
» Android Games: 20 HD Games for your android mobile
Click on the preview images to download
Royal Deluxe
LS Nimbus
iPhone : more Buuf
iPhone theme 01
Cold Days
Flux LV
Auntie Dot Theme WIP
Total elseedee
Monokuro Boo
Fallout skin
Fatal Frame
Pages: 1 2


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Hi Everyone! I love to get creative with a canvas creation now and then and I made this one for a special friend. I was definitely inspired by our own Shimmerz DT Miranda's amazing canvas work but also added lots of my own touches here and there to it. It has lots of background work with yummy Shimmerz products! This is a great project to use up bits and pieces of trims, flowers and even some old hardware that you have laying around!
First I added all the pieces to my canvas and painted it with gesso. I applied layers of Treasured Hymn and Cotton Candy Spritz.
After that was heat set I added some Hot Fudge Vibez and let it drip and move around as I heat set it.
I finished it off with a few more trims.
Don't forget about this months challenge to use your Shimmerz and tell us what you are thankful for! Share it on our Facebook page to qualify for this months prize!
On your next Shimmerz order, mention my name (or any Shimmerz Designer) and your favourite Dimensionz (in the notes to merchant) and Stacey will send you a one FREE!!!! Swing on by our Facebook page for more inspiration. Take care and happy Scrapping!


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Kai is a former member of the White Lotus Society who learned his martial arts skills from the greatest masters throughout Asia. After the disbanding of the Society and the Outworld invasion, Kai traveled to America to visit Liu Kang, a fellow member of the Society. Years after the meeting, he and Kang reunited to assist Rayden in his battle with Shinnok.
APPEARANCE LIST1. Mortal Kombat 4 2. Mortal Kombat Gold